37 Ford build--IE: old Header issues thread /37 Ford/5.0/GT40P heads

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Originally Posted by randyr

Thanks for the advice! I used the hand-held thing for a while yesterday and I suppose it served it's purpose but it's definitely a pain in the butt to try to hold it and weld at the same time. I have some good welding gloves and I'm pretty cautious with stuff.....however, I was wearing some ripped up jeans and looked down to see how easily they catch on fire!! Yikes!! No harm done though. Probably would have been funny to an onlooker.....LOL!

Home Despot has a self darkening helmet for $100.....I see various ones on Ebay for $29-$300 so I guess it just depends on how much one wants to spend....I too am leary of many of the "great deals" on ebay!

You'll be happy to know I finished my taxes on Saturday! Woohoo! and I don't have to pay! double WooHoo!

I hope you get a break in the weather so you can do some painting. Tell me again what color you're painting the car.....

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You have to be real careful with sparking from welding - I have set a pieces of steel wool on fire as well as an occasional rag. I haven't yet done my ragged jeans but that day is most likely coming as some are pretty disreputable. My wife makes them 'disappear' when they get too bad and are about to moon the neighbors.

Nice thing about Home Depot - you can hop in your car and take it back if it craps out. I was just in our local store - it looks like since they fired my old GE boss, Bob Nardelli with his 210MM golden parachute, they are cleaning house and the help is being retrained and more customer centric (how's that for a corporate buzz word**) ).

I picked my taxes up on Sunday - and whoopee, I get a few bucks back - just enough to pay for the washer that died on Saturday. I wish I could do my own but I have some interesting investments that take a CPA to figure out. Turbo Tax had me paying when I went thru the numbers a few years ago but when the tax person went thru the numbers, ended up with a pretty good refund, so.....:D

The color will be a bronze which is a mix of gold and metallic brown. I didn't like either, mind you at about $100/quart wasn't about to dump 6/7 quarts so I did mix and spray trials until I got something I like. I hope I never have to duplicate it though I do have the "formula" written down. Possible next week the weather will change according to the weather folks - but here in Upstate NY, that is never a promise, only a best guess as we are 200 miles downstream of Lakes Ontario and Erie and control it.

Gotta go rig up a new filter for my compressor -

Great thread! I, too, want to put a Ford in a Ford. I am working with a '36 pickup. Since it is a pickup, I hesitate to install a recessed firewall because of the reduced legroom. I measured my engine bay and have 30 inches from the firewall to the radiator core. Instead of going the recess firewall route what to you guys think of utilizing some kind of narrower radiator and mount it forward more into the shell? Am I dreaming or do you think it might work? Sure would like to see if anyone has taken this approach.
Thanks,
Allen

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Originally Posted by 36FordPickup

Great thread! I, too, want to put a Ford in a Ford. I am working with a '36 pickup. Since it is a pickup, I hesitate to install a recessed firewall because of the reduced legroom. I measured my engine bay and have 30 inches from the firewall to the radiator core. Instead of going the recess firewall route what to you guys think of utilizing some kind of narrower radiator and mount it forward more into the shell? Am I dreaming or do you think it might work? Sure would like to see if anyone has taken this approach.
Thanks,
Allen

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Hey Allen,
I don't have my tape measure handy as I'm responding but will throw in a few thoughts anyway. You didn't say if your using a 302 or 351 but I'll assume 302 for now. The radiator is already pretty narrow on these vehicles so making one more narrow to keep from recessing the firewall might be self defeating in the cooling department. It also might look weird thru the grille. I know you can gain about 1.5" by using a shortened streetrod waterpump. I got mine. from Jegs. The shortened waterpump will require a special pulley for it, which I can refer you to a place for that, too.

You could also consider combining that with the 3" recessed firewall instead of the 5" recess and I don't think you'd notice any major difference in leg room inside the cab. There are lots of other things to consider suspension, crossmembers, oil pan clearance, etc. What kind of front suspension are you planning to use? You'll have to have a mid-sump or rear-sump oil pan. Are you using the original chassis or aftermarket? What kind of trans? Bob Drake of Bob Drake Reproductions, www.bobdrake.com is building a Ford-powered 35 Ford 5 window with a 302/AOD. They got by with recessing the original firewall about 2". You can check out their progress on their website.

I'm no expert but I'll be happy to share my experience.....much of it I've learned the hard way...LOL! Thanks to forums like these, I can save myself a few headaches along the way now. Let us know how we can help....

Randy

Good grief Allen, I hope you were able to get past our babble and get something out of this very long thread that mostly Randy and I have kept up.

While there are some interesting challanges to keeping as much leg room as possible in a car, you do have to consider being able to work on it as well as admire your handiwork. I, too am tall at 6'4" and the '31 A roadster that I am building doesn't have an excess of legroom - with about a 5" recess. I have gotten mostly around this with Glide Engineering seats (now being upholstered) that are fairly thinly padded and slid back to the limits of the passenger compartment. A Ford with a short water pump is shorter then a Chebbie and is narrower by far. Where you tend to run into problems is the front oil pan sump. It can interfere at the front cross member unless you have converted to IFS. A rear sump version can be found on the later engines and usually clears the cross member without any problem. Regardless, a Ford in a Ford is the way to go and there are several rabid Fordnatics on this forum that make me look casual.

It will end up costing a bit more then a Brand "C", but in the long run, worth the aggravation.

