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1951 Kaiser Drag'n build

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by NTAPHSE, Jun 13, 2008.

  1. bonez
    Joined: Jul 16, 2007
    Posts: 3,487

    bonez
    Member
    from Slow lane

    i see, great. it sucks about the leaks thou, i hate it when its all tight in place and you have to flush water/oil/whatever, untight, drop, "fix" and then maybe allover again.
     
  2. glassguy
    Joined: Feb 12, 2003
    Posts: 2,261

    glassguy
    Member

    man i just cant wait to see the chrome wheels up on her!!!!
     
  3. NTAPHSE
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 1,028

    NTAPHSE
    Member

    Yeah man its annoying but better to fix it now than let it make a mess. I got another transmission pan from a friend last night and took the front of the engine apart and put in a new water pump seal. Still not 100% sure that the seal went in right but the only way to tell is to put it back together and run it and check for leaks. I get faster each time I do the job though. :) I'm really hating the LT1 right now with all the wiring and plumbing and now the leaks due to the weird distributor/water pump setup on this engine. I swear, the next car will have a traditional carbed engine and manual transmission with minimal wiring and plumbing!
     
  4. Nothing wrong with that idea^^^. Aside from the coolness factor, traditional engines are actually a joy to work on... that is when you compare it to the electrical side of modern engines. just my opinion of course. Cool to see this beaut run though, cheers!
     
  5. Thirdyfivepickup
    Joined: Nov 5, 2002
    Posts: 6,093

    Thirdyfivepickup
    Member

    that first fireup is nerve racking but worth awesome!!
     
  6. daddio211
    Joined: Aug 26, 2008
    Posts: 6,012

    daddio211
    Member

    It's not too late for a carb... several companies make intakes to adapt the LT1 to use a carb. I can't say I'd do it, but it's an option.
     
  7. NTAPHSE
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 1,028

    NTAPHSE
    Member

    daddio that's true but I'm not turning back at this point. There was also a company making an aluminum intake manifold once upon a time that you could use to bolt a roots style blower off a Ford Lightning onto an LT1.

    It looks like the leaks are fixed, and I started installing the headlight rings last night. Need to get some hardware and make gaskets.
     
  8. daddio211
    Joined: Aug 26, 2008
    Posts: 6,012

    daddio211
    Member

    I don't blame ya. I'm not a big fan of FI but its in there, the heads were designed to run with it, and most importantly IT RUNS! If it runs, don't screw with it!

    Car is looking killer man! Hope to see it when come down to Scottsdale in November!
     
  9. robleticia
    Joined: Oct 15, 2007
    Posts: 2,496

    robleticia
    Member

    It's alive!!!! Congrats!
     
  10. Pingar
    Joined: Oct 19, 2009
    Posts: 65

    Pingar


    I don't think any of us blame you on that statement..and if the next one looks anything like this one. We will all be glued to that build thread too. Keep it up.
     
  11. bigfive
    Joined: Oct 3, 2003
    Posts: 648

    bigfive
    Member
    from south L.A.

    mad respect for drag'n shop. they get down. i'm feelin it
     
  12. buick47
    Joined: Apr 30, 2011
    Posts: 10

    buick47
    Member
    from bc

    hey when you weld up your front doors square and stop them from twisting
     
  13. LN7 NUT
    Joined: Sep 9, 2010
    Posts: 2,165

    LN7 NUT
    Member

    What are you talking about?
     
  14. buick47
    Joined: Apr 30, 2011
    Posts: 10

    buick47
    Member
    from bc

    sorry about that ,key board on the fritz
    when you welded up the front doors how did you keep them square and stop them from twisting?
     
  15. NTAPHSE
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 1,028

    NTAPHSE
    Member

    The first door I just lined up on the work bench and tacked, and it did twist so I had to cut it apart. Then I took 1/2" square tube and ran it inside the doors, and also installed the hinge and latch sides of the door and aligned them before tacking in the filler piece. That seemed to do the trick.
     
  16. NTAPHSE
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 1,028

    NTAPHSE
    Member

    Got the headlight rings installed. Still not completely satisfied with the gaskets so I might redo them.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  17. NTAPHSE
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 1,028

    NTAPHSE
    Member

    I also started working on the side glass. The tracks are not aligned with the window frames since the chop. Here is a picture showing the misalignment.

    [​IMG]

    To correct the alignment I drilled out the spot welds on the top and bottom brackets. Then I used one screw in the center of the top bracket so the track could pivot and I could find the angle that it needs to be at.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I installed the lower bracket in the door and am making a sheetmetal extension to attach the bracket to the track at the correct angle. I think I will use self tapping screws to hold this together in case it needs adjustment. The parts might move when I weld them and I don't want the glass to bind.

    I used .25 x 1.00 CRS flat stock inside the window channel to make sure it lined up.

