History Eastwood & Barakat

Fuzzy Knight(the bat)
Are we picking on poor Pat?(the Piñata)
In SoCal we have a phrase....Sometimes your the Piñata and sometimes your the bat.
The east coast guys probably don't have a clue what this means much less the aussies or kiwis. Or do they?

 

Mad levitation skills!

Kreskin-esque!

Pat the Piñata does have a ring to it....

 

Hey nobody was picking on Pat. I just noticed the HiTech Ford Factory tool in his hand

 

I was just teasing you Fuzzy Knight. No harm done. Right Pat?

Jeem- You're right. I was so impressed with the driveshaft that I missed the levitation.
I believe Kreskin is a mentalist not a magician....but I guess to be a car guy you have to be a little mental!

 

No offense taken
I am really looking forward the the completion of this project

 

Pat ain't disturbed at all about the critique! My co-worker happened to catch me in the act of levitating---spinning the shaft 180 degrees during driving in the weld yoke with the adjustment tool. I was hoping someone would notice.
I'm ready to see the the complete shaft in the hands of Rick and Pete.

Mack garbage truck stuff. 5 pound hammer and a cleaner than normal day while filling in back in the shop I know so well.

It's working!!!!! I can post pics again!!!!!!

 

First you need to have a good measurement for how long the driveshaft should be. Rick gave me a measurement of 38 1/4" from the transmission seal face to te rear of the cap in the pinion yoke. I subtract 1/2" to get back to the center of the rear u-joint cap and start measuring components from there. Slip yoke placement and two weld yokes to be subtracted from tubing length. Maybe pics will work, go from there.



Cut tubing, grind out burrs and the weld seam.



I'll post more pics as able.

I like the smell of hot metal.

 

..Come on Rick, us guys over here on ,THE RIGHT COAST, didn't just get off the ship................

 

Jack-
OK. Just for that, I'll have a Piñata at the party and you can be first!

Pat- Great pictures! What type of tubing do you use? I can't wait for the driveshaft to arrive.

 

On your driveshaft and most similar to it, we use Dana Spicer electroweld seamed tubing. Yours is 2 1/2" OD by .083 thick. I like the appearance of 2 1/2" tubing better than 2" in a shaft this length. Tubing diameter options vary by length of the shaft to be built and RPM that it is intended to run.
Most big truck shafts use DOM seamless tubing. We use DOM seamless in most of the drag car shafts we build.

 

Love to see you guys back at it.

I had forgotten the original car was a column shift car. Was it tilt also? What did the column come out of?

 

Fordor Ron-
The sedan did not have tilt and the column came out mid 70's Dodge van. The splines seemed to work fine with the Chevy steering wheel.
Thanks for your interest!
Rick

 

OK, I'll try again to see if the picture hokey pokey will work.

A cheap little vibration dampening device made from driveshaft tubing shipping cardboard tubing. Adjusted a little with the same chop saw used to cut the tubing.


Driving in the second weld yoke.........

and then checking it to be in phase to the gnat's ass.

Installing new slip yoke and u-jonts with the well used arbor press. It's hand operated and you can feel how a u-joint FEELS when you install it. You can feel when it's wrong.

Install fixtures onto the new shaft to install into this Axiline press up machine.


Straighten to within .003 " of tolerance before the shaft is tack welded.

Then set up the welding gun fixture........

pull the trigger at the correct placement of where the carefully placed weld seam is not.

I like these welds.

 

I hope everyone found this as informative as I did. This is one area we usually don't even think about.
Thanks again Pat!

 

Rick, are you going to be at the GNRS? I have a pair of 32 hood tops and center stainless strip I could throw in the car and bring with us to the show. They have had some work in the front on each side but are very presentable. I believe it is an original hood.

Let me know if we can meet somewhere and you could look at them and see if they would work for you.

We will get in Thursday late afternoon.

Mick

 

Mick-
Yes I am. That would be great. I can meet you any time, any place!
Thanks,
Rick

 

Are the shirts ready?

 

Jeem- No shirts until the sedan is finished.

Does anyone know of a salvage yard in California, Arizona or Nevada that handles 70's Ford full size autos?

Thanks for your help!
Rick

 

You're going to get the shipping money outta me, aren't you?! Haha

Lots and lots!
http://classiccars.com/dealers-168/desert-valley-auto-parts.html

 

What Ford stuff are you looking for? We've got some big yards up here.

 

Jeem- Will you be at the GNRS on Friday?

Flat-N-Low
We need a roof off of a 1971 or 1972 Ford or Mercury full size wagon.

 

Got a couple over here in Phoenix... What are ya needing?

 

We need a roof off of a 1971 or 1972 Ford or Mercury full size wagon.

 

One last dose of pics for Rick.

The shaft is in the balance and I'm already working on it. I had to take the rest of these myself. Keep in mind this equipment is somewhat dirty because we work on big truck stuff that slings grease while we balance, and we should do a better job taking care of paint overspray. The press-up machine has been used in our shop for almost 20 years and the balancer was used when we got it. The balancer had been in Decatur IL if the sticker on it was correct.

The different size balance weights we use. The lightest at around 5 grams to the heaviest at 30 grams. If a small shaft needs the heaviest weights, it's because the parts weren't forged on center very well. I culled one piece like that from this job, and it's in a power takeoff driveshaft for a septic pump truck now. I didn't want a big dog pile of balance weights on a shaft that I want to look pretty.

We use fiber filament tape to hold the balance weights on as we spin the shaft while tuning it in. This is with old equipment that still works accurately. Try to make it simple, read the dial indicator to figure out how much weight to add, the strobe light "clock wheel" will show approx where the weight should be as you control the light, as the spindles are controlled in their swinging bearing craddles allow all that to happen. If the amount of imbalance is heavier, the dial indicators show more or a bunch of movement.
Imbalance squares in weight when you double RPM.

One driveshaft for the Eastwood and Barakat chassis. Polished with 180 grit emery cloth after washing with CRC Brakekleen. It's not the first shiny hotrod driveshaft to be taken out of that balancer. It's not the first shaft to be balanced at max RPM on that balancer, MANY dirt modified and dirt late model shafts have seen that old balancer----Shaw, GRT, Speedway, Racecraft, Morrow, Shahan, Stringfellow and Kirk, a few drag cars that are quicker than 170 mph in the 1/8 mile, and more.
I'm damn proud of the shaft that's en route to Rick, and had fun being back in the shop again for a couple of nights. Hope y'all enjoyed and maybe learned too.

 

Oops 1961 or 1962. Not 71-72.

 

Ha! got a guy up in kingman that might have what you need! Let me make some calls this morning...

 

....that's going to be a challenge because of the age. Maybe Chip will have some luck. Does it have to be a '61 or '62 because of the crown in the top?

 

Yes it does and the later tops have way too much crown.
Hey, age is only a number!
Right?

 

Need Louvers-
Thanks for making the calls. Sounds like I might be driving to Arizona soon.

 

Got my buddy Ron Olmstead searching for the number right now as we speak. Hope fully I'll have it later today.