Well as some may recall I recently posted that we were bringing in Regret for a freshening up! not that we had the time!!haha Well, we cut the four bar off that my dad put on in the early eighties and threw some split bones back on, as it had always been...Moon disc's and Bias Ply too... We fixed the angle on the drag link as much as we could, with that, a new spring (that works!!), and all new ends, it should feel like a completely different car. Fenders coming soon BTW, the spring will settle an inch or two....
Well you certainly deserve a day or two off to enjoy an event. Pig Roast at my place that Friday nite June 1st. Your more then welcome to the tree swing that nite.
Just when you've seen so many misused Moon discs that you've convinced yourself that they won't look good on any car - these pics appear. That wheel and tire change is huge. Neat.
Love it how it sits now. I can appreciate putting fenders back on it to bring it back to what it was originally, but I'm partial to it right now.
You guys always have top notch stuff. Looks really cool. Even when you have to redo 80's "Better Ideas" Like to see this one in person. BTW, I vote you change the name to: "TERGER" in honor of it's updates. That will keep people wondering WTF?!?!??
HRD, how does the car handle now as opposed to with the parellel bars? And, what does your Dad think about it now as opposed to with fender and 4 bar? I'm partial to fenders and Moons. I really think that whatever you do will be fine. Good job.
Well we'll know how it drives/handles tomarrow. We still need to bleed the brakes and put the fluids back in it. I do know that it seems to steer a lot easier due to the reduced angle of the drag link. Previously it didn't just have bump steer it had wheel hop!! and that was with three degrees of caster! It also now has about an inch and a half of travel up front, as aposed to the 3/4 inch prior to the changes. I personnaly don't think the "handling caracteristics" will have changed much, and more than likely it will "handle" better. I say Handle in quots, because, as an old drag car the thing is twisted up pretty good (never being boxed and having ran in the tens in the late 60's. Also it ran 108.77 in 1958 with a 392 hemi) One thing we did that I forgot to mention is repaint the frame rails and tank to match the 38 year old, super thin paint on the body. It was way off before with it's 1983 respray of the chassis and tank. I think it's much closer now. Here are some details on what we used and did: 36 wishbones flipped upside down and bent to clear the pitman arm. (We were going to put hairpins on it, but the steering has been moved back about 5-6 inches from stock) We rebent the pitman arm to clear the wishbones. New posie rolled and tapered leaf spring with one leaf removed. These killer model A shackles. Chassis engineering steering arms and axle. 1946 truck wheels. Old forged steering arm is the panhard mount on both the chassis and the pass. side wishbone. We also replaced all the old tierod ends... It should drive out nice. Oh, and Dad prefers no fenders.....
Matt, Keep this up and you'll have Regret looking like my 2dr. I've got a gallon of flat black left if you decide to go all the way. Frank
WWWoooooo there good buddy!!! Let's not go there!!hahaha... Paint on the body and an updated chassis are at least ten years away from starting. but the paint will be the same. It will more than likely get a 389 and a five speed, but it will need a stiffer frame for that! Oh and don't get me wrong Frank, I like your car!haha
Another page in history is written on the evolution of Regret. Like the new look. Glad you all were able to pull it off in a timely manner. Make sure your Dad puts the docs in the Regret Book that he started when we were in Bldg. 40....
Looks very good! With those changes, i think it looks great fenderless. Id like to set some fenders on my car someday and see how they look.
Looks great. I have to show my dad the 'new' look. He used to see the car parked across from (I think) Fisher Body years ago where he worked in Lansing. He recently saw it cruising on 66 too. Can't believe I haven't seen it yet, I'm only over in Portland . Again, looks great, glad to see it's being well taken care of.
Well we drove it this afternoon! The steering is so much more responsive, it's nuts! It steers easier than the 52 and that has power steering!! This is a follow up on Aman's question: It's really hard to say which way works better, what with the differance of tires (radials vs. Bias). The steering box is still shot, we also need to get the wheels rebalanced, I believe. I got it up to around 70 mph on a shitty road without the stabalizer on it and it felt odd, like something was loose. So we came back to the shop and checked everything for tight (it was all good) and put the stabalizer on it. Unfortunatly my Dad and Kevin took it out on the second run, so I didn't get to see the differance, but dad said it was just the tires ( the stabalizer was on it in the old config.). The true test is tomarrow morning on the way to Zoomies party! Have a good weekend y'all, thanks for looking and responding! HRD
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