So, What did ya get done this weekend?

I actually accomplished something this weekend. I built a workbench for my garage. In true hot rodder fashion I built it out of free OSB, recycled lumber, and nails left over from building a fence. I used the formula posted by a HAMBer (Yorgatron maybe?) to figure the height - measured to my elbow then subtracted 6" for a vice. I used 2x6's on the frame for the top, because I had them and I figured a little extra strenght wouldn't hurt. The top is 20x46, which is big enough to work on yet small enough that I can move it around the garage. The bottom shelf will be strong enough to store an engine on if need be. I still need to put the other piee of OSB on the bottom shelf but it got too late to be sawing and beating in the garage with my neighbor's kids trying to go to bed

Not counting the interruptions and chasing my 3 year old out of the garage every time I needed to cut something this took under 2 hours. I am a horrible carpenter but if anyone needs tips or more details pm me

 

nice job on the bench!

loks pretty stout.

what'd i get done,,, well,

they say sometimes we need to take a step back to go forward, and i did that today.

few weeks ago i welded in the first piece of new floor tin in my '54 tudor. the rear of the fresh tin overlapped the thin and ratty H.F. stock floor and turned out less than desireable. that work, and all the rest of the car to date was done with a flux core welder. well, momma loves me a bit even after 11 years (this march 25th) of wearing my last name, and bought me a new Hobart 110 gas mig setup.
so i kut the nasty rear 2" of what i just didnt like the looks of. took about an hour or so, then another two hours to make the new pieces to replace it.

she loves me, what kin i say.

BTW... the flux welder is now gone, dont care where. lol this new machine is a dream to weld with looking back at using the flux core.

T

 

I got my first project car, a '56 Desoto. I pulled out the nasty shag carpet, put a foot through the floor when removing tha back seat, and sat in the drivers seat for way too long acting like there was actually a motor under the hood and I was going somewhere. The neihboors must think I'm strange for all the v-8 sounds I was making. It was the most fun I've had in sometime I must say, there's nothing like going through your first old car.

 

Nearly got the one piece hood finished on the 'A' ....and I made the subframe for the back of the car that goes betweeen the rearend of the frame rails and the body and will be used as an anchor point for the chute,finally commited to a plan after too long ponderin this and that.

 

Friday = NOTHING

Saturday I brought the new rear in the garage and mocked it up. Seems to be a decent fit. I just need to do some perch mods and fit will be nice. Cleaning and a brake rebuild and the mo-fo will be ready to roll.

Sunday morning was spent walking around a shit-ass swap meet. I could have handled the cold a bit better if the swap didn't suck as bad as it did. At least I got some tires/rims from Sawzall so the car can be a "roller" once again. The afternoon was spent installing the surrond sound in the living room. Hey, at least it made the wife unit happy and it only took 3-1/2 hours...

All things considered, not too much really got done. But that's alright. I've been putting in a lot of time on the car recently and getting stuff done in the process. It was a slow weekend but I can start hitting it up again this week.

 

I finally got my steeting column hung in place in my A. I think I'll have enough room for my leg to operate the clutch. I now need to finalize the firewall, then mount the seats. Getting closer.

 

I walked around Autorama for about 6 hours. And I managed to get the boot open on my VW, and get the motor spinning for the first time in a few months. With the temperature in the 40s, it's spring again!

 

Well I finished up the welding cart I built (i'm gonna do a whole build up thread on that later) I replaced the exaust and installed a sterio in my mom's truck and I started to replace the water pump in my dad's Blazer. Maby one of these days i'll be able to work on my own stuff.

 

First the stuff that actually worked:
-Made a sick pair of suicide shock mounts. I'll post pictures shortly.
-Finished my Master Cylinder and Pedal Mount bracket (uses a 1939 pedal and MC assembly, based on a Vern Tardel design)

Stuff that went wrong:
-Went to mock up my before mentioned brake bracket and realized my master cylinder will probably hit my trans crossmember. Probably going to have to fab a new trans crossmember next week. I'm really an idiot for making either of these pieces without having my master cylinder.
-Getting increasingly worried about steering comfort. Might have to break my steering box mount loose again and adjust my drop... UGH

I think that means I got 0% work done?? Hey, if everything worked it wouldn't be a hotrod.

 

I did some troubleshooting on the brakes of my 59 (no brakes! pedal was going all the way to the floor). Made up a parts list to fix it. Also replaced the headlight switch with a new one. Also made a list a things I need to starb fabbing a flush mount bed cover.

 

I brought my newborn baby home!
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46465

And visited in a winter swap meet in Turku.

 

mostly just moved stuff around,

CGkidd came over and we took his Dodge up to his storage unit

then started to re-arange the shop

 

Spent too much money at the swap meet, but got loads off cool stuff

 

I put some new springs under the Nugget bring the A arms off the ground enough to clear man hole covers.
We started putting Seans car back together. rear Bumper, tailights, door handles, trunk latch and so on and on!! very good weekend
Oh yea I cut my grass

 

Moved and restacked about a ton of lumber that is essential to my garage expansion. The Code Nazis said it has to be stacked at least 18" off the ground and 4' from the house. I guess its safer the farther off the ground you get it.

