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I know that from time to time people get ticked off at suppliers and have to vent. This post is the opposite. I got a trunk lid of questionable quality that I ordered from Macs. I emailed them about the issue and was responded to immediately. After sending them a few pictures to show the part (from one of their suppliers)they have asked me to send it back and I will recieve a full refund including shipping.I am impressed with their service and will use them again .

I am sure someone here has ordered body panels from Mac's before. How is the quality and how is the service? Their panels are just a bit more money than from Howells but I have found a lot of disgruntled customers complaining about Howells on various sites. I would like to order a bunch of body panels for the T coupe shortly . Is there another manufacturer or supplier of T sheet metal that anyone can recommend? Any good Canadian suppliers? Thanks in advance.

A friend of mine has been trying to make the case for using a 351W in my T coupe rather than the usual sbc. Does anyone have the dimensions of the engine ,specifically I am looking for the width between  exhaust flanges on the heads . How wide is the engine without exhaust manifolds on?

I am about to build a 4bar front for my T coupe and was wondering if there is a reason why so many 4bar front ends are 20ish inches as I am considering building the bars @ 32" between centers. Is there a reason why they should be shorter? I plan on running a steering rack unisteer style so the long 4 bars will not be in the way of the steering box. Opinions?

I helped the new owner of my anglia load it up and haul it away. Sold and gone . I am happy to see it go to a good home. This guy has wanted an anglia since he helped a neighbor work on one when he was a teenager.I already have the T coupe in the garage now to start building the car I have wanted most of my life.I think on this build I will take pictures. I never take many pictures and then when I sell a car I have nothing to look at later.

I realise many of you have or have had ford rangers. I just bought one a week ago hoping to end the persistent repairs required on our primary vehicle. Today it starts blowing cold air when the temp dial is turned to hot. Previous owner told us that it will do that but if you turn it to cold and back to hot it will right itself. We have done that previously and it worked fine. Tonight it didnt fix the problem. When we got to our driveway after the long cold trip across town it fixed itself again. This is a '98 model, I took it to the shop tonight and looked at it. I can not find a vacuum canister under the hood as I suspect this heat diverter door is vacuum activated. A look under the dash on drivers side finds 2 vacuum pots, one with 2 lines and another with 1. What needs fixin? anyone solved this problem before? Vehicle has 150,000 KM

How many turns for idle mixture adjustment?I tried the 1 1/2 that works with most holleys but it isnt working well. This carb is SO different from other holleys. If I get a basic idle mixture adjustment I will leave it at that,the screws are hard to get at a real pita.

I have an 84 ford f150 w/5.8HO 4v engine . Ignition is all replaced cap,rotor ,wires ,plugs, module,new battery.Checked timing tonight and is 10degrees as per factory spec. Checked float level and primary bowl is spot on secondary a bit low.Warmed it up and checked for vac leaks with propane,no idle change.Idle mixture screws are 1 1/2 turns from seated,fresh kit in carb.I have to turn the idle speed adjuster screw in 5 turns to get it to idle. I check on my spare carb and 5 turns exposes the off idle transfer slots a bunch. 3 turns just takes the throttle blades to the edge of the transfer slots.This is a weird holley. vac secondary with idle mixture screws on all 4 corners ,the secondary ones are still factory sealed ,primaries are unplugged.they are in the base plate not the metering plate.Severe hesitation on any kind of acceleration from a stop,even to the point of stalling, requiring light tap dancing on the throttle to keep it going. Also I braved a highway trip and it started to buck and stall about 20 minutes into the trip. pulling over and letting it idle cured it . The second time it bucked ,another 20 minutes into the trip I switched tanks and it cleared up for a while. I had the fuel pump off and worked it in the vice and it appeared to work well, strong pressure while pumpingand there is no smell of fuel in the oil.This truck was parked for a few years, crap in the fuel tank covering the pickup might explain the highway issues but i am wondering about the off idle/idle speed woes.I think I will remove carb tomorrow and open the secondaries up to the idle transfer slots if it is not there already,then maybe I can close the primary side down some .Anyone have suggestions? I have heard these carbs can be a pain.

