Projects '23 Ford Roadster build aka The Incredible Hulk

I'm envious of your bubble balancer.

One minor point, wouldn't it be a good idea to paint all the surfaces of the wheels? Or is everything primed anyhow?

 

The entire wheel got primer,
It's the same stuff I used on the body of my '27, but brown and without a top coat.
It's been doing fine with no signs of failure in six plus years.
The gloss top coat on the visible parts was just to make them look shiny.
I did put a good layer at the bead area to help ensure an air tight seal.
Both primer and top coat are rust inhibitors.

 

shot paint on the rear wheels yesterday between raindrops
cured just enough to stretch L78-15 tires on today.
these are used tires, still soft with no visible issues
sanded the beads lightly to get the crud off and wiped the beads with Track Bite to soften them a bit.
that smell sure brought back memories..
sprayed the beads with Windex to lube them
and they went on with minimal effort.
didn't need the strap on the bigger tires as the bead was just touching the rim
aired up and balanced, one took 4.5 oz and the other took 5
washed and mounted

 

Never cared much for white walls, but I must admit they work great on that car. Definitely gonna be a fine little hotrod.

 

Looks good, I’ve balanced a lot of wheels and tires with a static balancer like that. Also have an EZ cabinet.


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That is so cool!

 

Coincidentally this video on that type of balancer showed up yesterday on bangshift. A few good tips in it.

https://bangshift.com/general-news/...-balancing-drag-radials-and-slicks-made-easy/

 

been far too long between updates here,
or even progress on the Hulk
busy with life's distractions I guess.

today I finally spent a few hours on it
figured it was time to put together some headers
started by pulling out all my bits and pieces of header makin' stuff
chose to use a set of separate flanges, three on each side with the center ports joined
and will run 1-3/4" primaries on all three.

slice and dice some short sections of tube
shape them over some square tube
weld the pieces together
trim and weld them to the flanges
and clean them all up
and test fit.

 

that was the easy part,
now I have to decide on a design..

 

Looks great! If I'd have seen this earlier I'd have lent you my die that makes the end ones. I really like how Rockets and Cads look with the separate flanges!

 

Always enjoy seeing your work. Nice execution on the siamesed center ports. Glad to see you got a chance to get back out in the shop. It is amazing how life distracts us. Thanks for the inspiration.


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No doubt. I wanna' quote biblical stuff when Paul works. One of the best, here.

"So tidy !"

 

been thinking about header design since this car first started to form in my mind
few things are more important in projecting the overall feel,
no fenders, no top, open engine, multiple carburetors,
and in your face headers.

I'm down to what really is only two or three designs

1. separate and unjoined,
short like Clarence Catallo's Olds in his Silver Saphire
or long like Gene Chan's Hemi in his '23 T
or the early version of John Gate's Cadillac in his '15 T

2. joined
like Norm Grabowski's Cadillac in his Lighning Bug
or John Gate's later version Cadillac in the '15 T

number 1. would be wild but
number 2. would be easier to fit mufflers to..

1:




2:

 

Just found this one , great build !
Love it

 

Number one is the hardest one to pull of to get it right.
But done right it really look great.
I would do number two couse it look more cleaner.
Number one look more like showrod when number two have more of a streetdriven look.

 

Another reason to choose #1 is I have parts on hand to get it started, if I don't like it it wouldn't be much time of effort lost if I were to cut and redo..

 

I think #1 is best of the choices presented.

 

^^^^^I agree with Rich

 

How's your hearing Paul?

I made my exhaust go all the way out the back on my Coupe this time, yes, it' has no mufflers, but I'm almost 65 years old and my hearing is not as it once was from working at NHRA National Events and NASCAR races for 30 years.

Make it enjoyable !

 

Yes, it will have mufflers and exhaust will exit out the back.

 

I never realized how the headers were hooked to the exhaust on the car until I saw the rebuilding pictures on Instagram.

 

You're absolutely right Paul, at this point header choice can make or break the overall look. I vote for #1 if you cap them and run mufflers underneath. They look nice and not too long. The Gates car looks good but sorta common. If you split the center ports so you have 4 ports on each side to deal with, I kinda like the 2 into 1 and 2 into 1, with two collectors per side. Again, capped with mufflers underneath. If you plan on lots of chrome and candy paint, the Chan style would work.
You know, I've been known to build more than one set for my cars and swap them out occasionally. Build something for now and build something else later if something comes to mind.

 

tacked together some pipes for a visual..
'might look good it they were trued up and shiny
but right now they seem a little.. ratty

 

Paul, those don't look ratty, this is what ratty looks like, my first set, 56 years ago !

 

Cadillac in a T Roadster, you get a p***

 

my first set 35 years ago

 

some more over the years..
there were more, rarely thought of taking pictures.
camera or film not handy or if pictures were taken they melted away

 

I have the twin to it !

 

This set is pretty Nifty.

 

I'd go for similar to these again. A great clean look.