Thread: Another project? Sure, why not!!

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Hey Ken, tonight I showed Dan the '32 you are building. He was blown away, especially by the front suspension, but by the entire car too. He said when you see a car of this caliber it really puts into perspective how talented some people are.........I had to agree. Your builds are the kind we all look at in magazines and drool.

Don

Don,

Any recent progress on this project? I know you've been working on Dan's RPU, but just curious...

Yeah Jim, actually a little bit. When Dan is doing something he doesn't need an extra pair of hands for, I slip over and am getting little things done. For example, I have finished up the framework for the bed, and I built a support to hold my gas tank.

The reason I am not posting much on it is because I am doing this one sort of on the rat rod side, and am not particularly proud of the workmanship. I am trying to use stuff I have squirreled away, and scrap pieces of steel. From the onset this car was going to be a little rude and crude, and that is the way it is coming out too. I think I am going to shoot red on the body first, then flattened black, and sand through places to "distress" the body and age it a little.

I'm not saying it will be built unsafe or shoddy, just that I am not going nuts grinding welds and brackets like I might normally do. I wanted this build to be a break from having to sweat every little part being perfect. I am also doing most of my own welding, and it is far from the welds Dan might turn out for me. He keeps offering to do them for me, but I can do the non structural stuff and I'll use him for the important welds.

When I get a little further along I'll take some pictures.............from 50 feet away.

Don

Glad Jim asked about that Don! I've been wondering too. As far as kind ratty, who cares? If that is what you want, go for it. And we all know you aren't cutting corners on important things. Must be HOT down your way now. Man, up here it is bad enough. Up in the high eighties lotsa days, which makes our greenhouse/garage about 90 to 100. UGH. I go out in the morning for a bit, then sometimes later on in the day, after the sun has set. Still no power to run our 220 welder and compressor yet, but we have done a little toward it. Someday soon, I hope. That will speed things up a lot for us. Regards to you all at the 3D garage, also regards to you Jim, hope your project is coming along well. Perley

Yep Perley, it is August in Florida, that's for sure!! Most days when we get to the shop it's 94 inside and even at 3 am it is still 84 or so. The humidity is the worst though.

We actually went to Harbor Freight and bought two hammocks that we put in the office. When we get too hot and tired in the shop a 15 minute nap in the air conditioned office brings us back to life. Even at that, we still pray for rain every day because a good soaking drops the temperature quite a bit.

Hope you get your 220 hooked up pretty soon.

Don

Today I actually got some stuff done on the Dodge. Dan was too tired after work to go work on his, so I had the evening to fool around with mine.

I mentioned that I inherited Dan's old bed and framework that supports it, plus the louvered tonneau cover. We had shortened and narrowed it to fit my Dodge, and today I cleaned all the surface rust that had accumulated on the framework, and got it painted. I used satin black, the same as I am going to use on the frame. It doesn't show once the bed sides are screwed to it, but it didn't come out too bad for a quickie job.

I also started building the floor shifter assembly. I had no choice but to build one because Lokar and Gennie don't make one for the Olds 4 speed hydro I am using. I made it as simple as possible, and still have to make a rod to go to the transmission arm, and also a detent plate. I also have to incorporate a neutral safety switch. I used an old Model A chromed shift lever, and an old knob I have been squirreling away for the past 30 years or so. I knew it would come in handy some day!!

I also cut a steel plate to go over the old Dodge instrument panel, and cut 3 holes for oil pressure, water temp, and volt meter. I am going to mount an old Dixco tach I have on top of the dash. That will be my speedometer.

Here are a couple of pictures of some of the stuff I got done today.

Don

Nice work as alway's, I really like how you "boxed" in the bell housing.
Ron

I think you're going to need bigger washers to hold that floor down. I'm guessing that it might get a bit soggy in the rain too.

no really, nice work - as always.

Whoa...............that shift knob is a '60s flash back...........haven't seen one of those in a few.......

