Projects Modified Lakester Build (THUNDERCASKET)

Decided to leave work early and enjoy the weather yesterday. So I ended up in the shop with the doors open and decided to work on my rear panels, which were pretty bad. The passenger side rear quarter didn't have much in the way of hammering issues, so I didn't really touch that one. The driver side got some time on the planishing hammer though and I got it to a 'quit while you're ahead' point.



The rear panel on the other hand, looked like crumpled tinfoil and had some issues that I think are behind some of the fitment issues. I worked the bulk of the panel back into shape but the REALLY BAD area took some mallet and shot bag time. When I tried working it back though, I ended up with a concave dish, so I'm going to need to work it some more or cut it out and make a patch.



My planishing hammer started giving out on me though. I may have a rotted hose that finally split. I've found that I can't really do a lot of hammer/dolly stuff on this car because my joints bother me for two days afterwards. Fortunately the power hammer and mallet/bag stuff does not, so I'm good to go.

 

Only got one good day in this weekend, but I did a lot of stuff that had to get done. I pulled the bolt-in mounts out and the channel plates as well. I made up a set of front plates out of 4" x 1/8" flat stock and bolted on the mounts I got from Rjay's upside down to get some marks on them.

That makes it sound simple, right? It was a bit of a shitshow because after getting the car jacked up with my failing floor jack so I could get my engine hoist under the axle and hoist the engine, the body bolts, and then the center crossmember wouldn't let the channel plates out, so they had to get pulled. Lots of time on the floor Sunday. I should sweep that... I only hit my head once though.

I bought a bucket plaster and 50 lbs of coal slag which came Friday. It was a bit humid this weekend and I didn't have the time or energy to pull the engine out entirely to try to blast the rails out this weekend, so I'm shooting for that process next weekend so I can weld these boxing plates and motor mounts in.

On the subject of mounts, I've found that if I'm not offsetting my spacers, they likely won't work as intended, so I may need to put my mounts on raised to get the intake level.



Snapped these to show the tab I tacked on the F1 crossmember too:

 

Guys, I need help, what angle does this 8ba need to sit at? I've been shooting for 0 but I'm at about 2. I have heard these stock intakes are set at 3 forward but I don't know if when installed they need to be that or 0.

I have a few degrees in the torque tube already set and unaffected by the front mounts which are 2 inches above rail. Frame is 1 degree raked.

 

So I took my first foray into media blasting on Sat. I got a bucket blaster and some coal slag from Northern Tool. I also got a respirator, which I should have done years ago. I've been using masks and I hate them. This respirator is SO COMFORTABLE and doesn't fog me up. WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME OF THIS MAGIC?!

Anyhow, I did my best on the rails, but my little 30 gallon compressor just can't keep up. I ended up shooting probably 17 lbs of media with only a little to show for it since it would come on strong then fade.

Still need to figure out what I can do for intake angle with the flathead, but I decided to start on another set of mounts and see how I do. I like the ones I got from RJay's, but they might not really be ideal for my particular application on this car. They would do great tucked inside the rail or flush, but set on top, they want to roll inward in mockup and I think I may have a little trouble welding them with that going on. I needed something light to do anyway on Sunday so I got them cut, a little trued up, and drilled.

 

Got a new bottle on the welder and went to work on the frame this weekend. I probably should have been a little more aggressive with my chamfering on the plates and the frame, but the tacks hold up and looked fine when I ground them down.



Did a little work on my new mounts too. I used my 1.5" dimple punch with mixed results. The hole is too small to pass the bottom rubber isolator through and the hoop prevents the bolt and isolator from being installed together. I'm not sure yet if I'll leave them or cut on them further.

The cutter on the die can handle 12/10 ga but the hardware it came with CAN NOT. The grade 5 bolt got mangled and the bearing crushed. This was a huge PITA but i was committed at that point and ended up using a crappy hardware store hole saw on the other one and just dimpling it. I cut in about a half inch on the mating surface with the idea that would give me a little better welding surface to work with, but now that I've got them on the engine and sitting on the now boxed frame, I'm probably going to revise them a little more (I'll grab more pictures tonight or tomorrow).







I would have gotten farther, but my dog tried to eat the Easter Bunny, whose mortal screams for help drew me from the shop.

 

I'd say your hopping right along Pat.

