Hot Rods The Belly Button Bucket Build Thread

For me, the answer is too DAMN many! The actual number is 5, with almost everything gathered for 2 of them (all I need is a core support and a radiator / fan setup for the Chevy II), an just a few small odds and ends for the (off topic) Lincoln, but whenever I see a good deal on something I need for Bucket #2 or the (also slightly off topic) El Camino, I grab it. The F100 trying my best to ignore, other than it's drivetrain is sitting in a donor car in my driveway (but I didn't spend any new money on it, it was my daily, then my wifes daily, not it's just an extra car). I do try to limit myself to one active project at a time to focus resources.

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Ok, I'm glad I am not alone! I think as long as you're making progress on things and not spread too thin you're doing ok. I definitely regret selling off a few things, but certainly not all.

Moving slow today/night.... I took a pretty gnarly slam skateboarding that may have advanced my bodily stiffness and pain norm to where some of you older guys are at all times LOL. I got crossed up mid-trick and disoriented in the air, which caused me to rag-doll and full body slam. I hit the ground so hard my molars hurt! These little kids in the playground nearby were legitimately afraid I wouldn't get up.... Well I sure showed them - It took me a minute of rolling around and making indiscernible noises, but I got up and kept skating for awhile longer LOL.

I am making good cleaning progress, so the show goes on! Pictures hopefully tomorrow afternoon.


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Tim
For cripes sake, be careful, not only do you have the T to finish but that deuce project you hinted at really should have a good following if your skills on the T are any indicator.
Were counting on you, besides who's gonna do our math for us.

 

Soak - Ragdoll 3:10

 

Well I didn't get completely organized, but it is clean enough to get some work done at least.

Here's some pics of the general layout. It's 18' x 18', so pretty small but bigger than I've had previously. There's also a glimpse of the '32 Vicky/Phaeton thing with all the fenders, running boards, hood and grill shell stuffed inside..... and of course the rails up on the shelf patiently waiting!










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Well, it's not a roller, but my brother helped get the front axle bolted in and squared up! Before long I will have a 3rd bedroom again!


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Yep, shop looks just like mine looks about 2 times a year. Then start working again and within 48 hrs, it looks like a tsunami went thru it. On the up side, the semi-annual reorganization helps an old guy find all the things he has accused others of borrowing and/or stealing.

 

Lookin great Tim(the car)

 

Tim, looking great!
Not to pick on you, just suggesting improvements to a sweet situation...
Put all the spray cans in boxes. That way you can grab the box and look through all of them, without trying to grab just one off the shelf. Knocking a can off at that height WILL cause it to rupture and spray it's contents all over. Clear plastic for even better storage...
If at all possible, build a small shed/lean-to outside the garage and tuck the air compressor in that.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=178362
extra points if there is enough room for the blaster too. They throw out so much dust inside...

This is purely a 'do as I say' thing, since my garage is jam-packed and a huge mess at the moment.

 

I'm gonna assume Tim just hasn't gotten around to it yet.
This was a "light bulb moment" for me years ago and I was sure I was the only one on earth that missed the logic in it prior to doing it.

 

I hadn't thought of the spray cans in boxes..... that's a pretty good idea. I'll have to revisit that soon. Maybe milk crates will fit up there, who knows?

I indeed plan to put the compressor behind the garage at some point.... I need to level out the ground back there and pour a small pad for it. I was planning to make the lean-to large enough for my yard tools as well. Part of me wants to eventually tear this garage down to build an apartment above garage (and rent out my house), but I would need to scoot the garage over to meet current setbacks, and likely take down a 100' + tall fir tree, none of which I'm sure about, so I didn't get all gun-ho pouring pads just yet.

Since it rains 98% of the time here, I'll probably keep the blasting cabinet inside the garage. I have run piping around the perimeter with air connections every 4' or so, so my air is available on 3 sides of the garage. When I move the compressor, I will just tap into the piping on the opposite side of the garage when moving it out back. It was just very convenient to put the compressor right there as that's where the electrical sub-panel is located.