I got a phone message yesterday from a guy I talked to 10 yrs ago about an anglia he owns. He now wants to sell it.4 years ago I was talking to an older gentleman at the drag strip in edmonton and we got to talking about anglias. He used to race one with a good friend many years ago. As he described the car it was apparent that it was the same car.the racing partner had passed on a few years before and his sons were interested in locating the car. I took the mans business card and told him I would look into it.Yesterday I called him to tell him I had located the car and gave him the owners contact info. The car still has the proper era name and lettering on it.To hear the joy in the older gentlemans voice was a real pick me up. I called the current owner today and he informed me that they had already been in contact with each other . I think I did good!

My model T frame is 23" wide , I copied the original. The 4bar mounts  attach to the axle at 32" on centre. The question is this, is it better to angle the 4bar brackets at the frame and axle and run straight rod ends or should I get the 7 or 11 degree angled rod ends and run the brackets parrallel to the frame rails? The angled bracket method geometry might put the suspension in a slight bind as the axle moves up and the rod ends try to move outward,but with only 2" up and 1" down travel and an offset of about 4" over a 32" run I think the rod end bushings should handle it. I will be using coilovers if that makes any difference.If you have experience with either setup I would appreciate your opinion.The angle of the bars is close to 7degrees but 7degree ends would only allow full turn adjustments to rod length for caster or wheelbase changes.Which would you use and why.

Actually sent a kid to the front office today to pick up a can of plaid spray paint. His classmates saw the humor in it, this kid had just called another student stupid a few minutes before. Had to show him the error in his judgement

I am about to start building the 4 bar front end on the T coupe and I need to clear up a few questions. I want to use coil over shocks in front of the axle. I have a 4" drop tube axle and a set of bat wings. I will likely purchase the bolt on style of lower shock mounts that go under the axle where the spring perches would attach unless someone can suggest something different that I might try.Since I will not be using a buggy spring ,what is acceptable to use for the attachment of the batwing to the axle in place of the spring perches?. Can I machine up tapered collars to fit the taper from each side of the axle mounts on the batwing? How are the shock mounts held in alignment ? Is it just by the fastener torque or am I missing some kind  of alignment fixture? Next question. My frame copies the original in dimensions LxW with 2x3 1/8 wall tubing. This means there is no front to rear taper of the frame ,the frame rails run parallel front to rear.The holes for the batwings are 32" CtoC and framerails are 23" to outside edges.I will be going full fendered so the rear 4bar mounts will be under the framerail. Is it better to keep the batwings aiming straight back and use angled rod ends to narrow down to the frame width at the back mount or just angle the batwings and rear mounts to match each other? Again, are the batwings position maintained by fastener torque or some type of fixture? I am leaning towards angling the batwings and rear 4bar mounts to match each other as I think the geometry would be better . I will be using a front panhard rod attached to the frame on driver side and to the axle on lower batwing hole on passenger side. I will attempt to use cross steer with steering rod as close to the same length as panhard rod as is possible.If I angled the batwings toward the frame I was thinking I could machine an angled spacer to fit in the space between the back of the axle and the batwing to keep it in position. Is this necessary or a waste of time? Lastly, 32" bars, would there be any benefits or problems going longer ? Good idea or waste of time? Basically I would like this car to ride nice without looking too 'industrial'. thanks for your input.

I know I asked this a few years ago here and lost the post. My friend has a 62 T bird and is looking to do a disc brake swap. Would the spindles from a 67 full size meteor fit . We have a donor car and wondered if we could just swap the whole spindle and brake assembly.Is there some magic ball joint that could make this a possibility?I have not had the cars side by side to compare spindles and was wondering. Anyone know?

Ok, I am fitting my econoline spindles to my new axle. I have to enlarge the bushings to fit the bigger pin,no real problem. But I am wondering if anyone here has ever used these type spindles and if so ,what did you do for steering arms? The stock ones do not look to be useable but they bolt on . I was wondering if there is anything out in the scrapyard that could be used before I set out to machine up a set.What if any options might I find in the ol boneyard?

Has anyone dealt with these guys? They seem to have a good deal on a 4" drop axle and i'm really interested. Boyd Who, I think you were considering them at some point . Did you use them, $185 CDN shipped seems pretty good.

I think I figured out how to post pictures. Here is my anglia

What tank sealer do you recommend? I may be installing my gas tank for the last time soon and need to coat the inside with something as the tank is mild steel. I have heard of some sealers coming loose and floating around in the tank. Do not want that. There will be pump gas in this tank,maybe octane boost if required.The kreem  brand tank sealer I bought at the swap meet 10 yrs ago has dried up.the tank was sealed off right when it was built so there should be little if any rust inside.

