OK Perley, color me impressed. The frame looks great and it sounds like you have the drive shaft figured out. I am not sure I have the guts to try that.
Printable View
OK Perley, color me impressed. The frame looks great and it sounds like you have the drive shaft figured out. I am not sure I have the guts to try that.
Rickomatic, I never would have attempted the driveshaft, along with some of the other things I've done here, if not for J. Robinson. No Lie! His Teacher Abilities have shone thru both his T Modified Build and all of the emails we have exchanged since I met him down at his Home. He describes how to do the driveshaft during his T build and also his Son's A Sedan build. And he graciously sent me instructions in a clear concise manner. And so I felt I might be able to accomplish it, and I did! And splitting the manifold too, I never would have tried if not for his detailed instructions. It sure is great to have all of the old time rod builders who are willing to help a Newbie out. Thanks Jim. Thank you Rickomatic for your support and all of the others who have replied to this thread. Perley
Here's the return of the P.I.T.A. That darn clearance issue between the shock and the steering arm. :mad: So------off with his head! :rolleyes:
I cut off the ball stud from the steering arm and drilled a hole down thru the remains. I plan on a Heim joint rod end. The lower profile should give me the clearance I need. :D
Here she is sitting down on all 4 again! :) Now to make a drag link to replace the old one. This will have heim joint ends. In order to do that, I needed to also cut off the ball stud on the pitman arm. :whacked:
Wowza! That pitman arm is pretty thin! :( So, found a piece of 1/4" rod, figured to wrap this around the outside and weld it all up. Thanks again Friend Jim. :D After welding I turned (once again) to my trusty grinder! :p
I figure I've got three thousand three hundred and three hours in this thing now-------And three thousand two hundred of them have been on the end of a grinder! :whacked::p:rolleyes: haaahaaa. Actually I have three of them! Two 4 1/2" and one 4". Use them all. When one overheats I swap it for another---------:LOL::LOL:
Here is the drag link all done and in. I forgot to say that I made this the same way as I made the radius rods, which is the same way J. Robinson made the ones for his T Modified. :LOL: Not to say I stole his ideas! :p I got two 1/2" fine thread rod couplings, put them on a grinder and made them (more of less) round for all but 3/8" of an inch, this was left octagonal as bought. I then took a piece of 1/2" pipe the correct length, crossdrilled the ends, then inserted the coupling nuts, rounded end in, natch, and welded through the holes. I say plug welded, Tech Inspector says Rosette Weld. :o
haaahaaa. Yeah, I KNEW that Inspector------- :) heehee.
Here is a shot of the old steering box I had, it's from a '49 Ford F1. The man who took it out of the truck cut it off with the gas axe, right above the box nose! Only about a half inch or so of shaft sticking through as shown here. I cut off about three quarters of an inch of the nose to get enough shaft exposed to hook a U joint onto. My old chevy van gave up it's universal assembly to the cause, it had a splined end with locking bolt on one end and a double D on the other end. Perfect. I worked for over an hour with a dremel tool and files to get the splined end cleaned out, then sanded (ground) some off the shaft end, 'till finally they fit together! Then I ran a drill bit through the lock bolt hole to make a notch in the shaft. And the bottom of the U joint had a flat on it, so I filed this on the shaft too. On the bench here is a small box of parts from Dennis Carpenter containing new bearings and races and seals and gaskets! 80 dollars worth! arrgghhhh
So I installed all of that stuff, added gaskets per the enclosed instructions, and buttoned it up. You will notice the mount(s) here. At first I took a piece of 4 x 2 box tube, drilled a hole (big) through the flat, then sawed it in half. One half I welded down to the top of the frame, sat the box in, then was going to weld on coupling nuts and bolt the top down. Before I could do that I discovered that the adjustment nut on the inside face of the box hit the bell housing. While studying "Itoldyouso" Don's T build, he had a pic of his Dodge Truck. On it he had a plate on the side of his frame to mount his box on. Light comes on!!! So I copied that on the SX. heeheee. Then found out that this still did not give me enough clearance. So I got a 3/8" pipe nipple at Home Depot, sawed off some slices and made spacers. Then I used Grade 8 bolts and nuts through the box, spacers, and 3/8" thick plate to mount the box. Now I decided that I don't have to use the top of the box tube 'clamp', but left the bottom part to serve as a cradle to hold the weight of the box. Then bolted on the pirated Chevy steering universal. Great. Now the drag link goes on for good (I hope). :LOL:
Next Chapter ---------- Exhaust! Perley
So------a couple of days ago I got my Grandson and some of his Friends to help me fix some of the leaks in garage roof! :rolleyes: First I took a scrap of tarp left from trimming the last full cover, laid it out on the ground and folded it back and forth until I got it ready. Then we tossed a rope across to the other end and with Grandson Steve on one end and me on the other end we pulled the folded up tarp across the ridge. This will give a cushion so the new cover won't chafe on the metal bows of the greenhouse frame (hopefully) :D Then I took a tarp that I've had for a couple of years that is too small for a full cover (24' x 40') and rigged ropes on the sides and couple on the end. Then again Steve on one side, me on the other, and Brad pulling one side then the other, we got it pulled across the top. Then stapled down the ends and tied down the side ropes. That will stop most of the leaks for now, later on I will buy another big tarp for a full cover and pull it on over what is there now. That will give us an extra measure of protection. No fun to have to cover everything inside the garage so it won't get wet! :CRY: Now I can put away some of the drip cans! :LOL:
And here are a few shots of building an exhaust system. I went to Advance Auto Parts and got an armload of 2" pipe fittings and some short lengths of pipe and brought it home. Then I had to make two more flanges to attach to the manifold outlets to get started with. So, 2 pieces of 1/4" steel plate, a pattern from an outlet flange, and then drill a 2" hole in each plate. Then with a grinder and a cut off wheel, trimmed them down to rough size, then grinder to shape. The exhaust fittings and pipe slide right up inside of these flanges. I also had an old exhaust system that I had given to me off from another vehicle. Had lots of bends in it, all one piece formed. So I cut all of this up into individual bends, then with all of the parts, new and old, started fitting together dual exhausts to fit available space. The area just under and behind the outlets was a little tight, what with the steering box, bell housing, clutch release lever and frame side. But I made it through that mess and back to front u joint area. Then I turned both of the exhausts to routed between the front driveshaft loop and the front radius rod attachments. When I would get few pieces together I would reach down, around, up, and tack parts together. Then unbolt the flanges, take out the assembly, weld it up good with the flux core welder (MIG with NO G) :rolleyes: And then grind the welds down smooth. Then bolt the assembly back in place and fit a few more bends and pieces together, then repeat as before. Until finally got both pipes around all the obstacles and headed for the rear of the car. Now I need to take my glass paks to a muffler shop and have the inlets expanded where the clamps used to be and then slide them onto the exhausts and (then and then) do the outlets, back, up over the axle, then down then straighten out to under the rear of the car, or where it will be! :D More pics. Enjoy. Perley :)
And some more :LOL:
When I set the body on next and started to level up with hockey pucks for isolators, I found that the rear of the body where the rumble hinge is sat on the rear crossmember and held the body off the frame too far. :CRY: Why didn't I notice that before? :mad: Well, just gotta fix it! :HMMM: So I lifted the rear up, propped with some blocks, then marked what I had to remove. Then with an angle grinder and cut-off wheel, cut across it, and with sawzall trimmed off the ends. Then dropped the body down on it. Much better. Got my Grandson and a friend to lift the body off again, then I put on a piece of 2 x 2 angle to cap the cut. Then welded it all on, then painted it. :whacked:
More pictures of rear crossmember! :D
A little more progress. Intake bolted to exhaust and then set bolted to engine. And the original carb bolted on. All of this with new gaskets. I should have rebuilt the carb probably, but getting anxious now to hear it run! And took the oil pan off, degreased it, cleaned it inside and out, installed new gaskets and seals, and painted the pan, then bolted it back on. Pretty. :LOL: Enjoy. Perley
This is a fun build to watch.
Heck, if that old carb works good, I'd leave it alone.:rolleyes: The Quadra-Jet carb on my coupe has been in continuous use on two different vehicles since it left the factory in 1978 and it's never been apart!:eek: It doesn't leak and it performs flawlessly - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.:3dSMILE:
This IS a fun build to watch.:D:D
Thanks RickOMatic, and thanks Jim. Yeah, I guess you are right about the carb. I'll try it out, later. haahaa. Not long now till I fire her.
