Don-Dan's work is superb!
I bought mine from William's Low Buck Tools. It has to have a shackle around it to keep it from flexing when I get in a hurry.
Ken
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Don-Dan's work is superb!
I bought mine from William's Low Buck Tools. It has to have a shackle around it to keep it from flexing when I get in a hurry.
Ken
Thanks Ken. As for English Wheels, I remember that episode of Monster Garage where Jesse James was using one and his comment was "these are great for making blood shoot out from under your fingernails!" :eek: Maybe that is why we haven't bought one yet.:rolleyes: :D :D
Don
Any updates Don or has he changed his mind and going another direction.
BradC
Yep, he has decided to turn it into rock crawler, and..................:eek: :LOL: :LOL:
No, still plugging away, but piddling tasks so not much is post or picture worthy. Last night we worked on the underdash support bar and will finish that up today. Then we can install the steering column and get the steering box fabbed to the frame.
Dan finished up his transmission hump, well, at least for now. Still some body work to do to make it straighter and a skim coat of filler so it can be painted body color............he is not going to run upholstery or carpeting, so it will all be bare metal inside. He also got the mounts for the bomber seats all done and can now bolt the seats into place.
While he was doing that I pulled and tore down his engine so we can strip the paint off and repaint it a different color. Latest plan calls for it to be sort of an Oldmobile engine gold instead of the maroon that is on it. While we had it apart he considered going to an even more radical cam, but I called Crane the other day and the guy tells me the one we used is actually too radical for normal street driving....................exactly what Dan wants. :LOL: :LOL: Gotta have that drive in idle, ya know. :3dSMILE:
But here are a couple of pictures of what we have gotten done.........nothing major, but we seem to still be on track timewise, at least I hope. Dan is going to take two weeks vacation time in August, that way we can put in some long days in a row and hopefully get some major stuff accomplished.
Don
Why did I believe the rock crawler comment:LOL: .
That tunnel sure turned out nice.
Sean
Yeah Sean, it isn't like he has changed directions a few times or anything. :rolleyes: Every time I see him staring at the car I get worried. :LOL:
Thanks about the tunnel. It photographs rougher than it is, I guess the lights bounce off the bare metal or something. But it came out fine for what it is. Because of the transmission taking up so much cockpit room it did end up a little big, but there is still a lot of foot room and all. Certainly more than my T has.
Don
Don it's coming along great. The tunnel even looks like a work of art.. If Dan is changing the engine and transmission color, has he decided on a color scheme for the body. I know one black and copper/gold combo roadster, that seem to hit it right and made it to the big times!:D
Tell Dan to keep posting even the little stuff. The seat mounts and stuff sometimes are the most helpfull, in coming up with a great way to do something nobody else would of thought of. I guess we just like watching your updates!Steve.
Thanks Steve. Yep, the final color seems to be that the frame and rear axle will be gloss black and the body, bed and grille shell will be semi gloss black. He is going to do the top in probably white material. He has kicked around gloss on the body too, but really wants that '40's -'50's little book/ no frills look.
There will be enough chrome plating on the suspension and all to offset some of the blackness, so it should look pretty good, I think.
Don
Don, when you guys paint semi gloss, is it a bugger to clean? I know my old truck(Toyota) is worn to where the hood is more ruff like a semi gloss paint, and it gets really hard to try to get the dirt out. I always wondered if a semi gloss paint job would add to the clean look process? I do love those flat paint looks on the old trucks, Ken's RPU looked pretty cool in primer grey! Sounds like a great combo of colors, I can just see you guys driving to Billet proof this year, I'm sure between your car, Don's and Dan's there will be more videos and head turning!:D
A 4X4 RPU, if anyone can pull that off it would you and your boys. If I remember right there isn't that many hill to rock crawl down in florida.:HMMM: :LOL: :LOL:
BradC
Thanks guys. Well Steve, I think it shouldn't be too much harder to maintain than gloss, because it will still be enamel, just with a flattener in it. I understand you can't buff it though because it will get shiny.
Yep Brad, the highest hill we have here is like 3 feet above sea level. :LOL: :LOL:
Dan and I really got a lot done this weekend. We worked until 5 am Sunday morning, and 1:30 this morning.........a grand total of maybe 25 hours in the two days. What we worked on was getting the underdash support system done so that we could mount the steering column, which will now allow us to mount the steering box to the frame. We couldn't put the box in until we knew the angle of the column.
