Topic: NAS-T (Read 12217 times)

Blackwater · « **on:** September 19, 2020, 08:53:02 PM »

I've been toying around with this for a while! Trading around with Jeff73Mach1 and swapping parts, cars, and labor, I've come up with another project. I've hinted at this one before, but now I've jumped off the high dive out over Grand Canyon. Got lots of parts already collected and the idea is now firmed up!!

We stacked and propped some of the stuff on and next to the car and I took some pics to get an idea of what we're shooting for. I included an early pic of the '61 Olds rear end that I'm using. We sent the axles and a set of rotors off of a '96 Caprice to the machine shop to be drilled for the 5x4.75 wheels on the back. I'm about halfway through adapting the Caprice disc brakes to the housing and it's gonna work like a champ!!

I have a 1958 348 Chevy engine on a a stand, almost ready to install. I'm using front and rear saddle mounts to put it in the frame and I'll fab up headers to work with the car. I'll post a pic or two of it in the next day or two.

We junked out my son's old Camaro and I got a 700R4 out of it that we got from a Corvette. It needs rebuilding, but except for reverse, it works great and it has a good converter with it. An old friend of mine from my transmission shop days is coming over to help me rebuild it and ain't charging me nothing but maybe a steak and some beers!! Got a good drive shaft outa' the deal too!

That's a brand new radiator sitting in the frame. Jeff found it and it's made to cool a big V8!

I bought a disc brake kit for the front axle from Speedway. I don't short anything when it comes to brakes. I need to pull the spindles and send 'em to Speedway to be modified for the brake kit. I got a deal on that and it'll save me a chunk of money.

SO!! I need to lengthen the frame about a foot to accommodate the engine/transmission combination. I'm going to channel the floor about four inches to lower the car so it resembles the sketch. The body is all steel and the roof has already been chopped enough to suit my tastes. The doors are from an A-model and I haven't decided how I'm gonna deal with that, but the floor frame is perfect and the body is absolutely rust free, so it'll be a cinch to lower it and the frame is 2" x 3" rectangular tubing and I already have about three feet of fresh steel tubing to make the stretch!!

What I haven't decided is whether I'll leave it a little RAT or if I'm gonna' shoot for a full on custom! 'Til I decide, that after I've driven it a little!!

Blackwater · « **Reply #1 on:** September 22, 2020, 02:00:18 PM »

Bought a small winch to use for lifting car bodies, today!!

I'll post photos of it in use in the next couple of days!!

McLovin · « **Reply #2 on:** September 22, 2020, 06:07:25 PM »

Dad bought a Harbor Freight one for our A-frame. Really handy but got to watch the cable. It wants to miss the spool sometimes. It's also a little faster than I would like. But, all in all As handy as a shirt pocket!

Blackwater · « **Reply #3 on:** September 23, 2020, 08:14:03 AM »

I'm running the cable through a series of pulleys to lighten the load and so I can use it while I'm by myself. It'll be mounted on a post in the shop, up out of the way.

Pics when I get it all put together!

Blackwater · « **Reply #4 on:** September 28, 2020, 09:18:39 PM »

Here is the winch and pulleys holding up the "T" body. The pics were taken on the first run of the hoisting rig. We let the body back down and cleared the cables so that they don't cross each other. Made it run a LOT smoother. Jeff's 29 sedan body can be seen in a couple of pics. The bottom of the "T" body is over eight feet off the floor!!

Also a couple pics of the 348 engine I'm preparing for this build. I'm thinking of reversing the colors on the engine, painting the block Chevrolet orange and the valve covers and pan with high temp wrinkle black. Those orange valve covers sure are shiny though!!

OH!! Yeah!! I got me an antique Coke machine over the weekend!! Needs a little cleaning up and a shot of freon, but it even cools a little!!

Blackwater · « **Reply #5 on:** October 20, 2020, 02:39:50 PM »

I just remembered that I have a hood for this project! I don't think it has the side curtains, but the top panels are solid and the hinge is good! I also have a Corvair steering box that's already "flipped" to finish the steering !!

Blackwater · « **Reply #6 on:** November 01, 2020, 10:01:47 PM »

I ought to be getting my rear axles and rotors back from the machine shop this week. I decided that I would let them redrill for the 5X4.75 pattern. I've done it several times successfully, but with the foot and some minor annoyances, I figured it won't cost much and I can deal with some other things.

