Thread: Everybody that is currently building a car...

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Are those Harbor Freight jack stands??


Don

I use the inline long tube cleanable filters, very easy to mount them along the frame rail. Sometimes it's tough to find a suitable spot for a canister type filter.

I agree Don, where can you go to find a brain trust for hotrods better than here?

Don our Wissota (sanctioning body) requires a max cubes of 360 cubes. A couple of my long time sponsors prefer a chebbie engine in the car, so chebbie engines it is..... Would love to put one of my beloved blue ovals in it, but the big check from a sponsor weighs more on the decision then my personal brand preference!!! I did acquire a set of 461X heads a couple years back at a swap meet and have allready sent them off to be magnaflux inspected and then they will be used on the primary engine. Hope to have 2 complete engines ready for the car, as well as one that shall we say enters into some of the grey areas in the rule book.......

As far as your tank, before you make your final connections to the fuel system and are ready for fuel you could fill it with lacquer thinner and let it soak for awhile, then drain the lacquer thinner out and dry the tank with compressed nitrogen from a cylinder with a low pressure regulator. We use a similar setup on our pit cart for racing to run impact wrenches at the track. Nitrogen as you well know is a very dry gas and will remove all residue from the tank. You would need to regulate the pressure to less then probably 15 psi or so, but it will do a very good job of purging the system prior to it's intial filling. We do this on all our race cars after they have been sitting over the winter.

I have gotten away from the see-thru filters in the fuel system because of the inherent fire hazard should the glass or plastic container get broken. As I said earlier I use the long inline washable element filters with AN fittings now for race cars and hot rods. I also either use hard line or stainless braided lines and avoid rubber hoses like the plague!!!!! A bit more expensive, but the increased safety IMO is well worth it. Whenever I do have to run an electric pump, I also use an oil pressure shut off switch to shut off the pump as an added safety factor...... Racing has made me a bit paranoid on some of the safety issues, I guess. Still the scariest thing that can happen on a race car, Hot Rod, or any type of car is FIRE!!!!! I don't mind spending the extra $$$$ on a car to make the fuel system safe....

YEp fire scary!! I think Denny made this little fella!!

HaHaHa!! How did it feel Pro70! The car is starting to look more completed every time I see it. You must be close to starting to mount the body huh?

It was fun...ahh.I mean.......I don't know what yer' talkin' 'bout.....

I've got the 1 cross member to install. Then i think I'll install the seats so I can locate peddles/steering wheel/etc.I'd like to get some of that stuff out of the way. Then the body is next. Then it'll start lookin' like a car again.

If ya put you're very best Jan and Dean tape in the old 8 track it makes them shop wheelies even more fun.....or so I've been told.......

Ok, I hate to admit it, but I now have a chebbie project car sitting in the garage..... Not sure what direction it's going, just that it was way too nice of a car to let go to the crusher. Henry Ford, please forgive me!!!!!!

Thats just anuther 1 of them "places" to put a ford engine!!!

aaahhhhhh there's hope for you yet Dave.

Not sure if there is hope for me or not.....but hey, it was way too nice of a body to get crushed, don't care if it was a chebbie maro. Might be more hope for me, too..... Might have a new position coming... More news later on a very interesting opportunity.....

Just another tiny step in my construction. I had the '83 Camaro (non-tilt) column stripped, primed and painted the same color as the body. My only contribution was to install a new lock, turn signal plate and a dressup kit. I really apreciate the Auto Zone free loan of special tools like the horn plate compressor. I actually tried to get the clip out without knowing there was a tool to make the job easy and a guy at Auto Zone said why not use the right tool? Anyway the Chevy/Ford rivalry had a recent lull when it was reported Ford was talking to GM about a possible merger or cooperation! I chose the Camaro column thinking that would be a plain vanilla installation but looking at the column now I can't quite see how to put in a column drop. The bottom edge of the dash has a 1" square steel tube but the bolt mounts on the column are pretty far toward the bottom. Also the column has a lot of rough stuff on it so I don't see where to put the column drop. It might be possible to use the stock column drop which came with the column but it would have to be supported well under the dash. The length of the column is 34" from the bottom to the top edge, not counting the extension at the bottom. I would like to push the bottom of the column down far enough so that I can use only two universals on the shaft to the Vega box and stay below the shorty headers. Anybody out there adapt a standard GM column? The larger sleeve above the real column is some sort of plastic and even if I could find a drop with that large a hole it would flex. My present thoughts are to attach the stock drop on the stock four bolts and fabricate a bracket under the dash that attaches to the stock drop. I am getting pretty good with angle iron gadgets as long as they are out of plain sight! Comments?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don, I've been very reluctant to say the things I'm about to say, but part of what we all hope for here is that others will learn from our travels down whatever path we take. Please take my comments in the spirit intended as I have considerable respect for your taking on such a project given your self expressed modest level of experience building a car from the ground up. What you're bumping up against, in part, is what causes experienced builders to completely (or at least as best they can determine )build the car, and solve such problems as this, BEFORE painting. Many "new" builders would do well to read your posts from the beginning to see how a neophyte can make a measured and informed set of choices in the building process.

I don't have any first hand words of advice on this particular column as I (personal choice only) don't like a column with the ignition switch in it (for an early rod anyway). The column I typically use is the earlier version of what you have (pre-68). With that I have to cut off the stock mounting stuff and slide the remaining "guts" into a piece of tubing (exhaust) to which the drop is welded. Perhaps, depending on what you want for placement, the section of cover that, in your picture, is the bottom of the three "sleeves" could be removed and something similar be done. Also, there's a prefab cover to clean up the lower part of the column available; http://www.speedwaymotors.com/xq/asp...qx/Product.htm .

Under that cover should be a steel "outer" colum, with the colapsible section formed on it or within it. You may be able to attach a drop to that as they are typically around ~2". Hopefully someone else will have an exact app to yours, if not, even though they're fairly different, I'll post a pic of my columns (one from the 36 the other in bare working form from the 32 coupe) with the modifications noted above to use as "inspiration" since it's not an exact duplicate of what you have.

Thanks Bob, I have purchased that plastic cover for most of the column but the mfgr recommends chiseling off any mounting bolt/nuts and I have not done this yet. I could have used your pictures earlier, but as of now I think I will just use two stout angle straps that can be painted and fasten them to the stock bolt/nuts on the outer part of the column and use the black plastic sheath to cover the lower part of the column. Maybe when I get the thing set up at the bottom as well as the top I can chisel off the extra mount points and trim the plastic sheath to cover most of it. Your columns look great and I did not know you could get them so smooth. On the other hand I suppose I am going to spend quite a bit of time down there under the dash checking out the wiring so part of the problem is figuring out the wiring before I tuck it under the black sheath. It seems to me that if I slip the lock/cap ring over the bottom of the column, the sheath can be "rolled" on and off the column in place and then the bottom lock ring can be pushed up after I get the wiring settled. Another problem is that my brake pedal is very close to the last flat space on the floor/firewall. I ordered the simple type swing mount from Speedway today and it looks like I will only be able to bolt half of the mount to the floor/frewall and I will have to remove the other side of the mount and let the round hole be the other side of the bottom mount if I can cut it out carefully on a rounded surface. Still another problem is that the accelerator pedal is in a sort of "short" position and extension of my right leg wil be limited due to the size of the Model A cockpit, although I am of average height (5' 10"). Thanks for your patience. As several Forum members have said the second or third rod benefits from the learning experience of the first but at this point I will have to settle for "functional".

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder