Hot Rods 29 RPU- "Street/Strip" B/SR Build - Marty Strode

I got the seat bolted down in the RPU and shortened the steering column 2" today. It took a little milling and cutting the end off. Now I can use the white, dished, steering wheel. The next thing is to build the column drop, then it will require some massage to the jacket to get clearance around the header flange and spark plug.

 

And another fine tip Marty has for us! Guess I'll be buying some exhaust pipe for mocking up stuff. Thanks Marty!

 

Marty makes everything look so easy to do. And the end result is always perfect. I struggle much more with my builds

 

Well, I had some help today, and got a couple things done. We got the blind spot mirrors mounted on the COE, and roll bar laid out and bent for the RPU. I have about 120' of 1-3/4" X .125 4130 tube, that has been in the weather. Most people would think it's just rusty junk. But a little WD 40, some Scotchbright, and fine Emery cloth, while spinning it in the lathe, it cleaned up great ! I also had a friend that is our NHRA Tech Inspector, look over Derrick's 34 roll cage, and he made some suggestions about the roll bar in mine. It looks tall, but the rules state, 3" over the driver's helmet. It is only sitting in the truck, until I get a short windshield /screen place, and set the final height.

 

The mirrors look great Marty. I hope they don't vibrate though, that is a long way out there for those supports.

 

I have a similar rear view issue trying to use a '46 pickup to haul a Haulmark box car hauler - I can't see out to the rear to back it up. The cab is narrow and the trailer is wide. I don't want to add those big mirrors. I thought of making a long boom out of square aluminum tubing that clamps to the roof of the cab and overhangs out both sides with mirrors mounted on the ends of the boom.

Now I need to figure a way to temporarily clamp it to the roof so as to not damage it.

 

Think accessory roof rack of the 60's. Rubber cups on the roof and clamps into the Drip Rails, make a single bar as wide as you need to hang the mirrors on.

 

We worked on Derrick's 34 today, got most of the upper section of the cage fit and tacked in place. The mid bars will come next.

 

Marty, you always amaze us with neat tricks, like tack welding those short sections of tubing on to guide the hole saw. I'm going to print that picture out and nail it on the wall over my bender!

 

Well, Derrick and I got the rest of the large tubes in the cage today. The next move for him, is installing the steering gear and the seat. He is a great student, learns fast and picks up the mess, when he is done.

 

Today I mounted the Moon Tank, what made the job more difficult was, I wanted to retain the stock front valance, in it's original form. That required mounts outside the frame, and brackets (tubes in this case) curve around and under the frame horns. I wasn't sure I could get all the bend angles correct and wind up with the tank mounting at the proper height. I got lucky, and got them both on the first try.

 

More pics.

 

Marty, sometimes your mind amazes me!

 

C'mon Marty, we all know that luck has nothing to do with what you accomplish.

 

Who was it that coined the phrase "Better To Be Lucky than Good".

 

I think it was Richard Petty.

 

Was that the time he won, with what Pearson called "A Big Old Engine" !

 

I finally got around to fabricating the column drop today. In the 60's most most guys would have done something simple, spartan, and perhaps used a muffler clamp, so that's what I did.

 

Or Kyle?

 

Nice Marty. Clean and simple. I'm learning so much by just paying attention.

 

I dug through my stash of pipes and bends, and found a couple remnant pieces of 3-1/2" bends to weld on the collectors. The ends needed to be tipped out to direct the exhaust away from the body. I need to have a couple 3/8" thick rings cut to mount muffling devices, since I plan on running some Wed nights at Portland International Raceway.
My friend, HAMB Member @Alan Davis, gave me a pair of Supertrapps, that might just make it quiet enough to meet the decibel level. All of the other places I will run, won't require mufflers. Also, Jegs finally got a stock of M&H frontrunner tires, so I will have a pair mounted on Halibrand spindle mounts soon !

 

I have been thinking of how to mount the Jones Mechanical Tach, and decided to use the bosses that held the instrument panel. I started by drilling the holes all the way through, and tapping them 1/4-28 thread. After making a sample pattern out of .063 aluminum, and locating the tach and 2-5/8" oil pressure gauge, I duplicated it out of 1/8" aluminum, for the final product.

 

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"
-- Arthur C. Clark

 

I seem to recall a story behind that Tach. Fun how a simple little thing like that can add icing to the cake. Looks very bad ass sir.

 

Yeah, when it was connected to an aluminum rod 289, it saw 9500 lot's of times !

 

Big news, the M&H Front Runner tires came yesterday, so I dusted the wheels of and rubbed some Gibbs Oil on them. I was only able to get one mounted, as I need to replace the outer bearing race in the other one. Also, I got the lower steering shaft support bracket, tacked together and now it needs the threaded bosses set into the frame rail.

 

Marty,
You have the coolest stable of hot rods of anybody I know. The '29 reminds me of Dean Lowe's B/SR.
Can't wait to see all of them progress to the final stages. (They're never REALLY DONE!)

 

Bruce, Dean's was the inspiration for this truck, along with some influences of Jim Stevens. Two of the best ever !

 

The craftsmanship of Marty is second to none. Every photo he shows here proves it over and over. Martys photos also shows some of his tooling which he has perfected the use of; I think he plays down his talents because of them. He’s wrong; just because you own them doesn’t make you proficient like he is.

I miss some of the heavy tools that the shops had where I worked especially the benders and presses like our Bulldog hole punches with so many dies. I spent countless hours after work cutting and bending panels for my race cars. I never had the room at home for much but learned to make do the best I could like many.

I or I should say WE all appreciate Marty taking the time to photograph and explaining what he’s doing and how to do it. His thought process over whelms me.… Mr. Strode . . Thank You again

 

I'll second what @jimmy six said!! Always learning from Marty's threads. I wish we lived on the same coast.