Yeah i was pretty bummed when bill called and told me i just missed you guys, i will definatly be at the other two shows, so maybe it will work out then.
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Yeah i was pretty bummed when bill called and told me i just missed you guys, i will definatly be at the other two shows, so maybe it will work out then.
We're baa-aa-aack!!!! :D And boy is my butt tired from sitting on 2 inches of foam for 5 hours each way, and my legs are killing me from walking 1,000 miles around the swap meet for 3 days. But I wouldn't have traded it for the world.
Brad and Hotroddaddy, I am so sorry we missed each other. I and the other guys were really looking forward to doing that. Brad, I got the note, and the money, but I don't think $100 bills are supposed to have Hillary Clintons picture on the front, at least that is what the guy at the convenience store told me, so I am not sending you the title. :rolleyes: :) I laughed my tail off when I saw the note though, and thank you so much for the kind remarks on the T. I guess hotroddaddy just pulled out as I was coming in.........something about a hot date or something like that took him away suddenly. (Mrs Hotroddaddy, that is a JOKE !!! lol) You are right, we will try again at Billetproof in March.
Thank you Gastrick and JRobinson for the nice words too. You guys have a lot of room to talk, your cars are both amazing in person. I couldn't get enough of looking at the details on each one. I'll touch on that later on.
As Jim hinted, only one of our cars made it to Daytona. :( We started out about 11 am Thursday with Don in the lead, me in second position, and Dan driving Don's Tahoe as a support vehicle. All went well for the first two hours. People almost running into us on route 75 snapping pictures with cameras and cell phones out the car windows. That was really cool and fun.
Then suddenly I see smoke coming off of Dons rear tires as he is braking hard and pulling to the emergency lane, so we all got off. He says suddenly his engine started making a huge racket.
We started it up, and it was rapping really badly, so we pulled the drivers side valve cover and found the first valve stem had broken in half. We removed the remaining pieces of valve spring, roller rocker and other pieces and found the stem was frozen into the guide. We have no idea what happened, but will pulll the head tomorrow night and see the extent of the damage. I towed him a few miles up the road with a tow strap onto the Tahoe, and we got a trailer from Uhaul and he took it back home. I kept going to Daytona and he and Dan came up after they tucked his T into the shop.
I felt horrible for him, and he was really bummed. He kept saying he should have gone with his instincts to trailer it there because at least he could have cruised around Daytona at night while it was still unbroken. I look at it more positively though. We were lucky to be able to get it off the interstate and find a Uhaul place open on Thanksgiving. It could have been much worse.
Ok, here are some pictures of us starting out and driving up 75 prior to the engine problem. I'll be bck in just a minute tol post some pictures from Daytona.
Don
As I mentioned, I kept going on to Daytona alone because I didn't feel like driving back to Ft Myers then off to Daytona again. My T is fun around town, but it is a handful to drive on an interstate for 5-6 hours.
I got caught in a rainstorm, and worried about the slicks skidding so I pulled under a gas station roof for a while. But I got brave and drove on in the rain and surprisingly it went along fine. I just took it easy on the gas pedal.
The highlight of the trip for me was getting to meet a couple of guys from here in person. We arranged to meet at the track festivities on Saturday night at 8, and when I pulled in the place was a madhouse.........cars and people everywhere. After a few minutes two guys walked up to my car and introduced themselves........it was Jim (JRobinson) and Bill (Gastrick). I am not paying cheap compliments when I say they are two of the nicest people I have met in my life, and I felt immediately like we had been friends for years.
We spent a couple of hours trading lies, and my Sons were engrossed in their two cars. Dan was fascinated by Jims coupe, especially the torsion front suspension. He also loved Bills attention to detail on the '32. Don was thinking about ordering a '32 frame and glass five window body, and after seeing Bills coupe he is now convinced of it. Pictures do not do these two cars justice, and just hearing how they put each little detail into them was so cool. I always knew this forum and a couple of others I frequent were made up of some really super people, and these two are right at the top of that list.
I also got to meet Chevygirlrox and her Hubby from Rodding Roundtable. She had a very serious accident August a year ago when she totalled their T bucket. I had never had the pleasure of meeting her till Daytona, but had heard about the accident. Glad she is now ok. Also met a couple of Dan's fellow members from the HAMB........also super nice guys with some cool rods.
Here are some pictures we took of Jim, Bill, Dan, Don, me, and Jims friend Mike. We also had to take some pictures of the three rods of course. :D
First picture is Jim showing Dan the fine points of his front suspension.
Second picture shows from left to right, Mike (Jims buddy), my Son Don, Bill (Gastrick) and finally, Dan.
Third picture is Bill, Jim and me.
Fourth picture is our rods all lit up.
Don
I didn't take a bunch of car pictures at Daytona because I figured Bill would do that as he has an impressive picture collection and loves to snap them. But here is the view out our back window at the hotel, and also one of Bel Aire plaza where lots of cars congregate at night. The plaza finally relented and let the rodders park there because the merchants were pretty upset that they would be losing all that revenue.
Don
Finally, we got in tonight around 7 and I tore into Don's engine a little to see what I could see. The stem is frozen solid to the guide, and the head of the valve is protruding a little into the combustion chamber. From looking into the spark plug hole it looks like the piston has one gouge in it, but it looks like it will be ok. The valve looks intact, so maybe the head isn't damaged either. Tomorrow night we will know more when we tear the head off.
Maybe some of you will have some ideas what may have caused this to happen???
Don
Glad to hear you and your crew made it back safe.:)
Looks like you had a ball!
Other than being a "handful" sounds like your car had no issues.
Sorry to read about your son's engine. Really sad after all that work, but no one got hurt and that's what counts. Hope you get lucky with that piston.
Mike
Thanks Mike. Yep, I really feel for him, he was so planning on it. I also feel bad that I talked him out of trailering it there. The problem still would have happened sooner or later, but it might have held out so he could drive it around Daytona some.
FMX, sorry, I missed your question in there:
Don, I tried looking back and I know I asked you this question before but is that frame a stock Speedway Motors frame or did you Z it more to get it to sit that low? How about the front and rear suspension, are those a Speedway Motors set up as well?
No, we built a new frame entirely with about a 14 inch kickup in the rear. The front spring is Speedway, but on about '40 Ford wishbones. The rear spring is original model A Ford, and I think I am going to replace it with a Posies down the road. It has settled down about an inch because I guess of it being 80 years old, and maybe getting tired. The rear shocks have almost bottomed out, and I am going to order ones that are 2 inches shorter to take care of that. It presented no problems on the trip, but it is something I want to address later on.
BTW, I got just about 20 MPG on the trip! :3dSMILE: That was pretty good news especially at about $ 3.50 a gallon.
Don
Don, sorry about the engine.... You sure that money is no good I have a bed room full, some with Bill's some with Hilary face comes on a roll.... LOL
Like I said 15 hours arrive at 8am wait 1 hour in line to park, walk for 5 hours found your car waited as long as I could drive home 15 hrs. My leggs are killing me too. Next year going to have to plan better maybe get a room and stay till sunday. I told you I do crazy thing sometimes, just had to see the car. Was worth every minute Life to short as it is not to do thing just for the he....ll of it.
BradC
Wow, you REALLY did that?? :eek: I thought you were in town for the show and just happened to pop by. I had no idea. It would have be great if you would have stopped by Saturday night, you would have enjoyed meeting the other guys too.
You must be like the guy in the commercial who drives clear up into Maine to get a lobster dinner.:LOL: :LOL:
Don
Don,
I was anxiously waiting for the recap, thanks for the photo's. Can't do much for your sons disappointment, but you can fix the mechanical stuff and look forward to your next trip.
If your son is going to channel the next project, I am close to having the frame done. If I can help after I show it to you let me know.
