Attachment 60625Just figured I would show a quick picture of one of the Pinewood Derby cars. I was going for a 30's street rod. I still need to design the roof, but it's getting there. After this is done, I'll be back on the real car.
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Attachment 60625Just figured I would show a quick picture of one of the Pinewood Derby cars. I was going for a 30's street rod. I still need to design the roof, but it's getting there. After this is done, I'll be back on the real car.
Nice shape you've started there.
After a few failed painting attemps using a spray can, I broke out the spray gun and mixed some paint up. Here are the painted cars. They still need the details painted, but they are close.
Back to the real Street Rod.
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Between the Pinewood Derby cars and the broken garage furnace, I got behind on the real project. I just got the furnace back from a good friend, but it is still sitting on the floor. I got bored watching paint dry, so I went out to the garage and got some work done. It was hard telling where I left off, so I started on the accessories.
I knew the brakets that held the alternator and AC compressor were bad, but I couldn't imagine they were as bad as they were. When I finally removed them, the only thing holding the alt and comp straight were the belts. (kinda) It looks like they were a mix of factory brakets and aftermarket bits. I still can't believe it.
Below is a quick picture of the brackets and front of the engine. The next few pictures are pretty bad. St Patties day was yesterday, so there was a few soft drinks consumed.
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After removing the old water pump and crank pulley, it was time to see if all of my careful measurments were correct. All of the measurements from Rocky Hinge were right on the money, but I was concerned with my measuring. When the garage furnace is broken, and it's -15 outside in the garage, I tend to be kinda quick. As soon as I got the crank pulley installed, I began to worry. It stuck out much farther than the original.
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Keep in mind, I'm just quickly installing these parts to make sure they are going to fit. The entire engine will be coming apart for detailing. You can also still see the mechanical fuel pump installed that is doing nothing other than pumping oil out. (from when the car was carbed)
The next step was the water pump and the main bracket. This car has the ZZ4 crate motor in it, so the plastic timing cover makes for a tight fit for the water pump. I might have to clearance one or the other. But it fits.
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Step 3 in the instructions is the AC compressor. Before I removed the old compressor, I installed my AC gauges. There wasn't anything in the system. When I removed it, all I found was some damaged o-rings and no sign of oil or freon. (no suprise)
The compressor that comes with the Rocky Hinge kit is smaller, plus it comes with the required adapters for the common hoses. (nice touch) So far I'm happy.
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The picture above shows how close I am to the fan shroud. As I tension the belt, it moves away. I might have to clearance the shroud slightly, but it won't be too much. If I have to source a slightly longer belt to open the gap, I will. Even at the lowest point, it still clears. (barely)
Step 4 is the alternator. As you can see, there is pleny of room.
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Step 5 is the power steering pump, but that is wide open. I just ordered the power rack and the hoses, so I'll wait on those to install the pump.
The entire point of this was to move the alt and AC comp down to fit a normal air filter. (plus to add power steering) The way I see it, when you pop the hood you want to see the engine. Not the Alt, AC comp or belts. I wish I could have fit a serp belt system in the space, but that wasn't going to happen. There just wasn't enough space.
Below is the filter I think will stay on the throttle body.
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And I just want to say thanks to Roger for giving me that great link for the front dress kit from Rocky Hinge. In all of my searches, they never came up. I will be ordering from them again. I'm all for supporting the little guys. They had the only kit that fit in the space I had. Thanks again!
While I was going through my pictures, I noticed this one. This build only had a 80 amp alternator, but as you can see, it was enough to overload the wire that goes back to the battery. This car was wired wrong, the battery was fed from the fuse box. The wire in question is 8 guage, but there will be a separate 4 guage feed between the alt and battery after seeing this. (I think the new alt is a 120 amp) Electrical fires are very bad.
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:):)Glad to help, especially for someone like Rocky Hinge!!:):)Quote:
Originally Posted by autotec
I usually leave the names of the places I've ordered things from out of the posts, but this was different. In all of my years of doing this, I have never received a phone call telling me I might have forgotten something.
I am a engineer by trade, so my days are filled with meetings, focus groups, and other well ummm time wasters. I have very little time to make phone calls for my personal projects, so I was just in aww to get one from Yogi's.
I ordered all of the parts to install power steering in this project, but I forgot two small bushings. This would have kept the project at a standstill for the entire weekend. So when I got a phone call from them asking if I needed these two cheap parts too, I was very happy. They could have just sent the order that I requested, but they seemed to know what I was doing. That is customer service. I wish I got the same service everywhere.
Thank you Yogi's.
I like that.
You gave credit where it was due in those last few posts, to both Yogis and Roger.
Not too many would think of doing that.
Roger's a bloody good bloke for helping where he can; and has helped me out too from behind the scenes in personal e-mails.
