Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Thanks guys. Yes, it does seem like I might make it now. As all of you know, that first drive is fun but scarey.............so many "what if's." I was worried I might need more stall so it wouldn't lurch going into gear...........it doesn't, goes in very smoothly. Would it shake or shimmy going down the road........nope, rides pretty smoothly and I was actually able to take my hands off the wheel for a moment and it stayed straight. How would the brakes be? Great. No pull, and they bring it right down quickly.

I did have a water leak when I pulled back in. Nothing major, the chrome threaded plug I put in the top of the water pump isn't sealing. I'll replace it with a proper tapered brass plug and some sealant. Aside from that, it went pretty well. I know if I encounter rain I am going to have to pull over.......the slicks are just that, SLICK. Anything but a light touch on the gas pedal brought the rear end around.

It sure needs a good washing after driving it in the rain, but it was worth it. I loved seeing my Boys getting to drive it too..........especially Dan because the car would not exist in it's present form without his talents and hard work. He took it to another level for me.

Don

Looks great Don - Congratulations on that first drive!

I remember some years ago a buddy of mine put a set of 12" slicks on his T. A few weeks later our hotrod club was having a picnic at a nearby state park. About the time we were packing up to leave, it started to rain lightly. Ten miles or so into the 35 mile trip home, he hit a puddle and spun off the road. Didn't hit anything and no harm done. A few miles further down the road, it had started raining harder and the same thing happened again! After that he was really "pussy footing" along; rear tires hydroplaning at the least little puddle. Just a few miles from home, it happened a third time. He was very lucky; three times and no damage. The following day he took the slicks off and had a set of Mickey Thompsons mounted...

Moral of the story: rain and slicks don't mix. Be careful on the trip up, Don.

Right on don! congrats, im super happy for you!

Congratulations!

Enjoy yourself 'cause you've sure earned it!!!

Can't wait 'till I can take mine out.

Mike

Way to go Don, what a great car and it was a blast watching it come to life. I too will be waiting for the day light pics. Very nice.

Thanks everybody. Building this thing and shooting the breeze with all of you has been one of the nicest experiences of my life, seriously. The laughs we've shared and all of the helpful suggestions you have contributed have made this a blast.

As for the slicks, I found out tonight they aren't that great on the dry, either. There was no rain for a change, and after Dan and I got done with some things that needed done before it goes to the upholsterer tomorrow we backed it out so I could watch him get on it a little. (you know how you never get to see your car driving along) He got it rolling and punched it a little and two black marks mysteriously appeared on the pavement. Naturally, I had to take it up a notch, so I got it rolling and buried it, and at the top of low gear it got VERY squirrelly. This time there were two black marks about 50 feet long.

We did that a few more times, and since nothing broke I guess it will hold together for the trip. I honestly tried to not do that, but that little devil inside me got his way again. I won't be doing that much more, at $ 260 per rear tire I want them to last as long as possible. At least now I know how this thing goes and stops.

Dan and I were giggling like a couple of schoolgirls the whole time, but I think we are going to be in trouble with the shop landlord tomorrow when he sees about 5 sets of black marks out front. I think I'll blame it on some ricers.

Don

your a tease...wheres the utube?

congrats on the car, looks awesome

Don, usually with slick's you have to bring them to a low boil by doing a big ol' nasty burnout in order to get them sticky. I doubt that Coker uses the best rubber compound for hooking up because they wouldn't last long on regular driving. So drive carefully.

I don't know that anyone here is as happy as I am to see your car going. Your thread has inspired me many times to go to the garage and work on mine, and now that winter is coming you and other's here have given me new idea's for improvement's. Right now your's is the champaign of T's and mine is the ripple (mad dog, boones farm etc.) So thank you for the time that you and the boy's have put into this for our enjoyment, now you go, and enjoy.