Ken
Must have been a great feeling to get to do this . Meeting some of the local guys also .
Man the break down on Don's rod stunk. Well get out the wrenches and do a repair get him back up and running .
Hi Ken. No, he is going to do a highboy coupe. He is in love with the Graffiti coupe and was going to do a semi-clone. It has been done a million times, he realizes, but he wanted to do one with some similarities, but also some differences.
After seeing Bills coupe and a few others he is rethinking the final look. Thanks for the offer, we would love to see your pictures and progress.
BTW, Dan is about to get some time to actually work on his own '29 for a change, now that Don and I have ours pretty much done. He bought a beautiful chromed and drilled Superbell axle and four new blackwall 16 inch tires at Daytona. He also picked up a set of the repopped 682 C Guide headlights that have the parking light on top. They really look like the original and are nice. Tonight he was already mocking up things to set ride height and all. We are going to try to get it done for Billetproof in March. I've been letting him drive my T around, and I can see him getting more antsy to get his done now. At first he would fight me when I told him to take the keys, but now I get very little resistance. :LOL: :LOL:
Don
Bobby, it was really so nice to finally put some faces with the names on the forum. We all sit here and have this same interest in cars, but it is great to actually hear the guy tell you in person about how he did this or that on his car.
When I looked at the 20 bazillion very straight holes Gastrick drilled into his interior tin work, and saw things like the beautiful wood dash JRobinson built for his coupe, it gave me a whole new appreciation for how talented many of our members are. There are so many ways to build a car that it's very interesting to see how others approach it.
I really would love to go to more events and meet lots more of our members some day.
Don
Don, do you think if I just order the Speedway Motors frame kit with the 10 inch kick up and just cut it and add a 14 inch kick up then it would be as low as yours? How about the front? I see they have a few different front and rear suspension set ups and I like the arch spring in the back instead of 4 link and coil overs since it is more of a vintage look. Like I said, I still have a 302 here, 3 speed tranny (probably put in a automatic for more room like you said but have access to a C4), 57 Chevy rear end or even a 9 inch housing and have access to the internals and I have old axles for it) and I have a few other parts laying around too. As for paint and body work, that wont cost me much at all since I will be doing it myself and have most of the materials already for that.
Sorry to hear about your son's car, but it's fixable (it happens). Great to hear you had such a good time and yours did good.
It's a great feeling to put one together, do a long road trip and make it back with no problems.......just seems to turn the car into an instant old friend, and a great payoff for all the hard work.
Thanks Mike. Yep, we made the same comment as we were coming back (Dan was riding shotgun) He said " Pretty amazing to think that this was something that a year ago we were welding up the frame for, and now it's running down the road." It is satisfying, and it is also cool that people received it so well. I got comments ranging from "cute" to "bet that's fun to drive" , and everything in between. Makes all the sweat and bandaids worthwhile. :D
FMX, you could take an existing frame and cut it up I guess, but it is just as easy to start from scratch IMO. I know it seems logical that you can just cut off the back and add whatever steel you need to get it down lower, and that can of course be done, but you would be better off just building one out of new tubing. Probably cheaper too.
As for the lowness in front, a T bucket type suicide front end will get you down, but to get it really low I had to go beyond that. I mounted my spring shackles on the lowest point on the car, the gussets on the wishbones. By doing that I was able to lower it more than the normal mounting point that they use on the batwings.
One thing that surprised me the most since I have started driving it is that I don't really have to baby it over speedbumps and coming out of driveways. I have seen lowriders creep sideways very slowly when entering parking lots and stuff like that, and I thought I would have to be careful too. But I am able to drive it like a regular car and it hasn't bottomed out yet. I guess the short wheelbase and the fact that the low suspension parts rise with the tires gives it enough clearance under those circumstances. I ran into some really horrible road conditions around Orlando where it was hard to avoid very rough pavement and bumps, and it was never a problem even at highway speeds.
