Just a small update. The rear end should be done anyday, then I can finalized the body and stance. Parts are flying in and out the door. The Hemi is at my buddy's Clarence Brewton's. The heads are with Pat Foreman. Both should be back within the week. These two guys are well known in Baytown. They do a lot of circle track and 1/4 mile engines. The axle is being dropped by Joe Castro and should be back this week. I started with the 833 Tranny that Norm gave me. I spent a day with a wire wheel and got it all cleaned up. I was going to rattle can it, but decided against that. There was too much prep time for that, so I ran to my favorite paint store and decided that Chrysler Guard Red was pretty close to the original engine color that Ron painted it. I really kept leaning toward a darker red, but Ron won. Finally found some original tail lights I needed from Original Patina here on the HAMB and man are they nice. The Hurst shifter showed up. I should have taken a picture before I rebuilt it. Wore out a wire wheel on it! Onto the front wheels. Here is what I started with. I forgot to take the camera out so I missed some pics. I drilled and punched out the rivets. Reversed the center section. Trued it up and tack welded. Rechecked for true and welded it up. Thanks to Little Bobby Bleed for the tech! Then I painted it with some PPG Single Stage. Anyway I am happy with the way they turned out. One of these days I am going to buy a decent paint gun. I am still using a Home Depot Husky. My Dad always said to get to where you can paint well with a cheap gun first. The new tires should be showing up this week. Rear drums showed up. I need to get these to Danny. Next on the list is the rear wheels. I am looking for some 1950's Buick Roadmasters wide wheels to split and mate to the 40's wheels. If anyone has two extra please let me know.
Just an FYI, if you run the Buick drums on the rear with a reversed 15" wheel, you'll probably need a spacer for the drum to fit the wheel without hitting the rim. I went through this with a pair of reversed 15x5.5" Ford wheels that I run on my coupe from time to time. I ended up having to make a 1/2" spacer to get them to clear the drum. Everything looks good so far...keep it up!
Looking real good, Kathy! Congrats on your progress bringing 'ol Tuffy back to life! I'm sure Casey is following your progress with a big smile on his face Can't wait to see you driving it! jb
Thanks for that tip Bass, I would have messed that up. Sounds like I had better do some measuring. Danny, not as quick as you and your son, but I am trying. JB, I hope your right, I miss him and that little boy smile so much! Got it, Passon Performance has one!
I've got the Buick steel wheels you need, Kathy. I got them from another HAMBer for my '55 Buick, but have changed my mind. I'd be pleased to donate them to the cause if you'll pay the freight. PM me for more info.
Eric, You have been a wealth of knowledge through this and now donating the wheels I need - your the man! That makes it special, thanks so much! PM on the way.
Looking good Kathy! Are you still trying to make the USFRA meet at B'ville in September? How about the Deuce Reunion in Bastrop? - Eric
Everything is looking really good and the trans turned out nice!!!! I need to get my ass out in the garage and clean and paint my trans soon enough. That's just what I needed!!!
I'm glad your back on track and building it the way you wanted from the begining....it will be awsome.....the car has so much history....and the history continues....
Small update with pictures (that's a hint for Grits). First thing I measured the wheels per Bass. I used 53-56 Ford truck rims which are about 5" wide and reversed them. That gave me 2 1/2" backspacing which was just right for the Buick rims.' But on the same rim that was not reversed it would be a no go There are so many parts coming to the house, it feels like Christmas. The dropped axle came back from Joe Casto and man it is perfect. Then I scored an aluminum tank off of CL. Then my Buick rims that I need to split and marry to the 53's showed up. Compliments of MissysDad1 - Eric, thanks so much! I started on the rear wheels. There is a tech article on how to do this in "The Little Page" Community, but it is really set up for when you need a wide rim with alot of backspacing. So I decided I would reverse the 53 Wheel first and then mate it to this part of the Buick rim. This will give me about a 7 1/2" rim with 2 1/2" BS I got the first wheel reversed and started on the second. Note - before you do all the prep/cleaning/reversing -you should check to make sure it runs true. You can see some daylight there Ok, no worries, I have a 53 Truck that I will rob a straight wheel from. Fought with the tire for a while and got it off then I realized it was a 48 Wheel and not wide enough. Back out to the truck I go. "Mom - you should leave now before I start cussing". Crawled under the front of the truck and both fronts look like wide wheels -cool. Wrestled with the second tire and got it off, checked for true - good, knocked the rivets out and &^&%^&*()(( it's a 16" rim. Well that was a waste of an afternoon. Big Brown Truck shows up! Hell yeah, you can't whip me! Couldn't stand it, had to run to have the fronts mounted. Please don't scratch the wheels - they did. Of well, it happens and I can fix it. Decided to throw the front end together and make sure all the details were right - good thing. I had missed some fitting problems on the spindles. Plus I wanted to see the tires on there. About that time this old, and I mean old pin up model walks in the door. Not really, it was my 82 year old Mom (but she could have been). She's still cute! With the rear tires I can now tell Danny how wide I need the rear axle. I will be running a model A rear axle with the quick change. With the axle flush to the top of the frame rail it sets at +8 degrees. I know I can match that with the spring mounts at -8 to keep it from binding but I am curious if everyone else is leaving them flush or getting them more level? I really don't see that it would matter but would like some input . I will be taking the pinion angle into consideration while doing this. I am trying to keep going and plan ahead of getting the rear axle back, so I started cutting out the boxing plates. Brown truck again. And I got this cleaned up but forgot pic. I keep forgetting. Members of The Pushbar will be receiving their poker chips. We are now up to about 90 members, including dogs! On a sad note, Ron Bettin the original builder has been gone a year today. I hope he is smiling!
Does that mean if I duct tape a dollar to ChiChi's grey, artheritic little paw, and bring her next visit, she gets a chip? P.S. Tell MoMo she still looks good!
Of course ChiChi can be a member! Price was good, but his wife couldn't find the mounting brackets. But I have some ideas for that. I have been cleaning it and it is looking good. You need to pick up your chip Alex!
I love how Tuffy gets a new lease on life instead of being rebuilt as a generic street rod. I had actually stopped looking at this thread but now everything is good again and the universe is in harmony. Well done Kisam!
Thank you! I got a little side tracked but I am back to my original plan. I still have some things to figure out. It appears that Tuffy never ran a radiator fan and with the grill mounted that low, it probably wouldn't have done any good. I guess it is possible that he may have had and electric fan mounted between the grill and radiator? I am not sure when they came out but he did have access to everything since he worked in a salvage yard. Your like me, if I am not at work I am in the garage. I get pissy when I have to mow the grass. Thanks Jeffrey! They are Radirs 8.20 x 15's and thread width is 8 1/2". Unmounted the widest width is 9 1/4". Hopefully my measurements are correct on the rear end width as I want them tucked close to the body.
Are these the type manifolds you want? Anyone know if they'll fit, my engine is a '53 331, head casting numbers are 1486833-1.
Yes, those are exactly what I am looking for! And no heat riser - perfect! I have been told that the 331's exhaust manifolds flow better too. Thanks Richard! How many Natty's will it cost me?
Those are pretty bad ass lookin', I think I changed my mind! Just kidding, you can have them. Won't cost ya nothin', ya know I'm a sucker for blondes...but I won't turn ya down if you offer to help get the one broken exhaust bolt out of the head!
The Jalopy Journal
