Plans Afoot

Well, long time no post. Really. It's been a really long time.

But, not without progress. Moved into the new house; emptied the old one. Some good downsizing, bartering and trading in the middle. Just the garage left to move.

But...before moving it, I've got to beef up the new one. Hence, the plans seen here, thanks to my talented new bro-in-law, who exceeded my expectations for some engineering drawings of the garage loft plans.

The plan is to add a 20' 5-1/8 x 12 Glu-Lam beam in the center of the garage, resting upon a pair of 4x6 posts, and doubling up the two other 2x6 joists, then slapping 160 sq ft of 3/4 plywood on top.

This will give me a stout main beam for the chain fall/engine hoist duty, and plenty of storage above, where the goal is to store the '29 roadster pick-up body and maybe the '32 frame.

If I get all the materials in by this Friday, we're supposed to have a beam-raising party on Saturday to put the whole shebang together. If successful, photos to follow...

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Canned Canon SD400

"Do you have your Canon SD400 (or variant thereof) in a can?" If this question brings up thoughts of prank calls, you're correct. If not, you need to live a little.

Just wanted to show off the mod I did tonight on an Altoids can, to hold my "new to me" Canon SD400. A friend of mine won a new digital point and shoot and he and his wife generously gave me their old one, as I don't have a digital camera; I've just been using my iPhone (and previously, my old Samsung). Since I sold the Samsung, I've not had the ability to shoot video. Now I can not only shoot better photos (hopefully), but video, too!

I cannot take credit for this mod; I found it online while searching Google Images for pics of the SD400. Intrigued by the novelty of it, and not one to shy away from a fun mod, I tried my hand at it tonight. And I didn't even have to consume Altoids to get the can (I don't really like them) as the friend who gave me his camera is also an Altoid addict, so he gave me the can, too (or, technically, tin, I suppose, but how uppity does that sound?).

While the blog I read described using a Dremel, etc., I ignored all that and used my pneumatic tools because 1) I have them, 2) they were already out, and 3) they're louder and more powerful and therefore more fun. I used a die grinder to do the initial work, followed by the bench grinder and wire brush to smooth things out. I also tried my hand at "kinda" metal bumping by using a larger Vice Grip clamping pliers with rounded jaws to pinch, conform, and curve the corners for increased clearance.



This wasn't hard, but it wasn't a quickie, either. It took a fair bit of finagling, and the tin doesn't take well to a lot of manhandling, so take it easy. You need to modify the four inside corners of the tin, and make clearance for the shutter release/zoom controls on top of the camera. When you're all done, though, it's a pretty fun way to carry the camera to protect it, its allegedly fragile screen, and make the camera nondescript when lying around.

Have fun!

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Just for Kicks: My 100th Post

This is just for kicks, to commemorate my 100th post. I took the photo above and just wanted to share it. Something about the lure of a Police Interceptor is enough to tempt any red-blooded hot rodder. Enjoy! (And yes, I know you know all the words to this movie, and you know who you are!)

Mmmm...cop motor...



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Inspiration and Good Eats

Went to Billetproof today; had a great time with my friends, and the weather was beautiful! Shot many photos, but I tend to shoot parts of cars for inspiration, and tend to forget to shoot the whole car. Additionally, this year's show seemed to have fewer hot rods and was predominantly customs; they also had what I would call street rods: pretty 50s cars that looks like they would usually turn up at a Goodguys event rather than a homebuilt hot rod/custom show. Sadly, or to my advantage for when I'm ready to show, there were perhaps just a half-dozen '26 or '27 Ts among the several hundred cars there, and few (if any) were flathead powered or in any way similar to what I'm building. In any event, I have below a few photos (courtesy of my new iPhone!) for you to check out. These are a distillation of what I thought were the best cars and/or most inspirational for my project.

A few nice traditional cars









Love the cool witness on this one; and a great car to boot.

After the show, I got to go to my friend's birthday BBQ. He and his family made me feel right at home (except when they were habla-ing about the gringo loco in their midst ;-) ). We had great food, drink, conversation, and the Blues Brothers on the DVD! This bachelor will be eating well on the leftovers they so generously sent home with me.

And a quick snap on the ride home.This is a familiar site to me as I would see this reflected in my rearview mirror nearly every evening for a year and a half when I commuted to my first job out of college.

Tomorrow I'll be running the flathead and hosting a visit from another friend of mine whose SoCal friend is building a similar '27 T.

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