|
08-13-08
Another
good day...and another hard day with the power sander, boy and I tired. I got to the shop early this morning and first thing
I did was apply another medium skin-coat to the body, yes the whole body (no roof). Then I kicked back and sanded for about
4 Straight hours. There is no since stopping, why you just have to start again, so I stayed at it, till the body was sanded
down. After that, we looked for the few low spots or spots that might have been missed, like the very bottom of the door frames.
I hadn’t applied anything in that area, and it was evident. I ended, up re-applying some filler to the drivers side
door, I got carried away sanding and took off to much. Other areas, were the cowl and around the rear fender openings. Once
they were gone over again with the power sander, I broke out my newest toy, the semi-power sander, really it’s a jitter
bug sander, or palm sander. This guy works really well in those areas, where the power sander is just to large. The jitter
bug, is flat so it sands well, but it’s only about 6" long, so it can get into those many areas the power sander
can not. It is also, very easy to use!!!
Somewhere around the 5-6hour mark, I got all the grooves
again with the die grinder and a Roloc scotch pad, just as I have done the other 8-9 times. I try to keep the filler out of
the grooves, but it’s almost impossible some times. One new spot I did concentrate on, was the cowl, and all the grooves
and dips it has for the hood, side pieces and gaskets. That scotch pad disc, is the really winner here, it gets down in there
and simply refuses to say no.....I got that area very well, and it looked like the only parts where I have to go back and
add some filler was right up top, where the cowl vent opening is. There is a rough spot right behind the opening, and I’ll
address that tomorrow. The body is now really looking good, I don’t feel much in the way of im-perfections, and tomorrow
I will tackle the roof once more, and those few areas like the bottom of the door frames, and rear quarter panels. Besides opening up the new tool, I did manage with help from Dad, to install our new automatic
compressor tank drain kit. I was worried about the tank being loaded with water and muck, so I got this cool automatic drain
kit, that taps into the pressure starting switch, and automatically drains the tank on start-up. I would have bet the tank
was wet, but when we installed the kit, and I removed the original drain valve from the bottom of our storage tank, it was
dry.......bone dry. Oh well, if it every does get water in there, we are ready. The lines are constantly getting wet. I have
to, every 2-3 hours, go over and open one of the water trap valves, and allow it to blow out. I suppose that means our compressor
is really doing a good job, and that it’s a good one, what with the dry tank and all, but I would have bet you there
would be water in the bottom of that tank.....I would have lost too.
Tomorrow I’m going to build the fender and door stands, I loaded the truck up tonight when I got home with some steel
tubing for the job. I know it sounds stupid, but I have twice as much steel at home as I have at the shop. It’s just
how things turned out, when we moved here. I use to have a shop at our old home, and when we moved I built a large steel rack
and moved everything here. It’s slowly getting moved to the new shop. Once it’s all gone, I’ll sell the
racks and have full use on that area in the garage. I’m looking forward to the stand project, I need something to motivate
me, and nothing does that like welding and making something new!! That power sander is all work and
zero fun.....actually it is fun to see the body come to us, just it will were you out, I was useless tonight when I got home.
08-14-08
Today was a little different, we started the morning off by going to the Beltera Resort and Casino
for breakfast. They have a very large breakfast that my parents like, I don’t eat much at breakfast so I don’t
really get that much out of it, but it was a nice change of pace. I must admit, they do have some very good things there.
We didn’t get a lot of things done on the body, Dad worked on the cowl vent, and got
all the old gasket material out of the grooves, and I re-sanded the roof, and went over some trouble spots on the sides. That
about sums it up on the body. But we did get a lot of other things done. First up....I wanted to build a stand for the front
and rear fenders, and a stand for the doors, and today was the day. I started with the rotisserie racks, and added on from
there. One on rack I added a small section of 1-1/2" square tube and then built the fender rack out of 1" square
tubing. The best way to describe the fender rack is to imagine a length of 1" SQ tubing 90" long, with a 22"
section welded to the center. This center section fits down into the 1-1/2" SQ tubing we welded to the rotisserie rack,
so the fender rack can be quickly removed if need be. Then I just marked the long 1" section so that 3 of the front fender
holes alined with some 5/16" bolts I inserted in the long section, this well hold the fender along the body side, and
then I added some outer support by using some 5/16" rod, and welding it to the main section, I also used some of this
same rod to further strengthen the main section, by tri-angulation. On the rear most of the long 90" piece, I made provisions
for the rear fender, I use another bolt to mount the fender by the rear most hole, and then craft some more rod to support
the front of the fender. Duplicate this for the other side and you have your new front and rear fender rack. The doors were
hung much the same way, I used the other half of the rotisserie rack and made some simple supports out of the 1" SQ tubing,
so that they hold the door with 4-small section of rod that will lock into 4 holes we drilled in the back of each door. These
racks will hold each door, up at the right height so painting them isn’t a chore, if I would decide to put locks or
pins in the rods that secure the doors, then I could rotate the rack if I had to, maybe I’ll do that?? One of the front
fenders really hade a lot of rust on it, I suppose when we un-loaded them into the office, we must have been sweating. I think
it got on the fender and then rusted, I didn’t notice because we stacked them, and the rusted one was one the bottom.
There is a lot of salt in body fluid, and this is what caused the surface rust to form. Lesion learned....Wipe all metal objects
off before you store them. I have been having
second thoughts about painting the body at this time. I’m concerned we will run into trouble when we go to fit the hood
and grill to the body, also when we fit the steering column . I’ve been toying with the ideal of not painting the body
now, and instead set it on the frame and assemble the pieces first......Really my only real problem might be the steering,
since we don’t have the support bearing in place, or the column opening located and drilled. I wish I could take a poll
here. On one hand I don’t want to have the body sit around for another winter unpainted, and loss all the work we have
done......But I also don’t want to get to far ahead of ourselves, that we cause more work and trouble. I’ll have
to think about this one..... To see how the rear fenders will look on
the body, I went ahead and mounted them to it. They look very nice, with one small exception on the drivers side, I just have
to sand some in the rear of the body where the back of the fender hits, other then that they fit and look fine. Before mounting
them I had to first sand that surface rust off, it was getting to me, so I sanded all four fenders and they cleaned up pretty
good. Also, I had to run a tap through all the 5/16-24 fender mounting nuts, they were mainly full of filler. The body looks
so much different with the fenders on....I think it looks bigger and meaner. The new quarter panels, fit the fenders nice,
and the lines match up. Our new automatic drain we installed on the sir compressor hit a snag,
when we use the compressor a lot, the tube we installed the "T-ee" into, get hot and that causes the plastic tube
to blow out of it’s fitting. Dad went down to the hardware store to get enough copper tubing to just run the whole line
down to the valve in copper, and do away with the plastic all together. Should have seen that coming, but I didn’t.
While the compressor was down, I went over to the frame and started the process to fit the inner-fender panels. These are
the ones that bolt to the frame, and then on there other end, bolt to the fenders. They are important, because they not only
locate the front fenders, but the grill as well. And when we get our hood, they also locate the lower side panels. I measured
them out, and drilled the panels for the brake fitting, the front thru-the -frame brake fitting. With that hole out of the
way, I could fit the panels even better, enough to locate the area we have to trim in order to clear the new front suspension
and it’s cross member. That’s as far s I got, I got the area marked, and Dad got it cut out, I suppose I’ll
fit it better next time done. I could see that the passenger side was fine, with regards to clearing the engine, but on the
drivers side, our alternator sticks out on the very bottom, and it’s a very, very tight fit. I think it will bolt up,
but it will most likely rub the alternator, I’ll see what I can do with it latter.
08-15-08
I never got to the shop today, instead I took the day off to recover, and think about the project. After weighting in on both
sides to the paint or don’t pain the body now issue, I have decided to go ahead and paint the body, but revise my schedule
and first fit the rear tank cover. I stayed up late last night thinking about this subject, and I have to say I think I got
a great plan.... My first issue is to fit the rear tank cover to the rear fenders. I held it up and compared the thing 0n
the 14th. It’s not that bad, and we can go ahead now and get it right. Next would be to also get the few
problems with the rear fenders take care of, mainly just sanding the inner panels for a better fitting fender. OK, this takes
care of the body issues, next is the issue of the front fenders and the inner fender support panels. While they are not bad,
I started on there fit, and really I am very confident that they only need minor trimming, of which we have already begun.
But I think the right thing to do is to just leave them alone for now, no more trimming and I won’t paint them. This
way after the body is painted, and re-installed on the frame, I can then trim them to fit, and once the hood and side panels
get here, we can further fit them. By not painting them now, I am free to do what I want or need to do, and not worry about
it. I have to paint the Hood and side panels latter anyway, so why not leave the inner fender panels alone now and just paint
them later with the hood? This way I have all the final front end sheet metal in bare steel, so I can do as I need to do,
then after everything is right, I can paint them as a group. This group would also include the front fender supports, rear
tail light supports, and anything else that I may have forgotten here. This way I am free to go ahead and paint the majority
of the body components and not have to worry about surface rust or losing all the body work we have till now. As far as protecting
the body from damage as the car continues it’s assembly......I found a great source for transport wrap. The same stuff
you see the new cars wrapped in when they leave the factory. Yes, that white plastic looking wrap they cover the major body
areas with. I managed to find a wholesaler that sells this stuff, and it’s the 180 day wrap, so long term storage isn’t
a problem. I’m very confident that we can paint the body, do all the special graphics we talked about, then after the
paint has had time to dry throughly, I can apply the protective film, and then continue to work on and around the body without
fear of scratches or marks. The film comes in 24" x 200' rolls and I even bought some protective carpet and interior
wrap for latter on when we get to finishing the inside of Project COBRA’33. Yes, we will still have to proceed very carefully, and no this wrap doesn’t protect from major events, but
it does give us an extra ounce of protection, that might help ward off most simple accidents, or accidental touching. That
is all I need, some type of barrier between me and the body, so most accidents that might happen, won’t ruin or day
or body!! I was very concerned about installing the roof, and putting the roll bars back inside the body. These are two events
that have a very high percentile of accidental contact. This film or barrier will help and I think with normal adjustments
made for the situation, we will be just fine. The roll bars will be wrapped in soft foam wrap, covered by plastic, which I
am hoping will soften the bumps that I know will happen trying to wrestle them back inside the body. I think with Dad and
myself, or perhaps one additional person like Chris, we can get them back inside without to much drama. The main thing is
to prepare for the inevitable, which is light contact between the bars and the body. By softening the bars, and covering the
body we can do this in a controlled manor that shouldn’t result in any major or un-repairable damage. The Roof opening,
is not as bad as the roll bar installation. The process is limited to one area, the top of the roof. With the protective wrap
in place, we are well protected from light touch. I’ll further protect the roof with soft rags or a blanket type moving
pad material. The only other large objects that have to go into the interior are the front and rear seats, the dash and the
consol.. These are all small enough pieces that I don’t feel threatened by there installation. We can just go slow and
use good judgement, and everything should be fine. I’ll take extra precautions, by using soft materials around the areas
that we work , and this should be adequate.
Fitting the Hood and grill.....This
is another problem we will have to over come. The hood’s rear most side is the only area that will come in contact with
a painted surface, and we will cover this area with the protective wrap. This should allow us to fit the hood without any
scratches in the painted surfaces. The inner fender panels, that the fenders and hood sides rest on are also another area
where we will be in touch with a painted surface, mainly the frame. Here we will cover the frame with wrap and use care. Same
goes for the sides of the front fenders, we’ll just use the wrap and use care when handling them. I’m really glade
I took the time to think this part out, the protective wrap, which took some time to find, will aid us in every part of the
cars construction. It’s this extra level of protection that makes we confident that painting the body now is the right
coarse to take. I ordered the warp, carpet protection more sanding supplies and filler today while I was off. While I still
have to revise the painting schedule, really the only major change will be the start date, for the most part, the rest will
stay the same. Let’s see how this might now proceed.... Date | Area | Procedure | Time Need | 08-18 | Rear Fenders | Fit
Tank Cover to Rear Fenders | 1 Day | 08-19 | Front Fenders | Sand and Coat | 1
Day | 08-20 | Rear fenders | Sand and Coat | 1 Day | 08-21 | Roll Bars | Re-Sand | 1Day | 08-22 | Body | Sand | 1 Day | 08-27 | Body | Sand | 1 Day | 08-28 | Body | Sand | 1Day | 08-29 | Blow out shop and prepare for Primer | Clean Shop | 1 Day | 09-01 | Primer pieces | Primer body, fenders, roll bars | 3/4 Day | 09-02 | Sane parts | Sand all Primer’d
parts | 1 Day | 09-03 | Clean Shop for Paint | Clean and Install all Paint Booth Supplies | 2 Day | 09-04 | Clean Shop for Paint | Clean and Install all Paint Booth Supplies | 1 day | 09-05 | Shoot Orion Silver | All parts | 1 Day | 09-06 | Shoot platinum Silver | | 1 Day | 09-07 | Shoot Cobalt Candy Blue | | 1 day | | | | | | | | | | |
Well this is just a very tentative plan, but it’s at least a plan.
08-18-08
Today was a busy
day, and oh yes...the hot, hot days have returned. I worked on the front of the body, down in the front where the frame bolts
up. This is not a big area, but it is very busy and needed cleaned. The construction of the area, makes it very hard to access,
so work was slow. I needed my small hand held belt sander to get into all the small areas. I know this won’t be seen
by anyone once the car is assembled, but I know it’s there and that’s cause enough for me to clean it up. I wish
I could cap this area, and clean it up further, but I don’t think that is a great ideal, I could only do a very small
portion, and I think it would make it look odd, kind of like out of place. I suppose it took about two hours to get the area
clean, or as clean as I could get it. I managed to get down to bare metal, and most importantly, in all the high profile areas.
While there I re-sanded and re-contoured the very front facing sheet metal on the fire wall. I was going for symmetry, and
removing any un-nesseccary edges. I think I improved the spot, so time well spent. Dad had gotten down into the ribs of the
cowl vent the day before, so I used a sanding disc to clean the edges of the gasket areas, and smooth them as best I could.
The body shop didn’t get the Quantum Body Filler in, so I had to change my plans some. With the front of the body now
looking better, we decided to turn our attention to the rear of the body. More specifically, the rear gas tank cover. I noticed
there was something wrong with this cover back when we installed the rear fenders for a trial fit. The cover was pretty far
off, and the sides looked like they were under bent. We first removed the rear fenders, but I first scribed a line to the
rear edge of the fenders with a sharpie, so I could see if there was anything interfering with the fit. When removed it was
easy to see that the rear fenders were fitting ver nicely, and the only object in there way was those little rivets. Dad took
care of them with a cut-off wheel. We also went ahead and uncovered the right sides missing fender hole. It was covered in
filler, so I drilled through from the inside, and then chased the threads with a tap. On the left, or drivers side, we had
to drill a new hole. The back side cage nut was missing, so we will just use a normal 5/16 bolt backed up by a regular nut
when we re-install the fenders.
Now it was time to tackle the rear tank cover. With the fenders
off, it was much easier to fit the cover and see just where the problems were. First up was the fact that the cover was miss-shaped,
so we adjusted the sides of the panel and also adjusted the rear most section of the body where the tank cover bolt so. This
area was to flat on the extreme ends, and needed to be rounded over so the cover would fit. We took our time and crept up
on it, and within very little time had the sides fitting much better. Next, we had to clean-out the small groove around the
rear apron, this is the groove the tank cover slides up into, so you don’t see that edge. There was a slight obstruction
on both sides near the ends, where the body work curves around. We were able to bend the drivers side groove up a little to
open it up, but had to cut a small amount of body metal off the passenger side to get the same clearance. Now the tank cover
was looking much better, but it was very clear, the original holes both in the cover and in the back of the body where it
attached, were not going to be useable. They just didn’t aline, and we would have to drill new holes once we had the
fit we were after. The original tapered holes on the tank cover were actually hindering the fit, they protruded down and were
hitting the lower body panel and would not allow the cover to slide forward up into the groove. To fix this I ground down
the tapered holes on the back side so they were flush with the sheet metal, and then went ahead and welded the mounting holes
up. Since they were useless, I might as well weld them up and grind them flat, so they wouldn’t show. This went very
smoothly, I just had to take my time and weld the holes slowly. Once filled, the tank cover was down fitting much better,
and we were quick to see that now the problem was that the cover needed to be sanded in the middle to form the curve of the
rear panel. It was basically flat now, and needed this curve to properly fit into the groove all the way around the panels.
I used a 5" sanding disc in my side grinder to slowly take the metal out of the middle of the panel, there is a reinforcement
strip welded to this area which serves as a re-enforcement for the mounting holes which made the operation a little more difficult.