Remember-------I NEVER make mistakes!!!! That crossmember change was just an UNPLANNED modification! Perley
UNPLANNED modification!:LOL::LOL::LOL: I gotta remember that since I tend to do a lot of them sometimes...:rolleyes::D
How many circuits would I need as a general rule, to wire up my project? I am not going to use A/C, but I will have a heater, I think. Sometimes need those up here in June! :eek: :) Is there a list somewhere maybe that I can get ideas from. I have a bunch of old wiring including my old Chevy work van. And I have a book with the wiring schematic of that system too. :p I have seen some systems on ebay that went pretty cheap, like 9 circuit, 12 circuit. Would something like that cover it? I'd probably have to have a RADIO, my Grandson Steve, you know! :LOL: :D Thanks a lot in advance. Perley
43 missed most the summer on this will be back tracking to catch up . Good work as usual and you have all that stuff come up in the middle of it all. :)
My coupe is wired with 5 fused circuits. I used a corrosion resistant marine fuse block from ACE Hardware. It uses the old style fuses, but the screw terminals make it easy to work with. I have a radio/CD player, but no heater. You may wish to add one more fused circuit for the heater blower...:3dSMILE:
Perley, how I have been missing this entire build thread I have no idea.:confused: I sat down tonight and read the whole thing and loved every minute of it. You have all the ingredients for a super thread..........you started from scratch, you explain each step and document it well with lots of pictures, and you even threw in a few dogs and cats. How could a person not love reading this kind of stuff.:D
Seriously, you are doing a bang up job on the car and on letting us ride along. I've bookmarked this one so I don't miss it again. Thanks for taking the time to do this for us. As someone who once did a similar thread, I know how much work goes into the picture posting and typing, but it also makes it a lot of fun too.
Don
More work on the exhaust yesterday. I hung the mufflers temporarily with inlet slid on over the head pipes. Then fitted up the outlet pipes. Tack welded the outlets, then removed the muffler/tailpipe pieces and welded all of this up with the flux core. Then ----------- YEAH, you guessed it! More grinding! haahaaa. Got to love it, ehhhhh? :rolleyes: :D
Then put it all back together. I need to go downtown today and get some clamps. I am going to clamp the mufflers to the head pipe, then if I need to disassemble everything, I can seperate it here. ;) With all of the twists and turns I would never be able to remove the whole system in one piece. I also need to get some hangers to tie everything up to the frame. I spent some time this past weekend on the Honey-Doo list and on straightening up my work area. Sorted out saved parts and stuff. Cut down and burned up a stack of old cardboard. Don't know why I save that stuff-------:whacked:
Thanks Don for joining in. Great to hear from you. I'm missing your build posts! :(:) Perley
Here are a few more pictures! Enjoy :)
Here is a shot of the firewall. Looks like it's been a target for the Army! FULL of holes. :whacked: I found some washers that would fit the big holes, 4 that were 1 1/8", 3 that were 7/8" and 2 more that were 5/8". These I stuck on a magnet, inserted from face so washers went into holes, then tacked. Then welded all of these, little at a time, weld-chip-brush, repeat! :eek: Then welded up all of the smaller holes, 1/4", 3/8", and miscellaneous others! Counted 42 holes all together. Then started---------GRINDING! :whacked::eek::( haaahaaa. Getting to be my favorite part. heeheeee. I ground (grinded) did grinding :o till it got too dark to see what I was doing. I feared grinding so much I would create MORE holes. :LOL:
So gave it up for the day. Up this morning, raring to go again! No call to work, so I'll go get clamps then grind some more! :p Perley :)
I understand the hole fillin process and have plenty of experience with that as well.
No doubt Perley one of the best threads I have read on the net. The detail you put in makes it easy to follow. Thanks for all your effort.
Now get back to work dude and keep the pictures coming.:D:LOL:
I am looking forward to seeing what you do with the body now.:rolleyes:
Larry
Well thank you very kindly Larry, Crazyrat. You got no call to talk though. :rolleyes: I been following your build, and you are doing some great work! ;):) I love your truck, as I told you before. Makes me want to remodel my '47 truck. It is sitting there waiting patiently while I spend all my time (and most of my money) on the Essex build!
So-------today, I went out and first thing got the stoves going!!!!!