 

So, last week I found out that my oldest childhood friend died. We're both under 40, so this was a huge shock and a deep blow. I'm trying to keep it from pulling my legs out from under me and instead find inspiration to live and enjoy things even more, work even harder, and relish that work... but it's hard. I didn't really DO much to the car this weekend, but I did go on a big parts run.



In 2 stops, I got two 1955 Chevy 265's, an iron Powerglide, several Rochester 2 Jet carbs, generators/starters, and a bunch more related stuff. The truck was hanging low at this point.

On the second stop, I picked up the X member from a 38 convertible and most of the internal factory boxing plates along with another set of EAB heads and a 38 radiator.

I'm toying with using the front 38 factory plates to run to the F1 crossmember and make it into a K member. It may take a couple pie cuts but I'm liking the look of it.



After getting home and a nap, I spent the rest of the day putting stuff away and unboxing a couple of the Humvee seats I got to see if they'll fit in my T. I hope they do because they feel pretty good even without padding.



The mounts will need to be cut off and modified but the seats themselves might fit; they're 18" wide.



This 265 is probably going into my next build along with that Powerglide. The other one I'm going to bring to Fitchburg if anyone is in the market for one.

 

Sorry to hear about you friend Pat.

 

Boy that would stiffin' things up, looks like progress to me, looking good.
Keep on plugging away.

 

Sorry to here that pat.
I love the cross member idea. If I had to have done mine a different way, that would have been the ticket. It's one of those touches that someone who knows what's up will appreciate.
Keep it up!

 

So, I've completely stalled out in the wake of my friend's death. I'm hoping that going to Fitchburg to sell parts will get me going again. So far I've done OK buying stuff at least. I'm picking up some early SBC heads and transmissions Saturday that won't even leave the truck.

I have managed to at least start thinking about building again, though mainly through he lens of more buying.
I'm trying to figure out what I still need on this car. I've come up with a 26/27 open car lower windshield frame and maybe a hot distributor like a Mallory or something, but otherwise I'm stumped. I do need a link for my cross steer but IDK how long... A running Merc 8cm that i could just drop in and swap heads on would be minty too for sure at this point since I feel like time is slipping through my fingers every day now.

So if you guys see things I'm missing, please remind me; I'd like to get back on track. I didn't hardly even step out my front door all last weekend.

And if you go to Fitchburg, come find me in spot #140

 

Sold 3 things at Fitchburg again this year and ended up tied to my spot all day since my wife was sick and Tim got pushed down the row so the toy guy could have three spots I guess. The 265 didn't sell but I gave my # to about 7 interested parties, none of which thought my asking price was unreasonable, so that's a small victory I suppose. That thing kept me by my truck all day though because it drew TONS of lookers.

Fortunately I did get to see a few of you guys who got mobile and over to see me. And @BobPer totally saved the day for me by handing me this minty Model T windshield frame. I can't thank him enough; this piece got me back into my shop and is the first piece I've put on the car that resembles progress in weeks. That little push is going to get me going again.

 

Finally back to work.

 

So I finally got myself back into the shop Sunday and made more progress than I did the first 3 years of this journey I'd wager.

I got my motor mounts located and heavily tacked in. I used angle, clamps, and some quarter-inch plate to jig it to center. I cut the mounts to be a quarter inch inset from the outside of the rail, so this worked out nicely.




With that done, I was able to jack the transmission up and get at the F1 Crossmember. I pie cut the gaps and bent the lower flaps in, then re cut the 4" channel in them. I found that it was a lot easier to see if I was on the money from the outside of the rail (PRO-TIP!).


The lower tabs didn't end up being terribly consistent. I'm going to address this when I blow it apart to finish weld the bottom of the frame. I'm pretty sure it's because the pie cuts are not as aligned as they could have been but it won't affect function; the thing is centered and perpendicular to the top of the rail on both sides.



Once I had that firmly tacked in, @BOSTONCAMARO came by for a visit. We got the strap that I had in there to hold the rails cut out and played around with those K-member pieces a bit.



I'm going to have to put my Master Cylinder back in to really do anything with them so we put the sheet metal back on the car to see what it looks like after the panel beating I did a while back.





And this is where I left off. I'm good enough on the frame to get on body work, but I should probably make a decision on the boxing. I need to either put a fish mouth plate at the end of the front boxing plates or box the length of the frame. I can't really decide which way I want to go just yet.