It probably took me 4-5 fittings to get it right, I would just take a little off and check the fit, then take some more off
and re-check it. In all, I think I probably removed 5/16 to 3/8" of material from the center of the panel, and that would
tapper off in each direction from that point to make the curvature. Now the panel was really looking like it was suppose to,
we only had to mildly adjust the shape with a mallet on the ends. Now with the tank cover looking very good, we re-drilled
some pilot holes in the cover after I measured them out and alined them, so everything looks centered and proper. Right now
I’ll just leave these holes small, they a only large enough for a 10/32 screw, and latter I’ll adjust them when
necessary. I’m going to look around and see what I can find for this area. The original holes were set-up for a tapered
screw, but I think I might get some nice chrome Button-Head screws, we’ll see about that much latter. It was a great
feeling knowing we now had a tank cover that fit and fit every well. I still have to drill some passages from the edges of
the tank cover to the inside edge of each fender, but I’ll also wait on those, till I see what might look better there,
and what sizes I can find them in. At this point, we now have all the body work fitting, or at least all the body work we
can fit at this time, the front fenders and the inner fender panels will be the only real trouble areas to fit once the body
is painted and being put back together. I turned my attention to the
rear window in the body, I wanted to clean up the area around the window and in the frame itself. Dad and I got into a bit
of a squabble over the rear window wood. I thought I needed to remove the wood so I could paint behind the window frame, and
Dad didn’t want me to remove it because it was a real pain to install. What I didn’t know, was I could get to
all the metal with the wood left in place, the big problem was the wood had been coated with a material that also covered
the metal frame work, so I could not see the metal, which lead me to believe it had to come out. Fortunately, while in the
process of removing the wood, I seen the problem and stopped there. So, with wood still intact, I proceeded to clean the metal
frame work and everything else around the real window. This really only took about an hour, and at this point I was tired
and really needed my body filler to continue on the body. What to do?? Hey, why not get some of the over head work done for
the curtain wall?? So out came the huge 12' ladder and up I went. My new system had me installing a heavy wire cable on
each side of the curtain wall, so I could hook the top of the curtain to it. Last time we painted I installed hooks at every
eyelet on the panels, but this didn’t work out so well. First the panels are not uniform, and the eyelets very, this
made it impossible to hang each eyelet on the hooks. Second I couldn’t move the curtains back for access. My new system
is to install one end with a heavy duty eyelet that is secured to the rafters, then at regular intervals, install more eyelets
till I reach the other end of the curtain wall and there end the run with the last eyelet. On one end I will install the cable
to the eyelet, then run the cable through each other eyelet till I get to the end, and there I will terminate the cable to
a adjustable turn-buckle, so I can draw the cable up tight, leaving it without any slack. Now to install the curtain wall,
I simple go along the cable and use an "S" hook, so one end goes over the cable and the other end of the hook goes
through the grommet in the curtain wall. Now I have a great fitting curtain, that I can slide open at each end if I wish,
and it makes installation and removal much easier. I had to do this three times, with the cable and eyelets, because there
are three curtain walls to hang. All the cables overlap on the ends, so there is no problems with fit, and I have many options.
I suppose this doesn’t sound to difficult reading this, but trust me up and down the ladder, with 90+ temps and no breeze,
it was very hard and hot. While I did manage to get all three cables up and ready for the curtain walls, I also got to thinking
that I could strategically place some eyelets around the booth area to hang things up for paint, or for future projects where
I need some assistance. So I went to the hardware store and purchased more eyelets and more cable to make slings out of. Also,
I used coated 3/16" cable for the curtain walls with aluminum clinches and eye leads to make nice connections at each
end, and purchased 1/8" cable with aluminum clinches and eye leads for the wires that will connect to the eyelets I installed
for hanging up objects. In all I spent almost $200.00 on materials for this small project, which now doesn’t seem so
small, I’m hoping this works as well as I planed and that the money is well spent?? Another Item I went ahead and purchased,
mainly because I was already at the hardware store and because I took the truck, was the inner door panel wood. I got some
light 1/4" thick ply wood which we will cut to fit latter on after the paint, or possibly before if I get to it. That
would be smarter I suppose, and lessen the chances of damaging the freshly painted surfaces. I’m not sure if the Interior
guy will use these panels or not, but I need to have something so I can mount all the switch panels to, while I wire the car
out. We’ll talk more about the door panels as the time comes, but for now we have the materials to do as we wish. Another item I have decided to get is a paint shaker. I have wanted one, but was thinking
about it, then I read about how nice they were to have with two part paints and how House of Kolor recommended them to mix
there different paints with, so that sealed the deal, kind of....actually they went on sale locally, and that is what sealed
the deal, I’ll pick one up tomorrow on the way down to the shop. Recent
Expenses Lowes Item | Description | Price | Cost | Eyelets | 3/8"
Welded rings W/lag bolt threads | 1.09 | 17.44 | Hook Eyes | 3/16 Cable | .44 | 4.40 | Clinches | 3/16 Cable, Aluminum | .99 | 9.90 | Cable | 3/16 Coated Wire cable (132ft) | .44/ft | 58.00 | Clevis | 3/16" screw clevis | 1.89 | 15.12 | Cable | 1/8" wire cable (62 ft) | .22 | 13.64 | Clinches | 1/8" Aluminum | .89 | 7.12 | Hook Eyes | 1/8" | .44 | 3.52 | Taps | 8-32 Tap W/Bit | 4.59 | 9.18 | Taps | 10-32
Tap W/ Bit | 4.99 | 9.98 | Tap | 10-24
Tap W/Bit | 4.99 | 4.99 | Plywood | 1/4"
plywood Sheeting (2 Sheets) | 14.99 | 29.98 | Turn Buckles | 5/16" Turn Buckles Aluminum | 5.99 | 17.97 | S Hooks | 3/16" for curtain walls 30 each | 1.09 / 2 | 16.35 | S Hooks | 3/8" Hooks | 1.59 | 15.90 |
|
|
| 233.49 | TAX | | | 15.17 | TOTAL | | | 248.66 |
PDQ
Auto Body Supplies Item | Description | Price | Cost | 1310-IT | Carpet protection
matting 24" x 200' | 52.20 | 52.20 | 1317-IT | Transport Wrap 24" x 200' | 52.95 | 52.98 | 1028-IT | Masking Rolls | 98.00 | 98.00 | Paper | Blue Zirconia
Long Board 80 Grit | 26.40 | 26.40 | Paper | Premium paper, 100Grit PSA Roll | 32.80 | 32.80 | TOTAL | | | 262.38 |
Smith Auto Parts Item | Description | Price | Cost | Thinner | Gun Cleaner | 12.58 | 12.58 | Quantum | Body filler
(3 Cans) | 22.99 | 68.97 | Replacement Pad | Long Board replacement sanding pad | 18.98 | 18.98 | SEM | Panel Sealer | 19.98 | 39.96 | Paint
Shaker | Air operated Paint shaker, Bench mount | 188.00 | 188.00 | | | | | 328.49 | TAX | | | 21.35 | TOTAL | | | 349.84 |
08-20-08
I totally forgot to include the door jams and complete door cavity. I suppose I was too worried
about the evident areas. Not to worry, I got a great start on them today, I pretty much have the drivers side door jam and
frame done, it just needs a little going over with a fresh scotch pad tomorrow. And there will be some to do when we remove
the doors, there is some area back behind the hinges that I can not get now with the doors on. It takes about three hours
to do a door, I use the side grinder and the die grinder with both scotch and sanding disc. Tomorrow I’ll finish the
passenger side door and go back over some of the drivers side door with the new disc I’ll take from home. These doors
are not bad, they just require time. Time to go over every square inch and remove the light debris that has aculeated on them.
The scotch pads really do a great job of cleaning the areas up, but not removing any material or making deep scratches, like
a sanding disc would. I can even use a sanding disc, then go back over the same area latter with a scotch pad and it smooths
out any irregularities. I have the two rear windows to do and the front windshield, then we are home free, with just the body
to re-sand. I did spread some filler today, mainly all the problem areas, and any where I seen a dimple or rust pit. Speaking
of rust, I sanded the front fenders and one of them was completely full of surface rust on the inside. It comes off OK, but
it does make slight surface problems. I spent at least a good hour on the one fender today, and probably 10-12, 80 grit PSA
disc. The other front fender was like it just came out of the forming die, perfect clean sheet metal. Of-coarse I went over
it as well, but it took like 10 minuets instead of an hour. This sanding, is to form plenty of mechanical gripe, for the Primer
coat. In paints, you have two kinds of gripe, Chemical and Mechanical. The Chemical gripe will be lost when we apply our sealer
coat, so we have to depend on the Mechanical connection for this layer of paint. Once the Primer coats are down and the body
readied for Base coating, we will have booth Chemical and Mechanical gripe again. House of Kolors, recommends specific sanding
instructions for the many different applications and types of products. I think it’s very important to follow there
recommendations, since they are the ones that not only invented this particular paint products, but are also the ones that
tested it under various conditions and applications. According to them, many painter over sand the bodies, and the Mechanical
gripe that is needed to keep the paint attached to the body is compromised. Pretty much, for our whole application, they don’t
recommend sanding to anything higher then 320 Grit, except for the final color sanding of the clear coat, of-coarse. I have
been following there recommendations on Project COBRA’33,
and while it may seem that I’m sanding an awful lot, I have only been sanding in 80 grit paper till now, and once or
twice in certain areas with 120 Grit. We still have a long way to go.......but they do only recommend the 80 grit paper for
now, till we have the Primer coats on. Again, you have to remember that this is not an ordinary paint job. Most factory paint
jobs only end up with 3-4 Mils of actual paint on the body, we will be going much deeper then that. In-fact, we will probably
end up with some where between 12-15 Mils of paint product on our body. Yes this is a lot of paint, but we are also using
a product that is capable of this amount. And it all starts with the Primer coats.....The plan is to apply two full coats
to the body work, and then apply three full coats to the compete body. With the product we are using, that will end up being
about five full Mils in itself. Which after sanding will most likely scale back down to three Mils of Primer on the body.
As you can see, our Primer will be as thick as most full paint jobs. This thick base coat of primer, will really fill any
pin hole or surface pit we have, but I’m working now to fill those problems so as to have a very flat paint job. I figure,
if I work really hard at filling every surface problem I can see now, then after all the paint has been sprayed, there will
be enough built-in margin to get anything I may have missed, and still have a very nice looking job. Much of what I did today,
will be covered by the door gaskets and weather striping, but I like to know even if it’s covered it was right. I know
I’m going to miss a spot or two, it’s only natural, but the more time I put in to the body surface now, the less
spots I’ll miss and hopefully those that do slide by, will be in areas that get covered, or are out of plain sight.
I went to the hardware store yesterday and got all the hardware I needed to finish the cables up. I ended up putting
up 3 heavy cables and 6 light ones, all to hold objects now or latter on when we paint. The ideal was to be prepared, so I
have plenty of options to fall back on. Now we have all the cables up and ready for use, including the ones that will hold
up our curtain walls for the paint booth area. One more project down.
I still have to work on the Dash, Consol, Cowl vent and rear Fuel Tank Cover. I’m hoping I will get to them tomorrow,
even though I already have a full plate ahead of me. Well, if not tomorrow, then another day.
List of Chrome hardware for Project COBRA’33
Area | Size | QTY | Price | Amount | Fuel tank Cover | 1/4"- 20 x 1" Chrome Button Head Socket Screw | 7 | | | Inner fender panels | 3/8" -16 x 1" Chrome Button Head
Socket Screws | 8 | | | | | 3/8" Flat Washers Chrome | 8 | | | Rear Fenders | 5/16–22 x 1" Chrome Button Head Socket Screws | 14 | | | | | 5/16"
AN Washers Chrome | 14 | | | | | 5/16" Fender Washers1-1/4" Chrome | 14 | | | Running Board to Rear Fenders | 5/16-22 x 1 Chrome Button Head Socket Screw | 6 | | | | | 5/16"
AN Washers Chrome | 12 | | | | | 5/16" Fender Washers1" Chrome | 12 | | | | | 5/16-22 Nuts Chrome | 6 | | | Fuel Tank Cover to Rear Fenders | 5/16-22 x 1" Chrome Button Head Socket
Screw | 6 | | | | | 5/16" AN Washers Chrome | 12 | | | | | 5/16" Fender Washers1" Chrome | 12 | | | Front Fenders to Running
Boards | 5/16-22 x 1" Chrome Button Head Socket Screw | 6 | | | | | 5/16" AN Washers Chrome | 12 | | | | | 5/16" Fender Washers1" Chrome | 12 | | | Inner Panels
to Front Fenders | 5/16-22
x 1" Chrome Button Head Socket Screw | 10 | | | | | 5/16" AN Washers Chrome | 20 | | | | | 5/16"
Fender Washers1" Chrome | 20 | | | Tail
Light Supports | 5/16-22 x 1"
Chrome Button Head Socket Screw | 4 | | | | | 5/16" AN Washers
Chrome | 8 | | | | | 5/16" Fender Washers1" Chrome | 8 | | | Tail Lights | 1/4-20 Nuts Chrome | 4 | | | | | 1/4" An Washers | 8 | | | | | 1/4" Flat Washers 1" | 8 | | | Front Fender Support 1 | 3/8-16 x 1" Chrome Button Head Socket
Screw | 6 | | | | | 3/8" An Washers | 6 | | | | | 3/8" Fender Washers 1" | 6 | | | Front Fender Support 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Main
Wiring Harness Bolts | 1/4-20
Nuts Chrome | 6 | | | | | 1/4" AN Washers | 6 | | | | | 1/4" Flat Washers | 6 | | | Rear
LED Alm Brackets | | | | | Running Board LED Alm Brackets | | | | | Side Lights | | | | | Horn
Support Bracket | | | | | Rear Bumper Brackets | | | | | Front Bumper Brackets | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
08-21-08
Parts Plus Part Number | Description | Price | Total | PPGGL | Empty 1 Gal Can W/Lid | 1.66 | 4.98 | PPGQT | Empty 1 Qt Can W/Lid | .84 | 3.36 | SEM39377 | Seam Sealer | 27.89 | 27.89 | HOKBC2QT | BC-25
Base Coat Black | 45.19 | 45.19 | HOKSG100-QT | SG-100 Intercoat Clear | 29.59 | 29.59 | HYK3031 | For Sale Sign | 1.39 | 1.39 | CRC09644 | PP Fuel Cleaner | 1.39 | 8.94 | TAX | | | 7.28 | TOTAL | | | 128.62 |
Part Number | Description | Price | Total | PPGGL | Empty
1 Gal Can W/Lid | 1.66 | 4.98 | PPGQT | Empty 1 Qt Can W/Lid | .84 | 3.36 | SEM39377 | Seam Sealer | 27.89 | 27.89 | HOKBC2QT | BC-25 Base Coat Black | 45.19 | 45.19 | HOKSG100-QT | SG-100 Intercoat Clear | 29.59 | 29.59 | HYK3031 | For Sale
Sign | 1.39 | 1.39 | CRC09644 | PP Fuel Cleaner | 1.39 | 8.94 | TAX | | | 7.28 | TOTAL | | | 128.62 |
Primer Direct
to Metal Primer, Activator KD2000 All Body Parts Roll
Bars Sealer KO Seal II, Primer Sealer All
Body Parts Roll Bars All Body Parts Roll Bars Base Coat 1. Black, BC-25 Black, BC-25 Body Mid Line Cowl
Area Cowl Vent
2. Orion Silver, Urethane Enamel Kandies
All Body Parts, Except Above Roll Bars
Top Coats
1. Platinum Peal, Urethane Enamel PBC-42
Body Mid line Cowl Area Cowl vent
2. Orion Silver, Urethane Enamel Kandies, BC-02
Body Roof, down to first Body Line Body Windshield Area,
down to Cowl line, Inside and Out Roll Bars 3.
Tangerine Candy, Urethane Enamel Kandies, KBC-08 Body Mid Line, Top Cowl Area Top
4. Magenta Candy, Urethane Enamel Kandies, KBC-16 Body Mid Line, Bottom Cowl Area Bottom
Body Mid Line,
Bottom Cowl Area Bottom 5.
Cobalt Blue Candy, Urethane Enamel Kandies, KBC-05 Bottom Body line Fenders, Front Fenders, Rear Doors,
and Windows, Inside and Out Rear Window, Inside and Out Dash Console Fuel Tank Cover Inner Fender
Panels Front Fender Supports/Light Supports Front Fender Supports, Rear Tail Light Support Radiator
Splash Pan
6. Clear, Urethane
Enamel, UFC35
Urethane Enamel, UFC35 All
Painted Parts
Special Coatings
1. MARBLIZER, Silver/White Cowl
vent Cowl Area Body Mid Line
2. Adhesion Promoter
Adhesion Promoter Anywhere the MARBLIZER is used.
3. Inter-Coat Clear, SG-100
Inter-Coat Clear, SG-100 All Areas that can
not be finished at the Time
08-22-08
We are FINALLY THEIR ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Yes, I know it’s been a long journey, but YES we are finally
their, and the body is ready for it’s first coat, the Primer Coat. Today, dad and I sanded
again on the body all day long. I finally tackled the trim removal above the doors on the jam, they have about 20 short braids
holding them in place, and serve to keep the upper door weather striping in place. They came off fairly easy, just I had to
take my time and remove the rubber weather striping, or at least what was left of it. It was frozen in place, from aging and
came off with light pressure. I cleaned the area up, and then cleaned the pieces I removed. There was a small tapered piece
of wood behind each piece, and I saved them and the pieces for latter re-installation. I also applied more filler to the cowl
area, in the front. I actually had to apply it three times, to build the area up. I power sanded the door sides and cowl,
and hand sanded many of the small areas like the cowl vent area, and firewall ridges. These, smaller areas take the time,
you can not get a regular sanding tool into the small crevices, so hand sanding is the ticket. After working this area, I
turned to the die grinder with scotch pad disc and went over all the body line grooves and anything else that needed to be
cleaned up. I have to say, this is the one tool I would have to recommend to any and everyone the gets into body work, or
even metal work in general. You can do so much with this tool and the various disc that go with it, that it soon becomes your
best friend. Dad concentrated on the passenger side today, he was block sanding all the areas, and getting things in order
over there, while I was free to roam over the complete body. Once I thought the body was in condition, I broke the DA Sander
back out, and slapped on several 80 Grit disc, and went over everything I could fine that looked to shiny. The scotch pads
do a great job of getting in there and getting the dirt, rust, scale, and junk off the body, but they also have a habit of
leaving the areas very smooth, with a uniform surface. This is good 99% of the time, but we are about to paint, and our Primer
coat needs something to bite into, so I used the DA Sander to roughen up the body parts, so the paint could bite into it.
The 80-Grit sanding disc, coupled with the smooth action of a Da Sander, makes a great surface conditioner. After all that
fun, I ended the day by sitting and hand sanding the Cowl Vent. We are using the original Cowl vent of Project
COBRA’33. This Vent is over 70 years old, and has it’s share of surface rust. I got the out side
face and edges in good condition on the belt sander, early on in the process, but the under side and back side of the vent
was much more difficult. I figured, the vent must have held moisture, and that was why the underside was in worse condition
then the side exposed to the eliminates, but no matter what caused the problems it was time to fit them so we could paint.
I sanded the area as best I could, but there was so much rust, it left a very pitted surface, so I used the body filler to
fill in those pits, and re-surface the vent. Even thought I took my time and was careful, there was still much to sand off,
and the only way to get to it, was by hand. The good news is the filler helped, bu t the bad news is I still haven’t
finished the hand sanding on the vent. It’s close, but I expect another hour or two to finish. I also have the dash
and consol. to prep for paint. The dash has been worked on, but not since I welded on the new section we installed to make
it wider, there I’ll have to re-apply the filler and sand it down. On the consul, it really just needs sanding to the
metal, then a thin cover coat to fill in where some of the spot welds might have shrunk and made a slight depression. In all,
I have 1-2 hours work tops to get both pieces ready for spray.
While the Body is finally ready for it’s first
coat of Primer, the spray booth is certainly not. While I have installed the series of cables that will support the curtain
walls, and I also have installed the many support cables that will hold the various pieces to be painted, I have not yet started
on the garage, and it’s cleaning it needs. Sunday, the 24th of August, is tomorrow, and if all turns out
well, I’ll have my wife and son to help me clean the shop. There is really a lot to do, and I’m sure it will take
an entire days to clean it to the condition it needs to be in to paint. The first thing we will have to do is empty it out.
That means everything that is on wheels, or light enough to carry, will be taken out side. Of-coarse our frame is up on the
4-post lift, so I will leave it there, just elevated to keep safe. Once we have everything out side that can go out there,
I’m going to start with blowing out the shop with compressed air and by using the leaf blower. This should get most
of the grime that collects on and around the floor clean. Then I can come in with the power washer and clean off the tops
of the rafters. I noticed just how dirty they were when I was installing the curtain wall hardware. I clean this because we
need to do everything we can to keep the painting area free of dust and dirt. There would be a good chance that as we are
painting, some of this dirt might become dislodged and fall down upon our project. Now is the time, and pro-active is always
better then re-active. So we’ll start from the top and work our way down. Once I get to the floor area, I can give that
a quick power wash, then we will completely mop the shop, and follow that up with a power rise, then squeegee the area dry.
While that dries, we can go out side and clean all the stuff we removed from the shop, that way when we push it all back in,
it will also be clean. After the shop is clean and now dry, we can install the curtain walls, heat lamps, extension cords,
and floor protection. If all works out, I can even go ahead and hang the roll bars so they are ready to paint?? But I’ll
be happy with just getting the shop clean.
08-24-08
Clean, Clean, Clean.......What a day, my wife, son and I went down to
the shop today to clean it up before we begin the painting. To tell the truth, the shop was a mess. It’s almost impossible
to keep a shop with open areas, clean while building anything. Especially items that are made of steel, you have to weld,
grind, sand, drill, cut and many other normal processes that make a mess. The grinding and sanding are the worst, they throw
the ,metal and abrasive all over the shop including up in the rafters. The judicious use of welding screens help, but they
make a mess no matter how hard you try to keep the area clean. And I’m a clean nut, I like to clean-up often, and always
before we leave that night. It’s like working in a steel foundry, there is no way to keep it clean. I like to also port
and polish cylinder heads, but try as you might, this is another very dirty job. Latter, I intend to construct a small room,
especially for porting, in an attempt to try and contain the mess. I would like to do the same for the welding, but it wouldn’t
be practical, you have to many large and odd shaped pieces to try and build a room around it. So the real logical choice would
be to build our self a real paint booth. These is something I would like to do, a real paint booth with down draft fans and
maybe even a heater. I have been looking into the cost, and maybe, just maybe I will be able to swing one latter on. If so,
it would certainly eliminate the need to complete empty the shop before each and every paint job. I would add on to the end
of our building, and make the paint booth it’s own area, with a paint mixing area and some room for post paint finish
work. That’s a maybe and down the road, what I have to deal with today is the fact that the shop is dirty and I have
to get it clean. So, hear we go......First things first, get everything that is on wheels out of the shop. That means the
tool boxes, all 6 of them, the over head lift, the transmission jack, engine lift, welders, carts, stools, jacks, presses,
body carts, and stands. And then get everything in the floor space out....parts washer, ladders, anything under the benches,
and anything you can pick-up and carry, which is a lot of stuff. Now that we have most things out of the shop, it’s
time to sweep-up and clean everything you can see. We start with dusting off the walls, any studs or shelves, all equipment
left in side, and anything attached to the walls or ground. The ideal is to start with the high stuff and dust it all off,
then concentrate on the floor area. We move everything out side or up on a bench, so the floor is pretty much empty, now the
first area we really work on is the messiest, the wood area. I like to start hear becuse the wood dust is so light, and if
not contained, it will blow all over the shop. We clean off all the saws, tables and supports, then the floor. Hear we can
use the large dust collector to pick-up all the dust. Once this area is considered clean, we move across the shop and start
under the 4-post lift. This isn’t a dirty area, but we clean it like it is, and work from the far wall back over to
the wood area. Now basically half the shop is swept. Next we go to the tire racks and work our way over to the welding area.
Of-coarse the welding area is the dirtiest, hear we have to put the benches forward, along with the oven, and drawer units.
That grinding dust gets everywhere, so everything has to be cleaned, under the air compressor, behind the benches, under the
welding table, which is the most clean area over here and under where the welders and fans sat. It takes about 1-1/2 hours
to sweep the shop out good, like this. Now it’s time to bust out the pressure washer, first I like to spray the entire
floor area with detergent and a light spray. While that is working on the stains, I get out the large 12 foot step ladder
and change out the pressure washer tip, to a fines more powerful one, then up the ladder and wash down the rafters. I basically
concentrate on the area we will spray in, but open it up about twice the distance. I get rafters, lights, fans, electrical
piping, air lines, and anything else up there that has dirt on it. Now that I have the area above clean, I start with the
walls, and go around the shop cleaning. I spay as high as I can, and work my way down the wall, cleaning it as I go. There
is a bunch of dirt hanging on the walls, it covers everything from the wall itself, to the electrical piping, to air lines.
We have some new kind of insulation in the shop, it is very thin but works well and is more plastic in make up, so water doesn’t
hurt it, it simply runs down the side of it, and then drys out. I go all the way around the shop, and get every wall and under
every bench. The sill plates, are really dirty, and hold not only grime, but bugs and cog webs. The power washer gets it all,
so by the time I have finished the walls are white again and the floors are clean. Speaking of which, Now is the time I really
concentrate on the floors. I get under and behind the compressor, behind the steel rack and under every bench. I like to work
from one point out to the main door, so I start in the far corner by the 4-post lift and work over to the office door. The
de-greaser has softened many stains, and the floor gets very clean, we have 2 drains that I wash over to, but to get the floors
to drain right, I have to have someone squeegee the floor. This is the time I get all the big stuff, and take my time to blast
off stubborn stains. To do the walls and floor take another 2 hours work. The shop really gets humid after I blast the rafters,
and it becomes no fun. Once the power washing is over, we break out the mops and some really sudsy water. This really gets
the floor clean, the power washer is good, but the mops are what makes it clean. Again we work from the far back to the front,
and you have to not only mop the floor, but pick up all the remaining water. This process takes another 2 hours, and by now
you are tired. We place fans in finished areas to speed dry the floors, because the floors have to be dry before we can move
all the pieces back inside. While we wait for the floor to dry, we start cleaning all the stuff we took outside, everything
has to be wiped off, cleaned and ready to roll back in when the time comes. Rolling it all back in goes fast, I suppose because
now we can see the end coming. The last items inside are the body and assorted pieces, but before they come in, I have to
put up the curtain wall. This isn’t bad, we have already got the major part up, the supports. I just position the canvases
and hang them with "S" hooks. Finally we are done, some 7-1/2 hours latter, and everyone tired and ready for home.
08-27-08
OK, I was
wrong....we weren’t finished, sorry. I finally got time to revisit the shop today, and as I already mentioned, I was
wrong, and we have more work to do. First off, the moisture on the shop caused some minor surface rust, which I had to deal
with, and there was several spots on the body were I could see every time someone touched it, it was rusty also. Not a big
problem, but if you have enough little problems, they begin to add up. First, on the agenda this mourning was to start out
slowly, and show Dad what all we did. Then we installed the pain shaker on the bench, and cleaned that area back up. The paint
shaker seams to work fine, I installed a gallon can or primer, and allowed it to shake for a few minuets. The shaker says
to not mix more then 4 minuets, so I’ll oblige.
Right away, we got bessy sanding the body back down, I went over
the body with the DA Sander and found a few spots I would like to work a little longer on. I also had to clean the area behind
the door trim we removed last time, and work on some more seams. I mixed some filler and applied it to the cowl area, there
was a small imperfection, and then to the lower body edge. Wow, there is a huge difference between the time it take this stuff
to set at 90+̊ and the 70̊ temps we have
today. Dad worked on getting the lower edges ready and I went over the doors, looking for anything that needed tending to.
Once they looked good to me, we removed them and installed them on the rack we made. This neat thing is going to work real
well, the doors really look good on it, and it’s about the right height to paint with. One thing I have to do tomorrow,
is weld a ½" nut to each side so I can clock the doors at any position I need while painting. I just have to drill
2-1/2" holes and weld the nuts in place, then install the ½" bolt in each side and I’m done. Not a
big deal, really. Like I mentioned earlier, I completely went over the body with the DA Sander,
just to make sure the surface was still ready. I was going to try the seam sealer I purchased, to see if it would fill the
roof trim area, but I forgot to stop by Smyth this mourning to get the applicator gun. I’ll get it tomorrow. Removing
the doors was easy, like I said the door pins were already loosened, so I just used the puller to push them 3/4 of the way
out, then grabbed them with pliers, and knocked them out with a hammer. They were well worn, with light grooves, even though
the car hadn’t been used all that much. I did find the new door pins I new I had, they were just behind some other body
parts and hidden from view. I checked and yes I did buy 6 of them, they are very nice looking stainless steel units. I also
checked the door hinge screws, I only purchased 12 of them, which makes me 6 short, so I’ll order those latter, after
I’m certain I don’t need any other small items as well. I have to check the door bumpers also, I saw a few while
looking for the door pins, but it didn’t look like it was enough, I’ll check on those as well. With the doors
removed I was able to get the rest of the door frame and also the hinges themselves. This didn’t take that long to sand,
but I guess it was at least an hour. I removed the actual door hinges as well, and they came off very nicely, I would like
to chrome these, but think I’ll try grinding them super smooth, and then clear coating them. This would give me the
chrome look, but not the chrome cost. I’ll buff them out, and then I’ll be able to see if it will work or not.
Once they were off, I could get to the complete door frame, and it came out very nicely, it’s amazing how easy it is
to work once the parts are out of the way. Dad and I also got to the dash, consol. and front plate. The dash took three
coats of filler to get the duct opening flat, but other then that it went very straight forward. The consol. only needed the
spot welds filled in, and the face plate was nothing. All these "Little" area’s took all day, I worked until
7:00PM that night. Tomorrow, I have the door rack to fix and we still have to sand the front and rear fenders, and do the
seam sealer thing to the top. Once that is done, I should be to the point of blowing out the car and paint booth area, wiping
down the sheet metal with KC-10 grease and oil remover and then going over the metal several times with a clean towel, and
finally a TAC cloth. Yes, this is only the Primer coat, but to me it’s all painting, and anytime I paint, I like to
be as prepared as possible. I’ll do everything for the Primer coat that I would do for the final finish or even the
Clear coat. It’s all about developing a rythem or system, and sticking to it. I’ll even paint the body as if it
were a base coat finish, that means 50% overlaps and moving my gun down 3" every crossing. I’m going to look at
the body before I begin, and imagine a series of lines running across the surface, with a even spacing of 3". And once
I get this image, I’m going to try and remember it, and then use that even 3" spacing to paint the body with. I’ll
keep my paint gun level and 90̊ to the work surface, and start from the upper left
side and spray across from left to right. Once I get to the far right side, I’ll move my paint gun down 3" and
spray from right to left, keeping the gun level and 90̊ to the work surface. I’ll
keep continuing with this pattern, all the way down that side and then repeat it on the other three sides, painting them the
same way. The only time you very from this is when you hit a body line, or curve. Then you simply follow that curve and then
return to the pattern. I’ll start each side up at the roof opening, and paint the roof as well as the side at the same
time. This sounds like a paint in the butt, but when you paint with Pearls and Candies, you have to follow these patterns,
or you will get dark and light spots, the key is to keep it consistent and follow the pattern. By painting the Primer coat
in the same method as the Base coat, I get to practice my method, and test run the body before I do it for real. This way
I’ll get in the groove, and also find out any areas where there may be problems. Last on the list was the cowl vent
area and actual vent. Dad worked on the vent area, and I got the vent. I could only get to the areas by hand, so it took me
a good hour to get it sanded down smooth. Maybe that is why so many fill the vent in, and forget about it???
08-28-08
Well we finally got to spray
some paint !! Dad and I started early this mourning thinking we might get everything Primered, and we did OK, but not great.
First we wiped all the pieces down, and then went over everything looking for any last minuet detail to take care of. I blew
our the roof trim area, and applied the SEM seam sealer. I used two tubes and almost got finished, but was ever so close,
short. I’ll get more latter, I suppose. This stuff sets up very quickly, much faster then the 30 minuets they give you
on the instructions. I think it will work, but I need to trim some off later.
Once we got ready to paint, Dad and I
wiped the pieces off with KC-10, wax and grease remover, then wiped over the parts till they were dry. I started with the
front and rear fenders and doors. I applied about 4 good coats on everything and they turned out OK. The only trouble was
with the spray gun itself, I kept having to stop every other re-fill and clean the gun tip. The primer likes to build-up on
the tip area and air horns, which makes spraying a chore. I finally gave in and just removed everything and cleaned it between
coats. I would like to thin the Primer down some on the next session, but the instruction only say you can reduce the mixture
by up to 10 %. The problem is they don’t tell you what you can use to reduce it with. I have 3 different reducers, and
I need to know which one works with the KDA2000. I suppose I’ll call House Of Kolor tomorrow, that is if they are open,
and see what they recommend. I think reduced, the Primer would go on much better. Specking of which, I have to get more Part
b tomorrow as well. I thought I had plenty, but really only had about 3 pints. The Body went
Ok, but I found about a dozen spots we will have to attend to. Most are just small little areas, that can be easily filled,
but one is in the door, where we replaced the lower section. This one will require a little more energy, but we’ll get
it. I didn’t apply but maybe 3 full coats to the body. I stopped because we will have to Primer it again, and that was
where my pre-mix also ran out. Still to do, is the consol., dash, consol face plate and roll bars. I’ll probably do
all those parts together, the only large pieces are the Main Hoops of the roll bars, and I’ll hang those guy’s
up with the cables. On a good note, the paint shaker was great, I used it to shake up the primary paint then I used
it to shake the mixture up. I had no separation problems, which is great being I usually have to stir the paint before fill-ups. Today
was very hot and humid, the water separator worked great, and It is suppose to stay hot, so the reducer I purchased will work
just fine. I tried to emulate, the way I’ll paint when the colors are added. I’m glade I did, because I found
some problems that I can address now, and hopefully work on the next several times I paint. Most problems deal with physical
movements or positions, while painting. The fenders require a lot of down on your knees painting to get under there. They
are also tight in areas to cover the complete edges. On the body, I really didn’t have any issues, it seems to be pretty
nice to paint. Everything is up high and I can paint all but the very top from the ground. The body is also easy because it
is basically a box, where the fenders have long flowing curves and tricky beaded edges. It’s really a very good ideal
to shoot all the paint on a project, you get to know your subject by the time the color portion starts to fly. I also find
out with the fenders and doors, that I have to be very careful with my hose and body as I move around the booth trying to
get to all angles. Of-coarse, you always have to watch those two items, but I found myself, several times, saying better watch
that when it’s color time. Maybe I’ll come up with a little more room between the two racks, that would help a
lot right there. The fenders have so much out of position painting, that I’ll have to really pay attention when painting.
It’s much easier to paint out of position when you have a full gun, the paint doesn’t run out like it does when
less then full. I practiced my movements and tried to pay attention to the over-lapping and gun position at all times. I found
out the gun can wear you out !! I have problems with my hands and wrist anyway, but painting really does take it’s toll.
To combat this problem, I worked on passing the gun from hand to hand, while still spaying a good line. It take some practice,
which I got today. You have to stay smooth when painting, which means keeping your line tight, and the rate steady. I’ll
get better, with every outing, but right now my hands are sore, and so are the shoulders. This is Labor Day weekend coming
up, and I know I’m not going to the shop tomorrow. I’ll let the paint set, and work on getting all the painting
supplies I will need to continue in stead. The weather outlook is hot dry weather next week, so I can afford to kick back
a little and go slow.
08-30-08
Wow is it HOT!!! I suppose it’s better then being too cold, at least for painting that is, but this simply wears you
when all you do is sand all day long. That’s what today was all about, sanding. I let the body set for a day to dry
throughly, according to the directions, I only needed 14 hours, but hey it needed the break and so did I.