Okay, everybody can now take a bow!
:) :) :) :)
My experience with Yogi's has been excellent in every respect, and I would have to rate them at the top of all the companies I dealt with in building my '32. They are the first website I check if I need anything.Quote:
Originally Posted by autotec
Like to hear about awesome customer support, and to give those companies a boost when I can too. For me Summit is the best for my general parts needs. One day I called them to ask a question about a part I bought and how to install it, the guy said we don't sell that(then I remembered I bought it elsewhere!), he then said," I've gotta friend there, so hang on one minute", in a few minutes he was back on the line with the help I needed I couldn't believe how helpful he was!
Well I recieved the power rack and all of the supporting hardware today, but I ran into a problem. It seems the front sway bar is in the way of installing the power rack. Both want to take up the same space. It was a really tight fit with the manual rack, but I didn't think the power rack would be much different. But it is. I ordered the offset bushings so I could move the rack up and down, but that still wasn't enough.
I already planned on removing the rear sway bar due to the bad construction, but I planned on keeping the front. But now I'm not so sure. I can only guess on the weight of the car (about 2600 lbs), but it has to be pretty light. The spring rate on all 4 coilovers are pretty high, so I'm not so sure it needs the sway bars.
I guess the question is how many of you run them? I have never left them off before, but the cars I build usually see the race track. This car never will. Looking over the suspenion design, there is so much bind, plus add in the spring rates and the low weight, and I'm not sure they are even doing anything. Leaving them off might even make the ride better. Any advice would be great.
Thanks, Justin
I'd say pull it and test it... I think you'll need it, but.... maybe not?
The Oze Rod Shop that's builds similar cars, like mine, does not use them. When I ordered by roller, I asked about adding some sway bars, but they no longer offer them. The original Oze shop in Canada offered them as an option. I've driven my car without them, and it seems OK, but I haven't tried any real fast corners. Obviously, if fast cornering is desired, it's best to keep the sway bars. I have a Flaming River power rack on my car. With the Cadillac CTS pump, it steers effortlessly.
Would it be possible to keep the bars if the mounts were altered, like dropped a little lower or moved forward a bit?
Depends on driving style of the owner, if he's just going to putz around in the car he'll never know if it has a sway bar or not... But even at that, any sort of quick lane change or an unexpected curve on an unfamiliar road and the sway bar is right up there someplace between essential and mandatory!!!!
Heidt's, TCI, Fatman and any number of companies selling the IFS conversions should offer a sway bar for them.. If not, IMO you're dealing with the wrong company anyway!!!
If you already own all the parts, find a way to make it all fit. To my way of thinking the front one is critical. I wouldn't want to be without it.
After thinking about it, I had to agree. After 2 days of playing with 3 different racks, plus different bushings, spacers and lines, I think I found a combination that fits. (with the front sway bar)Quote:
Originally Posted by 34_40
I'll end up with the rack from Yogi's, but I'll have to bend new lines from the spool to the rack. The ones that came with the rack, ummm, are just, ummm, crappy. And that is saying it nicely. I could return the rack, but new hard lines are easily made. In Yogi's defence, this was the cheaper rack. I just want them to look nice.
Just in case anyone is building a Coast-to-Coast car, the combo that fits with the front sway bar for power steering is....
1. 84 Mustang rack and pinion (15 1/5 center to center)
2. Offset bushings set to raise the rack up as far as it can go.
3. No spacers between the rack and crossmember.
4. Fabricate the hard lines to run on top of the rack.
I have yet to remake the hard lines, but it will fit. Below are the pictures. Sorry about the pictures, but it was getting late.
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Good job on the fitment issues, perseverance pays off!!
At this this point, I have to give everyone credit who has built (or rebuilt) a street rod. I have built many race cars, but this is the first street rod. All of my race cars have looked good, but the main purpose is function. But this is the first time I have really had to deal with "form". I'm still doing a "function over form" build, but I'm leaning more towards "form" than before. This makes certain decisions difficult.
went back and looked at some of your early post of the sway bar and i'm not sure why but it looks like they put it on the wrong side of the X-member.. I don't see any pictures of the back of the x-member so i don't know how much room you have there but here are a few shots of a sway bar i had to add to a '50 chevy using the Mll x-member... it bolts on from the rear and goes out and under the lower a-arms. this x-member was not made for the sway bar that is why i had to add the end pieces to it so i would have something to bolt the blocks to that held the sway bar.. if you have the room in the rear you could put it there... This bar and set up came from TCI
I'll take some better pictures tonight. I think the sway bar is in the proper place, but like everything else on this car, I have to second guess it.
BTW, nice work above. I love the fabricated holders for the sway bar. Looks beefy.
