Thread: 1929 Essex Highboy

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Here is the drag link all done and in. I forgot to say that I made this the same way as I made the radius rods, which is the same way J. Robinson made the ones for his T Modified. Not to say I stole his ideas! I got two 1/2" fine thread rod couplings, put them on a grinder and made them (more of less) round for all but 3/8" of an inch, this was left octagonal as bought. I then took a piece of 1/2" pipe the correct length, crossdrilled the ends, then inserted the coupling nuts, rounded end in, natch, and welded through the holes. I say plug welded, Tech Inspector says Rosette Weld.
haaahaaa. Yeah, I KNEW that Inspector------- heehee.

Here is a shot of the old steering box I had, it's from a '49 Ford F1. The man who took it out of the truck cut it off with the gas axe, right above the box nose! Only about a half inch or so of shaft sticking through as shown here. I cut off about three quarters of an inch of the nose to get enough shaft exposed to hook a U joint onto. My old chevy van gave up it's universal assembly to the cause, it had a splined end with locking bolt on one end and a double D on the other end. Perfect. I worked for over an hour with a dremel tool and files to get the splined end cleaned out, then sanded (ground) some off the shaft end, 'till finally they fit together! Then I ran a drill bit through the lock bolt hole to make a notch in the shaft. And the bottom of the U joint had a flat on it, so I filed this on the shaft too. On the bench here is a small box of parts from Dennis Carpenter containing new bearings and races and seals and gaskets! 80 dollars worth! arrgghhhh
So I installed all of that stuff, added gaskets per the enclosed instructions, and buttoned it up. You will notice the mount(s) here. At first I took a piece of 4 x 2 box tube, drilled a hole (big) through the flat, then sawed it in half. One half I welded down to the top of the frame, sat the box in, then was going to weld on coupling nuts and bolt the top down. Before I could do that I discovered that the adjustment nut on the inside face of the box hit the bell housing. While studying "Itoldyouso" Don's T build, he had a pic of his Dodge Truck. On it he had a plate on the side of his frame to mount his box on. Light comes on!!! So I copied that on the SX. heeheee. Then found out that this still did not give me enough clearance. So I got a 3/8" pipe nipple at Home Depot, sawed off some slices and made spacers. Then I used Grade 8 bolts and nuts through the box, spacers, and 3/8" thick plate to mount the box. Now I decided that I don't have to use the top of the box tube 'clamp', but left the bottom part to serve as a cradle to hold the weight of the box. Then bolted on the pirated Chevy steering universal. Great. Now the drag link goes on for good (I hope).

Next Chapter ---------- Exhaust! Perley

So------a couple of days ago I got my Grandson and some of his Friends to help me fix some of the leaks in garage roof! First I took a scrap of tarp left from trimming the last full cover, laid it out on the ground and folded it back and forth until I got it ready. Then we tossed a rope across to the other end and with Grandson Steve on one end and me on the other end we pulled the folded up tarp across the ridge. This will give a cushion so the new cover won't chafe on the metal bows of the greenhouse frame (hopefully) Then I took a tarp that I've had for a couple of years that is too small for a full cover (24' x 40') and rigged ropes on the sides and couple on the end. Then again Steve on one side, me on the other, and Brad pulling one side then the other, we got it pulled across the top. Then stapled down the ends and tied down the side ropes. That will stop most of the leaks for now, later on I will buy another big tarp for a full cover and pull it on over what is there now. That will give us an extra measure of protection. No fun to have to cover everything inside the garage so it won't get wet! Now I can put away some of the drip cans!

And here are a few shots of building an exhaust system. I went to Advance Auto Parts and got an armload of 2" pipe fittings and some short lengths of pipe and brought it home. Then I had to make two more flanges to attach to the manifold outlets to get started with. So, 2 pieces of 1/4" steel plate, a pattern from an outlet flange, and then drill a 2" hole in each plate. Then with a grinder and a cut off wheel, trimmed them down to rough size, then grinder to shape. The exhaust fittings and pipe slide right up inside of these flanges. I also had an old exhaust system that I had given to me off from another vehicle. Had lots of bends in it, all one piece formed. So I cut all of this up into individual bends, then with all of the parts, new and old, started fitting together dual exhausts to fit available space. The area just under and behind the outlets was a little tight, what with the steering box, bell housing, clutch release lever and frame side. But I made it through that mess and back to front u joint area. Then I turned both of the exhausts to routed between the front driveshaft loop and the front radius rod attachments. When I would get few pieces together I would reach down, around, up, and tack parts together. Then unbolt the flanges, take out the assembly, weld it up good with the flux core welder (MIG with NO G) And then grind the welds down smooth. Then bolt the assembly back in place and fit a few more bends and pieces together, then repeat as before. Until finally got both pipes around all the obstacles and headed for the rear of the car. Now I need to take my glass paks to a muffler shop and have the inlets expanded where the clamps used to be and then slide them onto the exhausts and (then and then) do the outlets, back, up over the axle, then down then straighten out to under the rear of the car, or where it will be! More pics. Enjoy. Perley

And some more

When I set the body on next and started to level up with hockey pucks for isolators, I found that the rear of the body where the rumble hinge is sat on the rear crossmember and held the body off the frame too far. Why didn't I notice that before? Well, just gotta fix it! So I lifted the rear up, propped with some blocks, then marked what I had to remove. Then with an angle grinder and cut-off wheel, cut across it, and with sawzall trimmed off the ends. Then dropped the body down on it. Much better. Got my Grandson and a friend to lift the body off again, then I put on a piece of 2 x 2 angle to cap the cut. Then welded it all on, then painted it.

More pictures of rear crossmember!

A little more progress. Intake bolted to exhaust and then set bolted to engine. And the original carb bolted on. All of this with new gaskets. I should have rebuilt the carb probably, but getting anxious now to hear it run! And took the oil pan off, degreased it, cleaned it inside and out, installed new gaskets and seals, and painted the pan, then bolted it back on. Pretty. Enjoy. Perley

This is a fun build to watch.

Originally Posted by oldrodder43

I should have rebuilt the carb probably, but getting anxious now to hear it run! Enjoy. Perley

Heck, if that old carb works good, I'd leave it alone. The Quadra-Jet carb on my coupe has been in continuous use on two different vehicles since it left the factory in 1978 and it's never been apart! It doesn't leak and it performs flawlessly - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

This IS a fun build to watch.

Thanks RickOMatic, and thanks Jim. Yeah, I guess you are right about the carb. I'll try it out, later. haahaa. Not long now till I fire her.
Remember-------I NEVER make mistakes!!!! That crossmember change was just an UNPLANNED modification! Perley

UNPLANNED modification! I gotta remember that since I tend to do a lot of them sometimes...

How many circuits would I need as a general rule, to wire up my project? I am not going to use A/C, but I will have a heater, I think. Sometimes need those up here in June! Is there a list somewhere maybe that I can get ideas from. I have a bunch of old wiring including my old Chevy work van. And I have a book with the wiring schematic of that system too. I have seen some systems on ebay that went pretty cheap, like 9 circuit, 12 circuit. Would something like that cover it? I'd probably have to have a RADIO, my Grandson Steve, you know! Thanks a lot in advance. Perley

43 missed most the summer on this will be back tracking to catch up . Good work as usual and you have all that stuff come up in the middle of it all.