Topics

Has anybody tried the chrome powder? I would like to do window garnish moldings. Is this a viable alternative or a bad idea?

Does anybody know of someone who has used it? This is a comparable product to Howell and uses the same GM ecu. It is less money.

I looked at the results of the Fort Collins auction. There were 3 59 chevy convertibles. None had engines or trans. All had some rust or body damage. The interiors were very poor. The 1st brought 30 grand. The 2nd brought 65.5 and had no floors. Someone had started and had bought some replacement panels and had stopped. The last brought 88.5. The auction had many converts. They did well.

I'm looking at options for this project. Is there an inexpensive front suspension that is readily available for this? Has anyone seen someone use the frame from a 2 ton truck and turn it into a 1/2 ton before? Any thoughts on what you would do?

I saw this at the show yesterday. Does anybody know anything about it?

As near as I can tell, I have a 48 Chevy in my yard. The door on the driver's side is a newer version with a vent window and a push button latch. There is cowl damage so that would explain the replacement door. The right side floor is rusty. There are some dents but the truck appears to be pretty solid.

https://ontime.mecum.com/auction/treasures-from-the-nhra-vault-benefiting-nhra-motorsports-museum-179/bidgallery/perpage_NjA
What do you think about what was supposed to be the depository for drag racing selling off items?

I'll start. I'm staying inside. It was 4 degrees this morning. I started moving furniture for the bedroom redo.

I'd like to know how you people choose a color. Doesn't make any difference what the reason is, I'm just curious what method you use. Many of you have built many hot rods so you have exp. 

This is what a real shop looks like.
https://www.ironhorseauction.com/project/photos/55556

Has anybody used any of the supposedly stronger parts to build a t5 and seen if they are a worthwhile purchase?

I'm starting a thread even though I'm not sure where it will end up. I just thought this would easier for the followers and avoiders. Step 1 on the front suspension. I removed this from the crown vic chassis that provided the drivetrain for the 72 F100. It sure was easy with the body off.

https://www.holley.com/blog/post/deep_dive_a_look_at_the_latest_upgrades_in_holley_efi_v6_software/?utm_source=bm23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=motorlifev6softwarecta&utm_content=Go+Faster+with+Holley+EFI+Version+6,+Rhodes+Shatters+Nitrous+X275+Record,+Driving+the+Shelby+GT350R+and+More!&utm_campaign=Motor+Life+News+-+Nov+2020+-+Late&_bta_tid=02702668101401956620932661851569802726538490870898540162799373725203107969291965492068814157802586626365953

I just read that Dennis Carpenter passed away yesterday. What a business man. Cushman's, Ford tractors and Ford vehicles are all better off because of his efforts.

Those of you that like machining might enjoy this clip. This is from Harvey Tool who makes tooling that the mini engine builders use.

https://instagram.com/p/BxhqtZulfyg

Here's a link to the proxybid for tomorrows auction. There's already some terrific prices.
https://vanderbrinkauction.proxibid.com/VanDerBrink-Auctions-LLC/Approx-140-Collector-Cars-and-Parts/event-catalog/178346?p=1&srchloc=true&sort=0#cnTb

This is about dreams for the future from young people.

I'm trying to help a guy from the Czech Republic. He's looking for turn signals for a Mercury truck. Anyone have any ideas?

In case anybody is interested: http://famosoraceway.com/national-day-of-nitro

Is anybody affected by the Midland Mi. flooding?

It's been years since I've had a real hot rod engine. The kind with high compression, enough cam profile to rump and real low end torque. With today's wide lobe center cams, efi and real efficiency with moderate compression ratios, the rawness has disappeared. We have wonderful performers that kind of lack character. My last sport bike was a 10 second performer from the dealer, made 44 mpg and you never had to work on it. It also idled smoothly and did nothing wrong. I'm all for everything being great but is it going to be difficult to build a hot rod engine and still get some of the magic from the old days? The cammyness, the feeling of multi carbs opening up, etc. I know that many of you travel a lot more than I do. Have you run across something that does everything but still displays "animal magnetism"?

