Thread: SHE LIVES to tell a thousand tales... (some funny ones too!)

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I have returned from the battlefield. Alive despite a few battle scars.
I can say one thing: I have now earned my wings and have learned A LOOOOOT about my hotrod the last 4 days.



We completed everything on our list (changed valve cover gaskets, changed oil pan and gasket, changed transmission pan and gasket, changed drive train seal, removed 32 radiator and had it resealed, changed motormounts and raised engine) and we even threw in a few extra things: adjusted the timing (and now Hiboy is even faster!) and I repainted my grill shell insides and grill insert. But I'll kid you not. It was ugly on the front line! We fought with all our mights, and it took all my smarts, his experience/muscles and divine intervention from a few kind angels to come out of this ambush in one piece.

Which is more than I can say about Hiboy, who came out of it in a THOUSAND PIECES he looked like a big, giant, jigsaw puzzle.




Tearing him apart was easy. Putting him back together was, well.... Another story altogether..... Mmmmmm....


Here are a few funny highlights:

1- What the heck is THAT?

Found one unidentified object inside one of my valve covers. A piece of metal tubing about 3 inches long. Just lying there. The only thing I could figure out, is that Hiboy had been previously abducted by Aliens and that they had forgotten one of their anal probes LOL in there.





2- DUH!

Jeff really needs to remember that just because one buys a brand new oil pan from P.A.W does not (and I repeat DOES NOT) necessarily mean that above mentioned oilpan had a tight drain bolt when it came out of the factory... the morning after, $40 worth of top quality synthetic oil and about 10 feet square of sliding delight later, we had in deed, learned our lesson.





3- Mmmmmm.... Honey, I think we are missing something!

Having removed the 1932 radiator, which needed to get repaired - again - blew a seal last week - and having sent it to an expert, we got it back just in time before closing time so to finish our repairs. Only problem is, we got it back with only one rubber mount. Uh-oh! We had to chop a gas pedal rubber to fabricate some new mounts and prayed they were the right height (as we learned the hard way that putting a 32 nose back together is NOT a walk in the park and that the radiator placement is a major league player in the plot to drive us to the brink of insanity. PS: Notice, on the photo below, towards the top left corner, you can see in the background the new motor mounts, with extra shim and freshly repainted red retainers hehehehe....





4- What happened?????

Putting back the hood last night was a real delight. nothing lined up. it took us no less than 4 hours to figure out the tricks to getting the left side to stretch an inch. HIboy looked all cockeyed and crooked and after undoing everything twice we finally started to make progress. Boy we sure learned a lot last night! Radiator/grill shell angle are everything and HOOD = HELL (and it seemed we had just bought a time share in it!) LOL

Well, Hiboy is now back together, looking GREAT and running BETTER than he did before. More details on the repairs themselves soon. gotta run for now.

As a wise man once said, nothing ventured, nothing gained. You're on your way to becoming the next Kim LaHaie.
Really though I can say that I'm proud of you and venture to say that many others share the sentiment.

I think you're right about the aliens, how else would that pipe get in there?

Originally Posted by HiboyGal

1- What the heck is THAT?

Found one unidentified object inside one of my valve covers. A piece of metal tubing about 3 inches long. Just lying there. The only thing I could figure out, is that Hiboy had been previously abducted by Aliens and that they had forgotten one of their anal probes LOL in there.

Since your heads were made in Mexico I'd guess it's a taquito former.

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

Since your heads were made in Mexico I'd guess it's a taquito former.

Or maybe it was capped and used to smuggle drugs across the line?????

The All American Hot Rod with Mexican heads????? Geez, what's the world coming to?????

pipe looks like the dip stick tube from inside the oil pan.

I agree on the dipstick tube.

Begs the obvious, but did you notice that part when the pan was dropped? I probably would not have

If you don't have one and have not noticed your dipstick wrapped around the crankshaft or spitting oil outta the dipstick you are fine ..........

Also whenever working with oil, it's useful to just pour some out on the ground up front to spoil Murphy's fun

Looking good!

Kitz

Hey, if oil is spilled on the floor and nobody walks through it, is it still slippery???????

On your way to becoming a hands on hotrodder, no skinned knuckles ?

Faith: Is this radiator picture pre repairs, or post? Either way, I think somewhere down the road you will be investing in a new one. (how do you like that term investing? Must be my years of sales training..........you aren't BUYING, or SPENDING MONEY, or PURCHASING........you are INVESTING )

Living in SoCal, it may start giving you problems down the road. (no pun....)

And, maybe it looks worse in the picture than it really is.

