Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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So, Don----You on strike, or what? Surely something "hot-roddy" must be going on at your shop, Now that my RPU is finished, I have to live vicariously through your posts.----Brian

Originally Posted by brianrupnow

So, Don----You on strike, or what? Surely something "hot-roddy" must be going on at your shop, Now that my RPU is finished, I have to live vicariously through your posts.----Brian

Hey Brian, to heck with the vicarious stuff, you can come help me anytime, just a few miles south of ya!!!



Don, both look great!!! What's the projected date to make the big first cruise??????

Hey get in line Dave, I already extended that invite to Brian for him to come down and give me free labor...LOL
Don with the site down a week I figured you got alot done not having to update every day.
Brad

Originally Posted by BradC

Hey get in line Dave, I already extended that invite to Brian for him to come down and give me free labor...LOL
Don with the site down a week I figured you got alot done not having to update every day.
Brad

Heck, he'll probably go to your house seein' as how you live closer!!!!!!

Looks like a lot of good work on both of them Don.

We have gotten some stuff done, but nothing photo or post worthy, just little piddling stuff that needs to be wrapped up.

On my T I got the stainless steel and braided brake lines ordered from Inline Tube, should be here late next week, and I am waiting for the body to come back from the paint shop. I have to pull that darned starter down again and see what is going on with it. $ 280 for a starter and it is still not working right. Seems it is either too close or too far away from the flexplate because shimmed one way it hangs up, and shimmed another way it grinds like I have never heard one do. All my life I have just bolted a starter on and forgot about it, not this one.

We have been spending most of our time on Don's T. The other night Dan wrapped up welding the through frame tubes in place for the front shocks, and then Don and I welded on the battery box to the frame. We also tapped holes for the fuel filter, electric fuel pump, and starter solenoid. The plan is for he and I to get an early start tomorrow and get the frame primed and painted.

Today he had to leave early to go play, but we got his waterpump installed and a few little things. So hopefully by Sunday night the frame will be blue, then Monday night he and I are going to sandblast all the other parts like rear end housing, radius rods, etc.

I hope my buddy gets both bodies painted in the 3 weeks he quoted, otherwise things will get tight timewise for Thanksgiving. He is pretty good about that stuff, so I am not too concerned.

Don

".... otherwise things will get tight timewise for Thanksgiving......"

Don I can't believe how fast this year has flown.

The speed your moving on these should give you a LITTLE wiggle room.

Hopefully you'll have better luck than mine when getting something done with outside vendors.

I know Mike, the older I get the faster the years fly by. You are right about using outside people, they all promise the moon and stars to get you in the door, and then everything comes to a screeching halt. I worked at the body shop with Brent, my friend, then he opened his own shop. He was the go-to guy when we worked together, and all the other bodymen came to him for the tough ones, and the owner gave him the Vipers, Mercedes, etc. because he was the best bodyman there. I know he will do a good job, and I believe he will stick to the schedule pretty well.

Don and I needed this window anyway to get our frames all done so we can just plop the painted bodies back on when they come back. Don's is going right to the upholstery shop first, but I am going to have to skip that step for a little while until I can afford it. The $ 1500- $ 2000 I have to pay for the paint job is going to strain me for a while. However, I am not opposed to sitting on a boat cushion as long as the car runs. Upholstery can come later on.


Don

$ 280 for a starter and it is still not working right.

Tell me about it. I just had to dump a Holley Red electric fuel pump with only 20 miles on it. It was louder than a hammer drill, and kept shutting off on thermal overload. I pulled it apart, and there was no apparent problem inside. The warranty won't be any good, since I've had it for three years - ever since I finished the frame mock-up. That's the trouble with those of us who fabricate our stuff. By the time the car's running, all the warranties have expired.

I'm going to have to live vicariously through your project, Don. Since I got my '34 on the road (less upholstery), all I have to work on is miscellaneous stuff on my daily driver Vette - and that's no fun.