The last 3 days have turned into winter again. While I've been doing menial tasks, I've had time to read and think. I read an article today about the vast decrease in air pollution in huge cities worldwide since the shut down began. My comparison in my little world has been the 32 with 1989 based eeciv, the 51 with 1996 eecv, the 72 f100 with 2007 advanced eecv and my wife's 2019 edge with a turbo 4. I have been around all of these in the garage while running. Each one is cleaner than the one before. My wife has started her edge and let it warm up with the door shut for about 10 minutes. When you walk in there, you can hardly smell it. If it's cleaner, does that mean that it's more efficient and able to produce more power per btu? Or is the converters doing their job well? In my quest for the ultimate hot rod, I want the power train to be as good as we have now without durability issues. What thoughts do you members have about this?

This is the beginning of my parking brake for the 51 F1. I have mentioned this to several of the members of the forum. There's all kind of switches but I elected to use a double throw, double pole toggle switch. I'm going to use a screw terminal block to connect the wires. One end of the toggle will be same as the power and ground on the switch. The other end will be reversed. There's lots of engineering to do to adapt the calipers to the rear end. When I get deeper into this, I may decide it's not worthwhile. This particular caliper fits a late model Ford Fusion and similar class suv's.

I've been thinking about this subject for some time. I want to improve on my past efforts and build what could be the last hot rod for me. This list is the mechanical parameters that I have composed. I'm asking for comments, good, bad or ugly. I have no answer for the vehicle base for this yet. That's more difficult for me than mechanics.

Ultimate hot rod mechanics

At least 12" rotors on front
hydroboost
rack and pinion steering
350 hp or more
overdrive
IFS with coilovers
Spindles that will take a 6.5" backspace wheel without going to 18" diameter wheels
Adequate cooling system with quiet electric fan
Vintage Air
Modern door latches
All controls and seating set for driver comfort on long days
Good sound control and thermal control in interior
Possible IRS such as 2015 and newer Mustang rear
Good electrics with relays for all high capacity circuits
EFI
In tank fuel pump.
At least 15 gal. fuel capacity
At least 20 mpg on highway
Engineered properly for ease of maintenance
Regular components for easy availability of replacement
Sway bars front and rear
Stiff frame to provide precise handling
Spare tire and jack, misc. tools storage space
Good audio system
Enough suspension travel to absorb serious bumps without harshness
Halogen headlights that work well
Modern glass seals to avoid air leaks
Modern engine without oil leaks and good durability

This is the latest addition to the yard. This is a 1978 F150 standard cab long bed plain jane truck. It has a 300 six and a 4 speed, 3 fuel tanks, overload springs and a gooseneck hitch. It came from Arizona by way of Nebraska. It has been sitting in a shed for 6 years. No one knew why it was put in the shed. This was grandpas' truck. While it does appear to be rust and hail dent free, it has dents in both front fenders and the tailgate where someone backed into the gooseneck. This was originally blue metallic. The tailgate is green on the inside which tells me it might not have been the 1st encounter with the hitch. The 76 rust pile is going to be a parts donor for this truck. I kept adding up a repair list for the 76 and didn't see a good ending. At this point, I don't know where I'm headed with this. I believe I'll see if the engine runs and try to find out how many surprised there are. LOL

I know it's early but it's before bedtime for old guys. Never did I think I might live to see 2020. A lot of us lived through draft ages and many did service. Many of us had risky life styles. Motorcycles, hot rods, drag racing, you name it. Look at the family trees. Not everyone has long life genes in their game plan. In the last few years, I have watched the passing of a few people I knew from a distance. Pat Foster and Tom Jobe both have reflected with the statement "No sad music for me". I feel the same way. Life has been more than I expected. I have met so many wonderful people of which this bunch is included. I look forward to what 2020 will bring with renewed enthusiasm for the future. My best wishes to all of you and hope that you get to enjoy a year that is wonderful in ways yet to be discovered!  

