Finally the body is painted ready for install on chassis

[toughmandave]

Left knee is done and right knee is in 3 months. Thanks for your encouragement and everything went fine. It was just one overnight stay and I was walking the next day. It has been 3 weeks and I'm back working on the wiring running all the LED lighting wires and gauges. I have Joe Florida's LED's and 6 Spek Pro Parts gauges. One of the gauges came with the wrong wiring harness so Auto Meter sent me a correct one today. Auto Meter bought out Spek Pro Parts so I was very satisfied with Auto Meter Tech line for searching for the correct harness. A few years ago National T-bucket Alliance had a car show in Ocala, FL. A number of the t-buckets had LED lights mounted underneath and around the engine, etc. When I saw about a half dozen t-buckets lit up going down the road at night I had to light mine up too. So I found Joe Florida's LED for motorcycles extremely helpful in choosing a package that would work for me. I even have LED's mounted inside the air cleaner and all around the engine. Looks really cool at night when the multi colored lights are flashing or even constant. More pics next week. Oh yea, I do like the VW wild green flake. Perfect for the VW. Dave

 

[toughmandave]

Well, I'm back on the wiring. My new titanium knee replacement is working super and its only been 3 weeks. Spek ProAuto Gauges mounted but found another wiring harness doesn't match the schematic. Auto Meter bought Spek and they have been super to work with getting the proper harness matched up to the gauge. Lokar flamed shifter knob looks horrible against the orange metal flake paint, so my prized flamed shifter knob has to go! Another couple weeks I have to find an interior guy around Central Florida who wants to become famous with an awesome interior for this unusual t-bucket.

 

[EWTALLEY]

toughmandave, you might try this place Automotive Soft Trim in Ocala, at 352 732-4488.
www.AutomotiveSoftTrim.com
They did mine at a good price, I showed them a picture and ask if they could do something like this and they said "I think we can do anything you can come up with". Tell Sean that Earle Talley sent you.

 

[rubicon]

Very nice. 1st class all the way.

 

[one finger john]

Hey toughguy, ya gotta break in the new replacement knee ? 2500 rpms for half an hour, don't let it idle ?

Car looks good, can you send the forum a full length photo? Just roll it outside and give it a beauty shot. Do you have any build photos ?

John

 

[toughmandave]

OK, thanks for the info on Automotive Soft Trim. I will definitely give them a call tomorrow. Not many shops seem to be able to make seats VS. just covering seats or covering a seat frame. Maybe I'm not in touch with reality but a local place wants $500.00 just for carpet and they have to have a seat frame to go any further.

JOHN - Great joke on the knee replacement. ha ha I wonder if the titanium joint will stand that high RPM of the knee rotation..... I have lots of build pics but it is a pain to get them on this website. Everything has to be re-sized. I'll do a full shot soon. Wires are dangling all over under the lift and the distance between the outside of the rear tires is so wide I have to remove the lift arms from the lift just to get the car on and off the lift. So I'm trying to get most everything done before I'm able to pull the car outside. My friend has a 28 foot hauler trailer for his show cars and this t-bucket just fits with only 1/2 inch clearance on either side of the rear tires. He shows a great eight Ridler contender so we plan on loading both cars up this Fall or Spring and hit some shows. As many car builders know, towards the end of a build money seems to run out. It never fails. If I had lots of money laying around I would just take the car to a well known interior guy and just say "Do it". Us retired guys have to watch our spending and I have a wife that seems to watch it too!

 

[EX JUNK]

If you would use Photobucket you would not have to worry about resizing. Simply down load your pictures and go. I've been doing it for years and the posted pictures are very clear and large enough to see detail which is usually the reason for posting pictures. Here is an example:



Jim

 

[toughmandave]

Hey Jim, thanks for the tip. I will give photo bucket a try. What a coincidence......I think I met you in Tampa at a NSRA meet 4 or 5 years ago. You were parked towards the front of the grounds right behind one of the large buildings so there was a lot of shade and their was a slight slope on the grass between the building and the main driveway. In fact, I think you had one of the first set of valve covers that made the small block Chevy look like a big block due to the configuration and design. I was so impressed by that valve cover I found a set and that is what I have on the engine now. Your t-bucket was really tricked out and detailed very nicely. I thought you said you lived South of The Villages but I can't remember much more. I was with my friend Ken who owns a company called The Hot Rod Shop, formerly out of Toledo, OH and now located in The Villages. We were in his bright orange 28 Ford Pickup Truck but I can't remember where we parked it at the show. But I would lay money that you are the same guy. At that time I owned a company in The Villages called Battery Boys. We sold and installed golf cart batteries in the thousands of golf carts in our city. Was that you?