Similar to the air supply being piped around the perimeter of the garage, I plan to do a similar vacuum supply. That way, when using a bench grinder or chop saw or blasting cabinet, I can just plug into that piping and turn on the shop vac... it even has a Bluetooth controller so I don't have to walk over there to switch it on LOL. I had started laying that out when I ran out of motivation for the time being..... partially because of the amount of time spent organizing and partially because I realized they wired the garage with wiring rated for 15 amps being fed by 20 amp breakers.... SO I get to re-do that soon as well (the vacuum piping will follow the air piping and electrical conduit, so I'll just tackle them together). The vacuum nearly eliminates the dust of the blasting cabinet, or at least it's done a good job so far.

A few other organization projects include finishing my storage bins I made slide-out drawers for above the blasting cabinet, going through the 3 or 4 remaining cardboard boxes, and making a giant pile of stuff to sell off. THEN, I should have things under control for about 48 hours as @mountainman2 mentioned haha. Chassis assembly progress pictures should commence next weekend!

 

Had spray cans up on a shelf . Can got knocked off and fell , knocked a hole in it and sprayed all over a car . Took a long time to clean the car up , floor still green . Keep all my cans in boxes ? Even the oil spray . Shop looks great and clean .

 

Hey Tim, I've got a bunch of clean milk crates you can have, yes free.
Send me a PM if you can use them, I'm just south of PDX.

 

Sweet! I'll measure my height up there when I get home and post here. If they're less than that height, I'll take you up on that!

 

See, another that got bit by the "Hmm, light stuff on a top shelf, easily seen and reached" thought followed by the "7 foot drop the pressurized can" experience!
Hope the milk crates work out for ya! Judging the shelf height from the cans, I'd guess they will be a bit tall. Standard size is 18X12X10.5"
https://www.uline.com/Product/Detai...f6&gclid=CNnNy8f5nNoCFUm8fgod12AIBg&gclsrc=ds


The 'T' assembly shouldn't require too much air, but when the next build happens with all the air tools running, you can only turn the stereo up so much to cover that compressor before the neighbors start complaining. Deal with it after, with the wiring upgrade.

Shop still looks sharp!

 

I'm sure he can find a use for them either way, they're his if he wants them.

 

Thanks Doug. I completely forgot to measure when I got home. I work nights, and by the time I get home, my brain is completely fried. During my work week I usually just work, get home, crash, wake up and do it all over again. I do think they will be about an inch too tall, though. Time will tell!

 

I've got 10" from shelf to ceiling... I think the milk crate is a no-go. I'll have to explore some other options. Thanks for the tip on the paint cans, though!

 

Figured I would update because I said I would. It seems as though progress happens if I post, so I'll continue with my good luck charm. I got the front suspension completed, and I was able to mock up a couple ultra top secret changes while I was at it. So far so good.

I got the rear panhard bar bracket (frame side) bolted up, which I made to use flat head, counter-sunk cap screws. Well, when it was time to bolt up the clutch linkage cross shaft bracket (frame side), I realized I made that to use standard hex bolts.... I liked how the counter sunk cap screws blended in, so I drilled the freshly powdercoated cross shaft bracket for counter sunk cap screws to match the other bracket. That turned out surprisingly well, and I just painted the bare metal in the countersink appliance epoxy black with a model car paint brush, as well as sprayed the head and back side of the cap screws with the same paint.

I also sanded most of the casting flash and pits off the master cylinder and painted it. I just rattle canned it with a few coats of primer, blocked it, a couple more coats of primer, blocked it again, and a couple coats of black appliance epoxy. Seems like that worked out pretty good. I need to do the steering box and pitman arm now, as well as a couple small pieces. I'm considering getting a paint gun for small parts, but I'm not sure really what I'm doing there. Seems like that would be better than rattle canning stuff, although rattle canning bolt heads and small stuff is quick and easy.

Speaking of quick and easy, I started drilling some of the ARP stainless bolts for cotter pins...... Of course, by some of the bolts, I mean HALF of ONE.... and by quick and easy, I mean the OPPOSITE of that. Wow that sucked. I broke 3 drill bits and 2 centering bits before I decided I was over it - those ARP fasteners are tough stuff LOL. I was unable to locate stover/metal lock nuts in stainless, so I am using nylocks. I gave the castle nuts a solid effort, but I am over it. I spent some time polishing the various stainless fasteners before coating them with ainti-seize and torquing them down. They look great on there, so I'm happy. If someone wants a great deal on some mock-up, small fortune, high strength castle nuts, let me know! Ha!

