Topics

I ran into an acquaintance at an antique mall the other day. I was buying a diecast car and we talked outside about diecast and model cars and I mentioned to him that I had a pretty big collection dating back to the 1958 AMT 3-in-1 (1/25 scale).

He expressed an interest so the next day I hauled 300+ kits up from the basement and loaded four swap tables in the house garage. He came over the next day with a younger brother (both guys in their 50's) and asked me how much..I told them how I determined my price...and they nodded at each other and said, "Sounds Fair" and counted out the cash in large bills and loaded the in pickup and SUV and were on their way.

I hadn't built a model in 50 years at leas,t although I had bought them every so often. Currently new ones are $25-30 each at Hobby Lobby for instance. I didn't get near that but I was very happy. And then I sold a pair of Halibrand style sprint wheels this morning.

Slowly thinning the collections.

Next thing I am going to work on selling is a pretty serious HO scale railroad collection which includes early 1900's Brass steam locomotives, hand built rolling stock, premium kits, building and a small portable switching layout.Last touched in the late 70's. If you know of someone with that addiction put them in touch. I'm working on a list and pictures.

Anyone having any luck getting on the HAMB this morning? I'm getting nothing at all....

Has anyone on here used the Nu-Relics power window kits? If so, what's the quality and fit like.

I made up a power conversion of my own about 30 years ago for the '40 Chevy convert. Time has taken its toll on the parts and motors are harder to find so I'm interested in something that plugs in place of the original manual regulators.

Thanks,

Charlie

I'm restoring the bottom rear of the lid for my '40 Ford coupe - mostly inside rust through and poor prior repair(s)but also the outside bottom shape. Mine has, I believe, lost it's proper shape or contour around the rear bottom edge.

Question is, does the lid actually curl over slightly and have sort of a crisp line to a flat edge once the return is crimped up onto the inside skin?
I don't know anyone in the area with an unrepaired original to look at. I've looked at tons of pictures on line but none were close enough to show the detail although memory tells me it should be there.

Anyone have a picture that shows it well?

Thanks,

Charlie

I've had a number of double 8 foot fluorescent fixtures die lately and as luck would have it they are so old/obsolete that I haven't been able to find ballasts for them. And, believe me I have used up a lot of google minutes...

Have any of you guys made the switch to 48" LED fixtures? I want to refit an 18x20 work area with 8 foot ceilings and wonder how many fixtures it would take to replace four of the the double 8-foot units.

It's a cold room until the doors are opened to my normally heated part of the shop. LED's may be the answer.

What say you guys?

Frank Burrell - fab32 on the HAMB - Bay City, MI passed away today. No further info yet. He had been in the hospital for a few weeks and came home a few days ago under hospice care.

Frank was on the old RRT and I honestly don't remember if that's what he went by then or if he made the transition to the "new" board.

Charlie

My choice for Dad's Day is to sell in the swap meet at Southern Michigan Street Rods' big meet.

Any RRT'ers are welcome to stop in. My hauler is a lowered black Trailblazer.

Charlie

Here's a tough one...or maybe not. I'm just about done changing the outer mast on a Flaming River 1-3/4" diameter column with internal GM turn signals to 1-1/2" diameter so I can use a Limeworks "40 Ford column drop.

I've handled re-routing the wires and am about to put the ends back on the 8 wires. These aftermarket columns never seem to come with the small steel tab to hold the GM column half of the wires to the column itself.

Anyone know of a source for new? I know I can drill the welds on a junk yard unit but I don't happen to have one, and the local yards are under 3 feet of snow.

Charlie

What causes the dreaded drain down of the converter?

I've been fighting the steady drip on a 700R4 that hasn't been used for a couple months. Thought it was about done- until I pulled the fill tube out...wrong again. It sure makes a mess.

No wonder I like hand grinders more and more.

Charlie

I have a set of Traditional black face/white numeral Classic gauges in my track roadster pickup. I bought them in January of 2001. I installed them in about 2005 and first used them in 2006 or 2007. After a short while I didn't have any pressure at idle. No noises ever developed so I just ignored it.

I have the car for sale now and figured I'd better see what was going on. I borrowed a mechanical gauge and installed it today. Oil pressure was just fine. I called Classic and got the test parameters for the sender. It failed. I took a new sender out of another set of the same gauges that I have for my '32 and installed and oil pressure is still fine.

I reported back to the tech guy at Classic Instruments and he volunteered to replace the sender at no charge.

What a great company!

Charlie

I had a nice outing yesterday with the track roadster. Went over to Caledonia, Mi to the Crafty B open house show and eats. About 120 miles or so.

This is the first time out this season . I spent the late winter and spring  making a few changes to the car. I removed the twin side draft webers and replaced them with a single Holley 350 CFM 2 barrel on a modified Clifford 4 barrel intake.

A number of new brackets, dealt with keeping the side draft air cleaners so the car looks the same, replaced the mechanical advance dizzy with a new vac. adv. unit. Did a proper PCV system. And chased down a bunch of water, fuel, oil and vac. leaks....and replaced that starter that plagued the car forever. The final fix was to move the foot feed another couple inches closer to the firewall. That was the 3rd change to that feature since I finished the car in 2007.

The effort was worth every hour. More comfortable, cools better, runs much stronger than ever and was just generally a much sweeter drive.

I need to take a few new pics and post them in the next few days.

Charlie

This is on my track roadster. It has 10:1 compression 4 cylinder Chevy II. The starter is a late model gear drive Delco unit. Optima battery charges good and maintains. The problem has basically existed since I put the car together and the parts were new 5500 miles ago.

Turn the key, hot or cold, ignition enabled or coil wire pulled, and it acts like excessive timing, even though initial is only about 6 degrees advanced. It spins real slow for 3 or 4 revs and then picks right up and starts. I campaigned all of the battery and ground cables for good connections and added star washers where there weren't any. I have extra chassis to the engine and engine to the body grounds.

I'm kind of thinking that I've got a bum starter.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Charlie

I saw a thread over on the HAMB that Al's wife  Karen passed away from cancer on March 7th. Al is a long time RRT member who years ago went by AgChevy if I remember right

God Speed Karen.

Charlie

I debated putting this on The Throne Room but thought it might be of more interest here.

Has anyone stepped up to the newest, Windows 8, and the all-in-one desktops.? It looks like this is pretty much a departure from the programs based screen with bookmarks, etc. that we all know and love to an Apps screen (there's an app for that....). I was talking to a sales guy in Sam's last night and he says the people he talks to that have bought new computers either love it or hate it, and that a lot of programs that used to come with the computer no longer do.

I was in Wally World this morning picking up a  universal replacement coffee carafe (an oops moment) and strolled over to the computer area and found a new HP laptop with Windows 8, with moderate memory, for $288. Maybe that's what to buy first to learn on while still relying on the old buggy whip propelled units I have

My desktop is gonna die in the near future I fear and become unrepairable.

Can't keep up.

Charlie

Daryle - Check your PM's.

Charlie

So...I'm standing in line at the credit union today to get a money order to pay for some old car parts, and this crusty, older than me geezer steps in right behind me. I nod and we exchange pleasantries. I'm wearing my SoCal Speed Shop coat and he remarks how he dealt with them when he was at Camp Pendelton in the 50's I said, "Marines", he nods.

So, he told me a bit about cars in SoCal in the mid-50's and that he had a couple Jimmy powered Chevys and a nailhead powered truck. I'm warming up to the guy, and he mentions he had a set of aluminum  nailhead valve covers that say Buick on them. We chat a little about the covers, then he says he also has a cast iron two fours intake and a flywheel. I asked if he was building an engine or what? No, just stuff left from the 60's but he did have an 80's Chevy stepside with a 403 Olds in it at home in the garage.

I thought, well what the hell, you wanna sell the Buick stuff? He says, sure I'm not doing anything with it. Then I'm up to the next teller, then him. So I wait outside and we agree for me to follow him to his place. The covers have been polished and look almost new inside and out, the flywheel is a '64-'66 flexplate that was bolted on but never spun by a starter and the intake was '64 with paint and light hazy rust. He didn't have a price in mind so I made him what I thought was reasonable offer, which he also thought was reasonable, and I hauled the stuff home.

The old guy lived alone in a little 40's bungalow that hadn't seen paint or a woman's touch for many decades. As the two of us stood and chatted in the driveway I couldn't help but think of the old country song about desperadoes waiting for a train. Maybe just a good karma day. What's the chances of us meeting, anyway?

Charlie

I'm looking to replace the tires on my enclosed trailer. The size is 205-75-15. They are starting to lose air setting in the driveway.

It looks like the choices are pretty much Goodyear Marathon, Carlisle or Loadstar as far as brands I recognize. I found reviews on the Goodyears and it wasn't very pleasant reading.

Any words of wisdom from the trailer crew?

Thanks,

Charlie

Working on the final adjustments on the Lokar floor shifter for the 700R4 in my '40 Chevy. Long story short...

When adjusted to start in P and N, and not start in R...It also starts in OD.

When readjusted to not start in OD, it starts in P, R and N.

I have micro-adjusted this mechanism a half dozen times at least and the results are the same each time. I have triple checked the shift rod length and assembly to the trans shift lever.

If I had a way to know I'd guess the detent recesses and high spots are spaced incorrectly or the switch is "on" over too much of its in and out travel. I won this at the kickoff party at Knoxville one year but they originally gave me one for a TH350. They corrected it by removing and replacing the appropriate parts in the box...or did they?

Anyone else battle this and find a solution?

Thanks,

Charlie

I was cruising down a two lane road today and overtook a 70's/80's Ford pickup. It didn't appear to be physically damaged but as I came from behind it was dog tracking so bad that I could see all 4 tires and the passenger side from the drivers side of my car.

Doesn't that give the driver vertigo or make him sterile or something else bad? He had to have been turned partly sideways in the seat to see out the front.

Worst case I ever saw. There must be some strange sensation driving something like that.

Charlie

This may be a bit out of character for a long time GM guy like me and a little off-topic for the board but I picked up a 2008 Mustang Bullitt this past Monday. It's Highland Green, black leather, 315 hp,  4.6 w/5 speed trans. Bone stock with just under 9000 miles and still smells new.

This body style, has been seducing me since they came on the scene in '05. I've put about 350 very pleasant miles on it and have to say it does everything very well. Comfortable, very nimble, and quicker than I imagined. Ford did a good job.

Charlie

Anyone interested in who is going and where we might all meet? If so, post on this thread.

I know Jack (Phatrat) with his purple '41 coupe, and I, with my orange and blue track roadster, will be there. I'm thinking we will try to stake out enough space for an awning or two east of the main building - across the road from where the repair shop has usually been. Not gonna do battle with anyone for awning space there - if there isn't any we will move an aisle or two closer to the swap meet.

Pipe up if you are interested in getting together at the grounds.

Charlie

Over the past couple summers of driving the track roadster I've often thought about making a top for it. The sun can be brutal , not to mention the rain - like at Kalamazoo a couple years ago.

I have seen pictures of a couple of hinged tops and knew that I would have to do the same or I wouldn't be able to get in or out. I decided I would build the top out of .050" aluminum to keep the weight down.

First I had to make tops for the sort of Duvall windshield that has bare glass at the top. I made paper patterns and sandwiched 3 pieces of 1/4" 6061 sheet together with the center piece smaller to allow for fitting the part over the glass. I held the pieces together with 8-32 ss flathead allen screws and fabricated a 16ga bridge to hold the tops to the lower section.

I made the hinge carrier from 6061 1/2"x1" bar stock and attached it to the front of the roll bar with nut-serts and 10/32 ss allens. The rest of the framework for the top was made from 1/2" aluminum extruded angle from Lowes. Not pictured id a center cross bow made out of sheet stock with riveted upper and lower flats to create a sort of girder piece. I did as much assembly as possible with screws and jigging bits so that I could TIG the parts together on my welding table. Eventually though I knew I would have to do some of the welding on the car because I couldn't duplicate all the angles. I was worried about screwing up the MSD box with the TIG welding so I just removed it from the car. Better safe than sorry.

The top covers are made in two sections for  easier assembly but of course, more welding.

It took me a couple weeks to get this far with button head ss screws and TIG spot welds. There is no danger that I will be putting any experienced aluminum TIG welder out of a job, but I'm making progress.

Charlie

I'm installing a new fan equipped tranny cooler in my old convertible with 700R4. I'm looking at flexible line, either braided or reinforced rubber for a portion of the plumbing. What PSI operating and burst pressure of the hose should I be looking for?

I did a bunch of google searching but couldn't seem to determine what the cooling line pressure is.

Thaks,

Charlie

Jack was injured on Christmas Eve when he inadvertently started it in gear while stanfing in front of it. It pinned him to the front garage wall and bowed it out. Very fortunately he was showing the new engine to his son and daughter. Jack Jr. hopped in and backed it off of Jack. Jack's pelvis was broken in 4 places. With this type of break a cast isn't in the cards so it just has to heal. He moved from the first hospital to the rehab facility on the 30th, where he called me to let me know what happened. I told some of the guys by e-mail but waited until I visited him yesterday to see if I could post it on our "home" board. He got internet today but is feeling pretty crappy so here I am posting.

Jack will be in rehab for at least 2 weeks and they do 5 days a week from 8AM to 3PM with a couple 2 hour breaks. He rests until supper and takes visitors after 5 or 6. He was hurting today. He's gonna make it though. He's another of those tough old geezers we all know and love.

I'm sure he would appreciate a card or two of encouragement and positive thoughts. Prayers would be good too.

Jack Parker - Room 472
Mercy Health Care Partners, Hackley Campus
1700 Clinton
Muskegon, MI 49442

Charlie

Friend of mine was putting the starter from one Caddy 500 onto another one that he wanted to turn over with the starter. Called to ask me if I ever saw a magnet stuck to the outside of the starter up on the smaller diameter - brushes end? This is a "normal" large style Delco starter.

The magnet matches the curvature of the starter and is about 1-7/8" long, 1-3/8" wide and 1/4" thick. It's a mystery to both of us, but we're wondering if this magnet is some "snake oil' cure for hot start or some other starter malady.

Anyone?  figure Enjenjo or Wayne will know if anyone does....

Thanks,

Charlie

I've got a couple of early 50's Mopar 15x5-1/2" steel wheels, welded construction with safety beads. I assume they can be used tubeless but the valve stem hole is oblong - 5/8" x 3/4". There is evidence on the inside of a rectangular shaped rubber seal surface having been part of a stem device.

Anyone ever see one and/or know if such an item is out there still?

Thanks,

Charlie

Probably a dumb question...but here goes.

I have a pair of big bearing 31 spline axles that came out of a quick change rear end. I want to build a  housing around them. How much space do I need to allow between the axle ends inside the differential? I sold off all of my 9" housings awhile back so I don't have anything to calculate from at present.

If I know that I believe I can figure out the rest.

Thanks,

Charlie

I'm building a small SBC  289 (283 +.040 flat top pistons cuz that what I found in an inexpensive short block) that I want to minimize the weight of the installed product. It seems like everyone I talk to had issues with aluminum water pumps. The most common is that their cars run hotter with the aluminum pump than the original iron pump.

Any specific brand recommendations?

I also was considering an aluminum oil pan - 5 Qts seems to be their capacity including the filter. I scavenged the tin for the engine today and scored whet I believe will turn out to be a 6 qt or maybe 7 qt including the filter. I think I will forego the weight savings for capacity. I haven't seen a pan exactly like this one before. It has the large baffle even with the front of the pand and then another one about 1.25" below that one. When I cleaned it out I found it seemed to be very effective at controlling the fluid moving forward, as under hard braking.

Any thoughts? It came off a 283 with a cracked block. It was kinda odd - std. bore forged pop-up pistons with all caps numbered, etc. Built a long time back I suspect. I passed on those parts because the chances of finding a 283 with a useable std bore seems unlikely. If something pops up maybe I'll reconsider.

I'll probably go with small chamber aluminum heads but I'm not really looking yet as the budget isn't in place. Although this short block has minimal hours on it I'm gonna tear it down and do the old debur tricks on drain back holes, etc. This block is a '62 and the flash is very minimal compared to most 350's.

Charlie

I'm looking for some trunk  support struts for my '40 Chevy convert. The ones I have are 33" extended and 18" collapsed. I've had them on the car for close to 25 years and they finally gave up. I have absolutely no idea what the original application was.

Does anyone know of a website that lists them by size and/or capacity?

Thanks,

Charlie

Have any of you seen these car haulers that are made from a 4WD pickup with a tandem axle trailer stubbed into the chassis right behind the cab? They are converted to run as front wheel drive. Some guy in Siloam Springs, AR apparently makes them for big bucks. I saw one on eBay but didn't put it on watch so I've lost it. Sounds like a good hot rodder project.

Any idea what the modifications to the trans are to do so?

Charlie

I'm suffering terminal, or at least mildly disconcerting, brain fade. Which year dash had the gunsight speedometer needle? Oh yeah, and I need one of those dashes.

Thanks,

Charlie

Have I missed something in the way of a change relative to picture sizes hosted on the site? I have been resizing some progress pics and can't get them to post. Went back and tried to repost previously posted pics as a test and no go there either.

Charlie

Does anyone know of a kit to mount MII upper a-arms on studs like say a '55 Chevy, allowing the use of shims for alignment instead of the vertical bolts in slots stock system?

Thanks,

Charlie

Anyone know what the outside to outside width is if you shorten the long side to take a short side axle on a '95 up?

Thanks,

Charlie

I went out to Wichita a couple weeks ago and did some trading for a '63 Volvo 544 sedan. Brought home a big load of parts and will have to make another trip for the balance. Lots of engines, transmissions and extra sheet metal which I will sell as soon as I have it all and canm get everything sorted out.

Like most new projects I was itching to leave my mark,  so I started chipping off red enamel to see what repairs I have up front. Got the roof and cowl cleaned off  and dealt with some bump work, a couple welds and a couple light filler applications.

Moved to the trunk lid and found that it had been skinned with mud. I started out to raise the area beside and below the trunk handle and as I chipped away a little bud I discovered a really ragged dent. Tough old Volvo, the dent was all contained within the confines of the inner structure and could not be reached...so I cut that sucker out. Spent about an hour on rough reshaping for welding it back in. Tomorrows coffee time project.

More to follow. Like, how much horsepower to throw at it and how many speeds in the hand grinder...

I read over on the HAMB that Joe Mayall of NSRA's Street Scene died of a heart attack over the weekend. I knew Joe for something like 30 years. He gave me a tour of the magazine in the 70's sometime and took me to lunch with Magoo and Brian Brennan among others. Always had a lot of respect for Joe.

Rest in Peace!

Charlie

After a season with the Firestone dirt track bias ply tires I decided to do a set of radials on Halibrand sprints. So, I reached into the collection and did a set with K/O assemblies.

The knock-offs look OK but I wanted a less generic look so I had some 18ga s/s discs with bolt circles burned out on a laser cutter so that I could cover the 2nd bolt circle on the wheels when not running the k/o's. I had to clean up all the cut edges on the s/s discs and the polish them. I like them better without the k/o's.

A couple years ago I started to build a banjo wheel for my '32 using the outer band of a Grant wood rim wheel, a junk splined center of a Chevy steering wheel from Enjenjo's scrap pile and s/s bars out of some scrap oven racks I had. I disassembled the Grant wheel and cut it's spokes out leaving the steel part of the rim sandwich. I designed the spread and location of the bars on a chunk of plywood and cut small notches in the I.D. of the steel rim and drilled holes in the Chevy wheel center (the part that's left when you strip all the molded plastic stuff off) and fastened the part onto the plywood. I whittled three frets out of aluminum and drilled holes for the spokes to slip through (and another set of holes on the back side of the fret to intersect the spokes and when it was assembled I JB welded the frets to the spokes through those holes). Once I got all the parts clamped down I welded the spokes to the rim and the center section, dressed the welds and reassembled the wood while making some repairs. It hung in the back room for a couple years. Last week I took another look and discovered the the center had a 3 bolt circle that matched a Grant and all the other generic 3 bolt steering wheels. So I drilled the three holes out to 1/4"in the center so I could attach the banjo wheel to the quick disconnect that was on the cut down sprint car wheel I had been using and used the Grant horn button. I painted the adaptor, the bango rim and the horn button orange, put it all together and urethaned the wood in place. I countersunk the wheel face for 10-32 flat head allen screws and turned some s/s nuts round and drilled a little counter bore on the back side of the wood grip and then screwed it all together. Now I can see all the gauges and it's a $20 custom made piece.

Sorry I didn't do progress pics but I think the description and the finish pics tell the tale well enough.

Charlie

After setting for the last 6 years or so I decided to put air in the flat and a good battery and fire the old girl up. It's a '78 Caddy Seville Elegante 4 door with the 350 Olds engine with the throttle body fuel injection.

I got it to fire but it won't keep running unless I keep pumping the throttle, and then just above idle. I believe the fuel filter canister is under the car near the external electric pump somewhere. I can hear the pump run but of course I can't hear the filter clogging. Any educated guesses which is the culprit?

Thanks,

Charlie

Today's question for inquiring minds. I'm using a single points dizzy with an MSD -6A ignition system. In my quest for simplification I wonder if a condenser still needs to be used in the dizzy? It'll run without it but will point life be shorter?

Charlie

I just picked up my fresh rebuilt RONCO (same as Vertex) mag yesterday for the 401 Buick going in my '32 roadster. Anyone have a wiring diagram?

Thanks,

Charlie

I'm getting the roadster ready o have a couple tonneau covers made. One for the box and one for the cockpit. The cockpit one will be split. I put 10-32 nutserts in the sheet metal where the snaps will go.The canvas shop guy has male snap parts that have a 10-32 screw embedded in them. The other choice is rivets or sheet metal screws - neither of which I like on snaps. Seems like they always fail somewhere.

I made a cross support midway back on the box and another front to back in the cockpit.

I'll be taking the car to him in the next week or so - updates after it's done.

Charlie

I just bought and installed a new Ingersoll Rand  commercial grade 2340-L5 2 stage compressor after almost 20 years of service out of an I-R box store special (T21 Series). The T21 had an aluminum side by side twin 2 stage which is no longer supported with spares. The new one is a cast iron v- twin.

I'm thinking about stripping everything off the T21 and using the tank in series in order to store more air and hopefully cool the air off a bit more.

Does anyone have any advice on how to plumb it safely and effectively?

Thanks,

Charlie

At 10 PM EST tonight TDC will have an hour coverage of this years Speedweek. They had a camera between the two starting lines for the long course for a few days and a chopper overhead a lot. It might be really great coverage...maybe the Hooligans will become "famouser".


Be there!!!!

Charlie

Here's a picture brother Wzjunk sent me a while back. Just wanted to share a little bit of Bonneville 2008.

Charlie

Anybody have a link to a site showing Chevy engine/transmission lengths that also compares or shows the length from the back of the block to the center of the various transmissions rear mount? I know I've seen this sort of chart before but my searches haven't turned it up.

Thanks,

Charlie

The January 2009 Street Rodder Magazine on the retail racks now, has a 2009 calendar enclosed, No great shakes in and of itself, except my '26 track roadster pickup is the August 2009 featured car.

Ohio Blue Tip brought one over for me after he found out about it from our barber - who happens to be a hot rodder too. Coulda knocked me over with a feather. It's really a nice picture taken at Good guys in Columbus.

Attached is a similar picture I took while it was being shot for a feature in SRM. Still don't know when it will be in.

It has sure been a great season with this car between the two indoor shows in the winter, Indy GG, Columbus GG, Pikes Peak, Bonneville, Nats North and just getting to tool around in a really fun car that I built myself. Life is good.

Charlie

Boy, it was nice here today. Sunny, mid 60's, so I got the rpu out for a little run through the fallen leaves. It just doesn't get any better than that. I think I'll do it again tomorrow - maybe go over to the Ionia Hot Rod Shop for lunch..

It appears that topless motoring will be over for this year by the end of the week.

Charlie

Almost ready  to go. Got the bunk built in the trailer - spans across the nose of the track roadster. Also got an old trunk mounted on the trailer tongue - perfect for the generator, gas can, awning stakes. old blue tarp. etc.

Made some ABS kick panels and door panels for the car. I folded up a bunch of bubble wrap insulation and placed it behind the kick panels. We'll see if that dissipates some of the foot well heat. I'll do some quarter panels tomorrow.

An update on the Weber jetting. The one size up in the idle circuit helped but the most change came from going up one size in the main circuit. The transition is still a little off so I will order another set of one more size up idle jets and see where that goes. Current plug cuts show a little more richness, but certainly not fat. It's becoming more fun to drive.

Charlie

Was doing a little light reading - the plugs in the track roadster after supper tonight. They look a little lean which seems right based on how the car runs. I have an MSD 6A box and matching coil. The gap was set at .040". Should I open that up a little? .050? .055?

Whadaya think?

Charlie

After using the car trailer as my accommodations at Indy Good Guys I've started on the A/C installation. I'm using a small 110V unit. I originally planned to have the unit slide in and out of a side wall. I never really came up with a good plan for that.

Instead I made a 16 ga. box for the unit with a couple inches of clearance around the sides. With a flush fit door in the wall  the unit thinks it's in a window when the door is open.  It uses accordian side baffles that came with it ans will have a wooden baffle on the top ( which will also hold the front in securely. The box projects about 14" into the trailer and though it is hooked solidly into the wall studs I will also run a couple supports to the ceiling framework. The top of the box will hold my microwave oven.

Next will be a cupboard across the  top front for food and other light storage. I will be hauling the track roadster to Columbus in a couple weeks so it will get some vital camp testing before installing a couple 3 speed roof fan/vent assemblies.

All in preparation for taking the car to Bonneville and camping along the way and at the Bend in the Road at Bonneville.

Charlie