First things first....I needed to clean by Primer gun. I left it in the pot, so it would be easy to clean. I simply broke
out the brushes, and disassembled the gun and cleaned it out. I miss placed my gun lube the other day, but found it this morning,
and I used it on the reassembly. The paint pot was much worse, the paint had built up in the threads, making the pot hard
to get on and off. The only way to cure this problem, was to bring out the drill and wire wheel. I was able to get down into
the pot and clean it out as well, the wire brush attachment works great, I took the cap over to the beach grinder for those
threads. Aluminum on aluminum is always a hard time, so I always apply some gun lube to the threads, and the Cap spins on
and off with ease. With the gun now clean and ready for it’s next use, I turned my attention to the roof top. I used
two tubes of SEM seam sealer, to fill the gap in the tack rail on the roof. Un-fortunately I ran out of sealer just shy of
completely filling the strip. I also allowed the stuff to get a little to hard to smooth out on one portion, and this is the
area I had to address. I took a new scotch disc and sanded down that problem and a few other areas where it was to thick.
I’m preparing the area for the next tube of seal sealer, which will completely fill the area and smooth out the under
lying sealer. This was a fairly easy job, it took one disc and about thirty minuets. Now we turn
out attention to the body......While I was spraying the Primer, I noticed a few spots that needed attention, so with this
in mind, I applied some SEM Glide coat and broke out the medium length sanding board. For sand paper I used a new roll of
120 Grit PSA paper, and went searching for bad spots. I simply sanded the body area in many different directions, using the
sanding board . I constantly changed direction so any bad high or low area would reveal itself. The back half of the body
was great, I sanded on a small area at a time, but the complete roof and rear section showed no bad areas. What was bad, was
the doors, a few places over the rear windows, one small spot on the passenger side rocker panel, and a few spots on the cowl
and door jam. Not bad....Really it wasn’t. Consider all the areas we cut out rust spots and replaced panels, this list
of problem areas is not that bad. By far the worst of these spots were the door, in particular, the lower half, where the
new panel was installed. The few real low spots, or dings I missed on the door frame, over the rear windows, was a simple
filler fix, and no problem. The cowl, rocker panel and door jam also easy to fix. They were all basically fixes that needed
an additional amount of work, again no problem and very easy to fix. The Doors, that was a different story. We had them close,
but the area’s were large and not just a small spot. I had to sand the doors down, find the limits of the repairs, and
then fill the spot and re-sand. I did this three times, and I think I’m pretty close, the use of the Glide Coat really
helps bring the repair out. I was exhausted, and left when I thought the doors were close. They may be not as close as I think,
simply because I was so tired, but I’ll see next time I get to go down to the shop. Sanding is very hard work, and I
did it all manually, no air tools today. You have to use (or at least I have to use) the sanding board to properly see the
spot and what it needs. By hand sanding the areas, I get a good picture of what the body has, what it needs and how to fix
it. You have to go slow, because you are looking for the time when it just blends with the rest of the surrounding body work.
Any more and you went to far, not long enough and your not there. I do find it interesting, It’s a great felling when
your sanding and you see it coming in. Like I stated, I left before the doors were completed, which will be the first thing
I tackle when I get there. The plan is to finish the doors, go over the body once more and make sure it looks right, then
re-primer the body and doors. I think there might be a need too re-primer twice, but won’t really know till I get it
sprayed and sanded back down. I’m planing on two more, so no problem there, just a lot of sanding. I haven’t sanded
on the fenders yet, they will need it, but I don’t anticipate them needing to be re-primered. They were all new sheet
metal, and they looked nice and flat. Once the body is in the same shape, I’ll concentrate on sanding the roll bars
down and getting them primered, then painted and cleared. They will be my first group of parts to paint, I’ll paint
them and the small piece that fits over the windshield at the same time, and basically use them as practice before I paint
on the body. After that I don’t have a plan, I’ll just wait till I get to that spot and then see how it goes.
For some reason, all this final paint stuff has me thinking of additional stuff, stuff that would not normally come till the
very last of the project. Things like the display for the car. Now days, any legitimate show car has to have not only a very
nice car, but an equally nice display. I was thinking about it the other night, of coarse while I was suppose to be sleeping,
and I think I’ll finish up Project FLATHEAD and use it as a part of the display. I think
it will go great, the original engine from the car, and what it might have looked like if we would have decided to use it
in Project COBRA’33. I kind of have a neat ideal for the display, the
actual part that supports the engine, which will make it stand out. I know I need an unusual stand for the front end, one
that will allow me to remove a wheel, to reveal the underside, yet support t the cars weight. I do not have the money or room
to build a rotating type display. I suppose I could make one very compact, but I don’t see it in my future. It wouldn’t
be that hard I guess, just a gear box and motor. But I would have to be able to design something totally different from anything
I have ever seen to make me do one. I don’t want to build one that just looks like the others, that isn’t doing
us any good. The car sits so low that it is very hard for viewers to see the under side, and there the rotisserie would help.
I did once consider building a turn-table for the car, I was thinking about one that allowed easy assembly and installation.
My turn-table was square tubing that allowed it to fold up and slide inside itself for easy travel and set-up. I was thinking
about using air cylinders to lift the turn-table once under the car, which would be both interesting and semi technical as
well. Something like 4-small air cylinders at the pick-up points where the lift would engage the frame, and then one large
air cylinder that would lift the car and turn-table as one item, so it could spin. I’ll draw something up latter, but
really might have to wait till later to get the floor to lift point distance?? While I still have a long way to go till this
project is finished, It’s a lot of fun to get those creative juices flowing again.
09-01-08
Happy Labor Day !! I went down to the shop for another sanding session.
I managed to get the doors, both of them in good shape, and worked on the body. I think I mixed the filler three or four times,
but all in small batches. The body was mostly small little items, but in the area of the lower B Post, I applied a thin wide
layer of filler to both sides and sanded 85% of it back off. I just needed a little bit over a wide area to raise the foundation
a touch. Not much, but enough to feel the difference with my fingers. After I sanded the area, it felt very smooth. In the
cowl area, I had two or three low spots per side, again nothing big, just a slight depression that I could see with glide
coat. Once again I filled the area and sanded it smooth, which took care of my low spots and finished the cowl. Again above
the rear window frame, I had one low spot on each side in the very same area. I have filled this spot at least three times
per side, but they keep showing up. So, I filled it again, and sanded the area, which now feels great, I’ll have to
see if it works now after I Primer the body again latter. The roof was great, and I only had two high spots, right in the
very area where we had the rust problem. I took a very small hammer and tapped them down, figuring it is better to have a
low spot and fill it then having a high spot and fill/feather all around it. Of-coarse sitting here, I just remembered that
I forgot to fill it when I was down there. Oh well, I’ll get it latter. The rest of the car is none, and I’m ready
for the next Primer session.
09-06-08
I quickly fixed a small spot I forgot to fill on the roof, and then went ahead and completely filled the roof edge with the
third tube of SEM seam sealer. These were the only real problems that kept me from re-applying the primer coat to the rest
of the body. I say it took me a good hour to do the above, then we turned our attentions to any other last minuet details,
and broke out the paint gun once more. This time I used some RU reducer with the primer and it worked much better. I had no
trouble with build-up at the gun nozzle or needle problems like we did the last time I did the same thing. For some reason
this went on much easier and the finish was almost shiny in nature, not the suede looking normal primer look.
The body really looked great, there is a point you have to work past to get to this stage. The body has to be flat, and that
means all surfaces are equal, the same height. Once you get there, you can easily see the difference between a half hearted
effort and a whole hearted one. The body looked so nice, it swells you up on the inside, so that you feel great, and all those
hours of work were worth it. Dad and I both new, we had turned a corner in the build. Along with the body, we also sprayed
the doors , dash, consol and rear tank cover. I can see that the tank cover needs some more work, we’ll tackle that
latter. So while we sat around waiting for the body to dry, and enjoying the moment, we went
through the events to come. While I had been going with the ideal of painting the body now and dealing with any problems latter,
mainly from the steering system, I came to the conclusion that the right way to proceed is to be more conservative and mount
the body, get everything right, then bust it apart and paint it latter. Yes, I know it’s a 180̊ turn around, but I feel it’s the right way to go. It also take a lot of self pressure off me, we
have no time frame to keep, other then I want to compete for the Ridder Award, on our first outing with the completed car.
Now, what was that about NO Pressure?? I know I have very big dreams, but that's what dreams a for. Who dreams of
small things anyway?? My dad is never suprised by anything I do, I think he has gotten use to my ways, and un-usually large
expectations. I told him about my plans for Project Flathead, and how I wanted to make it part of the exhibit, and how I wanted
to build a turn table lift, to showcase the car. We discussed a few points, and then got back to business. With the body now
primered and protected, all I had to do was clean up the gun and head home for the night.
09-07-08
This was a special day, the body was done,
for now, and we were about to spray the roll bars. Once all the stuff was moved out of the shop entrance, we started sanding
on the roll bars. This new primer was much more smooth then the last time I sprayed it. It only took about 30 minuets and
two sanding sponges (extra fine) to get them ready. We washed everything down with HOK KC-20 post sanding wash, and got to
business. First up was the metallic sealer, KO-II sealer. Wow, I was expecting this stuff to be more transparent, but instead
it went on more like a silver metallic base coat. The good paint gun feels so much better then my Primer gun, it’s scarey.
I had the thing adjusted for the other gun, and that was way to much air and fluid, so a quick adjustment brought things down
to a manageable spot. The sealer is very thin, and easy to run, so be careful. The best thing to do is to apply a very light
base coat, then when it has almost set-up (flashed), come in with your normal more heavy coats and paint the thing out. I
gave all pieces a good solid two full ,overlapping ,50%, coats. The instruction tell you to wait at least an hour, I did but
they were dry after 30 minuets. With the sealer on, now was the time for the Orion Silver base coat. I’m not to sure
about this color, I was better with it before I sprayed it. I don’t know if this is the right color for the roof of
our car or not, but regardless of that, it is the color for the roll bars. This color went on very nicely, and had no issues
with runs. The color was so close to the sealers color, that it was very hard to tell what was painted and what wasn’t.
I didn’t expect this, I was thinking the silver would be a little more silver/grey metallic, and not so aluminum looking.
I applied a good three coats and then went to the UFC-35 clear. No surprises here, this was as clear and I thought it would
be, just kidding. It did go on easy and again had no signs that it was easy to run. I applied another 2-3 good coats and called
it a day. I was ready after all this stuff really stinks. I haven’t been back to see the finished product, but I think
it will do fine for the roll bar. The clear seemed to have plenty of gloss in it. When we do go back down, I’m going
to wrap the roll bars in foam tape and then cover that with plastic wrap. The ideal is to keep them protected till the project
is finished, which might be a while. We also discussed the possibility of going ahead and installing the bars in the body,
so we have the correct dimensions to work off of. This may or may not happen, I suspect we will install them, or at least
one of them and then remove when finished in the area. I could tell my Dad was happy that we decided to postpone the painting
of the body till we had all the issues worked out, and yes it does make sense to me also. I think I could still do what I
had originally intended to do, but it would be rolling the dice a little.
I have been working on the engine cart design,
and trying to come up with a workable turntable design. The problem with the turntable, is the car itself. It sets so low,
that just getting the car on the thing is the biggest detail to work out. No matter what I do, unless it evolves a ramp type
turntable, requires us to jack the car up, then slide the table underneath and load the thing. This type car isn’t that
easy to jack up, the frame rails are low and occupied, and it has to be done without hurting the car, or taking all day. I
have several designs in mind for the table, it’s just figuring out how to make it all work. Think of all the different
aspects. First the table has to be stable enough to hold the car and spin without incident. Next we have to be able to break
the table down and move it in and out of shows with relative ease. This means I have to design into the table, a way to stabilize
the load, get be able to easily take it apart and move it in and out of the trailer. You probably have figured this thing
will be very heavy, most likely well over 400-500 pounds. No one wants a monster, so it has to work well, and move easy. I’m
assuming there will be electric available at most shows?????????? Space is also a major design criteria. We only have so much
room in any trailer, the door with is roughly 97", so it has to fit inside. Loading the car, I don’t want a ramp
table. I want to lift the car from underneath, this way the lift is more hidden, and the car takes center stage. To do this,
we have to lift both ends up enough to clear the table, then slide it under the car and load it accordingly. I would like
to grab the rear axle on both side of the differential, and up front somewhere shy of the front suspension.
09-10-08
Dad had the body already sanded
down by the time I managed to get back down to the shop, SURPRISE..... It looks really good, an flat, just what we wanted.
He also had all the small pieces sanded, in fact he sanded everything but the doors. The fuel tank cover needs some very minor
work on the areas where we filled the mounting holes, and the dash has one small area by the vent where it needs some work,
but really that was it. Not bad at all for only the second Primer coat. Of-coarse we’ll go over the body in much deep
depth just prior to the extension of more body work, later on when the date to paint gets closer, but for now I very satisfied.
And I can’t stop being impressed at how the body looks so nice, every time I look at it. The body lines are so crisp
and the body so flat, it jumps out at you. Sort of like looking at a body first with out your glasses then with them on, you
can’t help but notice all the crystal clear details.
While down there, yesterday
I went ahead and removed all the curtain walls. They go up and remove very easily, the worst part of the deal is lugging around
that huge 12 foot ladder. I got them folded up and stored away for the next painting session. I also took some time and cleaned
all the air tools, lubbed them and put the new sanding pad on the power sander. We had a small but very messy leak in
one of the hydraulic cylinder fittings on the 4-post lift, so I bought some oil dry and cleaned that up. Then took the fittings
apart and cleaned out the treads and applied some thread sealant, and re-installed everything. Hopefully that fixes that leak...???
So far so good.... While I was under the 4-poster, I got to thinking about the turn table lift I wanted to build, and got
to taking some measurements, and looking around. First observation, our frame isn’t that low, or at least not as low
as I was thinking it was. Out back, there is three adjustable settings for the rear ride height. I currently have it set in
the lowest position, changing it to the highest position would result in a approximently 4" gain. While this does nothing
for road clearance, it does help with looks and tire selection. The chassis has great road clearance, I measured roughly 9"
from the road surface to the bottom of the differential center section, and 5-1/2 - 6" from the lowest point up front,
not that bad. What was bad is the fact that the rear end isn’t as easy to use for a lift point as I thought it would
be, the exhaust is blocking a good size piece of it, leaving only the extreme ends open for a mounting point. I was also trying
to figure out how to modify the frame to allow it to be lifted by the 2-post lift. One of the bad things about 4-bar and other
trick rear suspensions is that on the older frames, they have no lift point. There is no way to get to the frame or really
any solid point, to lift the car for service. Up front there are two good places to lift from, but out back, nothing. I spent
a good hour going over all the possibilities, and the more I looked the worse it got. On a 2-post lift, you have to maintain
balance, and without modification the only spots to lift the car with all four arms are only about 2-3 feet apart. Obviously
this wouldn’t work very well. The frame on our ‘33 is up tight to the body, while say on a truck the frame has
body mount that support the body and allow the frame to be positioned further away from the bodies underside, which makes
lifting them much easier. With the frame so close to the body on our ‘33, the many items that are attached or supported
by the frame are in many instances, hanging down from the frame. And that means you can not use those sections to lift the
car by. In a nut shell, this is the problems. Starting from the very rear and going forward on the frame. From the
rear bumper forward to the rear axle there isn’t any place to even consider using as a lift point. The frame kicks up
at the axle and the fuel tank takes up all the rearward area. The axle uses a 4-link suspension system, and the lower link
bars block all access to the frame, they run from the axle tube forward about 30". The running boards while not a lift
point, have to be taken into account. The lift arms have to be able to pass under them without bending them up once the strain
of the car is on them. I have the same problem with a Truck that has running board or nerf bars on the 2-post lift. You have
to take that into account, and if you never used a lift, most wouldn’t understand the problems. Yes, the lift arms have
adjustable pads, and even truck adapters to allow the arms clearance for such items as the running boards and nurf bars. But
the problem on a car frame like that of Project COBRA’33, is that one
you have to have the room to allow the pads in, and two you have to have the room to allow them to spin up and into place.
I have neither. You also have to figure in the physical limits of the lift and it’s arms. The pick-up points have to
be with in reach and at an angle that allows access. A lift point that is say blocked by the rear tire does me no good, same
for the front. I looked at all the possibilities. It was pretty obvious that we would need a special
lift point fabricated to allow access. It was also very clear that this was more of a problem then just making a quick and
simple extension. My first thoughts were on the frame, and thinking about a piece that would attach to the frame, and hang
down just far enough to allow the lift arms a spot to lift by. While this wasn’t bad, it sure wasn’t great. The
only way to make such a piece, would be to take a small section of heavy angle iron and weld a short, 5-8" section of
tubing to it and they mount the piece to the frame, by bolting it in place. I could say mount a circular piece of plate on
the bottom of our frame extension, so it filled the lift pad and call it a day. The bad part is this lift extension would
have to be below the 4-link bars, and that put it very close to the road, a little to close for comfort. The second and really
the major complaint, was the ascetics, the extension would certainly get it’s share of comments, and look odd to say
the least. I couldn’t just make an extension for the lift arms, because there was no way to work it in the small space
we have to work with, so I had to think of something else. The ideal I finally came up with was simple and won’t be
seen from the outside. It evolves no frame mounts, which means no welding or drilling on my nice finished frame, and best
of all, I can blend it in and make it look like we thought about this problem from the start, and not like we forgot about
this small problem and then made a quick too little too late fix. How would I lift the rear section of the car..?? Easy, I’ll
use the lower 4-bar mount, the one that is located under the center of the rear axle, and make a small lifting pad that will
simply bolt on at the 4-bar mount and in the rear at the shock mount. It’s almost too perfect....The location is great,
right under the rear axle, which is where the weight is. The mount wouldn't stick down nearly as far as it would further
forward under the 4-bar link, and I can make it look like it was completely factored in to the original build, and not the
"Oh my...we have a problem" that it is. I plan to make an oval out of 0.250" plate. The plan is to make it
look much like an expanded brake pedal pad. I’ll get some thick rubber and line the bottom of it, so I can lift the
car without scratching anything, and that will also add to the brake pedal pad look. On the other side, I’ll make a
double shear mount that will simply aline with the bottom 4-link mount, I only have to get a longer bolt, one for each side.
