Well, since I do have 4 or 5 inner fender wells, and at this point not much money to spend on a battery that fits the space, a perfectly good $100 battery that could fit the space I make, and a lot of spare time on my hands, here goes nothing! I heard somewhere.... It's just metal....cut it up! One "frenched" battery tray...coming up! I am going to dig around in the pile and find the worst inner fender well I have and use that as a test piece. I believe the first Sedan Delivery I bought had a bunch of butchered inner fender well sheet metal....going to the pile. Stand by please!
If I do that, I'll have to buy one of those AGM batteries so the upholstery doesn't get eaten up by the gases from a regular type battery! I dug through my parts pile and the selection I had for the passenger side inner fender well was slim. I'm rethinking this whole frenched battery scenario. I might have to bite the bullet and get a battery to fit the stock area on top of the air duct. Regardless of all that, I have set many goals in this project that I've never met. But Lord willing and the creek don't rise, my goal of pasture driving this car in June is going to happen. It's too freaking hot and humid to be working outside and the shop is air conditioned so I have no excuse but laziness! @Lone Star Mopar said he may try to come by one Sunday when @trevorsworth is here, and there is only one Sunday left, so you guys show up on Sunday and let's see if we can get this car moving under its own power! It really only lacks a little wiring and a little wrenching I think it can happen. I've decided to go with an electric fan because of fan blade clearance issues, so a little temporary wiring for the pasture drive will be needed for that. It's like the old radio advertising for Green Valley Raceway! "SUNDAY!!! SUNDAY!!! SUNDAY!!! BE THERE,there, there!!!" (Fade to echo) I've been working on getting my fuel and vacuum lines completed. I am running them in ni-copp. I was a commercial refrigeration technician for 20+ yrs and have installed literally miles of copper piping so I'm kinda picky like @drdave when it comes to making lines look nice and uniform. I have all kinds of bending tools from back in the day and that helps. That ni-copp is sure a pleasure to work with. I need to fire up the torch and see if some 15% silfos will weld it up like regular copper?
Oh it's not rough. I was hoping to drive it around the pasture (no cows to hit) to see if anything fell off it, then take it out on the private road I live on and do a couple of burnouts. Just because I'm like that! I dont want to overheat that little 6 cylinder. I spent a lot of money getting the crack on the 848 head pinned. I'd hate to crack it again because I was in too big a hurry!
Battery issue solved without harming any vintage sheet metal. @alanp561 suggested the Group 51 battery, and Trevor sells Interstate batteries at work, and they are "traditional" so I went with the green battery. I need to fab up some sort of tie down and I'll be set on the battery placement. @drdave mentioned something about vacuum lines being out of place driving him crazy, and I'm the same way. So I took some time and finished up the fuel lines and vacuum lines as well. I had to change the water pump because of the double pulley needed for the a/c bracketry and ended up with a pump that needed to have the hub adjusted to get all the belts to line up. The belts are all on and they are nice and tight. Tomorrow could be the day that the car moves under its own power, fingers crossed!!
Trevor showed up this morning and we went to work on the Sedan Delivery. It wasn't long before this happened.
Took the car for a ride up and down the private road I live on and all the neighbors came out to see what the ruckus was. Gotta get some exhaust on the thing, it is crazy loud! The acceleration is all I had hope it would be. It will jump out from in front of itself in a hurry! I'm going to work on getting it to the muffler shop to get some exhaust put on it, take it to get the front end aligned, then I can start road testing it after I get the registration renewed on it. Hopefully things will start moving a little quicker now that it is almost road ready.
Thanks! What a hoot! I missed my deadline of driving the car in June by 2 days....but hey! She is on the road now!
Here's some onboard footage... this thing really pulls!! This was such a big milestone. I was grinning ear to ear the whole time!
Thanks Dave! I hope to have it road ready by then. I still have a lot to do! Going to try to get it to the muffler shop for some straight pipes this week or next. It certainly won't be ready to display in the show as it's only partly finished. But I'd love to make the 4 hour drive to go to the show.
If you can get it street drive able, please show up as an in-progress custom. Lead Ain't Dead seems to about "Real Kustoms driven by Real Folks". @straykatkustoms Russ
Russ, I am checking pricing on glass now. Really I believe I can have it street drivable by September. Once the exhaust is on, and the front end gets aligned, some glass in the doors and windshield, I can get the rest of things done that are needed to make it legal, like brake/headlights/tail lights and such. I think those things will go pretty quick. I have an antique registration so I don't have to pass any sort of inspection. But I absolutely want it to be safe to operate. And be reliable. Its a 4 hour drive for me.
Its about 18 hours for me. Maybe more, I would like to drive the Devil's Highway one more time (old US-666, now called US-191). The stretch from Morenci, AZ to Springerville, AZ frequently appears in the top 10 driver road lists. Lead Ain't Dead 2020 got me started in this addiction. It inspired me to build a custom 1962 Volvo (had to hire most of the body work out) and show up at 2021 - Drove US-666 and some RT-66 - about 2,500 miles round trip. Cancelled out on 2022 due to illness. 2023 is a distant "maybe". Lots of work ahead of me - including getting a driveshaft made. And old age is making my plans uncertain - If the custom is not ready, maybe we will in the Subaru and hide the Subaru around the corner. Russ and Marian
I was there and saw your Volvo. You were busy tending to some mechanical issues with a lot of help around so I didn't come say hello ad introduce myself. If you make t ths year we will have to say hello, shake a hand and make a friend!
Gasoline dripping off of the driveshaft (Nylon fuel return line was rubbing on the driveshaft). I am the belly on the left. Kustom folks are the best! Instant help, someone ran home and got jack stands. They ran me to the parts store and would not let me buy the beer. Russ
The Jalopy Journal
