A quickie to catch up (at least it's within the same month). Since my last post, my friend completed more work, including the super secret coil project I referred to earlier, I got some more work done on the frame, and I checked out a car show with music.
Parts
My friend doing the odd jobs on the hot rod completed the coil project I gave him: adapting an old 6 volt finned coil to accommodate a 12 volt internally resisted coil. To do so, he carefully undid the top ring, removed the Bakelite coil top (seen to the left in the photo below), used mineral spirits to break down the (probably PCP-laced) tar inside and remove the coil internals. He then removed a ceramic spacer at the bottom and discovered the 12 volt coil fit perfectly! A shot of wannabe Bakelite brown Rustoleum and presto chango: a cool and modern roadside serviceable 12 volt yet vintage looking finned coil!
Here's a quick shot of one of my exhaust header tubes he made by cutting in half my '35 (or is it '36?) driveshaft to form two tapered cones. These'll be set up to exhaust just before the door on the cowl, and may end up with 1) no restrictors, 2) VW stinger baffles, or 3) square pipe plug caps, and redirected to a set of steel pack mufflers under the car.
Frame
I finally finished bolting in my Tardel K-member. I got smart toward the end: since I was drilling a smaller pilot hole first, I set one drill (a high speed Dewalt) with the pilot, and left the 21/64" bit in my 1/2" low RPM but high torque Milwaukee. Doing this made for fast work. I did 6 bolts in a couple hours; same as I'd done before, but in a couple sessions. Here's a pic of the finished work, and another of the reason I knocked off before drilling for the motor mounts.
Here's a couple detail shots, illustrating how I tried to mimic how the traditional '32 frames retained 2 rivets in the front of the K-member mount (I guess the rest of the original holes were for running board mounts).
I almost forgot that I mocked up part of the rear end: the axle tube, wishbone (on the bottom), Model A spring hanger (on the top), and the lower shock mount (an add-on piece from the era; I found I'll be able to use the extra long backing plate bolts that came with these to mount all this hardware up while still using original or era parts).
Music
Got up to the Poorboys' Midnight Mass the other night. Saw a bunch of nice cars, although few hot rods - mostly customs. While there were a few jalopies (coupes and roadsters, most traditional) and only 3 Model Ts (2 in 'glas, 1 metal, see below), I surmise the reasons most cars were 50s and 60s was manifold: easier to find, fix up, and work on; more comfortable for every day driving, unlike the limited use from a roadster (even in California); but, primarily this: most of these guys have probably been in the hobby seriously the last 10 years, and now it's marriage and kids time, making a closed 50s or 60s car much more user-friendly for the family - and that's cool. I like those cars and now the family's at the show: wife diggin' the cars and fashions, and the kids' being brought up right - around American Iron.
This car's wearing Twice Lucky's tail lights
You may have seen this T in Hop Up magazine
Performing at the Mass was one of my favorites, whom I've been looking forward to seeing since I saw earlier this year that he'd be playing there: Wayne "The Train" Hancock. Here's his pic setting up, and then playing for my girlfriend and me, and about 100 of our closest hot rod friends. For kicks, since my iPhone can't shoot video (yet!), I linked a video of him in action, for your enjoyment.
This was the most representative Wayne Hancock video I could find, as it has pedal steel, like he had at Midnight Mass
wayne hancock-viper
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