Don, you are the third person I know of who has had nothing but problems with those little starters not fitting right. I think it will be a cold day in you-know-where before I ever run one of those. My coupe puked the starter in front of a friends garage one day last Spring. In about ten minutes we had it off (didn't even have to jack up the car) and in another 20 minutes we were heading back from the local Advance-Discount parts store with a $28 remanufactured starter. Bolted it on and problem solved; no shims, no adjustments, nothing special.

Henry, I ordered a Holley blue pump and put it on a big-block powered truck one time because I was told that gas hog would need the volume. It was so noisy (growl, roar, growl) it drove everyone nuts who rode in the truck. We eventually changed it to an ordinary AC Delco electric pump. It was quiet (tick, tick, tick), did the job just fine, and replacements were available almost everywhere.

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

I'm going to have to live vicariously through your project, Don. Since I got my '34 on the road (less upholstery), all I have to work on is miscellaneous stuff on my daily driver Vette - and that's no fun.

Oh, I can only dream of the day I have to live vicariously!!! I don't think I will mind at all sitting back and watching someone else spend money and work hard.

I'm like you JR, I am not at all sold on these little starters. I can't remember ever buying a starter, even a reman, and having it not bolt on and just do it's thing. This one is Powermaster's top of the line one that will crank 18 to 1 compression and all that stuff, and I can't get it to mesh right. I know my flywheel is bolted on right, and a few times it has cranked and worked fine, but sometimes it sounds like it is tearing the bottom off the engine. It makes this unGodly screaming sound like it is taking teeth off the flexplate. I'm going to recheck the clearances according to the info that Powermaster gives you on the very vague instruction sheet and see if the starter gear is close enough to the flexplate or if we have now got it too far away.

As for Holley pumps, I have run 3 or 4 of them on various cars, and yes they are noisy sob's. The one on my Jeep truck is insulated in rubber and people who ride with me ask what that air compressor is doing running under the car? On my '27 you couldn't hear it for the exhaust, so hopefully the one on my current T will not be a problem either. I know they don't like even a spec of dirt, so I always put a good fine mesh fuel filter before the pump.

It seems sometimes the more we buy good, well known brands of products, the bigger the problems are that we get.

Denny, I think you are right, the next car I put together I am going to try to use a mechanical fuel pump.


Don

Yep Denny, China is taking over the manufacturing world. Just today we installed the starter solenoid on my Sons T (Ford type) and I was surprised to see Made in USA on the box. But he had to pay twice as much for it as the typical Advance/AutoZone type.

Don

I switched out the Holley today, and installed an Edelbrock. I made two thick (aobut 3/8") rubber washers by cutting "cookies" from heavy duty oil-cooler hose. Put locktite on the bolts and clamped it down pretty tight. Edlebrock also uses a very thick rubber shim inside the clamp, so it's pretty isolated. Can't hardly hear it run.

It probably would have been cheaper to run a Delco, but, a) I didn't think of it, and b) the Edelbrock needed no re-plumbing.

Boy Don this must be driving you nuts. I have had good luck with the little starters, I use McLeod brand but they don't sell them anymore.
For fuel pumps I base it on what kind of rpm your going to run the motor at. For me if it is under 6,000 I use a good mechanical pump, I don't think you can beat them for noise and dependability. Just my 2 cents.
What kind of fuel filter do you use? I have had bad luck with them.Either they are to fine of filtration or to little and I get junk in the needle and seat. I don't know where the crap comes from.
Ken

Ken, I have always used a marine water seperating fuel filter with a spin on element, simply because I worked in that industry and could get them reasonably, and also because they do a real good job. But I didn't have room on the T for one, so I had to go with an inline one from Speedway. It is a pretty neat looking finned one, and very compact. It also has a replacable paper element.

I was going to work on my starter tonight, but got sidetracked helping Dan lay up a new frame he is doing. I am going to get that thing shimmed right if it kills me.

Don

PS: How is the picture shrinking coming Ken? I see you got your Avatar looking good.