Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Yeah, considering the u-pick yard wanted $175 and I had to do the work, it was a no-brainer.

I don't know if you guys are like me, but when I am bidding on something on Ebay, I start to get the shakes as the seconds tick down. Kind of like a gambler, I guess. At 20 seconds I zap in my bid and try to steal the item. Sometimes it works, and sometimes I swear alot.


Don

I used to do that but lost as many as I won. Now I just put in the max I'll pay if I get it good if I don't Well I wouldn't have paid any more any way. It would be neat to be able to see how many are watching like the seller can do probably make you more nervous.

Don,
the car is really looking good, and im gland you decided to go with the new tranny. keep up the nice work..

Harmon

Thanks Harmon. I think it will be so much easier in the long run.

Last night at about 3:30 AM I woke up and had an idea how I am going to do my shifter. I have no idea if I was dreaming about it , or what, but the idea is actually pretty sound. I made a drawing before I went back to sleep so that I wouldn't forget it. Now I just have to round up the pieces.

WIsh I would wake up with the winning lottery numbers, but no luck.


Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Thanks Harmon. I think it will be so much easier in the long run.

Last night at about 3:30 AM I woke up and had an idea how I am going to do my shifter. I have no idea if I was dreaming about it , or what, but the idea is actually pretty sound. I made a drawing before I went back to sleep so that I wouldn't forget it. Now I just have to round up the pieces.

WIsh I would wake up with the winning lottery numbers, but no luck.


Don

Don,
on that note i figured out what im going to do with my shifter also ( old school race look it will match my grill and and the visor)

Harmon

Originally Posted by CHEVYBOY

Don,
on that note i figured out what im going to do with my shifter also ( old school race look it will match my grill and and the visor)

Harmon

Ok Harmon, don't keep us in suspense. What have you decided to make it out of? Have you worked out the details yet???


I went over and started to work on my shifter tonight. I didn't get a whole lot done because it took quite a bit of digging around in all of my hidden stash of leftover parts and stuff to find some components to build it. Once I had some of the most important parts I began to make the main brace that will bolt the shifter assembly to the transmission.

I can't take full credit for this part of the buiild. I pirated part of it from the way Lokar and Gennie do theirs, and part of it from a gallery on CHR. I wish I could remember whose gallery it was, because I'd like to thank him, but I liked the ideas in his shifter.

I bent up the main support out of 1/4 inch x 2 strap iron, and used the same pulley idea I used to bend up the driveshaft hoops. However, the contour of the trans is different than the other ones, so I dug out a bigger pulley to give me a bigger radius.

Here is how I bent up the flat stock after heating it with the torch.

After a little bending and then putting some reverse bends in the ends, I rounded the corners and drilled two holes that will locate the hoop into the two depressions so thoughfully supplied by Chevy on their 350's. I am going to tap some threads into there so I can thread a bolt into a bushing. Then I will add another plate to the top of the hoop and fasten that to the other hole Chevy has back there. Once this mount is done I can start to build the actual shifter mechanism.

Here is how the hoop came out, and how it looks mocked up on my dummy transmission.

Finally, I dug one of my shifter handles out. I have been saving this chrome one for a special car, and this is it. I paid $ 20.00 for it on Ebay. I cut the bottom off, as I only want the shifter, and will weld this to the rest of the shifter mechanism I am going to build.

Well. it feels good to be home at a decent hour tonight (11 oclock instead of 12) so after a shower and dinner I might actually get enough sleep tonight. I keep falling asleep at my desk at work. Maybe I should build a sleeping spot under my desk like George Costanza.


Here is the shifter I cut in half.

Thanks for looking,


Don

Are you really going to have that big a tunnel to cover a bracket that size? I'm just wondering if a floor mount might not be more space conscious. Every inch counts on one of these as you know.

Good question, I don't really know yet. Once I get the real tranny here I can mock it up and see. But this bracket actually hugs the contour of the 350 pretty close, sitting about 1/2 inch away from the case all the way around.