Randy, I screwed up both of my hood sides and had to order replacements from Rootlieb yesterday - had them leaning against my trucks back bumper while cleaning the garage then backed over them - got 'em mostly straightened out but still really look nasty, and since I need to be doing other things on the car now, so, $230 delivered later ....

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Originally Posted by Irelands child

Good grief Allen, I hope you were able to get past our babble and get something out of this very long thread that mostly Randy and I have kept up.

Randy, I screwed up both of my hood sides and had to order replacements from Rootlieb yesterday - had them leaning against my trucks back bumper while cleaning the garage then backed over them - got 'em mostly straightened out but still really look nasty, and since I need to be doing other things on the car now, so, $230 delivered later ....

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OH Dave, now that sounds like something I would have done!!!:rolleyes:
I'm sorry, man, that really sucks!

I'm moving along slowly on my car.....I finished getting the Chassis Engineering trans mount and X-center section installed yesterday. I'm impressed with it's strength and design when using the orignal chassis. They have 40+ years experience at this stuff and seem to know what they're talking about. I also re-enforced the frame supports that run from the X-member over to the frame rails. Per the Chassis Engineering tech guy, I welded (yes, with my new welder and all by myself!!) a 1"x1/8" strap around the perimeter of the frame support, re-drilled the holes and re-installed it. It stiffened it up quite a bit. My welds are not "picture perfect" but they are under the car and up against the floorboard, so after I get them painted, they will go virtually undetected.

I finished cutting out the floorboards and now can clean and paint this part of the frame. Yes, it would be nice to remove the body and do the frame really right but that just can't happen right now. I'm going to plumb the brakes, etc. while I have access through the missing floors. I'm anxious to get on with it. Of course, if I win the lottery or something, I'm going to abandon this chassis and scurry out to TCI and get one fully tricked out!!!;)

Hope all is well on your end.....aside from running over your hood and stuff.......
It rained here this morning, so naturally we had "STORM WATCH 2007!!!!" I'm glad I grew up somewhere else so I can chuckle at all this "drama" over these everyday occurrences...ya know?

Randy

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Originally Posted by randyr

OH Dave, now that sounds like something I would have done!!!:rolleyes:
I'm sorry, man, that really sucks!

..... My welds are not "picture perfect" but they are under the car and up against the floorboard, so after I get them painted, they will go virtually undetected.

..... Of course, if I win the lottery or something, I'm going to abandon this chassis and scurry out to TCI and get one fully tricked out!!!;)

Hope all is well on your end.....aside from running over your hood and stuff.......
It rained here this morning, so naturally we had "STORM WATCH 2007!!!!" I'm glad I grew up somewhere else so I can chuckle at all this "drama" over these everyday occurrences...ya know?

Randy

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Randy,
All is well here - sort of - with my wife in England.

I just called Rootlieb to see if they shipped the hood sides - but, since I wanted them with no hardware or even hardware holes, they wont ship for 7 to 10 days ...DRAT:(

Glad you finally got to use your new welder for something besides a door stop:LOL: It takes a while to get reasonably good welds - mine are just barely that as I don't really do enough to keep in practice. It's amazing what a few pieces of steel will help.

Sorry about the rain in "sunny" CA. It is about 65 now with bright blue skies as opposed to last week when we were waiting snow. Supposed to be 75 or so by Sunday and my yard is a disaster - it's just under an acre, with 17 huge, 100+ year old oak trees that shed all winter, so I will be in some pain shortly with raking. Then I need to de-winterize the camper. And, oh, by the way, finish painting the house and when I have some free time, work on my car, sheetrock the laundry room, put in a new bathroom countertop and sink plus a new shower stall :CRY: :CRY: And I thought when I retired, I would have a lot of free time. Oops gotta go to Lowes now for some drain parts now for the new washer - the old one died Saturday
Like I said, all is well here - kinda !!

Later

Randy,
Thanks for the reply. Yes, I've seen the Bob Drake '35. I am planning the same drive train for my truck. Using an axle and disc brakes for front suspension and a 9" in the rear with parallel leafs and original frame.

Dave,
The truck has a pristine firewall and I was hoping to keep it intact, but if I can't, I can't. Do you know the actual length of the 302 with the short water pump setup? Appreciate the help, Allen

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Originally Posted by 36FordPickup

Randy,
Thanks for the reply. Yes, I've seen the Bob Drake '35. I am planning the same drive train for my truck. Using an axle and disc brakes for front suspension and a 9" in the rear with parallel leafs and original frame.

Dave,
The truck has a pristine firewall and I was hoping to keep it intact, but if I can't, I can't. Do you know the actual length of the 302 with the short water pump setup? Appreciate the help, Allen

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I guess with a pristine firewall, I would try to save it if at all possible, but it just becomes tougher to shoehorn it all in there.
Good Luck

The overall length with the short serp. water pump outer most tip to the back face of the flex plate(or flywheel) is ~27.5 (27 to back of the block casting)

Here's a good website for dims: http://carnut.com/specs/fengdim.html

You might be surprised to find how much smaller the Ford is then the Chebbie.

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Originally Posted by 36FordPickup

Randy,
Thanks for the reply. Yes, I've seen the Bob Drake '35. I am planning the same drive train for my truck. Using an axle and disc brakes for front suspension and a 9" in the rear with parallel leafs and original frame.

