Another build thread? Yep, my track-style T

[J. Robinson]

It's been a year since I updated the cost of this project (5-23-13) and it's pretty much done now except for a couple of very minor details, so I guess it's time. As of last year's total I had spent $4232.89. Shortly after that I started buying whatever parts were needed to make it legally roadworthy. In the past year I spent another $93.01 on miscellaneous nuts & bolts and $371.77 on parts. That includes the alternator, a new clutch master cylinder to replace the leaky original, all the wiring components, and a few other pieces that had to be replaced. I spent $165 for a new ring and pinion to get a gear ratio that is more compatible with the little 4-banger and 5-speed trans. I paid $106.94 to have glass put in the windshield (twice) and $150 for two new rear tires, mounted and balanced. Finally, I spent $419.61 on paint and materials to finish the body. Expenditure for the last year is $1306.33; add that to the previous total ($4232.89) and that brings the grand total to $5539.22. That's just over a grand more than my target of $4500, but still pretty reasonable, I think. I'm pretty sure I could get almost triple that for it if it was for sale (NO, it's not!). I probably would have spent a little more along the way, but a few things were gifts. I have helped a good friend with his '40 Ford pickup and he gave me the engine from a Chevy S-10 he was scrapping and he bought the seat upholstery from Speedway for my Kirkey seats.

I still haven't decided if it will get lettered and/or numbered, but I have the materials for that if I decide to do it. I also have enough material to do the interior side panel upholstery over at least twice (I over-bought). My wife has offered to teach me to sew and I may eventually replace the plain side panels with some pleats to match the seat upholstery. Now that the roadster is done I have some things on my coupe that need attention. I have a new aluminum fuel cell for it and I need to repair some rust bubbles that have come up on the doors. Then it's on to the next project...

[rspears]

Jim, you are an inspiration to all of us, applying the old school approach to a modern street car. Good job!!

[stovens]

Outstanding Jim! And what a beauty you created! I am inspired by your threads, and others on here who make do with what they can do themselves, and within a reasonable budget.

[August Mariner]

Thank you all for the compliments. After I sprayed the blue I started wondering if I had made a mistake; the original plan and my original drawing called for just the red with no blue. After I pulled the masking and saw the almost-final product I decided I had made the right choice. I haven't decided whether I will put numbers on it. Originally I planned to, but my wife and son have told me I should leave it as is. I have the engine-turned gold material if I decide to put them on; only time will tell...

August and Steve - After I pulled the masking off the scallops I had a couple of small boo-boos to fix. Then I wiped the car down one last time with wax & grease remover to take away any contamination from my hands during masking. Followed that with a tack-rag and then 3 coats of high solids clear.

Thanks! I had been wondering about tape residue and how the new paint would react to the cleaning before the clear coat and if it needed time if you were going to do that which I would have though meant fine sanding then clear.

[J. Robinson]

August - I don't know if you've ever done any custom painting using candy colors or pearl, you've not said. Assuming this is new territory for you (or someone reading this), let me be more specific. With pearl, the pearlescent coat is sprayed over a solid color. Pearls are available in paste form, powder, or liquid. I like the powder type because it can be mixed with whatever medium you prefer to spray in any concentration you desire. Often, if there is only one color involved, the pearl powder is mixed with straight reducer and sprayed over the base color while it's still soft (called "wet on wet"). Then the clear is applied immediately and that's it. The color and pearl coats are not touched before the clear is applied because if the pearl is disturbed it will show in the finished product. On my roadster, using acrylic urethane paints, I wanted to put the scallop on the nose and I needed to put the pearl on before the scallop. So, how do you apply the pearl and then mess with the surface, but leave no imprints? I used 16 ounces of reducer, 4 ounces of clear, and one ounce of hardener (for the clear). In painter's parlance, I reduced the catalyzed clear by 400%. I added an ounce of pearl powder to the thinned mixture and sprayed it wet on wet over the white basecoat. The next morning everything was dry and the pearl coat was hard and stable. I was able to do all the layout, masking, and wipe-down without disturbing the pearl. I could not do any sanding at that point because that would have disturbed the pearl coat and it would have been visible when done. If I needed to do any wet-sanding between coats, it would have to be done before the pearl was applied or after the clear. Any sanding on the pearl or either of the metallic colors would be visible as flaws in the finished product. However, I could and did wipe the surface with wax & grease remover; it does not attack the urethane paint as long as it's completely dry. I hope this helps.

[stovens]

Wow that is helpful Jim.

[August Mariner]

Yes. Thanks!

[J. Robinson]

Here's something that could be used in other vehicles... Have you ever needed some decent floor mats, but nobody makes any that fit your application? It's a common problem with some of the body styles we hotrodders use. When I carpeted the roadster, I used the leftover pieces to make some floor mats. I cut them to fit and bound the edges with black duct tape. They looked OK, but just wouldn't stay put. The thin material had a habit of getting wadded up every time I or a passenger climbed in or out (see pic). My solution was to buy a couple of rubber-backed door mats (got these at Lowe's), use the old mats as patterns and cut new ones.

[J. Robinson]

I laid the old mats on the back of the new door mats and used contrasting spray paint to transfer the shape. Then I used a craft knife to cut them out and trimmed the fuzzy carpet edges with scissors. They are heavy and stiff enough to stay put and they look pretty good. Of course, as usual, this stupid program loaded the pictures out of order, but you get the idea...

[rspears]

The mats look nice, Jim! Another option might be to buy a set of mats for a larger vehicle and use the same approach to transfer the pattern and bind the edges.

On the pictures, I always hit "Preview Post" before posting, and can then drop down and move the file attachments into the right order in the Manage Attachments area, and previewing again to be double sure it's the way I want the order. I agree it's frustrating that the system doesn't seem to ever load them in the order we upload them.

[J. Robinson]

Thanks, Roger. I've tried to move the pictures around in the "manage attachments" window, but they don't budge. Maybe I haven't figured out how to do it, but the only way I can make them come up in the right order is post them one-at-a-time...

[40FordDeluxe]

Great work on your mats! The carpet in my 40 would always do the same thing and it drove me nuts!

[J. Robinson]

Hey! Where the Hell are all my pictures????

[J. Robinson]

Test picture.

[Henry Rifle]

I'm seeing a lot of blue boxes with the words "Attached Images." Some photos show, some don't. It appears that Photobucket images link OK, but uploaded files may not.