 

I didn't get a lot of work on the car done this weekend because I spent Saturday going up north into New Hampshire to buy an old hot rod carcass. It turned out to be much more interesting of a built car than I had anticipated. Go check that out over here: DRUG HOME: EAST COAST T MODIFIED BUILT W/ WWII JEEP PARTS! -NH
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...-modified-built-w-wwii-jeep-parts-nh.1017986/

But what I DID do on the car was pretty important and had been confounding me for a while. Without this being solved I wasn't going to be able to finalize the body.

I finally figured out what to do about mounting the cowl feet. On a stock subframe they mount at an angle and lower than the rest of the rail. I took measurements on my old subframe and the subframe on the car I just drug home and decided that if I took a piece of 1" box tube and cut one side down to 0.85" that it would fit. It did.

I put a piece in my bench clamp and ran a cut down one side near the edge. My cutting wheels are 0.05" so I made a cut, clamped down, backed off slightly, ran the cutter through again, repeat, until my jaws were around 0.85" and then tacked / welded them.



Once they cooled, I bumped them in with a dead-blow; fit like a glove.

 

Despite the distraction the other car I brought home has provided, it's also a big help having it sitting out front to pull dimensions off of.

I've hit a point where I'm certainly not done with the build here, but I'm starting to lose my place and not really know where or what to start on when I get out to the shop. So, I'm going to try to organize my thoughts here.

1. Cowl Location & Door Spacing (pull #'s from the other car)
   • Weld in cowl foot supports.
   • Bracket the firewall to the subframe (pull brackets from frame in the shed)
   • Deal with crappy door latches (cut them out)
2. Weld in subframe extension tubing to support side runners.
   • Fix driver side panel alignment & tack side runner to subframe
   • Fix planishing hammer (severed hose?)
   • Fix back panel
3. Fab bracketry to fully mount roll bar.
4. Finish any boxing on the frame.
5. Shock Mounts!
6. Build new wood & metal structure to support rear sheet metal
   • Body Mounts
7. Patch the Body Sheet Metal
   • Fill rear wheel wells
   • Deal with small dings on cowl
8. Re-Locate Steering Box to Below Rail (to clear headers)
9. Attach Wishbone Mounts
   • Cut wishbones to 7° & re-weld
10. Re-locate rear bone tab on the Torque Tube
11. Set up Steering (check ackerman)
12. Deal with Clutch Linkage
13. Deal with Seating
14. Finish Weld the Frame (blow it apart)
    • Clean up engine mounts
    • Prime/Seal the Frame
15. Rebuild Flathead
    • Clean
    • Port & Polish
    • Valves
    • Cam
    • Heads (EAB)
    • Paint
16. Build Lakes Headers
17. Build Hood and Nose (aluminum)
18. Run Brake Lines
    • Rebuild brakes
19. Mount Lights
    • Run Wire
    • Buy Battery
20. Build Floor
    
21. De-Rust and Paint the Body
    • Paint Frame
22. ...???
23. Yard Drive
24. Deal with RMV?

 

I got more than I thought done this weekend, at least according to the list I made. I crossed a few things off, which is a lot when there's less than 25 major items.

Pulled some body mounts off one of my T frames and did a little repair to one.



A soak in some Evaporust and a little more work to get rivets out and I'll be in good shape. I think I'll pull another set from one of my other frames though.

I got the cowl feets and subrail extension tacked in. I got the wonky latches out of the doors and aligned the cowl, doors, & center panels to where I'm happy with them. All tacked in now at least.



Started on the bracketry for the roll bar. I should have cleaned the frame up before I put that awkward sob back on and saved myself some trouble but I've at least got it mocked up and drilled out. I'm probably going to have to stud the outside bolts because of how it lands on the outside of the frame rail (see them standing up there).



WHen I started winding down, I pulled out some seats and tried the staggered seating idea out again. I'm not happy with it so, back to the drawing board. I tried a Humvee seat too but it was a bit of a chore to cut the frame off the bottom so I only did the one (after exploding a cutting wheel). I did not grab a picture but the bare frames are about 18" wide, which makes fitment doubtful.

ThHis is one of my commercial truck seats (22") and an old T seat frame (sedan I think):




Here's my revised list. It went down by 4.

