I'm gonna build an altered.

[soltz]

Some Times

Kids are just great. I'm thinking you raised a fine young man [cl
Looks super and i really like you choice on wheels.
Can't wait to see the body on [

 

[forbigpicture]

Frame looks great.....you are one lucky guy to have a
son that want's to help out like that....

but I do like you're thinking (stay home drink a beer and just let
it get done....ha)

 

[donsrods]

Yeah, both of them take good care of the old man. I really am lucky.

I went back to the shop and used the hole saw to make the two 1.5 inch holes for the tubes that run under the frame and also two 2.25 holes for that back tube crossmember. I also made 4 plates that Dan can weld over the openings in the ends of the 2 x 3 frame rails.

Maybe tomorrow after he and I get off work we can weld up a few more parts. Starting to look like a car, kinda.

Don

 

[sgtpontiac]

Always nice when the kids surprise you....

Things look great.....almost puts you out of sync when they do something and you have to regroup to move on to the next item....Very nice of him....and Kitty....lol...

 

[forbigpicture]

I have that patteren if you want to change them out.

Sorry to hack you're thread Don.....
Just wanted to give a shout out to RPM..
Just read the article in Hot Rod Deluxe about you're
coupler for center steer with a corvair box
that's good stuff there...............again congrats
and thanks Don.......L8r

 

[bruno]

Made any more progress on the altered?[P[P

 

[donsrods]

No, Bruno. My days off lately have been consumed with Dr visits and MRI's. Dan and Don have been to the shop and offered to help me work on it, but I am a little low on energy right now. Hopefully, I will find out what is going on and they will get me back on my feet again soon.

Thanks for asking.

Don

 

[21willys]

No, Bruno. My days off lately have been consumed with Dr visits and MRI's. Dan and Don have been to the shop and offered to help me work on it, but I am a little low on energy right now. Hopefully, I will find out what is going on and they will get me back on my feet again soon.

Thanks for asking.

Don

Gotta take care of ourselves first man! I've had health issues lately and they can take a toll on ya. The altered will be there when ya get up and going again.

 

[donsrods]

Thanks. To top it off, I took a header at work yesterday, fell flat on my face after my shoe caught on a step ladder while I was carrying a fuel tank......I hit the floor like a ton of bricks ! I am amazed I didn't break an arm or hip or something.

Can't wait till I get back to normal.

Don

 

[bruno]

Hope the docs figure it out soon. As far as normal, I don't think any of us old car guys have ever been normal, more like abnormal

 

[05snopro440]

Hope the docs figure it out soon. As far as normal, I don't think any of us old car guys have ever been normal, more like abnormal

Yep! [cl

 

[soltz]

bruno you know ab normal, i think i went to high school with [S

Don hope you get better soon, i went down on some ice in january and my hip is still not all the way back and it wasn't broken, good thoughts coming your way. SUL

 

[donsrods]

Thanks, guys. I am sore today so I am taking the next 3 days off of work. I have over 170 hours of PTO time at work and they are after me to take some of it anyway. I haven't missed a day in two years.

Old age ain't for sissies !

Don

 

[bob w]

All that, and an engine shop that didn't perform. There's got to be a good shop in your area that can machine that Oldsie.

 

[sc5080]

Real sorry to hear you're not feeling well. Hope you are back to health soon.

 

[donsrods]

Bob, I see you saw the thread about my machine shop deal with the Olds. Yep, that was a really bad experience. I have it stored under my 46 and will probably send it to Ross Racing for machining when I get done with this altered.

Thanks, sc5080, I actually felt pretty good Friday. I took a few days off of work and that helped a lot. I get the results of my MRI Thursday, so we will see whats what.

Since Dan and I both had Friday off we decided to go to the shop and get a little more work done on the frame for the altered. As you guys will remember, we were struggling with the rear design of this thing because the 4 bar setup sat so low. But Dan came up with a really good solution, and this is what we came up with:



It totally eliminated that huge drop down that we had in previous designs and is much better looking. Basically, what we did was move the front section of the frame down a few inches and then we added a tapered section to that front section so it flows down to the bottom of the upright part.

We put in about 12 hours yesterday, didn't get home until about 3 am this morning, but it feels good to have the basic frame layout done. We also used a tube crossmember in the rear, instead of the box tubing one we originally had..........no particular reason, but it just will make it easier to tie the roll cage into it.

Here is is with the body on, and you can see that very little of that drop down now shows under the body. Dan's idea was a good one.




