Hot Rods Wheeew, saved a 32 5w from the crusher!

Evil Step Dad drug this hunk of***** in from somewhere and asked if I could do something with it. I told him it would take some work but it could be saved.



You kinda have to squint and turn your head a bit but you can see some potential there.




One of his requirements was to leave the original patina on the body and the chassis so I have to be careful not to damage it.


He did say I could do something about the stock upholstry and floor covering though.






So where to begin?

 

How about starting by cutting a big hole right in the center of the car...

One of the biggest problems with the car was a lack of leg/foot room. the original firewall was built to clear something other than the sbf that is in the car.


(yeah same pic)



it was 4" behind the motor and the trans tunnel was way big and both wasted a lot of space.


So I cut it out, which turned out to be a job, it was made of 1/8" steel plate! 7 sawzall blades and 10 cutoff wheels, and 42 magic cuss words got it out of the way.



I fabbed up a new firewall and tunnel for it, (with motor and trans still in the car)

 

thats way too far gone man. i really hate to see a 5w get cut up but maybe it will help to patch some panels on another one?

rough decision, i know. ive got some beer though, where is that sawzall?!

 

fired up the bead roller and made something cute to look at!


While I was at it the steering column was relocated, as were the brake and gas pedals.



Now its got plenty of leg room and the foot box is much bigger too.

With the column relocated the factory billet drop would no longer cut the mustard so I grabbed some scraps off the floor and used the magic hammer to end up with this


Since we have a cool new drop the hose clamp tach/siganl mount wasnt goona be ok anymore so out comes the magic hammer and some more cussing got me this



Then to hide hte wiring I added a fake shifter made of stainless tubing and pierced the drop and run the tube all the way to the floor.

It also needed a new lower mount (more mystical cussing)

 

The steering wheel is a repop so the horn*****on isnt functional, so I whipped out this thing



It mounts to teh shifter nub on the 40 column trim piece.





now that the column was in a new location it needed another u joint and a support, I ordered a nifty pillow block from mcmaster and set to modifying, then notched it into the motor mount. I added the bracket to the top as well



Now that the steering is handled, time to make a new brake pedal that rides on bronze bushing from the small parts section of the local ace hardware.


The gas pedal is a fulton pedal that I won on a hamb auction and the linkage was one of those chromey billety spoons that I cut apart and made a fork out of.

 

That firewall is too much....maybe that's why I love it!

 

More billet***** to make into something purty,,



couple minutes with a grinder and a file, throw a coat of flat black and presto,, a mirror worth looking at....



The car also had a mallory ignition that proved to be less than reliable so a phone call to some Dude in indy got us a ready made points dizzy ready to run. I hooked it up to a msd6 box and a blaster2 coil, painted black and put this purty sticker on it.


The billet 3rd brake light/plate light was***** canned too, and I banged around on more tin to come up with something a lil better.

 

Nice work Jay. I am always amazed at your bead rolling magic!
I guess oldsignbob, will have to stop calling you the evil step son now?
Geoff aka whodaky

 

That firewall is just too cool!!!!
Very nice work.

 

Nice work!
Got another picture of the horn*****on.That was a really nice job.

 

It didnt have inner or outer door handles either, and the way the latches were the linkage wasnt gonna be much fun as it would have to run behind the rear window track. While I was working on that I added a stop to the outer handle and a return spring and they work real great!





Now onto the wiring,



Nice huh! Dont worry,, I killed Mr Francis with some tin snips and a few rinfield style giggles, and then called the guys at Rebel wire and fixed it!



Still in proccess in the pic but you get the idear...

 

Oh yeah somewhere during this deal the dash fell out,, er well not really fell out. It was weldered in, by putting the screws in, welding the screws to the dash, then welding the pinch at the top all the way across. Groovy.


Yeah it kinda got butchered coming out.



I made new ends for it and while I was at it made it actually fit the jams,,



and since the top was cutoff and it needed a new one I figured that I would add some defroggers since it was gonna get a heater.



Here's the thread on that pile of*****,,,,
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=499939



The reason I cut the dash out was to add an S&W guage panel to kill off the last of the billet, similar to this thread

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=139802

Here it is sorta finished


notice that somehow I managed to break the speedo needle, great!!!!

a quick call to Moon and another to Autometer got us a contact to get it fixed, so I sent it home with ESD. He took it to Autometer and just happened to meet up with the guy that was supposed to fix it. 15 minutes later he walked out with a repaired speedo. No Charge! Kudos to those guys!!!!!!!

 

Now to clean up that radiator and fan setup, I stole this idea:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103404

and came up with this,,




I hid the electronics and wiring inside the shroud and make a nefty screw on cover so its easy to work on, but not in plain sight. I also built the radiator.


it'll get a going over with a buffer to shine like the top of my balding head and the screws will be replaced with nice brass smash ribbets.

 

The front axle had way to much kingpin angle and one of the bones had a crack at the top of the weld so I cut those apart too, this is what I found,,



thats the good one the other was worse, nothing like crystalized mig weld!

so after cutting them to the correct angle and welding them up I wasnt comfy with the structural integrity of the weld so they got a fishplate. I started talking about fish and one of the shop kittens came over, licking his lips in anticipation, when he found out I wasnt actually talking about fish, he attacked my foot.



Also when I mocked it up the tierod was way to close to the frame. I flipped it to the bottom and it rubbed the bones, perfect.... so a notch was added to the top of the bones to clear it.
Made a couple more passes with the welder to get something to grind off and heres what I got





The drag link can stay on top as it was rubbing the bones before I cut on it and is well clear of the framerails at ride hieght.

 

now back to the dash for a sec,, yeah I know its late, errrrrr early and I'm sorta*****ter brained anywho.

I mounted the headlight switch and ignition switch under the dash



and made switch cover, then tapped a drawer pull to fit the headlight switch, and slotted another and put a cut down key in it.


on the other side I added the switch plate and mounted 2 12 volt outlets, with the same pulls so its all symmetrical and stuff.


Now that thats done,,,, I been working on the garnish moulderings. the stock fibre-ass ones look like well**** so those are gonna hang on the wall of the shop like a stuffed moose.

I banged out these, and the front drop lines up with the bottom of the dash with the new switch gear..



I get to start on the 1/4 glass mouldings later today and they will line up with the door mouldings top and bottom, not just around the window like the stocker.

well that pretty much brings you up to date, watch for updates as I get something to look at!

Thanks for viewing and hope you enjoyed the trip!

 

NICE WORK!

-rick

 

Welded screws in the dash... Awesome!
Beautiful work. That firewall is a work of art

 

Nice work indeed.

 

Nice work man!

 

Totally Outstanding Metal Magic. Awesome work.

 

Beautiful work and workmanship. I especially like the "non-off the shelf" steering column / support.

 

Nice work, that firewall is******in' and I really like the idea of the hidden 12-volt outlets to match the other switches. Modern convenience with a traditional look I like it!

 

Damn that is some awesome work Jay. I think I know who I am going to call when it comes time for the firewall in my model A.

 

Outstanding work! I love the firewall and the column drop.

 

So many ideas, great stuff.

 

cool car and firewall

 

Da Tinman..that name really suits you. Great fabrication with outstanding emphasis on detail.

 

It is amazing how you manage to bang out stuff. Glad you could save the car it looked almost to far gone.

 

FAN SHROUD = WOW....

Plus many more... Holy***** Dude, that is some sweet work!!

Thanks Much,

Robert M.

 

Firewall is outa this world. Ya. thought about chroming it ?????????????????? Just kidding.