The Ultimate Hot Rod Frontend- It's What's Up Front That Counts

A well-designed hot rod should look like it's going 100 mph while at a standstill. Proper attention to certain details can give it a signature look, injecting a soul into the sum of its parts. If first impressions are everything, then a car's stance sets the tone to tell you a lot about its own personal dynamics. To give your frontend that in the "weeds" look, there are numerous avenues of approach, including the use of dropped axles, reversed-eye springs, Z'd chassis, and of course a proper wheel and tire combination.

Every once and a while, though, you have to think out of the box, and that's where the Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop in Greenfield Center, New York comes in. Well-known for their long distance banzai runs from coast-to-coast for close to a decade, their cars have become virtual test-beds for their suspension designs. It's not often that you see a traditional roadster or coupe set up with a stock Ford axle that's able to achieve a stance that leaves you in awe. We're here now to open up their personal book of gow and let you in on some personal shop secrets of how they add the attitude to the front suspensions that they build.

Keith had a vision of a very clean-looking front suspension that would utilize as many original stock Ford parts as possible, while allowing him to get creative on the design concept using a fresh sheet of paper regarding their signature friction shock layout. With the perimeter chassis in the frame jig, it was checked for levelness and squareness before getting started. The layout of the friction shock set-up begins with a base plate cut from 1/4-inch mild steel that is complemented by a number of lightning holes. Keith used a pair of Vise-Grips to anchor the base to the front of the crossmember to evaluate just how much of a notch the crossmember and chassis rails would be needed to set it into place at 0-degrees vertical. Once the placement was determined, Keith used a transfer punch to set the initial holes to be drilled on each side of the base with a 3/8-inch drill. Note also that the base plate was threaded for 3/8-inch bolts. With the base plate then removed, he laid a coating of blue machinist's dye (Dykem layout fluid) on each front side of the crossmember as a scribing foundation. Keith then took a 3/8-inch thick by 3-inch diameter steel friction shock base in hand to scribe its location onto the front crossmember for the area which would need to be removed. In order to prepare for the upcoming surgery, Keith also marked a 4-inch area atop the front of the framerail that would need to be removed with a disc grinder for access and replaced once the suspension installation was completed. Keith said that to make the perfect circular cut into the crossmember for the friction shock bases with his plasma cutter, he used a clamped-on guide plate which was 1/4-inch smaller in diameter to produce the perfect opening.

After the initial cuts were completed, Keith finessed the openings with a small die-grinder and clamped the base plate back into place. At this point he assembled a portion of the friction shock assembly for a test fit, including the shock base plates, friction discs, and floating shock plates. He also clamped into position the POSIES RT 1005L Super Slider spring with tapered ends and reversed eyes to ensure that a needed 1/8-inch was available between the back of the friction shock bases and the spring for adequate travel. With an angle finder affixed to the front of the base plate, Keith noted that he would have to add a 3/8-inch pie cut to the front of the crossmember on each side to make it flush with the shock base plate and attain 0-degrees on the vertical plane. Using a disc grinder, Keith completed the pie cut, moved the adjusted area into place, and then rechecked all of the base dynamics before TIG-welding the shock base plates into place and suturing up the crossmember. Finally, a small area to the side front of each chassis rail was also marked and removed to allow ample travel for the '40s-era Ford shock arms once the friction shock assembly was completed.

Stepping away from the friction shock set-up for a moment, Keith needed to split a '32 Ford wishbone in preparation for their ace machinist, Rick Rudolph, to work his magic by filling them with lightning holes and then adding sleeves for additional strength. Once returned to the shop Keith added in a stout 3/16-inch steel sleeve at each axle boss area to support the new Speedway Motors spring perches, which Rick machined off their tapered shanks for proper placement through the updated wishbone. Keith then TIG-welded in 3/4-inch threaded mounting bungs and then installed rod ends (both parts from Speedway Motors) to complete the split wishbones for installation. At this time Keith assembled the entire frontend for a test fit to the chassis in order to evaluate spring dynamics and shock arm placement. With the frontend securely in place, Keith set his sights on aligning the POSIES spring with the new Speedway Motors spring perches which were bolted temporarily into place. Making his adjustments through the rod ends, he secured everything with new spring shackles from Speedway Motors.

At this point, Keith prepared the perimeter chassis by reinstalling the rear end and frontend, as well as wheels and tires, so as to evaluate the ride height at ground level for proper friction shock arm placement. Keith weighed down the frontend as well during this mock-up, simulating the engine weight displacement to the front of the chassis. That done, he proceeded first by removing the original ball ends from a pair of Model A spring perches, which were shaved into form and then tack-TIG-welded atop the new Speedway Motors spring perches to accept a pair of original Ford dog bones which were shortened by approximately 1-inch in length to fit the application. Keith then mocked up a pair of '40s era Ford shock arms to determine the bends that would be required to properly align them with the dog bones and friction shock floating discs. One last pass with his oxy-acetylene torch led to a pair of bends to the original arms to get them into their newfound positions, while a disc grinder let Keith shave off the original mounting points from the arms as they will be mounted directly to the sides of the friction shock floating discs. A final test fit proved that he was right on the money, and Keith began all final TIG-welding to secure the new suspension components into place for thousands of trouble-free miles. Lastly, he removed the split bones to shave off the outer spring perch shanks, which were countersunk into the wishbone, and TIG-welded on both ends to complete the job. The team attributes their main influences for this bitchin' design to Doane Spencer from decades past. The completed friction shock assembly combined with the split bones, POSIES reversed eye spring, and stock Ford axle give you plenty of insight of how the Rolling Bones manage to infuse endless amounts of wickedness into their builds.