RPU, bodywork underway.

Thanks Bill, but the perfect alignment is because of my son. If he gets something a hair out of line, it ruins his whole day ! Me, as my eyes get worse, not so accurate, and I am sort of a "that's good enough" guy by nature.

I remember Jimmy Shine on that one show where he was teaching apprentices and he told them " You have to look at a part and decide if it really needs to be a 10 or if just making it a 7 or 8 is ok." I like his philosophy !

Got some victim to wax that panel in the future...? [S

Haha, yep, it ain't gonna be me ! Those things have skinned knuckles written all over them.

We didn't get anything done yesterday because Dan had a gig to play at, but we went early and picked up the 5/8 round stock to make the nerf bar out of. We are going to work on building that today.

Dan was not thrilled that I mounted the louvered panel without seam sealer, but I am happy that job is done and out of the way. I did work on the two rear latches for that cover and got them adjusted and working well. Now the lid locks down and opens with a touch of the buttons.

I have also decided to start working on getting the tripower setup installed and functioning. As soon as they open, I am going to call Vintage Speed and see if I can buy just the center carb from them. I have bought carburetors from them at Turkey Run, and each one has worked right out of the box. Not sure if they will split up a set for me, but we will see.

Looks great Don. The detail on this rod is unreal. Sometimes it's real complicated to may it look simple.

Thanks, Kenny. As I have said many times, the car is turning out better than I would have been able to do it because of my son's involvement. He drives me nuts sometimes because he spends so much time doing some particular task, but I have to admit he does make the car a whole lot better in the end.

Ok, we got a lot done yesterday, and I am going to have to do this in two separate posts because I have so many pictures to put up. Dan worked on one of the last fabrication jobs, building my rear nerf bar/license plate mount. We ran to the steel supply shop on Friday and picked up a 20 foot piece of 5/8 diameter hot rolled round rod that he is using for the main structure of the nerf bar.

On Saturday , he made a jig and spot welded it to his welding bench so that we could heat the tubing and bend it around the jig to get the exact shape we wanted. Once that was done, I gradually heated the tubing with my torch while he slowly bent it around the jig. A little tapping with a hammer and it was nice and flat, and then all he had to do was join the two cut ends together by welding them, and then he ground the whole thing smooth.

To fasten it to the car he made two 1/8 inch steel plates and shaped them to give them a little better look, and drilled a half inch hole in the middle of each to mount it to the car. When he was done we temporarily mounted it to the car to check it out, and were happy with the results.

On Wednesday I am getting a license plate light I ordered from Speedway, and he is going to weld on a couple of tabs to hold it and also hold the license plate. Once that is done we are going to polish the tubing and then shoot some Krylon gloss clear coat over it to slow down any rusting. The one on his car was done the same way years ago, and it is just now starting to show some deterioration and will need cleaned up and recoated sometime in the future.

Anyway, here are some pictures from last night of how it ended up.

While Dan was making the nerf bar, and he didn't need me to help him, I decided to tackle a little job that I have been thinking about. Even though this car has a bed, the floor is totally open so there is no way to carry anything like tools or spare parts in case something ever breaks.

So, I ran to Harbor Freight and found a couple of waterproof cases that were the perfect size to fit in there, and they are CHEAP. The big one was like $20 some bucks, and the smaller one was about $12, and the quality is really good. They are knockoffs of the much more expensive Pelican cases, and I think they are every bit as strong and well made.

When I got back to the shop I found a perfect spot to put the big one, and it is going to hold my tools. These cases have foam inside that has little square blocks that you push out so that anything you want to put inside gets cradled down into a pocket and it will not move. I laid out all the tools I thought I would carry in case of an emergency, and punched out the squares and got the tools to fit really well in there. The one tool I made sure to include was an led flashlight. I have broken down at night and a flashlight is a life saver.

From driving hot rods for over 50 years, I know that small emergencies will happen on the road, and it helps to carry at least basic tools to get you out of trouble. So my tool list is just some of the more common hand tools that would help me in 90% of breakdowns.

I mounted the bigger one to the rear frame section by drilling and tapping three 1/4 holes through the bottom of the case, and then I loaded all my tools inside. Everything fit, and the lid comes down nice and tight.

In the smaller box, I am carrying some basic spare parts that I have found go out on you on the road. Things like an ignition coil, tail light bulb, some electrical wiring, terminal ends, a couple of extra spark plugs, and some various bolts and nuts. I found the perfect place to mount the small box right on top of my battery, by mounting it to the steel strap I have holding th battery in place. The only other thing I am going to mount back there is a fire extinquisher.

Here are some pictures of the two boxes and what they hold. I do have a small dead space under my two seats, and I will carry things like cleaning rags and spray detailer under those.

I like the looks of those boxes. Looks like you could even put a small padlock on the corners to keep borrowers away!

That nerf bar is a piece of art! [cl[cl[cl

I like the tool box idea [cl
The nerf bumper turned out cool

Thanks again, guys. Yep Bamamav, each corner has a spot for a small padlock, and I am going to do exactly that. Now, if I just remember where I put the key !

When I went to Harbor Freight, I was originally thinking some form of metal tool box and then I would paint it black to hide it from being seen through the louvers, but then I saw these and they were perfect for my application, plus they will never rust.

I like the nerf bumper.
The tool box and the extra parts box are very nice touches. I'm glad you brought the concept up, of carrying some tools and parts. Very good.