But I think it will be ok, especially since I only have to make room for 2 pedals now. The fiberglass trans tunnel will also hug the transmission pretty closely, as I only need a little room for slight movement of the transmission within the tunnel.

I think the bulk of the shifter will be at the top of the transmission, so it shouldn't take too much passenger room away. But yeah, great question.

By the way Bob, thanks for the email with info on your brake setup. very helpful and my Son appreciated it. Wilson Welding makes a really nice brake setup.


Don


PS: Our fiberglass guy at work is hooking me up with 2 relatively new fiberglass products I am anxious to try. One is a biaxial sort of cloth that builds up layers very quickly and overlaps with almost no seam, so the strength is supposed to be 10 X what regular glass is. I am going to do the tunnel with this. Secondly, there is a new product that you glass to irregular shapes, like the sides of a T body, and it forms right in, and becomes an integrel part of the body. Boat builders are using it for everything now, like stringers, bulkheads,etc. These 2 products should eliminate a lot of the wood that is normally used in a T bucket, so I am happy to experiment with both.

Don,

How are you going to lay up the tunnel.

Ever use the Lost Foam method?

Hey Tom. Tell me about this method, I'm interested in learning new/better ways to do this stuff.


Don

Nice ride man! Is that a Speedway Motors body? I didn't even go back to read your first page, I read this all before and keeping up with it. I am wanting a 30's vehicle right now very badly and found an original 31 4 door sedan but was really wanting a pickup, 5 window coupe, roadster or T and I like the stance of your T a lot! I wanted to do a early 50's I guess it would be style with bomber seats, plane or bomber looking guages, brown interior and black paint with the spoked wheels, and NON white walled tires. I like the cheater slick look too but first want what I just explained. Anyways, great progress!

Thanks alot. Yeah, I think it is a Speedway. I bought it on Ebay, and it was advertised as a Total Performance body and frame, and it was only about 150 miles from here, so I bid and won it. When I picked it up it wasn't a TP, but the guy seemed legit that he honestly had been told that when he bought it ( he also bought it used) plus, it had never been cut or mounted, so I paid him. It is just the typical T fiberglass body, nothing fancy, and you still have to do all the finish work and wooding. My '27 body is a Speedway, and it was in daily use for years and never developed any stress cracks or problems, so I think they are a good value.

Don't discount the 4 door body, they can be built into a really cool rod. However, you must know up front that the entire subframe on a 4 door is WOOD. The tudors ( 2 doors) coupes, etc. all use steel for the most part. The bear is that the wood rots and you really have to use box tubing to build a suitable new subframe. The wood kits are like several thousand dollars, and are still wood, and will never be as strong or resistant to flex as steel.

As I have mentioned about 30 zillion times (sorry to be so boring) my Son is building a fordor, and he said he never realized how much work it would be to subframe it. He also bought a tudor that he is storing for the next build, and it requires a fraction of the work to get it strong. And, just in case I haven't personally bored you enough times with pictures of his fordor, here are a couple. I thought they may give you some idea of what is involved.

Thanks again for the nice words.


Don

PS: That interior shot is just the first stages of the resubframing. The entire body, including the door jams, roof, etc are now steel tubing. The body is just a sheet metal skin with no strength of it's own. The subframe is the real strength.

I PMed your son on The HAMB about that car. I would like to do mine like that but not THAT low, probably 4 inches higher but I like how the front end is stretched up forward like that and the chop. I want mine like that (this one has the fenders and I will hate to NOT use them but oh well) and in gloss black with bomber seats and gauges, etc. I am really into the whole WWII kind of deal like the bomber planes and was at first thining of painting it silver and then the interior like seats, gauges, etc like a bomber but not sure. First I have to see if I can get the car and if I like it enough when I see it tomarrow. If not then I will get me a roadster body or T like yours. Ever see that 29 RPU on Rod and Custom mag in that maroon looking color and brown interior, etc that is real low with the bed in the back? I LOVE that thing!
Can you send me some more pics of your sons car please? Thanks a lot!