We didn't get much help from Mama Cat, our resident stray. All she did was eat and then crash on her favorite towel !



Don

 

[DJ3100]

I missed the thread about the engine, would you post a link?

The frame is great. Tapered the rails is an excellent solution. Glad to see you're back at it.

 

[donsrods]

I missed the thread about the engine, would you post a link?

The frame is great. Tapered the rails is an excellent solution. Glad to see you're back at it.

I didn't post it here, but on the other forum, because I didn't want to tie up too much RRR bandwidth with my rant, but basically here is what happened:



The Olds 394 engine for my rpu was machined by a shop 9 years ago and I put it together and stored it for all this time. When I went to use it, I found they had left a galley plug out and also I saw bad workmanship that made me think I should freshen up the motor before using it.

I had been using Joes Performance here in Ft Myers (he was not the guy who machined it 9 years ago) and Joe turned out great work and always did me right. But he has health issues and had to sell his shop to another machine shop, so I took the Olds there in September of 2014 to have them completely remachine the engine and make it right.

Since September I have called the owner 4-5 times, and each time he would say things like "Oh, I was waiting for you to give me the go ahead to do the work !" WHAT !! I told him very plainly to completely machine the block and get the pistons, then I would pick that up and he could then do the next step, the heads.

The last conversation I had with him was in January when I called him to see how we were coming, and he said "Oh, you want me to do it ? Ok, I'll get on it right away !" Again, I said "Yes, do the block and I will pick that up and pay you then you can do the heads !

Tuesday of this week I called to see how he was coming and his wife said he was on a machine and would call me right back. On Thursday I hadn't gotten that call, so I drove over to his shop and confronted him. He became s**ty with me and said "Did you ever give me a deposit so I can order parts ?" I said "You never asked me for one !"

The engine was sitting in the exact condition I had dropped it off as 6 months ago, so I said, "Put it all in my trunk and I will get it out of here !" He said the crank has been sent to a crankshaft company in Lauderdale and he will get it back and have his girls call me when that happens. I just went on Google and checked reviews on this shop and both people say things like "Liar, overcharges, won't give parts back, etc."

I have started a paper trail by sending him a detailed email, and if I don't get that crank back soon he and I will be meeting in small claims court. Sorry for the lengthy post, but that is the full story.

Don

 

[Torchie]

Bummer about the fall Don. We don't bounce as well as we used to.
Also regret hearing about the engine snafu.
Hope that things start to come back your way. Looks like that frame is a good step in that direction.[cl
Torchie

 

[Skip]

I didn't post it here, but on the other forum, because I didn't want to tie up too much RRR bandwidth with my rant, but basically here is what happened:



The Olds 394 engine for my rpu was machined by a shop 9 years ago and I put it together and stored it for all this time. When I went to use it, I found they had left a galley plug out and also I saw bad workmanship that made me think I should freshen up the motor before using it.

I had been using Joes Performance here in Ft Myers (he was not the guy who machined it 9 years ago) and Joe turned out great work and always did me right. But he has health issues and had to sell his shop to another machine shop, so I took the Olds there in September of 2014 to have them completely remachine the engine and make it right.

Since September I have called the owner 4-5 times, and each time he would say things like "Oh, I was waiting for you to give me the go ahead to do the work !" WHAT !! I told him very plainly to completely machine the block and get the pistons, then I would pick that up and he could then do the next step, the heads.

The last conversation I had with him was in January when I called him to see how we were coming, and he said "Oh, you want me to do it ? Ok, I'll get on it right away !" Again, I said "Yes, do the block and I will pick that up and pay you then you can do the heads !

Tuesday of this week I called to see how he was coming and his wife said he was on a machine and would call me right back. On Thursday I hadn't gotten that call, so I drove over to his shop and confronted him. He became s**ty with me and said "Did you ever give me a deposit so I can order parts ?" I said "You never asked me for one !"

The engine was sitting in the exact condition I had dropped it off as 6 months ago, so I said, "Put it all in my trunk and I will get it out of here !" He said the crank has been sent to a crankshaft company in Lauderdale and he will get it back and have his girls call me when that happens. I just went on Google and checked reviews on this shop and both people say things like "Liar, overcharges, won't give parts back, etc."

I have started a paper trail by sending him a detailed email, and if I don't get that crank back soon he and I will be meeting in small claims court. Sorry for the lengthy post, but that is the full story.

Don

That sucks, Don. But the frame is beautiful! Be sure to tell all your local friends about the machine shop service. Guys like that don't deserve to be in business.