Thanks MM. Over the years I have had various things fail when on the road, things like a coil suddenly dying, or some bulb going out, or some wire breaking, so I have kinda learned the basic stuff I need to carry. Doesn't always get me back on the road to have some spare parts and tools, but a lot of times it does.

The trunk of my daily driver looks like a machine shop because I go to the wrecking yard locally fairly often, and you have to be self sufficient out in the yard and have every tool you need to score some cool part. That is how I found the Buick 364 nailhead that I am giving my son Dan for his someday sedan project. I was at the yard and they came pulling this Buick in, and when I looked under the hood everything looked really clean, so I climbed under and started getting it loose before someone else saw it and claimed it for their own. It is sitting on a stand, waiting for him to someday start that project, after all, he has only had the body sitting in the rafters for the past 12 years !

In my 27 I have nowhere to put many tools, so I have a few screwdrivers and wrenches under the seat just in case those might help me out sometime.

Don,
Thanks for that great tip on HF boxes. I've been wondering how I was gonna deal with that issue my own self! [cl

BoB

You can buy multiple locks keyed alike, so you could just have to keep up with one key. I'd put it on with my ignition key so I'd always have it.

Bob, yeah and they are totally sealed and waterproof, so everything inside will stay dry. Where I worked we sold the Pelican boxes, and they are really expensive. These Harbor Freight versions look just as good, have great reviews on line, and are super cheap. I am so glad I found these.

Bamamav, that is a good idea about the keyed alike locks. We have those on our shop garage door and it makes it easy since only one key does them all.

As I wind down on getting this project finally done, there are still a few small items to wrap up. We need to finish the nerf bar and get the license plate light and license plate mounted, and then spray some clear on the bar to keep it from rusting. Then, Dan has to make the two door sill fillers to go between the interior floor and the doors, and I need to then get those painted.

After all of that, I will call Grundy Insurance and add this car to my existing policies that I have there on my 27 and my Mustang, and then I can go to the DMV and get my plates. Since I have only driven this car around the block probably 5 times, I expect some little bugs when I finally get to take it down the road.

I aligned the car with a tape measure, but I will take it to an alignment shop to have it dialed in better, and then I can take it to a local truck shop that I have used in the past and have all four tires spun balanced right on the car. I had that done on my 27 and it really made a huge difference in the way it rode.

One very little thing that I have been putting off is finishing up the secondary door latches on the car. I replaced the original Ford latches with Bear Claw latches and those close like a new car, but I wanted additional insurance since these early hot rod doors are a little on the flimsy side. So, a while back, we installed a set of Suicide Doors pin type latches that are operated by a secondary lever on the bottom of each door. When you get in, you close the door, and then reach down and flip the little knob into the closed position. That way you have additional security that the door will not pop open going down the road.

Suicide Doors latches come with a longer than needed shaft so that it will work in a variety of applications, and you cut it to the length you need and then grind a flat spot where the set screw goes, slip the little handle on, and tighten down the set screw. I did not care for the small set screw they give you and it has a slotted screw driver head, so I tapped it out to a number 10 set screw and put one with an allen head in there so I could torque it really well. As added insurance, I put some locktite on the allen head.

So, that little job is out of the way, and when my license light comes from Speedway on Wednesday we can finish up the rear nerf bar. Here are a couple of pictures of the Suicide Doors latches I installed tonight, nothing major, just one more little thing out of the way.

Thanks Don, for the secondary door latch gismo idea. I have two suicide door cars to finish and one of them should have hidden latches like yours. The other one can be a little more rough looking, maybe visible. Are they from Speedway Motors?

I didn't get mine from Speedway, but I see they carry the exact ones I did buy directly from Suicide Doors Inc.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-Universal-Suicide-Door-Safety-Latches,2269.html

They are so easy to install, you drill one bigger hole for the pin to come out of and two smaller holes to hold the unit to the door frame. Then you drill a hole where the pin goes into the car body when you turn the knob. They are well made and I did not need those micro switches that some people run to a light to tell them when the doors are latched, so I removed those.

I just got off the phone with Vintage Speed here in Florida, in the past I have bought a lot of stuff from them at Turkey Run in Daytona Beach. They sell a complete tripower setup for my engine, but I only need the middle carb as I am going to temporarily block off the two end carbs and just run on that middle carb.

They agreed to sell me just that center carb, all set up with the proper jets and extended shaft for the two end carbs. I have bought two carb setups from them in the past, and you bolt them on and they run great right out of the box, so I am optimistic this will maybe fix the problems I have been having.

I will get a set of the recommended 7201 Edelbrock intake gaskets as those seemed to seal the four barrel setup now on the car very well. Once again, I am going to really take my time, clean the mounting surfaces spotless, and seal the gaskets where they need to be sealed with sealant.

I figure, I could play around with this 4 barrel setup to get it to run leaner, but it really is a race carb and way too big for this motor., plus, the tripower just looks more hot roddy on there IMO.

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Torchie

You'll get those three two's working or I'll be a monkey's uncle. Pass the bananas. Just kidding, Don. The roadster looks great. Should be a real beach bunny magnet.

Don, I've been meaning to thank you for posting these little gizmos a while back. I can imagine several good uses for them, most notably our missing glove box latch!

https://www.quik-latch.com/polished-mini-quik-latch.html

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