This was delivered to me sunday. There is a grille and headlight assembly along with a radiator support to go along with this. I wanted it for the cab and front clip. I don't have a real plan yet for this mess. There is rust under the drip rail on the right side. I think I entered IDJ's land. It is an XLT that has all the side trim removed. As you might imagine, it wasn't expensive. It has hail dents on the top and hood. I'm going to have to develop a plan before doing much. I cleaned the debris from it before taking the pics.

I'm starting a thread just in case this develops into something worth discussing. Today I ran a compression test of the 5.0 engine after having it running a few days ago. 7 cylinders with 145lbs. I with zero. Not 60, not 20, zero. I connected the leakdown meter and can hear air passing both valves. I'm hoping that I can pull a head and find a simple repair. The od has 114,000 miles on it. I don't know if it works or not. The 145lbs is higher than most of these I have worked on so I'm hoping the cylinders are round and not scuffed up. I may end up replacing bearings and the oil pump because of it having been upside down and surely running some before the inertia switch shutting off the engine. I found out the drive shaft was bent also. I have something of a plan but I'm going to wait until teardown to see what I have to work with before saying much.

At Louisville, we had some discussion about fuel and vapor locking. I found some info that might be useful someday.


Tests were performed to compare the evaporation rate of 10 volume percent (vol%) ethanol-blended gasoline (E10) with the evaporation rate of its base gasoline. Weight loss, temperature, pressure, and humidity were monitored as lab-blended E10 and base gasolines were evaporated concurrently from glass cylinders placed on balances located side by side under an exhaust hood. The averaged results of four tests at about 70°F showed that the E10 lost more total weight to evaporation than the base fuel, but less gasoline. The increased weight was due to ethanol, which was present in the E10 evaporative emissions at concentrations of about 13 weight percent (wt%). In two-hour tests at temperatures near 70°F, during which 4.5 to 5.3 wt% of initial fuel samples were evaporated, E10 fuels lost an average of about 5% less gasoline than their base fuels. A similar result was obtained for a one-hour test, during which about 2.4 to 2.5 wt% of the initial fuel samples were evaporated. Gas chromatography (GC) component analysis indicated that the compositions of the ethanol-free emissions from the two fuels were similar. Reid vapor pressure (RVP) measurements made using a Grabner CCA-VPS according to ASTM D5191-91 indicated that E10 fuels underwent an approximate 5% greater RVP reduction than their respective base fuels.

Global ethanol trade is forecast to increase 25-fold by 2020. Most of it will be blended with gasoline to make biofuel. However, blending ethanol with gasoline has a profound effect on the evaporation characteristics of the mixture. In particular, the thermodynamic properties of the blends can be significantly different than the constituents. A clear understanding of the blend's properties is essential for optimizing engine design, e.g. utilizing charge cooling effect. Data available in the literature is very limited, considering ethanol-gasoline blends will be used as a fuel in large scale worldwide. In this work, comprehensive measurements of vapor pressures were carried out. The enthalpies of vaporization were derived from vapor pressure data using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. Maximum vapor pressure occurs with 20% ethanol-gasoline blend at which a positive azeotrope is formed. The trend is different in enthalpy of vaporization. The results presented here contradict previous claims that the enthalpy of vaporization is a linear function of ethanol content. Such a trend is true up to 20%; the value then decreases a little and appears to flatten out between E30 and E60. After E60, it begins to increase again. The ethanol-gasoline blends were tested in a port injected SI engine. The evaporation characteristic of the fuel was assessed by measuring the cycle-resolved temperature in the cylinder. The results have shown that low ethanol blends (0–30%) tend to evaporate readily, but the evaporative cooling is limited by the relatively low fuel flow rate (at fixed stoichiometry) and enthalpy of vaporization. High ethanol blends (>50%) with reduced vapor pressure cannot evaporate readily, but if they do vaporize, then they absorb large amounts of energy per unit mass. The implication of these competing effects is that maximum cooling is achieved using a blend with about 50% ethanol. A parameter "potential evaporative power" is introduced to estimate these effects.

