Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

George,

It was weird how un-advertised this event was this year. Not sure why that was. Even the NTBA and SOCAL T's who usually attend never got the info up. We sold my mother in laws place in Tucson, but I kind of wish we had kept it now. Hopefully Fred will accept my friend request and we'll be in the loop next year!

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I'm not sure if this will work, still using my wife's ipad, but here's a link with lots of good info on doing gauge bezels...
www.thisoldtractor.com/moto_guzzi_loopframe_gauge_trim_ring_removal...
Took me over an hour to get to this point, hope it works. Stupid f@$&ing "technology""...

 

http://www.thisoldtractor.com/moto_guzzi_loopframe_gauge_trim_ring_removal_and_installation.html

 

Thanks Anders, I was hoping someone would do that. I suck at this ipad crap...

 

Back to the top...Looks like we are toast...Page 12? Oh Well...I don`t have much to add. I was going to hitch a lift to Albany Swap with Tim, but it looks like I have to go to a Funeral. So much for an Uplifting post....

 

All the T bucket guys read this post so that means 98.7% of the HAMBers running Corvair steering boxes are right here too!
Anyone know where you can get internals for those steering boxes? Specifically a pitman shaft bushing.
I've noticed a bit of DW developing and along with a couple of Heim joints that need replacing, I see that the bushing is on the way out in the box as well. Shes a driver...gotta get her tightened up!

 

Clark's Corvairs is the answer for Corvair box needs. You'll have to Google them, but they are somewhere in Masschut...Massachu... Oh to hell with it, Mass.! Just for laughs, ask for their catalog and price sheet - simply the most confusing thing that has even been put on paper! I'm a former parts guy, and until that there was never a parts catalog made that I couldn't wire in an hour. Impressively bad.

One thing I found on mine, it has a tendency to back the locking ring off of the input shaft's bearing cover. You don't feel it right away as being worn out of squirrelly, but tighten it up and you'll immediately feel a major difference. When you put these things together, you are supposed to put just a touch of bearing pre-load on the worm shaft. I can't remember the actual inch pounds measurement, but I handled that with my huge Crescent wrench on the cover, tightening until the clearance in the bearings was gone plus a touch more. After that, lacking the proper spanner wench for the lock ring a small punch and a light hammer did the trick, and a small bit of "staking" has held the deal for a good long time now.

Oh, and when I did my box, most of my rebuild stuff came from my local bearing warehouse here in town. About the only thing I got from Clark's was the sector shaft bushing.

 

If you guys need a bit of 'Bucket pick me up, I had mine out to pretty damn near 100 tonight. Traffic moves on the 51 at about 80ish most times, even though it's marked at 65. As I got on tonight a bit after rush hour, a youngish sort in a Nissan sporty car thing came flashing past in the far left lane at a good 15-20 faster than the rest. With light traffic at that point, why not. Off to the far left H.O.V. lane, and seconds later I was right on his pace. Held it for a mile or two (oh, maybe a bit more...), then dropped back with the rest of the mortals.

Damn thing gets better the faster you go! Felt very "glued in" up there at that speed, and the wind buffeting wasn't nearly as bad I thought it would be. Damned proud of this little thing!

 

Thanks, I'll check those guys out but I think I'll forego the catalog...I have enough trouble with Speedway! LoL
My box seems tight other than the bit of rocking in the pitman arm shaft. but I will definately stake that adjuster once everything goes back together. Thanks for the heads up!
I've had my Roadster up to about 70-75 but I'm getting a driveshaft harmonic at that point that makes it uncomfortable to go over that speed.
I'm bumping the ratio up to at least 3.08 and maybe even into the 2's over the winter from 3.43 so the harmonic will move upward a bit on the speed chart...but I think I'll get the balance checked out anyway over the winter. It's really amazing how well these little missles work on the highway when the seating position is nice and low. Nimble and precise...just gotta love it!!!

 

Correct corvair turbo re-pops as well, just in case you are chasing a 100% period-correct '70's vibe...yea, I can dig it...

 

I re-discovered a KILLER 70's t-bucket I had kinda forgot about last night in an old phr. This thing is a BEAST, kinda like sunkist but with the performance to back up the look, a real gonzo machine, no roll bar, vertical steering column and low nines @ 147 mph!! Sweet Jesus, too much for me!! I am still using my wife's ipad, once I get my computer back, I'll post it, as well as the R&C article on Marty's track T's.

 

In case anyone is interested in following along, I pretty much completed the rest of my exhaust system. Pictures on my build thread.
Larry
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...-up-build-thread.460009/page-16#post-10695717

 

VERY nice, Blue One! That's a really clean exhaust!

George, which issue of PHR? I just got a shipment of 70's PHR's yesterday (mostly '70, 71, 72, and 73).

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Larry, that is super sano work. Looks good.

 

I thought more about this today, and I have to clarify this a bit. I mentioned checking the worm shaft cover yesterday, and the reason behind that was that is where I found my death wobble. If you remember back to the beginning of this thread, I went through a lot of "
teething pains" with front end setup. One of those was a persistent death wobble a slow speeds. One of the many ways that can happen is if the pitman arm is loose. Thing is, there are 3 ways I can think of that pitman arm can get loose fore to aft.

1.The sector shaft bushing wears out allows the sector shaft to wobble around and the pitman arm attached to do the same.

2. The sector shaft adjustment nut can back off, or the sector or worm can have a worn spot that won't allow further adjustment.

3. The worm or input shaft can kill a bearing OR have it's bearing race or cover back off and allow the input shaft to move back and forth, causing the pitman arm to do the same... Result, death wobble, sometimes at just any given speed.

I didn't even think to check mine, 'cause I just been through the box with new bearings and such, and I am just stubborn enough to believe my work doesn't need "re-checking"... Well, guess what, sometimes I DO need to re-check stuff, and not as a last resort. Tightened it up, and suddenly all the bad stuff went away.

 

That`s good info on the Corvair Boxes. I looked at a car today that has one, as well as being rear engined...(Cerv 1 may ring a bell to someone...a friend of mine is building a clone, sort of....) but this is off the topic. Blue...that exhaust is really nicely done...

 

February '76, blown bbc with Crane r285 , a tiny little pulley on top, t400, big race masters and an early olds rear with 5.13s! GADZOOKS! When I get my computer back, I'll post it. Verticle windshield posts too. What a beast...

 

Holy cow! I'd like to see that!

 

Definately good info and I do remember your bit of trouble with DW. My issue is pretty obvious in that I can see the shaft move fore and aft as the wheels are turned. Only a sloppy bushing will allow that...but I will for sure check the other stuff once the box is on the bench! Found the bushings at Clarkes and the price is reasonable. Thanks for the help!!!

 

Hey Kiwi Paul, sorry about the funeral. I don't know if I'll make it down to Albany, either. Been getting my rear end handed to me with the Camaro lol. It's really taking my T bucket therapy time away from me!

 

Larry, great work on your exhaust. It looks nice and tidy!

 

Darn, don't have that one (yet!). Guess I'll just have to be patient like everybody else! ;-) Sounds like a pretty bad ass car though, kind of an old comp. eliminator car gone street legal! I gonba try to post a pick of the T my best friends older brother had right after we graduated high school. It's a scan of a one page feature in Hot Rod back in the 70's, not sure if it is going to be good enough quality to be clear on here though.

 

Oop's, still having trouble attaching picd from my phone in the new format. Cars kinda off topic for our discussion, but it gives you a good idea of my formative influences.....

 

Couldn't resist posting these two pictures from another thread. You've probably all seen them but it just shows how ugly not only T buckets but a lot of hot rods got in the late '60s and '70s. In defense of these guys this is what you had to do to win at car shows then. But then as I've said before everything was ugly then. Can't believe I ever wore red white and blue vertical striped Levi's. But I still love the "Super Bells" I wore. Still am amazed what good photos my new I phone takes. Guess I should learn to move pictures from one site to another. If that is even possible.

Gary

Oh sorry if anybody on the HAMB had anything to do with these two cars.

 

Bailon's 'Wild Dream' and Stuckey's 'Lil Coffin'.... two rather iconic showcars from the early sixties. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say they're ugly (certainly not compared to some of the bubbletop monstrosities that were built) but they definitely were beyond the 'norm'. Both have aged rather well to my eye, although the fins on the Wild Dream do date it. The Wild Dream in particular is notable for the fact that it looks like it was a showcar that could actually function as a hot rod, not a common thing.

But I also think Cushenberry's 'Matador' is the most beautiful '40 Ford ever built... LOL.

 

I did an still do like "The little Coffin" n think it looks very cool mostly,but I thought the headlights would of been way better if they were on the sides of nose between top of coilsprinng and grill vs sticking up as they do always looked off to me. Making any type of fullcustom grill shell that looks good is super hard to do and most are very ugly fails for small out of place or size match things. I normely like stick-up headlights ,but the flow looked wrong to me from first time I saw it.

 

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You know guys this is a "TRADITIONAL" site and a traditional early '60s de-uglifing thread on that site. I'm sorry if you like those two build styles and rack and pinion steering but they are not traditional at all. Okay somebody might have built a rod in that style and used a rack and pinion steering but it is not traditional. Sorry Chip for my comments but other than maybe being quality builds they are traditionally ugly.

 

My lord, there is a perfect example of ugly. The frame, the rack and vertical steering column on the wrong side
I deleted the pictures from my reply to help reduce the ugly in the thread

 

Wow Blue I thought I was really putting it out there.

Come on guys this is a TRADITIONAL thread. Have I said TRADITIONAL enough.

Oh yeah Blue I love your TRADITIONAL exhaust.