Dave,
The truck has a pristine firewall and I was hoping to keep it intact, but if I can't, I can't. Do you know the actual length of the 302 with the short water pump setup? Appreciate the help, Allen

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Hey Allen,
If you haven't already decided on your frame mods and rear end installation materials, you might check out chassisengineeringinc.com . I'm pretty impressed with the quality and simplicity of their streetrod chassis parts. They have motor mounts (bolt in or weld in) that may work well for you too. They've been around a long time and may be old-school enough to have some ideas to help you save your firewall. Do you have your oil pan situation figured out? I'm sure you already know you need a rear or at least a mid-sump pan to clear the crossmember. Those can be found on 66-76 Broncos and some others. I got a mid-sump pan from a 70-80 F150 4x4. It has enough clearance for mine but might not work for yours since your motor will need to be further forward.
Anyway, enough of my babble. Keep us posted on your progress and ask all the questions you want. Like Dave said, he and I have pretty much dominated this thread with a mixture of car stuff & chit-chat, but if you can wade through it all, maybe you'll find some helpful things. I know I have.

Later,
Randy

Thanks, Randy!

Hey Dave,
I was reviewing some of your pics again....where did you get those exhaust hangers/brackets?

You got that thing painted yet or are you still working in the yard? LOL!

Later,
Randy

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Originally Posted by randyr

Hey Dave,
I was reviewing some of your pics again....where did you get those exhaust hangers/brackets?

You got that thing painted yet or are you still working in the yard? LOL!

Later,
Randy

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Randy,
You know that welder you just bought and need some practice with - good place to get some more experience running a bead - that is assuming you have a good self darkening shield. The rubber insulators are standard NAPA kind of stuff - believe those are Chebbie pieces. If you go that way I can possibly dig up the p/ns.

I'm still sanding,priming and block sanding - it's much too hot to work in the yard today. It's in the mid to high 80's but will return to the normal here for April, 50s and 60s by Wednesday

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Originally Posted by Irelands child

Randy,
You know that welder you just bought and need some practice with - good place to get some more experience running a bead - that is assuming you have a good self darkening shield. The rubber insulators are standard NAPA kind of stuff - believe those are Chebbie pieces. If you go that way I can possibly dig up the p/ns.

I'm still sanding,priming and block sanding - it's much too hot to work in the yard today. It's in the mid to high 80's but will return to the normal here for April, 50s and 60s by Wednesday

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Hey buddy, I got the shield if you got the p/ns! I discovered something interesting about my welder....it works much better with a stronger current....the garages in my little apartment complex are all wired together on the same circuit. When I plug the welder into that circuit I get crappy looking welds but Saturday I ran an extension cord from the outlet near where the meters are and what a difference! I was welding pretty good for a novice!! So I'm not afraid to tackle some exhaust brackets!

Funny how you think the mid 80's is too hot for you and I think the 50's & 60's are too cold for me.....LOL! Actually I think 82 is about perfect!

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Originally Posted by randyr

Hey buddy, I got the shield if you got the p/ns! I discovered something interesting about my welder....it works much better with a stronger current....the garages in my little apartment complex are all wired together on the same circuit. When I plug the welder into that circuit I get crappy looking welds but Saturday I ran an extension cord from the outlet near where the meters are and what a difference! I was welding pretty good for a novice!! So I'm not afraid to tackle some exhaust brackets!

Funny how you think the mid 80's is too hot for you and I think the 50's & 60's are too cold for me.....LOL! Actually I think 82 is about perfect!

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Make sure the extension cord is heavy enough(#12awg wire, min) - melted, they really do not look good nor work well`. They really like good 110 to 120 voltage.

How, 'bout a Walker 35460 insulator, you can use a 2000-2005 Chevy Impala as your car when the counter person asks ( he will have no idea how to source it in his computer w/o that info! ).

You will need non galvanized 3/8" or better yet, 7/16" for the round stock, plus your torch and a good vise to bend it cleanly. I also used 7/16 bolts, also unplated. Galvanizing fumes WILL make you sick, (turn your hair green and curl your toe nails**) :LOL: )
With my wife out of town in England am going to look at a replacement truck tonight - an '05 F250 diesel so I can pull my camper better (poor excuse is better then none:whacked: ). The '01 F150/ 5.4 suffers in the local mountains after an F350/460cid

EDIT: Not the truck I'll own. The previous owner must have sucked on a cigarette with the windows up for every one of its 15000 miles - it reeks (not just smell, REEK)

Hey Dave,

Was just looking at your interior pics again and had a couple of questions that are somewhat related.....since I'm putting the MC back under the floor and also putting a Lokar shifter on the floor, how big a hole do I need for the shifter? It's the trans-mount 23" Lokar and the instrustions do not address the size hole needed. I assume it will need to be big enough to remove the shifter part of the mechanism if I ever have to pull the tranny again. I guess it will also depend on what size shifter boot I get......any thoughts?

Also, did you make your console or buy it like that?

Where do you intend to put your gas pedal and brake pedal in relation to where your steering column goes through the floor?

Oh, and how ya been? We haven't chatted for a few days....LOL! I've been busy fitting my new floor. It's requiring a little trimming here and there and my brake pedal is going to need some modification to clear the big block firewall. Getting the last section of the trans cover to fit is going to be the great challenge after trimming the toe boards. I'm a little concerned about having enough room for the gas pedal next to the brake pedal. If I had really big feet, it would be even more worrysome I think....