I'm reposting a couple of pictures for you to see how the bare frame looked, and also some of the front suspension. Maybe these will explain better what you would need to do to get it down as low as you would like. BTW, sounds like you are getting some good parts together. Take my word for it though, go with the automatic. Even two pedals were tough to fit in there........three would have been impossible.
Don
I have an idea, why don't you start a tread on how to build a roadster for less than $3,000! We would all love to follow along :D We would all be happy to participate with Ideas and suggestions along the way.Quote:
Originally Posted by FMXhellraiser
Ken
Nah, I don't think a thread like that would fly. Probably wouldn't go for more than a page or two. :p :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
I spoke to the machine shop that did Don's heads. He says two things can cause a stem to gall up in the guide.......lack of lubrication or if the valve kissed the piston and bent it. I think that is what happened. Remember a week ago when the pushrod bent and the screw in stud broke on that same valve? We attributed it to the pushrods being too long. However, now giving it more thought, probably that valve got kissed a little and it bent the stem just enough to make it not ride right in the guide. Over the couple hours he drove it the thing probably got tighter and tighter until it froze up completely.
We will pull that head tonight and if it looks undamaged otherwise I'll drop it off tomorrow to have the guide honed and a new 202 valve installed. Hopefully we can have the car running by Dec 2 for the big downtown Ft Myers car show. That would take some of the sting out of him not having it at Daytona.
Don
Hey sorry i missed you guys, looks like a good party ensued after i left.
No way I could do one for under 3,000 bucks. Especially if I buy from Speedway Motors. Don, I may take your advice on frame from scratch. After shipping and everything, I will end out more most likely. When I am ready I will just go ahead and talk to you about it more if you don't mind like the size of tubing, thickness, where to get the front end parts at, etc. I want mine just as low as yours and no higher. I don't like the stock height most T's are, they look goofy to me. :D
Good plan FMX, I'll be happy to tell you anything I know and help in any way I can.
John, yep, we had fun, and really missed having you there. We are starting to think we are never supposed to actually meet each other, especially after last year. :) At Billetproof we are going to all hook up for sure.
Don
Don, do you mean to say I can get Lobster here without going to Maine ? Great now what do I do about tuesday night dinner.....LOL. I'm sorry I didn't get to hook up with any of you guy's.
BradC
Yep Brad, and you can get NY style pizza, oh, nevermind.:LOL: :LOL:
If I knew you were coming I would have made sure to be by my car. My lousy Metro PCS phone stopped working outside Deltona and my Sons and I couldn't even call each other up in Daytona. All I got was a message that it was out of my service area.
Since you like to travel Brad, try to make a point of going to Garlits place for Billetproof in March. By then you should be sick of snow and need to come to Florida for some vitamin C. :cool: :)
Don
Don, make sure you keep my number, because you never know where I will show up....LOL you know like a bad penny. I really like the stance and how low your T is, the pictures just don't do justice. I will have to get a ride next time.
BradC
Yep ,billetproof for sure. Our club is going in full force so no matter what ill be there.And brad ,you should try and come down for that one, it should be a good show.
Hey don, how far is it to orlando for you guys?the rumblers groundhog show is in febuary, maybe you can come up for that.
I'm here to tell you guys Don's T looks even more impressive in person than it does in his build thread. It was also really great to finally meet Don and his sons, first class people. The same can be said for J Robinson and Hotroddaddy and his wife. I wasn't able to take any group pics because my number one son ran off with the camera, but here are some individual pics of Don's car, J Robinson's coupe, and Hotroddaddy's Merc taken that same night.
http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/4...29smalllk1.jpg
http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/1...18smallze3.jpg
http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/4...05smallrz7.jpg
Don, I have an OT question.
You said you visited with Chevygirlrox. Did she say if they ever determined what was the cause of her wreck? I followed the thread, but don't think they ever said. Lot's of speculation though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hotrod46
It was a little noisy when we were talking, and I asked her that, and I think she said something about another car running into her, but I could be wrong on that. She ended up with the front tire going under a guard rail, and she had 6 broken ribs and a ruptured spleen, I think. If it is the one that I saw in some pictures, it was on it's side with the open part of the cockpit right against the guardrail. :eek: I am not 100 % sure, but I think the one pictured below is her's after the crash. Very pretty young lady, and really into cars too.
John, Orlando is about 4 hours or so. February might be a go, thanks for the heads up.
Don
That's the right car in your pic Don.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gastrick
Ouch!! :eek: She is sooooooooo lucky. Do you know any more details of the wreck??
Don
What forum is she on? Mention of her wreck on this thread is all I have heard of it... When did it happen? Was it in Florida?
Jim, I know she is on Rodding Roundtable, and also the HAMB, I think. They live in Ohio because she mentioned they are near the Flaming River factory. She was returning from some show (maybe T Bucket Nationals?) and that is when it happened. Not sure in what State though. She said it happened August of 2006.
I should have gotten more details from her, but I was a little foggy from just driving up to Daytona when she and her Husband came over to my car and introduced themselves. My hearing wasn't up to par from all the wind rushing by for 5 hours either, so I missed a lot of what they were telling me.
They did say the body stayed remarkably intact, and even the little rubber wellnuts that hold the body to the frame didn't come loose. Mickey from Total Performance called them a couple of days later and wanted the car back for research purposes so they could learn what a wreck does to a car like this.
That is as much as I know, and maybe someone else can fill in the blanks and give better facts than I have given here. I kept thinking of her wreck as I was buzzing along at 70mph coming home from Daytona. It wouldn't take much to end up off of the road and these things sure don't afford much protection. You also can't relax for a second and have to keep watching traffic all around you to make sure some rubbernecker isn't moving over into your lane as he looks at your car (happened a couple of times on the trip) :eek:
Don
Glad all of you guys had fun at Daytona. Next year you have to set up an area lit by large floodlights if you are going to take car photos at night!!!!! haahaa. And a lobster in Maine is worth the drive, better than a crawdad in Flor-------ehhhh, well anyways!!! haahaaaa. I am glad you talked about the T accident and your having to be careful and such. I been thinking for a couple of years that I would feel REAL vulnerable in one of those things! It's like a motorcycle to me, went for a ride, once, that was enough! haahaa. Best Regards to everyone. oldrodder43 perley
Don, I copied and pasted the below statement made by chevygirlrox from the h.a.m.b. thread that covered the accident back in August of 06. I've also included a link to the thread for those that wish to read it.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...rlrox+accident
"Ok, now the story...
I had drove Matt's t-bucket the 400 plus miles down to Louisville the Wednesday the nationals started without the slightest of problems. I had driven the t bucket alot since it was done, so it wasn't any big deal. I had a great time at the nationals with lots of new and old friends. We had decided to leave Sunday afternoon after the drawing and more importantly after Plowboy gave me my much deserved ride in the Lunar Lander! So after that was over we finished packing up everything and jumped in the cars. It was going to be a nice afternoon/evening so I told Matt I would keep driving the bucket and he could drive the giveaway truck. We went a few miles up the road and fueled up the cars and headed off. I had decided to be in the middle of the pack since I had a tendency to go a little faster than my friend that was trailering two cars wanted to go. So, my friend Devin was in front, me in the middle and Matt behind me.
I was cruising along at about 75 when I went over a bridge. The engine changed pitch slightly and I wasn't sure what was wrong, but the car was still moving forward. I decided that I had better slow down and pull over to check things out. I didn't want to put on the brakes since I wasn't sure what was wrong. We were ascending a hill so I figured I would just take my foot off the gas and naturally slow down. Well that all went through my mind in about three seconds. The next thing I knew the wheels were skidding and the bucket was out of control. I remember ramming into the guardrail and then my body rolling in the grass. The next thing I remember was Matt yelling my name. I was laying in some tall grass and thought he might not see me so I got up and ran up the hill so he knew where I was. I don't remember hurting, but I'm sure I was in shock. As soon as I got to the top of the hill everyone was yelling at me to lay down.
