Projects 1934 3 window HighBoy Build Begins

So have we smelled smoke yet George? Don't keep us in suspense!

 

Dan,
Saturday: Crank, crank, crank.......NOTHING . Hmmm, let's see, plug wires correct?, CHECK, Timing Correct? Check. Well, there isn't any fuel in the plenum. BONE Dry. Call a fellow at Holley and he says we need to do "X".

Yep, without training the Throttle Postion Sensor, it will not give you any fuel as it doesn't know where to begin. All cool , 30 seconds to fix. We can see success by viewing past the butterfly. We think we are ready to go.

Crank, crank, crank..."NUTTIN HONEY!" We have fuel but our spark isn't getting there when our engine is wanting it. What the heck??? Oh...you have to sync the distributor to number one TDC ( top dead center). That makes sense. And after you do that, you have to tell the off topic brain where to start thinking. I'm confused. WHAT HAPPENED TO ADDING A COUPLE OF WIRES AND YOU ARE READY TO RUN? PLUG and Play. Not.

Well,.... We gave up as there were too many other things to do and we needed to find knowledgeable help.

Sunday: While looking for an "off topic" expert. I end up on the Off Topic forum and get a fellows name that writes tech articles on fuel injection. I find his telephone via the internet and give him a call. What a nice guy....happy to help ...he starts slinging questions at me faster than I can write them down. Whoa!...slow down a minute please. WHAT?... What do you mean I have to set up this and that parameters? The companies web site says this thing is easy and ready to go? A big har de har har. OK, well, we have to get this running so I will read all the tech articles this afternoon and get a good understanding. I also forward the links for the tech articles to Josh. We are feeling pretty good this morning. IE: We understand what we need to do in order to get her running.

Mid Morning today: Josh has completed all the things on the list and once again "Nuttin Honey". Argh!

Our new found best friend and long distance consultant gets on line with Josh and is going through everything one step at a time. Check, check, uh hmmm, check. Such and such, NOPE?....nothing on Josh's screen that even remotely looks like that?... How about such and such? ...Hmmmmm, ...nope.

Well what do you know ...our software revision is about 2 years out of date. Josh is down loading the latest code from the suppliers website as I write this.

He believes that there is sunshine at the end of this tunnel . Still hope to be smelling smoke soon. Will advise soonest.

Regards,
George

 

There is some good news amongst all the getting her started heart ache. The build is complete with the exception of sun visors , carpet, bolting the seat down and hanging the completed doors.

Carpet and visors are scheduled for in the morning and we still have plenty of time after that to bolt the seat in and hang the doors.

So here we are at the 11th hour hoping to get her running by this week end. The aluminum interior panels turned out awesome and I can't be any more pleased.

The coupe is beautiful!

Regards,
George

 

Dang George, sorry to hear about the EFI troubles but I'm sure you'll get it figured out soon enough. That stuff can be confusing at first but its the greatest thing since sliced bread once you figure it out.



Deron

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Deron,
Thanks...sorry, I thought it was your pop.
George

 

Crossing my fingers for ya.

 

Thank you Loudbang,
I think we're going to need a little good luck. smile. The coupe gets delivered to the upholstery shop this morning. They need to get er' done as we have it scheduled for "The Carburetor Shop" in Denver Thursday morning. Hopefully Jay will be able to find what the issue is.

In the mean time, Josh had to break away from the "get her running" activity to finish up assembly before this mornings carpet installation. He had help from Rex in hanging the deck lid and the rear of the coupe is looking awesome. I don't remember where or who on the H.A.M.B. that I copied the 37 Ford Deck Lid idea from. But, thank you just the same. I like the v-8 detail that is stamped in the stainless housing.
I have added pictures below.

Rex has been trying to keep everything scheduled and moving forward while he pitches in and helps in making things happen. He and Roy fought the Limelight turn signal, as it wasn't behaving properly. It had an internal shorting issue that was fixed with a short piece of shrink tubing. This was a huge last minute diversion that was a PITA and took hours to resolve.
They also needed a 3 prong flasher with a ground wire which I found at the NAPA warehouse in Commerce City. It was the only one in Denver, so I will be ordering up a spare for the future.

What else,....if you will look at the picture of the rear interior you will see an oval shaped control panel. This was another last minute gotcha. We were not going to utilize it and therefore had not accommodated a mounting location. After wiring in the blue tooth amp/ receiver, it was determined this had to be used for the "tunes" to work. This seemed like as good as a place as any. It's accessible and yet out of sight after the seat is installed.

I am not sleeping much. We have a week to go and the not running yet is a real nightmare.
My heroes are the Custom Auto team that is thrashing to make this happen.

Thank you guys!

Regards,
George

P.S. There is a nice battery box cover. I'll get the picture from Josh and post.

