Hot Rods Modified Murray - Race to the road! Progress in Review!

750's out back... I think 600's up front.

 

The end is in sight, Scoot. It looks terrific. Can't wait to see it all painted and together.
Tony

 

The end is in sight, Scoot. It looks terrific. Can't wait to see it all painted and together.
Tony

 

Thanks Tony!

Thanks Tony!

 

F'n sick.

 

Love the stance on this. Thanks for showing us these pics even though you didn't want too. Moving right along!

 

Couldn't agree more!!!

Thanks everyone!

 

You are no longer merely "mcrad", you are officially "Daddy-Mac Rad"! You're killing it pal...can't wait for more.

 

Hey Scoot,

'looks like much '' resident evel '' has been afoot, there in the atteler.

To check the onslaught of the Pacific, wipe the steel down with phosphoric acid/metal prep and a shop rag. Metal prep is available @ Ace Hardware & Homo DeePot under the Jasco name.

 

Looks so good I've started on my Roadster. Thanks for the inspiration.

 

Scott it looks killer with the body on. Great stance. A break is always a good thing to clear your head and refocus especially after such a milestone as getting your chassis done. Keep it coming!!!

 

I agree with K13. Your car looks awesome, NOTHING off about it. Sometimes hard to see after such a major bit of work like prepping/priming/painting/assembling/ a complete chassis.

Everybody has gone thru this on a major build. Try to focus a little energy on a smaller project on a different part of the car maybe. Sometimes a change for a short time will do you good. When you finish that, you can look back at the car & realize "damn this is looking good!"

We have talked about it before, but a full build takes us through MANY life changing events. Ups, downs, & everything in between.

You have so many major things to be proud of. Awesome car. Lots of learned skills. Spending time with pops that is proud of what his boy is doing. Win-win situation my friend!

Now get back at it! You have lots of people anxious to see your progress

Dan

 

Thanks for all the nice words everyone!

Thanks for the tip on the wipe down, Rex! I'll do that!

Thanks Dan, and I agree! I have a few projects that are more of a "singular" type project that only adds to the overall outcome of the car. I'm going to focus on those. I KNOW working on those projects will get me out of the funk...

- 36 drive shaft headers with cutouts
- need to finish the gas tank, have it sealed, and then paint it
- gas tank mounts need to be smoothed, finished, and painted
- need to finish the push bar
- need to do the finish work on the headlights and paint them
- need to do the finish work on the grille shell and paint it
- need to make the grille insert which will involve making some draw dies on the mill
- need to machine REAL shims (vs. a stack of scraps) for the body so the doors line up

blah, blah, blah...

What I REALLY need is to get some parts sold I have laying around so I can get more parts. I'm coming to the realization that the money may not be in place this year to finish the car. I think that is what really bothers me.

Taking a break this weekend to get away, clear my mind, and then hit it hard the following weekend. Going to launch into hot rod building "survival mode" and get this thing done!

 

HAHA! Nice signature line!

 

You said it Rex! You aint kidding!

 

Okay, since the body is on, temporarily, I was able to start building some headers!! Woohoo!! Couldn't wait to do this! I love building exhaust!

Took two days to get all the pieces ready and get one side completely welded. I will finish fabbing up the other side and then smooth everything out so it looks purdy!

Started with a '35/'36 drive shaft, a box of bends from Magnum Force racing (1-3/4" U-bends) and flanges from Circle City Hot Rods.





I cut the splines out and split the drive shaft so I had two equal megaphones.





The tubes had a ton of pitting that I wasn't expecting, so going through the grits (20, 36, 80, 120) I smoothed them out the best I could.



This gave me something to start the mock up process



First and easiest part is just getting that #1/#2 primary tube in place. I had a drag link to contend with, so this helped place everything and allowed me to figure out the furthest rear, #7/#8 primary tube. No wingin' it. The headers have to clear that drag link...



The hardest part was really coming up with the other two middle primary tubes. I wanted everything to flow visually as well as be functional and decent to weld.

Here's what I cam up with...





To make the fish cuts in the tubes, I roughed in and eye-balled the general shape with a cut-off wheel, and then got a nice shape to fit the tube using a belt sander. HUGE help!







When everything was mocked up, I traced the fish cuts so I could cut the openings in the drive shaft tube.





The two furthest rear primary tubes got a slight bend butt welded in, so they needed to be welded and smoothed out before I could finish anything.





They'll get a little more attention while smoothing the rest of the welds on the headers later on.

So then I was ready to start tack welding everything together... Now it was looking like something!



With everything tacked in place, I unbolted the flanges to weld the primary tubes permanently to the flanges. This engine has oval port exhaust, so I had to make the primary tubes fit the flanges.



The heat from tacking was enough to allow me to work the tube into the oval shape.



I finished welding it all up and loosely bolted it in place to see how it looked. All the finish work STILL has to be done, and that will be a ton of hand filing, die grinder work, and some blending. Excited to see the final product. Here's how it looks on the car. Next weekend it's on to the passenger side using what I learned from the driver's side.

 

The headers look awesome! simplistic and perfect! Nice work once again. Can't wait to see you add the finishing touches.

-Josh

 

Scott those look killer!! Nice work.

 

Ahhhh forget the smoothed headers and just heli-arc weld them up so they look appropriate for the era! If it's good enough for Pebble Beach winning Comp Hot Rods then it's good enough for me!!!

 

Awesome headers Scott. I have been watching your build from the start, really impressive. One of the best HAMB builds ever.

 

Scooter, That is one great looking header for your Hot Rod ! The cost of '36 Torque Tubes will be goin' up !

 

That's what I'm talking about Scott-GREAT job!! Those are really going to fit the look of the car well.

The weld blending takes some time for sure. One thing that I like to use to blend welds to a nice round radius are these on a die grinder:



You can get them in many different diameters. Once the corners get a little worn from use, they provide a real nice way to blend a nice radius into the weld. Slightly bigger diameter (maybe 3"-4" or so) make it easy to get into a corner to blend it.

You could use rolocs to rough it in, & these to finish it.

Just a thought. Looks great though Scott-great work

Dan




.

 

Thanks for the words, everyone!

Thanks man!! And YES! I also use those flappers... They work well! My only complaint is they don't last as long as I would like! HAHA! I like the "blending" versions of those flap wheels for taking them the rest of the way. Like these...

 

Hmmm.... I just get them at the local ACE hardware or Abrasive shop. But, if you wanted to order I suppose you could check out these places and look for "mounted flap wheels"...

http://www.preferredabrasives.com/

http://www.abrasivesales.com/

http://www.onlineindustrialsupply.com/

I also REALLY like the "non woven" type 3M surface prep discs... I try to keep around the brown, red, and green flavors. I use these more than anything....

 

Fold your own flappers. Best thing I ever learned from my old boss.

 

OH!! You are NOT going to say that and not fill us in on the practice of making your own flapper wheels!! Do tell!!!

 

I was looking for an old thread whit the info. Tuck asked me about them years ago. My old boss made these in his chrome shop. The longer the sanding belt you have the thicker the wheel(more layers). He had some 10-14 foot belts with back idlers on some of his 5HP machines. Wider the belt, the bigger diameter of the wheel. Use the biggest belts you can find. The more layers the better they work as they wear out.

What you are making is the abrasive version of a soft sewn polishing wheel.

1. Cut belt at the diagonal seam.
2. Start folding it like a flag. You will have to change the fold pattern to get a square pattern and not just a triangle. It is apparent wehn you try it.
3. Find center and punch it for you bench mounted buffer/grinder.
4. Mount on grinder and go to town.

Of course bigger diameter lets you get into areeas like your headers Scoot. If you can find a fab place that throws out old belts after they are worn a bit they will still rock for this. Otherwise I prefer to order Klingspor abrasives.

As you use it, the folded edges of the layers wear exposing more abrasives and they conform to your work for nice blending.

 

Interesting! That could be useful for sure!

 

Trust me, you can take 180 grit and almost polish for chrome when you get good. Very minimum time on the sisal wheel needed.