Hi, I am new to this board, but have heard many things about it. I'm 26, from Wildomar, which is about 60 miles north of San Diego, where I'm origionaly from. I just moved up here, so I don't know that many people yet. I have a 52 Pontiac Chieftian that I'm in the proicess of fixing up, it has the origional straight eight and crappy hydromatic tranny (it's a four speed, and half the time fourth doesn't work). Right now it's getting enough done to make it to VLV in April, basicly lowering it and getting some body work done. I'm just learning how to do bodywork, so any advice would be well taken. I just met a group of guys from the South Side Axle Draggers at a cruise in last Sat and they asked me to join thier club, so hopefully with the knowledge they have, I can get my car looking nice with out too much trouble. If anything I at least got a cool group of folks to hang out with. I hope my intro was okay, I'm not real good at computer stuff, I'll post some pics of my car as soon as I get them shrunk down enough to post. I know a few of you from some other message boards, hopefully you'll remember me. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Kristy.
Heres a back view. Frenched in some '59 Caddy taillgights, I know they are kinda over done, but they fit in there really good, and the stockers were broke.
Here's a shot of the front. I'm planning on painting the grill black until I can afford to have it re-done, I just want to cover it up so it doesn't rust anymore. I aoplogize for it being a bit blurry. I plan on taking some nicer pics as soon as I get some more work done on it this weekend.
Where's the surf board rack? I don't know why, it just reminded me of a surfer's car... When you gonna lower it? Welcome to the HAMB!....My part of your hazing is complete!
Thank you. It's pretty solid, has a little cancer, nothing that can't be fixed with a little work. The floor boards in the front are pretty bad, but I haven't fallen through yet! A few dents, interior needs TLC, but it runs!! Heres a pic of the motor. We added a 6 volt alternator to keep it running until we can do the 12 volt conversion, hopefully before VLV. But I've never done any electrical, so I'm a bit nervous about that.
Sorry, no surf board rack. I don't think I could surf, I'm 6 feet tall! That's a lot of height to be balancing around! We're gonna cut the coils and take a few of the leaf springs out this weekend if all works out as planned. I'm going to learn how to weld on it too, try to fill in the holes where the side trim was.
Bring it out to our BBQ on the 22nd in Eldorado Park in Long Beach! You can come too. Bring hot girls of questionable moral fiber, and food. Hope to see you there! More info is on the SoCal BBQ post. Scotch~!
if you wanna convoy out to the BBQ with a couple of the guys from Temecula and Elsonore, PM me and I'll get you their info
cool car. Simichrome polish on #0000 steel wool will clean the rust off the grille AND polish the chrome that's left. Give it a chance before you paint over it. It'll look straight 80s if you paint it black. welcome to HAMB.
actually,the hydra-matic is probably the best auto tranny ever for classic cars.you probably just haven't adjusted it correctly.
Thanks all, I'll try the steel wool on the chrome, I'm just worried about it getting really rusty. I'm new at this, it's my first old car! And I know that chroming it will be costly, and I'm on a budget right now. We dropped all our money into getting a place to live where we could work on the cars with out HOA's barking at us. I'm not sure how you adjust the tranny. I'm sure it could use a re-build, it leaks. Once it warms up, 4th is fine, but in the morning if you put it in, it just slips real bad. I know jack about trannys, would you give me some advice on adjusting it? I'll try to make it out that that BBQ! Unfortiantly I know very few people here, but as soon as I find myself a group of girls to corupt, they're all yours!!
you need to find the special band adjusting tools,or make friends with someone who has'em.look on ebay too,they usually go pretty cheap.do searches for "hydra-matic""hydramatic"and"hydromatic".on a '52 chief you might be able to do an external adjustment.check out a vintage motors or chilton manual for instructions,they'll also show how to dfo the adjustmnets for the TV linkage.if you don't have access to any of this i'll see if i can figure out how this stupid scanner works and post it.
Thanks, I bought a shop manual off Ebay, I'll look to see if it's got instructions, I haven't really looked at it all yet.