Your Humble Groupy, Ron

No, it's the other way around................all of you have inspired me and kept me going. Nice words like you just said have been the motivator to keep me moving forward. Also, every time I made some bracket or piece, I knew a bunch of very experienced eyes would be looking at it that night when I posted, so it made me go back to the belt sander for a couple more minutes to make it look just a little bit better. It's one thing to fool people who don't know cars, but when you are doing something for folks who have been there and done that, it's a whole different ball game.

As for the YouTube, as soon as I can get it out in the daylight I'll post something...........maybe our roadtrip to Daytona. Here are a couple of shots we took last night. Sorry for being taken in the dark.

Don

Where did you get that stealth license plate? You can see right through it. Are you hoping for no radar signature?

Jack
I am with you. I need one of those stealth plates to hide my ownership, if my beast ever hits the streets! Around here I'd also need some stealth mufflers as the local boys in blue don't like loud vehicles!
Don
$260 per rear tire? Ouch! That's a buget breaker there alone. We'll give you some negative dollar credit, to change out those slicks, with a pair of bald tires at the used tire shop!
Don, earlier in the build I thought you mentioned Dan was also working on a car, did I get that wrong, if not we'd like to see a picture of that too.

What??? You guys can't read the numbers on that plate?? Time for glasses guys.

Yeah, Dan is building a car, a '29 roadster pickup. It's undergoing some changes right now, but here are some pictures of it previously.

Don

Congrats Don, sorry I'm so late seeing you made it on the road (68 hours work in 5 days ). I haven't had time to work on the garage since I got it under roof. Love that grin always the same every time you complete a project.
Brad

Thanks Brad. Is your garage to the point where you can get out of the cold now? November in Ohio should be starting to get nippy, I would imagine.

It is actually cool here this weekend, getting down to the 50's at night, they say. Makes it so much more pleasant to work in the shop. Today Don and I had a little problem to deal with on his T engine. He noticed 5 of the 6 freeze plugs were weeping water. These were brass freeze plugs that I had the machine shop install when I had the engine work done. I owned this engine before I sold it to Don, and had a bunch of machine work done to it, and always have them put in brass freeze plugs as part of the deal.

So we had to remove the headers and motor mounts, and lift the engine up with the engine lift to get access to them. When I knocked them out there wasn't a bit of sealant on any of them, so we bought 6 more and replaced them all, this time gooping lots of Permatex all over them. The new freeze plugs looked better than the ones we popped out too, much deeper with more sealing area. It was one of those jobs you don't want to do, but better to find it now than to have a problem later on when you are far from home. It really didn't take us long at all..........that's the nice thing about a fenderless, hoodless hot rod. Nothing to get in the way.

Yesterday Don painted the headlight mounts I built for him out of the cut down '32 headlight bar, and today we got it and the headlights mounted. We are using some old Guide torpedo shaped headlights that I had in my stash, and they fit the look of the car pretty well. Kinda oldtimey. Dan temporarily hooked up some wires so we could see them lit, and they are going to work fine for this car. Dan worked on measuring for Dons brake lines, and tomorrow we can call Inline Tube and order the stainless lines and braided brake lines we need.

Tonight it was my turn to be the bad influence. I talked Don into moving the T outside, blocking the wheels so it couldn't move, and shifting it into forward and reverse while the engine was running. We have never been able to do that because of having no brakes yet, and I wanted to see how the torque convertor reacted to the X cam he has in the engine. Long story short, even with the 2800 rpm stall convertor, he will probably have to shift into neutral at red lights. That cam is just so lumpy that it wants to surge the car forward each time the rpms rise and fall on the cam. Somehow, I don't think he minds too much and feels the idle is worth all of that. He agrees it needs more baffles in the headers. Still sounds like a fuel dragster.

Here are some pictures we took tonight. Tomorrow night we are going to try to wrap up the wiring and get the car to the upholstery shop on Tuesday. Only 16 more days till we leave for Daytona, so lots to do on both cars yet.

Don



Tonight it