As a disembodied voice from somewhere over your left shoulder startles you from your hotrod reverie, sounding eerily like Gary Owens from Laugh In, you hear. “When last we dropped in on our hero, uh, typo. Make that, zero. He, with the help of many willing contributors, was able to get his brakes performing as they should on his Model A.” Greetings All! I should really limit myself to one glass of wine with dinner. The mind is a terrible thing. Thanks again to all who helped with getting my “shoes” adjusted properly and safely. It’s amazing the difference between ten percent shoe contact and close to one hundred. As I mentioned in a previous post, I didn’t build my car but purchased it from the son of a long time member. It was a leap of faith to buy it sight unseen, is that redundant? But I’m very happy with it. It couldn’t have come at a better time. I don’t think anyone had even heard about the “Vid” when I got the car in the early part of the year but it’s been great at keeping me busy doing things within my abilities. Mind you now, these are minor things, not to the scale and scope of the work I see, and envy, that is here on the H.A.M.B. The first thing I had to do was build a partition between the trunk and passenger compartment. There was nothing between the gas tank and the seats. A partition now gives me an additional 3 seconds to escape, maybe, in the event of a rear ender. I had an old highway sign made of 3/16” aluminum laying around, so I used that. I regret not leaving the “Road Closed” lettering on. Next up was a hood. Tried to find one here that was not too far from me but struck out so I ordered one from Rootlieb. I wanted to clear coat the natural metal but when it arrived it had scratches from shipping so I just painted it a light gray. I got two prices locally to have the hotrod black matched and sprayed only on the top. First quote was, “um, between $700.00-$900.00.” The second was, “at least $1100.00.” Maybe I don’t have a full grasp of what’s involved, but that seems like a lot to just paint about 12 square feet of metal that needs no bodywork. I had to move the grille shell forward about an inch and do a bit of massaging but it fits well. Then one day I was looking at the rear license plate just “there”. It looked like it needed a little something. I looked around my garage and shop for inspiration and two things caught my eye. My wife, well three things. The finned aluminum remote oil canister on the car and a finned aluminum valve cover from a ‘62 Corvette that is long gone. I got to sketching and came up with a design for what I thought is unique. Once again I pulled out the remnants of the street sign and set to work. A whole bunch of expletives deleted later and I’m happy with my creation. I noticed that the aluminum center hub of the steering wheel was really oxidized so I thought, I might be able to tune that up. I first cleaned it with a brass wheel on my bench grinder then worked my way from 220 grit paper all the way to 1200 wet and then polishing compound. Unfortunately it looked so good that now the steering wheel looked like doo doo. So....... I stripped the wheel, found a bunch of failed repairs from years gone by, fixed them, made some new ones, painted it and man it looks good. I went to one of our local flea markets during the summer just looking around. Not for anything specific. I picked up a vintage aluminum cased Stanley drill and thought, this would make a great shift handle. So I plunked down ten bucks and headed for my shop. Two days later I had my new shift lever! I’ve got more to share but I’m getting an evil eye from the distaff side of the family so depending on the response (groans and otherwise) to this post, I’ll be back. Not a threat. I apologize for the photos being out of sequence, I don’t know how to reshuffle them to an order. If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for taking the time and be well! Jeff
Very clever, Looks great! I have to get around to installing a gas tank/passenger divider. Right now I can use it as an arm rest on long trips.
I thought i saw a Y-Block; i did i did...eh thi thi eya that's one GR8 ride folks ! Really cool....no cookie cutter here........
Boy, I'd be real tempted to hook up that Stanley switch up to something - maybe a train horn hidden under the car. Lol I think the high prices on the paint was because they just didn't want to do the job. Love the Y-block!!
