Starting on the rebuild.

[tfeverfred]

Looking good Fred. I really like that you chose a more substantial wheel for the front. Keep up the good work.

Jim

Jim, it was at first a cost decision. Replacing the wires was just too much money, but I loved the look so much. However, when I got these wheels and tires mounted, the first thing I thought to myself was how much better she'll track in and out of corners. Plus, the size of the wheels and tires I picked was dead on to what the look I had in my head was. I'm really happy with them.

I never had a problem running the wire wheels, but I know this will be even better. Especially when I get the shocks into the act. Is a hot rod still a hot rod, if it's comfortable to drive?:wall:

 

[EX JUNK]

To answer your question Fred:

Is a hot rod still a hot rod, if it's comfortable to drive?:wall:


It most certainly is. Both of my cars are extremely comfortable and they are both hot rods. The T is more "hot rod" and the '37 more "street rod" maybe but both are great drivers.

I have ridden in some EXTREMELY uncomfortable hot rods AND street rods. It really takes all the enjoyment out of the driving in my estimation.

Jim

 

[HAceT]

Looking good Fred.... Man I hope to see her in real life.

 

[RocknT]

Looking real good there Fred !!!!!

 

[ACJC]

Keep pluggin' Fred, the rod's coming along very nicely. Paint looks great as does the attention to detail.

JC

 

[LumenAl]

Good to "See" you again in video... It's coming right along... two

 

[Todd]

Looking good Fred! Keep looking for a way to get the tie rod in the back of the axle. It is taking away from the look of the drop beam.

 

[fluidfloyd]

feverfred

Senior Member

The half way point
I'm already missing the powder coating, as I got couple minor chips today, but it's paint and will be easy to touch up.
feverfred,

You make a good point in being able to touch up paint chips. Powder coating is great once a project is completed and road tested. Newly fabricated cars really need to be run in WD-40 or lite primer for several hundred miles as there always seems to be a minor bracket change or something added or removed. I realize it is a pain in the backside to blow everything back apart just to powder coat or paint it but it sure beats having to weld over the "final" show quality paint job. Since I can't ever stop changing things I have become a true non powder coat advocate. Thank goodness for Krylon. By The Way; Your ride is lookin' good!

George

 

[Youngster]

there is some very good wisdom in what george says...after buildin several t's i found there is always something that should have been done different for each individual car.

Ron

 

[PaulR]

Fred,

I like the look of Miss Fortune! Like the colors too. You have surpassed me and my first bucket with your 2nd (not by choice though). I'd like to swing by and take a look at her sometime. Is Miss Fortune back at your shop?

PaulR

 

[tfeverfred]

Fred,

I like the look of Miss Fortune! Like the colors too. You have surpassed me and my first bucket with your 2nd (not by choice though). I'd like to swing by and take a look at her sometime. Is Miss Fortune back at your shop?

PaulR

Nope. Not yet, but she's only accross the street. Let me know when you want to see her or you can wait till she's on the road again. Shouldn't be too long.

 

[tfeverfred]

New shifter!

A friend of mine just dropped this off! A B&M Hammer Shifter! :lol:

 

[T-Odd]

Hey Fred, check this out.

page1

Nice 27, black and red.

 

[Ted Brown]

Fred, now this is just me here and you know how I am about some things, but look at that steering pitman arm, it is close now, (to the ground) just think how close it will be when the car is fully loaded.. could you not use a vega steering box with the pitman arm pointing up? heck of a time to mention this, you have it lookin so good... but better now, then later...

 

[Youngster]

i agree ted but this is a total frame and that's the way it is set up. total has built them this way from day one. guess it one of the trade-off for using a ready built frame.

Ron

 

[tfeverfred]

Hey Fred, check this out.

page1

Nice 27, black and red.

Consider it stolen!:laff:

 

[tfeverfred]

Fred, now this is just me here and you know how I am about some things, but look at that steering pitman arm, it is close now, (to the ground) just think how close it will be when the car is fully loaded.. could you not use a vega steering box with the pitman arm pointing up? heck of a time to mention this, you have it lookin so good... but better now, then later...

Thanks for the observation, but it never scraped before, so I think it will be okay now. Heck, the tranny pan is at the same level and it never scrapped either.

 

[tfeverfred]

Tonight I made up for not being able to do anything the last 4 days. Brakes bleed, gas tank installed and fuel line mounted. I'll finish cleaning off the engine and other little things tomorrow evening, then Saturday the motor&tranny get dropped in and I'll try and fire her off.

Oh, the new brakes are freaking great! Nice, hard pedal. Took me all of 20 minutes. That's good for me.

 

[LumenAl]

Fred, now this is just me here and you know how I am about some things, but look at that steering pitman arm, it is close now, (to the ground) just think how close it will be when the car is fully loaded.. could you not use a vega steering box with the pitman arm pointing up? heck of a time to mention this, you have it lookin so good... but better now, then later...

One thing I've learned about pictures, they can be very misleading especially on pitman arms... some of my old posts when I was building the car made the pitman arm look like it was 2 or 3 inches off the ground, but in reality it had more than 6 inches of clearance... I'm sure Fred has at least that amount...

 

[tfeverfred]

Owned it!

Today, I was a one man hot rod building machine. I took my time after work yesturday and worked out a one man plan of attack. The goal? To get my car ready to fire off. Possible bonus: Firing it off.

I stopped my by local auto parts store and after explaining to the little girl behind the counter why my 1920 Ford needs a short water pump for a 1984 SBC, I was on my way.

The rest of the day was just poetry in motion. Radio tuned to the oldies station and no one bugging me (I turned off my cell phone). My mechanic buddie lent a hand in dropping in the engine and tranny, while I kept to my pre thought out check list.

So, here she is. Ready to fire off Monday evening. My buddie was tired and had to close, otherwise I'd have a video of me starting my car and looking foolishly cool. You'll have to wait a couple days for that.:lol:

First minor change of plan was the radiator fan. Tbucketlar had sent me a Total Performance thick radiator a while back. My original build had a taller radiator and I used a 17" fan. This radiator is a lot shorter, so I'll have to nix the engine mounted fan and go electric. The plus side to that is... this radiator is lower and will make Miss Fortunes front profile MUCH cooler! Thanks, Tbucketlar!

The next change was the tranny cooler. PaulR had given me a real nice one, but it wouldn't fit where my other one used to go (on the right framerail). So, I mounted it on the left side. Should work out fine. Thanks, Paul!

In these next shots, you can see that the lower radiator will give a nice, low profile. I'm pretty stoked with the results.

Oh yea... ain't that marine air cleaner BITCHIN'? :hooray: