Thread: Everybody that is currently building a car...

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Don---My wife doesn't mind my hobby, and she never complains about the money I spend on it. That being said, she doesn't really like to ride in the car either. I cruise by myself, and after having built a number of hotrods, and had a couple of wives, I no longer worry too much about pleasing anyone but myself when it comes to hotrodding. For those people out there fortunate enough to have their wives take a keen interest in the hobby---yes, its probably a great thing, but I believe the majority of hotrod enthusiasts have it more like I do.---As far as your car goes----Fiberglass bodies are wonderfull in that fiberglass is one of the most forgiving of mediums to work with. You can't really screw it up. Whatever you cut, chop, remove, or modify----if you don't like the results of what you just did, cut it out with the jig-saw or 3" cut-off tool in your air grinder and change it back to what it was before. I have built both "real" steel and fiberglass hotrods, and the ease of working with glass has always amazed me.

Originally Posted by brianrupnow

Don---My wife doesn't mind my hobby, and she never complains about the money I spend on it. That being said, she doesn't really like to ride in the car either. I cruise by myself, and after having built a number of hotrods, and had a couple of wives, I no longer worry too much about pleasing anyone but myself when it comes to hotrodding. For those people out there fortunate enough to have their wives take a keen interest in the hobby---yes, its probably a great thing, but I believe the majority of hotrod enthusiasts have it more like I do.---As far as your car goes----Fiberglass bodies are wonderfull in that fiberglass is one of the most forgiving of mediums to work with. You can't really screw it up. Whatever you cut, chop, remove, or modify----if you don't like the results of what you just did, cut it out with the jig-saw or 3" cut-off tool in your air grinder and change it back to what it was before. I have built both "real" steel and fiberglass hotrods, and the ease of working with glass has always amazed me.

you are right brain. my wife has never said anything about the money i've spent on hot rods (it been a lot) or where i go, but i can't remember the last time she rode with me either. she tried it for awhile about 20 yrs ago and didn't like it. it works out pretty good most of the time.

Brian, thanks much for encouragment regarding the fiberglass. I have built two small boats of the 12' variety and covered both of them with glass cloth and resin but I had to do a lot of disk sanding after it set up so my work with fiberglass is at a beginner level. The good thing here is that with some care I can cover the big patch on the inside of the firewall with some sort of upholstery later. I am concerned that I have messed up my paint job. My plan is to glass in a scrap piece of fiberglass with gelcoat on one side so it fills in the half moon of the hole behind the HEI distributor down low and paint it with Duplicolor (before I glass it in) which matches the body color pretty well. Gee the cars in Street Rod Builder get more perfect all the time and we already have many high quality cars here on the Forum so I want to hide the revised trans tunnel as best I can and try to match the patch along the bottom of the firewall on the engine side. Your comments help calm my worries about that patch.

Lt1S10, I can't see worrying over an AC installation in a roadster if the wife is not going to ride in it much anyway. So far she does like the way the car is turning out and we will be able to visit the Friday night informal meets in Mechanicsville next Summer and make trips to the Blue Ridge in the Spring and Fall without an AC. It would have been nice to cruise the loop at Virginia Beach together, but they have cracked down on cruising there anyway. Interestingly she did seem to really enjoy the recent NSRA meet at the Richmond Fairgrounds so all is not lost as far as some common interest in the car. We nearly reached the breaking point, however, when I restored the MG Midget because even though repro parts are readily available it was the proverbial money pit.

We just watched the VCR version of "Seabiscuit" and there were quite a few Model A cars in the film and in some closeups the tall handbrake was plainly visible so I guess if I ride alone most of the time it will be in more of a resto-rod.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Originally Posted by Don Shillady

Brian, thanks much for encouragment regarding the fiberglass. I have built two small boats of the 12' variety and covered both of them with glass cloth and resin but I had to do a lot of disk sanding after it set up so my work with fiberglass is at a beginner level. The good thing here is that with some care I can cover the big patch on the inside of the firewall with some sort of upholstery later. I am concerned that I have messed up my paint job. My plan is to glass in a scrap piece of fiberglass with gelcoat on one side so it fills in the half moon of the hole behind the HEI distributor down low and paint it with Duplicolor (before I glass it in) which matches the body color pretty well. Gee the cars in Street Rod Builder get more perfect all the time and we already have many high quality cars here on the Forum so I want to hide the revised trans tunnel as best I can and try to match the patch along the bottom of the firewall on the engine side. Your comments help calm my worries about that patch.

Lt1S10, I can't see worrying over an AC installation in a roadster if the wife is not going to ride in it much anyway. So far she does like the way the car is turning out and we will be able to visit the Friday night informal meets in Mechanicsville next Summer and make trips to the Blue Ridge in the Spring and Fall without an AC. It would have been nice to cruise the loop at Virginia Beach together, but they have cracked down on cruising there anyway. Interestingly she did seem to really enjoy the recent NSRA meet at the Richmond Fairgrounds so all is not lost as far as some common interest in the car. We nearly reached the breaking point, however, when I restored the MG Midget because even though repro parts are readily available it was the proverbial money pit.