Anyway, hope all is well on your end.

Randy

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Originally Posted by randyr

Hey Dave,

Was just looking at your interior pics again and had a couple of questions that are somewhat related.....since I'm putting the MC back under the floor and also putting a Lokar shifter on the floor, how big a hole do I need for the shifter? It's the trans-mount 23" Lokar and the instrustions do not address the size hole needed. I assume it will need to be big enough to remove the shifter part of the mechanism if I ever have to pull the tranny again. I guess it will also depend on what size shifter boot I get......any thoughts?

Also, did you make your console or buy it like that?

Where do you intend to put your gas pedal and brake pedal in relation to where your steering column goes through the floor?

Oh, and how ya been? We haven't chatted for a few days....LOL! I've been busy fitting my new floor. It's requiring a little trimming here and there and my brake pedal is going to need some modification to clear the big block firewall. Getting the last section of the trans cover to fit is going to be the great challenge after trimming the toe boards. I'm a little concerned about having enough room for the gas pedal next to the brake pedal. If I had really big feet, it would be even more worrysome I think....

Anyway, hope all is well on your end.

Randy

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Sounds like you have been busy - as I have. With owning a pretty good size house and on a fairly large lot, plus a pickup truck that is getting a bit along in age, I'm busy - then there is my hobby car:HMMM: . Spring raking and cleaning the yard, a brake job on my truck (started making noises on the way home from looking at the one mentioned above) just to make life interesting. My wife got back from England and I had to at least clean the worst of my mess in the house up before she got here. So, all is fine here (or should I say normal) and hope you are doing well.

OK - with the floorboard hole hole for the shifter - if you know which bolt holes on the gold colored plate it will be finally mounted (may need the seats in) you have to start out with a center line of the shifter assembly and carefully measure it up. The actual hole for mine is is quite small, 3.250 long by 3.50 wide. See the photo (you will also get a chance to see some of my welds BEFORE I took a short course). The cheaper Lokar boot is too small to fit well. This entire process is touchy as centerlines are kinda tough to define.
The e-brake hole is that oblong hole next to the shifter hole

The console was made up of 3/8" tubing and some sheet metal and some ABS plastic, then covered with the interior upholstery. The front cover metal has cutouts for a JVC stereo, an AC/heat vent and their controls. I bracketed it to the floor - see the channel just behind the shifter hole and to the dash. This console is not done yet - the covering still needs some finishing and the accessory holes trimmed out.

The gas pedal is fairly close to the steering column with the top of the pedal bell crank being generally in line with the Edelbrock carb. Foot room is at a premium and my size 12's are........

I did have to modify the brake pedal using my torch, a vise, hammer and crescent wrenches. This was a TCI error - wrong pedal arm but close enough to be made to fit with some judicious gas wrench help.

Hope this is some help to you.

Later

Dave, thanks for the pics of the console. Now that I have a welder, maybe I'll try my hand at something like that. There's also an ABS plastic place not too far from me too.

I finished fitting my floors today and started welding until I ran out of wire. I was still using the little spool that came with the welder. I'm set up with the argon now, too, but haven't started using it yet. I've cleaned the body flanges that the new floor attaches to but they still aren't all that clean so I thought the standard no-gas might work better for dirtier metal. I'm going to use gas around the firewall though. That needs to look really good. I'm really stoked about the new floors though. I think I did a pretty decent job of fitting them and can't wait to get them all welded up. I probably exceeded my grinding & cutting limit today in the noise polution department. Fortunately, there was only one person home on the back side of my apartment building today.... she's 87 and hard of hearing. I still like to be considerate by not making too much noise for too long of a time. I often roll the car back in the garage and shut the door to minimize the noise.

Anyway, hopefully I can take a couple of pics of my progress tomorrow.

I know what you mean about having too many things to fix. At least I don't have a lawn to mow so that's one thing off my list.

R2

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Originally Posted by randyr

I finished fitting my floors today and started welding until I ran out of wire. I was still using the little spool that came with the welder. I'm set up with the argon now, too, but haven't started using it yet. I've cleaned the body flanges that the new floor attaches to but they still aren't all that clean so I thought the standard no-gas might work better for dirtier metal. I'm going to use gas around the firewall though.
Anyway, hopefully I can take a couple of pics of my progress tomorrow.

I know what you mean about having too many things to fix. At least I don't have a lawn to mow so that's one thing off my list.

R2

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You are right with the kinda dirty metal with no gas though I would still use MIG/gas combo on the fire wall. Gas (acetylene) welding puts way too much heat in the steel and causes a lot of warping - then you will be spending a bunch of time shrinking the metal plus hammer and dolly work. You can run .5 to 1.0 inch stitch welds with the MIG by going from one side, doing a couple of welds 4-6 inches apart then going to the other side.

(Don't forget to change the polarity when you switch to MIG w/argon)

Looking forward to seeing some pictures.

Back to my yard work before some more April showers. Sigh....
Dave

[QUOTE=Irelands child]You are right with the kinda dirty metal with no gas though I would still use MIG/gas combo on the fire wall. Gas (acetylene) welding puts way too much heat in the steel and causes a lot of warping - then you will be spending a bunch of time shrinking the metal plus hammer and dolly work. You can run .5 to 1.0 inch stitch welds with the MIG by going from one side, doing a couple of welds 4-6 inches apart then going to the other side.

