There has been some progress on the T but not anything too noteworthy/picture worthy. I will try and get some updated pics posted when good progress is made.
How is your build going? I Hope it is going smoothly.
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There has been some progress on the T but not anything too noteworthy/picture worthy. I will try and get some updated pics posted when good progress is made.
How is your build going? I Hope it is going smoothly.
Well, it's.... stalled for the time being.
You see, I have this cat, and she is my daughter. She stays in the garage with me, doesn't seem to mind the compressor/air ratchets and guns, gets EVERYTHING that thinks it wants to inhabit my wife's backyard garden, just an all around great cat. My birthday present from this cat (7-22-09) was a $550.00 Vet bill.
And yes, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
I'll get back on it once we recover from the vacation/anniversary bills incurred over July 4th, and the Vet bill from July 22nd.
If both of you can make some progress during the "catching up" time all the better. Not everything on a build will be earth shattering. There are always the 'I can not believe that took me _XXX_days to do" parts of any build up.
So, keep the head held high, think of what needs to be done with what is on hand (or is free) and head out to your project and keep up the good work.
Earl
Thanks Earl.
Its just too easy to get discouraged or burnt out on a project. When it starts to feel like work I quit working on it, that is what happened for a couple of weeks.
Thank You, sir. A lot of people think I'm loco for spending that kinda $$ on a cat... I personally (and obviously) disagree.
Yeah, there's still things I can do, that take more time, than money....
Well the project is moving a bit slow. I am at the point where I need to get one thing completed just to move on to the next. Hopefully I can get the exhaust bent tomorrow so I can get the frame finished up and move on to the body mounts and fabricating the rest of the floor.
The progress that has been made is from the last couple of weeks.
Trans/Bellhousing tunnel
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0301.jpg
11 gallon tank for long trips. Yes, there is still room for a back seat.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0297.jpg
Duct tapped steering wheel mock up and paper gauges :rolleyes:
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0298.jpg
Headlights and fog light installed.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0300.jpg
Got a little bit of work done today.
The exhaust did not get into my hands until today which I was hopping I would get yesterday. I had to cut and weld the tubing until it sat above the bottom of the frame rail and into the cut out in the crossmember. Just managed to get the drivers side done today, the passenger side will be more work. Either I have to cut and weld a lot on the tubing because of the heat riser on the pass. manifold or I will bevel the manifold so the gasket will seal.
What I started with
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0303.jpg
After cutting and welding, might be a bit restrictive but it looks better than exhaust hanging down below the frame
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0305.jpg
Not a fan of glasspacks but they fit better than chambered mufflers
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0307.jpg
Finished the exhaust this evening. All I need to get the car running is a radiator, wiring harness, drive shaft, and to fab clutch & brake pedals and master cylinder mount. Still would be far from road worthy but it could be moved around under its own power. Just something to look forward to.
Please excuse the welds on the frame not being ground down yet. I should be able to get to it very soon after I fab some body mounts and get them welded onto the frame.
Cut slit to bend pipe, for some reason the exhaust tip was too far out.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0312.jpg
Welded back up and ground back down.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0316.jpg
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0318.jpg
Finished pipe with bend.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0317.jpg
Iniside view with hangers.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0319.jpg
Back view of tips. As you can tell I have a lot of body work ahead of me.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0320.jpg
Lastly an under car view.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0322.jpg
Installed the fuel pump today. Had to trim almost every engine mount and pad on one side. At least now I can finish up the fuel line.
I know it is not much but I helped Dad on his 68 Camaro and was burnt out working on cars by the time I had some extra hours to waste.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0327.jpg
Bottom of fuel pump. Picture is a bit blury but you can see where I had to trim the mount.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0329.jpg
Thomas
Don't feel bad. When I got the used TCI Model A chassis, and set the steering box and pitman arm up with the tie rod, and welded the steering box mount to the chassis, it ended up placing the Vega steering box so that I had to drill a hole in the motor mount underneath, to get the input shaft for the steering box to line up correctly, and nothing would be in a bind. I have photos of ther fiasco somewhere; I'll see if I can dig them up.
Oh well, it's Hot Rodding. If it was easy, everybody would do it, right?
Yeah it was kind of one of those things that you didn't want to do but knew that it needed to be done.
Kind of funny, when I was cutting up the motor mount I told my Dad that I know that its a hot rod now because I had to trim the mount.
Thomas
Nice looking work going on.
Just a question, with gas tank inside back-how are you going to fill it? I would not think taking a gas hose thru door to inside would be the best of plans. The 50's Chevy PU had the tank in cab-fill from outside and the fumes would get to you.
Earl
Thank you Earl.
As for the tank I can't think of any other way to get fuel in the tank than an outside door. There was not a lot of room for a tank anywhere else below the body. I am open to any suggestions because this is the first hot rod I ever built and truly want to make it as safe a car as possible :)
Truth be known, most of our hot rods are"pinto-like" in the gas tank department. Just no place to really tuck them away where a stray little old Lady in a Cadillac won't practice her parking technique. You should also consider venting the tank outside the body so fumes don't accumulate in the cockpit. (You don't smoke, do you? :eek:) The vent can be as simple as a hose from the top of the tank that runs out into clean fresh air. I have no illusions that if some big old SUV rearends my T that I won't be smelling like unleaded for a while.:p
Nice little hot rod BTW.:)
Don
I got a new aluminum RCI tank, and cut down an old gas filler door from a 1968 VW Bug, and used all of it to connect from the tank to the outside. There was also a built-in vent in the VW filler neck, so it has worked out okay.. I'll try and dig up some photos and post them here...
