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Its funny how you really start to look out for your older neighbors . I guess its for payback of all the years they kept an eye on things as your kids grew up . About a month or so ago my neighbor who is about 80 yrs was laying face down in the grass when I pulled in front of my house after work . I run over wondering if he is having a stroke only to find out he is making minor adjustments to his xmas display . We had a chuckle about it and a short visit . Yesterday as I pull in from work there is a firetruck in front of his house and I notice his driveway half shoveled . I am worriedly thinking heart attack as I step in the house and quiz my wife . She lets me know that the fire men have been there for some time and walked into the place . Lights were not on , on the truck . Seems like they were just there for a visit . I am going to have to tell Birney that he is beginning to scare the crap out of me !

R.I.P Mr. Breedlove , thank you for making a young kids life more exciting by thinking about your accomplishments and giving rise to dreams of mechanical goals of my own . He is one of the people from his generation that inspired younger kids to just have a dream and go for it .

OK I see this on another board and there are a few different opinions . How much scrub radius is too much ?  I realize zero would induce some twitchy steering but I think more than a few death wobble issues are caused by excessive scrub radius . What is a good number , or is it really not that simple ? I tend to build my own stuff so as an example I have made the ackerman on my car right on the money when I made my steering arms . I will be using rims on the front that I can cut and move the centers on so once the front tire size is nailed down I would like to again go the extra mile to ensure the best geometry I can get with wheel offset . I would reason that the lighter the front end , the less it may matter but what do we aim for as a good range ? Lets hear what you have to say .

To all of you on the rodding roundtable I wish you a happy holiday season and all the best in the year to come . I enjoy the conversations and sharing of experience here on the board and visit the site daily. 

Wallace racing has a calculator on the site that will calculate things like pedal ratio / bore size required / pressure developed and more . It saves doing a pile of math each time and will calculate the missing number when you enter the rest.

George Moir antique auto parts is closing after 51 years of business . 20 pages of inventory for fords from T through to 60s trucks . Rainbow liquidators & auctions is handling it online auction . LOTS of parts including fenders hoods etc Lots of A through 40 ford stock . Do Not bid on the model T headlights .... I want them!

I went to the macs site tonight and can not find nearly as much model T stuff as the old catalogues had . Are they dropping product lines ? Snyders is kind of lean on products as well . Who else do I search ?

My last reply got me to think about asking you guys a question . What shades of blue have you seen and liked . I am still quite a way from paint on my T but am always looking for a blue that I would really like . I really like washington blue in the sunlight but find it too dark / blackish when it is not in direct sun . I would like a shade of blue that is brighter but not too light . Anyone found a nice one ? I want a single stage non metallic colour . I like navajo blue but it might look too light in direct sun

I worked at aligning the pass side door on my coupe yesterday . That door is about 3/16" low at the back and 1/16" wider gap than the other side at the back of the opening  . DS door fits fine . Previously I had tried to lift/shim the pass side cowl mount and got nowhere . yesterday I cut out some bracing I had put in the car to help it to move easier when the cowl mount was shimmed . I had previously welded in a 1" sq tube from the lower body sub rails up and across the top of the recessed firewall , welding a short section of it to the middle of the recessed firewall . I also cut all the spot welds holding the firewall recess to the back of the new firewall all the way up the pass side and across the top to about where the steering column is . I still can not seem to correct the back of the door by raising the cowl mount with shims  . I have tried with the body bolted down everywhere and also with the body bolt in the p/s mount first back from the cowl backed off and no success . I put a nut between the hinge halves on just the lower hinge and pressed the door closed and it lined up much better but I did not have the top hinge installed for any of this stuff . My floor is all steel and riveted in , I do not think that it is preventing movement as the kickup to the firewall is not attached at the sides and is only tacked to the firewall which has been separated from the recessed part . Please school me . From the start to finish , what is the proper way to adjust this door ? I have a mental block and this door frustration has prevented me from working on this car for years now other than drivetrain or anything not body related . If this was a T bucket or roadster it would have been finished 6 years ago .

I was over at an older racing buddys place tonight and as we are talking we mention that one of the cars on his picture wall was in a movie 'bad company ' . He then tells me "look at that one " its a picture of a blown gas altered that he ran in the early 70's . "That one was in two lane black top" . I did not realize that my friend had a very short cameo of him running the car in a drag strip scene of the movie . I am going to watch the movie soon and try to see what part of the movie he is in .

I have owned 2 FED's in my days . The last one went on to win NE1 at the march meet 2x and runner up once in a 4 year span with the current owner . It had a 6.0 tag but at the time I got it , would cert for T/F . The first one took me to a season championship at my local track with my high school students as crew and was my first open wheel chassis build . I sold it to a Californian who raced it in NE1 .

Here is the start of what I did to make front coilover mounts for the bottom of the batwing brackets  for my T . The store bought shock mounts did not extend far enough forward to clear the body of the  coilovers and there was really no provision for the mount to not rotate around the mounting bolt to the axle . Made out of solid stock . The picture shows one top view and one bottom . The raised taper matches the one in the batwing mount , the countersink is the other side of that taper . The big solid side was later machined with a radius of the axle to prevent the mount from rotating and also drilled and tapped for a stud to mount the shock. Did not get a picture of the finished part .

This is the floor I did on my T coupe . POR 15 on top and bottom Then riveted to the framework with sealer between like original was attached .

What to do when you can not find upper door hinges for a 26 model T(one year only ) . Make them . Only when I got most of the way finished did my buddy call me to say he had found a pair .

I had a bolt on moroso timing pointer that covered too many fins on my nice finned timing cover SOOOOO..... Started whittling in the mill

I had an air cleaner made for 2 4bbl carbs . Here is how I made it fit for 1 4bbl. Machined a base , spacer ring that fit into the base with a slight edge for a lap weld and tigged them together then radiused the turn . Way more solid than the tin base it used to have .

pictures of my coupe . I hope to get back to it some day

This is a mini chopper I have been building with my students over the past many years

just some pix from my bonneville trip in 17 . This is the car I was crewing on A/fuel roadster

Here are the steering arms I made from 4130 to correct the ackerman on the econoline spindles . Also the machining required to allow the spindles to fit over the wider axle kingpin boss . I made a tool that piloted off both bushings with a cutter to face off what I needed to remove . Did it in the mill . Also had to sleeve the axle kingpin bores down to .750" and made kingpins from chrome moly material that Enjenjo sent me a few years ago . Honed the bushings on a rod resizing hone with the pin bore hone . Worked slick . This stuff is from many years ago.

these pictures are from long ago.

here is what I did to make disc brakes fit my econoline spindles . Windstar rotors , turned the econoline hubs down a bit to fit them over . Speedway weld on disc brake caliper mounts modified to fit spindle mount holes . Spacers machined and threaded so they are tightened up and then the brackets can be bolted up . GM metric calipers .  Calipers are front mounted as they will not clear the steering arms out back .

my roadster from a while ago

Again hoping to keep GPster entertained ! If it was not particular cars that kept me awake at night it would have to be different engine combinations that I would dream up and wonder about . I probably lost more sleep to engine combinations than to dream car builds . What kind of "what if" motors have you ever dreamed up ?  Currently I can not get my head around a 283 block with a turned down 400 crank to make a lower cubic inch combo with the likelihood of making good torque from a nearly square (bore to stroke ) engine. With EFI , vortec heads and a very mild hydraulic roller cam it could be a pretty stout low RPM performer with nice manners . My theory is based on fords 2 engines , the 300 -6 and the 400 -8 ( both 4''bore x 4" stroke) that seemed to have good torque . Once did a 400 W/boss cleveland heads that was a BEAST. What types of engine combo's have you guys wondered about in the past ?

This post is to help GPster stay entertained while he is healing up . As a kid I used to lie awake at night dreaming up cars I would like to one day build . Most all of them were pre 48 . Many were finished in metalflake! After building one particular car that was nice ('63 Pontiac Acadian) but that I was strangely not in love with I vowed to only build cars for myself that I had always wanted . That choice was made over 25 years ago and I have not regretted it . My first Front engine dragster was something I had always wanted (I was drawing pictures of them in grade 3 art class after watching them on wide world of sports ) . My 49 Anglia was another must build as I had saved pictures of the Brogie and Silvera drag Anglia from the mid 70's (fell in love with that one the moment I first saw it ).My T coupe was inspired by a next door neighbor basement renter who had a highboy coupe , blue with a blue and white tuck and roll upholstered roof. He only lived next door for 1 summer and I never talked to him ( I was in grade 3 and my parents would not have approved of me talking with a guy like him ).After I finish the T I will be done with my bucket list cars . I am just wondering what kind of things you RRT guys stayed awake dreaming about building when you were too young to drive ?

so tonight i made 2 pieces to replace the welting edge on my model T rad shell . They stick out the same as original and go up behind the 1/4" drop down ledge of the original shell. Made of a scrap from my door repair panels so 18 gage I think. Question is how should I attach them ? The rad shell is a nickle plated brass piece that I am going to paint body colour when done. I am thinking silver solder would be best? If I can not find any then what . I dont think epoxy like JB weld would hold but what do you think? I will have 2 horizontal bars from cowl to rad shell that mount down the sides below the repair to hold the hood sides and 1 piece hood with mini bear claw latches likely , so the ledge will not hold substantial weight/pressure . Any opinions/experiences that you could share?

Question for engine builders . How do you go about finding your proper pushrod length? I was wondering if I could use light weight springs and a solid lifter to get the length right instead of running a hydraulic lifter on a new as yet not broken in cam to avoid any wear . I have pretty heavy springs 460lb/in and do not want to wear a lobe . I could measure the solid lifter and the hydraulic to make up any difference in the math. Never done this with a hydraulic cam before , just rollers and solids . I am using 1.6 intake and 1.52 exhaust rockers . I would ask on speedtalk but it would end up as a 10 page post , don't need to start an argument.

Just ordered parts from a supplier on friday afternoon . My model T inner door bottoms arrived today by Canada post ! Made it from Alberta to Saskatchewan over the weekend . Canada Post does not deliver on weekends. My cost was the same in CDN dollars as MACS was charging in US dollars before shipping ,duties and brokerage . I am very happy with George Moir antique auto parts in Alberta !

So I am machining wider ring grooves into an OLD set of pistons for an inline 6 cyl hemi destined for a 46 willys jeep , for a friend . The first one is going great . I am turning the spindle by hand as I cut the groove and then things get tight . I made a tool just the right width for the groove so this is bad . I have dialed in the piston , dialed in the existing ring face and all should be well ....but . I remove the tool to find a chip wedged beside the cutter that has now made the groove .010 wider than I wanted  :evil: . Question is this . can I use a ring spacer like an oil ring spacer under the top ring to take up the extra ? Like machine the ring groove to take the top ring and oil ring spacer plus clearance ? I know they do it on diesels . From what I gather this is a rare engine .

Just read on the hamb that Al" Mousie" Marcellus has passed . He was the other half of the Marcellus & Borsch fuel altered team , driven by wild willy Borsch. I met him in Bakersfield at the march meet in 2005. Nice gentleman, another pioneer of the sport gone  

OK so my door panel bottoms have arrived . Questions to ask. Do i fold the edges over BEFORE I weld or after or a little of both ? I will be able to weld them from the inside of the door , would that be easier as to less grinding to clean up the front face ?The panel is about 7" tall but I only need the bottom 4" . Was thinking it might be better to join it closer to the bottom as it is curving in/downward  at that point and would show less if it pulled in a little . When I did the door to wheelwell panel it was about 4" tall and it pulled in a little bit (weld seam is low)but nothing a litttle swipe with pudding couldnt fix. I welded the wheelwell panel from the outside . Any experienced advice welcomed , I had to buy 2 panels and only need 1 so I guess I can screw up 1 time and still have a second chance but would rather get it right the first time  

Snyders or macs ? I have decided to buy repair panels for the T door and have to decide where to get them from . I realize both of these companies are probably getting their panels from Howells but I have heard horror stories about Howells direct to customer service . I bought from macs before but a long time ago and heard they had been sold to ecklers . Anyone with recent dealings with either supplier they could comment on ?

ordered a cam for the 350 in my T coupe . The old cam I had specd out a bit silly for a street car so I needed to find something a little more street friendly . I got a lunati voodoo hydraulic flat tappet cam . 219 /227 @ .050 on a 112 LSA , with 1.6 and 1.52 ratio rockers it will have .499 int /.495 exh lift #s . The heads I am using only gain 4cfm from .500 to .600 lift so I am getting about the best I can out of them with this cam . I am a long way off from using the motor yet but just want to get things collected up and ready .

Just replaced the float on my merc truck with a plastic one from a jeep P# OMI1772901 it is supposed to work in a lot of older trucks and cars. From a company called Omix-ada . direct replacement for fuel level float for 59-86 Jeep

I am going to ask here as most have experience with old ford 1/2 tons . My 65 merc has a three on the tree column and I have gone to an automatic trans . I hooked up the R-1 lever on the column shift to shift the auto trans but it is iffy at best and I have to hunt for the gears . Also the shifter throw as it is will not go into low . What column would be closest to a direct bolt in for an auto shift in this truck . I dont need /want ign in column and as close to direct bolt in as possible . I do not want to have to shorten the column if possible . I have never seen this style of truck with anything but a standard trans of some sort . Just wondering if there is a wrecker part that is a bolt in to solve my shifter issues . Thanks in advance .

I passed on a truck I have wanted for some time this week . There was a 61 ford unibody short box , parked since the 80s , for sale very reasonable and looked to be in decent shape. I just sold the 300/6 4spd that would have dropped into it a few weeks ago My reasoning was that i have way too many projects on the go and on deck to bother with another . I did not want another project on the heap nor did I want to start on it and put off the T coupe even longer. I also did not want to bother with selling anything else to make room for it . I have to think I am either getting wise  or is it lazy ?

I am almost ready to finish my saddle tank fuel tanks . I want to use the easy fill capless fuel filler caps , with another cap over those for looks. The easy fill has a flap to close it that should hopefully keep fuel spillage to a minimum on the saddle tanks . the filler will be at the back of each tank and susceptible to fuel slosh. When I go to my auto parts store they cant seem to look them up . Stant makes them and I am sure others do too . Does anyone have a vehicle application that would allow them to find one ? Another one is permacap but I am not sure where I could get them . I would like to order locally as I would like to see one before purchase as I will likely need to modify them to work in my set up . Some may lend themselves better for modification than others . Any help is appreciated .

I am selling the S/G roadster chassis I fixed a while ago . I have a price listed with OBO  . A guy came to look at the car yesterday and texts me today with the 'whats your bottom dollar ' question. I just told him to make a cash offer . I have had this question asked before from a guy about the front engine dragster chassis I was selling a few years back,with the "ill get back to you " that never happened . I suspect my bottom dollar price then was shared to others while the car was still for sale . I dont want to seem like I am playing games but is it so wrong to expect a best offer and accept or reject it ? Have I mentioned that I rarely sell stuff as I really dont like the process ? Am I being rude ?

I just read a post on the hamb that car craft , street rodder and a bunch of others 19 in total are going out of print . I am a little bummed out   .  I had a childhood wish to have a car of mine in a magazine , that dream is essentially gone   . Mind you that dream could only be possibly realized if i actually finished a car :oops: . My only print glory was a picture in national dragster in a final round in my mustang in '83 . I am wounded but i will survive .

IT WORKS ! I just took my door out of the molasses bath and it is really clean. The door has most of its original paint and primer on the outside but what a relief to see bare metal on the inside of the door. This was a 12 to 1 ratio mix and it took the rust off well . I still need to pressure wash the parts to rinse everything off but everything on the inside of the door is basically a rinse away from getting a coat of primer or POR15  to keep the flash rust at bay . I want to install bear claw latches so I will probably give the doors a quick shot of rattle can primer now and POR15 them after the latch install. I think I might add a couple gallons of molasses to the mix to decrease the ratio as I read that 10 to 1 is a better ratio before I toss in my trunk lid for a month ! My trunk lid has no rust through  , just surface rust and a big dent . When it comes out I will weld up the key hole , bang out the dent and POR15 the insides .  While it is soaking I will try my hand at shimming the body to get the doors to fit better and do the bear claws . For my next experiment with the molasses I am going to try soaking towels in the mix and laying them on the car with plastic wrap/duct tape  sealing them in place to see if it will work on the main body . The plastic wrap trick sure works well for paint stripper so lets hope this works .

Had a problem with my 98 ranger 4l on the highway . the heater bypass valve split open and dumped my coolant at highway speed . I think i caught it pretty quick but not too sure . Replaced valve ,filled her up and went for a drive . the heat went creeping up and i got it home without overheating . The overflow tank was empty so i figured i still had a bubble . Last 2 trips across town , no heat issue and recovery tank level stays the same . So today I try to go to my daughters farm and 10 min out at hwy speed and the heat starts to climb. I turned the heater to full blast and it came down but still ran hotter than normal .There was no change in the recovery tank , the system did not seem to expel into the tank. On the way home(20 min drive ) i had the heater on full and temp stayed right where it normally does . when I refilled the rad I used old antifreeze and i wonder if i got some crap in the rad? I guess its flush , fill , and a bottle of irontite in case I got a small head gasket leak from the first overheat. Opinions ? :oops:

OK I know I have asked before but what do you recommend for a fuel tank coating for the inside of the tank ? I will probably run premium only to avoid ethanol blended fuel and I will have a decent compression ratio at 10.3:1  but just in case I want to make sure I dont get a coating that might strip off and plug the system . Also I will probably paint the bottom and sides of the inside of the tank before I weld the top on as I have put in a couple baffles and want to make sure it all gets coated  .  Now ..... do I actually NEED to coat the inside of the tank ? I have made it out of new steel , no rust at all . I will likely coat the outside with POR 15 .

