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Thanks Duane, appreciate it.
Ron, I'm looking for a bigger cardboard box so I can put a candle on it too. Gotta maintain some level of class, you know. :D :D :D :D It's going to be so nice to return to regular dinners instead of takeout when this project is over. (plus I have to share with my two helpers, and they eat like pigs)
Don
Looking good don, i think you did good on the color choice! Are you going to add a seat for your supervisors?
Don, what model Odyssey battery is that? I just put an Odyssey in my Harley and really like it. Thinking about one for my T roadster and am curious which one you're running. My T is powered by a 4.3 Chevy V6 so I don't need a zillion CCA.Quote:
Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
Bob
Don---I like your colour choices. Have you given anythought to painting scallops on the black body in Fusion Orange?
Don, at least you get a chance to eat and a place to do it......:LOL: :LOL:....it's looking good bud.....Do your "helpers" put the tools back? I need your secrets if they do. I don't care if mine eat like pigs, just wanna find my tools....:LOL: :LOL: P.S.......Wouldn't Orange and blue work better? (Sorry, Bronco fan here....:LOL:)
Bolt more, bolt more, I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!! lol
I didn't see any pizza boxes or beer cans, so you must be eating top shelf fast food. What's with the table cloth, next you will have a bottle of wine and candle. I like the color choice.
Brad
Don once that engine is in the frame the color will flow more from top to bottom . You sure picked them right .
Just like the comercial says, "some guys prefer cardboard on cement". Give me that cardboard table in my shop and I'm in heaven.
Thanks John. No, when I moved one time I took them in the car with no carrier, and Scooter got a little scared and, how do I put this......for a few months her presence was still known. Used every odor killer known to man. :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by hotroddaddy
Bob, the Odyssey is next to the smallest they make, a PC680. I had no room for a regular one, and the head guy at Odyssey assured me it would be more than enough to start a small block Chevy. I sure hope so.
Thanks Brian. Yep, I am thinking of something like scallops, or flames, or pinstriping. Once it's painted I will have a better idea.
Thanks Nitro. Put my tools back? I can't even convince Scooter to hit the litter box every time. :3dSMILE: Good thing I love her, she's a handful.
Thanks Brad: Pizza, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe that will be my celebration meal when I fire it up.
Thanks Bobby. Today was one of the days I liked the orange. It is growing on me.
Brick: It really isn't all that bad to sit there and eat on a box. It gives me a chance to plan the next steps.
Thanks guys for all the posts and encouragement.
Don
I had to close out that post because I never know when my computer is going to freeze up on me. When this car is done I've got to buy a new one.
Got some very good progress done tonight. The rain we were supposed to get never materialized, and the night was beautiful. Nice painting weather.
I've mentioned that I didn't buy a Posies Superslide front spring because I was trying to bring the car in within budget at that time, and now that I have the regular Speedway spring it just makes good sense to use it. Uncle Bob offered a solution, in that Chassis Engineering sells these poly buttons that are made to insert between the spring leaves to give you a poor mans Posies spring. I ordered enough for the front and rear spring, and they came in today.
Thanks for that heads up Bob. These really are a good way to go.
What you have to do to install them is drill a 7/16 hole through a spring leaf, and the head of the button pops in that hole. Then, when you put the spring together, the buttons get trapped between the leaves and can't come out. The concept is that the buttons "slide" more easily that just metal to metal.
Drilling spring steel is sometimes very tough, and Chassis Engineering suggests a drill press that turns 100 RPMS, and lots of cutting oil. I didn't want to use cutting oil because with all the problems I have been having priming stuff, the last thing I wanted was oil on a spring I planned to paint. So I decided to just buy a very good titanium drill bit, and if it burns up, so be it. That is what I did, and luckily, the drill bit made it through all 8 holes I had to drill.
Here are some pictures of the buttons and how they insert into the spring.
Picture one shows the hole I drilled, and the plastic button that will be popped into it.
Picture two shows the button loosely put into that hole.