Traffic had come to stop and there were people everywhere. Within what seemed to be seconds there were people hovering over me on the ground all asking questions and yelling and talking on their cellphones. A State Highway patrolman had the nerve to ask me why I wasn't wearing a seltbelt and consequently had the seatbelt argument with me at that very moment. I think he finally saw the light though that I would have been dead if I would have been strapped to that machine. Some very nice registered nurses happened to be travelling on the highway in the traffic with me took care of me until the ambulance arrived (thanks if you are reading this, I know at least one of you was a rodder). All in all I felt pretty good. I knew there was some bleeding on my face from when I hugged Matt but wasn't sure what else was wrong. I felt like someone had kicked the wind out of me but I was still breathing. One of the nurses told me I had a really bad cut on the back of my right leg so she was compressing it. I really didn't have any pain though.
Then the ambulance came. The strapped me to one of those boards so so so tight I thought I was going to die! They also put one of those neck braces on so I was completely immobile and I HATED it. Then the biggest crime occured....they cut off my brand new Halibrand shirt that I had been wearing for a total of 8 minutes. I told them I would just take it off and not to cut it but they didn't seem to care. The lady then told me that I had to go to the hospital to get checked out. I told her I was fine but she said I at least needed some stitches. I told here I wanted to go to Cinci so I would be closer to home but she said the the helicopter would probably take me back to Louisville. Wait...did she say helicopter? Yes, she thought I needed airflighted because of my 'condition' and the type of accident I had been in. I fought with her about it but she really didn't care. So the helicopter came and landed in the middle of the freeway and they took me away all by myself. They wouldn't let any of my friends ride along.
They took me to the U of L Medical Center where a trauma team got right to work taking scans and poking me with needles. After a couple hours of tests and observation they came in and told me I was going to have my spleen removed and that they would stitch up my leg while I was under. I told them I didn't want to have surgery and that I was fine. The next thing I remember was waking up and having a nurse tell me that I needed to find a way to get comfortable to have my leg stitched up. That was the first chance I had to move with my newly cracked ribs, that was fun. She also told me the doctors had decided to just keep me under observation and not remove my spleen.
So I spent the next week in the ICU getting my blood checked every two hours and laying around. They could tell from my blood count that my spleen was ok. I have LOTS of stitches in my leg. Not sure the exact number but it took an hour and 45 minutes to stitch it shut.
I came home from the University of Louisville Hospital on Saturday afternoon. It was a long ride but I knew I would be rewarded in the end by finally being at my own house! It was nice to sleep in my own bed without being poked with needles or having tens of wires hooked up to me. Don't get me wrong, the care I received there was great, but I don't plan on going back anytime soon for more."
Wow, just wow!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: I read her statement and the entire HAMB thread you posted Gastrick, thank you. How scary. From the sounds of it something locked up in the tranny, and one person ventured the opinion that it might have been the shifter dropping down from when she came over the bridge bump.
I've had the same discussions with people who chastise me for not having a seatbelt in either of my roadsters, but I have always felt I do not want to be strapped to them if they flip. In her case it was what probably saved her......getting thrown clear. I worry about my Son in his T because I have driven these little pocket rockets for years and have learned some lessons on what they can do in a heartbeat. He seems to respect that though, so hopefully he will take it easy with his.
I guess the brightside is that statisically we rodders are involved in fewer accidents than the average passenger car. You rarely hear about a hot rod or custom wrecking, compared to the daily carnage of family type vehicles. But when it does happen the results can be very serious. I'm so glad Megan came out of it so well.