Then to stabilize the back, I’ll make sure there is another tab that alines with the three adjusting holes for the coil
over shock. I’ll have two bolts holding it in place, one will be the actual coil over mounting bolt and the other an
addition bolt I’ll add to one of the empty holes. This will give plenty of stability and I can keep the mount up high
and simple in nature, plus it will look great, like we thought about it from the very beginning. This will certainly take
care of the rear lift point problem, if things work out, I’ll make two more similar mounts and bolt them to the front
section of the frame. This will allow lifting the car with out worrying about the frame paint all the time. I also suspect
that these new lift points will become the lift points for the turntable lift we need to build. I love it when one fix does
double duty. After my intense lift problem, I settled down to a more light hearted task.....cleaning up the inside window
trim. These are the metal pieces that go inside the body and in the window openings, to trim out the opening. I couldn’t
tell, but Dad said they originally probably had a wood grain look to them. They were rather rusty now, but on the back, inside
you can tell they were a wood like color. There are 5 trim pieces in all, the front two doors, the rear two side windows and
the rear window. All were in pretty good condition, but the front two were the worse of the bunch, they had a little more
surface rust on them, but nothing we can’t fix. I spent a good two hours on these pieces, and they are now ready for
filler. I also cleaned up the trim piece that goes above the front windshield, it hides the wiper motor, and mounts the sun
visors. I was a little shocked to find this piece has some bad rust holes. It looked very clean from the start, and still
had silver paint on it. I suppose the roof head liner sagged down and laid on this piece, trapping moisture.?? Anyhow, I got
it cleaned up and ready for some filler as well. I think I’ll fill these pieces next time I get down there, and then
start on the lift pads. That way dad will have something to work on and I’ll get the lift pads going. Sense I will be
making these pads with the turntable in the back of my mind, I can also incorporate a easy locking device into the design
of the pads, just something so you know the car won’t go flying off the turntable when it’s spinning round and
round. Other news....I purchased a very nice new aluminum Ford Flathead radiator off E-Bay, so it should be here in
the next few days. I originally was just going to use a new aluminum radiator I picked up very reasonable for a Honda. It
would work, but I would have had to combine the two water outlets into one, and combine the two lower water inlets as well.
Plus the radiator wasn’t nearly the right size. Now we not only have the right size, width and shape, but it also has
the double outlets so we can plumb the thing like a real Flathead would be. I always did like the looks of the two chrome
water pipes angling down to the heads, it just makes it a Flathead for me. I also checked and I have plenty of both round
and square tubing to construct the cart out of. I am leaning toward the square tubing for the cart, there will be so much
round tubing for the turbo system that I think the cart would be lost if I made it out of round tubing as well. I have been
doing a lot of drawing on my CAD program and have some early renderings to show, I’ll get those on here asap.
09-13-08
Today
we caught-up a little in the garage, we sanded the dash, consol, and all the window moldings and the front window cover. While
these will not be final painted any time soon, we do want to primer them and protect them from further damage. We will also
be using them when we start putting together the inside, and with them at least sanded and primered, they become much nicer
to use and handle. I also sprayed a few spot of the body, where Dad sanded through the primer while sanding the body now.
This is just to prevent surface rust, which is always a worry with sheet metal and garage storage.
I
also took some measurements of the Flathead while I was down there, I need them for my Cad Drawings. You know I have been
really giving this Engine Cart thing some thought, and we might move in a different direction, then just a simple cart. I’ll
shar some ideals latter with you with I get a few things worked out.
09-15-08
Building the lift pads was at the forefront today.
Dad and I got bessy early working on the mounts for the rear lift pads. I think I came up with a great way to lift the rear
section of the car without effecting the car or the style of the build. What was the most important item for me, was to make
sure the pads fit the car, not just the problem. I wanted them to look and feel like they were purpose built and factored
into the build form the beginning. It took some thought, but what came from them was the following. For the rear of the car,
I feel we can lift the weight from a pad located under the rear axle, located at the lower most 4-bar mount to the bottom
most coil-over shock mount. What I came up with was a simple steel mount that bolts to the lower 4-bar mount, by straddling
the original mounting. All I needed to do was to build a similar mount, that fit over the control arm and mount, then use
a longer mounting bolt to connect the front of the lift pad. The rear most portion of the lift pad is held in place with another
simple mount that is bolted to the rear lower shock mount. This mount actually goes in between the original shock mount and
the coil over shock. What makes this mount so nice is that it is held in place by two 5/8" bolts. One the just holds
the new lift mount to the original shock mount, and one the holds all three pieces in place, the coil over shock, the lift
pad mount and the original shock mount. By using two bolts in the rear, we can make the lift mount more sturdy, and the shock
can be serviced without removing or un-bolting the lift pad mount. The mount itself was very simple, we took a single piece
of 3" x 5" x 1/4" plate and welded two ears on the front and a single ear on the rear. The two front ears are
wide enough to straddle the lower 4-bar and mount. With a corresponding 5/8" hole drilled in the ears, the front can
be secured by inserting a longer, 4" x 5/8" bolt, that keeps the mount, control bar and original 4-bar mount, tied
together. In the rear, we needed a 1"x 5" x 1/4" piece of steel welded to the rear center edge, and at an angle
that allows the new mount to bolt to the original rear shock mount. I drilled three holes in the mount that match the existing
three 5//8" holes in the shock mount, that way the new lift pad mount can always be secured by at least 2-bolts. The
whole thing only hung down under the existing mounts by roughly 1-1/2", so we didn’t loose much ground clearance,
and won’t have to worry about getting hung-up on curbs or other road hazards. The mounts are not finished, I ordered
some 1" thick x 5" round bar aluminum pieces that will bolt to the bottom of the new mounts. These aluminum mounting
pads will allow easy lift access and I don’t have to worry about chipped paint or scratches. Eventually I’ll paint
the steel mounts to match the frame, but that latter once we have all the parts ready.
Up
front, I’m not real sure what to do. There appears to be an area that I can access to lift the frame from, but I really
want to fashion something similar to the rear. I’ll have to tackle this area latter, once
I think about it more. I purchased 8 of the 1" thick aluminum round pieces, I want to use them for the car but also as
on the table lift if that comes to light.
09-18-08
While today was a wash, we did get some exciting ideals. Basically we took the day
to clean-up the shop and we also re-primered some of those trim pieces. Dad sanded them down, and I simply applied some more
primer. I really wanted to use today to take some more measurements of the flathead, and all the items like the radiator,
inter-coolers and so fourth. What’s interesting is I’ve had an ideal that I have been keeping to myself, about
the engine cart. Dad and I are just taking a break outside, by the old ‘33 frame, and I start telling Dad what I would
like to build for the cart. I haven’t been able to shake this wild ideal to make the engine cart more then just a cart,
I want to make it look like a small chassis. A very detailed chassis.. My thoughts were to build a scale frame at first of
a ‘33, but then I thought why, we have a ‘33 frame, so what’s more authentic, Hot Rod wise then a T-Model
frame. My vision is a Straight frame with a traditional kick-up in the rear. I want a 4-bar front Straight axle, with coil-over
shocks and in the rear a 4-bar drag racing rear-end suspension, complete with coil-over shocks and a banjo type rear axle
converted to quick-change. Well I told my dad what I had in-visioned, and he laughed and told me " Is that all".
I kind of let it go as just a thought, and while he was impressed with the ideal, he also was concerned about how much it
would cost. We let it go and got back to work, but I knew I had already made up my mind of the new engine cart, gone was the
old cart design and in was my chassis.
That night I got home and went right to work drawing out
my desing I had perfected all day while working in the shop. I decided to try my best to keep the chassis to a 1/3 scale,
and drew my inspiration from all those weird and wacky cartoon I use to see as a kid, the ones that always had a huge engine
in a little car. Like the ones with Rat Fink. I drew for several hours that night, stopping only
to research certain parts for dimensions, and ideals. The next day I spent drawing and ordering parts, Dad didn’t know
it, but he was about to get suprised. Here’s what I came up with, the Frame is a total
of 58" long, and 29" wide in the front....all measurements take are outside to outside. I decided to use 1-1/2"
square tubing for the frame, the front section is 29" wide and 42" long, then it off-sets in at the rear to 21".
I designed it like a back haft’d drag car, you know the kind that uses a 4-link rear suspension and has the shortened
rear axle so they can tub the car for large slicks. That section that off-sets in also off-sets up 3" to clear the rear
axle and hang the coil-over shocks from. I admit, I used plenty of chassis sites as direction and scale, sites like S&W
Race Cars, Chassis Engineering and Mark Williams Race Cars. I’m really up
for this new project, it’s fun and a great distraction from the other projects we have going. It’s like building
a new car to me, I really like designing things like this, and this is my chance. Up front, there will be a 4-bar type front
axle arrangement. The front cross-member off-sets down 3" and the Straight axle attaches to the middle of the front cross-member.
This make for a great pivot spot, complete with dual bearings. Out at near the ends of the axle, I fashioned small "Bat
Wings" that will accept the 2-control bar for each side. These Bat Wings are attached to the front axle buy a center
bolt and ways. The bolt holds the Wings on, and is sprung so the Wings can move in and out on the axle as the front ends tilts
form one side to the other. The ways control the Wings so they only move in a
Straight line, keeping the front axle in-line. The other end of the 2 control bars terminates at an adjustable rod end mount.
This mount looks simular to most 4-link mounts, and allows for a change in front end geometry, while also keeping the axle
steady. I found some very small, but working coil-over shocks. They are aluminum and look like any other coil-over, complete
with spring and adjusting nut, but they are only 4-1/2" long. Two of these will suspend the front axle and two will control
the rear axle as well. Out back, I wanted to come up with an authentic looking
rear axle, so I drew-up what I think looks like an early banjo rear axle that has been converted to a Winters quick change
rear-end. It all started when my son, who works for Mazak, brought home these beautiful stainless steel mountings form work,
they had been whittled out of billet stainless and looked great. They couldn’t use them because they were off a scant
amount on the bolt circle that was drilled in them, but I knew I could put them to a great cause. These would be my collars,
or axle bells for the new scaled down banjo rear end. The center section would scale out so I could use a section of 2"
x 6" tube steel for it’s main center section. The axle will pass through this part and the collars will bolt to
the sides, just like the real thing, I will even add a pinion support and universal to the front for the drive-shaft and in
the rear a plate that mimics the quick-change removable plate. It’s very important that this part look right, so the
top two corners will be cut off at angles, and I’ll even drill and tap a drain plug and
top vent. The rear axle will have a modern 4-bar or link system, with a pan hard bar to keep the rear axle centered. For both
the rear and front control bars, I will get some 3/8" rod ends with seamless aluminum threaded tubes for the links or
arms. The whole ideal is to keep everything as authentic as possible, so yes the rear-end will be adjustable and yes you can
move the bar around to adjust the instant center as you please. The rear control bar will be 8" long while the fronts
will be 12 "top and 12-1/2" lower. This is just the bars length, they are much longer with the rod-ends installed,
roughly 1-1/2" per rod-end longer. The very front will mount the inter-cooler and radiator,
then the engine and in the rear I will mount the water- to -air inter-cooler. I plan to use the original style engine mounts
in the front and a rear engine plate in the rear, kind of a mixture of old and new designs. I did already order the chrome
flathead engine cooling hoses for the connection between the top of the radiator and the top of the engine. The lower hoses
I’ll deal with latter. Once the basic chassis is done, then we will continue to build the flathead out, and fashion
the inter-cooling system, turbo exhaust system, oil system, and fuel injection systems. I hope the general public gets a kick
out of this new project, I know I’ll have fun building it.
PARTS NEEDED
Front
End:
Front Axle: 1-1/2" square tubing, roughly
36" long, 2-bearings and 1-center bolt
Spindles: Go-Cart front spindles, 5/8" x 4-1/2"
W/locking Nuts Tie Rods: Go Cart front tie rods Axle Mounted Control
Bar Mounts: 2- adjustable double-sheer mounts Control Bars: 4-Aluminum Control Bars, 12 and 12-1/2"
long, 3/8" rt & lt hand threads Rod ends: 4-Right hand and 4-Left hand rod ends, 3/8"
W/ Jam, Nuts Frame Mounts: 2-Adjustable double sheer mounts Steering
Wheel, and linkage to control 2-Aluminum 8"-Wheels, 5/8" bearing mounts 2-Ribbed Front Tires, 16 x 4.50 x 8" 8-3/8-16 x 2" Hex Head bolts 16-3/8 washers, An 8-3/8-16 Nuts, Locking 2-4-1/2" Aluminum
Coil-Over Shocks 4-3/8-16 x 2-1/2" Bolts 8-3/8" Washers,
AN 4-6/8-16 Nuts, Locking 4-Shock Mounts Frame:
Roughly 220" of 1-1/2" Square Steel
Tubing
Front engine mounts, 2-steel mounting tabs Engine mounts, 2-rubber
isolaters, and hardware Rear engine plate, aluminum plate 0.500 x 26" x 8" 4-3/8"-16 x 1-1/2" Bolts 8-3/8" Washers, AN 4-3/8-16
Nuts 4-bell-housing bolts
Rear
End:
1-1/4" Chrome-Moly axle
2-1-1/4"
Free-Spin Bearings 2-Axle Cassets for 1-1/4" Bearings 2-Axle
Bearing Mounts 1-Outer axle tube, 1-3/4 x 21" 2-Bells or Collars
for the center section, 4-1/2" diameter x 1" thick Center Section, 2" x 8"
steel Tubing Pinion Mount, with bearings and universal joint 4-Control
Arms, 8" length 2-Front Control Arm Mounts, ajustable, double sheer 2-Rear
Control Arm Mounts, ajustable, double sheer 12-3/8-16 x 1-1/2" socket head bolts 8-3/8-16 x 2" Hex Head bolts 16-3/8 washers, An 8-3/8-16
Nuts, Locking 4-3/8" Rod Ends, Right hand thread W/Jam nuts 4-3/8"
Rod Ends, Left hand thread W/Jam nuts 2-4-1/2" Aluminum Coil-Over Shocks 4-3/8-16 x 2-1/2" Bolts 8-3/8" Washers, AN 4-6/8-16
Nuts, Locking 4-Shock Mounts 2-Rear Wheels, 8" x 8" Polished
Aluminum, Douglas 2-Tires, Hoosier Drag Racing Slicks, 16.50 x 10 x 8" 2-Hubs, 4 on 4" Bolt Circle,x 1-1/4" axle diameter, Aluminum
09-22-08
The build is on.......Un a where to Dad, I decided to go for the more un-usual
and more challenging build on the engine cart for the Project Flathead. It was worth every dollar the new project cost to
see my Dad face when I told him what we were going to build today. To better convey my intentions, I brought along a series
of mechanical drawings that I rendered all weekend on. Dad was excited, and we had a great day, just the two of us working
on the frame.
The first thing we tackled, was the frame and the off-sets. I needed the off-sets
to be as close as possible, but new the die’s had a 6.5" bend circle, so I made a fist end with care. The program
"Bend Tech" which I use a lot, showed me that I could not get the bend in the small distance we had to work with
on the front cross-member. So I laid out the 1-1/2" square tubing and marked a reference point and we proceeded to bend
up a 3" off-set as close as possible. We ended up with a nice 45̊ bend on the
first piece, so I re-marked the second piece and bent up an identical series of bends, to give us to identical sets of off-sets.
Since the off-sets were the right height, but way to long to use for the double bend off-set of the front cross-member, we
cut the bends from the sections of Straight tubing and whittled them down till the 3" off-set fit in the close confines
of the 26" inside to inside measurements of the frame. To get the right fit, we cut off most of the Straight sections
before and after the bends, this made for a tight but fitting front cross-member. Next went bent up two more identical off-sets
, these would be cut down to serve as the rear most kick-up section of the frame. Now with all the off-sets bent, and to the
right length, we cut up some more 1-1/2" tubing to construct the perimeter of the frame. Basically you have a rectangular
section that measures 29" x 43" outside to outside. Then in the rear the frame kicks up 3" and also moves in
toward the middle by 4" on each side. The front cross-member was already tacked together, and slides in between the two
frame side sections, this completes the overall frame work. So the tubing needed to get to this point, 2-43" Straight
sections, 1-3" double off-set front cross-member for the front, and in the rear one 26" wide piece to connect the
two halves in the rear of the frame and the 2-3" off-set x 18" long section that mount in-board by 4" on each
side and attach to the rear most cross-member and kick up and over the rear axle area. Tubing wise,
we really didn’t need that much 1-1/2" square tubing, of-coarse were not finish, and may need a small amount for
a mount, but the majority of the frame work and materials is done. We welded the frame up like
you would weld any other frame, we leveled it and squared it up then tach-welded the sections together, then finish welded
everything once the majority of the work was done. We also used some 1" square tubing as braces, in the rear corners
where the inside off-set took place and for other areas that need such bracing. After getting the frame r4eady, we then started
on the hardest part, the multiple adjustment control arm brackets. These were built from 1" x 3" steel tubing, that
I split down the center to form 1" x 1-1/2" U-shaped section. All mounts were the same dimensions, of 1" wide
x 6" long with a series of 6-adjustment holes drill into each one with a 3/8" drill bit. We rounded the corners
and really made the brackets look very nice. Dad was really the one responsible for the bracket cutting, and I did the drilling.