The glass beader at work is broken and I want to clean up a very old ,discoloured aluminum intake,and a not so bad aluminum water pump, before I install them. Any suggestions?

Ok, today I milled the intake surface of my heads to correct for the deck surface milling I did before. Then I started to lengthen the pushrod slots in the head as I am using a .525 lift cam and there is sometimes a problem with pushrods binding in the slot at this much lift.Question, which side of the slot do I lengthen? I did the rocker stud side but I dont remember if that is the side that needs it. It will be a while before the heads are assembled and I can check for myself.Does anyone remember which side needs the extra clearance?

Where can I get a steel 26 T rad shell ,the fiberglass ones have straight sides which work fine on a T bucket but might look odd on a full hood. the originals are angled back slightly toward the cowl. I have looked at a number of sites ,Mac's included and found nothing.Any suggestions?

Ok so I milled .030 off the deck surface of my sbc heads,now I want to mill the intake surface on the heads so I dont have to butcher an otherwise stock intake manifold.I know I will have to mill the bottom of the intake where it meets the block but that can be compensated for with silicone or spacers if the intake meets a set of stock unmilled heads later in life.How much do I take off the intake flanges on the heads ? Memory tells me about .036" but I have been known to rememory things not right. Anyone know for sure or have a formula I could use?......Wayne?

Today all the shop teachers at our school decorated an entry to tomorrows parade . We have a 68 mustang that we restored over the last few years with our students and we are now going to raffle it off.The mustang is on the float and presents are stuffed all around it. We are taking this opportunity to let people know about the raffle and its benefactor, habitat for humanity. We are finishing our 9th home for habitat and the raffle proceeds should finance another home. Our HCAP high school carpentry apprenticeship program is building 2 houses this year. The HCAP students will be walking along with the float wearing their coveralls and tool belts and santa hats.

OK so the new to me silverado I bought has issues. I specifically asked the previous owner if all the lights worked and was assured they did,such is not the case. The marker lights and dash lights dont work. I was at the wrecker today getting a steering column for our recovered truck and got a light switch for the one I just bought . It didnt help so I decided to start from square one ,check the fuse,... Bingo ,blown fuse. Replaced and all is well ,until half way down the block,dash lights and markers out again and a blown fuse. I know enough not to just keep ramming in fuses but what might be the best ,most likely places to find the issue. I will check all the bulbs in the morning but what next? I am in no way an expert at wiring, I probably know more than I think but I am not one of those who can see wiring in my minds eye.Suggestions?

I have a friend who wants to upgrade his 62 thunderbird to disc brakes up front. Is there a spindle assembly that would bolt up with no major modification?The car needs ball joints so this would be a good time to do the upgrade. Any thoughts?

I had some time today so I went to the surplus store . This place sells has army surplus as well as any number of other things on hand. I found what I needed, Dzus buttons for 25 cents each, the capture rivets for 25 cents each and the spring wires for 5 cents each! Moroso sells packs of 10 for $80 . Last time I built a dragster I bought bagfulls of them so I could replace the ones I lost. This time I am using the capture rivets to keep them attached to the body.

I just bought some por15 to do the inside of the anglia. The info pamphlet says I need marine clean and some metal prep before I use it. Can I just use some of my own metal prep and then paint or do I need to go through this entire process? I paid$65 for a quart of this stuff ,I dont want to spend much more if I dont have to.I also want to make sure it works or all will be wasted.

OK here is the next problem,surface rust. What is the best solution to dealing with panels that have a complete coating of rust? This rust is not flaky or anything like that but when sanded it seems to get shiny but not disappear.My entire grill shell is coated with an even coating of rust that seems to have a death grip on the part.

OK I am about to start doing bodywork on the anglia. I have a dumb question about primer. Is it possible to BRUSH primer onto the car. For any number of reasons I would like to brush it on as I strip the old paint off the car . I have a garage full of stuff that I dont want to move or have to cover up.I would like to strip one panel at a time and prime it to avoid flash rust . I may not have the time to strip and prime the whole car at once . What type of primer,if any ,could I brush on?

