Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Last time I was in San Diego they all said if you go to TJ do not take your car it will not come back. That was a crappy Malibu rental can't imagine how quick a $3k T roadster would come up missing.

Ron

That's pretty funny about the chicken plant thing ! When we lived in California we went to TJ one day. Real experience, and I bet you are right about nice cars disappearing.


Well, Don got to take his first ride in his bucket tonight. We got the steering welded up and some wires hooked up so he could take a lap or two in the parking lot. All I have to say is that the pavement there sure is getting a lot of black streaks on it! He made one easy pass just to make sure that nothing would fall off, then he got on it a little the next pass. Didn't even get into the second four barrel and both tires lit up and looked pretty cool with smoke rolling off of them. Then it was my turn to initiate it, and I did about the same thing. Finally, Dan took the wheel and more smoke. Thing is a blast to drive and looked great going past us.

Have a few minor things we had to correct, like jacking the coilovers up a little more because the car settled after we got on it a few times. Nothing major though, and the brakes work well and the car will now idle in gear without surging........guess it's loosening up. Steering is also very light and it tracks straight.

We noticed the upholstery guy was in his shop so we walked down and man was I relieved to see he had worked all weekend on my interior and it is now looking very presentable. He redid the entire back section and now it is smooth and the pleats are straight. It really looks fine now...........certainly not a high dollar job by one of the famous guys, but ok for the driver I want the car to be. He says I can pick it up tomorrow. He ran out of material to do some piping around the top, but that can wait til I get back from Daytona.

Got some primer on the grille shell and headlights and am going to sand them some more tomorrow then get some black paint sprayed. Don't have any pictures of Don's first ride, but Dan did video a little of it and will probably do a YouTube tomorrow. He and Don are still at the shop finishing up the wiring, but I had had enough fun for one day.

Don

For Christmas you guy's are going to have to help Dan get his car done. That way he can't change his mind again and tear it apart.
Going to be nice setting there at the Turkey Run with 2 cars.
Brad

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

At least two of the planes in pic #138 are P-51 Mustangs; in my opinion the most beautiful propeller driven airplane ever designed...

That, and the Lockheed Constellation

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

That, and the Lockheed Constellation

Probably the last passenger aircraft that Lockheed made that was worth a damn. The L1011 was/is a rattly POS. It was a poor imitation of a DC10.

Good choice Jack, but I prefer the EC 121 R version of the Connie...................but I'm just a bit biased!

Bob,

You mean the ones that the Navy retired and turned over to the Airforce?

That red/white Connie was restored and is kept at the KCMO downtown airport. I lived there while they were restoring it, and watched if fly a few times. In fact, I watched the maiden flight of the restored bird.

. . . and now for something completely different . . . Don's rod build ups.

Congratulations Don, I haven't clicked on for about a fortnight, so missed the actual first run of your car.
It's a credit to both you and your boys, and I'm sure you're as proud of them as you are of the car. Now, just get out and drive the wheels off it!
It's a real bobby dazzler.

Also, with regard to personalised plates, (a few pages back now,) one of the cleverest I've seen was HYOAG.

Hyo Silver!

Don't worry about posting the planes and stuff guys, that's what has made doing this thread so much fun. Very appropriate on Veterans Day too.

Johnboy, thanks, and I had noticed you hadn't been around lately. You must have been building something, huh?

We've had a few issues to deal with in Don's T. His roller rockers and high lift cam are causing one rocker to contact the Moon valve covers he is insisting on running. Supposedly they have enough clearance for roller rockers, but I think the X cam just lifts a little too high for them. We had that problem early on and took a die grinder to the offending area under the valve cover. It is thick aluminum so there is plenty of meat there. However, when he started the car tonight it was running rough, so we pulled that valve cover and the same rocker was off of it's stud. At first we thought the polylock had come loose, but closer examination showed that the screw in stud had broken off right at the polylock.

He also had a bent pushrod. One of two things happened. Either that valve hit the piston, or the rocker arm hit the valve cover and twisted it. There are some gouges in the underside of the valve cover in that area, and I pulled that plug and looked at the top of the piston. It seems to have no marks on it. Tomorrow I am going to try to pickup a new screw in stud and pushrod. I think we are going to double gasket the valve cover to see if that extra clearance helps. Need to get some miles on the car before Daytona to see if the problem reoccurs.

Cars are SO MUCH fun.

Don

Bummer about the valve cover and stud

Don't you just love it when these "bolt on " parts fit together so well?

Hope you get it worked out. You've came too far to have somthing like this mess up your plans.

Mike

You might want to use spacer plates. I've seen them for SBCs, I'm sure they must make them for Fords too. If you paint their edge the same color as the heads they don't look too funky either.

I just tried today to buy a set of those spacers Bob, and it seems they make them for Chevy but not Ford. I tried at two local speed shops, but am going to call Summit.

One speed shop that specializes in Mustangs came up with a theory of what happened. The screw in rocker studs we had are too short.........the polylocks were just sitting on about 4 threads of them. I bought a set of TrickFlows from him that are longer so the polylock grabs more of the stud. He felt it created a weak spot there and that is why it broke.

He also questioned our geometry, and to be honest Don and a buddy put the engine together and they didn't check that. I am going to install the new studs and run a test to see if I need longer or shorter pushrods to make it right. Any easy way to do the geometry test without using lighter valve springs and all? What kind of dye do you guys like for the tip of the valve stem? Any tips would be appreciated.

Sure glad there is FedEx and UPS overnight shipping......it may save the day for him yet. BTW, gotta go pickup my T today. The upholstery guy is done with it as far as he can go for now.

Don

Thanks Denny, I called them. They are about an inch thick (we only need about 1/4 inch, and they do not stock them. Have to order them in, and they are about $ 140 a set. I think we will do some more grinding under the valve cover. Thank for digging that out though.

BTW Denny, while you are around here, do you have any easy tips for checking geometry short of the light spring method? Looking for a reasonably accurate method, we can do it better after Daytona.

Don

Doug Hert has B&B plates in stock.....1/2 inchers>>>>>113 bucks