In all, we needed 4-brackets for the front and 4-brackets for the rear. While we didn’t quite get all of them finished
today, we did get a great start of them. 09-25-08 Today couldn’t
come quick enough, I have been looking forward to getting started on our new frame project since the last time we stopped.
This time I came loaded with goodies, some of the parts we ordered for the new project had come in. We had the rear axle,
bearings, cassettes, brackets and locking collars. There was also another order that had the rear tires, wheels, more brackets.
The tires were already mounted to the new polished Douglas wheels, which made things a lot easier then fighting those small
wheels. The axle allowed us to get some dimensions needed for the rear end. First off, was to
get back on the brackets and finish them up. I started on the front axle, we had already made a support bracket for the front
axle, so I welded it in place and assembled the two bearings and single bolt that holds the front end to the frame. While
Dad worked on those brackets, I was working on the front end and playing with how to set it up. The problem was that when
the front axle was level, the control arms were in one place, tilting the axle left or right would pull the control rods in
or out of there resting place. The problem was how to assemble the front axle, so the control arms could move slightly to
allow the axle to tilt?? The control rod or arms, needed to be anchored solidly, there main job is to plant the front axle
and resist movement forward and aft, but because there is a suspension, the axle also has to articulate, which the control
rods resist There has to be a slight amount of movement, both forward and aft at the attachment point of the axle, so to deal
with this, we came up with the following solution. The front control rod attachment point and bracket I like to reefer to
as the "Bat Wings". Bat wings are a term used to describe the control arm attachment point on older Straight axle
cars, so I use the term loosely here. Our axle bracket was a modified adjustable bracket, like the ones
used elsewhere on the frame, but this set had the middle removed so it fit over the front axle. To do this, Dad used a cut-off
wheel and removed a 1-1/2" inch section from the middle front portion of the bracket, this allow
the axle to slide over the bracket. To join the bracket to the axle I used a single 3/8" bolt that was placed in the
center of the brackets opening. To allow the extra movement the front suspension needed, but to keep
things as tight as possible, I placed a short spring between the Axel and the control rod bracket, then tightened down the
nut enough to allow only a 1/4" of movement forward or backward, this was all that was necessary to allow for full axle
travel, but still keep the control rods tight enough to keep the axle solid. When the axle swings down, the bracket is drawn
in and when it goes up, the bracket is pushed away from it’s neutral mounting position. This small amount of movement,
was the ticket to our front suspensions success, and the problem wasn’t really all that had to solve. With the front suspension in great shape, we decided to turn out attentions to the rear. Dad had the center section
ready for me when I got there this mourning, I had laid-out the bolt pattern so he could drill and tap the holes, and that
really helped us move forward. The collars or axle bells now could be screwed to the sides of the center section, and the
whole thing really started to look like a early quick change rear-end. Now we just had to finish the job. First things first,
I drilled the top for a vent opening and the bottom center for a drain fitting. Of-coarse, our make
believe quick change won’t hold any oil or gears, but the addition of this items helps sell the allusion of authenticity.
So, with our new vent and drain fittings installed, it was time to trim the upper edges at and angle to make it look more
real. Dad trimmed out a small amount on the rear and an little more on the front, the shape now really resembled the real
thing, then Dad mad the steel pieces to cover the openings, these will get welded shut once everything else is figured in.
Now the rear end really looked real.....Next up was the pinion support area, one a quick change rear end the pinion is down
low, where most others are in the middle area. The power form the engine comes in from the drive-shaft throught the low mounted
pinion, this shaft isn’t connected to anything in the rer end, instead it simply passes through the housing and ends
in the rear with a splined shaft. There the bottom gear slides over the splines of the shaft and another gear of the same
ratio or different ration, mates to it, from the splined shaft that feeds the rear end gears. By having these two splined
shafts, one can quickly and easily change gear sets, and also change the final gear ratio. Hence, the name,
" Quick Change". The rear of the rear end is covered by a removable cover, and this is how you access the gear sets.
To keep it real on our miniature quick change rear end, we will need to fashion a similar cover plate and front pinion support.
I took on the job of the pinion, and used a small 1-1/4" section of 1-3/4" tubing to make the support. We inserted
2-radial bearings, one at each end, and then I will get a universal, much like a socket set one, to simulate the universal
at the rear of the drive-shaft. This is pretty much where we left off, the support is almost done, and we need the rear cover
plate. We also took some quick measurements of the rear end and determined how long the rear axle needs to be, plus how wide
the rear-end has to be as well, we will finish these areas next visit.
09-22-08
The build is on.......Un a where to Dad, I decided
to go for the more un-usual and more challenging build on the engine cart for the Project Flathead. It was worth every dollar
the new project cost to see my Dad face when I told him what we were going to build today. To better convey my intentions,
I brought along a series of mechanical drawings that I rendered all weekend on. Dad was excited, and we had a great day, just
the two of us working on the frame.
The first thing we tackled, was the frame and the off-sets.
I needed the off-sets to be as close as possible, but new the die’s had a 6.5" bend circle, so I made a fist end
with care. The program "Bend Tech" which I use a lot, showed me that I could not get the bend in the small distance
we had to work with on the front cross-member. So I laid out the 1-1/2" square tubing and marked a reference point and
we proceeded to bend up a 3" off-set as close as possible. We ended up with a nice 45̊
bend on the first piece, so I re-marked the second piece and bent up an identical series of bends, to give us to identical
sets of off-sets. Since the off-sets were the right height, but way to long to use for the double bend off-set of the front
cross-member, we cut the bends from the sections of Straight tubing and whittled them down till the 3" off-set fit in
the close confines of the 26" inside to inside measurements of the frame. To get the right fit, we cut off most of the
Straight sections before and after the bends, this made for a tight but fitting front cross-member. Next went bent up two
more identical off-sets , these would be cut down to serve as the rear most kick-up section of the frame. Now with all the
off-sets bent, and to the right length, we cut up some more 1-1/2" tubing to construct the perimeter of the frame. Basically
you have a rectangular section that measures 29" x 43" outside to outside. Then in the rear the frame kicks up 3"
and also moves in toward the middle by 4" on each side. The front cross-member was already tacked together, and slides
in between the two frame side sections, this completes the overall frame work. So the tubing needed to get to this point,
2-43" Straight sections, 1-3" double off-set front cross-member for the front, and in the rear one 26" wide
piece to connect the two halves in the rear of the frame and the 2-3" off-set x 18" long section that mount in-board
by 4" on each side and attach to the rear most cross-member and kick up and over the rear axle
area. Tubing wise, we really didn’t need that much 1-1/2" square tubing, of-coarse were not finish, and may need
a small amount for a mount, but the majority of the frame work and materials is done. We welded
the frame up like you would weld any other frame, we leveled it and squared it up then tach-welded the sections together,
then finish welded everything once the majority of the work was done. We also used some 1" square tubing as braces, in
the rear corners where the inside off-set took place and for other areas that need such bracing. After getting the frame r4eady,
we then started on the hardest part, the multiple adjustment control arm brackets. These were built from 1" x 3"
steel tubing, that I split down the center to form 1" x 1-1/2" U-shaped section. All mounts were the same dimensions,
of 1" wide x 6" long with a series of 6-adjustment holes drill into each one with a 3/8" drill bit. We rounded
the corners and really made the brackets look very nice. Dad was really the one responsible for the bracket cutting, and I
did the drilling. In all, we needed 4-brackets for the front and 4-brackets for the rear. While we didn’t quite get
all of them finished today, we did get a great start of them. 09-25-08 Today
couldn’t come quick enough, I have been looking forward to getting started on our new frame project since the last time
we stopped. This time I came loaded with goodies, some of the parts we ordered for the new project had come in. We had the
rear axle, bearings, cassettes, brackets and locking collars. There was also another order that had the rear tires, wheels,
more brackets. The tires were already mounted to the new polished Douglas wheels, which made things a lot easier then fighting
those small wheels. The axle allowed us to get some dimensions needed for the rear end. First
off, was to get back on the brackets and finish them up. I started on the front axle, we had already made a support bracket
for the front axle, so I welded it in place and assembled the two bearings and single bolt that holds the front end to the
frame. While Dad worked on those brackets, I was working on the front end and playing with how to set it up. The problem was
that when the front axle was level, the control arms were in one place, tilting the axle left or right would pull the control
rods in or out of there resting place. The problem was how to assemble the front axle, so the control arms could move slightly
to allow the axle to tilt?? The control rod or arms, needed to be anchored solidly, there main job is to plant the front axle
and resist movement forward and aft, but because there is a suspension, the axle also has to articulate, which the control
rods resist There has to be a slight amount of movement, both forward and aft at the attachment point of the axle, so to deal
with this, we came up with the following solution. The front control rod attachment point and bracket I like to reefer to
as the "Bat Wings". Bat wings are a term used to describe the control arm attachment point on older Straight axle
cars, so I use the term loosely here. Our axle bracket was a modified adjustable bracket, like the ones
used elsewhere on the frame, but this set had the middle removed so it fit over the front axle. To do this, Dad used a cut-off
wheel and removed a 1-1/2" inch section from the middle front portion of the bracket, this allow
the axle to slide over the bracket. To join the bracket to the axle I used a single 3/8" bolt that was placed in the
center of the brackets opening. To allow the extra movement the front suspension needed, but to keep
things as tight as possible, I placed a short spring between the Axel and the control rod bracket, then tightened down the
nut enough to allow only a 1/4" of movement forward or backward, this was all that was necessary to allow for full axle
travel, but still keep the control rods tight enough to keep the axle solid. When the axle swings down, the bracket is drawn
in and when it goes up, the bracket is pushed away from it’s neutral mounting position. This small amount of movement,
was the ticket to our front suspensions success, and the problem wasn’t really all that had to solve. With the front suspension in great shape, we decided to turn out attentions to the rear. Dad had the center section
ready for me when I got there this mourning, I had laid-out the bolt pattern so he could drill and tap the holes, and that
really helped us move forward. The collars or axle bells now could be screwed to the sides of the center section, and the
whole thing really started to look like a early quick change rear-end. Now we just had to finish the job. First things first,
I drilled the top for a vent opening and the bottom center for a drain fitting. Of-coarse, our make
believe quick change won’t hold any oil or gears, but the addition of this items helps sell the allusion of authenticity.
So, with our new vent and drain fittings installed, it was time to trim the upper edges at and angle to make it look more
real. Dad trimmed out a small amount on the rear and an little more on the front, the shape now really resembled the real
thing, then Dad mad the steel pieces to cover the openings, these will get welded shut once everything else is figured in.
Now the rear end really looked real.....Next up was the pinion support area, one a quick change rear end the pinion is down
low, where most others are in the middle area. The power form the engine comes in from the drive-shaft throught the low mounted
pinion, this shaft isn’t connected to anything in the rer end, instead it simply passes through the housing and ends
in the rear with a splined shaft. There the bottom gear slides over the splines of the shaft and another gear of the same
ratio or different ration, mates to it, from the splined shaft that feeds the rear end gears. By having these two splined
shafts, one can quickly and easily change gear sets, and also change the final gear ratio. Hence, the name,
" Quick Change". The rear of the rear end is covered by a removable cover, and this is how you access the gear sets.
To keep it real on our miniature quick change rear end, we will need to fashion a similar cover plate and front pinion support.
I took on the job of the pinion, and used a small 1-1/4" section of 1-3/4" tubing to make the support. We inserted
2-radial bearings, one at each end, and then I will get a universal, much like a socket set one, to simulate the universal
at the rear of the drive-shaft. This is pretty much where we left off, the support is almost done, and we need the rear cover
plate. We also took some quick measurements of the rear end and determined how long the rear axle needs to be, plus how wide
the rear-end has to be as well, we will finish these areas next visit.
|
| This is one of the three roll bar sections (the front most piece) after they have been final painted |
                 09-22-08
The build is on.......Un-a where to Dad, I decided to go for the more un-usual and more challenging
build on the engine cart for the Project Flathead. It
was worth every dollar the new project cost to see my Dad’s face when I told him what we were going to build today.
To better convey my intentions, I brought along a series of mechanical drawings that I rendered all weekend on. Dad was excited,
and we had a great day, just the two of us working on the frame.
The first thing we tackled,
was the frame and the off-sets. I needed the off-sets to be as close as possible, but knew the die’s had a 6.5"
bend circle, so I made a fist bend with care. The program "Bend Tech" which I use a lot, showed me that I could
not get the bend in the small distance we had to work with on the front cross-member. So I laid out the 1-1/2" square
tubing and marked a reference point and we proceeded to bend up a 3" off-set as close as possible. We ended up with a
nice 45̊? bend on the first piece, so I re-marked
the second piece and bent up an identical series of bends, to give us two identical sets of off-sets. Since the off-sets were
the right height, but way to long to use for the double bend off-set of the front cross-member, we cut the bends from the
sections of Straight tubing and whittled them down till the 3" off-set fit in the close confines of the 26" inside
to inside measurements of the frame. To get the right fit, we cut off most of the Straight sections before and after the bends,
this made for a tight but fitting front cross-member. Next we bent up two more identical off-sets , these would be cut down
to serve as the rear most kick-up section of the frame. Now with all the off-sets bent, and to the right length, we cut up
some more 1-1/2" tubing to construct the perimeter of the frame. Basically you have a rectangular section that measures
29" x 43" outside to outside. Then in the rear, the frame kicks up 3" and also moves in toward the middle by
4" on each side. The front cross-member was already tacked together, and slides in between the two frame side sections,
this completes the overall frame work. So the tubing needed to get to this point, 2- 43" Straight sections, 1-3"
double off-set front cross-member for the front, and in the rear one 26" wide piece to connect the two halves in the
rear of the frame and the 2-3" off-set x 18" long section that mount in-board by 4" on each side and attach
to the rear most cross-member and kick up and over the rear axle area. Tubing wise, we really didn’t need that much
1-1/2" square tubing, of-coarse were not finish, and may need a small amount for a mount, but the majority of the frame
work and materials is done. We welded the frame up like you would weld any other frame, we leveled
it and squared it up then tach-welded the sections together, then finish welded everything once the majority of the work was
done. We also used some 1" square tubing as braces, in the rear corners where the inside off-set took place and for other
areas that need such bracing. After getting the frame ready, we then started on the hardest part, the multiple adjustment
control arm brackets. These were built from 1" x 3" steel tubing, that I split down the center to form 1" x
1-1/2" U-shaped section. All mounts were the same dimensions, of 1" wide x 6" long with a series of 6-adjustment
holes drill into each one with a 3/8" drill bit. We rounded the corners and really made the brackets look very nice.
Dad was really the one responsible for the bracket cutting, and I did the drilling. In all, we needed 4-brackets for the front
and 4-brackets for the rear. While we didn’t quite get all of them finished today, we did get a great start of them.
09-25-08
Today couldn’t come quick enough, I have been looking forward to getting started on our new frame project
since the last time we stopped. This time I came loaded with goodies, some of the parts we ordered for the new project had
come in. We had the rear axle, bearings, cassettes, brackets and locking collars. There was also another order that had the
rear tires, wheels, more brackets. The tires were already mounted to the new polished Douglas wheels, which made things a
lot easier then fighting those small wheels. The axle allowed us to get some dimensions needed for the rear end.
First off, was to get back on the brackets and finish them up. I started on the front axle, we
had already made a support bracket for the front axle, so I welded it in place and assembled the two bearings and single bolt
that holds the front end to the frame. While Dad worked on those brackets, I was working on the front end and playing with
how to set it up. The problem was that when the front axle was level, the control arms were in one place, tilting the axle
left or right would pull the control rods in or out of there resting place. The problem was how to assemble the front axle,
so the control arms could move slightly to allow the axle to tilt?? The control rod or arms, needed to be anchored solidly,
there main job is to plant the front axle and resist movement forward and aft, but because there is a suspension, the axle
also has to articulate, which the control rods resist There has to be a slight amount of movement, both forward and aft at
the attachment point of the axle, so to deal with this, we came up with the following solution. The front control rod attachment
point and bracket I like to reefer to as the "Bat Wings". Bat wings are a term used to describe the control arm
attachment point on older Straight axle cars, so I use the term loosely here. Our axle bracket was a modified adjustable bracket,
like the ones used elsewhere on the frame, but this set had the middle removed so it fit over the front axle. To do this,
Dad used a cut-off wheel and removed a 1-1/2" inch section from the middle front portion of the bracket, this allow the
axle to slide over the bracket. To join the bracket to the axle I used a single 3/8" bolt that was placed in the center
of the brackets opening. To allow the extra movement the front suspension needed, but to keep things as tight as possible,
I placed a short spring between the Axel and the control rod bracket, then tightened down the nut enough to allow only a 1/4"
of movement forward or backward, this was all that was necessary to allow for full axle travel, but still keep the control
rods tight enough to keep the axle solid. When the axle swings down, the bracket is drawn in and when it goes up, the bracket
is pushed away from it’s neutral mounting position. This small amount of movement, was the ticket to our front suspensions
success, and the problem wasn’t really all that had to solve. With
the front suspension in great shape, we decided to turn out attentions to the rear. Dad had the center section ready for me
when I got there this mourning, I had laid-out the bolt pattern so he could drill and tap the holes, and that really helped
us move forward. The collars or axle bells now could be screwed to the sides of the center section, and the whole thing really
started to look like a early quick change rear-end. Now we just had to finish the job. First things first, I drilled the top
for a vent opening and the bottom center for a drain fitting. Of-coarse, our make believe quick change won’t hold any
oil or gears, but the addition of this items helps sell the illusion of authenticity. So, with our new vent and drain fittings
installed, it was time to trim the upper edges at and angle to make it look more real. Dad trimmed out a small amount on the
rear and an little more on the front, the shape now really resembled the real thing, then Dad mad the steel pieces to cover
the openings, these will get welded shut once everything else is figured in. Now the rear end really looked real.....Next
up was the pinion support area, on a quick change rear end the pinion is down low, where most others are in the middle area.