Thank you for the help Don.
Would a vented filler neck be enough or would it be better/safer to also have a vent tube like you mentioned? The plans are to build a filler neck and door going to the back or side of the car with a vented gas cap. I could run a vent tube the length of the filler neck and vent through the gas door with ease.
:LOL: No, I don't smoke and hopefully that old lady praticing her parking technique will have a cadillac low enough so that it will slide under the body of my car and not puncture the fuel tank.
Thanks Dave, that would be great if you could post those pics of how you went about using the VW gas door. They would be quite useful.
Thomas
Not the photos I was trying to find, but I think these will work---
Thanks for the pics Dave. That gas door turned out great.
Just out of curiousity, what is the capacity of your fuel tank?
A better vent might be a separate fitting on the top of the tank and a line exiting to the rear of the car with a filter on the end of it to keep dirt and moisture from getting into the fuel system....
It's a 12 gallon unit.
Yeah, I checked out the RCI website, and after measuring the room I had to work with, including a bulkhead to isolate the tank from the rest of the inside of the car, that's the biggest I could stuff in there, with a battery on one side, and the fuel pump on the other side....I figure with the little 4.3 V-6, I should be able to travel quite a ways between fill-ups...
Here's the photos I had tried to find yesterday, and couldn't.. I couldn't resist the shot of the "Tru-Temper" firewall recess...:3dSMILE:
John, it's the new Cal-Look... 8=)
Yeah, I suspect Deano will get a kick out of that, I remember his "Semaphore" column that mentioned me and some of my hair-brained ideas... but I stand by that two stroke post hole digger turned Guacamole mixer... YOU wanna try hand-mixing 55 gallons of Avocados? That thing worked like a champ !!!
Very nice setup with the tank Dave, that fuel neck worked out great. I also like the new Cal-look by the way :LOL: If it works it works!
Well, you see, John Palmer and I know each other. He's a hard-core hot rodder, but he also happens to wrench (and occasionally drive) his son's super nice, super fast, 1960 Euro sunroof VW Bug.... that car is nasty fast, and believe me, I've seen "Pops" Palmer drive it every bit as good as his young'un....so I have to tease him, as he is well known in VW circles....
PS -
John, you and Troy might recognize the steering column, that covers the shaft, too..
pre-'68 Type 1....
Hey, it's what I had, I was making a display with the extra EMPI GTV wheel and Polar Silver painted Oval dash I have, was going to make a wall hanging out of everything after I shortened the column and shaft, but the column was straight, round, and I found press-in bearings that supports the shaft top and bottom quite nicely...so it ended up being a hot rod part instead of wall art...I sill may run the GTV wheel sometimes, all it would take is another steering shaft with splines instead of the keyway and threaded top, and the GTV wheel has a lot more dish" to it for my rather long legs to clear..
Fine looking true value that is!:LOL::3dSMILE:
Finally got some actual work done lastnight. I finished up the body to frame mounts (6 altogether). It’s amazing how solid the car is now just after 6 bolts
to the frame.
Lifted the body off of the frame today so I can get to work prepping the frame and drivetrain for paint.
Also got to work on the body installing the taillights. There was a lot of consideration choosing the lights, I considered 41 willys, 50 pontiac, and 39
zephyr. Then I found the ones I installed on the car at my grandparents house, I got a lot of parts off of that car. I need to replace the lenses and
get better buckets sometime in the future when funds allow.
Thought these add a 60's look while being different
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0358.jpg
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0354.jpg
One close up to get all of the details
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0342.jpg
I like the looks of them!:cool:
Lookin' really really good, sir....
Thanks Steve and Dave I really appreciate the kind words about the lights. It took a while to find the "right" lights and I think the searching paid off.
Took the body off of the frame today and I worked on welding up some of the stock model A frame holes and began grinding down the boxing plate
welds. I figured I would get as much work done on the car as I could today because I will be in Frankenmuth MI for a car show this coming weekend.
Here are a couple of pics of the frame. Next time I post pics of the frame it should be assembled and painted for last time.
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0371.jpg
http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...2/100_0370.jpg
Thomas
Do you plan on adding some more crossmembers???? Always thought that the "A" rails were a bit spindly without them....
hey i am going to frank and chichen to well i think so ..your car is looking good
Thanks Pat...
Its been two years since I went but it is one of the better ones, the fried chicken helps too... I just hope there wont be a foot of snow on the ground :LOL: Seems like winter comes early in MI.
Are you taking a car to the show? If so what car are you taking, I'll keep a look out for it.
Dave S, The intitial plan was to have an x member but I couldn't find c chanel anywhere local. I have been somewhat concerned leaving the frame ladder type, though it does seem very solid. Do you think it would be safe leaving it the way it is built now or do you think it would be best to add another crossmember? If so where would be the best location for another crossmember strength wise?
no cars i just have not the time to clean then . i am not to far from frankenmuth no snow so far :D.i will have a car there that i just built the engine in a tub out 496 blown camaro and there could be another car there i did alot of work on .i may go friday hard to say. it is a very nice car show nice town:D
Getting ready to leave right now but wont be able to make it to the car show until tomorrow. I'll keep an eye out for that camaro that thing sounds like it's mean :eek:
Have fun!:cool: