Projects Mr. Palumbo's Shoebox project

Nice touch !!

 

holy cow! you actually work on that car? good to see something getting done.

 

Hey nice to see your back in action. Cool guages. How did you get them so bright. Mine suck big time. Did you take those little shield out from the inside?What bulb are you using?

 

Thanks guys !

LOL - Once in a while I get the time to do something . I've got something else in the works too . Wait till ya see it .

It sure feels good to do SOMETHING ... anything .
I'm glad you brought up the brightness thing , since I had a total brain fart on that . YES , I removed the purple UV filters , and installed red bulb covers , figuring it was going to give it a sorta red tint to the gauges , but it actually gives a devilish deep red glow to the gauges (looks more pink-ish in my pics) . AND in doing it , you can actually SEE the speedo cluster , Ha Ha !! After I removed the UV filters , just for giggles I lit one up using a 12v dash light , and you can barely even see the wire elemant glowing through the thing ! It's no damn wonder you can't see the gauges in these shoeboxes . IIRC it's only to "charge" the radium paint on the words/numbers anyways to make 'em glow . It must've been soooo cool to see when new !

 

Did some small stuff the other night . We mounted my Lokar shifter , started working on a custom trans tunnel (to clear the c4 & shifter) and started figuring out a rad setup to keep the SBF cool . Small progress , but it's progress nonetheless . Hopefully I'll have some pics soon .

 

Yes pics please. I used a rad from a 66 mustang and cools at 180 in 95 degree heat in the garage. But if i had to do it over i'd go with a 67 which is a bit bigger.
Pics please

 

That's what we put in Craig's Shoebox (Legend544) . Since then , we've heard from several Shoebox'ers that used to have that setup that it's not nearly enough . Craig's car isn't on the road yet , so we can't say first-hand , but the feedback doesn't look good . We'll be doing the first fitup of our new setup on my car , then on his . Once it's in there , I'll give all the info , so stay tuned .

 

anything yet?

 

My computer was down for the count the last few weeks , so I haven't been online at all . I've gotta say , if it weren't for the HAMB , I could do without the internet ... no doubt . Between that , the storm , my stomach virus , and now my wife's got a bronchial infection , I haven't had much time to work on my car - but I did make SOME progress .

I got my trans tunnel built , now just have to paint & install it . I also got my new radiator , hoses & clamps for my car . I have to make the saddle mounts & order the rubber inserts , then I can install it . While I was getting my hoses , I picked up a set for Craig's car . Craig's rad is in , his valance is trimmed & re-mounted - ready to fit hoses & a fan . I should have pics this week .

 

Hope everyone gets better soon. Being under the weather sucks.
Curious thou, what rad did you choose.

 

My dad had both a 49 and a 50 two door coupe when I was a kid. Doors, especially passenger, were always popping open on the 49 when mom would make a left hand turn at an intersection. Almost threw me out one day - I was 12 or 13... Had I not grabbed onto the swinging door I'd have been a gonner. The 50 body was much stronger and didn't flex as much.

 

Yea , the wife's been in bed for 4-5 days , suckin' down meds . It's given me a lot more time to hang out with our 4-y/o daughter while we "quarantined" the wife . Hopefully we don't get what she had !

The rad we're using is a fox-body Mustang radiator . It's much larger , and is cross flow - it will certainly do the trick . We modified stock fox-body upper saddle mounts , and I custom-made some lower saddle mounts that we welded to the frame . We still have to bend-up an upper rad cover & roll some beads into it . Once I get pics posted , it'll all make sense .

 

looking good!

 

Thanks !

 

A couple update pics .

Here's a pic I shot of my ride when we pulled it out of his barn & back up to Craig's shop a couple months back . It's a sad-lookin' site , isn't it ? .



Here's my homemade removable center tunnel , bolted in for a test fit . It'll work nicely !



As promised , here are a couple pics of the Fox-body Mustang rad setup we installed in Craig's Shoebox the past week . It's a rad out of a '90 Stang , with stock hoses upper & lower . We modified the upper mounts & welded them to removable plates , the bottoms are stock rubber inside custom mounts I made at my shop - pics later .Never mind the mess , as it's gotta be blown apart again & trimmed-up a bit nicer , electric fan wiring removed & stuff painted up .









Through the grille :



Lots of room for a mechanical fan :



Upper mount setup :

 

Hey Buddy,
Glad to hear that you're back at it. I am too finally. We've been into family stuff, carin' for elderly in laws,funerals, daughter's wedding, sold my other house, son bought a house, etc...
The only car event that I've been to this summer was the Ocean City Maryland Cruise weekend. I told the wife that we needed a quick getaway weekend and I didn't tell her that the hot rods were that weekend...
Smokey

 

nice to see the old girl out in the lite of day again! maybe both be on the road by spring?

 

Good to see you're back at your car too . You need to post up some recent pics of your car here on the HAMB . It's much to cool to keep under wraps ! I didn't make it to many car events this year either . Bummer ...

I don't have many outdoor pics of my car . Maybe in spring I'll test-assemble everything & roll 'er out for a "good" pic . Craig's car BETTER be on the road in the spring - it's SO close now ! Mine , on the other hand , I'm sure won't be road-ready . Sad but true .

 

Nice progress!
Good to see that you are back in business,keep it up!

 

Excellent idea on the removable trans tunnel (& you really won't realize how great the idea is until you have to remove it). It's good to see you at it again...keep up the good work.

 

Good to see progress! I'm looking forward to maybe a HAMB meetup in Jan or Feb so we can shoot the breeze and get some inspiration for a spring push.

Sweet gauges!

 

Ah... pics and updates. those coupes sure have a great profile don't they. I see you stuffed a big ass rad in there. Damn, i have one of those in the basement left over from my torino build. Don't be stingy with the pics now. more more more.

 

Thanks - it feels good to be chipping away at it .

Exactly why I wanted to go that extra step & make it removable . Thanks .

Thanks , Koz . I'm in for a Jan/Feb HAMB meet . We haven't had one in a while . I'm happy with the way the gauges turned out . Shoule look mean installed in the dash .

Yea , I do like the look of an un-chopped Coupe . I just wish I was further along . I'll try to have more updates , just as long as life don't kick me in the balls again . The big rad should keep 'er cool ... that's fer sure !

 

Get off the HAMB and get back to work

 

LOL - Don't worry Jerry , I've got stuff goin' on .

I got my lower radiator mount brackets made up for my new rad & sitting at my shop in weld-thru primer . I should have pics of 'em tomorrow , if anyone cares to see 'em . I had to wait for my new rubber isolators to arrive .
I've been doing a bunch of leadwork at the shop lately , so I'm keeping my "lead-chops" tight for my project , when the time comes . I like working with lead . There's something much more organic about it than plastic filler .

 

A quick update & some pics . We got Craig's rad setup completely mocked-up , and got MY rad setup all mocked-up , but still have to locate a proper fan shroud for it . On with the pics !

One of my mounts I made up , with the new rubber isolator :



And tacked in :



Drilled the 2" hole in the rad support panel for the upper rad inlet :



And the inlet slides right through (sorry it's blurry) :



Drilled the holes for the tranny cooler lines :





And here are the cooler fittings (looking from behind) - you can see the lower rad outlet down below the panel also :



Got my upper removable mounts mocked-up . They're all welded , blasted & painted now . I may eventually rework them , but for now they'll do just fine . I'll have some finished pics of 'em later .



Installed my fan to have a look :



Plenty of clearance to rad :



Mounted the hood latch panel - all looks well here too :



Here's Craig's Shoebox to show what it'll look like with the shroud :



And from behind :



That's all I have for now . It was another good night of progress on both Shoeboxes last night .

 

Looks great! I might have to borrow that idea. I like the gauges on the cowl!

 

Mr Plumbo, That is going to be one Kool Shoebox when you are done. Now if I could find a '50 Coupe, I would build one for me and my lady to cruise in. Love the look of a shoebox.

Dave

 

Danke !
Borrow away ... it fits like a dream & should work just as well !

Thanks . It's taking me a while , but I think it'll be worth the wait . What's killing me is not being able to drive something interesting in the meantime .

 

Man you realy stuffed that big rad in there. Coupled with the shroud you should be good to go to the desert. Makes my rad look like heater core. Fire it soon?