I noticed in an earlier post where you were putting an engine stand adapter on one of your Olds engines. The extended bell on those blocks are not real sturdy; good idea to bolt the lower bell on the engine and hook the lower arms to it for safe support. Would hate to see a cracked engine.
I didn’t even think about that… good looking out! I have 3 olds on stands right now, I guess I have some work to do and good problems to have!
Amazing! Thanks for sharing, and glad to hear you've made such significant headway in tracking down the plane. Congrats!
More progress. Front and rear axle are almost completely assembled. Brakes about 95% done working up on final welding on crossmembers and pan hard bar.. got the motor mounts in as well with mock up motor and T5 tranny. Driveline and steering column ordered. Nothing but great things to say about Clayton’s’s hotrod Shop! I have a solid metal insert for the roof that I’m going to have him make removable, but I’d also like to find an old military tarp or parachute or something to make a button snap rooftop for the summer. I’m also on the hunt for 33 hood rods there was a sept posted on Instagram tonight and I’m hoping I’m first in line. I’ve almost got the mock up motor ready to fire up. Just need to finish up the stand. I picked up a stock four barrel manifold to fire it up on I’m still unsure what manifold I will run for final. I think this motor is going to be pretty hot. I scope the cylinder walls today and they look nice and clean great cross patching in them. I think the compression is going to be pretty decent. The Pistons seem to have a pretty good dome to them. I was hoping to find some part numbers on the pistons when I scoped the motor today but no luck the block is a 303, wild roller cam setup, isky rockers and adj lifters, with 371 heads and domed pistons.
Got the stock 4b manifold I picked up mounted, I’ll button up the carb adapter tomorrow. This should be much easier during the engine up for the first time with 1 carb. I also finally got a brass gear for the distributor for the roller cam. I’m also thinking about redesigning these brackets that’s holding the lifters or maybe adding a jamnut so there no potential of them coming loose and falling off. I’m going to get this motor fired up and make sure it’s ready to rock before I bring it to clay to install in the car. I also ordered 2 sets of belond headers and I think I’ll use 2 passenger side manifolds to run the exhaust.
I also found this license plate frame, the Nighthawk set all of its records out of Honolulu, so I thought it was fitting! I will probably add some paint to either the letters or background behind the letters.
More progress. Clay has got the chassis pretty much buttoned up, set the body back on and got the rear frame horns flipped and welded up. He is going to start working on getting the channeled floor welded up. Big shootout to Belond headers! They hooked up me up on 2 set of headers. I’m planning on running 2 passenger side headers as I don’t think the driver side will clear my steering box. The angel is off a little bit with the passenger side mounted on the driver side but I don think it’s anything a grinder and a welder can’t fix almost have my red neck engine stand finished up to fire up the motor. I’m a little concerned that this motor may be too hot for a daily driver so I have another olds motor I’m going to fire up as well with similar specs but a non roller cam. With all of the pictures of trog going on right now I’ve got major fomo!!!
The guys started working on getting the doors aligned and mounting up the fuel tank. I’m using a tanks inc tank and I am running a crafty b fuel cap that says “rocket fuel” since it is rocket powered
As you guys can see from when I first got this car, the chop was very bad. Had 2 failed attempts previous to me getting it and I knew this would cause door issues. I straightened the car out the best I could before sending it to clay. After a talk about the doors today and a full days work on one door, we agreed, let’s just get them safe, and closing and opening well, and I’ll worry about the doors lining up later down the road when i make it prettier. Lot of cutting, grinding, welding etc, and clay got them fitting much nicer and matching great, just that damn body line. I think I’ll low key keep my eye open for a roof and maybe a set of doors and save that for a rainy day. The Crafty b fuller cal is mounted and installed, a bent 1 piece tube will be made for the filler neck. Radiused spreader bar made and installed. Fuel tank installed.
Would it be easier to cut the body line out of the cowl and weld it back in lower down (if the rear line is where it needs to be)?
I’ve a thought, (not the talent to do it though). If the cowl line was eliminated , then make the roof fit properly over the doors. Could a “fake” cowl line be then put on the cowl? The rear to the door looks right on the line. I’m sure you guys will sort it out!
if the rest of the door fit good, then u could essentially do that for sure, in my case it wouldn't work.
Little more progress! Got the wood mocked up on the door surrounds, prepped for the install of the new decklid, new radiused spreader complete, Desoto tail lights in and the new windshield frame chopped and installed, ready for glass! Sent 2 distributors to Phil Mason at Mason ignitions in PA he is going to set one up for the roller motor with around 20° of timing and then another rebuilt for the other motor. He is very knowledgeable and has been very helpful! I can’t wait to fire up these motors and hear what I’m dealing with! I’m still unsure of what manifold carb setup I’m going with… I really wanna run a 6 pack because they look so damn good but I also don’t wanna be fuc*in around with carbs all the time! Decisions decisions!
More progress got the decklid fitted and some primer on it, also got the latch mounted. 1 step at a time!
Wow!! Great build and what a story, and your parts haul is nothing short of amazing. Really looking forward to watching this one get finished.
Thanks man I can't wait!! im hoping to get my distributors back by the end of the week so I can get these rotors fired up and dialed in during Christmas break!
@angelbaby65 wicked cool man!! Your doors are original 33 3 window? Inside release way up front and inner panels look way different than my Tudor inner panels.
She should be rowdy! Hopefully not too rowdy, as I plan to put a ton of miles on this car. I’m trying to dance that line between unreasonable and durability haha. thank you! It’s getting there a little a time! yes they’re original 3w. I’m not sure all of differences between 33/34 doors and models except that the 34 doors have an additional piece of metal at the rear of the door opening and the window tracks are also different as 34 glass will slide back as well as down. I’m sure somebody more knowledgeable will chime in on this!
Thanks for replying, I am just learning too. FYI this is a 33 2dr sedan, I guess the inner panel is very similar.
To add confusion, I think the inner panels and latches were a mid year switch. Not sure which mid year they switched in though.
Late to this thread. Nice work on the sheet metal repairs. Excellent looking car. Great motor transmission combo, Olds with a T5. Did you sort out your clutch components yet? I am doing Cadd and T5 in mine , same problems and challenges. Not to criticize, anyone ever tell you that is a 34 body? with 33 hood? Also, looks like 33 doors. Again not criticizing, just might help to know when you try to secure the hood. The hoods secure differently between a 33 and a 34. You will need the 33 bracket that bolt to the rad sides and different on the body end also. here is an older thread that outlined some of the differences, NOT all of them: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/33-34-ford-5-window-coupes.515870/ I really like what you have done, reminds me I need to get back to working on mine.
This coupe is probably a 34 with 33 doors. The cowl is a 34 (it has the notches at the top edge for the hood sides to rest on, there are no tabs for the 33 hood latches but there is the D hole for the 34, and the inner brace near your ankle is a simple flat piece while 33's had flanged edges on that brace). Maybe somebody switched cowls somewhere along the line, or maybe somebody switched doors and hood/grille. Somebody is going to mention the crows foot in the rear wheelwell, but I think that feature wasn't a hard change at the year model.
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