The power form the engine comes in from the drive-shaft through the low mounted pinion, this shaft isn’t connected to
anything in the rear end, instead it simply passes through the housing and ends in the rear with a splined shaft. There the
bottom gear slides over the splines of the shaft and another gear of the same ratio or different ration, mates to it, from
the splined shaft that feeds the rear end gears. By having these two splined shafts, one can quickly and easily change gear
sets, and also change the final gear ratio. Hence, the name, " Quick Change". The rear of the rear end is covered
by a removable cover, and this is how you access the gear sets. To keep it real on our miniature quick change rear end, we
will need to fashion a similar cover plate and front pinion support. I took on the job of the pinion, and used a small 1-1/4"
section of 1-3/4" tubing to make the support. We inserted 2-radial bearings, one at each end, and then I will get a universal,
much like a socket set one, to simulate the universal at the rear of the drive-shaft. This is pretty much where we left off,
the support is almost done, and we need the rear cover plate. We also took some quick measurements of the rear end and determined
how long the rear axle needs to be, plus how wide the rear-end has to be as well, we will finish these areas next visit.
10-01-08
October....Can you believe how fast this year is going ?? Winter will be upon us before long..... Today was a real productive
day, I started out buy installing our new Evolution Blade for the metal saw, then cutting the rear axle to size. It's
hard to tell you what a new blade fells like,, so just trust me when I say it cuts once again like butter. Actually the first
cut was for the rear axle but not really the actual axle itself, it was for a Collor that I will weld to the axle so it won't
spin when we bolt the end bells back on. You have to remember that we are really building an axle housing, for which the actual
spinning axle will rest inside, just like the real thing, where you have a housing and an axle shaft. The collars, attach
to the housing, and right at the point where the finished axle will be, once the collars are bolted on. In this spot, I choose
to weld a collar to the axle housing, this will not be seen from the out side, it's covered up by the stainless steel
collars that attach to the sides of the center section. The purpose for the collars is to lock the axle housing against the
center section, that way keeping them together, and not free spinning around the axle shaft. This collar ended up being no
more then a section of 2" tube cut to 1/2" thick and welded in place on the axle housing, the crush fit supplies
the needed friction to keep all the parts in order.
Next I broke out the frame hangers, and bolted
them to the welding table, this will allow us to level the frame and work on the suspension pieces with much greater ease.
We last used these hangers when we prepared the '33 frame for Project COBRA'33. They are simply position holding stands, that bolt to the table and allow you to position your work up off the table
and suspended in air, for us they will also hold the project level. Now with the project up and
easy to gain access to, I started with the front shocks, and installed them on the front axle. I made this very simple, and
used the mounting brackets that came with the shocks. The hardware that was supplied with them is very unique, a stainless
steel polished socket headed button headed axle/shoulder bolt. Very interesting.... I installed the shock straight up, in-board
about 3" on each side, they looked really nice and the frame is taking shape up
front. Out back, there is nothing. This all changed right about now, for starters, I mounted the frame side of the 4-bar mounting
brackets. I mounted them at 15" centers, so each was 7-1/2" from the center of the rear frame members. Since the
rear end was going to be very low in the chassis, I mounted the bracket so that 3/4 of the bracket was below the frame, this
should allow for adequate adjustability. Next came the work on the rear axle/housing, since nothing was done with regards
to finish work, we had plenty to do here. I had already cut and finished fabricating the axle tube end pieces. These hold
the end bearings and have to be welded to the axle housing tube ends, so with some careful alinement we tach welded one, then
the other. The brackets are 0.250" thick, and have a 1.75" hole bored thru them, these allow the bracket to slip
over the axle tube, and we positioned it right at the tube ends. Once the axle tube brackets were tacked we started with the
4-bar brackets that have to get mounted to the axle tubes, on the same 15" centers like the 4-bar bracket we attached
to the frame. Since these two brackets, the frame mount and axle mounted ones, are mates, they have to be at the same with
and angle to function properly. The width is easy, but the angle is harder, especially when you have an axle housing that
doesn't want to say still. it took all 4 hands to get the brackets positioned and ready for there tack welds. We must
have been lucky that day because everything turned out to aline with one another. What's that saying about I'd rather
be lucky then good???? With the axle complete now with all it's bracketry, we welded the bracket
fully in-place, and then mounted it in the frame. 4-Bars are a paint in the neck, till you get them bolted in and secured,
and this one was no different, we mounted the 4-bars then temporary supported the center section with a small jack. The extreme
strain pulled both frame mounted brackets loose, so I had to remove the 4-bars and re-weld the bracket to the frame. I had
only tach welded the brackets in place, with small tach's, thinking we might have to move the brackets. As it turned out,
they were in the correct position and only needed some additional weld to keep them located. Now with the 4-bars re-attached
and the axle back upon the small jack, we looked over the rear end and it's alignment, all was great, so I permanently
welded the brackets to the frame. Next, was the rear shocks. These like the fronts came with the same neat hardware and mounting
brackets, so we used them and mounted the sock straight up, much like the front. All 4 shocks have the same 750lb springs
installed, so i don't think the suspension will droop. Up-front we mounted the inter-cooler
with a simple flat mount and 3-3/8" bolts per side. I keep it pretty close to the very front, and then mounted the radiator
behind the Inter-cooler, separated by a 2" gap. For the radiator, we had to fashion 2- small mounts that welded to the
top of the frame rails.
10-03-08
Two steps forward and one step back....well it wasn't exactly that bad today, but you
kind of get the drift. Last time we worked on the engine cart, we mounted the front Inter-cooler and radiator, well we got
to thinking about engine room, and low and behold, the engine had to go forward to clear the rear cross-member. That meant
the radiator and Inter-cooler had to go. Actually, we found that we could simply mount the Inter-cooler to the other side
of the bracket, saving us some 4-5". That really helped, but the radiator was still to far back and we were going to
have to remove the 2-mounting tabs we welded to the frame. because we plug welded it, it really turned out to be a easy fix,
we just drilled down thru the center of the welds, and broke them loose. A quick run through the saneer, and they were ready
to be used again. But this time before we re-mounted the radiator, we got the engine out of the office and loaded on the lift
for a better fitment.
Getting the engine loaded to the lift. This wasn't
to bad, I just had to figure out how to lift it so we didn't hurt anything or block the areas where we needed access.
I came up with using one six foot sling for the front and two small chassis straps for the rear, these are the same straps
we'll use on Project COBRA'33's rear end.
But for now, there doing double duty holding up the rear of the Flathead engine. It worked out nice, I used one 3/8"
bell-housing bolt hole per side to fasten the rear straps, and slung the front sling around the front pulleys. We also used
both winches to lift the engine, this provided us with a easy way to tilt the engine, which we used altter on. We needed two
inches to fit the engine inot the cart, but in reality, we needed all we could get because the radiator outlets at the bottom
of the radiator are offset from those in the engine, and we need all the room we can get, so our offsets will work. The lift is the best tool we have built, this thing makes jobs like this so easy, I would recommend
to everyone that fabricates metal work or just like to work on old cars, that they build themselves something similar. With
the lift holding the engine in place, we were able to get the measurements we needed to start construction on the engine mounting
brackets. With the original style of motor mounts in place, we needed 3/4" on both sides, so we used a small piece of
3" x 5" angle iron and cut it down to make a nice looking mount. The motor mount plate was roughly 2-1/2" x
4", so we made the bracket 1" longer on each side and just long enough to make up the difference (3/4") and
also completely mount under the frame rail. So with a frame rail width of 1-1/2" + the 3/4" difference = 2-1/4"
on the one side, this is the side that will be welded to the bottom of the frame rail, and the other side was 5" down.
This allowed the engine to be placed as far down in the frame as possible, and as far forward as well. We could have gotten
another inch or two, but we would have had to re-work the front 4-bar brackets, and that was something neither of us wanted
to mess with. Dad set out to cut out the brackets I laid-out, and I started work on the rear engine plate. I decided to use
the 1/4" plate and not the 0.600" plate, I think the thicker stuff would be to thick for the scale, and look out
of place. The engine plate was great, and we designed a great piece. First i had to cut the plate down to 6" wide, then
trim off the end to the 29" wide width of the frame rail. Now we have a plate that is beginning to look like it belongs
here. Next I scribed center, and allow for the 13" wide bell-housing, once past that point, I angled the plate up and
then flattened it out right before the frame. This way the engine plate looks really cool, and not like a big rectangle. I
did lay out about 10 lightening holes, and drilled all of them for 3/8". I’ll go back latter on and re-drill some
much wider, but for now they are fine, and by waiting till later on the wider holes, I don't have to worry about too much
material being removed now. Yes, this falls under that " Better safe then sorry" rule. To get the bolt pattern of
the bell-housing marked in the aluminum engine plate, and to do it with exacting tolerances's, we took 4 pieces of 3/8-16
x 1" all thread rod and sanded a sharp point on one end of each piece, then screwed them into the bell-housing in the
holes where we wanted the mounting screws to be. Then we placed the engine plate into position and taped the back of the plate
with a hammer to transfer the bolt pattern into the aluminum plate. The trick worked great, we had an exact pattern of the
bolt circle, and I only had to visit the drill press and drill them out with a 3/8" bit. Once back at the rear of the
engine, the plate fit better then great, it was exactly the bolt pattern. We mounted the plate to the rear of the bell-housing
and then aligned the engine to get it centered, and ready for the side mounts. For those, I simply used some flat stock and
cut four pieces all 3" long with the same 2-bolt pattern in them. Then we mounted the metal bracket hafves to the engine
plate with 3/8" hardware and after checking the alinement again, we welded the tabs in place. Engine plate done.... it's
know wonder most serious Drag Racers use engine mounting plates, they are fast, sturdy and easy to work around. Now for the BAD news......The engine would not fit inside and down in the frame with the
headers on. The way the tubing was routed, it interfered with the frame rails. So we had no choice but to remove them and
go ahead and fit the engine properly, then deal with the headers/turbo's/exhaust tubing later. Looking at the engine down
in it's proper place, I think the next header system will have to have flowing tubing instead of the drop type tubing
system we used before. By flowing, I mean the tubes would have to exit the block, and immediately turn a 90̊ bend and
flow to the rear of the engine. I can see all three do this with a collector located in the rear, and using a single 2-1/2"
exhaust pipe to transfer the heat energy to the turbo's. I'm thinking the turbo's will have to be placed more
in the back of the engine then on it's side like I had originally designed the system. The good news is this system will
be much narrower then it's predecessor, but it will also most likely be longer, also. Good thing the Flathead
engine is already very short, length wise. If I can fit a modern Ford 4.6L DOHC engine into a the small confines of a 1933
Tudor, then I could also fit this latest configuration of the Flathead engine. Will cover this new Turbo
charger location and header re-work latter once the frame and front suspension are finished.
With the engine plate finished, now all I had to do was to add my supports to the rear shock brackets, the ones mounted to
the side of the frame, and come up with a pan hard bar, no problem. The shocks were very easy, we used 2-ready made tabs I
purchased from The Chassis Shop, these were placed above the shock mounts, so that the new tabs would aide the shock mounts,
keeping them solidly mounted to the frame. The Pan hard bar, was not much more difficult, I used some more tabs from The Chassis
Shop and welded two to the center section and two to the side of the frame. The mounts were mounted right across from one
another, in a straight line, and I also tried to keep the Pan Hard Bar as level as possible. This should keep the rear end
plated, yet allow for some normal up and down movements. This just about completed
the frame work, so we removed the engine, rear end and front axle. Then welded out the frame, by turning it so I could
gain access to the needed weld areas. Honestly, there wasn't much to weld, and the hole thing was over almost before it
began. This is were we left off, the frame is completely welded out, and all the pieces are broken down and ready for paint,
or at least the painting process. I took the rest of the night to go over the shop and clean up. Any time you cut, grind and
weld, you make a mess of the welding area, so we spent about 45 minuets getting it back into shape. I hate leaving the drill
shavings on the floor, they egt into the bottom of your shoes, and you carry them into the house, where other might step on
them. All in all, we got a lot done in a very short amount of time. The frame is done, the rear end is done and so is the
front axle, that is for now anyway. The front axle still has to have the front spindles welded on, and we'll do that once
they come in. Then we will also have to come up with an acceptable steering solution, one that allows us to steer the cart
from the rear, and is detachable. I'm very happy with the end result. The
cart is coming along very well, and I think it will be a real hit at the shows. Now I just have to think what color we want
to paint it? At first I was thinking about painting it the same dark grey metallic color as the '33 frame, but then I
was thinking maybe that would be to dull??? I do have both Magenta and Tangerine in stock??? How about painting the center
section of the rear end the same dark grey metallic, then painting the axle housings and frame in Magenta?? it would be bright
and lively.
Florence
Hardware
Date | ITEM | Description | Price | Qty | Total | 09-29-08 | 1/4" Socket Head Screws | 1/4-20 x 1"
Black Oxide | 0.22 | 20 | 2.40 | 09-2-08 | 3/8" Socket Head Screws | 3/8-16 x 1"
Black Oxide | 0.47 | 20 | 9.40 | 09-2-08 | 3/8" Socket Head Screws | 3/8-16 x x1-1/2"
Black Oxide | 0.53 | 20 | 10.60 | 09-2-08 | Return Springs | Small springs for front end suspension
system | 2.05 | 2 | 4.10 | 09-2-08 | Tax | | | | 1.33 | TOTAL | | | | | 27.83 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Date | ITEM | Description | Price | Qty | Total | 09-2-08 | Steering Wheel | Custom
Leather wrapped | 28.95 | 1 | 28.95 | 09-2-08 | SHIPPING | | | | 9.99 | TOTAL | | | | | 38.94 |
Date | ITEM | Description | Price | Qty | Total | 09-2-08 | Front Steering
Axle Package | Steering Wheel, Spindles, Tie-Rods, Steering Shaft, Hub, Tabs | 79395 | 1 | 79.95 | 09-2-08 | Shipping | | | | 14.85 | | TOTAL | | | | | 81.48 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Date | ITEM | Description | Price | Qty | Total | 09-21-08 | Front Spindles | Front Spindles, complete with bearings |
|
|
| 09-21-08 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
DJ’s Parts and Carts Date | ITEM | Description | Price | Qty | Total | 09-21-08 | Axle Bearings Hanger Brackets | | 10.99 | 2 | 21.98 | 09-21-08 | Axle Key ways | | 4.99 | 1 | 4.99 | 09-21-08 | Aluminum Front Wheels | Spinner type front wheels, 2-piece | 58.95 | 2 | 117.90 | 09-21-08 | Shipping | | | | 26.90 | TOTAL | | | | | 171.77 |
Date | ITEM | Description | Price | Qty | Total | | | Front Tires | 4.80 x x8" Ribbed Front Tores | 39.60 | 2 | 79.20 | | | Shipping | | | | 19.98 | TOTAL | | | | | 99.18 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Date | ITEM | Description | Price | Qty | Total | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
10-05-08
The engine cart is really coming along, the last we worked
on it, I had to remove the headers, both sides, to get it fully down into the frame. The headers were just two wide and deep
to make them work with the engine mounted where it needed to be. This leaves us with what to do now?? I re-installed the engine
earlier and measured the clearance between the sides of the block and frame, which turns out to be roughly 4-1/2". There
is no way the old system can be modified to work with this new arrangement, so I’m thinking here how to re-work everything.
My first choice, was to get some Fenton center dump headers, these pretty much aline on the center port and would easily clear
the frame, and I could make the turn at the bottom with the ground clearance we have. Un-fortunately, they were on back-order
for several weeks, am I would like to get this thing painted before winter. My second choice, was what Speedway Motors reefers
to as there Economy Flathead Headers. These were in stock and even on sale, that didn’t come into play, but I suppose
it’s a nice bonus the way it turned out. I ordered these headers and a set of front headlights (7") with Moon Eyes
covers. I got to thinking about drawing attention to the car and the engine, and I decided to add lights to the thing and
make it a little more real. We will have headlights, tail light and turning signals. I have all the lights in stock here at
the house, and there nice little LED’s that will work nice, give loads of light and draw few Amp’s. All important
when you consider this thing will be self reliant, and only operate off battery power all day. The battery, will be a small
motor cycle battery, the I’ll mount in the rear like the original. Today, Dad and I got to thinking, if we moved the
front Inter-cooler around, we could also mount the 34 Dodge or 32 Ford grill up front. Just a thought,
that I’ll keep in mind while we work to finish the engine cart project. I also think we will build a small front tube
bar, the kind that mounts between the frame rails and has a slight rake. In the rear it will be bumper brackets and a small
bumper, or nurf type bars, I’m not sure which one will look better. I know Dad will vote for the nurf bars.!! Today,
we got a lot of little items taken care of. We completely finished the welding, to this point. By adding shock braces, 4-bar
braces and a few frame braces. Dad also already had most of the sanding and grinding done, which wasn’t much but it
was a job still. I’ll go over this frame and blend in a lot of spots with filler, I want the frame to turn out as nice
as the real thing, maybe nicer??
I got the front tires mounted up and ready for the install, they
were a breeze considering they were 2-piece rims. I mainly did a lot of measuring today, I wanted to perfec5t my mechanical
drawings, but also figure out how we will run the exhaust for the turbo system, and the cold side tubing. There are several
interesting avenues, one is to mount the turbo’s in the extreme rear of the cart, much like a trunk mounted system.