(Don't forget to change the polarity when you switch to MIG w/argon)


Yeah, I will definitely use the mig/gas combo on the firewall. Direct Sheetmetal's instructions recommend welding through the 5/16" holes I drilled for removing the spot welds of the old firewall then doing the "stitch weld around the edges to finish it off, rotating from one side of the car to the other to minimize heat/warpage, etc.

I'm lovin this! How did I make it all these years without a welder? :3dSMILE:

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Originally Posted by randyr

[
I'm lovin this! How did I make it all these years without a welder? :3dSMILE:

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I have welded 'stuff' that I would have thrown away, BW (before welder)
My guess is that I have gone thru 20 rolls of wire and 15 bottles of gas (they are ~1:1). The only reason I never went to the big rolls is that ratio. Word of warning, turn the gas off if you aren't welding, even for 15 minutes - you would be amazed as to how fast it can leak down - and they all do it.

Gotta get back to raking - supposed to rain tonight and need to at least clean up my piles of leaves. The nutso across the street piles her leaves for squirrel beds (I've counted over of the 25 tree rats at one time there) and just to make sure that the rest of the neighborhood gets plenty of spring exercise cleaning up what has blown away. I'm downwind so get most of them - and she refuses to rake hers up until early summer :CRY: :CRY: .

Amazing how few others chime in tho we have had over 1400 views on this thread.

Dave

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Originally Posted by Irelands child

I have welded 'stuff' that I would have thrown away, BW (before welder)
My guess is that I have gone thru 20 rolls of wire and 15 bottles of gas (they are ~1:1). The only reason I never went to the big rolls is that ratio. Word of warning, turn the gas off if you aren't welding, even for 15 minutes - you would be amazed as to how fast it can leak down - and they all do it.


Amazing how few others chime in tho we have had over 1400 views on this thread.

Dave

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Yes, I've heard that about turning off the gas. My bottle is kinda small so I will have to watch that carefully or I'll run out way too fast.

You're right, it is pretty amazing......1400 views seems like a lot.....maybe they get bored with our babble between the car stuff....:LOL: but hey, I still enjoy it! plus I'm learning stuff in the process.

I probably should have documented my floorboard replacement more carefully but I guess I just get too involved in the process to stop and snap a photo.....it'll be more like a before/after story....:3dSMILE:

I've shown you the before/after pics of my firewall in previous posts. Here's the before and after of my trans mount. In the before pic, when my dad & I originally built the car, we cut out enough of the x to get the c4 trans thru it then created a mounting bracket.....the trans mount slid into the slots, then a steel plate was drilled and bolted to the trans and to the mounting plate to hold it secure. It wasn't much to look at and I don't think it was really all that strong, but I drove it that way for 80K miles....:)


The new one give more room and is much stronger. I also beefed up the brackets that run from the x-member to the frame rails by welding a 1"x 1/8 strap around the perimeter of the top and x-member side, then redrilled the holes. It stiffened it up considerably. I failed to take a pic of that. I've painted the frame since these pics and got so anxious to get the floor in that I covered up before taking a picture of it from the top....oh well....

Will get some better pics of the floor in a day or so.....

Good solid looking frame, Randy. All those holes that Ford put in it, mostly, if my recollection is correct, for the original mechanical brakes and their various brackets. I suspect that most of the cracks you had to fix were caused directly or indirectly from stress. Next major with a body-off in another 20 years or so you can fill them in and do a frame box :LOL: :LOL:

Have you considered a journal to post your pictures? I started one but each photo had to be sized correctly and loaded individually and is a time eater so have not kept it up. I do intend on eventually updating it for "posterity".

Crummy wet weather, but warm, relatively speaking, for a Californian today so will be a "car day" rather then a yard ( I've told my wife that the next house will be in a former hay field rather then the woods :whacked: )
Dave

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Originally Posted by Irelands child

Good solid looking frame, Randy. All those holes that Ford put in it, mostly, if my recollection is correct, for the original mechanical brakes and their various brackets. I suspect that most of the cracks you had to fix were caused directly or indirectly from stress. Next major with a body-off in another 20 years or so you can fill them in and do a frame box :LOL: :LOL:

Have you considered a journal to post your pictures? I started one but each photo had to be sized correctly and loaded individually and is a time eater so have not kept it up. I do intend on eventually updating it for "posterity".

Crummy wet weather, but warm, relatively speaking, for a Californian today so will be a "car day" rather then a yard ( I've told my wife that the next house will be in a former hay field rather then the woods :whacked: )
Dave

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Thanks Dave, the frame looks much better now that it's painted. There are a lot of extraneous holes, some from the previous trans mount, some from exhaust brackets, some from the factory, some from what seemed to be logical choices at the time...etc...It will definitely never be a "show car" frame but as long as it's safe & decent looking, I'll be okay with it for a while. My dad & I did a body-off build on the car when we first built it. The next time the body comes off will be to set it on a nice new TCI chassis! But who knows when that will be??? :rolleyes: They may have outlawed streetrods by then!!!:CRY:

I've been trying to take pics when I can. I have considered posting them in a journal but just haven't done it yet. When I download them from my camera, I size them for emailing purposes. Don't know if that's the right size for the journal site or not but hopefully will check it out soon.