Don

HEY NOW, DON'T YOU TALK SMACK ABOUT MY RADIATOR. I happen to love it. It actually does not look so bad, remember you are looking at a REAL CLOSE shot (macro). Overall, since it is an original 1932, it is working good. It has a new core on it. The rtadiator specialist who is very knowledgeable and builds a lot of radiators for rat rods fixed the seal. It blew because of my mistake. I always turn my fan on when I drive, but last week I had Troy (Hollywood Hot Rods) test drive the car to test the brakes. he didn't know about the flicking of the fan and I forgot to tell him. 20 min of stop and go at 2 mph later, the radiator boiled over.

None of this would have been cause to blow his top LOL, but someone had a 16 Lbs cap on it. I now have learned that these old radiator need only 7Lbs.

So now we start afresh and hopefully I will not mess up and he will not retaliate

PS: I love my old radiator, wouldn't want a new one if you gave one to me. .

Having said that and talking about "investing" (I'll have to use that one hehe) I have "invested" in : a)- A Posie new leaf spring ( Hollywood roll style ) thanks for letting me know of its existence b)- New, shorter lower front shock mounts c)- a pair fo swan mirrors (I have one and wanted the right side one, but they only sell them in pairs GRRR) d)- A panhard bar e)- new king pins f)- new booties for my half-rack

All above parts are in preperation for dropping off Hiboy at Hollywood Hotrods on Saturday 12/02 for some major work.

All in all, the little guy is SPOILED ROTTEN. (Or should I say "Spoiled Rusten?" )

Oh, almost forgot to mention: The Alien anal probe thingie, we did not dorp it in there, we found it when we lifted up the valve covers. A little bonus from a previous (tired, or drunk) owner ... Well, at least it was not a severed finger

The whole engine is made in Mexico... Andale! On the bright side, we examined both the top of it and the crank of it while the pan was open and everything in there looks GOOD.

I also learned how to adjust the timing. I loved the whole light flashing trick thing. I had previsouly marvelled at the weird ruler with numbers on it near my crank shaft and wondered what it was for... Well now I know. And to see the "mystery, hidden line" appear like magic was some fun stuff!

We believe my otherwose stock engine has a mild street performance cam on it. Eric did say he put a bigger cam in it but he did not remember which... (duh!) WE set timing at 4, it was a little above 6 previously. It seems the engine sounds and runs better now. I am not sure if it is my imagination, but the roadster also seems to be faster.

If you look close at the photo, you'll see a neoprene rubber radiator mount.
Cut out of a 1/2" sheet of neoprene rubber.

Retained by a couple of 3/8" stainless bolts with nylock nuts.
(Nylocks are the self locking nuts that aircraft use to a great extent. Also found at places that carry a good selection of bolts and nuts.)
Reason for the nylocks is you can snug them up to the point where the rubber pad is not overly compressed, the radiator isn't tied down too solid.
In other words, vibration doesn't bother it and it stays where it's supposed to.

Sheets of rubber - which are usually neoprene - are found at a lot of places.
Farm Supply houses, Oil field supply houses and if you're close to an Industrial rubber store you've got it made.
Most times you can buy small sheets for not much money.

To make round biscuits for the mounts, drill a pilot hole with 1/4".
Select a hole saw with the ID - Internal Diameter - you want and saw it out on the drill press.

Then - here's the trick - freeze the biscuit overnight in the freezer.
Have the clamps et all ready to go.
Drill the ragged pilot hole to the size you want.

If you don't freeze the neoprene when you drill for the desired bolt size, it will just tear a ragged and overly small hole.

The neoprene you get is almost always the correct durometer - hardness - for motor mounts and the like.
I've used neoprene biscuits for rear motor mounts on a 50 Plymouth flat six and it worked well.

Depending on the bottom shape of your lower radiator tank you may be able to use a thinner neoprene biscuit than what's pictured below.
1/2" is as low as I can get the Walker radiator on my 32 highboy.

I had a US Radiator radiator on my 31 on 32 rails - which was a 32 radiator 1" shorter than standard 32 - and it sat on a 1/4" neoprene biscuit.
Long story, but I found that I need a 2" shorter 32 style radiator for this car to attain a good visual hood line.

Imo, neoprene biscuits and bolts with nylock nuts beats the original Ford setup all the heck and gone....

I would sugeest investing in a NEW water pump ...





They raise the mechanical fan level 5 and 1/2 inches so you can run a mechanical belt driven fan ...



The raised water pump also has a neat alternator bracket cast into it ... with the raised water pump ... you can run a 18 inch 6 blade fan.
With a belt driven fan, you do not have to worry about remembering to turn the electric fan ... and cooking the engine ... if you forget ...

Where's that water pump setup come from? I have an engine driven fan on my car, but its low, and as you mentioned, the diameter is limited by the fact its low in the chassis... I have yet to actually drive the car, but I'm skeptical its gonna keep it cool, especially with no shroud and full (unlouvered) hood sides. I do like the idea of an engine driven fan over an ugly modern electric job... that raised water pump may be something i'm needed come next spring.