Ok, I started helping my old race car buddy for the last couple of seasons with the station wagon. We managed to wring out a calculated 1068HP with the 522" big block . Everything was going fine .Then I saw a front engine dragster when we were at the canadian national open and I started to miss my old rail.Then a local guy brought an old barn find rail to the track to be inspected.Then another friend wrecked his jet car and I helped him rebuild the chassis.I started to want to build a rail again.Another guy in town calls to see if I can help get his front engine dragster chassis up to date.I started to get the race fever. Then the Canadian dollar gets to 97cents on the US dollar . I buckled ! I went down to North Dakota on saturday and picked up my new toy. I got a 225" wheelbase front engine dragster ,built new in 09 at a pro shop,never had an engine in it. It will sit out next season while we try to get the wagon an 8 second time slip and then that motor will probably go into my car. The dragster should weigh 2200lb LESS than the wagon. I may get a 200mph quarter mile pass in yet!

OK the drag racing bug has bit again and I have found a good prospect in a 200" front engine dragster. Problem is that it is in virginia and I am north of the border in Saskatchewan. This is a BARE chassis , what do you guys suggest to ship it. How much could shipping be? Is there anyone you know of ( small operator) that could meet me at the border with it?The vendor will hold the car indefinitely untill I can arrange shipping but I dont want to get a deal on a car only to bleed out on transport. This chassis will be likely under 400# but likely 20' long. suggestions please.

here is the address of two pictures of the "bing" crosley that serves as tow vehicle for a local funny car. Http://www.pbase.com/nitroimage/image/114504765 and Http://www.pbase.com/nitroimage/image/114505182 . It has  chevette engine,9" ford,drop axle front.

I may be building the front end of the jet car we are fixing. My friend phoned and asked if I would do it. I have a good Idea about how much caster to dial in but would like some advice from others. The car went 251mph  and is probably capable of more. It rolls on bias ply tires I believe. What do you guys who run at those speeds use for alignment specs.I am not sure what the scrub radius comes out to for setting toe in but that can be adjusted. The front axle is fixed (no suspension) and likely has little or no adjustability so I want to get it right . There is a fixture being sent to the shop to set caster and camber before the axle (actually two tripods ) is welded up.Suggestions please?

We went to the night race today and decided to enter super pro eliminator instead of our usual class. This eliminator allows all electronics such as delay boxes.We run a foot brake no electronics car. We won the class in front of a record crowd. AND the car(84 marquis woody wagon) ran its best 60 foot time ever 1.29sec  AND its best ET ever 9.34 @144mph.The run before the best one we 60 footed with the rear tires. A good day at the races!

A guy I used to help on an alcohol funnycar switched to running a jet car last year. He runs it on canola oil for fuel.He crashed it last wed.,hit the guardwall @239mph.,he is fine ,car is a mess. I called him up the other day to see that he was ok and to offer him any help I could.Today I spent the day building a chassis jig and repairing the rear section of the chassis.Tomorrow we start laying in new tube for the rest of the car.Man I like building race car chassis.

I am now mounting the hood on my anglia. The problem is that the cowl  and grill ends have changed shape . the cowl end has curled in and the grille end has flattened out. I think they were pulled from the molds too soon.I have had success straightening some other parts with a heat gun ,pressure and then cooling with water but this part does not want to cooperate . Any suggestions short of cutting it up?

I cant seem to put pictures on here so go to my photobucket page. chimpkoose is my photobucket site.

http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll146/chimpkoose/

This web site www.hardcoreperformance.ca has a picture of the wagon we got into the 9`s this summer.I am not trying to advertise my buddy`s shop but this is as close to posting a picture as I am able to do.That would also be a chimp  kneeling in the background of the picture .

OK ,my 91 caravan,3.3l auto, has just died(for the last time). What is good for salvage from it? I have stripped vehicles before only to have the parts cluttering the shelves of my shop for years. I want to know if there are any pieces that are good rodding items specific to the caravan.I have heard that the middle seat is a good size for a bench in a coupe?Would it be good for my T coupe(T is now out in storage so I cant measure)?Also I just figured out that 3.3l works out to 201cid. Would this direct port injection be worth the effort to install on my '68 200"ford inline 6?What all would I need from the donor for that swap?Thanks for the input.

I will be getting to the point where I need to buy front tires soon.The ideal size would be 24"dia. with 5" or so section width on a 15x3.5" rim. Preferably a bias ply as the best rear tire I can find size wise is a bias ply.They have to be DOT tires and I have checked the drag fronts of the right size and they are "not for highway use".Any suggestions?

