Projects The Build Without (Now With) a Body

Lookin good to me for first test!

 

My mom & brother upholstered his '39 coupe except for the seat. Headliner, doors, package tray, kick panels, & carpet. It was near perfect. Yours is looking good just don't make yourself any sundresses.

 

Now it’ll fly!

Got a wild hare to strip the fan and polish it up like an old prop. Made sure it wasn’t too blingy. Body is on for good and the doors close nicely. Running out of time to paint before the cold weather sets in. May need to wait for spring to lay down some color.

 

Very cool!

 

CONTACT!

 

Cut and polished the tank. You can polish a turd!!!
Got rid of all the fish eye and 99.99% of visible scratches from 4 days of sanding.

 

Nice job. I put yellow tips on an A fan once, its kinda nice to see when running, and a good visible reminder to keep your fingers outa there ! Carry on.....

 

Tried to install the tank welt tonight. What a pain in the ass. Contemplating leaving it off. Worried the the welt line will crack after painting, like every other A I’ve seen. What are some good options?

 

Most difficult thing on this car as of yet…..tank welt! Damn thing better not squeak.

 

Dang that dash looks great! Got me excited to paint mine eventually

 

Installed one of them fancy ass Carter fuel pumps and now have all sorts of fancy ass challenges to get everything plumbed. The goal is to hide the pump and regulator behind the firewall so all you see firewall forward is the glass bowl and fuel line. Got the new radiator in and polished the shell up a bit. Couldn’t resist mocking up the intake and exhaust with the newly scored Thickstun air scoop. Damn it, I’m getting antsy to drive the car!!!!! Figured it might be a good idea to put a small fuse box up in the drivers side cowl area now there’s a bunch-o-e-lec-tronic doodads going in.

Looked at all the old receipts today, that was dumb.

She needs a name, whatcha think?

 

The Hamilton Standard Propeller sticker on the polished fan blade is cool. I am sure you will be looking for a smaller one of those that is porportionally correct, but that will do for now!

 

Fuel system is in place. Tried to minimize the visual impact from outside the car as much as possible. You can just barely see the fuel in and out lines exiting the firewall below the glass bowl, outside of the firewall.

The routing is as follows:
Tank valve>Hard line through firewall>soft line>carter pump>soft line>Holley fuel pressure regulator>soft line>hard line through firewall>fuel bowl

All the hard lines through the firewall are protected with rubber grommets. Not super excited about how pliable the aluminum “hard line” is but at least I have great patterns for future steel lines if the aluminum proves to be an issue.

Bought a fancy ass Optima red top battery and installed it, electrical to come. Cooling gets plumbed next, then it’ll be time to start the car.

Good luck making heads or tails of the pictures….

 

Man! This thing is really coming together with class. I spent the day rewiring most of my solar system. I do much better when I'm plumbing stuff I can see. Leaks are safer to find.

 

Well, she runs….she runs damn fine.

Lots of blood, sweat, tears, hours, money, doubt, joy, and anticipation to get here. F-ing stoked!

 

Sounds MIGHTY FINE!!!!!!

 

Cute!

 

That's the most beautiful banger sound I've ever heard! I can't wait to hear it at cruising speed.

 

Purists look away…

 

Gauges are in and wood is stained/finished in spar urethane. Bought a fancy polished aluminum column mount but it was too tall. A quick trip to the bandsaw, grinder and drill press solved that. Everything works as it should. Now just a little tidying here & there and she’ll be ready to cruise around the block.

 

At least when I don’t get pulled over for speeding, I’ll know how fast I’m going (speedo installed). Also, replaced the brakes.

Still not certain the car should be black. Found some vinyl wrap in blue grey for poops n grins. Tried a spot to see how it looks. Whattaya think…..blue or black?

 

MY basic rule is that real hot rods are black. At least it is a safe bet and saves an otherwise nice build from being spoiled by a stupid color choice. That said I like that blue. You could vinyl wrap the whole thing and avoid runs & over spray.

 

Maybe mixture to lean....

 

Fully rebuilt the engine and am now running the same mixture, never gets above 150°. I replaced the radiator this time around. I believe the old radiator let some crap go and clogged while I was driving. A combination of heat and pistons without expansion slots led to the issue. I now have Egge pistons with expansion slots and a temp gauge to keep an eye on things. Knock on wood, haven’t had a single hiccup since the rebuild.

 

Black is my vote. Driving time will be here soon, ya better get to work !

 

Finally getting some color on the car. Pretty cool brother team that owns a local old skool shop with some really neat stuff on the property shot it. Cut and buff this weekend.

 

No pics here?

 

I see the pics on my side. Here’s a couple more. Just about to roll it outside.

 

Wow, looks great!

 

looks like it's ready for a good cleaning of the masked off sections to match that Beautiful Black finish!
The Blue tulip panel looked nice, but that Black is chef's kiss!