My Prayers go out to you for quick recovery, I come from along line of ken folks with heart issues, know the feeling. Your 32 is awesome build it how you want to. Glad to see a woman with such passion about old cars
Kay, Thanks, I am feeling great! I am returnig to work on Sunday. I have been staying in the house and getting some stuff done. Thanks Pete! I am so excited that you are going to LSRU! I will find you or look for the pink Cadillac (Slick 50 - Ken and Devalle Gal - Vicki's) at the park. We usually have a picnic table behind the car. Thanks, I really like I have found the fountain of youth. I feel like I am 30 again and "Stella got her groove back"!
Hi Kathy, I really like this coupe you guys are rebuilding...so much I'm making a model of it! I do have 2 questions....What do the headers look like? and what do the quad headlights look like? Thanks,Jon
Jon, Thanks! The best I can tell from the pictures, it had stock exhaust manifolds - at least when Ron drove it in high school. The headlight stands appear to be similar to Lee's Tornado, which I am happy to say I found a pair. Look at bottom pic. Kay, I took a little breather and have been helping my 11 year old (Ty) with his 69 Mustang Fastback. The plan was to get the engine/tranny in it so we could move it around. So far we have, prepped and painted the engine bay, added disc brakes, power steering, and did a Shelby drop (got a little carried away). We should be able to drop the engine/tranny in this weekend. The quick change rear end is going to Bruce's Rod Shop next week and the Hemi is going to my friend CB to determine what, if anything, we need to do to put it back together. Since coming back to work there has been a lot of OT, I am hoping that May will be better and we can get back on it!
Good to hear you're on the mend. Now get that deuce done! Ya promised me a ride at the HAMB Drags, remember?
good to hear your feeling better ,That lil deuce will be high on your recovery list .Built to put a smile on your face, haha
Are you going to be taking Tuffy to any carshows this summer? Let me know if you do, I'd love to see him coming to life again. You are doing awesome, and I'm so glad you are feeling fit again.
Hello Kay, It's hard to say at this point. I am still working a lot of OT with very few days off. I took the rear end up to Danny at Bruces Rod Shop yesterday before work. Turns out the the DPI Goldtrac that Bill gave me is the right one, so that will save a few pennies! And we will be able to use the brakes and Bill has some Buick drums for it (which I love). I must be living right! I got to see the 32 Roadster Survivor (apart since WWII) that they are working on (must be Tuffy's uncle). Sure would like to get a picture of both of them together someday. I just got off the phone with my buddy CB regarding the engine. We are going to get together in a couple weeks (I could do it Sunday but I think my kids would get mad -Mother's Day). I am hoping we can hone it and go with it. No blower for now. I am back to my original plan to get it as close to the high school picture as possible! Nothing too radical for the engine, I want to drive it and my "new best friend" Norm says that is how to do it. Since he has 85,000 on his Hemi Deuce Roadster, I am going to listen!
Sounds good, don't work too hard, keep your strength up. If you do get to a car show somewhere, let me know, if at all possible I feel a "road trip" coming on.
I usually don't post this, but I'd love to see an update! This car is one of my top three of all time.
Time for an update! I actually got my four days off! First things first! I found out that I can weld with my pacemaker. It's one of those things your not sure if you want to know or not. I am afraid that without being able to do so, Tuffy would have been stalled. I would have driven Louie S. crazy - "Can you come over and weld"?? (but he would have cause I have adopted him as my brother) So first thing I welded was a sign for the shop with it's official name. Only a gear head will get it. Taking the engine to my buddy CB got a little delayed. He had a few engines in front of me. I thought it was a good time to get some stuff done so I could forge ahead while the engine was gone. I decided that engine mounts were where to start. I started making some, but they just didn't look right for Tuffy. I finally took the engine mounts off the 354 in the corner and started messing with them. Still didn't look right. So I re-angled them to 90 degrees, and added some metal. You can still see the original mounting hole in this picture. Onto the frame mounts. I thought I took a picture of the cut outs but guess I forgot it. Here I am bending up the bottom piece. Thanks Unclee for the use of your torch! The top piece is beveled so that it it flush with the top of the frame. Someone remarked they looked like batwings and did I do that on purpose? Anyone that knows me, knows how I feel about the Batmobile and Adam West - love em! Now keep in mind that I want to drive this car. I am trying to get the engine low enough that I can throw on a half hood if caught in the rain. So I put the heads on. Who needs weight lifting after carrying two of these across the shop, I could here my Dad saying "Don't strain your milk"! (I can't remember at what age I realized what he meant but he still says it at 84). To my dissapointment, I am thinking the stock manifolds are going to hit the engine mount and I don't have any to check, so I may have to modify. Three forward two back? Although the original aluminum firewall will go back on I wanted a cowl band for the half hood. Here is a recessed one donated by my buddy Skotz (one of my favorite people in the world). I don't know where Skot got this but look how close the colors match - kinda freaky? Then I pulled the engine out and put on the tranny. I got the scattershield from Tom aka TR Waters, who made me a smoking deal - thanks Tom. The tranny was donated from "My new best friend Norm". Why? Because it needs a four speed Kathy! Ya gotta love Norm - he's the best! The best part of this tranny is that it has two locations for mounting the shifter and after I got it in there I decided on the more forward position. Repaired the patch panel rear of the door. Were these leaded in at the door sill plate from the factory? Installed the front end and stuck a grill on there. Started playing with blue tape to see if carb/filter are going to fit? I have stared at the old pictures for hours and it looks like Ron had an F1 steering box mounted on top of the frame. After attaching the starter, I can see why. There isn't room for anything but, so if anyone local has an F1 for sale please let me know. The exact height/positioning of the car is still in limbo untill I get the rear end back from Bruce's Rod Shop. I know the rear end will come up a little and then I can get final stance closer to original, but it's getting there. I must have been dreaming at this point. I don't know why my eyes were closed. OK, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it! About that time, Tanya walks through the door and says, "Can you teach me to weld"? I think she is a natural. I numbered the first five welds. Mind you the second weld she pushed, third weld she pulled, then it was uphil and downhill. I was very impressed and she was excited. Check out the 90! Then it was onto the pedals. I had a 66 Chevy parts truck that I robbed the pedals from. Here's a picture before pic and I didn't get an after pic. It was a busy 4 days off! I am hoping I can keep up the pace as this month I have no overtime to work.
Looks like great progress!!! I'm confused though are you restoring the car or????? 50/50?? Making it your own while paying homage?
You can borrow my manifolds if you want, Louie has a key. Pick up that radiator while you are there,I don't know how you are going to get one to fit...
Thanks Alex! I have already scrapped the half hood idea. (Guess I will carry Tupperware with me like everyone had at LSRU two years ago) I couldn't get the stance to where it needed to be. Here is an updated picture. The front end still needs to be dropped and I need to get the quickchange back in. The scrub line is going to be close. Then I can address that engine position - the rear of the engine needs to come up and the front may need to be lower, but it's getting closer!
kathey... I not even going to ask to sit in TUFFY... the jaws of life would be involved get my big ass out... plans to drive to lsru?
Thump-thump...thump-thump. Damn, That thing's just the toughest 3 window I've ever seen. Sure gets my blood pumping! I'm impressed by your progress. Glad you're feeling better!
I am glad to hear you are doing better. Keep up the progress, and thank you for trying to nail the original look.
Man, that is going to be one nice ride- can't wait to see it rolling around Houston!! Glad you are doing better- Best from Oak Forest, Dave
The Jalopy Journal