Here are two other rods that I have pictures of that have wrecked. The light colored T bucket supposedly was wrecked when some girl borrowed a roomates T and punched it coming out of a gas station. The other black one unfortunately resulted in the death of the owner/driver. :(
Don
My ears were burning so I thought I'd better check around to see who was talking about me! :)
It was nice meeting you Don at the Turkey Run. I really like your t-bucket. It is very well done and has a great style to it. Hopefully someday I will get to see your son's as well.
Yes, the above grainy photo is the bucket post accident.
I miss the bucket a lot. I am and will always be a roadster girl.
Don't feel too bad though. At the end of spring my friend Matt (not husband as previously mentioned :) ) and I found a 1950s Cali built '32 roadster hi boy that had been in storage since the mid-60s. We got it back on the road again in time for the Deuce reunion in Detroit in August and I love it. I also had the privilege to drive a friend of mine's '32 roadster all the way to Bonneville for Speedweek and back (6500 miles round trip) topless!
A lot of people thought I would never drive a roadster again but actually after I got out of the hospital the first car I drove was a convertible. Even though we never really figured out exactly what happened; whether it was the tranny, rear end or another component in the drivetrain; I have realized that accidents do happen. No matter how good of a builder or a driver you are they still happen. It was a Total Performance T bucket and chassis that we had built. I didn't plan to be their crash test dummy but I must admit it held up really well in the accident. The body never came off the frame and only had one small crack in it where the 'bed' was bondo'd onto the bucket. I know that Matt would build another Total Performance bucket in a heartbeat. Matter of fact, he talked with Mickey at the Turkey Run this past weekend about it.
Well, I guess that's about it. Or should I say, 'that's my story and I'm sticking to it!' :)
Welcome to Club Hot Rod!
Seems that I got all this accident talk started and I thank you for answering my question. I've been curious about it since reading it on the HAMB. It never hurts to look for new things to check in the name of safety.
I'm glad to hear you're doing OK and that you're back in a roadster.
Mike
[QUOTE=ChevyGirlRox] I also had the privilege to drive a friend of mine's '32 roadster all the way to Bonneville for Speedweek and back (6500 miles round trip) topless!
Did you cause many accidents driving around that way????? :eek: :cool: :D :D
(sorry, couldn't pass that one up :LOL: :LOL: )
I enjoyed meeting you and Matt also. Nice to meet a lady who enjoys this hobby, and especially roadsters, as much as you do. BTW, don't be a stranger around here, we would love to have you aboard now and then.
Don
"I found a 1950s Cali built '32 roadster hi boy that had been in storage since the mid-60s. We got it back on the road again in time for the Deuce reunion in Detroit in August and I love it. I also had the privilege to drive a friend of mine's '32 roadster all the way to Bonneville for Speedweek and back (6500 miles round trip) topless!"
Yeah I'm with Don, load some photos and show us your topless ride!:3dSMILE: :LOL: Seriously I loved watching Don's build and enjoy seeing everyones cars as they build and post.
Don glad you made it safe up and back. I wonder if your son's interior kit had 4 inch foam for those long hours in the seat!:D How is Don's engine? Also I never fully appreciated how low your car is until I saw it in the group fotos. It must seem like your going 90 mph when your at the speed limit!
Thanks, glad we made the trip safely too. Yep, it's low for sure. I realized that more and more as I was driving up 75 and trailer trucks would go by. :eek: One false move and it could have been very uncool.
We pulled Don's head off Monday night and the exhaust valve was kissed by that piston. Piston has a little gouge in it, nothing bad and it's a forged piston so it will be fine. The head of the valve is intact and only bent over a little, so the machine shop can press it out, ream the guide and install a new valve.
It supports my theory that when the pushrods were too long that valve touched the piston and slightly bent the stem, then as it was moving up and down it kept getting tighter and tigher until it froze and broke the stem. All the other valves are fine and so are the pistons, so I think once that one is fixed it will cure the problem. We were worried that the head would have been messed up, and there is a lot of porting , polishing. big valves, etc. in them and it would be expensive to redo a new one. Pretty sure he dodged the bullet.
Don