We just watched the VCR version of "Seabiscuit" and there were quite a few Model A cars in the film and in some closeups the tall handbrake was plainly visible so I guess if I ride alone most of the time it will be in more of a resto-rod.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

you sound like "the top down kind of guy anyway", so you really don't need AC. I owned 5 or 6 conv. over the yrs. and never put the top down, so the ac worked out great. The thing to do is, do what you want. I lived at the beach when they started the no cruising thing and that took all the fun out of going to the beach. in 86 or 87 they did the samething on Broad st. in Richmond Va. used to be 2 to 300 cars on Broad st. every sat. nite and all of a sudden there was none. I had a blown el comina and everybody thought it wasn't real. they would come to my shop on monday to look at the blower, to see how I had the carbs. in the blower. now! those was the good old days.

Sign of the times, there is alot of racing going on which brings things about. It happens every so often, not that change is bad but somethings and places are missed because of a few people.

Some fool carries a bottle of liquid on a plane and we all get patted down like a bunch gang members at 3 am,lame blanket laws ,with a police state mentality!!Unless you have not figured it out yet ,we are all treated as guilty till patted down, ex-rayed and frisked. I am positive some yahoo thought it would be funny to make all the women drink there breast milk and baby formula in line,my take on that is ,if you wanna taste go ahead ,this is free country and I aint drinkin nuthin I would not normally drink.If there so concerned, take a taste fer yerself partner 1 fool cruzes the ave and we all gatta stay at home.I think America is in denial about freedoms being stripped away,if you say bad words like on the playground,its a felony hate crime,if you drive where and when they dont like you to drive,its against the law,unless you consent to a search ,pat down and x-ray you cant fly.You can have a gun as long as its no better than a pea shooter,here in cali.If you want to assemble as a free malitia ,here come the feds.So constitutional right ,freedom of speach,out the window,The right to bear arms, out the window.Look at how quick things started moving ,when we formed the minute men / border patrol . The right to remain silent,sorry the judge can order you to testify and yes you can remain silent,...but you will goto jail for it.Freedom of press /lol/just ask a reporter if there is still freedom of press/lol/.This is still the greatest country in the world,just a little less great than it was.

Brian, your comments about fiberglass were very helpful but the weather is getting too cold for easy fiberglass work in an unheated garage. I glassed in a much, much smaller tunnel about 6 inches long by 5 inches wide and only about 2 inches high but it was three days before the glass finally cured even though I used a heat lamp for 30 minutes to "kick it off" at the beginning. Anyway part of that effort was not exactly straight so with a suggestion from Dave Severenson on another thread I got a piece of stainless in 16 gauge and had a trapezoid cut out 18" on the bottom, 16" across the top and 10" wide/high. Today I drilled the holes for some stainless capscrews around the edge AND two bolts to hold a piece of scrap fiberglass into the half-moon hole on the back of the stainless. Then I will glass that shallow plug in behind the stainless plate. I will try to buff the stainless but may have to paint it the same color as the body. After quite a bit of "what do I do now" thinking, it looks like I will end up with a metal face on the firewall and a LOT more space for my right foot! The stainless plate is only 16 gauge but pretty rigid and should strengthen the cowl as well as help reinforce the mount for the gas pedal. Thanks for your helpful comments.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don---The more we do, the more we learn. Isn't it great!!!! Thats one of the truly great things about building Hotrods.

after many weeks of debating the location of my fuel cell in my anglia, front or rear. i just threw up my hands and said xxxxxx the rear will work. i can always move it later, and probably will. that is my newest mod to my car. also the cell looks crooked because it is resting on the frame work without tabs.

Well I managed to bolt on a Billet Speciaties Tru-Track to the front of my blown 355 SBC.



Moved the motor back a couple inches after finding I didn't have the room for the Rad and Fan with the Tru-Track. Also soon discovered that the new position for the motor mounts were in the way of the steering linkage, so made the mounts out of round stock and ran the linkage throught the middle.



Made 2 reservoirs for the remote steering and rad over flow tank and incorporated them into the sides of the rad cradle.





Started making the collector to mate the side exhaust to the block huggers.



And I did a Photo Shop rendition of the finished Stude in black, chopped 3" with air ride.



The complete build can be viewed at
http://www.angelfire.com/super/1950bulletnose

If you go back to pages 103 and 104 of this thread you will see the mess I got into with the large trans tunnel in my Bebops 'glass body. Maybe a 59A or 59AB flathead or a Firepower 331 with the extended bellhousing might need that big tunnel, but with a 700R4 I need the foot space more so I cut out the old tunnel. I am attaching three pictures of the new partial stainless firewall and the small half moon fiberglass plate I am about to 'glass into place. You can see the outline of the old tunnel and the small size of the new tunnel. From a distance I think the new stainless plate looks pretty good as-is but I would appreciate comments. Bob Parmenter has been watching over my shoulder regarding tastful construction so maybe he can comment on the stainless plate? I can still paint it if it looks too bad but I kind of like the dull reflection behind the engine. Comments, leave alone or paint? The last front view picture is pretty dark but to me it looks pretty good in the garage.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

I'll second that Brianrupnow, the boys have been the best school anyone can go to.

Don Shillady
Its hard to see (say) but I think I'd beed roll the edges to blend it better.

Nice ride 50 bulletnose, I love the mellow little retro motor! It looks like it's going to be a great ride, taking your time to get everything working right is a good way to go.

I have found a new project I think, this chev for a grand. I think it has great potential for a wonderful street rod. What do you all think?

Don that looks like that will be plenty of hump and more room for you. well done.

Brickman
When you get tired of it call me. I do like those old chevys