 

[EX JUNK]

WOW! You really have a very good memory! That was definitely me, Dave. I too am a former "buckeye" from Canfield, Ohio (the opposite side of the state from Toledo). I now live on the northeast side of Orlando in Oviedo. I was up your way this past weekend for a couple of days to visit an old buddy (since 1968) that moved to Leesburg from the Akron area.

Jim

 

[toughmandave]

Building the Air Box. Had to build a "air box" so the Holley carbs would work with the March Fuelie air cleaner. March does not produce the Fuelie air cleaner for Holley carbs. The carburetors have different mounting spreads. I was working part time for an aluminum trailer manufacturer so I had access to lots of aluminum cutting and bending tools. Next picture is of the 350 GM trans after grinding, filling, sanding, wet sanding and polishing.

 

[toughmandave]

 

[Gerry]

Or use 'light Image Resizer' Its free and can do as many files as you select in one go. Once you set the image size they then upload with no problem at all.

 

[toughmandave]

 

[Spanky]

Hey, Dave . . . I think that pic needs to be resized. You can edit it on your device and then resubmit.

 

[toughmandave]

Hey Spanky. I did resize it like I did previously but the site wouldn't allow me to attach anything. There used to be a header that said attachment or something but I tried everything I could to attach a picture. Something has changed. I finally gave up.

 

[choppinczech]

Building the Air Box. Had to build a "air box" so the Holley carbs would work with the March Fuelie air cleaner. March does not produce the Fuelie air cleaner for Holley carbs. The carburetors have different mounting spreads. I was working part time for an aluminum trailer manufacturer so I had access to lots of aluminum cutting and bending tools. Next picture is of the 350 GM trans after grinding, filling, sanding, wet sanding and polishing.View attachment 12458

That transmission is georgeous! Tell me more.

How is it built to handle the HP?

What paint products did you use to get a final finish like that?

 

[toughmandave]

OK. Trying again. Still won't work. Now when I try to attach a picture it asks for my URL. I'll have to figure out what a URL is. Or how to find it for that picture.

 

[toughmandave]

That transmission is georgeous! Tell me more.

How is it built to handle the HP?

What paint products did you use to get a final finish like that?

Oh thank you very much for the compliment. Paint is Limco black with 4 coats of Limco H/solids LC4100 clear. There is a more expensive Limco clear than the 4100 but it doesn't seem to "pop" as much as the 4100. The problem with the 4100 is it doesn't have as much UV protection as the more expensive one but my car will be in the garage most of the time anyway. The more expensive Limco is about twice the price. The primer is Featherfill G2 Gray, 2 coats. After the primer I sanded and block sanded. Then painted. Then clear coated and sanded with 800, 1500 & 2000 then polished with Norton Liquid Ice with a wool pad first and then a soft foam grey pad. In fact I did the entire car the same way. I'm not a transmission guy but I had a transmission shop in Ocala, FL go through the entire transmission and installed performance clutches. I'm using a 2800 - 3000 torque converter. The transmission shop stated the trans would certainly handle the HP which is about 525HP or so as stated by the engine builder Dave at Powerhouse in Ocala. It's a street car, not a drag car so I should be just fine on transmission life. I did install a transmission cooler with a fan under the car to keep the fluid cooler.

 

[toughmandave]

I'm not sure why I can't attached pictures any more. I click on the icon "image" and it asks for a URL. My pictures are on my computer from my camera and I can't find a URL for any of them. I'll keep trying to figure this one out so I can attach the latest pics. One more day of buttoning up the wiring challenge and the wiring will be done. The air horns pumped up to 200 pounds and the entire commercial area where my car is, "lit" up with the triple horns going off. Hopefully this coming Monday I'll drive it home and figure out who can do the interior. Still can't figure out why I can't attach pics.........................

 

[Spanky]

I don't know either, Dave. When I want to post a pic, there is a button in the lower right of my post that says "Upload a File" and I just click on that, select a pic from my computer file, and click open. Then it gives me a choice of thumbnail or full picture. Do you see that button when you post?