Picture three shows how I drilled the holes so that they would not show on the top of each leaf. I drilled the holes so that the leaf on top of each one extends out over the hole, hiding it.
Picture four show that same relationship.
Picture five shows the leaf installed on top of the one with the holes, and how the holes are not visable.
I did that on each leaf, so that no holes I drilled are exposed. Right after this was done, I sandblasted the entire spring and started over with a clean spring. I was not happy with the orange on it because I ran out of paint before I got some heavy coverage, and it came out bad.
Don
Here is the entire spring after grinding it clean, and you can see how no holes are visable in any leaf.
Don
And, as I mentioned, the weather held out, so I got quite a bit of priming and painting done. The rear axle is all done, and so is the front spring. Tomorrow the parts should be dry enough to at least get the front end totally hung.
Here are some pictures of what I got painted tonight. More windchimes. :LOL: :LOL: Not too many big parts left to paint, all small stuff now. :D
I've got a chromed 10 bolt rear center cover, chrome shocks, and chrome shackles to install on the rear axle. Should contrast nicely against the orange, and break it up a little.
Don
Don the more I see of the orange, that you have painted the more I like the color. I will buy the pizza, just send me the bill.
Brad
Thanks Brad, like I said, it's starting to grow on me too.
Can I get two toppings on that pizza. :D :D :D
Don
Don, Where did you find that "No club" license frame? My Dad and buddies are in clubs and hassling me to join when I finish my car. Id love to slap one of those on my car now. I have never seen the frame you have.
BTW, I like the color combo as well, how about some simple pinstriped flames on the body, maybe layed with two colors, one being your orange?
Thanks Gusaroo. I do think the body will need something to break it up, so something will probably be painted on it, scallops or flames.
That frame was given to me by Tony DiCosta, who owned Hot Rod and Custom Supply, a shop devoted to all stuff 1950's-ish. (He has since sold it and it has moved to Indiana or some such place)
Tony was a flathead builder extraordinaire, and built the one for the Total Performance T that you saw in all the magazines. His shop used to be right here in Cape Coral Florida. After I got my '27 running I drove in to show it too him, and he liked the fact I had built it old-timey, so he walked back into the shop and dug out that frame. He had been saving it for a car for himself, but felt it would look good on my T.
I think it is a true '50's-'60's piece, because he told me it was very old, and I remember seeing them back then. It is one of those patina pieces you just keep for sentimental reasons. When I was President of the local Ford club, some of the members told me it was contradictory because I DID belong to a club, but they just didn't understand that it simply fit the era of the car.
Maybe someone is reproducing them? If I run into any in some catalog or whatever, I'll keep you in mind.
Don
Don
I haven't posted anything in a while, been pretty busy, but I check on your's and Jim's progress every day.
You're coming along great! Looks good. You'll be riding by the first part of June!
Like the others the color is growing on me too. I'm going to throw my vote in for the scallops or flames.
Those spring buttons are slick(no pun intended). I'll have to remember them.
Mike
Thanks Mike. I'm glad Bob P told me about the buttons. They are simple to insall and should work great. I guess he felt he owed me something after all those jokes about my "Girlfriend." :LOL: :LOL:
BTW, the spring liner from Speedway is horrible, and it is going back. It might be ok on a fendered car, where you don't see it, but on a car where the spring is right out there to see, it would not look good, I'm convinced. The edges that wrap up over the sides of the spring don't lay flat, and are all warped.
I see Total Performance no longer carries this style, possibly for that reason.
But these buttons are the cats meow, and should work on any leaf spring application, not just single cross springs. The part that goes into the hole actually snaps in to hold them in place until you get the spring assembled too.
Don
Who was joking?Quote:
Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
:eek: :LOL:
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Don
Splurge Don order all the way garbage pizza, your worth it....:rolleyes:
Brad
I got to knock off early today because I ran out of painted and chromed parts to install. :D That's a good thing, because I got the front end all mounted, and the backing plates and spindles temporarily put on. I need to order my tie rod from Speedway now that I know the dimension it ended up being.