This would allow us to mount them side by side, for a really cool look. More of a modern racer look. Or we could possibly
mount the turbo’s more to the side, up further back then I had them before this last change, closer to the rear wheels.
The rear mounted system, would be the most practical, assuming that in a rear car they were either mounted
in the truck or behind the engine, of an altered chassis. The engine is small enough that this could be a realistic mounting
point. Think extended frame, maybe 12-18" all in the cowl to radiator area. Not a terribly hard move to pull off. Those
center dump headers would have been nice, I think I could have reversed them and had them pointing up instead of down, which
would have been an arrangement very close to how we first had the turbo’s mounted. This was a maybe, since I would have
to modify the header mounting plate and see if the angle would clear the heads, it looked feasible. I
did get the rear lift points on Project COBRA’33
drilled and mounted-up. We had already welded them and Dad cleaned them up several days ago, so I had time to go ahead and
mount the round aluminum disc to the bottoms of the mounts. I used 4-3/8" carriage bolts to hold
them together, and I like the way it turned out. Now we just have to paint them to match the frame of the ‘33 Ford.
Proweld Performance Parts
Date | Item | Deception | Price | Qty | Total | 10-05-08 | Sm, LED | Small LED Light, Red | 6.99 | 4 | 27.96 | 10-05-08 | Sm,
LED | Small LED Light, Amber | 6.99 | 8 | 55.92 | 10-05-08 | Base | Chrome
Base for Small LED | 4.99 | 8 | 39.92 | 10-05-08 | Power Cap | Power
Cap for 2-post Lights | 2.99 | 20 | 59.80 | 10-05-08 | Med, LED | Medium
LED Light, Red | 8.99 | 2 | 17.98 | 10-05-08 | Base | Chrome
Base for Medium Light | 5.99 | 6 | 55.94 | 10-05-08 | Med, LED | Medium
LED Light, Amber | 8.99 | 4 | 35.96 | | | TOTAL | | | | 293.48 | | | | | | | |
10-09-08
This has been an absolutely beautiful October.......And
today was no exception. Where do we begin ??? Ok, I got the Economy Header in on Wednesday, so I had it with me today for
a trial fit-up. You remember we striped the turbo’s from the engine and dis-assembled everything. The old header style
wasn’t going to work, so why keep it around??? The headers fit just fine, the drivers side was different from the passenger
side, because it was bent at the end to clear the steering on the old car it was designed to fit. We could have done with
the same header design for both sides, that is the Straight style like the passenger side. I do have to say, that the fit
was perfect, I mean it was on the money. Since they were going to fit and looked nice I left them on, and started thinking
about the rest of the turbo system design. These headers are what we were waiting for, without them, there wasn’t anything
I could do to start the new build. I figured if these didn’t work out, then we would just go for another style, but
I like the way these fit, so I will keep these and work from there. Now, with the headers taken care of, we can proceed.
I had been thinking about the turbo system, but everything was in rather general terms,
now for the first time, I could really start the process. The way the new headers end, dictates how I’ll proceed, and
these end right at the end of the block, roughly 5-6" lower then the last exhaust port. I had been thinking of several
scenarios, with regard to turbo placement, Now it’s pretty clear that I’ll go with the one option that places
them in the rear of the engine. This makes for a very nice looking package, the turbo’s are in-line with the engine
and tucked up behind it, keeping the width as narrow as the original engine. First, we’ll find the spot to mount the
turbo’s. We will place them in the back of the engine. Over the bell-housing and next to each other. To do this and
have a solid installation, I needed to make a sturdy mount, one that fit the location and didn’t take up any useable
space. After some careful measurements, I decided to make a mount from 1" square tubing and weld it to the of the full
size cross-member, the one the also has the forward 4-Bar brackets attached to it. This bracket has 2-1" pieces of tubing,
both with short (8") 90̊’s and in-between them to keep them separated
is 4-pieces of 1" tubing, 2" long. As an assembly, it measures 4" wide, 9" tall with a 90̊ section that reaches out 8" to the rear. This bracket is mounted in the center of thee rear
cross-member, facing the rear of the cart. The whole reason the bracket was built, besides to mount the turbo’s, was
to give me room to mount both of them , hence the 90̊ bend to the rear. The total
length of the turbo-charger assembly complete with air filter is roughly 13". The mount provides this room by placing
the 2-assemblies in tight to the back of the engine block, and just above it. Now
that we know there the turbo’s will reside, and the bracket in place, we can turn our attention toward the mounting
method. The bracket is centered between the turbo’s, so we need to make another piece that we can attach to the bracket,
yet use the material on both sides of the attachment point to hold the turbos securely. You need to think of a "T-ee"
type mount, that is what ours looks like, the bracket is welded to the rear cross-member and extends up and back in the chassis,
then we mounted another piece, a 4" x 13" x 3/32" piece that is held in place by the bracket, yet the outer
ends are free to mount the turbo’s too. With that clear as the Ohio river....We can continue. The method we’ll
use to mount the actual turbo’s is by sandwiching the turbo to the plate we installed by drilling the same 4-bolt pattern
in the plate as the exhaust entrance side has. We have quick connecting, slip ring or better known as V-band clamps, these
are great ways to mount turbo-chargers. You have to machined surfaces, both have half of a V-ee designed into them. Two hold
the two pieces together, a stainless steel band clamp mounts over the two pieces, and has the reverse V-ee made into it, so
when the band is tightened, it forces the two halves tightly together, for a tight, leak-free seal that will hold pressure.
Our V-Band clamps bolt to the turbo-charger, or at least the turbo sided half does, via the same 4-bolt T3T4 pattern were
using to mount the turbo to the mounting bracket we constructed. To get a better picture of what is happening, picture the
mounting bracket with a 4-bolt pattern drilled into each end. Now place the turbo, exhaust side down on that mount and put
the 4-3/8" bolts through the holes and on the bottom place the V-ee band clamp, turbo side , up to the bottom of the
mount, and match the bolts to it’s bolt pattern. Spin on the nuts and you have a very nice way to mount the turbo-chargers
and also use the quick changing exhaust V-ee clapms. Of-coarse, in the center of each bolt pattern on the mount, we also drilled
a 1-3/4" hole for the exhast gases to pass thru, I just left it out till the end, so you wouldn’t
be more confused. Now the entire system is taking shape, you can see the pair of turbo’s mounted side by side and tucked
in tight to the engine. We now also have the exhaust inlet mapped out, so we can continue the build toward the end of the
engine headers. Working on, we now have a location to build off of, the hot exhaust gases will enter Straight up and into
the bottom of the turbo-chargers, this allows us to go ahead and build a mount for the exhaust tubing. We know where it’s
going, so it makes building the mounting points easy. I again use the back side of the rear cross-member, to weld a small
piece of 3/4" tubing to, one for each exhaust tube going to the turbo’s. One this mount, we take a 2" long
section of 1-3/4" pipe and split it down the center. This gives us two, half pieces we weld to the ends of our 3/4"
tubing, now we have a great mounting point for the exhaust tubing, one that will keep the exhaust pipe Straight and true.
Now, we have everything we need to go ahead and run the exhaust tubing out on each side. Starting on the passenger side, we
install a long 90̊ section of tubing, one that goes up and into the turbo mount,
comes down and passes thru the new tubing mount we just made, then turns it’s 90̊
and exits out the side parallel to the axle line. We go ahead and get both sides to this point, then come back to the passenger
side and continue it on out to the headers. For the final piece, I use a small section of tubing, one end has a very slight
bend close to the end and the other end has a 45̊ bend on it. I hold the one end
to the header pipe, then while still holding the tubing, I rotate the stub to turned out, till it alines with my tubing. Now
simple mark the tubing and cut the stub-out off to fit, that’s it and the other side is very, very similar. Now we just
need to make two sets of header flanges to mount the exhaust tubing to the end of the headers. Because I’m cheap, and
this is all I had on hand, I cut the old header flanges up from the old system there the turbo’s mounted to the outsides
of the engine. These flanges are 3/8" thick and I can use the same exhaust gasket, eliminating the need for another set
of gaskets. Basically I bolt the two sets of header flanges together, then load them in the saw, and cut off two ends. With
a little help from the sander, I now have to sets of flanges I can use to complete the exhaust system. Because the tubing
we are using is larger then the header flange holes, I enlarge the flanges with a die grinder and a cylinder type bit. Once
enlarged, I slip one flange over the exhaust header pipe, and the other side over the exhaust pipe we just ran to the turbo’s.
Because the flanges have to 3/8" holes on there ends, I can bolt the two pieces together, to complete the system. Once
the flanges are welded to each side of the pipe, and bolted together, we have a complete and solid exhaust system. I really
like this new system, it’s much cleaner and slip-stream then the other method we had. The exhaust system is very clean
and looks great. To remove the exhaust system on any side, all you have to do is un-bolt the 2-3/8" bolts at the flanges
and remove the V-band clamp at the bottom of the turbo’s, that’s it......Oh, Yell, loosen the clamp at the lower
exhaust mount.
10-10-08
Man that looks good, I really like that Turbo System.....
Today is my Birthday..!!..!!! We started out this mourning by eating breakfast out. I couldn’t wait to get back to the engine cart and continue on, we have lots left to do.
Now that we have the turbo’s mounted and the exhaust system ran, we now have most all the major cards on the table.
That said, I now can see another problem. The radiator is way to close to the front of the engine, there is no way to match-up
the radiator outlets to the engine inlets. We simply have to have more room......The solution....cut the
front end off and extend the frame on out. So out comes the tools and I remove the radiator mount, next I measure and mark
the frame ends for cutting. I will cut them off just in front of the engine mounts. So, with a few minuets of band saw action
the front is off. Dad made some 4" pieces for me earlier, so now I’ll use them to extend the frame. To keep everything
Straight, I use many c-clamps, vise-grips and metal extensions to hold the new 4" longer sections of 1-3/4" tubing
in place. Just before welding them in place, I take some careful measurements to make sure the front will be Straight and
in-line with the rest of the chassis. While I could not weld the extensions in place all the way around, I did get them 3/4
the way around with the welder, they will be Ok till we bust the thing apart for painting, then I’ll weld it on out.
Ok, now the chassis is 4" longer, and we need new radiator mounts. I go ahead and fabricate these up, this time I make
them long enough to span the distance from the front of the frame past the last weld joint, this way it cleans up the chassis,
and stiffens the frame. Now we get the aluminum flathead radiator back out and mount it in the chassis, this puts us back
to where we were, before the frame deal. While I have been working on the chassis the last two days, Dad has been working
on the lighting brackets for the rear and side lights, while also stopping occasionally to lend a helping hand. We will have
2-tail lights, 2-rear turn signals, 2-side turning signals for the front and rear, as well as head lights and who knows what
else.....it’s turning into a miniature car. I have this neat 1934
Dodge truck grill shell, that we will mount to the front of the radiator. There are 2-5/16" threaded inserts mounted
in the sides of the radiator, one on each side, this is how we’ll mount the grill shell to the radiator. We mount the
shell, and leave it there for now. Because, we are going to run front mounted headlights, the grill shell was important for
fitamit. We’ll think about a few mounting options we have. Till then, we’ll turn our attention to the rear of
the chassis. Because we now have a firm turbo mount, we can contemplate the running of the Cold Side tubing, some might also
reefer to it as Pressure Side tubing. What we need to figure out is where are the inter-coolers going, this is the last piece
of the pie. On a normal vehicle, the Air to Air inter-cooler would be mounted in the front section, somewhere, where it could
get some air flow. Because this isn’t the norm, and because of room constraints, we will mount the Air-to-Air inter-cooler
in the rear, above the chassis and behind the turbo’s. To do this, I will make another mount, this one will be roughly
12" x 1-3/4"tubing and have a 45̊ bend on the end with a 8" stub.
Again we will bend up two of them, and mount them on the ends of the chassis, with the bend pointed to the front. I can re-use
the old inter-cooler mounting brackets, by welding them to the outside edges of the new mount, this way the inter-cooler will
bolt to the new mount, spanning the distance between the 2-mounts and leave us plenty of room under it for the Water-to-Air
inter-cooler. Here is where we called it a day, once we got the inter-cooler bolted in place, I packed up the tools and cleaned
the shop before going home for the day.
Eastwood Company
Date | Item | Description | Price | Qty | Total | 10-08-08 | 51502 ZP | Evercoat Quantum body Filler | 29.99 | 2 | 59.98 |
| 11541 | PPS # 27 Adapter | 14.99 | 1 | 14.99 |
| 29953 | Devilbiss Dkups Starter System Kit | 99.99 | 1 | 99.99 |
| 46001 ZP | Glyptal Red Brush On | 49.99 | 1 | 49.99 |
| 34570 | Dessicant Snake | 22.99 | 1 | 22.99 |
| 11550 | PPS #15 Adapter | 12.99 | 1 | 12.99 |
| 51506 A | Quantum 10:1
BPO Catalyst Hi Temp |
| 4 |
|
| 11233 | Sticky Mickey’s Automotive masking tape | 29.99 | 1 | 29.99 |
| 102707 | Brake Caliper Coating System Red | 39.99 | 1 | 39.99 |
|
|
|
|
| 330.91 |
| Shipping |
|
|
| 15.95 | TOTAL |
|
|
|
| 346.86 |
Speedway Motors
Date | Item | Description | Price | Qty | Total | 09-16-08 | 910-15842-CHR | 42-48 Flathead Water Hose kit | 45.99 | 1 | 45.99 | | | 911-32001 | Radiator
Cap, ’32 Pasenger | 19.99 | 1 | 19.99 | | | 617-6117 | Flared bulkhead #4 | 3.99 | 2 | 7.98 | | | 617-6118 | Flared bulkhead #6 | 4.99 | 2 | 9.98 | | | 617-6119 | Flared Bulkhead #8 | 4.99 | 3 | 14.97 | | | 617-6188 | Bulkhead Nut #4 | 2.99 | 2 | 5.98 | | | 617-6189 | Bulkhead Nut #6 | 2.99 | 2 | 59.98 | | | 617-6190 | Bulkhead Nut #8 | 2.99 | 3 | 8.97 | | | 910-89408 | Piston Ring Filler | 34.99 | 1 | 34.99 | | | 282-159 | Comp Cams break-in lube | 12.99 | 2 | 25.98 | | | | | | | 180.81 | | | Shipping | | | | 8.95 | | | TAX | | | | 11.39 | TOTAL | | | | | 201.15 |
Speedway Motors
Date | Item | Description | Price | Qty | Total | 10-06-08 | 540-075-EYES | 7" Headlight Covers | 34.99 | 1 | 34.99 | | | 935-3736 | S/S O2 Sensor Bung/Plug | 8.99 | 2 | 79.98 | | | 911-01008 | Dietz H/L Stb Bulb-Blk/Chr | 44.98 | 2 | 89.98 | | | 910-13606 | Economy Flathead headers | 129.99 | 1 | 129.99 | | | Total | | | | 272.94 | | | Shipping | | | | 18.18 | | | Tax | | | | 17.47 | TOTAL | | | | | 308.59 |
Diecast Auto.Com
Date | Item | Description | Price | Qty | Total | 09-09-08 | Engine Flathead | 11082
Hawk 1:6 Ford Flathead Engine | 51.00 | 1 | 51.00 | | | Shipping | | | | 9.00 | TOTAL | | | | | 60.00 |
T & M Kart Supply
Date
| Item | Description | Price | Qty | Total | 09-20-08 | FSB | Axle bearing Free Spinning | 8.00 | 2 | 16.00 | | | AE816436B | Axle Chrome-molly 36" x 1-1/4" Black | 43.95 | 1 | 43.95 | | | LC125 | Axle
Locking Collar 1.-1/4 | 4.95 | 2 | 9.90 | | | 38TR1200 | Tie Rod 3/8" x 12" | 7.95 | 2 | 15.90 | | | 38TR1250 | Tie Rod 3/8" x 12.5" | 7.95 | 2 | 15.90 | | | 38TR800 | Tie Rod 3/8" x 8 | 7.95 | 2 | 15.90 | | | 38TR850 | Tie Rod 3/8" x 8.5" | 7.95 | 2 | 15.90 | | | JN38LH | 3/8" Jam Nut left hand thread | 0.65 | 16 | 10.40 | | | | | | | | | | JN38RH | 3/8" Jam Nut Right Hand Thread | 0.65 | 16 | 10.40 | | | VKHF-R | Front Hubs, Red W/5/8" Bearings | 25.55 | 2 | 51.10 | | | KMAC | 1-1/4" CNC Axle Cassettes PR | 28.45 | 1 | 28.45 | | | HJ38LH | Hime
Joint 3/8" Tie Rod Left Hand Threads | 7.50 | 12 | 90.00 | | | HJ38RH | Hime Joint 3/8" Tie Rod Right Hand Threads | 7.50 | 12 | 90.00 | | | | | | | 473.80 | | | Shipping | | | | 39.99 | TOTAL | | | | | 513.79 |
Motivational Tubing, LLC
Date | Item | Description | Price | Qty | Total | 09-22-08 | 301723 | Hoosier JR! (18x10-8) | 114.95 | 2 | 229.90 | | | 301719 | Wheel, 4-Bolt Rear (8"x8") 4/4 | 39.95 | 2 | 79.90 | | | 300265 | Hub,
4/4 Rear Wheel 1-1/4" Axle | 35.50 | 2 | 71.00 | | | 300109 | Brkt, Axle bearing/Caliper mount 25° | 11.74 | 2 | 23.48 | | | Shipping | | | | 27.84 | Total | | | | | 445.14 |
|
