Punky Manor - Vintage Stock Car - Tribute Build

Frankland Racing - Quick Change Rear End

The Torino that I traded for the Tribute build came equipped with a stock 9" Ford rear differential (shown below). This rear end would have probably been adequate for what I am going to do with the car, but Punky had a quick change rear end in his Torino, and I want to match it as close as possible.

Back in 1947, Jim Frankland designed a rear end for racing that would allow a way for the racer to quickly adapt the gear ratio to match the conditions of the track. Thus Frankland Racing Supply was born. 

All that was required to change the gear ratio was to remove 6 bolts from the back cover and swap gear sets. It also required draining and refilling a small amount of gear lube which is separate from the main reservoir.

Many dirt track racers in the 1970's (including Punky) were using these rear end differentials in the Late Model class.

I kept my eyes open and found a few quick changes online that might have worked. The price range was from $2000 - $3000 for a new one, to $500-$800 for a used unit. I was out on FaceBook a while back and someone posted an image of a Frankland that they were looking to sell. He said he would let it go for $250 and I jumped at the chance to go pick it up.

Back in May of 2018 I ended up driving down to Springfield, MO to pick up the Frankland. Apparently it had been used in a sprint car, so the center section had been offset to the left quite a bit. 

 The first thing I did was to build a stand to hold the rear end while I tore it down.

Then I soda blasted the center section.

Next up, fitting and installation of symmetrical length axle tubes, and replacement of all hardware to grade 8 fasteners.

For a few different reasons, I decided to pick up a donor rear end to get the required Ford 4-link mounting brackets to transplant onto the quick change. The main reason is that I don't have the race car at my shop yet. A second reason is that I thought that it might be a good idea to have an additional rear end around in case something breaks in the future.

So I went out to the "local" restoration auto yard and picked up a 1972 Mercury Montego 9" housing. 

Then went through the fairly complex process of cutting off all brackets (after building a jig to hold them in their factory locations), and then welding them onto the quick change.

The Frankland Quick Change is now almost ready to install in the Torino Tribute. I still need to purchase new Spohn brand upper and lower control arms ($450.00), cut-to-length axles with pressed on bearings ($300), rear disc brake conversion kit ($280), and a few other additional parts.

My next little project is to get the final exterior body panels ready for replacement. Take care until next time!

Punky Manor - Vintage Stock Car - Tribute Build

Headlights - Who Needs Them - Part 2

In my last post I discussed how to fill out the raised portion of the headlight buckets. I also pointed out the gaps that were present in the headlight and fender extension area. This post will cover what I did to cover the voids created when the stock chrome light bezel is not used.

Once again I made a paper pattern using white poster board. I then scanned the white pattern into my computer and created an outline file using a program from Adobe called Illustrator. I used the outline file that I created to cut a 16 gauge sheet metal flat blank. Once the blank was cut I used various diameters of steel tubing, channel stock, and small vise grips to hand form the sheet metal to match the headlight openings.
  

I added small tabs (shown below) that could be wrapped around the backside of the steel headlight frames. These will be tack welded in place once the final fit has been established.

Here is the new "roll formed" steel filler fit to the upper valance panel and headlight frame.

In the photo below, I have inserted the aluminum headlight cover. Once the front valance assembly has been mounted to the front fenders, and final fit is set, I will rivet the headlight covers in place.

Here is the front upper valance panel and fender extension assembly. I am still in the process of designing the grille that will eventually be installed. I am thinking of using a wide wire rod mesh in the grille area with finer mesh or screen in front of the coarse mesh.

The last time I had a good look at the old Torino front end, I discovered that the radiator support was in pretty rough shape. It appears that someone cut off the end of the passenger side of the support. It also looks like they pulled out the body bushing mount hardware and welded the radiator support directly to the frame rails.

So I did a little search and found a radiator support on a junked 1972 Torino over near Willmar, MN (about 2 1/2 hour drive each direction from home). The Gran Torino front end was changed dramatically in 1973, so I was limited to a 1972 Gran Torino only.

It took a little work, but I got the support pulled out of the old green Torino. I was also able to get all the mounting bracket that I will need to mount the headlight assembly to the rest of the car.

After taking several photographs, I stripped all of the brackets off and took the part to a local sand blaster and got it cleaned up to raw steel again.

After returning from the sand blasting shop the support got a couple coats of self-etching metal primer.

Finally a couple coats of black VHT Roll Bar and Chassis paint were applied.

Next up I think I will cover the progress I have made on the Frankland Quick Change rear end. I have spent a few months and a couple dollars getting the rear end ready to go in the Tribute Torino. Take care for now.

Punky Manor - Vintage Stock Car - Tribute Build

Headlights - Who Needs Them - Part 1

I am busy trying to redesign the front end of the Tribute Torino to better handle the conditions on a dirt track speedway. Looks simple, you just have to replace the shiny bits with not so shiny bits right? I don't need any chrome, no adjustable bulbs, no trim rings, no frills, just aluminum fillers!

In order to make a simple headlight cover, a fair amount of design and fabrication work needs to take place. My first order of business was to locate, strip off the old paint, and prime both "new" headlight buckets. The headlight parts that came on the Torino were hacked up and not usable.

