Thread: I bet you thought.....

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That's why they make spacers. Every one of us has had to make some adjustments later on because we thought we had it right, but found out we were just a tad off on something. I prefer to think of it as "fine tuning."

Notice the spacers I put between my dash and steering column mount in the picture below. I could lie and say it was a handy slot to store speeding tickets. LOL



Don

Mike and Itol, that's what hotrodding is all albout, IMO.

Don, the car is really starting to look great. A little splash of pink or lavender would work wonders for it, even if you hid the colors under something else.

Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year to you and your family!!

I'm enjoying my Christmas in warm sunny Florida too.

No PA dummy here.

Glad to see you came down to thaw out Bob. It isn't exactly hot here right now but compared to what some of the rest of the country is getting is sure is nice.


I've started making a little more progress on the 27. I have 10 days vacation I am using up before the end of the year so I'll be off all this next week. Should be able to get a lot of little things done and maybe get close to being able to fire the engine for the first time.

In the past couple of days I got my Hurst shifter reinstalled and adjusted and put the driveshaft back in. Not major stuff, but the shifter took a while because I tore down the car 10 years ago and I had to find some of the pieces and paint them. But now it shifts nice even when I slam the gears.

The next things I need are an alternator, mechanical fuel pump (this engine has the eccentric so I can run one) a distributor, and some plug wires. Time to put in an order with Summit and get those things moving. Here are some pictures of what I got installed in this last go round.

Don

Gheeesss Don ....... Do you ever take a day off from rod building? Not that that's abad thing .... just asking.

How's your boys rpu rolling??

Paul

Actually Paul, I have been not doing much to it in recent weeks. Christmas $$ and all that jazz. Had to make sure I got through Christmas first then I would start on it again after the 25th.

As for Dan, yep, he is rolling right along. We flipped his body over a week or so ago so he could grind everything smooth under there in preparation for primer, but he found some areas he felt needed more bracing () so that took a few days. He is almost ready to shoot epoxy primer underneath then he can start putting down the sheet metal flooring. Gonna use that two part panel adhesive the body shops use to mount panels. That was one of the things I got him for Xmas, the tubes and the special gun to apply it. He will also put some rivets down to help position the floor too.

Don has been making big progress on his boat too. He and his GF Taylor stayed on it twice overnight so far, had to let the hull relax in the water so we could line up the prop shafts. Got that done and he has one engine fired up already and tonight the second one should be ready to start. He and Taylor have put in long weekends since early Spring and it is coming along well. Dan and I still have our fishing rods ready.

Hope you and the family had a nice holiday too Paul.

Don

Looks very nice Don. That frame really looks well braced and Stout. It's amazing what a coat of paint does, to really make it look factory fresh. The engine setup is cool too! I like the double belt pulley setup.

Thanks Steve. I'm not going nuts on this one as far as show finish or anything like that, I just want it to be serviceable because I plan to use and abuse it for another 20 years. The body is going to be semi gloss something or other........not 100% sure if black or not yet.

I really trying for Billetproof in late February. I "hope" they overlook some of the billet pieces I have on the car and let me enter. I had no choice on some parts, they only come in billet for sbf's. Maybe I'll bug bomb those pieces black. (No, just kidding )

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Thanks Steve. I'm not going nuts on this one as far as show finish or anything like that, I just want it to be serviceable because I plan to use and abuse it for another 20 years. The body is going to be semi gloss something or other........not 100% sure if black or not yet.

I really trying for Billetproof in late February. I "hope" they overlook some of the billet pieces I have on the car and let me enter. I had no choice on some parts, they only come in billet for sbf's. Maybe I'll bug bomb those pieces black. (No, just kidding )

Don

I here yah. My alternator relocation bracket only came in billet. Maybe you can run it epoxy primered to make the Feb show, then take your time for a final coat?

Well, supposedly, according to Billetproof show rules mine would not pass. Here is how their show card reads:

1) Traditional style rods, customs, jalopies and sleds only. (I'm ok here)
2) No obvious billet anything! Especially wheels! (ooooops)
3) No digital gauges. (I'm ok here too)
4) No IFS on fenderless cars. (Still ok, I have a dropped straight axle)
5) No trailer queens. (NOT IN MY LIFETIME!! )
6) No mag wheels made after the '60's. (My 46 Merc wheels will qualify)


So, according to the letter of the law my engine is too shiny, but I spoke to Alan who heads up these events and sent him pictures of my 23 and Dons 23 when we were planning on going the first time and he said we were ok. Don's car has lots of the B word stuff too, so I guess the overall theme of the car is what is important, and both of our cars are of that era.......kinda.

I sure hope the let me in, and more importantly I hope they let me run in the Billetproof Drags next October. There are a couple of Chevy powered coupes I have my sights set on. I mean, I like Glenn and Big Mike, but they were having way too much fun last year and need someone from the Ford camp to share some of that fun.

Someone on another forum suggested I put NOS in the car so I would have a chance against the Chevies. I told him I was thinking of pulling off 2 or 3 spark plug wires to even things up a bit. LOL

Don

This weekend wrapped up my 10 day vacation, so it's back to work this morning. However, I did get a lot done on my 27 and it is pretty much about ready to put the body back on. I still have some brake lines to run and am going to get Dan to bend them up for me........he does a much neater job than I do.

Yesterday I got the body down to where we could wipe 10 years of storage dirt off of it and I got a chance to measure the inset in the firewall. I was worried it wasn't high enough to clear my new valve covers (they are high to clear my roller rockers). Looks like I have to raise it up about 1.5 inches. Being fiberglass it won't be all that hard to do, it will just take some time.

Over the past ten days I got most of the mechanicals done on the car. The engine and transmission are in place, so is the driveshaft. The battery box and fuel tank are in place, although I am going to have the neck moved on the aluminum tank to give me more flow when filling up.

While I was working on mine Dan was making major progress on his. All the welding and bracing is done on the body and he sprayed cold galvanizing compound down into the body cavities that will be inaccessible once he fastens down the floor panels. His firewall is all welded in, and as soon as he gets a warm enough day to apply the panel adhesive he can glue down the floor. Maybe in a couple of weeks he can start shooting primer.

Here are a couple of pictures of the body for my 27. Two of those three holes on the back deck are for the roll bar and the one in the middle is my flip top fuel filler.

Don

Looking great, Don; you should be able to make late Feb with a straight body like that.

Nice work Don,

Those vacations really put a crimp in the important work don't they. In my case being retired it's my wife's vacations that keep me from the important stuff. She expects me to be by her side all the time. All kidding aside I like being with her and taking a break now and then.

Jack.

Thanks guys. Yep, it was hard to get out of bed this morning and venture out into the cold (33 degrees this am) But it feels good to be back at work too.

We were all waiting for the high heat and humidity of Summer to end here in Florida, but this is way too far the other direction.

Don

33 Yikes! That's northern California weather!
I remember when it got to the 50's in the Keys. It felt like it was snowing!
Nice work on the body and engine/frame. Although it's just a few words, it takes a lot of time to do all that stuff!
Heck I couldn't imagine how much time it took me just to be ready to crank the engine over this Holiday. You guys should be proud! Can't wait for the Surf and Turf photo's when you and Dan drive your current projects to Don Jr's boat and get some shots of all three!