Modified Murray update: First time on the road!

Well.... sorta'! I finally brought it home anyway.

This weekend was productive to say the least! Finished the majority of the firewall and made an aluminum insert and tightened everything up so it could be put on a trailer and transplanted to California. This is the third garage this car has seen since I bought it and started working on it! Maybe I should rename it squatter? LOL!

Alright, here's the pictures.

First thing was to get those wheels to stay together so I could role it easily up on a trailer. I made a quick tie rod to do just that.



The good thing was that this also showed me where I was going to have to modify the frame to clear things. Looks like I have some work to do up there and working the grille shell in the mix is going to be quite a challenge it looks like! I have a lot of work to do in tha area anyway with that front crossmember, so it will all work out.

Next I needed to get that firewall welded in place and I also decided that adding a 1x1 stiffner behind would not only stiffin up the cowl are, but could also be used to leverage off of for the steering box mounts and pedal assemblies and any other junk that would get mounted under there.



I could not have done this without Sincity57! This turned out to be a two-person job just to keep things square and in-line. Thanks Jeff!!! Also, my camera took a dump, so I wouldn't have had any pictures to show you if Jeff wouldn't have let me use his camera for all this. Never realized how much it sucks when you don't have a camera. Feel like someone sawed off my right arm or something.

Next it was time for that aluminum insert. I made this from 1/8" aluminum. I think it's 5052 sheet stock. Worked out great!

Started with another pattern:


Got the general shape and then kept trimming until I had a tight fit with the cowl and firewall.





Next I drilled my hole pattern with a pilot bit and then used the insert as a template to match-drill the holes in the firewall. Couldn't get to some of the inside ones around the transmission opening, so I will finish those off when I pull the engine for rebuild.

To mount it up to the firewall I used a stack of nuts as spacers. This is temporary. I would rather use stand-offs, but the place that I needed to get them from was closed and I wasn't about to stop working because of some silly stand-offs.



Here's what it looks like mounted




The top lip with all the relief cuts will get trimmed off and I'll use a piece of flat stock to finish off the top and give a place to weld captive nuts so the top cowl section can be bolted in place.

Cowl top in place and it's pretty well finished. It will get polished and engine turned after all the accesories (oil filter, fuel block, pass-thru holes, etc.) have been located.





I never dreamed that firewall construction and the insert would be that much work. I guess if I ever have to do it again it will be a little easier... right?

So, now that the cowl was all stiffened up it was time to clean up the garage, pack up the tools and parts and start thinking about loading the trailer. The winds at this point were just getting worse and worse though. I decided waiting until morning would be best...

Next morning, bright and early... wind still pretty bad, but time to load things up! First a picture of the '35 coupe and the Model A side by side. This would probably be the last time for a very long time they would sit in the same garage together...





I rented a U-haul car hauler to get this thing back to Huntington Beach. Amazingly, I was able to tell them it was a 1931 Model A I was hauling instead of telling them I had a 1972 Super Beetle or something. They've updated they're records to the 21st century and you don't have to lie about what you're hauling anymore. On the trailer it goes...





The rest was quite an adventure!!! The wind was horrible and it was white knuckle driving with my eyes glued to the rear view mirrors the whole time!! I was expexting something to fly off or break. This was a hell of a test for the suspension as well. Making frequent stops helped make the drive a little more relaxing, but that wind was horrible! The fires and high winds in Southern California caused tons of issues on the highway as well. Jacked knifed semis, blown over semis, brush fires along the 15, traffic backed up all the way to Victorville, etc., etc... What a drive! Took me 7-hours to get home. Seeing the smoke and fires driving in was a little spooky. Looked like the world was coming to an end! WOW!

So it's home now... crammed in a tiny garage! LOL! At least I can spend time with it and do some planning and thinking. It will be awhile before I can work on it. Have some stuff to do around my place and I need to get creative and get the garage organized so I can actually WALK in my garage!

So, I guess that's it for a little while. I'll keep you guys posted on any progress. Will probably do a lot of sketching more than anything.

Thanks for reading all my aimless typing!

 

sooooo...you going to put a midget nose on it? i am going to go back to staring at the pictures now.

 

Looks really good sitting on the trailer. That's the first good side veiw I've seen. I also never noticed how rounded the body is, did you cut part of the middle out of the car?

I surprized U-Haul knew what it was, I'm always lying to them. ("1965 Alfa Guilia? Who makes that?")

 

"Fivel goes West?" Keep a fire extinguisher handy, and keep up the good work. Outstanding so far...

 

Man I am really lovin that thing! keep the updates coming for all us guys too lazy to get out and do it ourselves!

 

Damn It looks so good out in the daylight. Nice work

 

I was thinking a big red clown nose might be different...

Just a little bit




I sectioned the roof at the top to make sure it flowed. I haven't finished that right side yet. It's amazing how much body strength is in that area also. That door dosn't close right on that side, but on the other side with that top panel in it closes like nothing was ever modified. I need to get that piece in. I grafted pieces in from the middle section that was removed so the curvature would be close and then manipulated it until the shape was right. You can see it in this picture. It still needs work and I need to redo some of that area. Just haven't been focusing on it too much...

 

So it looks like I'm really going to run into some issues with the grille shell placement looking at these two pictures:




Once the correct tie rod is mounted and the front of the frame is modified to clear it, it's going to be pretty tight. I think the closer I get that grille shell to the front axle, the better off I'll be, but I'll have to watch suspension travel carefully.

 

Wow! looks great... im on the lookout for a new project. maybe someday the murray/briggs will be finished. glad that it made the trip home... again. toby.