It was cold up here this morning. Ice in the water bucket! :eek: Anyways, after a bit of a warm up, I started on the timing--distributor thing! Got some info on how to set the distributor and thus the timing from my Mentor, thanks again Friend, so I dismantled the dizzy and cleaned it all up, then primer, then hammered silver. After a while to allow the paint to dry (some) I proceeded to put it back together. Then, following my instructions, I (finally) got the distributor in place and in time! Only took me an hour or so! :rolleyes: :) Then tightened the clamp to hold it for now. Then I removed all of the old plugs, gave each cylinder a squirt of Mystery Oil, put in new plugs and hooked up the plug wires. After that I pored through my parts box and found a pair of battery cables and hooked the ground wire to a bell housing bolt, after cleaning off the paint, and the hot wire to the starter. Then connected both to my newly charged battery. Then I took a short piece of wire and connected one end to the inboard terminal on the starter solenoid and touched the other end to the hot lead at the starter connection, and BINGO. She turns over! :D:D Whooooeeeee! I cranked her over a few times to smear the Mystery Oil over the cylinder walls a little, and just wanted to hear her speak. :LOL: Then I put in a grommet for the PCV valve, then put some gasket sealer on the valve cover gasket and put the cover on and bolted it down. Then put in the PCV valve and hooked up the vacuum line to the intake! Now all I need is fuel and coolant! And then I can fire it up. WOW. Yeah Jim, seeing some light at the end of the tunnel now! I cut up some old radiator hoses and got the angles and all, but they were too small to go over the motor connections. So soon I will take these to the parts store where my Grandson works (Advance) and get some the correct size with those bends, I hope! :) Some pics! Perley
Oh yes, I put in the motor oil too! :cool: heeheeee. Then I put one exhaust clamp on one muffler to head pipe connection! WHY? Because that's all I had! :p heeheee. I did visit the parts store last thing today and bought a couple more, and some pipe hangers! Got to support my Grandson's paycheck, you know! :D After that I took the header pipes down from the manifold connections and put in my flange gaskets, then put the bolts back in with some thread locker (blue) on them and tightened everything up. I spent a lot of time just sitting and looking, next to the stoves of course! And a lot of time walking back and forth from the garage to the house and back. First for masking tape, then for my instructions on timing, then for the paint (which I forgot on the first two trips) and then for some nourishment, (some times I forget to eat, and not good because I have diabetes). haahaa. WHEW. So the day went by quickly, and got parts for tomorrow, if I don't get a work call. :D Perley
Wow your cranking away Perley. Hope to get mine started soon too. Keep up the posts! Steve:D
Very nice build and great choice for the engine!
Hey 68Chevelle. Yeah, I think so too. Gonna be an attention getter. Among all of the high horsepower and cube V-8's, some with blowers, some with multi carbs, this little jewel will be like a breath of fresh air! hey?
Hello Steve. Yep, those firewalls seem to get mistreated something awful! Why so many holes I wonder? I have been watching your build for some time now, it's coming along fine. I may make startup this weekend! :HMMM: :whacked: I need to get the coil wired, however that may be? :confused: And get a fuel can of some type and radiator hoses. Oh and something to plug off the heater ports! :eek:
Today I got the coil mounted, I painted it last evening. And got the condenser on and wired to dizzy. Then put on four hangers for the exhaust. Can't believe I ran short of clamps again. Short sighted, count count? :CRY:
heeheee. Then I pulled the front wheels, took off the hub/rotors, cleaned them all up and masked off the braking surfaces, then sprayed them black. Probably won't last long, but it'll look good for first ride! heehee :rolleyes:
Last thing was taking off the tape and remounting the hub/rotors. Then left them to finish drying. Tomorrow I need to get some caliper paint and paint them black, then mount the calipers, hook on the flex hoses, mount terminal plates to go from hoses to hardlines on the front brakes, then run hardlines to connect both sides together. Then I need to wait until I get the cab all on and hooked to mount the master cylinder and ---------------
Oh man, get me depressed thinking too far ahead! :(
Anyways, still heading in the right direction. Thanks everyone for the support and the comments. Nice to know people are enjoying the build. ME TOO. ;)
Here I am cleaning, masking and painting the front hub/rotor combos. Messy work. I had as much black paint on my hands as on the rotors. :whacked:
Anyways, got them done and put back on. There are also some shots of the machined increasers to build up the spindles for the bearings that fit in the '76 Camaro Hubs. The front brake kits are made by Chassis Performance Parts and Speedway sells them. I bought the basic kit which had the mounting plates for the calipers, the increasers, 2 bronze spacers (because the spindle is too long for the hubs), new spindle nuts and index washers, bolts, and instructions sheet. I bought the hub/rotors at Advance where my Grandson works! ;) And the bearings and calipers also. **) Anyways, some more pics for those who enjoy them. I'm glad I'm not on dial-up anymore! :D Perley
To Pastor Bubba, sorry I missed you. Thanks for following along. I'm having a great time. Perley
OK Perley, its time for me to confess, I slipped into your garage when you wasnt looking and I stole your headlight/shock mount idea.:o
Will post you a couple of pic's when I get them finished.