1. Fix back panel
   • Fix planishing hammer (severed hose?)
2. Finish bracketry to fully mount roll bar.
3. Finish any boxing on the frame.
   • Shock Mounts!
   • Body Mounts!
4. Patch the Body Sheet Metal
   • Build new wood & metal structure to support rear sheet metal
   • Fill rear wheel wells
   • Deal with small dings on cowl
5. Re-Locate Steering Box to Below Rail (to clear headers)
6. Attach Wishbone Mounts
   • Cut wishbones to 7° & re-weld
7. Set up Steering (check ackerman)
   
8. Re-locate rear bone tab on the Torque Tube
9. Deal with Clutch Linkage
10. Deal with Seating
11. Finish Weld the Frame (blow it apart)
    • Clean up engine mounts
    • Prime/Seal the Frame
12. Rebuild Flathead
    • Clean
    • Port & Polish
    • Valves
    • Cam
    • Heads (EAB)
    • Distributor/Plugs/Wires/Coil
    • Paint
13. Build Lakes Headers
14. Build Hood and Nose (aluminum)
15. Run Brake Lines
    • Rebuild brakes
16. Mount Lights
    • Fuse Box
    • Run Wire
    • Buy Battery
17. Build Floor
18. De-Rust and Paint the Body
    • Paint Frame
19. Yard Drive
20. Deal with RMV?

 

I should also capture this here for posterity and my own memory, since it's a part of my experience with building this car.

The other night after working all day in the shop, I actually had a dream about driving around in the car, unfinished and largely like she sits... no floors and no tags, from somewhere around my home town to some jalopy dirt race in PA that doesn't exist. The really notable thing is that I was doing it with my friend who passed away recently. It's the kind of trouble we would have gotten into given the chance.

 

Your welds & fabrication are getting better Pat. Carry on.

 

Thanks, the HOBART MIG was what I should have gone with from day one. It suits my needs perfectly. The Eastwood TIG didn't really do me any favors, either because I was very out of practice or because it was more of a hobby machine, or some mix of the two, I don't know, but I rarely got a weld I was happy with from it and it ate up a lot of gas. Now that I'm working with the new machine I'm getting a lot more done with less fuss which translates to better work. The HOBART just does its job, so I can focus on MY job.

Wanna buy a TIG welder?

 

I took next week and possibly the following week off. I need to. With all that's going on and the way work's been going (lots of redundant unnecessary work being made for me with no good reason) I'm just about at the end of my rope and gettin' kinda mean. SO, I'm going to stay home, play on my tractor and build on my cars.

I'm planning to try to MAKE some Bomber style seats with 18g Steel and maybe some conduit or 9g wire for edging. None of my other seats fit well, so, here goes, wish me luck!

I got my dethatching rake put together last night. It's relevant because I have more Old Ford Parts than Cinder Blocks.

 

Preview of the seat project.

 

Looks good Pat, but most people only run blue dots in their taillights.

 

I was planning on doing an epic update. But some things in my life have gotten tough and my heart's just not in it today.

So I'll just be doing a photo dump.

I knocked some things off the list over the past 2 weeks I took off from work. I got some good coaching and help from my neighbor, Paul too.

I made SEATS:



I also learned to do your bends before you cut if you want a radius.

 

After Paul & i spent an hour or two on the original back panel, I decided it was going to be too much effort for too little return to repair it fully. So I made a new panel in 3 main pieces once we could see enough of the original shape of the panel to figure out a pattern.



But before that happened, he gave me an idea to fix my quarter panels and make them consistent:

 

Back Panel

 

Rear Quarter Filler Panels:



Then I started a fire, which I put out.

 

Nice Fab work Pat.

 

Thanks! I made a lot of skill progress. I am getting better AND faster. I would be hell on wheels with better tools for sure.

 

So, after many months of inactivity on this car, I finally did something.

Saturday I drove up into the mountains of NH and picked up this 39 Hudson 112 hood from some folks I've bought from before. I didn't get lost this time and my dog also got to meet a horse, which he decided he should guard.




I went ahead and cut'er down the middle to start actually DOING something and formulating my next move.





Otherwise, I've just been buying parts for the flathead rebuild; oil pump, seals, valves, etc are in-hand now.