There are several problems with the original Ford headlight buckets when it comes to covering them with flat aluminum panels. The main problem is that there is no flat surfaces to rivet the aluminum headlight covers to. The headlight adjustment insert area stands proud about 1/2" above the flat surface of the bucket. There is one of these pads in each corner of the headlight bucket.

  

In order to solve this problem I designed a metal frame structure that will be attached to the headlight bucket using the four headlight adjustment screw holes. I first made a paper template to fit the space and then scanned it into my computer. I refined the drawing and produced a two-dimensional outline cut file. I then cut the frame from 14 gauge steel using a plasma cutter. Finally, I added four 1/4" - 20 weld studs to the back of the frames. 

Mounting the new plates presented yet another problem. On the backside of the headlight buckets, there was very little room to get a 1/4" - 20 nut on the weld studs. There was also no room at all to get either a socket or wrench in these areas to tighten the fasteners! I ended up using coupler nuts that were tall enough to get a socket on. The coupler nuts fit so tight that I needed to grind off the high points from the lower 2/3 of their length.  

The next step was to remove all the dead weight from the buckets without compromising the structure. Using two different size cutoff wheels, I cut away as much of the structure as I thought I could get away with. The aluminum strips shown below were added to provide support for the center of the frames. The strips will be riveted on and will provide additional rivet locations for the aluminum covers.

Here is the back of the headlight bucket with pins and other metal removed.

Once all the front end parts were prepped and primed, I bolted them together to get an overall idea of the fit and alignment. 

During test fitting, I discovered that there are areas on the original cars which were a covered using a chrome headlight bezel. In order to fill these voids, additional parts would need to be designed, fabricated, and welded in place.

Once again, I created a paper pattern of the area that needs to be filled. I will go through the same process mentioned above to cut out the metal filler pieces.

Next up I need to figure out how to put several complex curves in the metal parts above without the use of a roll former? Hopefully in my next post I can show how that was accomplished. I also hope to have the aluminum headlight covers fabricated and installed. There are a few other modifications to the front valance assembly that I will cover as well. Thanks for checking out the progress....take care.

Punky Manor - Vintage Stock Car - Tribute Build

Have We Started Yet?

Some of my friends are probably tired of hearing that I am building a stock car. It seems like I have been talking a lot about it, but up to this point I can't really show much actual progress on the car itself. On my end though, I have put a lot of thought and energy (and dollars) into the Torino Tribute up to this point.

So when will I actually start the rebuild, or have I already started? I actually made an agreement to trade a race car lettering job for the Torino back on May 22, 2015. I would say that that would be the very start of this project. Below is the first time I saw the Torino at Pinkalla Auto Solutions in Racine, WI.

So, why haven't I actually done much work directly to the car? Well, there has been many factors that have drawn the process out for longer than I had hoped. A new job in a new State, moving into 3 different places in 2 years or so. Also, having to collect a bunch of 45 year old car parts has been a fairly involved adventure in itself.

We have already drove down to Kansas City to pick up a good chunk of the replacement body panels to be used in the rebuild. More recently, we drove down to Springfield, MO to pick up a Frankland quick change rear end unit. 

Here is the short list of what I have had to locate and purchase for this project...so far;

Doors, GTS hood, front fenders, both rear quarters, both upper and lower valance panels, front and rear bumpers, trunk lid, shifter hump, gauges, engine, transmission, bellhousing, shifter, wheels and tires, rear end, headlight buckets, rt. side fender extension, and the list goes on.

After finding all of these parts, most of them have had to be cleaned and prepared for installation. In the case of the body panels, I had to strip old paint, cut off all dead weight metal and then prime. This is a process I am still working on. Here is one of the doors after prep work was completed.

Back in early May of 2017, we finally made the trip down to Racine, WI and hauled the Torino up closer to where we live. The plan was to get as many parts ready to go as possible and then make a big push on the rebuild. Currently I am exploring my options in finding a place big enough and close enough to make the rebuild practical.

More recently, I have been exploring what the final paint job on the Torino will look like. Actually, this has been a year long project. I purchased what I thought might be the right colors in single-stage (acrylic enamel) paint and painted my first test panel. The early 70's Ford Yellow that I picked out did not look at all like the right shade, so I started on a 2nd test panel.

I managed to find a yellow color that matched the images that I have of Punky's original Torino. I then started doing the various hand lettering samples that will eventually get painted on the car.

Within the last month or so, I made a trip over to where the race car is being stored. My intent was to really look things over and put together the final list of parts and pieces that are needed. 

I discovered that most of the drivetrain, suspension, brakes, and some of the roll cage needs attention. I also found that the radiator support has been cut and damaged to the point where it will need to be replaced. 

After much mental debate, I decided that the seat that came in the Torino was not worth using, so I ordered a new one. At the same time I pulled the fuel cell and determined that I could rebuild it to look like new. I am currently exploring options for covering the original headlight areas with aluminum covers. There is metal that needs to be added in some areas to make it work and there is also some metal that is not needed and will be removed.

Here are a couple pictures of the car as it sits at the time of this post. I took the test panels over just to get a feel for what it will look like with fresh colors applied. 

Well, since I am into my 3rd year on this project, it's too late to quit now, best to keep pushing on...take care for now.