Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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If every weekend were as productive as this one, Dan's car would be running in no time. We got some major stuff done Saturday and Sunday. Of course, we didn't leave the shop until 5:30 Sunday morning and went back again Sunday afternoon, but those hours really paid off.

We finally wrapped up mounting his quarter eliptic springs in the rear. He settled on one way of doing it, after rejecting about 10 different ways ( ) and got the brackets built and welded on. It works pretty well and gives him a bunch of ride height adjustment just by turning two bolts per side looser or tighter. Thank God that is finally out of the way.......I thought we were never going to get that task done.

Then we were able to mock the engine and tranny back on the frame and put the body back on temporarily to see where the car would sit. The bed was the last thing we got done, and it needed a c section taken out of each side for the rear axle assembly to go up into. Once the lower skirt was installed all the suspension is pretty well hidden from sight, but since he is going to leave all the workings exposed in the bed people will be able to see the entire rear suspension setup by looking into the bed .

The 1940 Ford wheels he bought on Ebay showed up Saturday and they are really nice. Tomorrow I have to take them and two others he has to the powder coaters to be coated black. The extra two wheels will mount some Hurst slicks that he will alternate using for shows and stuff.

So here are some pictures of what we ended up with tonight. We also sent his axles back to Moser to have them redrilled for a 5 on 5.5 pattern.

Don

Very slick. This is going to be very fun watching it come together. Steve.

Originally Posted by stovens

Very slick. This is going to be very fun watching it come together. Steve.

Thanks Steve. I am really enjoying helping him put it together. Aside from spending time together it is nice spending someone elses money for a change.

Today I took his wheels to the powdercoater. He bought 4 '40 Ford wheels on Ebay that were nice and he already had two on the front of his rod, so they are going to do all 6. He is going to put Hurst slicks on the other 2 just for shows and cruises.

Quite an operation over at the powdercoaters place. Two booths outdoors doing nothing but sandblasting all day, and a huge facility doing all kinds of stuff in powdercoat.........everything from car stuff to huge dumpsters and cabinets. We have never had anything powdercoated so we are anxious to see how they come out. He's going with gloss black.

Don

There are a couple of powder coating places around here. I have seen work from both and it's impressive. What blows me away is the availability of colors that they have now; candy colors, too! I saw a pile of motorcycle parts that had been powder coated with candy purple over the original chrome. WOW!

Yep, they had a board with pictures of everything from boats to motorcycles, and the colors of the parts were amazing.

Don

Looking foward to seeing the results. About two years ago we built an addition to the house. We had an old cement double sink on the back porch with rusting metal legs. I had the legs sandblasted and then took the to a local powder coater, who had a metal gray color we used on them. I think they were cast iron, or maybe a pot metal. The came out great, and now we don't worry about them rusting(1880's cement sink)

In the last week or so we have really made some progress on Dan's RPU. I mentioned that he found a nice set of '40 Ford wheels on Ebay and that we took them to the powdercoaters last week. We have never had anything powdercoated, so we were anxious to see how they turned out. They did a great job, and even wrapped the wheels when they were done to protect them.

I took them to a friends auto repair place and had the new Firestone blackwalls mounted that he bought when we were in Daytona. His shop has a super duper balancer and he was able to get them all done with only one small weight on the back of each tire.

The next thing we wanted to tackle were the motor mounts. Because the 455 Olds weighs like 650 lbs and has a fair amount of torque, we decided to build a crossmember right under the engine and make the motor mounts bolt to that. We finally decided to build the crossmember by cutting a front side, a back side, and a top, and welding it all together. We worked on it all day yesterday (I finally left the shop at 2 AM and Dan stayed till 6 AM working on it) and today we finished it up. I think it really came out nice, especially after we punched it full of holes. Now we just have to do the same thing for the tranny crossmember.

Of course once we were done we had to put the engine back in and also install the body and bed to get the full effect. We also chopped his grille shell 4 and 1/2 inches and propped that and the two headlights on to see how it was going to look.

Here are some pictures. It's starting to look like he might actually have a running hot rod some day.



Don

Couple more shots.


Don

Don,
I just saw it on another forum, that truck is killer...

Did you guys find a new wheel dealer? I found Paulsen Wheel, and taled to him about wheels for my truck..Seem like a very good guy...

Just thought Id let you know

Harmon

Originally Posted by CHEVYBOY

Don,
I just saw it on another forum, that truck is killer...

Did you guys find a new wheel dealer? I found Paulsen Wheel, and taled to him about wheels for my truck..Seem like a very good guy...

Just thought Id let you know

Harmon

Thanks Harmon. Dan must have been posting it too. No, we gave up on having wheels made and just bought some original 40 Ford wheels. We sent his rear axles back to Moser and had them redrill them for 5 x 5.5 so he could just bolt the old Ford wheels on the back to match the front ones.

You are right about Paulsen. I talked to them a while back and they seem like nice people.

Don

Wow! Dan's attention to detail is absolutely amazing. We don't often see that level of patience in someone so young; most just want everything done as quickly as possible and to hell with the details. I look forward to meeting him again and seeing the finished car.

Did you guys build an all-new frame or just rebuild the rear half?

That big torque-monster Olds will blister the tread right off those skinny rear tires. Better watch out, Don, if he realizes how much better that thing would hook up with some real meat on the rear he'll have the tires off your roadster on there!

Thanks Jim. No, the frame is entirely new, the old one got cut up and the front half is currently an engine stand for the 455 until it finally gets put in for the last time.

I think he is finally happy with the way it's coming out. Last night, as we were walking around it taking pictures, he said "for the first time I can look at it from any angle and nothing bothers me about it any more." So, I guess from that standpoint it is better that he cut the first two versions up, he would have never been happy with the way they ended up........now he has exactly what he wanted.

As for the tire thing, he had six wheels powdercoated with the intentions of using the extra two for some Hurst slicks. Last night he said he is about ready to order his pumpkin for the rear end, and is leaning toward 4:11's but I think 3:89's are about as deep as he really needs. The good thing is that he won't have to worry about breaking anything, he has put all strong stuff like 31 spline axles in it. There is a guy he talks to on the HAMB who has a roadster with a dual quad 455 in it, and the car ran low 12's smoking them most of the way, so Dan keeps asking me how I think his will run. My only answer is "you have NO idea !!!"

Next step is to get the steering sorted out, and he is leaning toward the same Flaming River box Don and I are running. It is the only option we can see fitting correctly.

Looking forward to seeing you again too Jim.........are you going to Billetproof?


Don

Looking very nice indeed. Don your son has more thought into this car than anyone I know. He must be a deep thinker! It must have been a relief to hear him say that he can't see anything that bother's him anymore!
Here's my silly question for the day "what does RPU" stand for...retro pickup?
If you ever do the roll bead in the floor boards post a pic for me please. I was under the truck doing the brake booster, when I saw a long cut running under the cab bench seat area! Tell dan we're all impressed. By the way what name does he post on the HAMB network? Thanks, Steve.

RPU Roadster pickup

Yep, roadster pickup. He is a deep thinker for sure. In fact, here is a picture of my two Son's working on Don's T. Don is on the right working, and that is Dan on the left pondering what to do next. Every time he walks up and strikes this pose while I'm doing something I know he is about to tell me a better way to do something.

Thanks for the nice words..............oh, his user name is Dodgerodder on the HAMB.

Don