Printable View
I like the head light shot! It's cool to do the night photos. Even with you guys all hunched down, your still taller that you T.:D
That car sure sits low! I bet it really messes with your perception of how fast your going. Kind of like driving one of those racing go carts, two inches off the ground!
You didn't mention Dan on the next trip. Does this mean he won't be going, or that the RPU won't quite be ready by then(which I totaly understand given my current progress)?
Heh, heh... Not yet Earl. I wish it was ready, but not yet...:o There won't be much chrome on my school teacher budget, but lots of paint. Everything but the rod ends and some bolts gets painted.:3dSMILE:
OK, no pics to post, but just a quick update. I spent all day yesterday (Saturday) finish welding everything on the frame. All I have left to finish weld is the radius rod brackets on the rear axle housing. Then it's grind and sandblast time...:whacked: I have to admit this is the part of the build that I hate.:( Once I get everything in primer so I can start painting, it gets to be fun again.
I won't get much done for the next two weeks, however. Next weekend (Oct 17 - 19) I will be in Daytona for Biketoberfest and the following weekend (Oct 25 - 26) I will be in Daytona again for the Dream Cruise.:cool: :D
I know what ya mean Jim I hate the grinding, smoothing, polishing, plating, and painting stage. I sure do love putting it back together for that last time though.
No hemi for Daytona. I'm going to pull the sbc right after the Turkey Run and start the swap. I still need a few things that cost money.
I'll see you and Don at the Turkey Run again.
I haven't been on in a while but I have to say, great work! It's comming along nicely. I wish I could make Turkey Run but unfortunately I wont. I really want to see this T and Dons T in person.
I won't get much done for the next two weeks, however. Next weekend (Oct 17 - 19) I will be in Daytona for Biketoberfest and the following weekend (Oct 25 - 26) I will be in Daytona again for the Dream Cruise.:cool: :D[/QUOTE]
Geez Jim, you might as well just move to Daytona..........oh, that's right, you ALMOST do live in Daytona. :D You don't even have time to get your A warmed up and there you are. :LOL:
Don
Bill - Yeah, that last time is like assembling a big model car. Everything is already fabricated and has been together once, so it goes fairly quickly... I'll see you there.:)
FMX - I'll be driving my coupe at the Turkey Run. If you want to see the T, try to make it to Billetproof in March. I hope to be driving it then.:cool:
Don - If I moved to Daytona it would take away all the fun of driving my cars to get there!:LOL: :LOL: I admit, it is nice being in a location that has so much "car stuff" going on. Daytona (45 miles away) has two major rod runs at the Speedway and now the Dream Cruise.:cool: Rossmeyer's Destination Daytona (Harley Dealership - 60 miles away) has a cruise-in every 3rd Saturday. New Smyrna (27 miles) has a cruise-in every 2nd Saturday. This one is big and well-attended. Sanford (32 miles) has a cruise-in every 4th Saturday and my home town of Titusville does the first Saturday of every other (odd numbered) month.
The Dream Cruise is this weekend; right now it's raining and is predicted to do so all day and most of the night. Tomorrow (Saturday) is the big day. Hopefully, the rain will quit by tomorrow morning. I'll let you all know how it turns out...:D
It's been fun watching you build it. I love everything but the fake rust....
Quote:
Originally Posted by stovens
No Steve, Dan's car won't be making it this year (again :( ) but through no fault of his. He is working 15 hour days right now plus playing every Saturday night, and doesn't have the time or energy to bust on the rpu like we were doing a few months ago. He's ok with it though, and is going to try to be up and running for Billetproof in March. He is going with us though, driving the tow car with Don's T behind.
Don actually tried to talk me into towing my T too. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. THAT will be the day!! :LOL: :LOL:
Don
Glad to see it will be a family event. I too have slowed down, mostly financial, but winter coming is an incentive to get going again. I just wish the lotto would pay off! :3dSMILE:
I figue I have lots of firewall holes to patch, replumb the new rear brakes, and replace the front body panels that were removed this summer. Also lots of bolts to buy. If I did it all over I'd have bought an entire engine bolt kit from the get go!
