rebuilding after the crash

now that the block is home I have the fun of stripping all of the orange paint off. this should be about as much fun as removing the axle tubes.

 

first off- great thread and rebuild! So nice to see the car coming back much stronger and better than before. In that vein, I was looking at the mock up of the seats. It looks like the only attachment points are at the floor with the fabricated aluminum brackets? Is there more seat mounting that isn't in place yet? Directly to the cage structure?

One thing drilled into me over years of oval track racing (I've hit a lot of concrete over the years) is to mount the seat to the cage. In an accident, the cage, seat and belts will all move together keeping the belts tight. If the belts are mounted to the cage, and the seat to the floorboard then there opportunity arises for the belts to go slack. Just wanted to pass that along FWIW.

Looking forward to the rest of the build. Doing an awesome job!

 

thanks for looking dave. good observation on the seats. the seats were just set into place to make sure they both fit side by side. I first bought 20 inch wide seats. those would not fit side by side. I exchanged them for 16 inchers. those fit perfect. jim made mounts to tie them into the cage. we just needed a idea as to where they needed to go. there are a few more bars that need to be welded in along with the mounts that go to the upper portion of the seat. you are right on with the seat mounting being critical to surviving a crash. I have seen some scary things at the track.

 

Back in the 80's & 90's ,We Street Racers would call your car Equipped with
A Full Jungle Gym !!!!!

 

Just found this one more "remember how it was shot" at metldown coverage. Pretty good shot.

 

thanks for the pic. the pic is just a happy memory on the way it used to be. there is not much that was reused in the rebuild. the car will be ready for this years melt down.

 

Not everyone likes polished parts on their car but i sure do. I stopped by mikes today. He sent me a message earlier in the day to say the parts are ready to be picked up. When i got home the mag was on the front porch. I spent a little time tonight mocking things up. Im still waiting for the pump to show up. The axle was drilled friday. I stopped to take a look at it but forgot to take a pic. It looks cool. I will drop it off at mikes on saturday. It will get the full polish. Small sub assembles are starting to go together. A lot of things are getting checked off the list of things to do.

 

First Class!

 

Progressing nicely racer-x...I was in a market and was snooping thru some magazine clippings at a booth. I saw this and thought of you and your project. She's coming together nicely...

 

they are grand to drive. the gangsters of the thirties preferred mopars because they could out run the fords. fast and elegant

 

Very interesting and informative thread. I'm curious; at what point does the chassis/cage get the NHRA inspection?

 

Man, that thing is really starting to come together now. Those welds look really nice. I think the steel will break before they do. All of those polished parts are going to make the front of it come alive.

 

So, just out of curiosity, how many nitro burning, tube chassis cars have ever been built, in all of history, with a trailer hitch???

 

the chassis will be inspected after one more bar is welded in place. the bar goes in at floor level at the point of the a-pillars. the trans needs to go back in before they do it. I cant think of one car with a hitch that was a nitro burner. I think the polished parts against the green paint will look great.

 

Polished metal against that green paint is going to look like cash in a money clip. You can't get much better than that.

 

Just a thought, but if the orange paint is well adhered and not burnt off around the exhaust ports too bad, why not just wash it up and shoot a coat of self etching primer sealer followed by new top coats? I'm in the exact same boat myself (putting the old lime green metallic engine out of my O\T Vette into my (also O\T) '72 El Camino SS, and even though it did burn w little right at the exhaust ports (funny story about that one, a box stock Edelbrock 750 is NOT rich enough for a mildly warmed over 355! During the initial fire up and cam breaking, my (not as automotively experienced as I believed) buddy looks at me in the car and says "Are these headers supposed to be glowing cherry red?" Scratch the HTC coating on one set of new Hooker headers!). After much thought, the last paint adhered so well, I think I'm just going to wire brush the ends of the ports where it burned, shoot the whole thing with VHT Hi Temp primer, and then follow it up with Chevy Orange (I'm wanting it to appear as stock as possible. The green held up surprisingly well, it was a Sherman Williams mid line paint, and has been on the engine for 10 years.


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I usually brush the paint on the block. The balancer gets sprayed. Everything else is aluminium. I like the durability of real car paint. It also doesnt fade. Anything from a rattle can comes off with brake cleaner. Im stripping it because i dont want orange paint showing through when it gets chipped. Zip strip and a wire wheel do a good job. Its just messy.

 

in post 463 i introduced my good friend roger lechtenburg. together we do the machining and assemble of my hemi. I'm proud to announce roger just won the fuel altered title at this years march meet. a previous runner up in a dragster he is no stranger to the march meet. not only did he win the class but set highest mph at 233. thats hauling ass on a 125 inch wheelbase. feeling confident in the car they sat out the last round of qualifying. if my car gets damaged again I'm going fuel altered racing. my other friend jimmy young from burlington wi. went out second round in top fuel. jimmy won it the last two years. watching the live feed is not like being there. i took the coupe out there and crewed on the dragster a few times. this year I'm just too busy to go. watching nitro cars for three days can get a guy all kinds of crazy. on a side note i made it into this years drag week. registration was saturday. a few other hamb members made it also. we will have a good group again. there is a separate tread on drag week 2016.

 

Looking Great!

 

I also use car paint, with the exception of the VHT high heat primer base coat. I just think the high heat primer gives a little extra durability. I'm still running cast iron 392 heads on the T. Man, stripped and a wire wheel....doesn't it fling everywhere? I used to strip Corvettes out in the 100 degree heat in San Antonio, I know how fun it is to get a little stripper somewhere it wasn't supposed to be!

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I wipe off what I can before useing the wire wheel. yes it can get messy. the temp in Wisconsin was 40 degrees so im covered up good. I wouldn't want to do it in shorts.

 

I've been using single stage paint on my engines for close to 15 years. Wire brush, clean, etch prime and spray, they look like new to this day.

 

Its been busy around here. I picked up the axle saturday from the shop. I ran it over to mike to pollish. I received a message today saying it was done. So i ran over to pick it up. Its perfect. He spent extra time on it. The axle looks like its chrome plated. I didnt even want to fully unwrap it. The strange axles showed up and promptly got the bearings and 5/8 studs installed. The body will be finished primed and blocked by the end of the week. I will pick it up saturday and run it back to the chassis shop. The floor; seat mounting and tin work will then start. We also need to get the gas tank mounted to i can order the radiator. Things have been a little busy lately but i hope to have the short block done very soon.

 

i might have to get someone to paint the block. it turns out the color i chose for the car goes on in three steps. they don't make it in single stage. they called ppg for a cross reference. the paint shop also took a pic of the color with the camera that can figure out a good match. both produced no results. i don't own any paint equipment but my neighbor across the street does. its always something.

 

Wow that axle looks amazing.

 

You weren't lying about mike taking care of you. I can't believe he finished that already. Looks great.

 

He also got the shifter done. I didnt get a pic of it. I left it wrapped up. Rory it was cool that you stopped by to see the car and hang out with some of my friends. You are welcome at the shop anytime your in town. i forgot about the pic mike sent me right before he wrapped it up.

 

Wow , my son asked me tonight about your car. I told him you were rebuilding it and it was going to be awesome. He said he hoped we got to hang out with you this year

 

that just got him a ride in the car.

 

WOW! , sorry about the accident. Awesome seeing the car get rebuilt. Hopefully I will be lucky enough to be at the Grove one of the times you are there. Would be great to see the car in person and on a pass.