Hot Rods Big Daddy's 55 2 door wagon gasser

Retirement is not for everyone. I’ve stopped working twice now and despite my retirement, I’m looking at jobs again. I can get by just fine but I miss the sense of something needs to be done and I’m the one to do it. Not really sure what I want to do yet and if it will be full or part time, but I miss having a job to be responsible to. I hate being my own boss. Lloyd you have enough other things going on, retirement might not even phase you.

 

If you did it correctly, self employment is the hardest place to retire from. If you are running your own business and you still enjoy it, its the hardest thing in the world to walk away from. When my wife an myself both retired about the same time (2 months apart), we had both replaced our income. Even then, it was still hard to walk away from my business, it took 3 years to get it done. Its been 7 years since the official retirement day (4 since the last "paying job"), but I still have people that want me to do one more job for them. Its much easier to say no now.

Retirement is a great occupation. I have no idea how I got anything done, back when I was working...

 

Like Gene says retirement is a great occupation. I retired young at 61, I was going to work a while longer however my job went from something I loved and generally looked forward to, to something I loathed mainly because of the corporate politics that was transforming the corp I worked for. So I left, what I can say is a person needs a plan of sorts for retirement that is what to do? Travel, hot rods, gardening what ever, a bucket list. I love retirement. A guy should do some things that he has dreamed of. I spent a lot of time helping family with their home projects mostly in a supervisory role lol. Drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, eating donuts ( which I’m good at) and giving expert advice, well maybe advice, well maybe bad ideas - we’ll leave it at that.
I learned that most guys grieve their jobs. The year I retired I lost my daughter, the professional who counseled me whom is a friend told me one day Dan you know you’re mourning the loss of your job. Whoa no way, but with a little thought and perspective he is right. A job is a routine, a bond with a crew or group and many interactions with different people.
Good luck in retirement Lloyd when your time comes, you’ve earned it. You’ll have more time to hang with your hooligan friends! I see many gassers in the future.
Dan

 

I spent 43 yrs in the same factory. I retire a month before I was 62 and I've never looked back wishing I hadn't left. My wife and I traveled the first year and the second year was when I started doing my western parts trips. That's kept me occupied since 07. During that time I also bought and redid some things on 52 Ford 2dr Ht, 17 T roadster, currently an OT G body. I'm still driving my avatar. This year at 81 I decided to quit doing the western trips so I sold the duallie and the trailer and bought a 1/2 ton truck. Right now I have enough to keep me busy and am contemplating what I'll do next, but it will not entail working for anyone

 

When I retired, I built a truck (not the blue one). After it was road worthy, I found out the cab was a bit smaller then I liked, so I put it up for sale in 2020 (that didn't work so great). Then I did some needed metal work on my coupe (things I didn't do in 2011 now needed to be done). As soon as the paint was sprayed on the coupe, July 2021, I started on my 49 (the now blue truck) and a week later sold the first truck I built. It took 11 months to build my 49, then I drove it through the winter and spent the following spring doing body work (about 2 months more sanding then I ever put into any vehicle) and had my friend spray the paint. My 49 was painted in May of 2023.
At that point I was very tired of doing any kind of real work, my new job was to work on what that retirement thing looks like. I really enjoyed it for a while.

So here I am, in 2025, considering another hot rod project. If this one happens (looking very likely), it will be my 4th final build.... But who is really counting?? The plan for this build is its going to be a much slower pace then the last 2 were.. I think... maybe?? My wife is shaking her head no too (concerning the build pace, its going to be her car, she is on board with it). She is smiling, I think she just wants me out of the house for a while...

 

Just found this on youtube. Go to 19:09 and see this wagon in all it's glory.

 

That is awesome! Our Lloyd is World Famous!

 

Ha, I was just going to post that, lot of Henry J's too

 

I must've been drunk when they recorded that lol.... 1972 baby! Kinda kills my soul to cover up what an old school hot rodder did all of those years ago. He told me the story about the day in 1969 when he put a 327/4 speed in the wagon that he bought in the junkyard. Went to town that night and out ran the rich kid with the new 69 Camaro that his daddy bought him. He grinned and his eyes lit up telling me those stories.

 

Your wagon has so much cool history. If it could only talk to us, we would all gather around with a beverage and just listen.

 

So true. When I was young I would go to the local wrecking yards scrounging for parts. I remember finding a few interesting things under the seats of some of those old cars. I always wished those cars could talk. If only they could tell the stories of the people that drove them and the places they had been. Hell, some of us were probably conceived in some of them

I'm sure BIG daddy could recreate that paint job. Lot's of old cars brought back to their former glory for future generations to enjoy. Go daddy Go!

 

I jacked it up and pulled the leaf springs out this evening. Put the ladder bars back in. Hopefully fixes the wheel hop. Another issue was rear steering lol, when you held the vertical pedal on the right to the floor for very long, it started getting squirrely, you could feel that it was in the rear of the car. So when I was pulling the leaf springs, I noticed that the top bushing on the rear, both sides, was pretty much completely gone lol... and with those super long shackles, I now understand where my rear steering was coming from. But anyway, ladder bars are back on, just gotta put a panhard bar on it. Started fabbing a frame bracket, but after a good long hot day of welding and sanding, I hung it up and came home to the air conditioner. Stay hydrated damnit!

 

Well, I was gonna buy you something, but not now

 

OK, let's have a talk about throwing bearings. Mine was new, but occasionally when I push the pedal in, and put the trans in gear, it roars until I let out on the clutch. Doesn't do it every time. So I guess I need to change it, what's the best one to buy?

 

AC Delco lists them. Summit has 'em in stock.

 

I’ve always had excellent results with National Bearings .

 

I hope this silly question doesn't get peoples' panties in a wad but is the fork positioned correctly on the throwout bearing?
Or vice versa.

 

Yeah i made sure not to split the clip lol

 

It's all new, and greased on assembly. It's an intermittent thing, I had the clutch adjusted wrong, had about an 1/8" of clearance, but no free pedal to mention. I shortened the pushrod, so now I have an inch of free pedal. Wondering if I burnt up the Chinese bearing. AC delco is cool, but everything I've bought lately says made in China right under the AC delco name.

 

I suspect, and Papaw is similarly equipped, if the “clutch kits” we buy have lower quality pieces in them to maximize profits for the seller. I just can’t see the kits coming with a National or other brand name (SKF, Timken, etc) bearing. Next time, I know I’ll pay more, but I’m going to look at individual pieces.

 

Don't know if they sell just TO bearings but hey they're in your home state so worth checking. Or not.
https://kyclutch.com/

 

I finally went to the bucket of old parts I had from stripping down 3 engines to build the one in my truck, the throw out bearing that came in the clutch kit was absolute garbage, well actually the one in the second kit as the pressure plate was wrong in the first kit. So they send another bearing it’s the same shit as the last one, so I tell parts man to get one from another source, WELL this one has the dust cover pressed on cockeyed and someone tried to correct that with a bfh, luckily I opened the package right there in the store so the parts man saw for himself, ordered yet another , while I’m waiting for this prize to arrive I have a rummage through my bucket and find one that’s not rusty but it won’t move, so toss it in a pail of varsol for a couple hours, pull it out and what do you know it’s moving, stuck that in and been driving it for 4 and a half years

 

Sad to say, but just like anything else, new parts are a crap shoot these days.

 

I used the TO bearing that came with my Zoom clutch kit. Really didn't look it over that closely.

It was quiet until I was on the road with it at around 3000 RPMs. It had an intermittent screech to it. Just for a short time, then it quieted down. I had it out 2 years later, it looked and felt fine when I spun it by hand.

 

Yeah I've thought about leaving it for a bit, see what happens

 

At about 115k [2015] I replaced the hyd TOB [$120.00] on my OT vehicle, MC had been changed once way back at 40k. A few years ago the TOB started making some noise so I started skipping gears to get it to live longer. At 1k of noise I started losing the hyd part, couldn't tell if it was the MC or the slave. Put new MC in as I could do from up top not easy when I did the first one but this time around I could have thrown it in from across the street! Helped some, but still lost hyd so would have to "pump it up" and it would be fine for the course of driving [carting dog around and recycle]; sitting for a few days it would bleed down. Then one day while driving I felt a "pop" when using the clutch and I had no clutch. Close to home but I managed to irritate many people while limping home, trying to catch gears. End to story is I can buy a replacement TOB for about $55 at NAPA and as low as $38 on Amazon. Never ever expected the TOB to be cheaper now than it was 10 yrs ago!

 

FYI On some jeeps the clutch slave cylinder and the master & line come as a kit per bled

 

Mine is all mechanical.