Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Thanks Brad. Is your garage to the point where you can get out of the cold now? November in Ohio should be starting to get nippy, I would imagine.

It is actually cool here this weekend, getting down to the 50's at night, they say. Makes it so much more pleasant to work in the shop. Today Don and I had a little problem to deal with on his T engine. He noticed 5 of the 6 freeze plugs were weeping water. These were brass freeze plugs that I had the machine shop install when I had the engine work done. I owned this engine before I sold it to Don, and had a bunch of machine work done to it, and always have them put in brass freeze plugs as part of the deal.

So we had to remove the headers and motor mounts, and lift the engine up with the engine lift to get access to them. When I knocked them out there wasn't a bit of sealant on any of them, so we bought 6 more and replaced them all, this time gooping lots of Permatex all over them. The new freeze plugs looked better than the ones we popped out too, much deeper with more sealing area. It was one of those jobs you don't want to do, but better to find it now than to have a problem later on when you are far from home. It really didn't take us long at all..........that's the nice thing about a fenderless, hoodless hot rod. Nothing to get in the way.

Yesterday Don painted the headlight mounts I built for him out of the cut down '32 headlight bar, and today we got it and the headlights mounted. We are using some old Guide torpedo shaped headlights that I had in my stash, and they fit the look of the car pretty well. Kinda oldtimey. Dan temporarily hooked up some wires so we could see them lit, and they are going to work fine for this car. Dan worked on measuring for Dons brake lines, and tomorrow we can call Inline Tube and order the stainless lines and braided brake lines we need.

Tonight it was my turn to be the bad influence. I talked Don into moving the T outside, blocking the wheels so it couldn't move, and shifting it into forward and reverse while the engine was running. We have never been able to do that because of having no brakes yet, and I wanted to see how the torque convertor reacted to the X cam he has in the engine. Long story short, even with the 2800 rpm stall convertor, he will probably have to shift into neutral at red lights. That cam is just so lumpy that it wants to surge the car forward each time the rpms rise and fall on the cam. Somehow, I don't think he minds too much and feels the idle is worth all of that. He agrees it needs more baffles in the headers. Still sounds like a fuel dragster.

Here are some pictures we took tonight. Tomorrow night we are going to try to wrap up the wiring and get the car to the upholstery shop on Tuesday. Only 16 more days till we leave for Daytona, so lots to do on both cars yet.

Don



Tonight it

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Tonight it was my turn to be the bad influence. I talked Don into moving the T outside, blocking the wheels so it couldn't move, and shifting it into forward and reverse while the engine was running. We have never been able to do that because of having no brakes yet, and I wanted to see how the torque convertor reacted to the X cam he has in the engine. Long story short, even with the 2800 rpm stall convertor, he will probably have to shift into neutral at red lights. That cam is just so lumpy that it wants to surge the car forward each time the rpms rise and fall on the cam. Somehow, I don't think he minds too much and feels the idle is worth all of that.

He need a more 'loose' convertor based on what you're saying. Sounds like it should be a real runner. Congrats on both the cars you and your son built.