J.R. sorry for the highjack. Can't wait to see you car back together with paint. I like the roadster look reminds me of the early race cars!:cool:
Yeah Jim, sorry for the hijack..........but at least Bob hasn't shown up with any pictures of his "cuties" yet. :rolleyes: :D :D
Don
Boy oh Boy, Jim-can not wait to see this car going back together. Our events here this time of year (in northern Colo) have names like polar run, ect. I'm jealous, except your summers sound bad.
Will you be doing write up-pic's as it goes together?
Earl
firebird77clone - Don't worry, the fake rust will be very minimal. It will only be there to fool the "uninitiated" into thinking this is a steel body, but won't detract from overall appearance. I've seen some "patina" jobs that were way overdone...:HMMM:
Don - Tow car??!!!:eek: Tell Don Jr. I had about 300 miles total on my coupe when I left here for Indiana two years ago. We made a 2400 mile loop through western Tenn, Indiana, the Carolinas, and back home with only one minor incident (ignition wire came off the coil in Alabama). Ya gotta have faith in your work!:D :LOL: :LOL:
Stovens - It is styled after the track-T's of the late 40's & early 50"s with a little 60's "altered" influence thrown in.
Hey, you guys didn't hijack anything; it's all related to the topic of building hotrods. Uncle Bob has been mysteriously silent recently. I guess this thread hasn't "inspired" him like yours did, Don.:rolleyes:
Earl - Summers here are hot and humid, but tolerable and generally pleasant. The only disadvantage is the occasional tropical storm. It's worth the tradeoff, though, not to have to put up with snow and freezing temps. I get to ride my motorcycle and drive my hotrod year-round...:cool: :D Yes, I'll be posting pictures all along the way until it is finished and on the road.
Have a good trip with the new car! Should be a fun one, hope the car (and everyone else) behaves along the way!!!!
Don - Tow car??!!!:eek: Tell Don Jr. I had about 300 miles total on my coupe when I left here for Indiana two years ago. We made a 2400 mile loop through western Tenn, Indiana, the Carolinas, and back home with only one minor incident (ignition wire came off the coil in Alabama). Ya gotta have faith in your work!:D :LOL: :LOL:
I know what you mean, Jim, but Dan and I talked him out of towing his car last year and it ended up eating that valve enroute. If we would have not given him a hard time about it he could have towed it there and at least driven it around town a little. The valve would have eventually broken because of the too long pushrods, but he could have probably gotten the weekend at TR out of it before it died.
After some of the problems we had early on with his T, he is just starting to regain confidence in it. The engine seems fine now, and TCI looks like they got this new transmission right. But it is so important for Don to drive his car around Daytona this year there is no way Dan and I will "advise" him not to tow it. :o :D
Here are pictures of just a few of the "bugs" we had to work out of his car.
Don
Been pretty deep in a remodel project the past few months Jim, so time online has been reduced. Or maybe I'm just mellowing in my dotage.:DQuote:
Originally Posted by J. Robinson
"I get to ride my motorcycle and drive my hotrod year-round... Yes, I'll be posting pictures all along the way until it is finished and on the road."
Jim,
I drive year round also (except sold the Harley few years ago). Just need to dress a little warmer. Went with a new Hot Rod Air ac/heat unit. Used to have Vintage Air unit. Heater core broke and just as cheap to go with new inside unit. Have yet to connect the A/C part. Only had it in for 8 years. Maybe this time around I will get A/C hooked up. Like the hot rod air connections on top. That is reason I went that way.
Hot-Humid---YUK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hot is in the 80's. Humid around hear is above 30%. And you can keep the "tropical storm" part. I used to be a claims rep. for State Farm Fire Ins., (for 17 years). Had to handle a lot of the storm/disaster claims, so no thank you.