Originally we were going to build a support that was shaped like the bottom of the '32 dashboard, but Dan had a bright idea to mount a 1.25 round tube from one side to the other, and then hang everything off of it. We had to build side supports first, then the bar, and finally some gussets to tie it to the master cylinder bracket. You could hang the car from that bar.......it is really strong and made the entire front section of the body totally rigid.
We also got the steering column mounted and run through the firewall. For a change we hit it on the nose the first time.........usually we end up missing the mark and having to patch one hole and cut another one. Maybe we are getting better at this stuff, or maybe we just lucked out. :D
We also got his gas pedal and brake pedal mounted. All small stuff, but more jobs out of the way at least. Here are some pictures of how the underdash stuff came out. The biggest problem is that none of this will be visible once the dash and gas tank cover are installed, but at least we know it's in there. :)
Don
Aha! Further proof that great minds think alike!:rolleyes: :LOL: :LOL: In my coupe and in my son's sedan, I put a tube across from side to side and mounted everything to it. The main difference is, ours are welded in and the column supports/mounts are different because we are both using GM columns. Yes, it does stiffen things up a lot...:D
As usual, beautiful work, Don. Maybe Dan should put a lexan cowl on this thing so the underdash detail will show. It's almost a shame to hide all the fine work you guys are doing.:)
Thanks Jim. Haha, funny you should mention the Lexan, I told Dan the same thing. :LOL: I told him about some show cars I knew of in the '60's where the guy put glass floors in it so you could see the transmission, etc detailing.
We thought about welding it all in, but this way we can paint all up inside it with nothing in the way, and then bolt it all back in. Dan took some extra time to weld square nuts up behind everything so that all we have to do is insert a bolt and tighten it up. To save some time (and work) we are going to have all the stuff under there powder coated, it will keep us from having to paint all of it.
Don
Don,
I too have support behind the dash of my '31. I can't find a decent picture but it is welded/bolted in place and will clear my gauges and a/c fairly well even with the double engine recess. This is a picture BEFORE the wiring was straightened out. I also did reinforcements from the rear door post to the back of the car. Then I reinforced the floor with square stock and a double up of the sheet metal as well. Again, no decent pictures - I did lose a bunch when I had a computer crash. With as much reinforcing, I can pick up the body without the doors and have virtually no bending or deflection vs a 'normal' 30-'31 Model A.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i8...wiring1-61.jpg
Dave, that is a terrific way to do it. Very strong and neat looking too. Funny how Henry got by with riveted braces in a couple of places...... it amazes us every time we think about how he did those. :3dSMILE:
Nice job.
Don
Great work Don. Dan amazes me with all his neat welds. It looks as if they were bought from a store(ie professional) but better! I like the look of the round tubing, but bet it is even harder to use when cutting pieces to mate to it, to get it to look so smooth, and fluid! Maybe dan could make two cowl covwrs, one out of sheet metal that bolts on from undernieth, and one for shows that has a clear piece of lexan so you could see the internals. I have no idea if that is even doable, or in the time frame, but it sure would be nice to show all the hidden details! Good Stuff!:)
Thanks Don - as you are all too well aware by now:D - a lot of square and round stock, some sheet metal, a few tanks of C25 and mig wire and a lot of hours.Quote:
Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
As far as Hank the Crank - these cars were only $295 for a roadster and about $50 more for the deluxe version. Then the roads weren't much more then cow tracks until after WW2 either so flexibility was necessary. Heck, I have more then $295 in the add-on steel by now:CRY:
[ Heck, I have more then $295 in the add-on steel by now:CRY:[/QUOTE]
Tell me about it!!! :eek: :eek: Every time we stop at the hardware store or Home Depot for some small stuff like grinding discs, nuts, bolts, etc we walk out with a small bag and $ 50-$100 poorer. Dan was just saying how nice it will be to finish his car and actually have a few bucks to spend on other stuff again. This is not the cheapest hobby in the world, is it?? :LOL: :LOL:
Don
Quote:
Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
Tell me about it!!! :eek: :eek: Every time we stop at the hardware store or Home Depot for some small stuff like grinding discs, nuts, bolts, etc we walk out with a small bag and $ 50-$100 poorer. Dan was just saying how nice it will be to finish his car and actually have a few bucks to spend on other stuff again. This is not the cheapest hobby in the world, is it?? :LOL: :LOL:
Don[/QUOTE]
Don,
I went to the hardware store this morning:
1 ea 1/4-20x1.5 SS cap screw @ .71
2 ea 1/4-20 SS acorn nuts @1.05 ea
6 ea cable clamps 5.38 (and not even SS)
1 aluminum 'project box' @ 2.75
This is in addition to the $9.00 that I spent on some other SS bolts and nuts on Saturday. I'm not complaining, mind you, but the expenses of this hobby is getting beyond the ability of many of the average working stiff's pocket book with the rest of the costs of putting food on the table, paying the light bill and rent/mortgage - and it scares me that the hobby will have fewer newbies in the future.
