Projects Haulin' ass in fiberglass

Too street roddy? ha ha
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Look what followed me home..... TCI converter, 1000 rpm over stock NIB for $225. Since this'll be street driven occasionally, I can't go real big on stall. Hadn't planned on buying it this early in the build, but couldn't pass up saving this much money.

 

Semi Hi stalls on the street aren't all that bad. Drove an OT Cobrajet with 3500 daily for years never even noticed it UNTIL you whack the hammer to pass and boy it's like a second "passing gear". Just run a trans cooler and check fluid often.

 

With the 545 and about 700 ft lbs of torque, it'll flash stall far higher than 3k, so I think this is a good compromise. If I need to go bigger I'm only out a couple hundred bucks. Cooler is already in the works

 

Haven't been sitting on my ass, just waiting for parts to come in so I can start knocking things out. Today some of the gauges came so started laying out their placement and cutting holes. Can't cut the holes for the ones in the oval yet..... gotta get the GPS speedo in to determine the placement of the other two 2-5/8" gauges beside it.
Waiting on 1 fitting, so when it gets here I can knock out plumbing the brake system. This is so much easier of a build than a typical street car.

 

I like this build. Did you get the tires on it yet?

 

Not yet, those will be last. If this build drags out for some reason I don't need slicks just sitting and rotting.

 

Old habits die hard I guess. One thing that always bugged me about race cars is the switches and panels looking so utilitarian. I have to have rocker switches for things like ignition, fuel pump, elec water pump, elec fan and start, so while messing with the dash I saw I can mount them under the ledge above the gauges so they're convenient but somewhat hidden. More street car than race car I guess. The idea is that other than major components like elec ignition, relay block, etc., everything will be part of the dash panel. When I build the roll cage, I'll be welding tabs for the dash assembly to bolt to the A pillar uprights. Kinda like what was done on the '31 but a bit more raw. If I need to service anything, just remove 4 bolts and pull the dash off in one assembly. I'm getting too old to be crawling around under dashes..........

 

Cool idea on the mounting tabs. Years ago I was at a local shop and they had welded head rest brackets to the dash so you could slide it out a few notches to get behind the panel and pull the plugs, then depress the latch again and removed the panel.

Gotta love creative engineering. Keep up the great build, watching and enjoying

 

Great idea! I'll file that one in the old memory bank...

 

Probably kinda geeky, but found this on Ebay (from China of course) and wish I had found this long ago. Cool part about this is it can handle up to 10 relays (starter, ign, water pump, fuel pump, horn, etc), 15 fuses (this really is the cool geeky part) and 3 Midi fuses. The cool part about the fuses is you can fuse the circuits in AND out of the relay in one box or a few individual non-relay circuits (if you use less than 7 relays). I'll have to wire the car from scratch, but this'll mount really nice under the dash. Apparently I'm easily excited.....

 

I love my fiberglass '33. Redneck body on a Lobeck chassis. 289 Hi Po with a Tremec 5 speed.

 

How about a C6 built by B&M? I know where one of those is.

All the best - Tim

 

Thanks but found the one I was looking for and shipped it here. Going to have to build this one a certain way to survive with the combo I'm putting together and how it'll be used.

 

Up to the time that technology outran me, every street or race car I ever had was a product of "creative engineering". Other than J.C. Whitney, PAW, that's Performance Automotive Warehouse for those much younger than me, and Honest Charley's, there weren't a whole lot of places available to buy ready made stuff. Salvage yards were generally my source for engine and driveline parts except for the stuff that I had to have new and then NAPA was the go to place. My source of information was from magazines and a bunch of friends who had already "been there" and "done that". There are not enough original steel bodies out there to go around for everyone who wants one. Most of what I see available now is stuff so rusty and battered that I wouldn't have bothered with it 45-50 years ago. If I had a fiberglass car back in the '60s, I would have been light years ahead of anyone else that I raced against. I've been seriously considering a glass car now and after seeing this build, I believe I'll go ahead and do it. While I'm at it, I've got to say that I'm really glad to have run across all of you who have been willing to share their knowledge with everyone else. I've learned so much in the last few months and had my memory jogged by stuff that I already knew and hadn't remembered. You're not the same guys I grew up with but, in a way, you are. Thanks.

 

Wow ! Beautiful car I’d love to see more of it


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I remember looking in Hot Rod magazine for the manufacturers that would send a catalog (and decal!) if you sent in a self addressed stamped envelope. Sending all those out via snail mail and trying to get the old catalogs from Super Shops and Service Centers when they got new ones from the manufacturers.
First decal I ever got? Jardine Headers

 

As much as I appreciate the fiberglass Ford ( and others ) reproductions I am still a GM person. Have seven of their 60s fiberglass creations to play with. Guess my field of vision is narrow. Just personal preference.

 

Now that the '31 is mechanically done, I'm focusing on getting this going. First up is the easy stuff to get it rolling. Front brake line was a 2 beer effort......

 

My first set of pipes was a set of Jardine TT pipes for my SL 350.

 

Since this will be "street legal" it needs turn signals and a hi beam indicator. Got these LED's, but were a bit bright to mount on the dash face, so took a page from the '31 and mounted these under ledge.

Don't really have the real estate for a shift lite (and hate the look), so came up with something a little stealthier.

 

That's nice work on the brake lines.

 

Thanks. In a previous life I did hydraulic and pneumatic systems R&D and prototyping so it's kinda second nature.

 

I wanted to build a steel 33/34 real bad...looked at so many bad bodies I finally gave up and bought a glass 32 5 window and put it on Dearborn Deuce rails..great car and good luck to you on yours...my build pics are on my HAMB page under albums if you care to look

 

I like that electrical panel. Do you have a web address or the type of search you used to find it?
I had never heard of a MIDI fuse before. Seems like I learn something new every time I come on the HAMB! So looking at the picture you supplied do these fuses bolt externally on the three sides of the panel ? What are the dimensions of this panel?

 

Kinda geeky electronics stuff, but will make the install so much cleaner. The midi's bolt to the 3 pairs of brass terminals with the wiring into and out of the fuses on the backside of the panel. I can have 3 main circuit fuses for the relays, just need to look at the functions and group accordingly. I'm going to mount this in the "trunk" next to the battery along with a small fuse only block for non-relay circuits. It'll make wiring so much easier and adding the master cutoff a piece of cake.
Only place I've found this was on Ebay by 2 sellers. Here's a link to the seller I'm getting it from
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MagiDeal-Automotive-Marine-18-Way-Fuse-Holder-10-Relay-Box-Circuit-Protector/162856353948?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

Body's going to have to come off real soon to cut the firewall and tunnel, so I'm trying to buy what I need to get the next steps done. This time it's a trans shield since I'll have to trim the floor and build the tunnel around it. I was thinking about a blanket, but since this'll be on the street I figured a TCI aluminum shield will keep the trans cooler than a blanket.
The relay box came today and though I'm not quite ready for it I looked it over and am actually pretty impressed with it. Not cheap lightweight plastic, fairly substantial weigh-wise and pretty well made. Who'da thunk it from China?

 

Hope

Hopefully you still feel that way after it is installed and in use for awhile!

 

Hell, I'm apprehensive about using parts from ANYWHERE nowadays.

 

Thanks the info on the relay box. It looks like a nice,neat way to mount relay circuits. It looks like it would have enough circuits to wire a simple roadster project. China.... yep, just about everything is made there these days.