 

...1937 Ford deck lid handle and completed battery box pictures. The wiring pigtail is for the seats power requirements.
Regards,
George

 

Well, What can I say about getting her running? First of all, order the right thing! Due to just not knowing any better, we had ordered a Joe Hunt Disty that was not meant for EFI. When you use the ballast resistor to prevent burning up the Hunt internal coil, you drop your voltage too low. If we are going to succeed, we need to either order a specifically built for EFI Joe Hunt or utilize another manufacturers disty. This is what we have had to do in order to be running for the show next week. Hunt doesn't stock what we need immediately, so I ordered an MSD No. 8389 with 12 volt square wave. This will drop right in my 392 Hemi and the only thing we will have to do differently is add a coil. This coil will be the MSD 8202 blaster. I also had to order a new set of plug wires as we cut the first ones for clean routing to the front of the Hunt disty cap and now they are a little too short. argh! You just have to laugh. Anyway...can you say EGG ON OUR FACES? So, the coupe is in the upholstery shop and the new parts are on the way for delivery tomorrow.
We still have work to do , but are feeling better about what we have learned this morning. If all goes well, we will still be running in time!


Regards,
George

 

Go man, GO!

 

I know that is does not help with the time frame that you are trying to make but you should be able to send your Joe Hunt distributor back to have the tach signal installed for your computer EFI hook up.

 

Bobby_Socks,
Yes , They will take back and rework. The internal coil also comes out and you go from a 3 wire to a 5 wire unit. That's plus and minus 12 volts in , as well as plus and minus 12 volts to the external coil and a single wire for the EFI harness.

I really , really like the mag look and will have to update after the show.


Just need her running. smile
George

 

You may be better off without that Joe Hunt dist. HAMB has several threads about how unreliable they are.
I thought I wnated one for it's appearance of being a magneto, but decided against it because it had no vacuum advance and I'm building a driver. Doubt it'll ever be in any show more elaborate than local weekend cruise ins and gas milage and drivability are much better with vacuum advance.
So I didn't order one, and now with all the reports about unreliability, I'm glad I didn't.

 

Hello Dirty,
I understand where you are coming from. My first unit a few years ago lasted about 10 minutes.... before it went up in smoke. I mean REALLY WENT POOF!!!! , you could have sent smoke signals and the fried electronics smell was something else in the shop. So I sent it back and the Hunt people were awesome. While they sent it back with a no problem found ticket, and AT NO CHARGE, it had an extra wire and a new wiring diagram. Hmmmmm?...It's been running in my 354 over two years and with about 1800 miles. As I have learned more about the way these are built, I am very comfortable with using one with an external coil. I am going to use the MSD to get me to the show and keep it on hand afterwards. Josh is going to call Hunt in the morning and ask them to allow us to return the current unit we ordered improperly and have it converted over to their EFI version. If they are willing, I will hide the coil under the dash out of sight and still get the look I like and hopefully continued reliability. If not, i will keep for a future project and retain the MSD set up.

My first experience with Joe Hunt service was good....will advise.

Regards,
George

 

Custom Auto's team can't do much of anything else until the carpet is in. ...but here's a little "stylin " picture to share.

We are planning on having the coupe back later this afternoon or first thing in the morning.

Hopefully, our shipment (New distributor) from Summit Racing will be here today. It seems to be hung up at the FedEx Denver Sort Facility. sigh. Why not one more little issue. ... "gotta love it!"

Regards,
George

 

The disty made it up North from Denver, but missed the route driver that would normally deliver it. It took some doing, but FedEx has dispatched a van with the delivery and is NOW on the way to the shop. Josh will have to remove the vacuum advance, insert a spacer plate and adjust the curve with the correct springs for the mechanical advance. All that is straight forward. Then he will need the coupe back from the upholstery shop in order to swap the MSD in and the Hunt out. Then he will need to ad the coil.

regards,
George

pics in a min






Hopefully, our shipment (New distributor) from Summit Racing will be here today. It seems to be hung up at the FedEx Denver Sort Facility. sigh. Why not one more little issue. ... "gotta love it!"

Regards,
George[/QUOTE]

 

George,

You might want to double check on that advance situation because all of the EFI setups I've installed (including a couple Holley units) had the computer control all of the advance. I'd be willing to bet that it needs both the vacuum AND the mechanical advance removed, and a lockout installed instead. Yours might be different, but its probably worth double checking.


Deron
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Deron,
Yep, you are absolutely correct. smile. It does so electronically and the lock out does have to be installed, "IF"?? If, you want total control! BUT , we are going for a simplified set up. The disty will control the curve with the springs selected . We are taking out the vacuum advance, changing the springs and turning off the ECU control of the timing.

Bob Ream from Imagine Injection has graciously agreed to walk us through this effort with Lance on the phone. (That is.. after our FedEx folks deliver.) geezem pete smile. He will also advise on which springs he has had successful experience in using.

I spoke with Dan and promised to post the progress on the carpet. Please find attached pictures.

Regards,
George

UPDATE :The disty arrived and the vacuum advance was removed and replaced with a little plastic filler as a dust cover. The springs were changed to one blue and one stainless/silver from the ones offered in the kit. We are good to go for install when the coupe comes back from the upholstery shop.

THANK YOU BOB!