The motor looks really good, like the color combo. You going to run the stock carb also?
Really liking that split manifold too. I was thinking something on the same line till I found a large crack in mine so I made my own headers.
Good job.
[QUOTE=Crazyrat;367617]OK Perley, its time for me to confess, I slipped into your garage when you wasnt looking and I stole your headlight/shock mount idea.:o
HaaaaaHaaaaa. ;) OK but this idea will be third hand to you then! On account of I stole them from my Friend J.R. heeeheeee. Yeah, guess we're both pirates! Love it. :rolleyes:
Yep, stock carb. Can't afford a different manifold, nor the carbs if I did, so gonna go with it. Besides, gas is jumping up again, near three bucks a gallon. Be lucky if I can run the one barrel. :LOL:
(quote,Yep, stock carb. Can't afford a different manifold, nor the carbs if I did, so gonna go with it. Besides, gas is jumping up again, near three bucks a gallon. Be lucky if I can run the one barrel. )
Hear that, I cant even pay attention I'm so broke:LOL:
__________________
Hello again! Today I got the calipers on the front wheels. The calipers had sat in the boxes since I bought them, maybe two months ago, and were getting rusty already, so I put the wire brush on an angle grinder and got nearly all of that off. Then I sprayed them with rattle can Caliper Paint, black, gave them two coats. It dried rather quickly. :) The I put the pads back in them and mounted them on the brackets. The hoses I had were for a different vehicle, a pickup truck K10, when my calipers were for a '76 car. The reason I did this is to get the length to reach from the calipers to the frame for a termination plate to transition to hard line. The car hoses were too short to do this. My Friend at the parts store took the time and trouble to look through the computer listings to find the truck hoses. These had a square end on them where my calipers had a machined pocket for a round head. So I took the angle grinder with a cut-off disc and trimmed a little off each of the corners, then they sat right into the machined area. Then I put the wheels back on and sitting back on the ground. Also put the last clamp on the exhaust. DONE. The hoses I bought last night did not fit on the radiator and engine, so got to make another run for a different combo. Man, I'm getting excited now to hear her run! A little reward for two years worth of work, huh? ;):3dSMILE:
Well folks, finally got radiator hoses on! Spent an hour one night at the parts store, as I said before, and went again on Friday morning for another hour. I found one that would work for the top but had to modify one for the bottom. The top one was way long for the application, but the angles and turns were right on part of it, so out comes the hacksaw! :LOL: I grunted a little to get one end stretched on over the engine connection, BUT I WON. :D haahaaa. The bottom one had part of the offsets needed, but then the top turned the wrong way, so --------- again, the hacksaw :LOL: And a coupling with two more clamps, and voila--perfect fit. :) Then I dumped in a gallon of water followed by a gallon of antifreeze. Right about then I discovered a drip. Drip Drip Drip. UGH, looks like my water pump is leaking, I think the seal. At first I thought it was the case gasket, but not so sure now! :( Looks like I will have to pull off the rad, fan, pulley and pump. Darn it. Well, I think I am going to fire it up anyways, maybe tomorrow. I couldn't find my Grandson Steve today, so didn't do it. Besides, I had to go add some wind ropes to my garage roof. Wind is really howling up here today and looks like all night, and those tarps won't take a lot of stress on the grommets in the edges before they pull right out and rip the edges. So I ran some more lines criss crossed on over the tarp. That should hold it at least for a few more days. If I ever get to work again I'll buy another full cover which will be nailed all along the perimeter with strips of wood. Anyways, here are a couple of pictures! Perley