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We have been working on mounting the shocks and muffler and fuel pump and filters.
I decided to mount the shocks in front of the half shafts so to keep the rear view as clean looking as possible.
The second shot is that tunnel I showed in the beginning. That allows the bar to be mounted close to the bottom of the frame so nothing is hanging down. As the suspension goes threw its travel it won't hit the bottom of the frame. It will go up inside the frame.
Ken
I had a local muffler company make me a single muffler with 3" inlets and outlets. It seems the mufflers always wind up under neath the passenger area and generate so much interior heat. Even with the good insulation that is out there. So this car I decided to use a single muffler and mount it behind the drivers compartment. Hopefully it will be easier to insulate the heat.
We made this fuel pump filter all in one deal to try and make a small package for the fuel delivery system. It's completely self contained. Inside is a 100 micron filter on the inlet side and a 10 micron on the outlet side.
Ken
I just had to say nice cars, garage, and the work you are doing is really fine, if I had the bucks I would be inline to buy your next finished roadster. I was at the street rod nats, in Columbus in the late 80's spotted a black 32 fender less big motor, big tires, top like yours, been dreaming ever since. Now I have to go back and follow from the begining. 1992 or 1993 at the street rod nats in Columbus I missed the give away car by one number, I had 1095 but I didn't hear the other number, I thought I won the 32 full fendered roadster. When the guy asked me {where you from Lyle}? I knew something was wrong. "What's the old saying about somethings making you stronger" didn't make me stronger but I got through it until hear {1095}.
The garage is really, really nice.
P.S. Forgive me for calling your super clean shop/design studio a garage. I was looking at dream garages and should not have referred to your place as a garage. I've been in Hospital's that didn't look as clean.
ford2custom
Great looking pump and filter, Ken!!!!
I can't tell on my cpu but what is that fuel pump containment made of? That is a great little invention it looks like to me. I would like to have one.
FORD2CUSTOM-Thanks, very nice of you, I wanted a place like this to work and finally was able to build it.
Dave-Thanks, there wasn't anything out there that I could find that was easy to mount and self contained.
Brickman-When we come up with something new we make a technical drawing then have a model of it produced on a SLA machine. I'm probably saying this wrong but it's like a printer that uses plastic instead of ink. So it just keeps putting layer after layer of plastic down that matches your drawing. I think it stands for stereo lithography something :o. But what it doese for us is instead of whittling it out of a piece of aluminum we can have this in a matter of a few hours and test it to make sure all the clearances are correct. With this model, since it really doesn't have to be structural we can actually use it and check it's performance.
Ken
Here is what has gotten done since the last post. I've been trying to wrap up several things at once. There has been a lot of jumping around. I am using the G.M. off road computer and wiring harness for the engine. So the computer is mounted under the dash along with the fly by wire throttle and the fuse panel. I decided to put it there just to keep the wiring harness short and use up the remaining space under the dash. Everything will be covered so when you look up under there you won't see anything, I will show you later how this will be done.
Ken
The other thing that needs to be finished up is the seat frame and seat riser. All of this is made out of sheet metal and tubing. I have learned over the years this works out best for me to do it this way. It's very time consuming, but this way you can design the interior as you go along. The other reason I use steel for all the door panels and kick panels is that I got caught in a rain storm in Kansas once and ruined my interior because all the panels absorbed the water then warp all over the place, never again. Once all the panels are made and the seat and riser is done I have them powder coated before I give them to the upholstery shop.
Of all the good things that the Dearborn Deuce body has going for it there is one area that really is poorly done (my opinion only). There is a collapsible bar that is very intrusive to the interior. This bar is what locks the top open and against the tulip panel when it is being used. If you use there system you loose about 4" of width in the car, right where you need it the most. I have removed mine and made them a piece that is installed just when the top is up, it's a strut instead of this collapsible strut. This way it is removed and the top is folded down and completely eliminated from the interior.
Now, when I put the top up or down I just flip up the tulip panel, move the seat back forward on it's hinges and raise or lower the top. Everything is hidden and looks like a regular interior. :D
Ken
Wow Ken you do beautiful work. I really enjoy your posts while you are doing this build. Real interesting how you go about solving the problems that always seem to come up.......Bob
Nice Ken. I've missed this thread when it stated. Your going to need a bigger garage pretty soon it you keep this up. I will be down your way next month for a wedding, and still would love to see the truck in person! Steve.
Looks really nice Ken!!! As always, very well thought out and gorgeous craftsmanship!!!!
Ken, you set the standard for exceptional craftsmanship. Beautiful work!
Bob-Thanks, the problems keep it interesting for me.
Steve-Let me know when you are coming here, I will give you my cell number and I'll take you to lunch in it. Another magazine shot it Friday for a feature. They did everything except take it apart, they must of taken 300 photo's. Should come out in July's issue.
Dave-Thanks, it's getting closer.
Techinspector1-Thank you, I'm glad you like it.
One of the things I have been working on is a new hood release system.I thought of the idea when I was building my red roadster. I think all the systems out there are good, but to me they are to bulky. I wanted something that when I ran the car with out the side panels or with out the hood it would look nice and not show a big mechanism. So I started with with some 5/8 S.S. tubing and built everything inside the tubing, so all you would see is 2 polished rods going from the firewall to the grill shell. So I did that and it worked really well, so this car I'm going to take it one step further and make previsions for the side panels to be released from this same rod with there own release mechanism, and make all the hinge mounts removable.
Ken
Beautiful work, Ken. I'm enjoying your build. Your ideas are educational and inspirational.:)
I have a couple of questions on your hood mechanism. On my coupe, I used 3/4" square tubing and a toolbox latch up underneath for each side. It holds the hood tops (stock model-A with lower edges trimmed) down fine and is invisible when closed, but if I put hood sides on it, I can't access the latches.:HMMM: I see that your mechanism is basically a tube inside a tube. My questions are (1) how do you keep the inner and outer tubes indexed so the holes stay in line and (2) how will you actuate it? Will you have cables that run inside the car somewhere?:confused:
Somehow I have been missing your updates Ken, not sure how, but I did.:confused: Gotta say WOW!!!!!! Car is really shaping up to be something very special, so many little details to look at. Fascinating thread for sure. :)
Don
Great looking release and latch mechanism Ken.... Sure does get a lot of the ugliness out from under the hood! Hope those will be going on the market soon, light years ahead in styling and function compared to the stuff that's out there now!!!!
J. Robinson-Thank you. It's really a machined piece of solid bar inside the tubing that is slotted and notched. If you look at the photo's below you can see little holes drilled in the ends. This will have a roll pin in it that indexes all the slots inside. I put Teflon sleeves inside the tubing so that it works smoothly. Then there are 2 springs inside that the solid bar rest against. One in the front and one in the rear. So when you push on the lever inside the car it releases the side panels and when you pull it it releases the hood mechanism.
If you look at the drawing again you will see a offset in the tubing. This is for a stock fire wall (for my sedan) to mount in the right location.
Again with a LS7 and my firewall being the dry sump tank I can't put any holes in my firewall to mount anything. That's why I'm using a fly by wire throttle. But if you go back to some of my photo's you can see heads of bolts and all kinds of things mounted to it, that's possible because there is actually 3 firewalls in this thing. If I haven't explained this well just ask again.
Don-I thought you were mad at me :LOL: I read almost every post on this site when I have time, and amazed at what everyone is doing I just don't post enough. Thanks. for your response. I wanted to ask you, on your sons car did you put a front track locating bar on it? I could go back and look at the build but I'm to lazy?
Dave-Thanks, the problem with the things I come up with would be so expensive to produce nobody would pay for it. I make $4.50 an hour so it doesn't matter how long it takes me :LOL:
Ken
Wow!!!! You're all the way up to $4.50/hr. on your own stuff???? Think I'm still stuck on about $1.85..... I do know what you mean though.... at the standard shop rate for this area I'd have about $15,000.00 in the Camaro so far, and the Ranchero would be almost double that!!!! But hey, it's still fun so it doesn't matter, right?????
Ken,
Very nice hood latch system - I have been trying to figure out how to hold my hood tops down when I am not running with the sides on - (and I really dislike the standard "A" thru '32 latches). I considered bungee cords but thought that tacky even for us East Coasters
Nice Ken. Very high quality workmanship.
That latch system is ingenious, I believe I'd try to put a patent on it before someone else does.
I'm with ntfday, pretty awesome engineering, should have your name on it. It is truely a joy to watch how it's done by some of the best on the planet, we are truely blessed around here.
I see your truck is in a photo studio, will it be in an upcoming rag?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Thurm
Well, I am kind of upset that you have all these beautiful '32's and I don't, but that is another story altogether! :LOL: :LOL:
No, Dan decided that he is not going to go with cross steering, so he nixed the panhard. Biggest reason is that he has a complete Pete and Jakes chrome front end sitting to install, and can't weld any bracketry to it. He is going to use a Flaming River box like I and Don have on our cars.
Ken, your car is outstanding, as are all of your builds. The intricate nature of every bracket and part is just so nice to see. It must be something in the water, because you California rodders really go the extra mile to do things so well. When I lived in SoCal I went to a few cruises and shows, and the level of workmanship done out there is jaw dropping.
I can't wait for every update you do, so don't keep us hanging so long!! :) :)
Don
PS, I know what you mean about not being able to charge enough for some of this stuff to make any money at it. Dan has gotten a few PM's from people wanting him to build them a set of nerf bars, but it takes us about 12 hours to do one, or more, so how much could you charge and make it worthwhile????? I even came up with a name for them.......Smerfs Nerfs. I told him we could start calling him Smerf....he didn't see the humor in it.
Fantastic build Ken. I only have one question though. Where is the building where you pile all of your junk? Anyone that builds cars has a massive amount of stuff they know that they will use someday. My basement is full and the only time my shop was that clean was when it was new.
That truck is beautiful too. Keep up the great work.
Tom
Dave-I'm having the time of my life, I just wish I wasn't so old.
Rickomatic-Thanks, I just wish it would go faster.
NTFDAY-Brickman-Thanks, being on this site and showing this to the world makes things come out a little better also :LOL: It's going in Street Rodder
Don-Thanks Don, let me tell you, you and your sons have nothing to hide. you guys have some very nice stuff. There are a lot of nice cars on this site, I wouldn't so this anywhere else. Still waiting for my photo's :rolleyes:
This is what people don't realize sometimes. Last month I went to India and to Thailand to check on some business. So I took the drawings of the hood release with me, just to see if it was marketable with the cost for tooling and manufacturing. The tooling was between $16,000 and $20,000. With machining polishing, chroming, and parts it would cost me about $160.00. Now with insurance, freight, amortizing the cost of tooling, and all the rest of the SGA associated with business, have a dealer price in there it would have to retail for about $500.00 to $550.00. You can buy Dan Finks for $325.00. I don't think I could sell enough to recover. Granted the cost could be dropped once the tooling was paid for.
39Deluxe-I have a room at work where extra parts are. Your right it just accumulates. That's why I do renderings now to help stop changing my mind.
This is the panel under my dash. It's not finished but I wanted to show this so you can see how easy it is to hide ugly parts. The air conditioning ducts will be in there and the final firewall will slip in behind this coming up from the floor. There will be 3 separate area's were their will be insulation installed in the firewall. The access heat from the dry sump tank and engine (no louvers in the hood) should be kept out so the air conditioner should keep the car cool in the summer heat. I hope :rolleyes:
Ken
Ken. sorry, I figured you downloaded some of the pictures I posted up here. I am emailing some right now. :) :)
Don
Thanks for the explanation on the latch system. Your enginuity is amazing.
With the proliferation of Rod Bods and Brookville bodies and Speedway Motors kit cars, Deuce roadsters are becoming almost commonplace. There are so many satin or flat black with red wheels and 350/350's here in Florida that I want to scream when I see one.:whacked: Your cars, though, are loaded with details and original ideas. I am really ejoying this build. Unfortunately, you are doing such a good job of hiding everything that most who see the finished product won't know what all you've done!:rolleyes:
Beautiful stuff; keep it coming!:D
Hey Don, can you imagine what would happen if Ken teamed up with your son, Dan?:LOL: :LOL:
Ken, one angle on the hood mechanism is to apply for the patent and then just license the patent to one or more of the Rod Bod companies and let them cope with the tooling costs.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
Don-Thanks, I really like that rear 3/4 shot.
J. Robinson- Thanks for your comments, I always think if you can design something that looks so simple that when people don't notice, or, they just can't figure out how it works, then I have done a good job.
Don- That's a good idea, I'm having dinner with Jerry Kugel Thursday. I think I will run it by him and see what he thinks.
Ken
Ken, one angle on the hood mechanism is to apply for the patent and then just license the patent to one or more of the Rod Bod companies and let them cope with the tooling costs.
Don- That's a good idea, I'm having dinner with Jerry Kugel Thursday. I think I will run it by him and see what he thinks.
Ken
That's what I had in mind when I suggested the patent idea, I just explain my thoughts as well as Don did.
I thoroughly enjoy your passion for attention to detail and innovation.
We are blessed on this site to have so many of what I consider to be Master Craftsmen that are willing to share their accomplishments. :)
When we went to shoot my truck in the studio Friday I didn't want to drive it, we were expecting rain. I always wanted a car trailer but didn't have the space to store it so we threw this together, so I can stick it next to my garage when I'm not using it. What do you think?
I stoled Don's son's Nerf bar idea.
Ken
That trailer is really nifty. If you need one delivered from Vegas to Seattle around the first of June let me know...........:3dSMILE:
Nice job Ken, like it should surprise us! You may be on to something here! I'm sure there a few hundred people on this site alone with storage restrictions that would love something like what you built!
I like the trailor Idea too, how did it tow being single axle, did it bounce very much? How much tongue weight does it require?
what are the figures for that sweet trailer. Like how much does it weigh, what are the weight limits, how long, storage space required, exctera. I think it would be a big seller just on this site.
Haha, it DOES have a nerf bar!!!!!!! :cool: Now that is something only a hot rodder would have thought of. Great looking trailer Ken.
Don
Very nice trailer Ken!!! The perfect solution for guys with minimum storage space but still wanting a trailer!!!!!
Thank you you guys. But I lied, we didn't throw this together this is a new trailer for '08 for us. After I posted this I got thinking I shouldn't of posted it. I'm not here to sell trailers, my intentions were to let you guys see something new before it is released. Its still being tested and will be for the next couple of months. I just thought it looked cool in the photo with my truck.
O.K. so now my truck is a trailer queen :LOL:
Okay, then I volunteer to test it, I promise not to buy it!:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Ken Thurm