 

Haha my electronics teacher in college used to tell us the all electronics were made and at the factory they filled them up with magic smoke. And then you have to remember not to let the smoke out or they won't work anymore. Lol glad your figuring it out here's hoping you get everything sorted out in time for the show. Go baby go!!!!


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Thank you Redzula!
Worst case the car is back tomorrow afternoon and then Rex and Josh ...maybe Fred and Dustin to?... can hang the doors. Can you say ALMOST FINISHED.....I hope to be screaming with relief soon.
We are getting more confident that she will be able to be fired up Friday. That will leave Sat-Mon for final detail work. She will need her red pin stripe down the belt line from Alan Johnson. He will also address the crown detail in the center of the wheels . They still need filling in with the same red to match the red lines and belt stripe.
On a business note...I have been working the insurance binder and will have completed before she's on the road.
There are some GNRS rules to cover as well. We have to be able to lock the gas cap and need to have a drip pan for fire marshal rules.We already have the battery disconnect as part of the build.

I want the guys to look at and help me make a decision on the V8 part of the horn button. Should we add red one shot on the raised logo? or leave it alone?

Dan Greenberg has been working on a build book that will be put on what I will call a lectern. Dan also has the standard build list 'billboard' on an easel being printed. He had to turn the printer on today, so the last pictures in the book will be glued in from last minute prints of the completed car.

OTB's Bill Lathrop let me know the perimeter parts are at the plating shop and will be completed by Friday. He is going to put the thing together one final time before bringing to the show for us next week.

So...here we are ,in a wait mode tomorrow before the new disty , wires and coil can be installed.

Stay TUNED! pun intended.

Regards,
George

 

The car looks great! You should be very proud of your selections. Great job from the guys. But, I have a question. Are you driving back and forth every day or did you rent an apartment in Loveland? Bet you are racking up the miles... Almost done!

 

ScooterCO,

First of all , Thank you!

Secondly, no sir, I am not driving back and forth daily. We are sharing with pictures, texts and phone calls. I do try to drive up every Saturday morning. There is a small group of us that eats breakfast together and I can usually count on Pete to ride up with me afterwards.

The coupe project was the result of one of these breakfast meetings. One Saturday in December of 2012 ,we decided to go see Custom Auto for a shop tour to see what Rex and the crew were up to?

I was yammering on about always wanting a 34 3 window and David Crouse says to me . " I have one in storage for one of my clients, I think he would be interested in selling".

A deal was struck over the phone on the way back home from Loveland. The past 13 months have been very busy and I have thoroughly enjoyed the project.

Be careful what you ask for! smile.

Regards,
George

 

We are chomping at the bit to get the coupe back from having the carpet installed. The front is completed and Rex and Josh are standing on top of the upholstery shop. They are trying to get the car back to add the doors and get her running this afternoon. It's hard to push someone that you want a terrific job out of. My guess is that it will be late in the day.
(See attached pictures. )
The seat will be bolted in when the coupe returns. Also shown below is one of two book stands that Josh made for our build books from Dan Greenberg.

The horn button was pulled to have Alan Johnson highlight the v8 logo in red one shot. We had discussed this earlier but had not made a decision. My guess is that we will do it over with body color and then red accent later.



Regards,
George

 

Here's a link to the build book . I am not sure how long it will be up. It is missing a lot of info and I do not understand why?


http://blur.by/1cs8ZN6


The coupe was picked up after five tonight and I haven's seen a picture to share with you yet. I will update when I can.


regards,
George

 

If the entire book was posted online, there would be no reason to purchase the book...


Posted via telegraph.

 

Speedy, I won't be selling any books. smile. Here are two updated pictures.
One of the doors being hung and one of the completed trunk. All that's left is the pesky little issue of getting the engine running. Hopefully, good news on that tonight.
Regards,
George

 

SHE IS RUNNING! ahhhhhhhhhh







Regards,
George

 

Good to hear. This has been a good build to follow. The car is way cool. Gary

 

Sweet!!! Congrats on an amazing build, hats off to the team!


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Thank you Gary and Jason,
The front end and the hood will be back on tomorrow. Additionally , we have found an experienced tuner to come up from Denver Saturday and dial in the EFI.

We have a few items left to tend to:

Steering Wheel re-install

Pin Striped belt line is a Sunday scheduled item for Alan Johnson.

Wheel center re-installation as Alan had them off for filling the engraved crown logo's with red one shot

Deck lid handle re-installation after Alan completes body color back ground on the V-8 stamping. I am pretty sure he's completed and will bring with him Sunday.

Charge the battery!


The trailer deck is very slippery and I have purchased anti slip 6x24 inch strips to add Saturday. (PLUS some long anti slip runs for inside the trailer)

Gas cap locking of some type for the show requirement

Buy some detailing supplies for the show....

Bill Lathrop has confirmed the perimeter is totally finished and will bring to the show next week.

It's down to final details and we are going to make it!

I will try to get a video of the engine tomorrow as I promised Daddio. smile

The only thing left to resolve Monday is the insurance binder. The underwriter needs management sign off to issue the policy for agreed to value. We shall see.

Regards,
George