GOT PIPES!

As luck would have it, we set-up the Hotrodshiftknob.com booth directly across from Matt, owner of Lakepipes.com at the Lone Star Round Up this past weekend. As those of you who’ve been following this post know, I’ve been contemplating what type of headers to run on the ’29.

Note the graceful taper of the pipes. Still undecided about running Matt's turndowns.

This is the basic premise. Matt's going to set me up with the quietest baffle he offers.

As the show went on, I had ample opportunity to chat with Matt about his product line. The more I watched his lakes-style pipes blowing out of his booth, the more convinced I became that they’d be the perfect setup for my roadster’s 327. I asked Matt a lot of questions about the internal baffles he offered and ultimately decided I was interested in making them as quiet as a pair of his lake headers could be. Matt suggested running the extra baffles and tucking them as far forward in the pipes as possible. Knowing that Matt fully understood what I wanted, I signed up for a fully welded set of his lakes-style headers with his quietest baffling. He quoted me two weeks to a month to have them welded up and ready to ship. So there you have it. The parts pile continues to grow. The next question will be what to coat the headers with. Nickel plating, JetHot coating and ceramic metallic coating are a few options that come to mind. More on this later.

SCORED A GREAT VINTAGE SHIFTER

Forty years old and unused.

All the original paperwork and packaging was intact.

Last night at a quarter to midnight, an ad for a Hurst Competition Plus shifter popped up on Denver Craigslist. It didn't have an e-mail contact so I called this morning just after nine and left a message. Robert called me back. The price seemed fair so I asked him if it included linkages. He said he'd check. When he returned he said that all the linkages were still "in the box" with the shifter. I aksed him if it was in the original box. He said yes and that it had sat on a shelf in his garage unused for about forty years.
I beat a path to his house in Aurora, CO. When I arrived, I was amazed by what I saw. It looked like the the shifter had sat in its box on a shelf for forty years. There was a brochure, instructions, some small parts still sealed in a plastic bag and other than the knob itself looking a tad aged, it was absolutely perfect. The rods and all transmission connectors were intact, as was an unused warranty card. As Robert explained, he had bought the shifter for his 55 Chevy's Muncie 4-speed, which had a 327 in it at the time. Instead of installing the shifter, he subsequently swapped a 454 into the car and never used the 4-speed shifter. I had planned to offer him less than he was asking but when I saw it, I didn't have the heart. Good thing too, because when I handed him the cash, he mentioned that a ton of callers were lined up behind me, but since I called first, he wanted to give me first shot at it. The remainder of February's parts budget is now officially spent, and quite well I might add. Sometimes you just get lucky. 

Even the layout of the brochure feels old school.

Even the packaging is in decent shape.

ON HOLD WHILE BUILDING UP THE CASH RESERVES

Don't let anyone ever tell you that building a car is an economical thing to do. In fact, you have to be halfway nuts to do it. Too many hidden costs. So in an effort to pony up some more dough, I'm currently selling some parts I've collected over the years to help fund the 29. Victims so far include a 6X2 Edelbrock Intake with rare water crossover, a pair of 65 Riviera headlight buckets, a complete set of Knock-Off wheels for a mid-year Corvette, a 401 Nailhead with Turbo 400,  and a bunch of smaller parts that have been collecting dust and/or decorating the garage wall. Sales have been good so far, but the flake factor is always annoying. How a person can go from "I'll take it" to "Will you wait until my next check" to "My XXX unexpectedly broke and now I have to fix it first. C'mon people. If you say you'll take it, take it. Sorry to rant, but it does get kinda old. Special thanks to Craigslist and the blogosphere, for helping me find new homes for my little treasures.

TOOK A BREATHER

I took a little time away from the blogs as my father passed on the 16th of last month. As things begin to return to as normal as life can be once you've lost a treasured parent, I started setting up my 9" rear with the new shortened axles and have come to realize that the center carrier is cracked at the pinion support. So it looks like I've got more money to spend before my Detroit Locker is back together and ready for final fitting into the frame by way of a triangulated four-link. Will add more once the parts are ordered. RIP, papa.

ANOTHER TWIST

It turns out that Currie cannot build me the shortened axle shafts for my 9" because its flanges have a very narrow (1.5"from the flange to the backing plates). According to Travis, Currie could build them but they'd push the drums out an extras 3/4". Obviously, that ain't gonna fly on an open wheeled roadster.
Fortunately, Travis was nice enough to redirect me to Graffiti Alley in Eugene, Oregon. I dealt with a guy named Ray who asked for numerous measurements and once he had them, let me know that it would be no problem and that he just wanted to make sure he had every measurement necessary so that the axles would be perfect. He even called me back today to get one more measurement. So it turns out I have a 70's old style big bearing, 31-spline,  9" with a Detroit Locker carrier from a Bronco, which is what the seller had told me. The axles got a little more expensive they're made in the USA and I've been told they'll be perfect.  I'm going to pitch myself off a roof if these don't fit perfectly. BTW, I was most happy to get a referrral from Travis, so high marks to Currie for being helpful, even thought they won't be seeing any money form me. Not this time, anyway.

NEW GOAL FOR '10

Marty and I discussed revising our timetable and we're now going to shoot for having the chassis as a roller -- done and painted -- by April's Lone Star Round Up. That means getting the shortened axles back to MArty and having the engine completely de-burred and ready for paint.

