Projects 1952 Muntz Jet Build, from a beginner

Very cool. I’m betting you saw this one. Took this picture at Pebble Beach 2017.

 

I saw that at NSRA Bakersfield last year. Awesome piece of history.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

That is the Kurtis that Arlen Kurtis drove while going to college. I imagine the fellow driving it was his son, Chris.

 

Happy birthday to you, man.
long time no news, how is your car coming along?

 

Thanks!

Life has been busy but the car is, unfortunately, coming along slowly - as per usual. I’m currently bogged down with some maintenance and repair items on the rest of the fleet so haven’t had a ton of time to dedicate to the Muntz. I’ll try to get some pictures and put a post together in the not too distant future.

 

What have I been up to on the Muntz? Well, given the amount of time since the last post, not as much as I’d have hoped. The engine has been in and out and in and out of the car more times than I can count in an effort to get the positioning, fore/aft angle and clocking correct; or at least as correct as I can make it without laser scanning the existing cross member and having the whole thing custom machined. I’m only as good as my digital angle reader and calipers. Motor mounts have now been welded in place. Once the weather clears up a bit, and I can roll the empty shell of the car out of the garage without fear of it getting filled with rain water, I’ll put those mounts to the test and see how I did. Fingers crossed on this one but I’m assuming it’ll work since I tried it already when the mounts were just tacked in place. Still have to finish smoothing it out and painting it up so it looks pretty.

I also cut out the bottom of the trunk, dropped it about 9 inches and made it horizontal to the ground. Why? The previous owner had welded the trunk floor at about a 15 degree angle sloping downward toward the back. I looked for solutions on how to mount a gas tank on the underside of a sloped surface. I couldn’t find anything that worked with the dimensions I needed. Either the angle was off or it was too wide to fit between the rear frame rails. I considered a custom tank built to the trunk angle, but the simpler solution of cutting the trunk floor out proved to be way too tempting. I then fab’d up a open top box, welded and bolted it all together, and dropped it into the freshly cut trunk floor hole. Fit pretty good and the tank fits right in it as well. It’s a 17 gallon tank, and gas weighs something like 6 lbs per gallon, so I’m just over 100# on a full tank. Add some factor of safety for sloshing and this box should be plenty strong. I’ll eventually put a lid or straps or something over the tank to help hold it in place and keep it from flying out in an accident. A project for a future time.



The flu going around hasn’t relieved me of my obligation to work full time so I don’t have a bunch of extra time on my hands to plink around in the garage. Despite of that I decided I should do some panel shaping as an extra-curricular project - because why not add more things to do. You can’t be a jack of all trades and master of none if you don’t keep adding to the repertoire. I decided making up some inner fenders for the Muntz would be an interesting first project. I bought a cheap planishing hammer off the line and got to work on some 0.050” sheets of aluminum. So far I’m just getting the hang of banging them into compound contours and matching those contours up with other panels. I decide not to do full length panels since I’m somewhat limited on the size I can do with the hammer. I figure to join them I’ll do some lap joints and rivet them all together. I’m thinking maybe it’ll look a little 50’s jet age with all the solid rivets holding it together - or maybe it’ll look dumb - who knows till I try it. So far the panels are just rough shaped and not smoothed yet.



So that’s it in a nutshell for the Muntz. I always hope to work on it more but supporting and maintaining my fleet of non-HAMB cars and my 100 year old house tends to take some of the attention away. I always hope to have another update soon.

 

Great

 

That is really coming out nice! You're doing a phenomenal job.
I did find two correct taillight lenses for you (yes, they are as rare as hen's teeth). I have only one front (clear) lens, but I'll try and find another one for you somehow, somewhere. The housings are available aftermarket, but will require a small amount of modifications. I'll fill you in on that stuff, when you get to that point. KEEP GOING!

 

How are you set for seat parts? I have some front seat pieces I will not be using.

 

Happy birthday again, fellow! how is life going? any progress on the Muntz? would be cool to see it running.

Cheers, Carsten

 

What a find. I have admired the Muntz the first time I seen one. I would love to had found some thing like your treasure. The only other one off would be the Maverick. Good luck.

 

swi66 posted several shots of Muntz cars in here maybe 4-5 pages back https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-1046

 

I really should make sure and check the H.A.M.B. more often! Not sure why it didn’t alert me to comments on this thread - I’ll have to look into that. Anyways - thanks for the birthday wishes.

Like always, the Muntz is going slow. I picked up a 1965 Morgan plus 4 mid last year and a 1965 Volvo 122 race car about a month ago. Getting those prepped and ready for the sunny months has been keeping me busy as of late.

For those keeping score on the Muntz - I’m still doing some metal work on the firewall and inner fenders. Also did some work building a transmission tunnel. The transmission tunnel isn’t too pretty but I figure it’s all going to get covered in sound deadening and carpet anyhow.




The plan, as of now, is to get the brakes plumbed. I got the hard lines all shaped and bent up - just need to get the flex hoses and fittings figured out. Once I get those I’ll complete the system. Also need to find some spots in the firewall to poke some engine systems and wiring through. I’m sure I’ll spend way more time thinking of where to put those holes than actually making them. So goes it.

 

looks really good, and by the way, your other projects don't sound bad either. keep on, the Muntz will be a killer when it's done, i'm sure about that.