Be thankful for the rain. It gives you a chance to play with your car:D . It's supposed to be 80 and sunny here today but we're currently under a "marine layer", west coast terminology for "clouds". It should burn off by noonish. It's not always sunny in SoCal, much to my dismay!:LOL:

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Originally Posted by Irelands child

OK - with the floorboard hole hole for the shifter - if you know which bolt holes on the gold colored plate it will be finally mounted (may need the seats in) you have to start out with a center line of the shifter assembly and carefully measure it up. The actual hole for mine is is quite small, 3.250 long by 3.50 wide. See the photo (you will also get a chance to see some of my welds BEFORE I took a short course). The cheaper Lokar boot is too small to fit well. This entire process is touchy as centerlines are kinda tough to define.
The e-brake hole is that oblong hole next to the shifter hole

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I also posed the same question about hole size for the shifter to Lokar....they just responded with the recommendation of using a 4" hole saw to cut the hole for the shifter. I don't know if I've seen a hole saw that big:HMMM: I guess it mostly depends on the type of shifter boot I decide on.....

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Originally Posted by randyr

I also posed the same question about hole size for the shifter to Lokar....they just responded with the recommendation of using a 4" hole saw to cut the hole for the shifter. I don't know if I've seen a hole saw that big:HMMM: I guess it mostly depends on the type of shifter boot I decide on.....

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That will work - you will just have to square it off with metal trimmers (if necessary).
This is what you need - 4" hole saw, an arbor to mount it on and a Jilson Metal Shear (http://www.jilson.com/shears.htm).

You can buy the hole saw and arbor from McMaster Carr
( http://www.mcmaster.com/) and the shear from Eastwood though I paid a lot less from someone else (
http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?i...emType=PRODUCT)

McMaster-Carr has all kinds of good stuff - my orders get to me overnight as yours probably would as they have a warehouse in LA. They ship at cost. Lots of good fasteners and other misc. hardware - much better then Home Despot or Lowes and equivalent or better then Fastenal.

Dave

Hey Dave,
I finished welding the new floor.....here's some pics.....overall I was pretty happy with and and once I prime & paint it, it'll look much better. I'll seal all the seams with a good body sealer after I prime. Of course, then I'll cover it all up with Dynamat or something....LOL. I still have to drill the holes for the various body-to-frame mounts throughout the floor but that won't be a big deal. I know where they go.

I switched to mig/gas yesterday and started welding the firewall. That's a whole different experience. The guy at the gas shop suggested running the gas at 22lbs of pressure for welding indoors. I've welded the entire firewall, including the bead around the edge and I'm out of gas now. It seems like it went pretty quickly but it's a pretty small bottle. I have some grinding a prepping to do in finishing up but I think it's going to look pretty good.....a far cry better than the butchered firewall that was in there :3dSMILE:

Crap! It didn't give me a chance to attach the pics :whacked: ......here they are...

Sorry, those are crappy pics!!! Will take some better ones and repost. Don't pay any attention to the big bowl of spagetti wiring. It didn't look anything like that before I started tearing things out but I've left things sorta hooked up until I start re-wiring.....

Randy
Ya caught me coming out from under my truck. Maintenance time - oil and filters then on to more '31 body work. The body work is extermely dusty, with the sanding of fillers and paints that it takes some effort to get into the process. I do not envy a pro body man

The floor looks very nice, and you are making great progress - need some sauce with that spaghetti tho. Welding with gas is a whole lot better way to go - no splatter, and really easier.

For seam sealer, 3M has some brushable stuff (expensive) that works nicely. Make sure you use it with plenty of fresh air - it can put you in la-la land for a while and it wasn't even fun getting that way.

I'm using some Dyna-Mat but only to stop resonances from doors and quarter panels. I'm also using a ceramic foil backed material that I bought from Juliano's and a synthertic rug underlayment material rather then the usual jute pad. This is the stuff I have and will also use it for fender protection from rocks. http://www.foambymail.com/Volara.html. Take a look at this - a lot cheaper then Dyna-Mat as well as a lot lighter.

Randy

Got my replacement hood sides from Rootlieb - and of course they were the wrong ones so back they went and, hopefully, the right ones are enroute. I had ordered plain sides, no louvers, no hardware or hardware holes. They sent stock Model A hood sides with the great long ugly OEM louvers. Should have the replacements for the replacements Monday or Tuesday.

The trunk lid, rear fenders and a few other assorted pieces are now straight, smooth and lump free waiting some polyester primer and final 600 grit sanding. headway is s-l-o-o-o-w but at least there is some. I'm glad that I'm not trying to make a living doing this kind of work:HMMM:

How are you making out with seam sealing and final welding in of the firewall?

Dave

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Originally Posted by Irelands child

Randy

Got my replacement hood sides from Rootlieb - and of course they were the wrong ones so back they went and, hopefully, the right ones are enroute. I had ordered plain sides, no louvers, no hardware or hardware holes. They sent stock Model A hood sides with the great long ugly OEM louvers. Should have the replacements for the replacements Monday or Tuesday.

The trunk lid, rear fenders and a few other assorted pieces are now straight, smooth and lump free waiting some polyester primer and final 600 grit sanding. headway is s-l-o-o-o-w but at least there is some. I'm glad that I'm not trying to make a living doing this kind of work:HMMM:

How are you making out with seam sealing and final welding in of the firewall?

