Projects Progress on Rocky's 34 coupe..last update 9/30/2020

I finally got some time to play with my coupe this evening. I removed the cheesy wood header panel above the windshield. Man, I hated that ugly thing. It was just a stop gap measure to get me to the HAMB drags last summer. A buddy of mine gave me a nice header panel from his 33, 3 window. He street rodded his car and I got a bunch of his cast off parts for my car. The header panel was almost perfect! I had to do a little trimming on both sides to get it to fit my car. Now I'm giving in to my OCD in choosing the exact right screws to mount the panel.

 

When I parked the car after the last ride in it the engine was running really rich. I popped the carb off and took the top off.....removed the needles and seats to find some weird shit in the carb. The little mini-logs had somehow gotten around the carb inlet filter and lodged between one of the needle and seats. The other shit was in the inlet screen. I cleaned everything up and reassembled. Didn't try it but I'm sure I got all the crap out. There...all nice and clean again....I'd forgotten how much I enjoy working on this car!

 

Rocky,

I can't tell what those bits are. Are they rubber?

I ask because a friend had a similar problem. Not that it matters, but this was in a 460 in a '56 F-100. It kept flooding. Turns out that the insides of the rubber fuel line was disintegrating and causing tiny rubber chunks to get lodged in the needle seats. This was many years ago when ethanol was first being added to gasoline. He changed out all the rubber hoses to the kind that ethanol doesn't affect and all became well.

 

Mike...this junk was not rubber. It was like cardboard and bondo dust. I'm not too worried as this is after about 3000 miles on a new build. All parts in the fuel system were new and the crud in the photos is probably an accumulation of dust and dirt of parts sitting in the body shop for several years before getting used.
All rubber pars are new and the only time any ethanol was used was the first 700-800 miles to Joplin, Mo and back home for the HAMB drags.

 

Those "mini-logs" look like the pine needles I found once; but mine were in the filter.

 

Pine needles is more like they find in the great white north. Around here we're more likely to find corn kernels.

 

Hmmmm...I have a spruce tree in front of the house. Maybe..........

 

Got my new windshield header de-rusted, cleaned, drilled for switches and lights and found a few dents I missed before paint...damn! Well, when the epoxy primer dries a little more I'll carefully work them out.
My brother sent me my Dads old navy belt buckle from WWII. I get pissed off every time I look at my present horn button with it's chevy emblem so I drilled out the rivets that held the navy insignia to the buckle...It's gonna look great as my new horn button and I'll think of the 'ol man every time I see it.

 

Looks great

 

That will make a great horn button!

 

I like the USN button. Bet Dad would be happy.

 

That horn button will be way too cool.

 

Yes unique and a personal touch.

 

Yeah, my dad, his big brother and their dad were all in at the same time. I hesitate to even mention the other keepsakes he brought home from the war. This Iron cross was taken off a German prisoner. Got his belt and buckle too. I was trying to come up with a good place for it on my coupe but decided it was best left in my drawer. People wouldn't understand it's was no more than a gift from my father.

 

Meanwhile somewhere in the mother land there's a fellow HAMBer wishing he had that in his horn button.

 

Header panel paint dried and I reassembled it with it's switches, indicator lights and a few ancillary warning tags from back in my truck mechanic days. This is a 33 panel in a 34 cowl so it has some extra holes that weren't needed. I could have welded them up but this piece was only 20 gauge and it had 84 years of rust pits on the back side making the metal even thinner...was easier to cover the holes. I felt these were cooler than old rod run dash plaques anyway.

 

^^^^^Cool!

 

Yeah that’s rad man.

 

well done! Looks great, love the plaques.

 

Is that a little dash light next to the clutch plaque?

 

Yeah, Tim...it's to illuminate the toggle switches in the dark. I'm using another one for a license plate light.

 

Cool, I’ve always liked those. Does it push/slide in to shut off or does it have a separate switch?

 

Separate switch up on the header panel.....uh-oh. It just hit me. I have to switch on the light with the toggle switch to illuminate the toggle switches so I can see them to turn them on...oops!
Oh well...it looks cool.

 

Haha. Paint it with glow in the dark paint?

For some reason I always like those kinds of lights. See them in all sorts of variations, sometimes they’ve got a jewel shape to the lense as well.

Anyhow, the new header looks great. Much cooler than the previous version. Looking forward to seeing the car get tweaked and worn in as the years go by.

 

Ok, I finally got the re-wire done on my new header panel and finally got it installed. I like it a lot better than the hokey ass hunk of wood that was there before. And I also got my interior light rewired correctly and working. It's supposedly from a 48 Plymouth.

 

As always I incorporated an indicator light that goes on when the brake lights are actuated..lets me know my brake lights are working. It's a super bright led and shines all over the place!

 

Cool!

 

Before I reinstalled my inside mirror I wanted to spice it up a bit. I thought my HAMB key fob would be better used on my car than sitting in a drawer. Cleaned and painted the mirror bracket with hammertone paint and painted the HAMB logo black after removing the eyelet. DA'd the front after paint dried, shot a couple coats of clear on it and JB welded it to the back side of the original 33 ford bracket...I like it but with my windshield tinted so dark, it's kinda hard to see and harder to photograph. It's just a little thing but..........Behold