MORE PARTS AND INSPIRATION

Got my drop axle from So Cal Speed Shop/L.A. today. Tomorrow I deliver the part to Marty along with the front end parts so he can start mock-up. The next big shipment will be the rest of the body panels from Brookville. I've begun the search for potential painters and have had a couple of very interesting conversations with people whose work I admire. More on that later.

WHAT'S THE PLAN?

The new Mad Fabricators DVD is great. Between the chat I had with Piero before the Round Up, watching MFS 5.5. and the show itself, I couldn't be more inspired. The body's back with Marty South who's doing the metal fab. Here's a sneak preview: Lowboy, windshield deep chopped and laid back. 15" X 8.5" Torq thrusts on the back with 30" WW Hurst Cheaters, Chrome 16's in front with white walls; frame and firewall painted pearl white, body in lime greeen with silver or gold base. 327 with 3-2's, block and accessory brackets painted oldsmobile gold, polished intake with cad plated carbs and rear facing chrome scoops; 4- Speed Muncie; 9" Ford Detroit Locker with 3.50 gears, gauges TBD; interior TBD. Cowl steering using a 64 mopar aluminum box. Suicide style drilled drop axle with 40's Ford front brakes with drilled backing plates and 45-fin Buick drums. Adjustable elliptical rear springs. I'm thinking a sixties show/hot rod vibe. With the majority of parts being mid sixties, candy or metalflake paint seems like the right call.

So there's your sneak peak.

MORE PARTS PROCURED

Called the folks at Posie's and ordered an adjustable eliptical spring kit for the rear suspension of the 29. Also spoke to the people at Brookville to get more information on their body parts. Tomorrow I'm gonna make a big order, including both doors, a deck lid, and the part that goes above the deck lid. Ouch. I figure I'll take the pain now and save unnecessary bodywork and fabrication costs. Plus, I'll have a nice parts pile of usable prices to sell or trade for other stuff I need. By getting all new reproduction parts, Marty can get on with fabricating the windshield, the rear of the frame, the motor mounts, and setting up the interior. He's got a lot of boxing-in to on the interior, strengthening the structure around the inner firewall and cowl in preparation for the the cowl steering and routing the clutch and brake pedal.

SLEEVES ROLLED UP, THINKING CAP ON

Got the 29 body back over to Marty's with the Muncie 4-speed and bellhousing for mock-up.

We took a good look at the doors and after discussing the fabrication vs fresh metal decided we may be giving some more love to the folks at Brookville. Definitely need a set of door hinges and doors. We talked some more about the build plan and I showed Marty a Lime Green color reference I liked. We discussed Whitewalls vs. Black sidewalls and we're both liking wide whites. I need to call Hurst Tires and find out if they can make whitewalls all the way to the rim. I'm also going to have to call Brookville to find out the difference between 28 and 29 doors and check a few other prices.  I also need to order a pair of quarter elliptical springs for the rear suspension. As far as the look, we discussed the frame and firewall being white and the engine being light gold or the same green as the body. For the engine, we're leaning towards polished Cal Custom valve covers and a polished Edelbrock 3-2 bbl intake manifold and the Holleys cad plated, chrome linkage and chrome curved scoops topping them off.

We looked at the Aluminum steering box I pulled off of a 64 dodge and discussed the  the cowl steering set-up. There's going to have to be a fair share of fabrication needed to bolster the front cowl area for the cowl steering. We also discussed the importance of putting ass-pans into the floorboards to accomodate my Sasquatchian 6'5" frame. Boy, it feels good to be back moving on this project. More later.

MORE PARTS COMING

Had a great chat with a tech/sales guy at Pete and Jakes. Got schooled on the subject of rear coilovers, front shocks, brake and clutch pedals, accelerator pedals and the value of hydraulic throwout bearings. Great chat. Didn't place the order yet, but let's just say that Pete&Jakes is going see some appreciation for the info the very near future. The 29's body is going back to Marty South this weekend to get the rear of the frame fabbed up. Really starting to get pumped.