However, it is official.............I LIKE THE COLORS. :3dSMILE: Now that I have seen more parts put on, it is coming together pretty well, and the orange in person isn't too far off of a nice gold. I can live with it.
Here are some pictures of the stuff I got bolted on today.
Don
BTW, here is a picture of how those poly slider buttons go onto the spring. They just tapped into the holes, and are held in place by the spring leaf below it. They seperate the leaves pretty far, and I suspect as they seat and get ground down the gap will close somewhat. But it isn't objectionable to me now.
Don
Looking good Don. It's a shame the the colors often don't photograph as they reayy are in person.
Thanks Mike. Yeah, my '27 photographs PINK, and it is PURPLE. :eek: :eek:
When I would post pictures of it, people thought I was either strange, or a Mary Kay saleperson. :eek: :eek:
Don
I hear you Don, I've deleted a lot of orange 57 Plymouth pictures from the camera.
And your point would be....................???????????Quote:
Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
Digital cameras are a real pain to get the right color.
We know that Mary Kay is all about Cadilacs so you know what that leaves! Looking good on the frame Don, makes the color really jump, very cool. It is really looking good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter
You know, when I typed that, I looked at my watch to try to figure out what time it was in Maple Valley Washington. I figured, nah, he's in bed a long time ago. :confused: What are you still doing up??? :D :D :D
Don
Don he`s 2 hours behind us, hell be up for awhile.
Nah, he's old.......they go to bed real early. :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
Don
Actually, Hotroddaddy, Uncle Bob in Washington is 3 hours behind you. :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: Don't worry, though, he'll have to get up soon to do the geezer stroll to the bathroom. (Believe me I know, been there and done that toooo many times)
You called it Duane, there he goes now !!!! :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: You'll notice he is looking at his palm. He has written instructions there how to get back to the bedroom from the bathroom. lol
Don
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
drat, I am not getting the images. oh, well. Don, you get the idea.
But every so often he gets lucky, and picks up some chick on his "chopper."
:LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
Don
Just remember Pops........I'll NEVER be as old as you.
And just like my spies sent me those other pictures of you that you're trying to turn on me, I've got another of you that just came in recently!
:D :D
Pshaw..........that picture is over 10 years old. :p :p :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: That's when I had lots of hair.
Don
Keep growing those eyebrows and you can use them for a comb over, Don
LOL
Brad
This weekends progress was 3 steps forward and 2 back. I really got a lot done Saturday, mounted the front end for the final time, and even got the spindles and backing plates on. Things were looking good.
Today my Son Dan was at the shop working on his car, and we started talking about the orange paint, and the more we talked the more I realized there was a color mismatch between the rear axle and spring, and some of the front end parts. Everything came out of the same can, but for some reason the front spring, and rear axle and spring came out a shade darker. Same primer, etc, so I have no idea what happened.
Dan finally said to me, "you know what you need to do? Pull the front end off, let's scuff it and shoot it again to see if it comes out as dark as the other parts." I really did not want to do that, but he made sense, and I knew I would never be happy with it, so that is what we did. We reshot the front axle, wishbones, steering arms, backing plates, and while we were at it, we painted the rear wishbones. Dan was really cool and gave up working on his car to help me (he said he ran out of parts to keep going, yeah, right :rolleyes: ) He actually did all the repainting for me, and it looks much darker. The springs are still somewhat darker, but I like the contrast, so I am going with it. I'm flat out tired of painting stuff.
I also got the rear end assembly in place, and tomorrow I will mount the rear wishbones and shocks. That should wrap up that end. I also will reinstall the front end and dismount my slicks so I can paint the wheels. All that I have left to paint are my drag link, tie rod (ordered it today from Speedway) and my wheels. Some little stuff beyond that, but those are the last big pieces.
Here are some shots of where the car ended up tonight. More windchimes hanging all over the place again. :D
My goal is to have the car rolling on painted wheels and tires by next Sunday PM. I should be able to do that pretty easily, I think.