Got the big woody station wagon in the 9's . Went 9.87@135+ mph. and promptly got written up by the track operator.Our last points meet for the season is tomorrow and we are within reach of second place overall.Next season starts with a BUNCH of SFI stuff and NHRA license to put the car deep in the 9's .we had 50hp more N2O we could have been spraying.

I have a question (or 3) about your friends anglia cooling system you talked about in the COE thread.Does it have fenderwells? How far is it from the back of the engine to the firewall?How big is the rad? I am asking because I want to avoid cooling issues with my car and will be working on that fairly soon.

I took my newly aquired 350 sbc to work today . I was going to put it on an engine stand to swap out heads & cam for some of my good pieces. Engine falls 3' to the floor (my bad!)front of crank breaks off just at the back edge of the timing gear. The next time I lift an engine I will make sure to tighten the lift bolts with a wrench!The timing chain was real easy to remove!

I was at a car show a few weeks ago and saw a really beautiful full fendered deuce roadster show car on stands. There were over 300 body mods to it ,most would require me to have a stocker next to it to find the subtle mods(beautiful work). The one mod that I had a problem with is that the headlights don't attach to a headlight bar (gone) or the sides of the grille shell ,but to a panel behind the hood sides that requires the headlight to be removed in order to remove the hood side. I know that show cars are not about being practical ,but this one thing bothers me . If you were to ever drive this car ,each time you opened the hood you would need to aim a headlight. Does this kind of stuff bother anyone else ?

OK here are a few question for the chassis guys.How much travel do you leave for a shock to not fully bottom out? My shocks are fully compressed at 10" and fully open at 14 7/8" .I was thinking to make mounts so that when the suspension is fully compressed and on the travel stops ,the shock would have 1/2" travel left .Could I go with 1/4" travel left?These shocks are the ones with straight ends that mount with a pair of rubber biscuits at each end. The extension /compression measurements are taken without any squashing of the rubber biscuits .Opinions with explanations please.Next question. Should suspension travel have equal amounts of compression/extension movement from ride height or should there be more for compression? I read somewhere that there should be 2/3 compression1/3 extension .If I use 1/4" travel as a safeguard against bottoming out the shocks that leaves me with 4 5/8" shock travel. Do I go 2 5/16" each way or 3 1/8" compression,1 1/2" extension. Am I getting too complicated? I have lots of wheelwell room for suspension travel and I want to have a driveable car not a trailer queen.I await your suggestions .

The big brown truck dropped off a pair of rear fenders for me the other day. I took the fenders out and they look pretty nice! I put a fender up to the one on the car and it has the opening 1 1/8" lower than my steel one ! If you remember way back when, I posted about having a pair of mis-matched steel fenders. One is of Australian manufacture ,the other of British manufacture ,or so I think ,maybe they are just of different years. Anyhow ,I was kind of liking the ride height as it is with the wheel set exactly in the center of the opening. This means I will have to raise the car 1 1/8" to center the wheel again.At least I have a matched pair of fenders now.

Well this is the coldest day so far here this winter. It was -50Celcius today with the windchill . Thats -58Fahrenheit for comparison.Vehicles don't work that well in this weather,our school busses were cancelled today and will not run tomorrow .Man I wish it was summer.

Let me start by apologising for not giving a link.(if i could do that Id probably have posted pictures of my Anglia already!)I have a friend who I used to crew for when he ran a TA/D AND a TA/FC out of one trailer. He is now running a jet/FC on canola oil! I watched him run this summer and just found video of the run on U-TUBE (spelling?)The man is Kevin Therres out of Humboldt Saskatchewan if that helps the video search.

Howdy from the great white north! I saw the post on lurkers and thought its about time to sign on . Ive been following along for years now, having a few laughs and getting some good pointers on building cars.Im useless with a computer which is probably why its taken me so long to sign on.I am a machinist and a high shool shop teacher. I have wanted to build a hot rod since the age of 12 when a schoolmate started building a t-bucket with his dad.I got involved in drag racing for quite a while .My last car was a front engine dragster that I built at the school where I was working.I ran the dragster with an all student crew . Sold the dragster 8 years ago and decided it was time to build a rod. I am now 8 years into the build (I found it refreshing to find out some of you build cars along the same time frame)and am finishing up the mechanical stuff. when this car is finished I will start on the car I have dreamed of since I was 12 . I have a 26T coupe sitting in the corner of my garage.Hope I can be of some use around the board as this place has helped me a bunch.