Hot Rods BENNETTS ‘Pacific-Indian Special’ ‘29 Roadster on ‘32 rails

Rolled it outside today, still lots of bits I need to get but it’s nice to see it outside in the sun!

 

Got a new video up on YouTube

 

Lemme guess, he’s your project supervisor, right?

 

Spot on! He’s pretty fussy

 

Borrow some wheels and tires from my mate Travis to mock up and see what 750s and 500/525s look.. still undecided. Maybe a slightly larger size for front.
Also playing with some ideas of the head lights and headlight bar.. it’s definitely different. Anyone know what the stock bar might be from?

 

That is a very neat headlight bar. Two cuts and two welds, and it looks like it took a week to fabricate.

 

I mounted the headlight bar today. Welded blended and textured it to match the pitting and cast look. It was fun to create. It’s different and I think I like it. Testing out fog light and horn positions. Have a special licence plate topper I used the scaler on aswell and used wood stain to age it. Looks cool. Unfortunately a front number plate will ruin it all. Haha

Also where are guys getting there sealed beams for their head light buckets I randomly found this lens upstairs thought it looked cool

 

Acquired a headlight bar at the March Lincoln Ne. swap meet I presume from a larger grander make/model unknown as it is much heavier yet equal in width to a 32 with slightly larger headlight mounts, it appealed to me as it has flared & streamlined fender mounting pads & rides a bit lower for dropped look yet appears to align with the 32 fender mounts.

 

That sounds like a good one you picked up

 

I heated and bent the headlight cups and started working on the steering. Running early ends and got the cross steer and drag link loosely mocked up, playing around with ideas for a steering stabilizer. I’ve never run one on my early stuff but thought it would help! Maybe not traditional but functional?

 

My stabilizer bolts to a pivot on the wishbone, but it is parallel to the tie rod. I don’t think it makes a difference which side it connects to.

 

Yeah I think that’s what I will do too and try and make one sort of cool mount!

 

Made a simple brakes to hold the steering stabilizer. I used the needle scaler to texture it to resemble cast, still learning about this one. But overall happy with the steering setup so far

 

Looking good. Those headlight
Lenses are fantastic!

 

Hard to find a factory right hand drive 32 pedal assembly over here. And if you can they want a small mortgage.
I’ve opted for 33/34 pedals. And an old bracket an old guy made for the hotrod a long time ago. I took both and made one. It still needs attention but rather than making a complete new one I like that it has a bit of the old one that he created too!

 

Knowing your still under construction & certain your aware that Ford utilized a rubber with a metal retainer for the tie rod ends available from several sources, not sure but should work on your draglink as well to seal things up a bit, like the direction your project is going for sure.

 

Thanks mate! You’re right they do have them. They are sitting on the shelf ready for final assembly

 

Finished smoothing out our bracket and started shortening and bending the 33/34 pedals to fit.

 

Waiting for a few parts, decided to get the door straightened out and new lower skin, trying to retain as much original steel as possible. Next to finish the inner. And get these back on the car.

 

Inner was a bit of a pain but luckily Karl had made some profile dies and knocked a fair bit of it out. I just had to finish a corner and weld it will up. I want to seal both inners with sealers and get them mated! She was pretty bad in the beginning

 

Looking great so far!

 

Finally got around to finishing off the inner door skin and repaired the damaged areas. I got it fitted to the outside skin and loosely mocked up. Also playing around with Muriatic Acid and hydrogen peroxide do create a patina that would match. As you can see after a 5 minute try I’m no where near yet.. maybe paint was a better idea.. nice to see the door on and straight finally. Probably beer 40 years with a crumpled door.

 

First man ever that WANTS to create RUST.

 

Nice work on the inner and outer door skins!

 

Amazing job on the doors.

 

Thanks guys , much appreciated

 

Just a FYI (if you would need it) a Harley Springer 12 volt horn fits perfectly inside the body/case of that type horn. I had my 6 volt Moto-Vox hooked to 12 volts for years but it finally took a dump. Couldn't revive it, so took some measurements and found the Springer horn to be an exact fit. You can't see any trace of the new horn. Un-crimping and re-crimping the grill from the case is kind of a delicate procedure as the grill is pretty light weight.
As always, your work is exceptional man.

 

Managed to finish the door. Real patina is not easy, but fun to do! I had it very close and used a ‘black Japan’ wood stain, yes a wood stain, I’ve used it before to darken steel and works well. I kind of screwed it up after applied the Galmet but I’ll live with it for now.. I scored another door for the other side that doesn’t need to be skinned. But matching the whole door will be a challenge. Paint probably would have been easier but let’s give it a try and see the outcome, I’ll keep you all posted.

 

1942 to 1957 Panhead/Knucklehead. OE #69001-42......a ton of repros out there in 6 and 12 volt.