Hot Rods 28 modified build downunder

Hey pete, willo here. Just finally caught up on this whole build. Looks amazing glad to see you've got lots of pics, will come up great in the mag when we put it in he he. Might pick your brain for a few tech articles too. I hope my build comes up as nice as this.

Hope to see you at the show!!

 

Willo,

Glad you like it so far. Progress has been very slow lately. Family issues. Man, it's killing me. So close to summer and I can't get at it. The Picnic is shot for me now and even the Nats are starting to look a bit shakey. I'll catch up with you at the show this weekend, if all goes to plan.

I sent a tech article to Ryan for issue 2. Never heard from him.

Pete

 

Great work and progress, thanks for sharing and please keep it comin' !

Great idea ! Seriously ... is there something that you won't do yourself ?
/ primerkid

 

Must be about time for another update.

 

Very impressive build mate, will certainly be keeping an eye on this one in the future.

 

Very nice work.

 

Thank you for posting all this inspiring material. This is priceless stuff! Good luck with the project. Can't wait to see it completed and crusing.

 

I don't own a sewing machine that will do upholstery. I'm going to get a guy to stitch up some seats for me. I did explore doing that myself too but for a couple of seats it's not worth the trouble.

I have a theory on doing stuff myself. I'm lazy! I cant be bothered chasing around to find the right part so I make one instead (I live in a small town 1hr from Melbourne). I can't be bothered looking for good machinists / mechanics / whatever, and when I send stuff out I'm disappointed more often than not, so I do it myself. At least when I fuck something up I fuck it up for free!

Update soon...

Just finished plumbing the brakes, in the middle of assembling the shoes etc and nearly time to get back into that Muncie. I've just got the new slider from the US that I've been waiting for. Getting back on track. Should be a roller soon.

Pete

 

Love this build!
Such great inspiration.

Norton

 

More updates....

 

thanks for the tank info, very neat

 

It's been a while. We are on the better side of the health issues at home and I seem to be getting back in the shed a bit. Missed my deadline of the Picnic last weekend but maybe I'll make the Kustom Nats. Fingers crossed. I've been doing a bit of fiddly stuff so progress is slow. Here's where I'm at:

I have a horn



I have been plumbing the brakes. I've done a couple of cars before but this took a lot longer than I would usually spend











Also rebuilt the brakes. Not that there's much to rebuilding Lockheed brakes. New cylinders, relined shoes, clean everything up and away you go









Also glass bead blasted my Buick drums. They came up real nice



I had a problem with my steering arm blocking access to the grease nipple on the RHS spindle. I asked some advice from you guys. The fix was probably quicker than the time I spent asking. Block off the original hole, drill and tap another and use a needle file to cut a new groove in the bush for the grease to travel through.

The problem



The fix



Hopefully getting some new rear tyres this week so I can sit it on the ground. I also need some rear wheel studs that I'm hoping VAPHEAD is sending (you reading this Eric?)

More soon
Pete

 

It's the fiddly stuff that takes the most time.

Keep at it.

 

Thanks mate. The big stuff took a while too!

I've been looking forward to this part of the build for a long time because it's where you get to make it all look good. But I'm torn now because I just want it finished. I don't want to rush it too much and not enjoy it.

I just wish I was at this stage in the middle of winter.

 

I just read this thread so fricken sweet i love your work and thanks for showing it to us all.
Rob

 

Coming along real nice, Look forward to the next instalment

 

No one can see the little stuff like they see the big stuff.

It can look like a car for ages but still need a million things done and when they next look at it they wonder what the hell you have been doing all that time in the shed.

 

Lookin real good Pete...you'll have her at Phillip Island - just keep at it mate !

Rat

 

Looking good dont be tempted to rush it.

 

It takes all my patience to be nice to people who come in my shed and ask what I've been doing for the last ??weeks or months. I start to explain and then usually just say something like, "Well, I just don't get that much time out here" as a way of killing the conversation.

If they don't know, you can't tell them.

 

Brake line work looks fantastic.

I've got that job coming up soon on my 30 A sedan and not looking forward to it as I'm not known for my patience. You've set the bar pretty high.

 

Any progress?

 

This project is so cool! Look forward to more updates.

 

I know that feeling, you put paint on a car and people think its all done, they don't realise all the little stuff that can take weeks to do. My advice - dont rush it and do it properly first time because you never go back and fix it once you start driving it.

 

Ok Pete it's update time...

 

My thoughts exactly. I'll have some pics tomorrow. Today and yesterday I painted my grill shell, headlights and misc stuff. Tomorrow it's the body and doors.

The chassis is a roller, brakes plumbed, new Firestones on the back.

Funny thing with the paint. I got a batch of lacquer mixed for the backyard paint job. I always intended a low sheen paint job. Not really sure why. Probably because I never intended spending much time on body work on this car. I like a straight body and I can do it, I just thought the time to get it schmick wasn't justified. It's not that kind of car.

Anyway, I mixed some flattener in and shot the grill shell. Colour needed some tweeking and more flattener. Shot it again and really liked it. It's glossy but not mirror shine. Like it's a few years old. I think I'm going to go with it.

Only thing I'm nervous about is changing my plan this late in the build.

Ah well, gloss is the new matte anyway.

Tomorrow, I promise!

Pete

 

By the way Binga, those drums slid straight on...no machining. I had to machine one hub as mentioned a while back and I machined my studs to make a nice fit and on they went.

 

Probably worth mentioning on this thread even though I did a separate one at the time is lapping my hubs and axles. I used valve lapping paste to match my hubs to my axles and remove some moderate pitting from the tapers.

The pics show a before and after of the axle tapers. I actually went back after these shots were taken and gave them another go with cutting compound just to get a finer finish. In the end, I slid the hubs on and could not pull them off by hand. It works well.


Before


After

I also got some studs from Eric at Riley Automotive for my rear hubs. I used Dorman 610-120 studs and machined them slightly as shown so my aftermarket drums can slide on and fit like a glove.



See ya tomorrow

Pete

 

I'm glad they worked out for you

 

OK, I promised. It was tight because instead of heading out to the shed first thing this morning I found myself at the movies with my boys.

I got there in the end. I only got one coat on the body today but I have pics 'cause I said I would. Hopefully I'll have better ones tomorrow.

A couple of weeks back I painted my firewall...cream of course



And earlier in the week I painted all the little parts that needed to be body colour

Here's a few



And today I got a couple of coats on the inside and just one on the outside of the body. This colour is probably more accurate than the shot of the grill and lights



What a pain in the arse it is trying to paint up under the dash etc. I did all that first and now I can just concentrate on getting a good finish on the outside. I don't really care about getting overspray on the inside.

I'm pretty happy so far...except for a big sag on the dash...but isn't acrylic lacquer a wonderful thing?

Pete