The rear suspension pieces got dragged down off the storage shelves in the third bedroom and made their way into the garage. I cleaned all the threads and made sure I can still put bolts through the powdercoated holes (extra thickness of the coating). I had a couple small things to paint, and I needed some longer U-bolts for the rear spring since I'm running about a 1" spacer. I couldn't find anything online, so I stopped into Oregon spring a couple weeks ago. They made a pair for me - on the spot - patterned off my old ones and charged me half of what Speedway/SoCal charge. Go figure! All I need to do now is polish some of the fasteners for the rear suspension assembly and that will be done. I still have the 3rd member out to powdercoat, so I think I'm gonna have to track that down to see what's going on there.

This weekend was the Portland swap meet. I didn't get a booth this year, but I went on Friday with my friend Corey. I don't really need anything for the T, but I found a few Stewart Warner gauges and a dropped stainless headlight bar for the '32 project. There were a few things that were a "maybe", but I let them go. I met a couple really cool guys that gave me leads on some other parts I'm missing, so I'm trying to keep going on the T and get it done. I've got another project (the '32) waiting!

 

I have completely underestimated the amount of time I would be spending polishing stainless steel bolt heads and nuts.... also, I completely forgot how much I love making gigantic messes and pretending to be a raccoon. Progress has been slow, but I got the rear spring leaves all clamped down and married to the rear axle yesterday. That went well, and I remembered to slab some grease in between each leaf. I've probably changed my gloves about 40 times in the last 24 hours....


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Hey Tim, good to see some progress.
Hope you take time to enjoy the process even when there doesn't appear to be a lot accomplished.

Regarding the Nyloc nuts:
I'm sure you know this but ideally there should be one full thread showing past the nylon.
I'm a bit fussy myself on keeping the extra threads to a minimum for looks and they don't lend any more mechanical advantage.
It's a pain hand selecting nuts, bolts, washers, etc. but having access to a lathe helps when the "stackup" of certain parts won't allow it.
Just be sure to leave a radius under bolt heads if it's the only way to gain a thread or two especially on critical parts (suspension, brakes).

 

You're right- I think I need to get some thinner washers to gain some more thread exposure - I apparently grabbed "thick" washers the other day, and between the powdercoated surface and the difference in thickness of the mock-up hardware, I am lacking in thread length! I was just at Parkrose hardware browsing.... unfortunately, the Vancouver store a couple miles from my house doesn't have near the selection of the one off Sandy in Portland. Guess I'll have to make a trip over there at some point!


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The better stocked Ace Hardware stores have good grade 8 and stainless selection, but the Orchard Supply Hardware near me has become my "go to" for specialized fasteners.

 

Looking good Tim. That's going to be a show Bucket T. Bob.......

 

More polishing ensues.... I am about a half a bolt thread away from having the rear suspension back in. "Precision fit" is an understatement! This is attempt number 2 as I gave up and walked away from it the other day..... Draco the bearded dragon approves this message!

 

The rear suspension is in finally- what a chore!


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Nice work Tim.
I saw a number of revisions/problems addressed along the way, I bet your happy you did them early on, at the time you hate to do it over (I know, I've been there) but it usually is worth the extra effort.
So after doing the unexpected detailing on the frames' powdercoating, would you choose to use it again instead of paint?

 

I'm not sure I will do the powdercoat again, and I don't think I will be block sanding suspension parts again, either. I wanted to see what I was capable of, but I don't see a reason to repeat it for every build. I think the next frame and suspension will just get a few coats of satin black paint (I think I can do that here). It would be much easier to touch up. I did find some nail polish that blended well with the powdercoat.


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Great work and a learning curve. I used powder coat on my very first build, but after the accident, I chose not to do it again and went with paint. While the paint had a few minor chips over the time I drove her, they were very easy to touch up.

 

Looks beautiful Tim. Keep us updated. Bob..........