What an honor to have Gene work with you on your car. I had the privilage of having Gene come down to Texas. I helped him chop my 53 Chevy. It was an amazing time. WE NEED MORE PICS!!! Roll that sucker outside and lets see it already!!
Here are a few pics from the day the car came home. My friend Greg is hauling cars for a living now and took good care of my car. I was really nervous about loading it in a trailer and letting someone else drive it home for me, but I figured it was better to have a pro do it that drives everyday rather than attempt it myself. He was very patient and careful throughout the process. PM me if you need a car hauled, Greg is all over the country. First look, pretty exciting!
Once I got the car cleaned up I put it up on the lift and painted to bottom of the firewall with truck bed liner. Gene couldn't get that far down with the paint but it needed something. This should finish it off and disappear behind the engine. Like I posted earlier, Alfredo and his son came out from Winfield's to color sand and buff the car over the weekend. Here's the clear coat in the middle of sanding with 600 grit. Alfredo did a test area on the front fender to show me the process. It also had the effect of getting us psyched before spending three days sanding.
Once the car was sanded with 600, 1000, then 200 grit, Alfredo masked off the car and sprayed more clear on the firewall. I thought about painting the car suede blue more than once. It only stayed flat one night, but I got some pics the next morning before the buffing began.
While the car was in the driveway we sanded and buffed all the loose parts - the hood, trunk, package tray and lots of miscellaneous interior parts. As far as the paint goes the trunk is my favorite part, it really captured Gene's blending technique all in one panel.
I only got ONE decent shot of the car outside the garage, so here it is. Next time I roll it out of the garage I'll take more. Alfredo is taking a much deserved break in the background. His son is only 17 and can hang with the best of them in the body shop. He was right there with us pulling 16 hour days and sanding the skin off his fingers. This kid is going to have skills.
Definitely one of my favorite builds on here. Really, really an excellent job. The talent that is on this site is just absolutely amazing.
Here are some overdue pics of the engine. It's an LT1 (I know, not traditional) out of a retired police car. It runs like a top, but it leaked and was very dirty, so I basically cleaned it, painted it and replaced every single gasket except the head gaskets.
Everything on the engine is either black or sandblasted aluminum. Sure, I could have gone all out by smoothing and painting everything blue to match the car, but to me that's more of a street rod thing than a traditional thing. I think a clean understated engine will look pretty nice when you pop the hood. I also don't plan on being the guy at the car shows with the doors, hood and trunk open and the car up on jackstands with mirrors underneath. You can't really appreciate the lines of a car when its displayed like that. Enough of my rant, here's some pics. What are these evil devices? Fuel rails? Throttle body?!? I bought some fabricated aluminum valve covers on eBay to improve my power to weight ratio and lower my 60' times. I had to notch the passenger side cover to clear the giant 140 amp cop alternator. I made the piece to fill it in, but I need to practice on some sample material before I tackle it since I don't TIG very often. The bolts that the valve covers came with are cheesy, so I am having a friend source some from a screw factory in Taiwan since 1/4-20 x 5" FHCS apparently do not exist. If someone can find some that are made in America I'll gladly run them.
I'm on a roll with the pics tonight, so here are a couple nice shots from Martin's DSLR. We weighed the steering wheel out of curiosity. Remember it has 3/4" solid steel in the ring. One for all the ladies out there. Better shot of the engine. Firewall with fresh clear.
Way too much talent going on there! One day, I'd like to see this beast personally. One of my faves! Thirty-five kinds of cool!
I bought some ARP stainless steel hex head bolts for my fabbed valvecovers. You might look into that route if nothing pans out... another option is 1/4 threaded rod and make studs
Wow, I can't believe I didn't think to look at ARP for them. Summit lists a bunch of different options. Thanks.
I got your bolts coming.. The head is slightly smaller diameter than ideal, but hopefully they'll fit nicely just under flush of the countersink holes on the covers. If need be, you can probably run a dab of silicone under the head before fastening it down to prevent leaks.
Phenomenal car. I like how your favorite part is the trunk. My favorite part is the whole f-ing thing. Love it. Love it. Love it.
The Jalopy Journal