Golly, I hate to see him paint this thing flat or satin black.:HMMM: 98% of all the rat rods in America must be flat or satin black. It was cool at first, but it's getting to be so overdone... This car is anything BUT a rat and deserves something different. Check out this place, Don. If Dan wants flat or satin paint, these folks have got all kinds of colors.:whacked:
http://www.tcpglobal.com/kustomshop/ksflatz.aspx
There are a couple of reasons for the semi flat color he is thinking about, Jim. (Dupont Hot Rod Black) Mainly it is economic. A proper gloss paint job will cost between $4,000 and $ 6,000 for the body and bed. Time is against him for being able to swing that mount in the next 90 or so days. The second reason is that he likes that look, and has enough chrome to offset it (complete front suspension, rear suspension, nerfs, windshield, and engine chrome.
He is frankly tired of dumping money into this car and just wants it on the street sometime in his lifetime. :D He has no idea how much he has invested, and then turned around and scrapped, but it is enough to build a couple of rods, I bet. He hasn't cut any corners on anything, but everything has it's limits. He still has some major expenses to cover in a short amount of time, like Wilson Welding front brakes, a custom top, paint (whatever that ends up at) lots of chrome plating and powder coating, stainless brake lines, fuel tank, etc, etc.
All told, he probably still has to spend $ 5000 minimum for those items, maybe more, so putting another $ 4 to 6K on top of it just makes it very tough. And, like I mentioned, he is just getting tired of this car consuming his life, both timewise and financially.........it is just time to get it done and go fishing for a while. He and I both need a break from this car stuff. :) :)
Don
Points well taken! I tend to forget what a paint job costs these days; I do all my own paint work, so, for me, it's just whatever the materials cost (even that's not cheap now days)...:oQuote:
Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
That's the thing too, Jim. I agree a brand new body and bed deserve shiny paint, but without a booth it would be hard to get a paint job worthy of the car. If he goes with the satin we can pay the shop that shot my T and Don's T just to wheel it in the booth and shoot it, with us doing all the prep work. Satin will be more forgiving, so the shop won't have to spend lots of time getting it perfect for shiny black.
He is making the body and bed easy to remove, so if he decides a little while down the road he wants glossy paint all he has to do is unplug some stuff and pull them off.
For the past four years he has been dumping every spare dollar into this thing, now he just wants to get it on the road and enjoy having some extra money for a change. :D :D
Don
If I lived closer, I would shoot it for him...;) Did you look at that website I posted? They have all kinds of colors including metallics and pearls that are flat! Good prices, too. You might want something there for your truck, also.:HMMM:
My son is talking about using their midnight purple (flat) with the flames, engine, and pinstriping in lime green (gloss). Time will tell; he changes his mind every week...:whacked: :rolleyes:
Yep Jim, that Hot Rod Flatz stuff is pretty cool, and they now have a bunch more colors and shades than they used to have.
As for my truck, I still have almost a full gallon of black that I bought when I was doing my T, and a full can of flattener, so I will probably use that to save some money. Dan also gave me some satin black he bought to do a Dodge truck he once owned, so I plan on doing the bed frame with that. I hate to think of dragging out the paint equipment again............my sinuses are just getting back to normal from the last project. :p :D
Don
Another long day working on Dan's hot rod, but we REALLY made some great progress this weekend. The one job that we have been dreading and putting off is shortening the frame 3 and 3/8 inches to fit the new Brookville body. (it is shorter than the one Dan built originally) So we decided to dedicate this weekend to getting it done once and for all.