Nice to see another Poncho. Always a good sign. Kind of looks like a baja but a nice dropping will make the profile pop when it goes down the road. Good luck with it. Mine is rough in spots also, but that is what makes it fun. Larry
Lowering and filling body holes are first on this weekends to do list. We don't have our own welder, so we borrowed one for the weekend. Gonna take out the coils and cut 'em, then take out a couple leaf springs to bring it down in the back some more. We put 3" blocks in the back Sunday, so it looks a little better then the pics, but it's got a little rake until we can get the front lower I'll take a new pic this afternoon.
welcome to the board, you are driving what I want someday... i'm in a buick for now.....cool car. stick around, lots to learn here, lots of hambers down there, they'll help you out. whatever you do, don't take the chief ornament off the hood! see you around
Welcome to the board, glad to meet you. That sure is a nice ponitac you have there, is that the ultra cool light up hood indian I see on it?
Hey Ponchokitty! Welcome to the board. I am new as well. I live in Temecula and I have 50 Ford tudor that I chopt 6.5" and 9". I know all of the apple draggers, I mean Axle Draggers. Chet Miller, the founder, is a very good friend of mine and he is a great guy. Art, Joe, Ricky and Carol, and all the others are really good guys also. They have some really nice cars in the club. Anyway, it would be kool to meat up with you some day ans shoot the shit, so call me up at (909)303-1969. My name is Robbie. I work at Temecula Rods and Customs from 9-5 and go to school all day on Mon and Wed, so catch me this weekend. Hop to hear from you soon, as it is hard to find people around here with kool cars and similar interests that aren't 60 years old.
Welcome, from another amateur at bodywork. Tell ya though, this place is a great resource for info, advice and, yes, venting. The pic of yer straight 8 mill is the first I've seen of a straight 8, really interesting! Lookin' forward to seeing project pics to come. Noticed the big dish in the background one of the shots- do you work at a TV station, or something? Looked familiar. Anyway, glad you found us! -- Tim
[ QUOTE ] is that you Voodoo Kitten ??????? [/ QUOTE ] Guilty as charged . No worries about the hood ornament, that puppy is staying, it's not hooked up right now, so it's not working, but when we do a new wiring harness, we're gonna hook it up then. The guy I bought it from had somebody call up when he saw the ad in the trader and offered him $250 for it, but he wouldn't part it of the car. I thanked him for that.
[ QUOTE ] Noticed the big dish in the background one of the shots- do you work at a TV station, or something? Looked familiar. -- Tim [/ QUOTE ] Nope, it came with the place when we rented it. I guess the guy who lived here before us used it, I didn't think they even had service for that kind of satallite anymore. We've got one of the little guys, all sorts of channels, still nothin' on. Chopt 50, I'll call you this weekend. I'll probably be going to the little breakfast crusie they have at that diner by the mall on Saturday morning, (it's called the 5 & Dinner I beleive), that's where I met those guys. So if your not busy, stop by. I'll PM you my number.
Welcome! From one former SoCaler to another with a poncho (mines a 55 starchief), have fun here, learn alot and submit pix when you do something new.
Here's a pic I took this morning, you can tell the back is a bit lower now, hopefully we can get it down some more.
Here's the grill, It's got some rust, and a dent. Do you think this could be polished up some? I'm not looking for anything spectacular, just cleaned up, so I can pretend I made an effort.
I bet that would look low enough with a 6 footer in heels standing next to it... I spose you're going to lower the front? You can't get them ground scrapng without "C"ing the frame and floor board surgery to clear the axle and torque tube. But you can make it appear lower by lowering the bumpers on the body. Even flipping them upside down will lower them some. If they end up under the gravel shield just finish toe edge reall pretty and it'll be cooler...Old trick. Lakes pipes make a car look lower without all the surgery too. Don't suppose it's going to get chopped....
Hey there... my buddy has a sandblast booth and a pwdercoat shop next door... you could blast it and coat it satin black... or whatever color... would prob be a couple hundo... for all. My 27t roadster is in there right now. Hope to see ya at the BBQ in Longbeach on the 22nd. Blake
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