Thread: Followed Me Home II

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Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Retractable 3-Point Shoulder Harness Seat Belts Lap Belts and Seat Belt Accessories - Juliano's Hot Rod Parts

Thanks Jerry, but I'm well aware where to buy the parts, and in fact I have that exact belt from Juliano's in the coupe. The issue is being able to get the third mounting point high enough that it's safe with a roadster, and not causing injury vs preventing injury in a collision.

Deuce4Dad, thanks much for the kind words.

I don't think I ever posted a picture of the roadster with the freebie Cragar's mounted. I haven't put the dog-dish caps on the steelies yet, but I REALLY like these Cragar wheels, and I especially like the larger wheel in back compared to the 15's I have on the '33. It's gonna be neat to be able to swap them around as I want, but at this point the Cragar's are my favorite.

IMG_5744 (1024x682).jpg

I've been plugging away on some things that I need to get mounted on the body before pulling it for what I hope is the last time. I'd made some 1/8" anchor plates with seat mounting bolts spot welded to them, and got three of the four glued in place on the bottom side of the floor. I tied the two outside seat bolts together front to rear along the frame rail, then did plates side to side tying the drivers to passenger front bolts together, and another for the two driver & passenger seat rear bolts. For the seat to pull free from the body it's going to pull big chunks of the core mat floor out. I still need to get some seat belts ordered, but I think I've figured out a way to mount the high lap belt anchor point that won't look too funky. Still need to play with that a bit before I spend money on belts & retractors.

I got the driveshaft made at Inland last week, and getting it in place showed that the floor mounted e-brake was sitting too low. Reworked that, and then started looking at the transmission to pinion setup. Long story short, I had assumed that the motor mounts and tranny mount were set up right by Pete & Jakes, but that's not the case. It's embarrassing to admit, but when I dropped the engine & tanny in place the car was sitting on the section of the shop floor that's sloped for drainage to the roll up doors, tail back so the carb flange was pretty much dead level - too close to worry about tweaking. In the months since then the car has just about always been up on the dolly plates so it can be moved around, and to make getting under easier, too, and the dollies make it sit a little "off" on angle due to the different tire OD front to back, but it's always sat rear end towards the doors, which is rear end low. When I moved it to level and pulled the dollies, front to rear the engine is almost 4 degrees nose down. Sooooo, another task added to the list for when the body comes off is to rework the tranny mount AGAIN, but this time to drop the ass end and get things right. I'm not really happy about the mistake, but then again I'm glad I realized it now as opposed to after the chassis is painted! Besides, I'm working for myself anyway, so my labor rate is $0. And yes, "Right" to me means carb flange as close to level as I can measure, and then adjust the pinion angle to tilt up exactly the same amount the tranny tilts down, which is going to be in the neighborhood of three degrees. One step forward, two steps back today....

I really like those wheels on there too! Stinks to hear of the angle issue, but like you said, at least you found it now!

I will vote a plus one on those rims and tyres too Roger and I do like the way the rear weel tyre fills the body shape around the "wheel arch " very nicely and it also gives the car that killer stance.

I also like the wheel/tire mix. Provides an excellent stance.

I don't like the looks of that wheel and tire combination at all. In fact I think you should ship them to me, so there is no chance of them ruining the looks of that car. LOL, they look awesome!

Sweet build....

Originally Posted by 36 sedan

I don't like the looks of that wheel and tire combination at all. In fact I think you should ship them to me, so there is no chance of them ruining the looks of that car.!

Wish I thought of this! rofl..

Roger, until I read your post, I never thought of checking the manifold angle. With all the changes I made in tires and stance - I wondered I if I was off. I put the protractor on it, and it read zero. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then.

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

Roger, until I read your post, I never thought of checking the manifold angle. With all the changes I made in tires and stance - I wondered I if I was off. I put the protractor on it, and it read zero. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then.