It was really hard for us to make the decision to cut up a frame that was basically done, but it was the only way to get it to look right and fit, so out came the sawzall.............we gotta start buying blades for that thing by the gross! :LOL: It took longer to measure everything up than to do the actual cutting, but it went very well. Dan's cuts were clean and straight, so it only took some minor grinding to get things to fit up tight.
What we did was insert a 1/4 inch plate, 4 x 12 inches into the backside of the frame as a gusset, and it is now fully welded in place. The frame is probably stronger now than before the cut. Dan is going to box the entire frame yet, so that will make it even stronger.
We must have flipped it over and over 10 times or more, so that Dan could get a good weld on every surface, thank God for our Gantry crane. The frame has gotten too heavy for two of us to lift, and when it was clamped to the jig the two of them are impossible to move by hand. But now this last big fabrication job is done, and we can start concentrating on more of the little stuff.
This is the third night in a row that we have put in some long hours, so I think I will sleep in tomorrow. Here are some pictures of how it ended up.
Don
Wow! You guys make a hard job look easy! Nice work, must of felt great getting that done! Also nice to get the non glamerous stuff that you know is going to hurt, over and done with. You deserve a real breakfast!:D
Hehe, it was McDonalds again this morning, but they weren't serving breakfast yet, so it was a Big Mac this time. :)
Yep Steve, getting over this hurdle really feels good. Up until now the fact we had to drag out the jig, cut it up, and reweld it has been on our minds. We feel like there is really light at the end of the tunnel now.
BTW, Dan is now thinking gloss paint again. :rolleyes: He saw a maroon today that he loved, and thinks the car deserves shiny. That is this week, we will see what next week brings. :) I do like the color he found, we stopped at a new car dealer and looked at it today, it really pops.
Don
Somebody else here was looking for a black cherry a few weeks ago. Saw a new Caddy that reallylooked great in that color. What ever he choses will look great!
PS there is nothing like a burger to fill that hungry spot after a hard days' or nights' work!:D
the maroon wouldn't happen to be a Lexus color would it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
Print this up and post it on his toolbox for inspiration http://www.clubhotrod.com/photopost/...=big&ppuser=32 :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
Maroon is alwayyyys a good choice........;)
I have been partially "away" again and just reviewed the whole thread here to see all the nice metal work and the Brookville parts. I found the comments about trimming the metal interesting because I was feeling defensive about the trimming I had to do on a Bebops 'glass body; especially over the rear coilovers. Apparently the Bebops trunk floor was molded for a gennie transverse spring mount while as IC2 showed above the newer Brookville frame has a horizontal kickback and coil-over mounts need cutouts for service and adjustments. My work is way down on the skill scale compared to this work and the metal trans tunnel is really neat! If it is possible could I see how the top tabs are mounted/welded inside the rear panels? Here is a picture of how I mounted tabs inside the 'glass body with bolts to the 1" square tubing inside the body. This side is pretty good but the other side is slightly crooked and I need to redo it with another fresh piece of angle iron. I find that usually the first piece I do is terrible and then the second piece on the other side benefits from the experience on the first piece so I just have to go back and redo the other side, but how does the Brookville steel fasten the tabs? Any pictures from the RPU or IC2's roadster? IMO the only way to improve on maroon is to use "Metallic Maroon"!
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
I'm pretty happy that he has decided (well, "decided" is a relative term when it comes to Dan.........and me, for that matter :o ) to go with Maroon. The color is actually called Wicked Merlot Jewel Metallic, a Pontiac color. It has very heavy metallic flake in it from the car we saw on the dealers lot. I like it a lot too. I stopped at the paint store this morning, and they couldn't find it, mainly because he didn't have a 2009 car color chart, so I am going to call Dupont to see.
Don, the top tabs are welded on the Brookville body. I think they slip through slits and are welded from below. Let me see if one of these pictures shows how they do it. Yeah, here is one, the best view I have of that section of the body.
