Hot Rods Making the Unexpected '34 my own

Scored one yesterday!

 

That’s so awesome!! Would be suuuuuper handy now that we bought a wall clock and I picked up a set of 56 Olds headlight cut offs, a set of 56 Chrysler grille bars and a new 34 dash this weekend. Full load going back home. Lol

 

Love it

 

Well, other than driving it the hour and a half home when we bought it, made the maiden road trip to the Stray Kat this weekend. The car did fine, other than wanting to run hotter than I think it should. Stopped a few times to cool it off, but never blew its top, so that's good.



Had it loaded pretty full, but the back seat holds a surprising amount of stuff....spare, jack, tools, wash bucket (which turned out to be handy to splash cool water through the radiator lol), a '52 Chevy grille and another one in parts for @RMONTY, a couple of chairs and luggage. @guthriesmith brought me the banjo wheel he posted a few posts back (sadly, it doesn't fit my column, so we couldn't install it....we were all bummed), the show sign Steve Stanford painted for Lee for the Impala and the car cover Lee had for it. I also picked up a set of '56 Olds headlight cut offs a set of '56 Chrysler grille bars Dave Faust cut off his 56 Tbird to put on mine and an original '34 dash to install, so plenty full load on the way home as well.



Before we bought the car and were still thinking about it, Michelle said the first thing that has to go is the steering wheel and it needs more pinstripes. Of course, I totally agree, so got some more stripes added while we were there. Give a custom guy a hot rod and he's sure to screw it up doing custom things to it. LOL It already had the little bit on the gas tank cover, so Josh added some blue to it to blend it in with the new.









The new banjo wheel was supposed to fit a GM column, but turned out to fit and original Ford column, so have to regroup on that. Offended by the remaining billet, @BigJoeArt couldn't even look in the direction of the car...



Was a great weekend getting to see everyone. Winter is always too long and the SK is a welcome time to finally get to see everyone again after months apart. I always tell Michelle it's sad all our friends live at least 4 hours away. LOL

Was also cool to get to see @atch and @winduptoy win awards.





All in all a great weekend, perfect weather and most of all, great people and wonderful friends. Now I get to sort out the cooling issue. Behaving like it has too low of a thermostat, or a bad one or not one even at all. Timing checked out ok, so that shouldn't be the problem. Could also be the gauge is inaccurate or maybe a failing water pump. I'm going to go ahead and drain the system, replace the thermostat, check the hoses, put in the new gauge set, and maybe replace the water pump as long as it's all drained down. I figure a shot gun approach might fix it and I'll never be sure exactly which one was the problem. LOL

 

That pinstriping looks just right! I appreciate the grill/grill parts and pieces. With the stuff you gave me, and the grill that @Lone Star Mopar hooked me up with, I should be able to make a damn fine grill for the Sedan Delivery. Thanks again Dave, it is very much appreciated! Great seeing you and hanging out with you for a little while.

 

Glad I could contribute a small part!

 

Sure is a great looking car, glad to hear you didn’t have Aton of troubles getting it to Dewey.

 

Thanks!! We missed you this weekend, but I know you have more important things going on right now.

 

Well the good news is I am getting some work done on the Merc., maybe by...............

 

The sedan looked real kool. Thanks for driving over to visit. Pictures don't do the sedan justice, the gray really pops. It gives us hope that Kustoms guys can drive Hot Rods too.

 

I don't know about the grey "popping" but it sure does suit the car and I've really come to like the color. Now if I could only figure out what color it is for repairs later if necessary.

Thank you again for a great weekend Mick! Couldn't have been more perfect-er....unless it was longer and more time to hang out.

 

Got a little time the last couple days to fiddle with the ‘34. I put it up on the cribs so I could get under it easily, drained the coolant and started assessing things.



The thermostat was a 160 degree that had clearly been in there for a while. The aluminum water neck had seen better days as well. New 195 thermostat (with a hole drilled in the rim to eliminate bubbles) and hoses on hand a new water neck on order. That should solve the running hot issue I was having last week. It behaved just like the thermostat was open all the time once it got warm and never cycled to let the coolant stay in the radiator long enough to cool off. A 160 will do that here in the south. Lol

I also took the billet wheel off and decided to see if just for grins I could make the banjo wheel work even though it has a hub to fit a Ford Colin rather than the gm one I have. Well, sure enough, it will be no problem. Just like when I put the Merc accessory wheel on the gm column in my Merc, I can cut a key way on the top of the steering shaft and drill a hole in the hub for the turn signal cancel cam. I have a friend that is big into 3D printing these days and he’s going to print me a ring to fill the gap and blend the wheel to the diameter of the column. Just like it never happened. Ching!





When I removed the wheel, I discovered some hot pink overspray behind the wheel and inside the column. I also found quite a bit behind the dash and noticed some in some paint chips in the door jambs. I removed the gauge cluster to start getting ready to swap the gauges and there is hot pink on the dash behind the gauge cluster as well. Looks like I got me what once used to be a hot pink 80’s hot rod. Makes me want to get out the 80’s Street Rodder and Rod Action mags off the shelf and see if I can find it! Lol



As long as the coolant is drained, I’m going to replace the gauges. I started exploring about the fuel sender and found a rubber patch (made
from a piece of running board cover) pop riveted and sealed to the floor over the tank. I removed it today and lo and behold, a very nicely cut hole right above the fuel sender. Another win! Ching again!