I was at a car show this weekend and was talking to a wheel company about doing my wheels . I have wire wheels that need new bells . 2 of the wheels are fine the other 2 I have cut apart and need new bells put on at an as yet determined back spacing . The wheels were originally chrome and I want to make them tacoma cream . What is the best way to remove the chrome ? The wheel guy says sand blast but I fear the spokes may get stretched /bent or otherwise . The wheel guy wants to paint them and I would prefer powder coat . What opinions do you guys have ? Am i being over cautious about the sand blast ? Is powder coating wheels overkill ? We have a hard chroming shop in town that may be able to de chrome the wheels in their vat .

I am trying to post on IDJs  thread about the 59 catalina and every time i try to post a reply it kicks me back to the forum page . It will not do that on any other thread ?  IDJ here is my latest comment meant for that thread . What would it look like if you put the one larger diameter headlight in the place of the outer ones AND used the headlight trim from a 62-63 pontiac acadian  to lower the light, filling in the gap below it and also blending into the lower hood ?

Here is a crazy thought . Would it be a good idea to eliminate the middle hinge on my T doors and just use the top and bottom  hinges ? I am concerned about the hinges being able to hold up but not sure .

Merry christmas to all of you guys on the round table . I have said it before but it bears repeating , I am happy to be part of this place as there is such great company . May you all have a great christmas season .

as I look at my T , I realise I machined the door hinges for it a full year ago and the doors are still hanging crooked . I have at least 3 other jobs partially completed on it since then . All of them require the doors to be completed before they can be finished . This roadster chassis is a nice departure from the T as it is coming along nicely . I think the roadster is getting my desire to work on the T back to a good level . Have you ever been side tracked by a project that gets you back in the building mood ?

Today I took my brake drums to NAPA to get the right ones ordered . I used the part #s from rock auto as suggested by Bob . We found the right ones and ordered them , then went on to get a credit for the ones I have (they have been in the boxes for about 4 years ) when we opened the boxes to verify the parts lo and behold they WERE the right ones I needed ! all this time I had thought they were 4 bolt mustang iII drums when they were the 5 bolt ones I needed. In my defence they came with a mustang II rear end complete with 4 bolt axles . The best thing to come of it was that the counter man is also a shop teacher that works in a town a few miles from me and I have 2 of his students in my night class . Through talking shop I realised that he is at a pay level one step below me and as of a few years ago he should have been bumped to my pay grade . Told him how to get that fixed , he should see about $4000/yr increase in wage with a possible same or more in back pay as well . I guess I really didn't waste his time but what a doofus move on my end with the parts ! As an update on my T progress , I put air in the tires yesterday ! Have not worked on it in 3 weeks .

Like the title says , I need a part # for rear drums for a 5 bolt 8" maverick diff . Took a pair of 4 bolt drums from a mustang II, new in box back for an exchange at NAPA today and we couldn't find a listing for the drums needed . Who makes drums for this diff ?

I have been looking all over to find a section width for the bfg silvertown 285 70 15  . The literature states a section width of 11.5" but it states you can use a rim from 7.5 to 9.5 ". The section width will change with the rim size . Does anyone have a bfg silvertown 285 70 15 mounted on a rim that can give me a measured section width and the rim width they are using ? Please ? I am planning to use a 9" wide rim but I need to know the section width BEFORE I have the rims made . The T fenders are 11.5" wide and so is the stated section width of the tire . My plan is to run the tread out to just under the outside edge of the fender and have the sidewall out past the fender . 9" wide fender without the extension from the side of the body  w/8.6" tread centered side to side in the "fender ' part of the fender . I need to know the section width so I can get a reasonable amount of clearance to the inside of the wheel well . I can play with section width by using a different rim width . If the section width is 11.5" then I can have 1.5" clearance  at inner fender