Don
Thanks for the picture, maybe the tabs are spot-welded, I can't quite see. Maybe IC2 has a picture of his Brookville tabs? My paint has a fine metallic content and looks different in different light. I selected it from a bank of plastic paint samples with at least 200 options. The shop then used the formula on the sample patch I selected and a paint machine formulated the liquid. I have had three patches/repaint on the steering column and the firewall using the paint formulation machine and the match is perfect so I would think you can get any variation you want. The shop I went to (Haskins Body Shop in Ashland Va) suggested a fine grain metal particle choice with the comment that the larger flakes were mainly for 'glass boat hulls (their opinion). However the interesting thing is that with the fine flakes it does seem to have a magical effect of changing color a bit in different lighting. I guess Merlot is on a lot of minds because my shop named my paint formula "Haskins Merlot" but that shows how arbitrary the colors are and that they can match most anything with the paint formula machine.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
That's really a pretty color Don. The one we like does what you describe, it changes colors to almost a black shade on the contours. Very deep, like yours.
I'll snap a picture of the way Brookville did our top tabs next time I go to the shop.
Don
Although that looked like a dark color in the dimly lit shop it changes dramatically in bright light. (the trash streaks on the cowl are not scratches, just body shop dust). These pictures are over a year old but may give you an idea of the effect of a fine metal flake size on color in different light levels. That is all from me now from old files so now I have to get back to some new work. You are way, way ahead of me with your 12-15 hour days but I can slowly peck away snd hope to wrap up the radiator shroud and reassemble the radiator shell and then get on to the tricky problem of fitting the metal hood to the 'glass body in the near future. As I said on on aother thread I am trying to do all the mechanical work and putting off the dreaded wiring problem but eventually I will have to face up to that. Maybe the metal hood (already painted the same color with the stock tall louvers) will give me enough work for quite a while? Keep up the great work; I envy your collection of body clamps!
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
Don (the former).
I just checked - I really can't get much of a picture with my added body reinforcing but my finger tips tell me that the top tabs are fully welded rather then spot welded to some strengthening piece that follows the deck former.
Don (the latter) - hopefully you can get a photo
Don, don't be afraid of the wiring. Some of the new kits really make it easy. We are going to use an American Autowire kit on Dan's car, but Ron Francis, among others make good, easy to use kits. Each wire being labeled really helps a lot.
As for the clamps, surprisingly, sometimes we run out when we are clamping things down. I always am amazed how many tools you drag out to do the most simple job.
Don
Between last weekend and this weekend we really got quite a bit done on Dan's car. As I mentioned, last weekend we got the frame shortened to fit the new body. This weekend we worked on getting his steering box mounted and building front shock mounts.
He's using a Flaming River box, same one Don and I are using in our T's. It is a Corvair knockoff, and is a little challenge to mount because the base angles in two directions, so you can't simply mount a flat plate to the top of the frame to hold it. After we figured out the height and angles we built the mount and got it welded to the frame. The shaft in the picture is just the mockup one, he doesn't want to put the polished stainless one on till the frame is painted. He still has to build a gusset off the back of the mount, but will do that when we box the frame.
The second thing we worked on was getting the front shocks mounted. Since he is running a suicide front end, and the car is only 4 inches off the ground, it was tough to figure out how best to do them. Finally, we used some Speedway lower shock mounts that we modified to fit the Pete and Jakes shackles, and we modified a set of Ford F100 upper mounts for the top end.
We needed to heat and bend the lower part of the F100 mounts, so we built a jig so that both sides would come out exactly the same. Dan wanted them bent in a particular spot, so the jig made that easy to do. Here are some pictures of the jig and mounts being bent, and some of them mounted on the car. You can also see the steering box mounted in the background.
We won't get anything done next weekend because he is playing out of town both days, but we plan on hitting it a few nights this week. Next big project will be boxing the frame rails, which we will try to do weekend after next.
Don
That's a really clean looking shock mount, Don! The rest of the front end is very well done also! Gonna be a very good looking car when it's done. I'm still an IFS guy, but if you're going to do the traditional looking front end your setup is definitely a great way to go! As for the jig, how would we ever get anything done without good old ingenuity engineering?? Everything on the car is really first rate!!! Fit and finish is way over the top. Congrats to "the crew"!!!!!