Finally Got a Henry J

Thanks, it might even do jackrabbit starts from a traffic light with this thing

 

I actually ended my agonizing over trying to blend my new firewall work with the older "history" work on the rest of the firewall, something that has held me back on moving forward for a long while now.
I finally just said screw it after trying several different attempts that left me unsatisfied with the results, not saying that I'm totally happy with this result either but I need to get moving on this one before the cold weather sits in. Plus you know the other thing, which is supposed to happen in a couple weeks, but I think I've got that beat...hopefully (knock on wood).
I tried flat black last night, mostly because I had it on hand, the filler work really soaked it up and once seeing it this morning I thought about how oil mist from the breathers would show on it, so I switched to satin and put on 4 coats of Rustoleum's finest today. Hopefully this covers well over the filler, if not I'll just have to add a few stickers then..ha ha ha
Enough rambling here's the one and only photo

 

Looks fine Phil. You may want to run over it with some 320 or 400 and then give it a couple more coats, and that should cover well. Once the BB is in along with the headers, not going to see much of the firewall anyway.

 

That's what I'm hoping for, the distraction of the engine taking away from the mismatch of the new and old firewall. Today I was thinking of satin clear for easy clean up but I think I'm getting a little carried away on what this old car is about, a 20 footer that money is spent on going fast rather than trying to look good.

 

Washed away a couple years of dust and funk off the front suspension, nice to see it cleaned up, doesn't look so neglected now.

 

Firewall doesn't look to bad so I proceeded with installing the stainless insert, a tough lesson learned to see how accessible your mounting holes will be on the inside of the firewall. Me and my 15 yr old son fought with the stainless hardware for over 4 hrs, climbing over the roll bar, trying to lay across the fiberglass racing seats, shoving your hand in a 2 inch gap behind the dash blind to put nylock nuts on. I had to remove the steering column, gauge panel, swinging brake pedal bracket, move wiring, ugh, should've just used aluminum rivets.


Then I spent an hour and a half moving things to get the car moved forward under the chain fall on trolley and moving the engine/trans from the back section forward to the same spot. I blanketed up to protect my new shiny firewall and realized I was missing the motor mount bolts, where the heck did I put those damn things.



What normally works for me working by myself is to thread the engine/trans nose first in between the radiator support loops and new shiny firewall until it's over the chassis. Then I roll the car back until there's enough room to rotate the combo the correct direction in between the fiberglass tilt front end and shiny new firewall, then lower chain, roll car forward, lower chain, roll car forward, lower chain, roll car forward, lower chain until it slides home and onto the motor mounts like a glove.

 

The new and improved "Badder" Bad Moon

 

That’s gonna haul ass

 

I even did the bucket brigade and gave the ol girl a much needed sponge bath, been awhile since I seen it with the layers of wood, drywall and bondo dust knocked off of it.



Still looking like honey

 

Like the rubber glove blocking off the water pump.

 

Looks good Phil!

 

I should've thought of that earlier, I had paper towels stuffed in there with a sandwich bag zip tied around it, moving it around always made it leak. I even tried spinning the pump to get the level down, still leaked out, as soon as I hooked the chain fall to it, it leaked, so in haste to save cleanup on the floor I pulled the glove and tied it on there, then thought damn, where was that idea a year ago...ha ha ha

It'd probably look like a cows udder if it got to full ... ha ha ha

 

So glad to see you making progress on this thing again! Firewall looks great!

 

Thank you, crazy what you can do in a week's time when you actually set your mind to doing something.
From mockup to finish, only about 5 yrs between the two..ha ha

 

I put spacers on top of the carbs to raise the scoop up, I like that better but still an option to run the Shelby 350 scoop depending on the height of filters I could fit under it. Thinking of it I guess that doesn't matter because only those small filters can fit inside of the Hilborn style scoop.

 

That cast scoop looks pretty nasty

 

Had one once, paid $15.00 for it. But it was 1963.

 

If I use it I'll polish it again, should've never had it sandblasted..lol..but I was going to powdercoat it to look magnesium.

 

That's pretty darn cheap and I bet the floors and rockers were still good

 

Damn you got another new mesmerizing avatar.

 

Best Marylin Monroe photo ever

 

I can't decide which I like more, your Henry J or your avatar. Both make my heart pounding!

 

I need a couple "air bags" like that, but they might poke my eyes out..lol
Put my new heavy duty alternator mount on, 1/2 inch thick aluminum with a one inch thick solid spacer between the two arms, this baby is solid.



Realized I forgot to massage my toe boards for header clearance before painting that firewall, I had to breakout the BFH to make the needed room. So it looks like a little bodywork and paint will be in order, plus I have to find a new spot for the ignition box.
Then I moved over to completing the front disc brake install, so off came the hubs and repacked the bearings, loaded the calipers, got all that on plus installed the 90/10 Lakewood shocks.



Last night and tonight I sanded and polished by hand the old front runners, freaking back is killing me now from that, I need to find some kind of power tool to make this shit easier.




And tonight I did the other one

 

Nice to see you back on the Henry J. Be even better to see you in it, back racing !

 

Getting there!!!

 

More blingy after using the Flitz polish and their buffing whell/ball thing in a drill, easier than the old spit shine method for sure.



Not sure what's next on the list of things to do, sometimes I just have no motivation to do any of it, other days I stroll out there and find myself tinkering away. I need to clearance the stainless firewall a bit to be able to get the steering column in and out easier, maybe that'll be in a couple days after my back recoups.

 

Great work. Hope to get back to the HJ by the spring.

 

@Jenkins Competition , here you go

 

I visited this old thread looking for a photo that turned out to be plastered with Photobucket's b.s., so while I'm here I'll update it.
It seems like I've got more accomplished than I have photos to prove but maybe I really haven't accomplished much at all lol
When I went to rebuild the carbs it turned out one carb had heli-coils holding the bowls on, so I found a pretty close match with the original carb having front/rear power valves and new only having one.
So I cut the air horn off the new carb, went through it to match the other carb and have an equal pair other than being different colors.



Took some aluminum flat bar drilled some speed holes in it to mount my fuel regulator to.

 

Next up was a new 4 core radiator, so I had to cut the radiator mounts off the frame and move them to work with the new radiator.