Glad yours was right, Jack! Bonus! Mine? Not so easy. I unbolted the tranny mount and started slowly dropping the tail while watching the angle on the carb plate and as it approached between one and two degrees nose down it stopped. Turns out the tailshaft catches the front crossmember of the ladder bars - these automatics are long! Not only that but the tranny pan will be by far the low point hanging down, I'll have to do some firewall work to have room to pull the HEI distributor cap, and the steering linkage will have to be re-visited as it's very nearly in a bind. I'll look at it more when I have the body off, but I'm pretty sure that I'll leave it as it is and if I decide it's necessary will have the carb mounting plate milled to take out some of the tilt. I've also thought about changing out the factory intake for something like an Edelbrock Performer RPM, but really not sure I want to put another $200 in parts that I really don't "need" and changing the intake without a new cam, or new cam and better heads is a very small performance boost.

Getting it all bolted back as it was for now, and going through looking for anything else needing to be done while the body's on the frame. I'm really wanting to get it pulled to get the chassis done/done so it can go back together for maybe the last time.

Originally Posted by rspears

Glad yours was right, Jack! Bonus! Mine? Not so easy. I unbolted the tranny mount and started slowly dropping the tail while watching the angle on the carb plate and as it approached between one and two degrees nose down it stopped. Turns out the tailshaft catches the front crossmember of the ladder bars - these automatics are long! Not only that but the tranny pan will be by far the low point hanging down, I'll have to do some firewall work to have room to pull the HEI distributor cap, and the steering linkage will have to be re-visited as it's very nearly in a bind. I'll look at it more when I have the body off, but I'm pretty sure that I'll leave it as it is and if I decide it's necessary will have the carb mounting plate milled to take out some of the tilt. I've also thought about changing out the factory intake for something like an Edelbrock Performer RPM, but really not sure I want to put another $200 in parts that I really don't "need" and changing the intake without a new cam, or new cam and better heads is a very small performance boost.

Getting it all bolted back as it was for now, and going through looking for anything else needing to be done while the body's on the frame. I'm really wanting to get it pulled to get the chassis done/done so it can go back together for maybe the last time.

Bugger!
What else can I say?
I feel for you mate...why do we do these things to ourselves?

I've run into similar problems with exhaust and engine placement. It can be really aggravating, hang in there , take a break if you get frustrated, but it will all work out in the end! Project looks great besides these issues currently plaguing you!

I had a thought, wondering if there might be a "skinny" tranny mount out there so I did a bit of "Google Research", which some people seem to think is a waste of time, but there's an abundance of really, really good information available on the WWW. You just have to be smart enough to disregard the drivel and focus on the gems.

It looks like a stock, rubber tranny mount may be as much as 1/2" shorter than the expensive Poly mount that the PO had in the stash of parts that I got in the package. I'll visit with my local NAPA guy with tranny mount in hand, and see what we can find. If I can shave 1/2" with the mount, then I might consider chopping the plate off of the crossmember and dropping it down another 12" to inch which will get things centered a bit better up and down without much work. Moroso makes a solid steel mount, but I'm not sure of the dimensions. I suppose that I could make a mount out of a piece of square tube and a couple of nuts, but it would transmit any vibrations right into the frame, probably not a good idea for a street car.

I won't be able to mess with it again until at least Tuesday - got a milestone HS class reunion this weekend, so we'll be out of pocket for a while.

I can verify as fact that poly tranny mount is taller than the stock (about a 1/2"). Yes, I found out the hard way. So, by using a stock tranny mount which will drop the tail a 1/2", can you pick up the rest with shim plates at the front motor mounts?

Originally Posted by 36 sedan

I can verify as fact that poly tranny mount is taller than the stock (about a 1/2"). Yes, I found out the hard way. So, by using a stock tranny mount which will drop the tail a 1/2", can you pick up the rest with shim plates at the front motor mounts?

Shim plates might be a good option! I really don't relish cutting the front mounts off of the frame and moving them up....