Earl
One thing about our 200 percent humidity, it sure give a car patina in a hurry. You can't buy that kind of aging!! :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:
Don
Quote:
Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
You got me ::p **) :LOL: :LOL:
Earl
Don - I had forgotten how serious Don Jr's breakdown was. I was remembering the problem with the Pittman arm... I don't blame him for being a little "gun shy". Although I only had a few hundred miles on my coupe when we left on our midwestern loop, I had been driving it intermittently for about a year and had already discovered (and fixed) a couple of problems.;)
Bob - Glad to see you're still here. Your lack of visibility had us concerned... I don't think I'll ever forget the picture of Rosie O'Donnell with a hairy chest.:( Every time I see her on TV I think of that image. I guess I am permanently brain-damaged now...:whacked: :LOL:
Earl - I'm originally from Indiana. Up there my friends still put their motorcycles and hotrods in storage in late October and don't bring 'em out until May. The weather is just too unpredictable. I've never been sorry for leaving there. 80 degrees is mildly pleasant here; it's not hot until it gets above 92. Anything below 60 is freezing!:3dSMILE:
Don is right about instant patina; grind a piece of steel until it shines and leave it. Come back the next day and it will have an orange look to it - surface rust has already set in.:eek: Whenever ya do grinding or sandblasting here, you need to keep a primer gun ready so you can coat the bare metal immediately!:HMMM:
OK. Back to work!:p I've been a bit distracted the last couple of weeks with Biketoberfest and then the Daytona Dream Cruise, but I did manage to get about an hour of work in on the roadster Sunday evening. In my last update I had been finish-welding on the frame and some other components. I did not, however, get around to finishing the rear end bracketry. Everything has been solidly tacked in place for months, but not finished...
I began by marking the weld areas off in increments of just over an inch which divided each of the welds into eight sections. I began by welding the back inch of each outer weld area (welds closer to the ends of the housing). Then I rolled the housing over and did the front inch. Next I did the bottom inch of each, then the top. Then the lower back, upper front, lower front and upper back. This way I was always welding 180 degrees from the previous weld to minimize warpage of the rear end housing. When the outer welds were complete, I began the process again with the inner welds (closest to the center). By strapping the radius rod brackets to the rear housing this way, they are super strong and the welds go all the way around the housing which equalizes and minimizes warpage.:D :cool:
metal has the irritating habit of moving when you weld it, regardless of how careful you place the beads. Do you send the rear ends to a shop ( with a 20 ton press ) for inspection after welding, just in case it did warp?
Yes, metal (especially steel) does have that nasty little tendency...:mad: But, no, I don't send them out; I don't know of any place in this area who has such equipment. I check them with a straight-edge and if they are badly warped, I have my own way of dealing with it. In short, I use the tendency of metal to "draw" when it's welded to bring them back into tolerance. For a better explanation with pictures, look back at page 8 of this thread.:3dSMILE:
I do remember that page. You just lay some weld on the side that needs to draw. BUT.. just how close does close have to be?
I don't know, really.:confused: Everything on an automobile is built "within tolerance". I don't know what the + or - tolerance is on a rear axle housing when it's manufactured. I can tell you this: the farther from the center of the axle housing that the warpage takes place, the less effect it will have on the misalignment of the wheels. Also, the wider the rear end, the less effect warpage has on alignment. For example, if I have a rear end that is 60 inches wide and it is warped 1/4 inch forward (that's pretty extreme) as measured from the center to the end (30 in.), that pulls the wheels into a toe-in situation of about 2 degrees per side.:( The same warpage on a narrowed rear end of only 30 inches in width (1/4" over a 15 in. distance) would amount to almost 4 degrees of misalignment.:eek: :mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by firebird77clone
For me, I check the axle housing with a straight edge from the center to the end. If it's within 1/10th of an inch (.100"), that's good enough. The misalignment of the wheels would be less than 1/2 degree and that will never make a discernable influence on handling or tire wear.:3dSMILE:
I check mine with a fixture...consisting of a center section with a pair of .750 thick aluminum "donuts" replacing the carrier bearings and the correct sized aluminum "donut" on the wheel bearing end and a long rod going all the way through. The housing is quite easy to straigten by using a weld to draw the housing, or when complete putting the entire housing in press to make it straight again.... We used to play a bit with camber and lead on the dirt track housings...with mixed results.......
I hadn't even considered wheel misalignment. Iwas thinking in terms of .001 on the gears and bearings.
Generally there is enough clearance in the splines of the axles & spider gears that they can run misaligned a few degrees with no problem. The carrier bearings and ring & pinion gears are not affected. The outer axle bearing may suffer slightly if misalignment is severe enough.:HMMM:
Dave Severson (above) mentioned playing with rear camber and lead on dirt tracks. Back in my stock car days, we did some of the same stuff on asphalt. We tried bending the right end of the rear axle housing up and running a slightly larger tire on the right rear. The net effect was to get a couple of degrees of negative camber on the right rear wheel for improved bite in the corners - it didn't help much, if any, but it didn't hurt the gears or bearings.:)
We are kinda shadetree in the respect we don't do any rear axles on a jig or true them when we are done, but knock on wood, we've never had any seal or bearing problems after welding brackets to them. I think if you keep moving around and don't let the heat build up in one spot for too long, you are ok.
Like I have always said, there is the real world and then there is the perfect world. We rodders get away with stuff all the time that the experts say can't work. :)
Don
Amen!:whacked: :LOL: :LOL:Quote:
Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
Wow, isn't that the truth. Good one Don :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
A friend of mine who races road course Mustangs always had trouble getting enough camber in his rear axle. To stay hooked in the corners he would generally run a strategically 'bent' axle in the races and have no problems with it. Sure the seals/bearings would wear but his was tweaked quite a bit. So it can work even in high stress situations. Fortunately the rules have changed and that is no longer needed.
Mike
Tried to do some sandblasting last Saturday... First the humidity was causing water condensation in the air hose and clogging my sandblast gun nozzle.:( Then, when I could get it working, I could only go a short distance before I ran out of air pressure and had to wait on the compressor to catch up.:mad: I guess my old air compressor is just too tired to do this type of work any more. Jeez! It's only 33 years old...:CRY:
Seriously, it was rated at 5.7 cfm @ 90 PSI when it was new (30 gal; 2 hp). I'm sure it's below that now... So, I went to Home Depot and bought a new one. This one is 60 gal, 3.2 hp and rated at 10.2 cfm @ 90 PSI. WOW! What a difference! As much as I normally hate sandblasting, I'm looking forward to getting back to it now. I'll keep you posted...:3dSMILE:
Isn't that frustrating........blast a little and then wait for the compressor to build back up? Been there, done that.:( A good compressor sure makes a difference. I'm like you, sandblasting is NO fun.
Don
JR
Looks like you're coming along pretty good. I've been following along, but haven't been posting much lately.
You'll be going together for good soon! I'm looking forward to seeing it in paint.
I tried to blast the other day, but couldn't locate any sand! Seems that some guy bought all the fine sand in the area. Bought it by the pallet load from 3 different places! I wound up doing all the smaller stuff in the bead blasting cabinet. I wanted more "tooth" than the beads gave, but it was the best I could do. Luckily I had just enough sand on hand to do the frame and rearend.
Mike
I had been holding onto a vibrator motor and control for several years at work. Then when I had the opportunity to sign it out and take it home, decided that I would probably never do the project anyway. Was planning to make a vibratory sand sifter.
Wow, J.R., now you can spread sand over half of Florida! Perley
All that beach sand and none to be used...........LOL
BradC
Florida is already 98% sand, Perley, a little more spread around won't be noticed...
Brad & Firebird77 - If I had the automatic sifter that Firebird77 was talking about building, I could just dig a hole in the yard, sift the sand, do my blasting, and put the sand back in the hole. Wouldn't cost a penny...
OK. If you've been following this thread then you know that the old friend who punched the louvers in my hood sides wouldn't take payment for doing them. In an effort to partially repay the favor, I did this drawing of his roadster (actually a shortened touring car). In the foreground is the car as it appeared back in 1961 when I took a ride in it. In the background is how the car looks now...
J.Robinson---Talented bugger, aint ya!!! Beautifull drawing. I've been drawing machinery all my life, and I couldn't freehand sketch a cat so that my grandkids could recognize it!! Very nice work.---Brian
Very talented! Must be from teaching all your life!:) Chalk board drawings...picture worth a thousand words...Good stuff!
I have a friend who won't accept payment for things like that too, so, I buy him a lot of lunches.