They also took offense at my old cars. I had the Galaxie and the Warpigg Chrysler parked on the grass to make easier access to the garage. Hell its my grass. Tried to hit me with too many ol cars and disabled cars.

I adjusted the points in the Galaxie and drove it back onto the driveway. Its now sold thanks to the HAMB and should be going to the great state of Texas for someone else to enjoy for gawd knows how long.

Then I aired up the tires in the Warpigg Chrysler, dumped some gas in the tank and light it off. Went careening around the neighborhood for awhile, sitting on a tire (the seats are off for new threads), in true hoodlum fashion.
Pulled up in front of the head of the Homeowners Association's house and did a monster burnout. Wanted to make sure that they also know that the ol' beasty is functional. If they couldn't hear it they could at least smell the smoke.
Drove it home and waited for the cops. They showed up aftewr awhile and asked it that was me. "Yep ". I got a business card from them so the city can call and know that the car runs. Also a lecture and a "cool car can we have a ride when its done."

Now I guess I'll have to light it off at 5:00 AM when I get up so everyone knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that it runs. They probably should have left me alone. Maybe if the whiners are lucky I'll weld the Smithy's back to the head pipes.

Didn't get to work on my truck or my homework. Crap it all.

 

Finished cutting the old rusted and busted floor out of the F1 panel and welded in a new one.

http://www.humanpackmule.com/f1floor.htm

My back is freaking killing me from all that hunching over.

 

Shame on ya... Damn Hotrodin hoodlums anyhow

T

 

awesome...

 

Saturday I unloaded some custom fiberglass pipe in Pensacola (40' long by 5' in diameter)...repair parts for a new cooling tower at the power plant...guess the first one wasn't hurricane and tornado proof....Today I put some new cab marker light lenses on my Pete and posted some more useless info on the HAMB....

 

Ran a little Mouse Milk through my speedo cable. Then I met ten friends at a bar and knocked back pints for seven hours. That was 240 bucks I could have spent on the shoebox. If I woke up this morning and was out of Excederin, I would have been pissed at the whole situation. But I had the Excedrin, so I guess it was worth it.

 

Put my rebuilt generator back in. After not being able to figure out why it wasn't working, I realized that it was wired up wrong when I took it out! Fixed that, got the charging system back into place (with nicely painted brackets), washed off 3 months of dust, and went driving!

 

Friday, spent the day at the hotrod trade show in Indy, it was ok since I live about 20 miles away, wouldn't have wanted to have driven over an hour for it. Picked up the wheels for the A at the powder coaters, three looked great, one has to be done over. Played poker, drank some rum and coke and lost about 10 bucks that night.

Saturday, got up at dark-thirty and drove to the swap meet in Louisville walked my ass off but found some front tires and steering arms for the A. Missed a deal on some seats, should have bought up front but got greedy looking for a better deal.

Sunday, have the race on and mocked up the front of the A with the new arms. Little grinding and everything fits almost, needs a little more engineering.

 

Saturday I worked on some drawings for the Ozark Mountain HAMBster Special. Then I took my '57 Chevy for a good ride. Last night I took the wife to a Japanese resturant. I must of had a little too much saki.

 

Boxed the frame on my A.

 

Got new shoes on the coupe. Worked on the frame.

 

Made a new battery tray for the Lincoln.

 

Played in the junkyard, in a snowstorm, on Saturday. Got a '40 Dodge steering column and a set of '53 Buick taillights. Spent an hour drying and cleaning my tools once I got home. What we New Englanders go through to build cars... Today, cleaned up the garage some, then tried to take that column apart (I'll post something about that later...)

 

Finished sand blasting the rest of Big Olds's convert top bows yesterday. Will prime and paint them next weekend then start putting the top assembly back together so it folds nice and smooth.

 

Are you a VW fan by any chance?? If so, could you PM CherryBlossom and give her some advice on her VW's cooling issues, or should I say not cooling properly issues. Or maybe recommend a shop in the Lansing area that specializes in VW's that she could take it to. I'd hate to see her go another cruzn season without anything to drive and her VW just sitting in the driveway under a tarp.

 

Glad you found something, all I got were some car dollies to roll the hot rod around on. That was after missing the poorly-signed exit and driving around Louisville for half an hour. We got there at 7:20 and parked up front. We were about 10th in line, by 8:00 the line was half way across the parking lot. There was SBC stuff up the wazoo! I did get to meet Crestliner though, and that made the trip worth it He told me where kbcookout was but I apparently suck at following directions and couldn't find him. When we got back my friend gave me an early 302 timing cover complete with water pump, alternator bracket, and dipstick for my 64 Falcon, and also gave me a "Shelby drop" template that he made.

I got to work today, we've only had 1 run when some intoxicated individuals wrecked their car. I hope we're done for the night.