Projects Giant speedster project

A new thread on a hand with an eye growing out of it wouldn't be too OT... after all I am sure that I am not the only one who wondered if an eye growing out of you hand would be useful for looking in to inaccessible corners and under the dash... think about it, no need to climb under the dash to see if a connection was loose or where a wire was routed, just stick the hand with an eye down there. An eye on your left hand would be useful when giving turn signals while driving a car without indicators. Similarly, an eye on the right hand would be useful in England.

 

I've always said a good mechanic has to have eyes in his hands.

I told everyone to leave me alone today so I could prime the last of the body parts. There was a lot of sanding involved. I've decided I'm not a paint guy. Bodywork I don't mind, but paint requires a lot of attention to detail and I don't have the patience for that. Hey, check out the last picture. Is this a Halloween omen or what? A bat got stuck in the shutter on my house and died. Weird. Manster and now a bat. What's next? Bela Lugosi?

Jerry

 

I ain't going anywhere near Cleveland, GA.

 

Nah the bat is there to get the bugs before the land in the paint and make a mess trying to get unstuck.

 

guano happens ... keep your tuck and roll hand away from it


NEAT FUTURE KEYFOB....

 

Last stumbling block.

That little lost piece is finally painted. I couldn't put the shifter and brake together without it. With the shifter together I can finish up the gas lines and brake stuff. There was a little paint left in the gun so I painted the crank handle. BTW, I removed the stitches in my hand this morning. Hey, office visits aren't cheap.

Jerry

 

Shifter

Good thing I have pictures from this thread because I'd have never remembered how everything went back together. Of course, you have to be a lot more careful when you're assembling--hopefully for the last time. Plus, I have to grind all the casting marks off the modern bolts--and paint them too. Barbecue paint seems to work the best. Not too shiny and dries in 12 minutes. I bought some little brushes to touch things up. In fact I've already had a few mishaps but I'll never tell where.

Jerry

 

Shifter

Put it together, take it apart, put it together....

When reassembling the Seagrave shifter bear in mind that it must be done in the correct order. Failure to adhere to this rule will result in countless hours of wasted time.

I think it's finally together right. Although the bolts are not entirely tight.

Jerry

 

man i love the colors ,that engine is such a piece of mechanical art , its almost a shame to cover it with a hood

 

will the only part left with patina be ... you?

 

LOL If I was a better craftsman it might look new, but by the time I'm through, the car will be so covered with nicks and scuffs no one will even think it's been "restored." Then I'll drive it up to Minn. and you and I will head cross country on a publicity run. Maybe we can get in to see the Wizard of Oz himself, Leno. I've been feeling a great disturbance in the rotational force so I think he's been lurking.

I worked more on the shifter and brakes today. Hey, I've got a new video coming up if I can hurry up a buddy's contribution to the speedster. (Not money.)

Jerry

 

i'm ready

 

My popcorn is getting stale... when does the video start?

 

I've got part of it in the camera but I'm waiting on the machine shop so I can film some more. Oh no, I've let the cat out of the bag. Meanwhile, I'm finishing up some wiring for the tee shirt people.


Jerry

 

When do the Speedster T-shirts go on sale?

 

Well how about showing us a newsreel or some "Coming Attractions" then? Or maybe a Road Runner cartoon? Yeah, I could go for a Road Runner cartoon!

BEEP-BEEP!

 

Film at 11:00?

 

film at 11 of the cat being let out of the bag eating stale pocorn at the machine shop whille the road runner goes beep beep... tuff to edit i am sure...

 

John the machinist says he has to make a living so maybe tomorrow.

Strange buttons.

I worked on the shifter and brake linkage more. Then I put on the rear tires but I couldn't find the lug nuts for the front. As I was taking pictures I discovered strange buttons on my camera--fisheye and line drawing. I can't pester John, he's got me by the... Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Jerry

 

Losing parts in the shop? I thought I was the only one who did that! Looking great, you must be getting seeing it come together.

Brian

 

Lug nut gnome strikes again in N. Ga.

 

wut a long thread, gonna hafta take an hour tomorrow night this is just to wild. Love it.

 

Oh no!! Jerry lost his nuts? Sounds painful!

 

we will have to look inside that custom stitched hand if we can nut find them

 

Nuts! (General Anthony McAuliffe's reply to a German surrender demand at the Battle of the Bulge)

Well, I didn't find the nuts I lost but I found some others. After you mount the wheels you've got to adjust the nut tension to make the wheels run true. Luckily, I was familiar with nut tension having been afflicted with it as a teenager--somehow I survived. I also painted a lot of bolts. In preparation for my still secret video--which will hopefully be finished Monday--I started polishing the hubcaps. I recycled my metal spinning jig into a buffing jig. There was some sanding too. Aluminum makes a mess when you polish it. Lots of black nasty paste. Someone is going to mention Simichrome polish so let me just say that I don't have enough years left to polish these hubcaps with that stuff. The caps aren't going to be a mirror finish. I don't have enough years left for that either. So we'll call it patina.

Jerry

 

Id say thats just right amount of polish, anymore than that would just be gaudy.

It is coming along great, cant wait to see the next video!

 

Deadline

Well, I said I'd try to have the super secret video up on Monday and I've got 5 minutes to spare. You see, I post a video to youtube so infrequently that I have to relearn it each time. Something I forgot to mention in the video is that I was thinking of painting inside the letters red. Tell me what you think--yes or no. So here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhPNTBsybFw

Jerry

 

I vote for the red, show off that work.

 

I would paint the inside of the letters.... The brass will eventually become dull and the red inside the letters will still "pop".

 

Definitely...do the letters in red!