Thanks so much guys. My gal has been walking around calling the car sinister since I let her read the thread. lol Nothing of picture merit over the weekend. Trimmed the body a bit and put some think time into body mounts among other things. Rolled it out of the garage and stared at it a good while to see what I want to tweak with stance, and headlight location. Overall I'm damn happy how it's turning out and can see it growing some personality for sure.
Sunday update time. Big score for the project! After a few weeks of busting my hump in this heat I decided to slow down a bit, continue mocking up, plan, and take the car in a little mentally now that the body is on. I believe I've done all the trimming on the body and have it back as far as I can to square up the wheels. I'll fill this in once I remove the body. With the body in position the next fun was to mock up some other stuff so I could actually sit in it. The A column fits pretty well but the pedals need some work. I wish I could use the old wood but it's no biggie. Since it was nice out yesterday I thought I would clamp the headlights in position and take some glamor shots. And of course sit in it for a few because it feels like a hot rod now. lol I think I might go with A lights. My T lights are early 26 with two mounting bolts. I guess they are rare so I don't want to cut them. I also think the A lights will look a touch more aggressive.
Did you run into any problems w the a pedals. On my build which is a 27 touring on 31 a chassis, my brake pedal worked just fine but the clutch pedal I had to heat and bend a bunch to keep it from fouling on the firewall. Also my a column actually lined up well and I modified the t dash/column mount to work with it.
Clutch pedal needs work for sure and I need to extend the throttle up a bit. The column is almost center. I need to make a small spacer at the box then I will modify the factory mount like you. I thought about just clamping it over when I mount it but I can see it twist the frame and would rather not introduce the stress.
Do you have a build thread on the touring? I love tubs and would like to follow along with your build, too.
Unfortunately no build thread. I may go back and do one later. I've spent my time working on it trying to get it ready for trog rather than being online. There are some pictures sporadically posted at various stages. Now back to this build.
Yeah the wheels and stance are perfect. One of the best T's I've seen, you nailed it! Also, what is that color used on the wheels? Is it a rattle can color? I like it.
Just a thought on removing the "new" layer of paint- you could try some razor blades, the type that go in a razor scraper and scrape the paint off. Hold the blade almost perpendicular to the surface between both thumbs and index fingers and drag the blade towards you. Work on an area to get most of the paint off, then change the path of your scraping 90 degrees as you approach the original layer of paint. Also, use the tips of your fingers to gauge how hard you`re pressing the blade into the paint. You`ll get a feel for the technique in about half a minute.It might be wise to slightly round over the sharp corners at each end of the cutting edge with a file to prevent digging in too far. I think you`ll find that this method is way more controllable than wetsanding since the surface is dry and you`re not hiding what you`re removing under a sanding block. Maybe when you get 98% of the paint off, then finish up with the sanding block. Hard to say how long your blades will stay sharp since I think some of the old paints contained clay or maybe even pumice which will dull an edge pretty quickly but a good oilstone will sharpen your blade pretty quickly. Back before the advent of sandpaper, the way furniture builders got a smooth finish was with scrapers. Hope this helps.
Thanks man. The color is vintage dark copper from good old rustoleum. Thanks for the tip. To be honest I'm afraid to scrape it. The original paint is so soft I can push a finger nail into it! For now I plan to sand it smooth and do an in between polish so everything blends in. Update. Elza sitting in her new garage. Thanks for digging the car, guys. Seriously. The attention it has been getting has me a bit beside myself when I compare it to other builds I see. For people to say it's on a list of faves blows me away. It's been a bit slow over the winter and life in the way again, but it's all good stuff. The gal and I bought a neat little 40's bungalow so I've spent the last couple months moving and getting sorted. It's a great little house and I now have a garage that's all mine. Taking advantage of a couple warm days I was able to set up everything so I can start working. Notice the cool old workbench left with the garage. It's got to be over 50 years old! That's about it for now.. sitting here itching for warm weather and hoping I'll have the new space heated for next winter.
Glad to hear life is good. I remember when I first read your thread and saw the little T I thought to myself that it was too nice to rod out but you proved me wrong, way wrong. You have given it a second life that it wouldn't of had if it was left a lone. Very nice job and congrats on a win, win. Dig the garage, they belong together.
Thanks so much for the kind words and I'm glad you see the car the way I do. I'm doing my best to be patient but I'm quite antsy to get it done. Update. As spring is springing I've been sorting all my tools, getting the garage set up to work, and putting some serious think time for the rest of the build. Garage all set up with lights installed. Spent today mocking up a real nice set of A headlights I scored. The car is telling me to move them forward and down a bit. To do this I'll need to put frame horns on it... I'll look at it for a few days to decide. Mock up is just about done. I'll have the body off pretty soon to button up the chassis, paint and start assembly.
With the new garage functional I'm back at it. A bit of one man body removal to work on the chassis. I have this step down to about an hour taking my time. The last major fab project is the drive shaft and wishbone to match the 3 inches I cut out of the frame. Marking my cuts with primer and a handy hose clamp as a guide. So far so good. After file fitting the halves and chamfer. With some angle iron tacked to one half I set it back in to check the radius rod mount alignment. I didn't snap pics during welding. Sometimes I get in a zone and this was a crucial step. After a bunch of small welds with cool time in between it appears pretty darn straight and fits quite nice. Next up, radius rods and the driveshaft.
Since the weather has been better I've been on a mission as of late. Whipped up some tabs to mount the body. Then I stripped all the grey primer for some fresh red oxide. As of today we now have a few coats of paint! And a bonus pic courtesy of my girl last week.
Cruisin right along. Tweaking the rear stance a bit. Still makes me nervous. Added horns back to the frame to mount the headlights where I want them and painted. Painted and prepped front end bits. And now to hang some parts! Pretty boring stuff but, it's huge progress considering all the life hurdles I've been through as of late.