I have had this " Dragin Equipment " plaque hanging on my garage wall for a very long time and I decided to mount it on the cover for the front frame horns. Getting ready to put the front fenders on. I put the plastic electrical tape on the areas of the frame where the fender will rest against it or on the underside of the fender itself. Just to give a little gasket between the two metal surfaces. This is the pad that the fender will set on where the headlight bar will be bolted on. The left fender is set in place. This is how the underside of the fender fastens on. The back edge of the fender is fastened on with countersunk flat head stainless screws. The running board has bolts welded to the underside of it that go down thru the slots and nuts are threaded on to pull everything tight together. I use a anti seize paste on the stainless threads to keep them from galling. The running board and splash apron is fastened on. I have rubber pads that will go on the running boards. The inside edge of the fender and the front edge of the splash apron are bolted to the top of the frame rail with stainless bolts. I made up a cover out of square patterned aluminum to cover the top of the frame rail. There is an aluminum block that the radiator sits on and the front frame horn cover fits right up to it. Full view of this side so far.
I first started building this car in 1983. In August of that year, I towed the rolling chassis with just the body of the car sitting on it to a car show at the Red Barn in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Here is the participants plaque for that show. As most of you already know, the car got put in storage in the early 1990's and stayed in storage until 2021. Finally, after 41 years, I got to drive the car for the first time today and I put 2.2 miles on it. Here it is parked outside the garage.
Great thread, excellent craftsmanship, great story. I’m about half way through your thread, love it. Thanks Dan
I was looking at this photo that I took of the cer the other day and I thought " man .. that exhaust looks awfully close to the ground ! " I was sure that I had allowed for enough clearance when I was setting the engine in place so I just went out to the garage and checked it. The lowest point at the bottom of the exhaust is right under the engine. That has 5-1/2 inch clearance so that will be fine. The oil pan and the mufflers are a good inch or more higher than the exhaust. I feel a lot better now.
I couldn't see your vision until just now. I thought the cab would be back too far, front too long and back too stuby. I was certainly wrong. I like it and I'm not sure exactly why.
Working out a couple of bugs and finishing up a few last minute items. Surprisingly, this build had a lot less bugs show up on the test drive than what I've had on some of my other builds. The first one is not so much a problem as it is an adjustment. There was a little bit of bump steering. My road has been tarred and graveled and it isn't very smooth at all so that may be some of it. I checked the caster angle on the front axle and it was about 4 degrees. I don't know if the angle changed from the difference from the weight of the big Hemi engine and the weight of this little flathead engine. Most likely I just hadn't set the caster yet. I can't remember after 30 years in storage. Anyhow ... looking on the internet I find that they recommend 7 to 9 degrees on the new aftermarket straight axles for hotrods so I set my axle closer to the 9 degrees. That should take care of that problem. I have also ordered a steering stabilizer shock kit from Speedway Motors to put on it. I didn't feel any wheel shimmy but I have always had one of these on my straight axles just as an extra precaution against wheel shimmy. The second is more of a problem. I had to really stand on the brakes to get it to stop. This is the master cylinder and power brake booster out of the car. Unfortunately, it didn't survive the 30 year storage. The rubber bellows inside is shot so I have a new one ordered. That's it on the buggs ..... I put the stainless trim rings on the wheels today. They really dress them up nicely. I also put my old plaque in the back window from the car club that I was a member of up in Elkhart, Indiana back in the 80's and 90's. I don't believe that club exists anymore. Obviously, the little trunk on the model-T isn't going to hold much at all. It won't even hold my cooler, let alone a canopy and some folding chairs. So I got one of those storage rack kits that fit on the back of cars. This is the main support beam that fits into the trailer hitch receiver. The rack was very easy to assemble and it seems to be good and strong ( I stood up on it ). This should give me plenty of room for the other things that I want to take along with me to the car shows. The problem is that it covers my turn signals and depending on how high I stack the stuff, it could also cover the tail and brake lights. I'm going to put these tail lights on the back of the rack and I'm going to drill and tap a couple of holes so I can put the license plate back there too if needed.
Short video of my 1925 Ford model-T street rod. The clicking sound you will hear while I'm driving it is the key bob hitting against the dash ... got to do something about that.
This is a very interesting thread. I love what you have been able to do with the car. I don’t understand why the Petty blue chassis but as they always say it’s your car.
The blue chassis often draws questions. When I was first building this car back in the mid 1980's, I had planned to paint it a pinkish-orange coral color with flames done in six different shades of blue and the blue chassis color was to accent the flames. After sitting in storage for 30 years, the cost of paint had gone up so much and with me being retired and on a fixed income now, that original paint scheme was no longer even an option. With the car finished as far along as it was when I finally pulled it out of storage, the time involved and the cost of repainting the chassis wasn't feasible either.
The Jalopy Journal