Dave

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Hey Dave,
Sorry about the hood sides. That's always a drag when they don't get your order right, especially when you try so hard to make it clear what you want. When you get the right ones, I do hope you've learned your lesson about where to put them when cleaning out the garage....:eek: :D

I've been sidetracked from my car for the last few days working on other projects. I think I mentioned that I got most of the welding done on the firewall using the argon mix. I'm anxious to get it ground down and smoothed out. I ran out of argon rather quickly it seemed.....they recommended about 22lbs of pressure for welding indoors. I shut the valve off when I wasn't welding. It's not that expensive though, so I'll get some more.

I know what you mean about the sloooowww headway....LOL.....we'd be ok if we charged by the hour but it'd really suck to be the one paying us by the hour!

Hopefully will have some progress to report by the first of the week.....
Randy

Randy,
What size gas bottle did you get - the biggest I could buy was a 40cf but I know that a 20cf is available as well. The 20's don't last but about 30 minutes or less and the 40's about an hour.

I, for sure, do understand the "other projects" deal. It's spring here after a normal winter of rain, snow, cold, etc and the stack of "honey-do's" is long.

My honey is calling to do something.

Later,
Dave

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Originally Posted by Irelands child

Randy,
What size gas bottle did you get - the biggest I could buy was a 40cf but I know that a 20cf is available as well. The 20's don't last but about 30 minutes or less and the 40's about an hour.

I, for sure, do understand the "other projects" deal. It's spring here after a normal winter of rain, snow, cold, etc and the stack of "honey-do's" is long.

My honey is calling to do something.

Later,
Dave

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I think mine is a 20cf. It was an extra bottle that came with a small acetelyne welder/torch that I bought a while back. I just attached my mig guages & filled it up. It was brand new. I guess 30 min. is about right. That's probably how long I had it on...maybe a little longer.

Did you notice we're up over 1700 views? Who knew??

Enjoy your "honey-do's"......it also comes in melon form, which is often easier to digest...:LOL:

Randy,
Got my replacement - replacement hood sides today. A bit of surface rust but this time are correct 'as ordered'. Now I've got to go prime them if not too hot in my garage - from snow to 85+ degrees in 10 days and 89 in the garage.

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Originally Posted by Irelands child

Randy,
Got my replacement - replacement hood sides today. A bit of surface rust but this time are correct 'as ordered'. Now I've got to go prime them if not too hot in my garage - from snow to 85+ degrees in 10 days and 89 in the garage.

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Hey Dave,

Congrats on getting the right hood sides. Is 89 degrees too hot for the primer or just too hot for you? LOL...

I finally got to do some work on my car today. I fitted and welded the firewall extensions and the cowl vent filler piece. They turned out pretty good I think though I still have a few things to learn about welding. They used to have auto shop/welding classes at Santa Monica College around the corner from me but they closed their auto shop program a few years ago. I gotta find a class before I tackle something that's going to be really visible. A skim coat of good filler will take care of any of my imperfections so far though and I'm okay with that.

Tomorrow, I hope to prime and seal the floors and depending on how long it takes the sealer to cure, maybe get a coat of paint on them.

There's also a nice little car show in Culver City tomorrow (about 2 miles from me) that I'll have to drop by for a while. They'll have over 400 cars and most of them are really nice.....streetrods, hotrods, customs, etc. It's an annual event.

Here's a quick shot of my firewall extentions.....they look much better than the pic....the light reflects funny off the grinding I did......more later.

Randy

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Originally Posted by randyr

Hey Dave,

Congrats on getting the right hood sides. Is 89 degrees too hot for the primer or just too hot for you? LOL...
........................
Here's a quick shot of my firewall extentions.....they look much better than the pic....the light reflects funny off the grinding I did......more later.

Randy

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Hi Randy,
Been busy, as usual but am slowly getting everything ready for some more base epoxy primer then polyester heavy fill primer, possibly today, but more likely tomorrow - some honey-dos need to be attended to before playing with my toys.

In this part of the country 89 degrees at this time of year along with high humidity and no breeze is beyond oppressive in my shop/garage.**) :CRY:

If you are priming - are you using an epoxy? you are in a high humidity area as well and all the protection you can get is the way to go.

The firewall looks great - the welds seem fine by photo as long as you do't overgrind like I have a tendency to do so they end up cracking and then I need to redo them. Taking a picture that looks good of a weld after grinding can be a study in futility - the grind marks reflect light in strange directions.

I haven't been to a car show yet tho there usually are some small local ones by now but really haven't seen any advertised. Probably first that I'll be going to will most likely be the NSRA East Nationals at York, PA, 6/1-6/3. They have between 4 and 6000 cars, depending on the gas prices, we just reached $2.999/3.059 a gallon, and weather. I'm selling surplus treasures again at their swap meet, but this year is really only a good excuse to park inside with my truck as I am almost out of all I want to get rid of for now.

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Originally Posted by Irelands child

In this part of the country 89 degrees at this time of year along with high humidity and no breeze is beyond oppressive in my shop/garage.**) :CRY:

If you are priming - are you using an epoxy? you are in a high humidity area as well and all the protection you can get is the way to go.

The firewall looks great - the welds seem fine by photo as long as you do't overgrind like I have a tendency to do so they end up cracking and then I need to redo them.
I haven't been to a car show yet tho there usually are some small local ones by now but really haven't seen any advertised. Probably first that I'll be going to will most likely be the NSRA East Nationals at York, PA, 6/1-6/3. They have between 4 and 6000 cars, depending on the gas prices, we just reached $2.999/3.059 a gallon, and weather.