THE BODY RETURNS HOME

Due to budget constraints, we've pulled back the reins a little bit and are temporarily slowing down on the build. As such, I brought the body home and Marty is going to focus on finishing the frame fabrication, hanging the rear end, setting up the front shocks and finalizing. In the meantime, I'm going to order the cut-to-fit axles and get some of my spare parts listed to generate some more scratch for the built. Our initial goal of having the car running in early April may be in jeopardy, but what the hell, we can only do what we can do.  In anticipation of the roadster body returning home, I went out and bought pieces to make a dolly for the body, consisting of 4X6's, casters, and metal brackets. Drew and I finished up the dolly after running the body back from Marty's. The dolly turned out pretty beefy. On the downside, I killed my Skil saw. I'll fire off some shots of the dolly tomorrow.

Wiring Supplies and More Inspiration

Well, we're getting pretty close to needing to figure out the wiring for my roadster. I'd read somewhere that The Hot Rod Company had a nice selection on old school wire covers in different diameters and a quick trip to their website proved it was so. I also spent some quality time on Pinkee's website schooling myself on wire routing and brake line routing techniques at Marty's behest. For those who haven't had a chance to look at their workmanship, it's amazing, as evidenced by the wire loom running from the headlight bucket into the frame shown below on the green 32 they're building.

Slide show of car before teardown

Here's a slide show I made of the '29 when we first got it. By the time the rebuild is done, you'll be hard pressed to recognize it as the same car.

PREPPING BELL HOUSING AND 4-SPEED TRANS

I think my wife is about to leave me. I took a break from prepping the rear end and turned my attention to the Muncie M20 trans and bell housing. Being aluminum, I got out the angle grinder and drill motor and set out to make both pieces as smooth a baby's ass. It was alot of work and ate up the entire day. Tomorrow I need to make a run for sandpaper. Fun (not!)

A CLEAN REAR IS A HAPPY REAR, PART TWO

Another full day spent cleaning the 9". Okay, this may seem ridiculous but all I can say is I'm gonna have one very smooth rear axle. Between grinding recernt welds from the narrowing, sanding tubes and attempting to even out factory welds, I again have no idea where the entire day went. I guess there's a Zen to this and I must be discovering it. We've still got to fab up the rear in the frame and get the cut-to-fit axle shafts. And I still have to detail the carrier itself. The tubes and the pumpkin will be skim coated, sanded, primered, then re-sanded before going to final paint. Here's a nice shiny shot to prove I worked my you-know-what off.

PRESENTING LB TIKI

The John Deere seat buckets arrived at HouseOSpeed headquarters (aka my garage) today and I really dig 'em. I was initially concerned that they might be too small but upon test-sitting them, they seem like they'll be perfect. They're a lot like bomber buckets albeit more utilitarian. I'll be running them out to Marty's this week to see how they fit in the roadster's interior. I think they're going to be very cool with a low key, functional vibe. Speaking of very cool, I also found another color reference for my roadster's paint. It's on a car known as LB Tiki , which was built by a cat named Ivan who lived in Long Beach. I've linked a pretty interesting HAMB post on the car being driven from CA to Florida by its present owner. Anyway, Ivan (whose last name escapes me) is an old pal of Marty's and now lives in Lockhart, Texas. I've chatted with him a few times at car shows about how much I dug his car, which not unlike my 65 Suburban ,  has an unmistakable tiki mojo.  Small world, huh? Anyhow, his car has lived in a file in the back of my mind for years but I came across it just the other day on the internet and grabbed these shots for posterity. So here's LB Tiki, and a color that is damn near what I'd like to have on my roadster.

Later...

MORE ENGINE DETAILING

First, an arty shot of my engine with the carbs and intake set in place. Both still need to be rehabbed but you can't blame a guy from wanting to know how the engine's gonna look.

After another full day of deburring, it's as if it'll never end. Actually, it's looking quite nice but I can see how this would appeal to a person's obsessive compulsive nature. I'm cautiously optimistic that I've cleared the halfway point.

29 ROADSTER AND 65 RIVIERA

HIT to Play.........
FYI, Just in case...... My Rivi is for sale.

Liberty Mutual sucks!

Although the accident was deemed the Honda's fault, guess who got the short end of the stick?

Yes, friends, that would be me. The original settlement offer was less than a third what I paid for the roadster. As my poor 29 sat at Jeff-s Resurrections in Taylor, Texas, awaiting my settlement. I got the runaround for months as my case got passed around like a bad cold. After refusing to accept Liberty Mutual's bullying tactics, I finally got what I was certain would be the closest thing to a reasonable settlement offer. I received the price I paid for the car plus the my out-of-pocket for transporting the 29 to Austin. The only thing that I would have to eat was the cost of my flight to go see the car and, of course, my pride. Months had passed since the wreck and all I had to show for it was a pissed off restorlation shop that could not rebuild the car for the settled for amount. After months of Liberty Mutual trying to dick me on the settlement, I was tired of fighting and worn down to a nub. But being a glutton for punishement, I negotitated to buy the 29 back from the insurance company for the value of the salavagable parts. The log road to recovery would soon begin.