Just when you thought it was safe to open this thread, I’m baaaaack! First, thanks to all who have or will take the time to comment. Good, bad or indifferent, I do welcome them all. “And now let us return to our regularly scheduled programming. When we left our intrepid hacker, he was trying to come up with a way to hold down his hood without buying something off the shelf.” I searched and searched the internet for ideas to hold down the hood without spending a lot of dollars. I really liked the idea of leather straps but found the ready made offerings waaay too expensive. I was able to get the look I wanted, and all for $92.00 and my labor. I bought four new black leather belts from Ebay, four powder coated footman straps to attach the belts to the frame, and some cap screws from a leather supply store. I used the rod tunnels on the hood sides to anchor the belts with aluminum rod that I drilled and tapped to secure them in place. Next was finding a solution to the excessive heat coming into the car from the engine. Nibbling through a bunch of great on topic posts and armed with information, I put my plan into action. I first removed the seats and thin commercial entry mat that was serving as a floor protector. Then did a thorough cleaning and degreasing of the floor. Not that there was any obvious grease, I just wanted the best surface for the heat/sound deadening to adhere to. Using helpful tips gleaned from posts, I went to the local Home Despot and picked up a few rolls of Peel and Seal. Which by all accounts is very similar to Dynamat but a fraction of the cost. I applied it to the underside of the cowl, the firewall, inside the doors, floor and everywhere else with the exception of the roof. Then I got a close density foam product who’s name escapes me, and applied that over all of the Peel and Seal. I then got a piece of indoor outdoor carpet and installed that. What a difference not only in cabin heat but sound level also. Oh, I still get those great hotrod bumps and bangs but the road noise is significantly less. Now back to the hood. I was using a piece of foam pipe insulation to cushion one side of the hood from the other when opened. The problem was that I could only open one side at a time. So...... I fashioned a couple of hood prop rods that on one end went into the aforementioned hood rod tunnels and the other, rested in a bracket that I fashioned from aluminum stock. No, not the sign this time, but just wait. So now I have these two prop rods and nowhere to store them when not in use. Hmmmn. You guessed it! I reached for the all giving road sign remnant, and it did not fail me. I took pencil to paper and came up with a design for my, “hood prop rod storage thing”. I made a Ford friendly design for the paint scheme and set to work. Mounted in the trunk on my road sign partition, it’s kinda unique. Let’s see now, what can I make next? Thanks again for your time and indulgence. Stay well Jeff
Hah! I’ve actually been trying to figure out a way to do that but can’t figure out yet how to hide the wire. Maybe cut the shift lever in half and hollow it out. Just kidding. Seems a shame to let a good trigger go to waste though.
You'll have to take apart one of these remotes and adapt to your switch, but this might work. https://www.amazon.com/Switch-Wirel...ocphy=9005779&hvtargid=pla-351410254745&psc=1
Dang. You can buy a quart of hot rod black an Air compressor and a decent paint gun for those guys quotes! shouldn't be more than a couple hundred at most to scuff and squirt that hood. If you were local to me I'd shoot it for a 6 pack. Really a sharp looking little car
I went and gathered up all of the rattle cans with descriptions like: Matte, Satin, Flat, Semi Matte, etc., but although one came close, it was off just enough to not use. I kind of like the “work in progress” look of the gray hood.
Thanks for that affirmation Wulf. On any number of occasions my wife has told me that I’ve lost my mind.
Can't beat having a bit of ''time out'' in the garage to tinker on your project.. Please don't get offended by my suggestion re your ''hood support'' rods, and storage of same.. Would it be possible to turn the alloy mounts that you made (on the rad support end) 90 degrees up, and bend the lower end of the rods (@ 90 degrees also), so that they could pivot in the existing hole to fold flat, clipping down when not in use?? Or if the rods can't/won't bend 90 degrees, you could maybe drill and pin them or weld a T for the pivot.. I hope that all makes sense, stay safe, and have a Merry Christmas..
Hi Weedz I never take offense at suggestions. Well, that’s not entirely true. I will take exception to a suggestion to kiss someone’s nether region. Actually, one of my design ideas was just as you suggested but I’m trying to keep the under hood area as uncluttered as possible. Too late now. What would I do with that one off rod containment device? Maybe mount one of those talking fish on it? Your suggestions are most welcome. Be well Jeff