I found this document on my local Oil Refinery's web site and it may help explain some of the problems with vapor lock and hard start.
In this document is a chart for Seasonal Gasoline Specifications. Gasoline vaporizes according to fuel system pressure.

December - February gas mixture begins to vaporize at 11-15psi at 105 deg F

April gasoline is 9-11.5 psi at 124 deg F

and May gasoline is 7-9 psi at 140 deg F

If you had winter gasoline in your Antique car on a 100 deg day you would only be about 5 degrees from vapor bubbles in the fuel. A vapor lock condition would be caused.

If you purchased April gas when you take your Antique out of winter storage it is only a month until the switch from 124 deg F to 140 deg F. This might explain a lot of problems in early summer.

I Have problems with the fuel temp in my 1937 Buick. I can start my car instantly after sitting in a cool garage at about 75 deg F. Drive 30 miles and then park for 20 minutes. As the car is parked Temperature

Will rise to above 180 degrees on the Temperature gauge. Much of the excess engine heat will end up soaking the fuel system under the hood. The fuel pressure is at 1 - 3 psig since the pump is not running.

The summer gasoline vaporizes in the line and the heat soak is quicker and longer on hot day's. If I wait a hour for the system to cool to ambient temperature then it starts easy.

I have a electric pump at the tank to try and speed up the fuel cooling process but if you have a 100 deg F day you may have fuel near 100 deg F in the tank.

If I could get 75-85 octane, non-ethanol, Regular gasoline that vaporized at above 180 deg F, I think my car would run fine all the time.




1.) The vapor pressure is a property of the substance and is constant at a given temperature. It increases when temperature increases.
2.) The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the pressure surrounding the liquid.

-If you create a vacuum over the liquid you decrease the pressure surrounding the liquid. As soon as it falls below the vapor pressure the liquid will start to boil (you do not have to increase the temperature)!
-If you seal the container, the pressure over the liquid will always be the same as the vapor pressure. Thus no matter how much you heat your liquid in order to increase the vapor pressure it will never boil (provided you have a perfect seal and your container can withstand the pressure i.e. it doesn't blow up!). I.E. your boiling point will increase if you seal the container.

There was a farm equipment auction today. On the list was a 1946 Ford 4 door sedan street rod, 350,350, 9" leather ,ac, etc. and a 1978 Bronco with 30,000 miles. The 46 brought 16 grand and the Bronco brought 36 grand. They both were sold onsite. It's been several years since I saw the 46 but it was a nice car when I last saw it. Maybe the bronco was the best survivor left?

I need some input. Is an irs a worthwhile addition to a 32-34 Ford? I had someone say that as long as the front end doesn't bottom out that the irs will make the most difference in ride quality. Has anybody owned and irs car or ridden in one enough to have actual exp.? Thank you.

Where do you guys recommend that a person stays?

I just found out the T-Vicky, Roger Mingle passed away last week. He was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer before George found out he had cancer. Neither lasted long.  :cry:

I went, I looked and I returned with a smile. Short road trip this morning to check out the preview for an auction. Around 400 cars. Pics later today. Back to work.

I may have mentioned this car before. It belonged to one of friends back in the 60's. It was sold and ended up in California. My friends son found the car on the internet and went to Cali in about 2012 and purchased it. This is the end of the story.

My friend asked me to do the update on this. I'm honored to do so. The car was at Salina this weekend. He has put in serious hours to finish it so the rest of the world could see it. The tow truck in the pics is the one he restored that was owned by his father's best friend. He has driven the car about 1 mile at this point. The pics show the update on the interior. There was nothing left of the original interior to go from. None of us have a good enough memory to be capable of restoring to it's original condition. The owner has tried to keep it period correct. I believe this to be the original engine and trans that has been freshened. I for one, am astounded that this car made it to California, wasn't destroyed and has been restored!

I'm going to have several seams to seal. Does anyone have a product that they recommend?

For those of you who are drag fans, I see that Tom passed away at 81 years of age. The end of a remarkable career.