    [​IMG]
     
  18. NTAPHSE
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 1,028

    NTAPHSE
    Member

    Nice and straight. From here I will make the windows out of 1/4" MDF so I can set the front track and make some mounts. The MDF will also serve as a template for the glass shop.

    [​IMG]
     
  19. NTAPHSE
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 1,028

    NTAPHSE
    Member

    As soon as I went to remove the window tracks I realized I had made a big mistake by painting over the screws. They should have been removed for paint. They were really not serviceable and would look worse and worse every time you touched them with a screw driver. Also, there are 60 year old Phillips screws that are somewhat boogered up, so I chose to replace them Flush Head Cap Screws. The #12-24 screws that hold the window tracks were hard to find but I ended up sourcing them from McMaster Carr. I had to settle for Black Oxide though I would have preferred stainless. I will be carefully swapping all the hardware in these pics so I will be able to make adjustments to the hinges and latches in the future. I don't trust the tightness of the Phillips screws to hold panel alignment over time.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2011
  20. Nice to see some progress. The small details are really going to set this car apart from others.
     
  21. IAVWGUY
    Joined: Nov 19, 2010
    Posts: 110

    IAVWGUY
    Member

    Cool ride. I had a 51 Kaiser only wished it would have looked half as bitchen.
     
  22. Lovely! Keep the pictures coming please. I could get lost in that paint.
     
  23. grovedawg
    Joined: Oct 20, 2009
    Posts: 451

    grovedawg
    Member
    from Heber, UT

    Like many before me I just found your thread and read it start to finish. I know I'm late to the game but I've subscribed. I love the Drag'n and can't wait to see her finished. Keep up the motivation and the great work! Grover
     
  24. gassercrazy41
    Joined: Jan 9, 2011
    Posts: 1,432

    gassercrazy41
    Member

  25. Joe T Creep
    Joined: Jan 1, 2003
    Posts: 1,145

    Joe T Creep
    Member Emeritus

    wow..............just wow...
     
  26. NTAPHSE
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 1,028

    NTAPHSE
    Member

    I'm burned out on the side windows so Kaiser Larry is coming over tonight and we are going to install the back glass. He found me a mint piece of glass and I have new reproduction rubber and some freshly polished stainless to go in. I need to have a small victory after fighting the side windows for a few weeks, its a real motivation killer. Pics to follow.
     
  27. Church
    Joined: Nov 15, 2002
    Posts: 2,839

    Church
    Member
    from South Bay

    Sooooo bad ass!!!
     
  28. telekinetic
    Joined: Dec 19, 2007
    Posts: 4

    telekinetic
    Member
    from Phoenix AZ

    Have you thought about making some white powder coated truss head machine screws?

    The easy way is take a piece of scrap sheet metal, drill holes in it, screw the screws all the way through it, and then spray the heads...that way you just hang the pan and it gets all the screws at once, and if the sheet is big enough you don't have to mask the threads. It's durable enough that it would hold up to a few installs and deinstalls without getting jacked up...way better than paint, anyways.
     
  29. NTAPHSE
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 1,028

    NTAPHSE
    Member

    I took a break from the car to help a friend who has helped me a lot with this build. He has a 65 Caddy with the original engine in it, and when he went to swap the water pump it all went to hell. We pulled the engine and he is going to make the repairs and freshen it up before we put it back in.

    It's a pretty sweet cruiser.

    [​IMG]

    I got the back window in too, using a mint piece of glass from Kaiser Larry, some reproduction rubber and stainless that was polished by Josh. It's soooo nice to put fresh parts on the car. No dirt or rust to contend with!

    [​IMG]

    This has been in my head for so long, it was nice to see it in real life. Check out the paint flowing in through the back window onto the package tray that will wrap around the rear Thunderbird seats.

    From the inside. Gene painted the package tray in the room next to the booth, and somehow it matches...

    [​IMG]
     
  30. NTAPHSE
    Joined: Feb 5, 2006
    Posts: 1,028

    NTAPHSE
    Member

    I carefully drilled and riveted new felt to the stainless around the side windows.

    [​IMG]

    Here's all the stainless installed on the drivers door with an MDF window for mockup. I'm still messing with the tracks, regulator (heavily reworked) and inside pot metal molding. I have three weeks into making this one window work.

    [​IMG]

    And a treasure I found at Kaiser Larry's when I was getting my glass. He told me that Kaiser used to issue these with the cars and guys would have little brass name tags made and rivet them on. I'm going to do one better, and scan in the font and recreate it so I can CNC my name in there. Then I'll ship it to Josh so he can work his magic. I think it will fit perfectly on the ash tray right in the middle of the dash.

    [​IMG]

    Here's the chrome trim that goes around the package tray. These are modified Thunderbird parts.

    [​IMG]

    I need to score a few of these threaded clips and two of the plates that join the pieces together if anyone has them. If not I will make them.

    [​IMG]
     

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