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Hi all,

Is there a way that I can accurately test torque wrenches at home. I seem to recall seeing a home-made tester that did just that but didn't bookmark it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chebby

I have a question for all you ...errrr...... experienced people..... nice way of saying OLD!  

Hot Rodding has a lot or imagery (for lack of a better term), things that are general accepted as COOL, or items that you would find on or near a car to make it a Hot Rod... what are the origins of these things....

For example... hood louvers are cool....... I get this one... it helps release heat from the motor... practical... now seen as cool.

Fuzzy Dice  :?:

Red Wheels  :?:

Wide White Walls  :?:

Dice  :?:  Assuming this is a Shooting dice, bad boy activity  :?:

The number 13  :?:

Eight Balls  :?:  Flying Eight Balls  :?:

Tiki Stuff  :?:

No Fenders... to fit bigger tires  :?:    Yes or no  :?:

Naked Woman... I get this one...    

Car Slammed down low  :?:

Fender Skirts  :?:

Cars jacked up :?:  Assuming tire issues...

Pin Striping  :?:

Cars that are rusty and/or in primer.... wait.. don't go there        

Most of the Hot Rodding lore came from World War II vets coming back to civilian life. Racing at Bonneville with belly (fuel) tanks converted to race cars. Decorating their racers with drawings like on the noses of their B-24 Liberator bombers, flames and gnashing teeth, etc. Lady Luck was often painted on the fighter planes noses along with other drawings poking fun at luck itself...  8 balls, lucky 7 dice, etc..

Red wheels probably came from someone painting the rims red to see a nice red line between the hubcap and the black rubber then the wide white wall. Then another person took of the hubcap and liked the look.

For a time, the width of white walls varied like the length of skirts in the fashion world. Tire manufacturers experimented with different widths, multiple stripes, colored stripes, big block letters that looked like white walls when they revolved... Now black wall seems to be the norm but nostalgia keeps bringing old fads back.

Dice, 8 balls, number 13, see my comment on laughing at lady luck above.

Tiki stuff can have many sources, as stated from artist of the time but also from the surfing crowd and possibly Korean war vets.

Removing fenders was a fast way to reduce weight and reduce drag, those big fenders were like reverse air foils wanting to lift the front of the car in the air. Removing them became instant and cheap way to improve the aerodinamics.

Naked women... See Lady Luck (or other mascots) again.

Cars jacked up, slammed down low... See my comments on mini skirts but jacked up cars were mostly jacked up for weight transfer to the rear wheels.  Then there was also the rivalry between racers/hot rodders and Kustomizers. Hot rodders exaggerated the height while Kustomizers went as low as they could.

Fender skirts I assume came from aircraft wheel pants (before retractable landing gear). To reduce drag in both cases but also to enhance the looks of both the aircraft and the car.

Pin striping was a common decorations on horse drawn carriages and carried over to early motor cars. Just another for artists to practice their art on vehicles.

Rusty cars in primer used to be in primer when hot rodders couldn't afford the final paint right away but could drive their cars because they were (somewhat) roadworthy. Now with the nostalgic rat rod movement (some more ratty than others) rodders will leave their cars with the unfinished look on purpose, you'll see all levels of unfinished cars, some more irreverant than others.

That's how I remember it... What say you?

Chebby

[Don't forget the ubiquitous "shrunken heads".Chebby]

As for fuzzy dice............................

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Fuzzy dice, known in the British Isles as furry dice or fluffy dice, are an automotive decoration consisting of two oversized plush dice which hang from the rear-view mirror. The classic style of fuzzy dice is white dice with black dots, roughly 3 inches on a side, although a wide variety of colors and sizes are now available in automotive supply and novelty stores. Fuzzy dice became popular in the United States for a brief period in the 1950s. Thereafter, they went through a number of cycles of popularity, but have not remained popular since the 1970s. Today, many people consider them tacky or camp.

Fuzzy dice are the precursor to a number of other mirror-hanging automotive accessories. The modern automobile owner is likely familiar with dangling pine tree air fresheners (Little Trees), as well as less common hanging disco balls, 8 balls, skeletons, and a bride's garter. An interesting variation is the hanging dice air freshener; such an item is generally not fuzzy but otherwise resembles fuzzy dice

Also, alot of fad things were regional.  East Coast was different than West Coast on many things, like channelling.

Don

Don't forget the ubiquitous "shrunken heads".

Chebby

... I'm starting to think, if I have that 700R4 tranny checked before I hook it up behind the new 350 the tranny shop will most likely want to rebuild it...

Can anybody tell me how much a GM Goodwrench (brand new) replacement 700R4 would cost?

I'm looking for a 700R4 (I think they call it a 4L60 now), not the early one but not the computer version either.

Thanks all.

Chebby

[I run a 3.50 rear with 28 inch tires and a 700 and really like it in my truck (75mph at about 2400 rpm)]

The 700 has a much deeper 1st gear (3.0?) vs about a 2.5 in the 200.  Running 3.50 gears with the 700 is like having 4.11's to 4.20's using a 200 or 350 in first. That is nice with a heavier vehicle or if you are geared high in the rear end say less than a 3.23, but that is where the tires come into play.  I run a 3.50 rear with 28 inch tires and a 700 and really like it in my truck (75mph at about 2400 rpm).  You might be running a 30 inch tire or something like that though.

You should be fairly light, so either would probably be a good deal.  The 700 is easier to find and probably cheaper.  If you run something larger than a 28 inch tire I would recommend a rear gear of 3.50 to 3.73 with the 200 and at least a 3.23 with the 700.

The drag racers like the 200 for the smaller drop in rpms during the 1-2 shift.  The other thing is that the 200 is the same length as a 350 and the 700 is longer.  The 200 is also a little smaller all around which might matter to you and the 700 is longer by I'll guess 7-8 inches.  If that works with the car length I'd use the 700 if you have neither now.

Don't gear the car too high as the fun of these transmissions is you can have good acceleration and low cruise rpms.

Either way don't use the 350.  If you ever use a good overdrive on a street car I doubt you would ever go back.

c ya, Sum

What gear ratio do you run in your pickup? I have the same setup you've described in my pickup and I'll be running a 10 bolt posi unit with 3.42 gears.

Chebby

... for my '52 Chev pickup. Any suggestion?

A while back I bought a warmed over 1981 sbc 305 and have since purchased an aluminum long water pump, the chrome pulleys, chrome timing chain cover, finned aluminum oil pan and Edelbrock carburator and Wieand Stealth intake. I'll also be running a 700R4 tranny.

I want a more dependable engine for loooong runs but would also like to keep all this stuff I've purchased for the 305.

Have any of you purchased crate engines? Do you have GM part numbers and an approx. idea of pricing?

Thanks all

Chebby

... I should live to a ripe old age!

I may have mentioned this to you before but this happened to me about 31 years ago (I'm going by my oldest daughter's age who was only a year old at the time).

I was coming home from a rod run with my then "new" street rod (1940 Studebaker, 4 door sedan, 327 cid small block) when I lost the steering at 60 miles an hour. I was on a divided highway and when my car hit the expansion joint at the entrance of a bridge a steering link fell out and I was instantly without steering. I turned around to my wife who had just moved to the back seat to attend to our daughter and said: "Hold on!". At that moment the adrenalin kicked in and everything went into slow motion. I noticed that a curve was coming in the road ahead with huge concrete pillars. I also noticed that the crown of the road was pulling the car to the left and my gentle testing of the brakes pulled the car to the right. I checked my mirrors and there were no cars anywhere around me (This is the Trans-Canada Highway on a Sunday afternoon) so I slowed down as quickly as I could using the crown of the road and my brakes to steer. As I got to the edge of the pavement I was probably doing 20 MPH, the right wheel then veered the car quickly and I slammed the brakes. I stopped on a slight incline about 90 degrees to the highway to which my wife said: "Why are we stopping here?" Looking through my windscreen I could see a Texaco station parking lot... Looking behind me, I could see that the traffic had resumed to its usual density with tractor trailers and motor homes whizzing by at full speed.

Whenever I pass that spot on the highway, I always count: "One potato, two potatoes, three potatoes..." and at 60 MPH I've never been able to count more than 6 potatoes from the expansion joint to where I came to a halt!

As I said, that was approximately 31 years ago. Fast forward to TODAY... My buddy comes to visit me to go to a car show in our village with his "new to him" '50 GMC pickup. It's mostly stock but has a Toyota power steering box and chrome rims and radials. After viewing the cars at our local show we decided to go to another car show about an hour's drive away. When we came to a bridge (are you following this???) he was talking about his alignment needing to be checked as he found it was wandering a bit more than usual. We were half way across the bridge when the truck hit what we thought was the guardrail of the bridge (remember this truck is mostly stock so there are NO SEATBELTS!) and we are now careening banked against the guardrail, then as we get to the end of the bridge the truck starts crossing the highway (did I mention this in two-way traffic) luckily, there are no cars that we can see coming in the other direction (there's an upcoming hill and curve... See any similarities to my story? I know I did!). We finally came to a full stop on the opposite bank of the highway as if we had stopped to pick berries on the side of the road!

We got out and he instantly came over to my side to see the damages to his freshly painted truck... NOTHING... Not a scratch, his tires scraped the edge of the concrete abutment of the bridge and gently bounced us across the highway. Then we looked for what came unhooked in the steering system...

Have I ever expounded on the use of Mr. Cotter's little invention... Namely cotter pins??? My buddy, rather red faced, realized he had forgotten to put one back in after the Toyota steering box addition.

Well like I said in the subject line, if these incidents come in 3's then my next episode will be in the year 2038 and I'll be 91 years old, luckily I'll most likely be wearing Depends!!!

Chebby

Epilogue 1: As Canadians, we are NOT very litigious people, but the reason I lost the steering in my Studebaker was that I followed an article in the now defunct magazine called Rod Action. They explained that using a D-Shaft slip joint you could install a rack & pinion steering mounted to your straight axle... Yeah, right! The unsuspended weight of a rack & pinion factored in I would have needed a slip joint twice the length of the one I installed. I didn't sue anyone because I'd also have to factor in MY STUPIDITY!

Epilogue 2: And this one is straight from the heart... I have a feeling GOD was reminding me not to be as complacent as I have been lately... He's STILL in control!!!

Hi all,

Is there a website where I can compare one PPG paint formula to another PPG paint? The reason I ask is that I have a gallon and a half of blue paint (Hot Licks Super Blue, #17708) and I'm wondering if that formulation is close to any other color on the PPG Hot Licks chart.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chebby

I bolted my hood back on the car for the first time in 10 years!

That's the good news. The bad news is that the stock hood latch is broke.

I'm wondering if anybody knows of a late model hood latch that would work, or should I just find a replacement for the stocker.

I was going to try making the hood open forward, but may give up on that and just leave well enough alone.

Thanks,

Walt

I was looking at an AutoLoc latch on the web. It's a brand new product so I don't know about availablility but I know I'll be buying one for my truck.

Here's the link... http://www.thehoffmangroup.com/Autoloc/detail.lasso?itemid=BCTR

Chebby

Hi all,

I'm trying to decide which gauges to use in my 1952 Chevy pickup. I'm VERY interested in a set of 5" quad/programmable speedo with tan faced and stainless steel bezel by TPI Tech (It's a Snap Wiring). I'm having a very hard time finding them. Tan/stainless doesn't seem to be a popular combo and nobody has them in stock... Not even TPI themselves.

Before I go any further, does anyone on here use these gauges? Any problems?

Thank you very much for your time and any input would be greatly appreciated.

Chebby

Hi all,

A buddy of mine has a '50 GMC pickup with a 235 cid Chevy six. He wants to install a GM power steering pump. He has already converted his generator bracket to hold the 12 volt alternator.

Has anyone already solved this power steering pump installation?

He says the right side is taken up by a radiator hose and other obstructions.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chebby

Hi all,

I am looking for instructions (online preferred) to install a late model (79 to 84) Toyota power steering box on a '50 GMC pickup. It replaces the original box in the original location.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chebby

Chebby:  Have you noticed that a lot of us are 36 yrs. on this board?  LOL

Hi all,

A while back, I was looking for a back issue of a magazine (Custom Classic Trucks, Aug. 2006). A fellow on the board told me he had one but I couldn't contact him via the email addy that I had for him. When I asked Enjenjo if he could forward him a message, Enjenjo said: "I can do better than that, just send me your mailing address and I'll send you my copy"

The missing issue arrived today Frank, thank you very much. It is much appreciated. I'm an incorrigible collector and I obsess when I miss an issue and can't find it.

Thanks again for solving my problem...

Merry Christmas to you and all the board members.

Chebby

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