I also picked up a set of coil over shocks for the rear of the car!!

Soon as I get to where I can walk again, between all the stuff for this project and the parts coming in for the engine on Lockjaw, I'm gonna' be a busy feller!!

Blackwater · « **Reply #7 on:** December 12, 2020, 09:42:29 AM »

I had to go pick up my axles and rotors yesterday. The machine shop I took them to had dragged their feet long enough!! I picked them up and took them to a well known local shop in Nashville. It'll cost me a little more, but I'll have them back by the middle of next week!!

Blackwater · « **Reply #8 on:** December 16, 2020, 10:08:50 AM »

Got my axles back from the second machine shop this morning!! Nice work!! They re-drilled the rotor too and it was DONE ON TIME!!!

I'm starting to get around a little on both feet!! Looked around the shop this morning when I got back from town. I had put away an old Chevy dual point distributor,one of the old iron units without a tach drive that has a clip on cap and no vacuum advance. They're getting pretty rare and I'd sent my son and Jeff73 to look for it last weekend with no luck. When I went to put the axles back in the shop, I decided to look for them myself!! Climbed the ladder to look on the shelves in my storage rack. NO JOY!! Turned several boxes out and searched through them. STILL no luck. Turned around to sit down for a minute and spied a plastic tub with a bunch of boxes and supplies in cans that I'd brought out from my gun room to store and EUREEKA!! I remembered that the distributor was in that stuff!!

McLovin · « **Reply #9 on:** December 19, 2020, 03:59:13 PM »

I'm kind of a pest whenever I have something at somebody else's shop. Last time they "Lost " my block because the guy who fill out the form did it wrong and the shop had a bad cell number for me. If I hadn't been pestering them they wouldn't have ever done my block. They did give me a free hone job.

Blackwater · « **Reply #10 on:** December 19, 2020, 10:57:31 PM »

I've used this shop for several projects and they always did good work in a timely fashion. I know the owner and dealt only with him. The Chinese virus put him behind and I had told him it wasn't a rush because I was still laid up, but then he started putting me behind new work that came in well after me. I DID call every couple of weeks to see if he was done and needed me to pay for the job and pick up my parts.

The sad part for him is that I have lots of work I could send him, but now I'll be dealing with somebody else!!

Blackwater · « **Reply #11 on:** December 28, 2020, 07:16:51 AM »

I got new lower coil over shock mounts for the rear axle over Christmas!! My sister-in-law gifted me with a new wire tie gun and a huge bundle of wire ties!! That'll help with two "complete car" wiring jobs in my future!!

The Nashville Bomber knocked me off of the internet for a couple of days!! Hope everyone had a safe and merry Christmas!!

McLovin · « **Reply #12 on:** December 28, 2020, 11:55:55 AM »

Glad to hear your safe. How close to you was the bombing? I got a new welding cart and a new charcoal grille. Guess the boy's also decided my old laptop needed replaced as it was making a strange noise thru the fan. Now I've got to transfer all the files passwords and pictures.

Blackwater · « **Reply #13 on:** December 28, 2020, 08:56:44 PM »

We're about 20 miles as the crow flies from the site of the blast.

I went full tactical in the first hours after the incident, but it became clear that the threat was limited to that one incident. It sure ruined some nice historic buildings and some long established businesses will probably relocate or fold altogether!! Some great entertainment places will probably never reopen.

Blackwater · « **Reply #14 on:** January 04, 2021, 09:27:39 PM »

I got the last pieces for the rear suspension on Saturday!! Ordered 'em on Wednesday and they were in the mailbox before 3:30 Saturday!!

New outfit, Mayhem Welding out of Florida!! They have all sorts of brackets and plates and they are happy to custom make what you need!! I ordered four 3/8" brackets with special dimensions and they whipped 'em out that fast!! Laser stuff is NICE!!!

Blackwater · « **Reply #15 on:** January 06, 2021, 11:29:46 AM »

I stopped by the metal shop to see about getting the steel bent up to stretch the chassis!! SURPRISE!! They'll have it done tomorrow and it'll cost less than $50.00 before tax!! I'm stretching the frame a foot and the reinforcement will be on the inside of the tubing with small fish plates on the outside of the tubing inside the frame. I'll do pics while it's going together so's everybody can see!!

Blackwater · « **Reply #16 on:** January 07, 2021, 09:27:35 PM »

Got the frame pieces and some other pieces for the T and for a 366 truck engine I'm finishing and dressing up.

The pieces I was having made aren't EXACTLY the way I wanted them, but they'll work just fine. I'll be getting on with this one soon!! Still have a few other things, (like the engine for Lockjaw) to finish up first!!

McLovin · « **Reply #17 on:** January 08, 2021, 09:33:30 AM »

A 366? V-6? Kool but a boat anchor !! I have found that unless I make it ,it's never exactly what I want but It'll work.

Blackwater · « **Reply #18 on:** January 09, 2021, 08:13:13 AM »

NO!! 366 Chevy truck engine!! The littlest big block. These were offered in dump trucks and heavy duty C50s and larger. Monster torque!! Four ring pistons and thick, tall deck block castings!!

This one I bought a couple of years ago to put in a CJ Jeep, but the project fell through. It had just been rebuilt for a street rod project and was never installed. It sat around my shop on a stand and I found a set of headers, an Strip Dominator intake, bought a set of intake spacers to make the standard deck intake fit the tall deck block, got an old Mallory dual point distributor for it, and found a pair of new, late model BBC cast aluminum valve covers for it!!

I got it put together yesterday, for the most part. I have spark plugs, wires, a distributor cap, and a few other pieces for it that I'll add in the next few days.

It ought to make someone a really great rat rod or street rod or rat truck engine!! If I don't find something to put it in, I'll sell it here or on Craigslist. With everything fresh and all dressed up, it's worth a couple of grand.

Blackwater · « **Reply #19 on:** January 28, 2021, 07:56:47 PM »

The old shop where I built Lockjaw is now being used by the owner who had me work out of that shop so's people could see that it was busy and occupied! I had a pretty good bunch of air line materials left over from my own shop and from Jeff73's garage/basement, so we went over to the other shop and plumbed up some new air outlets for that shop!! We all still use it and we all swap out work and equipment, so it needed to be done!!

When we finished that project, we pressed out all of the original wheel studs from the Oldsmobile axles that I'm working up for the Model T!! Now I can tap the new pattern holes for screw in wheel studs and get that rear end back together!!

Good day!! I'll put up pics when I get the new studs

Blackwater · « **Reply #20 on:** February 12, 2021, 07:29:41 AM »

Finally located the parts to fix the distributor for the 348!! They came in last night and I'll be finishing that project today.

Likely, I'll be cutting into another C4 Corvette front end this weekend!! Jeff73 got the cradle for his Model A project stripped this week and we got his pretty new frame up on the new welding table.. Orta be slick when it's all put together!!

Blackwater · « **Reply #21 on:** February 14, 2021, 08:37:47 AM »

Wound up waiting 'til yesterday to work on the distributor. Had to drive the wife into town for groceries and other necessities and blew half a day fiddling around with that and getting my taxes filed.

Finished up the distributor early, before Jeff got here. We notched out that C4 cradle and began fitting it to that nice new custom Model A frame!! I lack just a little trimming up on the passenger side notch and we can start tacking it into place.

He's taking today off. I may slip out there and knock the new freeze plugs in on the 348.

If he wants to start a thread on the Model A, I'll put up some pics. If not, I might slip a few in here.

Blackwater · « **Reply #22 on:** February 24, 2021, 04:43:10 PM »

Had to have my computer tuned up and the front end aligned today!!

It had gotten to where I couldn't look up or contact vendors without using the cell phone for internet purposes. HELL!! It wouldn't let me go to H.A.M.B.!! (maybe that was a good thing!!)

Geek Squad got it fixed up and didn't charge me anything!!

Anyhow!! I'm headed over to the Mark Williams website to order some axle studs for the Olds rear axles!!

Blackwater · « **Reply #23 on:** April 02, 2021, 07:35:43 PM »

Been out of action for over a week! Back in the hospital for a week with another infection from foot surgery. Getting better quick.

Down to the very last pieces on Lockjaw and ordered headers and collectors for the T!!

Blackwater · « **Reply #24 on:** April 09, 2021, 09:29:44 AM »

Got some of the pieces for my headers yesterday and FedEx has some more on a truck for delivery today!! I've decided that roadster style headers is the way to go, so I ordered a kit to weld up and a different set of collectors to make it seal up better.

I'll do some pics when I get into the construction.

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AuthorTopic: NAS-T (Read 12217 times)