So you don't think a little paint on the cardboard floor will waterproof it? After all, this IS a rat rod.

Yeah Bob, I bought that knob sometime in the '70's with a bunch of stuff from a speed shop that was going out of business. At the time it just came with some other stuff, but I thought it was kind of funky. Finally have a use for it. With the red wheels and engine it should tie in ok. I'd like to find a red metalflake steering wheel, but those things have gotten very expensive.

Don

Wow! The last time I saw one of those shift knobs it was on an old Kraco flat stick shifter in the late '60's. That is the ultimate of a cool vintage piece!

Don, here's a couple of pics of the shifter in my coupe. The bracketry is similar, showing again that great minds think alike... Anyway, I thought you might like to see this; in order to keep the thing in the gear that I want, I needed some sort of "gate". I put a second pivot point at the bottom of the lever so it can move sideways. I welded a tab to the side of the lever and it falls into the slots on the gate. The gate is made from 1/8 x 1 1/4 flat stock. I tacked it on, marked the gear locations with a Sharpie, broke it off, ground the notches where they needed to be, and welded it back on. A headlight retainer spring holds the lever to the right against the gate. Notice that Park and Drive are the deepest notches. When I am ready to roll, I pull the lever slightly to the left, then back into gear, and let it fall in the appropriate notch. The spring keeps it there. All this is hidden under the boot. I don't know if any of this is useful to you, but thought I'd throw it out there...

If you come across a neutral start switch that is workable on our applications, let me know. I've not had one on the last three cars I built. I don't consider it a problem unless I let someone else drive the car. In fact it's kind of handy to be able to fire it in gear sometimes, but if I could find a workable piece I may add it.

I remember your shifter you built, very straightforward and it looks like it works well. Actually, I probably won't install a neutral switch either, I was just trying to be politically correct in saying that. I can't get the ones that are installed on my Lokar or Don's Lokar to work all the time anyway. I moved his T out of the shop one day and the darned thing fired up in reverse. Put a scared look on my face that day for sure.

This Olds tranny is weird, it is a '59 or '60 cast iron 4 speed Hydromatic, the last of the 4 speeds before GM went to the aluminum Slim Jim. I forget the gear pattern, but it is reversed, I think. Something like L, S, D, N, R........no Park, I don't think. I scrapped the steering column years ago, so I don't have the shift indicator to tell me. If anyone knows what the pattern is, and if there is a Park position please let me know.

Eventually I am going to replace the transmission with a turbo 350 using a Bendtsens adapter kit, but it and the transmission will cost at least $ 2,000, which I don't have right now to spend. For now this one should be ok, I hope.

Don

Does that engine have a different bell housing bolt pattern than later Olds engines?

When you're ready, check with Johnny Winters (JW Transmissions in Cocoa,FL). They make Turbo 350's that fit everything. They do it by machining off the stock bell housing and using a new one that bolts on with the front pump assembly. They even have one that fits early Hemi's!

Those old 4-speed Hydros were WICKED when they worked right. There is almost nothing that will out-launch them.

No, it has a totally different bellhousing pattern. Bendtsens sells this one:

The second one is for a stick setup behind the Olds. Pretty cool, but the automatic one is $ 1000 and the stick is $1600. Then you have to add transmission, shifter, etc.

I think I'll wait!!
Don

Lookin good Don! Nice to have the bed,and frame fresh and ready to go. I like the satin black finish as well. When I bought my last pint of Por 15 they only had gloss black. It just didn't look right on the old truck frame, so I went back and bought a quart of satin(semi gloss) black, and will eventually recoat it before I put the bed back on.
I like the home made shift mechanism. J.R.'s looks very solid. The red shift knob is a nice touch, and will give your truck a one of a kind interior! I'll keep my eye out for a red metal flake steering wheel at the local swap meets!
How's Dan's RPU coming along. Do you guys think you'll have it ready in time for Daytona? I hate the time crunch thing, but it is always a great motivator to get things done!