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Believe me, I know about heat & humidity....I'm originally from Oklahoma where the summers are often 100-110* plus the humidity! It's like Thailand with a drawl! LOL!

Thanks for the firewall comments. Hopefully, I didn't overgrind. I think I may have overwelded so there was plenty to grind...LOL! I see the articles in the car magazines where they weld a seam together, grind it down and it hardly needs any filler. Speaking of filler, I've ordered a quart of Evercoat Metal 2 Metal filler for these areas around the firewall & cowl. I read good reviews for it. What do you use? As for the primer, I wish I could use the epoxy, but unless it comes in a spray can, I can't really use it since I don't have a spray rig. I got a high quality self-etching primer from the autobody supply store that will have to do for now. Just figured I'd paint the underside with a high quality chassis paint. I've considered painting the inside floors with Rust Bullet or POR15 before covering them with Dynamat. Any thoughts on that?

I'll look for that "brushable" seam sealer today that you suggested. I had one tube of 3m's seam sealer that's applied with a caulking gun. I used it successfully in most places on the underside but the snout on the tube wasn't quite long enough to get the areas where the seam is right over the frame. I think I can get in there with a brush.

The Culver City car show didn't seem as impressive as last year. Perhaps it's because there weren't any cars like mine & I wanted to compare notes...lol
There were a few streetrods, though, lots of 60's-70's muscle cars, which are all the rage now, some low-riders, pro-streeters, kit cars, and rat rods. There was also an obnoxious amount of 50's music blasting thru tinney speakers hoisted up on stands all along the sidewalks! It was driving me nuts! LOL!

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Originally Posted by randyr

Believe me, I know about heat & humidity....I'm originally from Oklahoma where the summers are often 100-110* plus the humidity! It's like Thailand with a drawl! LOL!

Thanks for the firewall comments. Hopefully, I didn't overgrind. I think I may have overwelded so there was plenty to grind...LOL! I see the articles in the car magazines where they weld a seam together, grind it down and it hardly needs any filler. Speaking of filler, I've ordered a quart of Evercoat Metal 2 Metal filler for these areas around the firewall & cowl. I read good reviews for it. What do you use? As for the primer, I wish I could use the epoxy, but unless it comes in a spray can, I can't really use it since I don't have a spray rig. I got a high quality self-etching primer from the autobody supply store that will have to do for now. Just figured I'd paint the underside with a high quality chassis paint. I've considered painting the inside floors with Rust Bullet or POR15 before covering them with Dynamat. Any thoughts on that?

I'll look for that "brushable" seam sealer today that you suggested. I had one tube of 3m's seam sealer that's applied with a caulking gun. I used it successfully in most places on the underside but the snout on the tube wasn't quite long enough to get the areas where the seam is right over the frame. I think I can get in there with a brush.

The Culver City car show didn't seem as impressive as last year. Perhaps it's because there weren't any cars like mine & I wanted to compare notes...lol
There were a few streetrods, though, lots of 60's-70's muscle cars, which are all the rage now, some low-riders, pro-streeters, kit cars, and rat rods. There was also an obnoxious amount of 50's music blasting thru tinney speakers hoisted up on stands all along the sidewalks! It was driving me nuts! LOL!

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Thankfully the temps have retreated for a while here - as a matter of fact it was below freezing a few miles North of me this morning, but only 39 here and going to about 72 or so today. Oklahoma - been there often - one of my turbine customers was Phillips Petroleum. A nice place, but really don't want to live there.

Most of the Evercoat products are pretty good. I'm using their Rage filler right now and eventually would like to try the Extreme.

Don't you have a small compressor? If so, then all you need is a cheapy spray gun from Harbor Freight to spray epoxy primer. My favorite is Southern Polyurethane but DuPont's Nason line is fine tho the Nason paint line leaves something to be desired. A note, self etching primer like DuPont's Variprime is NOT waterproof. It's a tie coat to their acryllic enamel paints like Centari and is considered old technology. Here care a couple of threads from another site:

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/my-t...ight=Variprime

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/fill...ight=Variprime

These and other similar were very educational for me as my technogy base was way dated. And you might even see my 'name' there as well!!:whacked:

POR-15 and Rust Bullet have their place but really work best over some surface rust and do degrade unless top coated with their sealer. I had put some POR-15 on the rolled lip on the underside of my rear fenders and on the body reinforcing. Most of it simply peeled off when I sanded them for epoxy.

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/anot...ghlight=POR-15

Car shows are interesting - and an "open" show even more so as people park where they want - a '30's rod parked next to a '73 Mustang parked next to a sporty car. All you can do is wander and hope you see something that interests you. While I like a lot of the '50 - '70's music, eardrum shredding and tinny don't do it for me. Let the people enjoy talking without shouting. I have the same problem in Home Desperate and Lowes and even local department and grocery stores. Some of the modern music is dreadful, played too loud and many of the artistes seem to feel that shreiking the lyrics is better:eek: .

Later,

Hey Dave,
I inquired on the tech line of Southern Polyurethane about their epoxy primer. He said the self-etching primer should come off before applying epoxy. It may be fine in the short run but he couldn't speak to how long it may last but leaving it and shooting the epoxy over it.

I have a small compressor but would certainly need a low-volume spray guy to minimize overspray, etc, giving my garage situation. Doesn't epoxy require a special respirator as well?

How's it going with your hood sides, etc? Are you shooting paint yet?

Can you believe this thing is now over 1900 views???

Randy