Hoping to make a good bit of progress this week. I’ve got a couple days off, so maaaaaaaybe might get it all buttoned back up this week.

 

Sure glad someone covered up the hot pink! And, glad that steering wheel can work.

 

Man, it sure would be cool to find some pics of it in that (or any previous) version, though, wouldn’t it? Regardless, this car has really been cared for well over its life I thing. I see no evidence of terrible repairs, cherry floors and don’t even see any rust or repairs in the fender wells. Really a very nice solid car.

 

Saw it at Dewey, nice 34.

 

Beautiful car, but be mindful of scope creep! lol

 

Very cool!

 

Wise words here!

 

Oh, I know all about scope creep and am the KING of scope creep. Lol. Today isn’t the day for that on this car though.

 

I’ll be the idiot- what is scope creep???? Really admire the fix on your steering wheel, how much time will it take to print the spacer? I’d really
Love to have one of those printers but then again I’d never get any work done!
It’s a great car!

 

Scope creep is getting deeper into a project than planned. So, say the plan is to just clean a car up some and drive it and next thing you know, it’s off the frame in 1000’s of pieces.

 

Man, I sure got a bad case of Scope Creep!

 

Scope creep... "well, while I'm at it, I might as well"....

 

I thought “scope creep” was just part of the process. Is for me anyway.

 

No wonder I didn’t know what it was, I’ve never done something like that (says the guy that’s still working on the Merc. 10 years later!).

 

I have decided to kick 'scope creep' out of my shop. I'm not going to cut any major corners but I am not building a Points Restoration either. Dave, your car is looking better all the time!

 

For sure, it is suuuuuuper hard for me to not go down the path of As Long As We Are Here....which is a little bit of what I'm up to now....as long as I'm draining it to check/change the thermostat, may as well make the gauge change, but trying to not go further than that, LOL.

Naturally, even though I had a few days off last week, the time I had available to work on the car wasn't what I'd hoped, but I did make some progress. Got the old gauge cluster out of the dash and the sensors changed. Whoever wired this car did a fantastic job.



I did spend some time removing those straggling circuits that were added by previous owners that are no longer in service or need cleaned up. For some reason, someone removed the horn relay and made a new horn circuit with a horn button on the column mount....that has been removed and put back the way it belongs, along with an old alarm circuit and removing the neon out from under the car. I called the makers of the wiring panel (now Racers Rods) hoping for a wiring diagram and perhaps some info on who bought it. He was able to pull up the wiring diagram, but did tell me this was the first series panel they made and dates to late 80's/early 90's.....which goes with the apparent earlier hot pink paint job.

Thanks to the smart suggestion by @Algoma56, I also put a boot on the alternator lug.



Also been working mounting the '39 style Ford banjo steering wheel to the GM column. There were some parts missing inside the column, mostly horn and turn signal cancelling, that I am waiting on to arrive and I need to cut the keyway in the steering shaft, we very nearly have the 3d printed Ford Banjo to GM Column Shape Corrector TM nearly worked out. Shown is prototype #2, which is real close. A few more adjustments and we will be there. You can see we designed it with an inner ring that fits inside the column and a concave taper at the top against the wheel. My plan is to snap it into the top of the column and have the gap between the collar and the wheel. I'll sand it smooth and paint it black which should largely hide all the gaps when we have them dialed in. Very pleased with how it's working out. @wide34 you wondered how long it takes to print....I think my friend said it's taking about 2 hours.









Major improvement! My like it, as my 4 year old grandson would say. LOL You'll also notice the mixmatch of levers and billet knobs has been corrected...other than the remaining billet headlight knob.



Once the remaining few parts arrive, I'm mostly ready to put it all back together. I do have some finagling I have to do to mount the new gauge cluster to the dash, but I have that all worked out. I'd really like to swap the whole dash out the new/stock one I picked up after the Stray Kat, but once again, trying to keep the reigns on the scope creep. LOL

 

Looking good man!

The alternator boot is something I’ve not thought of one single time but makes sense.

can always swap the dash over the winter that way you can “learn” on the existing one… then make any needed modifications to the stock dash before you send it out for chrome and swap it

 

Dave,

I'm sure you have seen them but there are pix of your car being pinstriped over on the SK-500 pix thread. Also the 34 parked next to Winduptoy's Vicky.

I'm glad that you are going to be able to use the banjo wheel. What an improvement.

Thanks for looking us up and chatting. I saw the 34 all weekend but you didn't seem to be hanging out there.

Here's to a great year and we'll see you in Dewey again next year.

 

Yeah, never crossed my mind either, but he's right....one whack with a wrench and you're sorry. LOL

The dash I got has the rail across the top that hooks it to the cowl cut off, so I'll have to cut it off my existing dash and weld it on the new one. So yeah, a project for another day. Plus, I'll have to figure out how to get all the upholstered panels cleared out of the way and then back in again....never mind painting the dash itself.

Thank you Mike! I've saved them into the '34 picture folder. Thank you for posting them. The whole weekend went so fast and seemed like I barely had anytime with anyone just trying to catch everyone and at least get a "Hi howya doin" in. LOL