 

That is one of my favorite current HAMB builds, looks great! I can picture that with a full hood with lots of loovers.

 

I like it!!!!!1

 

Great looking car!!!!!
It kinda looks like the lower radiator hose is gonna be a problem child though.

 

Scoot, the stance on that thing is just killer. I love the wide 5's.

Doc.

 

I think somewhere on all that writing on the door it says BAD MOTHERFUCKER on it!

I'm digging the build!

 

Sweet! Looks kinda like a build i'm screwing around with right now myself



Same concept, different cut-n-welded section.. hehe.

Heres the rest of the gallery on mine:
http://www.panducky.com/Project-Murray_ep_72-1.html

By the way, do you happen to have any lines on spare Murray doors or front cowls, or rear body sections? I have some patch work i need to do, or panel replacement. Ironically enough, i'm doing a Wide5 setup as well for wheels... it looks sharp on yours!

I'm looking forward to seeing how yours turns out

 

John W.
Nice to see someone else going with a Zetec in their rod. I have been working on my roadster for way to long but also have a Zetec/T5 combo in it. I have attached a couple of pics of the engine.

Scooter your rod is going to be sooooo neat!

Rex

 

WOW! Thanks for all the nice words guys! I haven't seen the thread on the HAMB cars. I'll look for it.

Seriously though... the nice words mean a lot. A build like this really consumes a person. It becomes almost a life style all on its own. It has become a part of me and learning new things to make the vision happen NEVER could have happened without the HAMB and the people I've met through the HAMB. I've learned so much here and met some amazing people along the way.

Thanks everyone!

FleaB... That thing is looking good man!! Keep up the good work!! Unfortunately I have no leads on extra Murray or slant window stuff. Finding a visor panel alone was a HUGE undertaking and thankfully another HAMBer (druss32) happen to have what I needed. The slant window stuff is not too easy to come by. I have some rear doors and I'm going to hang on to them until the body is done just in case I need something from them, but they will go up for sale after that otherwise. Wish I could help ya' out. Keep an eye on Ford Barn and the classifieds here. The bay has stuff every now and then too. Good luck bro!

 

glad you got it back safe, car looks bitchen outside with a good profile pic. though im not sure i understand you covering up the realy nice looking beaded fire wall with a generic tacked in looking one? either way glad to see it progress

 

Tim,
The flat firewall you're seeing is an aluminum insert that I will hang all my accesories from like the Hildibrandt oil filter, fuel dist. block, etc. It will be engine turned with 1" swirls.

Glad to have it hom safe too. That trailer was blowing all over the road! Sorta scary!

 

An almost 2 hour conversation and I missed this? Guess I did all the talking. What else is new?

I love it.
I love that it's home.
I'm highly excited and for you of course.

 

Wow Scoot, it is great to finally get a good side view of your car, it looks GREAT! You gotta be excited to see it coming together. Love the quickchange too. I'm happy for ya!
Dan

 

man, great work!!! i love it. it's cool to watch you think. i like that line you said about spening time with it and thinking and planning. that's my favorite part. i spend hours in the garage and don't touch a tool. i just walk around and stare from every angle and think.
i think i'll go do that now

i can't imagine driving in that wind with my toil on a trailer!!
glad you made it!! that took huge ones.

 

Hey! Usually it's ME doing all the talking about drama! I told you I could listen too!! LOL!

DAN THE MAN! We don't talk nearly enough! I need to know how your projects are coming soon or I'm just going to explode!

YES! I'll grab a beer, a sketch pad and a tape measure and just start thinking! There's almost as much thinking about the work as there has been work. But that's just me... overthinking everything! HAHA!

The best part about the drive back with that car was the look on people's faces. That look of "WTF is that!?" It was amusing to see people pull up read the door too. People would actually be passing me showing very little interest and then they realized there was something to read and they would slow up. Was pretty amusing!

 

Hey, I just found this thread. Glad you got it back here safe!!!

 

One of these days, you and I are going to show up at Antidonut with a hemi powered something or 'nother! LOL!

 

God, I hope so!!

 

Great build. One of my favorites.

 

Okay... I'm going to do a quick update in this thread instead of starting a new one since it's mostly mock up stuff and just plain messin' around.

Just rolled it out of the garage and stared at it for awhile. Been fighting with what to do with the rear end of the car. I've got some new ideas on how to handle the gas tank, tail lights, rear shocks, exhaust outlets, and most importantly the lower rear sheet metal. I think I've got it nailed, but I need to start doing some sketches.

Here's some new pictures for you guys.

I really got a sense of how SMALL this thing is today when I rolled it out in the sunlight.






Okay. So here's the tail light collection I need to piece a pair together. They're military lights with a blackout lense. I'm not going for a military scheme or anything, but I liked that they were all business looking and I also liked that they were cast aluminum. They will get stripped and left as a cast finish. The guts are also suspended insided of the buckets, so they are seriously heavy duty.





Here's some mock up play with them. When you look at this, keep in mind that there will be a gas tank just below the rear window. These will probably mount off of the tank brackets.





That will put the center of the red lense at about 22 inches.

 

I also messed around with a shock absorber to get an idea how I wanted to mount it.





This guy seemed interested also...



Or maybe he just thought I had food for him... LOL!

 

Come on man, where are the updates?!?! In about a month or so I'll be rolling Half-Breed outside on its own wheels and chassis for the first time (no matter how much snow is on the ground)...I really hope we'll both be road ready at the same time...now I gotta go back home and make some use of this balmy 20 degree weather today and get some work done, and maybe I'll try and throw some update photos on the forum again soon...later...