From one of our members shop: http://www.hotrod.com/articles/1967-ford-f-100-ranger-proves-heath-taylor-inherited-great-taste/

Just in case any of you thought I had enough fun: this will be another project down the road. I don't know how fast or when. When you look at the pics, you'll see it might be one of those rust free Colorado trucks you see listed. The pics are of a 2007 Crown Vic P71 cop car, a donor cab with a good floor, and the rust bucket.

I bought a 2013 chevy sonic gauge cluster to try and use for future projects. I can't seem to find a wiring diagram for it. Does anybody have access to something that could label the 9 wires feeding into it? Thank you.

I found this the other day and thought some of you might want to know the difference in the wire nomenclature.


Wire-&-Cable
Cross-Link Wire
Cross-Link Wire is the ideal wire choice for engine compartments and other high temperature environments.  Cross-Link Wire is manufactured with a chemically cross-linked, polyethylene insulation providing extra protection in extreme environments. The high temperature rating of this insulation ensures the bare copper stranding stays insulated from high temperature and corrosive environments. The high temperature Cross-Link Wire is available in three insulation sizes: SXL, GXL, and TXL. The SXL wire has the thickest insulation to withstand prolonged extreme temperatures. The GXL wire has a medium-thickness insulation to resist fusing and melting. Finally, the TXL wire has the thinnest insulation to provide minimal diameter and weight to the wire.

My son is looking at an 05 chevy colorado with the 5 cyl and what appears to be a 4l60e trans that is non-functioning. Does it require special tools or knowledge to rebuild one? Is that a bad idea completely? Thank you.

Does anybody have info to determine the original carb on a 1969 Mustang Mach 1 "s " code? This has a 4 speed and ac if it makes any difference.

Bob, I don't consider myself to be an expert by any means but I wanted to add some items to the front end question. This is pics of my 32. It has 27,000 miles and has been trouble free. It was just recently that I added shorter shocks that gave the 3" of compression travel. That made a lot of difference. This is a Chassis Engineering forged axle and spring. Magnum brakes and hairpin kit. You notice the panhard bar is small diameter. I used Monroe gas shocks and it has Unisteer. I started out with Pete and Jake regular oil shocks. The ride was so bad that you thought you went back to the 50's. I have gas shocks on all 4 corners. Very noticable difference. I would be the 1st to say that the ride quality isn't going to be as good as a good ifs.

Do any of you have exp. with using a tear drop camper? I'd like to know if this is much of an option for rod runs versus the motel situation.

This is wayyy off topic but in case you are unaware, the National park senior pass goes up in price August 28. Because so many of us are travelers, I thought I would mention it.

For those of you that were wondering what I was going to do with all the parts that I have collected, here's the answer. The plan was to use up all the left over and extra parts from the past projects. I didn't have a drive train so that caused the purchase of the f150 for it's drivetrain and electronics. There's still a lot of decisions to make but I'll list the parts that are here and then I have some mockup pics to give you an idea where this could end up.
F150 5.0 engine and MR5 5 speed trans with eec iv efi.
96 explorer rear end that has been narrowed to center the pinion.
32 Ford 4" dropped axle setup with GM metric brakes and hairpin rods.  Vega steering box.
Early 70's Granada steering column.
Pedal hanger from the F150, manual master cylinder for the brakes, discs front and rear, nicop brakelines
Fuel tank and pump from F150, 2 to choose from, rear or side tank
F150 driveshaft and wiring harness.
New 65 Mustang 3 core radiator and Cooling Components electric fan and shroud.
Assortment of left over mufflers and mid 80's Mustang oem exhaust headers
Choice of 4 sets of tires and wheels, steelies and trim rings and caps, gray spoke torque thrust d's, 17" mustang wheels, both bullitt and regular 17" styles.
32 Ford grille shell, 49 Ford truck cab, 58 Ford passenger car rear section.
That's the largest part of the items that are here now. I bought rectangle tubing and a 32 Ford front crossmember back in December for this build. It's taken that long for me to get all the other things finished so I had something of a clean slate time wise.

I met a guy in Pueblo who has ties to all the people that I know. This is a video of the hydraulic front end on his Willys. All the parts are cnc machined in his shop.