Glad you can make it work. I'm sure all the hard work will pay off in the end.Quote:
Originally Posted by autotec
In the lower picture, in the upper left hand side, I notice a locknut with no bolt length coming through. Perhaps you've only fitted it for "rough-in".. or mockup... but if not it may cause an issue down the line.. just thought I'd mention it. :)
Yes your's may be on the side they first planed it, but if you could move it to the rear you would be better off i think.... i see in your pictures that it looks like it was rubbing on the end of the rack maybe as the car went into driveways where the a-arms moved up a lot... waiting to see the pictures from the rear...Quote:
Originally Posted by autotec
I forgot to take pictures tonight, but I'll be back out there tomorrow. I did look at the arrangment of the front suspension tonight, and I don't think it's possible to move the front sway bar without considerable modification, but I could be wrong. Pictures will tell the story.Quote:
Originally Posted by parkwood
I was hoping to get the brakes squared away tonight, but I was stopped by a part that wasnt bagged properly. Below is a picture of a pair of parts, one is correct, one is not. The one on the left is correct. I'll reorder and continue on with the intake gaskets.
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You guessed it right, still in mock up stage. Just making sure everything fits.Quote:
Originally Posted by 34_40
It's been awhile since I posted a update. It's been a busy couple of weeks out here in the garage trying to get it ready before the nice weather hits, but I kept finding more so it's still here.
I'll start with the brakes. I recieved the replacement rotor adapter and got the brakes bled. I have a very nice pedal and I think I should be ok with the master cyl size. I'm not sure what size is in here, but I was a little concerned with the bigger calipers. But I should be good.
The intake was leaking coolant and oil, so I figured a simple gasket replacement was in order. Well, I found stripped intake to head threads and a missing dist gasket. So a complete day to remove the heads and intall Heli-coils in the stripped holes. Plus I found a missing gasket for the upper plenum. I'm thinking this was one of the big vacuum leaks on the engine.
I also found the valve covers have been gutted on the inside and the main vacuum line was just going to the breather. This vacuum line was also paired with the MAP sensor and that wasnt good. So I ordered new valve covers with the proper PCV breathers and installed those.
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Man, it sounds like they need to keep the guy who worked on that before totally away from cars. Not even sure I'd want him working on my bike!!
Good progress. Thanks for the update too..
Good to see the car in the hands of someone who can put the thing together correctly and make it a decent car!!! Nice work!
Thanks everyone. If I would have known it was going to turn out like this, I would have just blown the car apart and reassembled. But remember, all of this started with a few minor repairs and a quick install of power steering. I still can't believe the what I'm running into, but I suppose there are cars like this out there. I talked to the owner a few times in the last few weeks and suggested that's what needs to be done for next year. But for now, the main thing is to make it safe. He wants to drive it for the summer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Severson
On to the steering. (finally)
FWIW, I have the same Wilwood brakes on my car. I have the most common 1" Corvette style master cylinder. I originally had a 7" single diaphragm booster, but decided that more boost wouldn't hurt and changed to a 7" dual diaphragm booster. The brakes are not overly sensitive with that setup. If you have a 1-1/8" master cylinder, the pressure would be about 27% less - too low for my tastes.
You're on the right track with the sway bar. I just saw a picture of a new frame with that type of setup. The bar was mounted on the back side of the cross member, but connects to the front side of the lower A-arm.
I've been driving my '37 Oze around some corners, at speeds that are faster than normal and don't have excessive body lean, even without any sway bars. It's no Corvette though. I'd install sway bars, if I could get them made without a huge expense. I've read hot rod magazines long enough to know that you can get anything made, if your budget is unlimited.
Whoever installed those windshield wipers wasn't real sharp - there's way too much overlap on the blades. Most never get used anyway. I must have them on my car to meet Colorado requirements.
With the install of the power steering rack, I had to shorten the steering shaft by about a inch. As I pulled the shaft out, I was amazed that the universal joint at the rack didn't even have a flat ground on it. The only thing holding it from spinning was the 2 set screws.
There are 3 joints in-between the column and the rack, 2 were good quality and one was not. Since the power rack uses a larger spline, the poor quality u-joint will be replaced. Shaft has been cut and modified to fit the new u-joint. All I have to do is try to tighten the lower bearing in the column now. It's just a touch loose.
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Alright, I'm stumped. I just went back to the front suspension after spending some time on the engine and I can't figure out how the sway bar links are supposed to work on the front. As you can see in the picture, the front link goes through a sleeve in the control arm. I could just butt the bushings up against the sleeve, but I bet they will tear over time. I quickly installed the link just to show what I'm talking about. The only thing I can think is I'm supposed to use a different type of link, but this is what it shows to use.
Thanks, Justin
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