Hey there !

Old Blue · January 22, 2010, 09:36:11 PM

Have not been around here for many years. You guys may remember me as larryt (my previous handle) .

I went through a divorce and a number of years single, re-married to a beautiful Texas woman in 2004. Jan is wonderful and life with her is amazing.

I have been involved mainly in motorcycling with my 2004 ST1300 sport touring mount and love it.

Some of you may recall (enjenjo likely for sure) that I made and sold some real nice Mustang II kits for a while. I still have all my templates and many models, just have not been inclined to do any kits for a long time. Not sure I want to do any more now.

Life has been busy, and when I divorced I sold my 37 Dodge sedan and moved on.

Life still is busy, but I have decided to re-enter the rodding hobby.

We are heading out tomorrow and I am bringing home a steel 26 roadster body.

It's the front half of a touring body that has been stretched 4" behind the doors and all the rust repaired the right way. New hinges and door latches.

A nice little bucket body.

I have a little 53 Dodge Red Ram 241 Hemi to power it. The engine I got for free !

I will be scratch building the chassis and almost everything.

Anyway I will be hanging around to pick your brains from time to time. Not sure how or who to have the little hemi built and all kinds of other problems will come up I'm sure.

Larry.

Fat Cat · January 22, 2010, 10:11:08 PM

Welcome back, Larry. I remember you. I too married a wonderful Texas gal in 2004.

jaybee · January 22, 2010, 10:23:25 PM

Welcome back, hope to see you around here more often.

Crosley.In.AZ · January 22, 2010, 10:35:56 PM

welcome back. i remember you and the cross member kits.

the honda st bikes are nice units

Old Blue · January 22, 2010, 10:48:13 PM

Quote from: "Fat Cat"Welcome back, Larry. I remember you. I too married a wonderful Texas gal in 2004.

Thanks guys. Good to be here. And good to see familiar guys around too. Nice to see I'm remembered by some of you

Jan and I presently live in Edmonton Alberta and this will be home for the time being, retirement in 10 years or so may see us heading south to Texas.

Larry.

enjenjo · January 22, 2010, 11:58:33 PM

Welcome back. Yes I remember your kits, cloned a few, and then moved on to Paul Horton's U weld kits. The 47 Chevy I did with the firsat one of your kits I bought, is still around, and he tells me every time I see him it is the best driving street rod he has ever owned.

purplepickup · January 23, 2010, 12:34:05 AM

Larry, it's real good to hear from you again and it's great that you landed on both feet and life is good. A special lady and a scooter will clear your head everytime.

The project you're getting pieces for sounds interesting. We like pics when you get a chance

GPster · January 23, 2010, 08:14:36 AM

I usually pick different points of interest to remember people by. It seems that I remember the baby "Hemi" coming just before the split. What I remember most was you being a welding instructor in a high school/vocational school setting. Listening to your welding experences slip into the talk and your sideline of Mustang II crossmembers I always thought you would be a great teacher and your instructions would be easy to follow. Sometimes I'm impressed by people that act like what they do is not that impressive and I felt that way about you. Of course there seems to be a lot of people like that here (I sit in the sidelines and watch) so welcome back. GPster

phat46 · January 23, 2010, 08:59:56 AM

Welcome back, I happy that life is better for you now. I remember Frank reccomending your Must II kits, so I knew they must be good!

kb426 · January 23, 2010, 09:12:38 AM

Welcome. I had a 241 in a 27 roadster in the 80's. Mine was a 2 barrel carb with a factory dual point dist. Not much power.

Charlie Chops 1940 · January 23, 2010, 09:40:52 AM

Welcome back Larry.

Charlie

Old Blue · January 23, 2010, 11:13:30 PM

Quote from: "GPster"I usually pick different points of interest to remember people by. It seems that I remember the baby "Hemi" coming just before the split. What I remember most was you being a welding instructor in a high school/vocational school setting. Listening to your welding experences slip into the talk and your sideline of Mustang II crossmembers I always thought you would be a great teacher and your instructions would be easy to follow. Sometimes I'm impressed by people that act like what they do is not that impressive and I felt that way about you. Of course there seems to be a lot of people like that here (I sit in the sidelines and watch) so welcome back. GPster

Well, you are right on the money with what you recall Earl Good memory,
thanks for the kind words.

I'm still teaching welding full time and it's been 12 years now, We train a very large percentage of all the apprentice welders in western Canada.

I'm just a regular guy, a tradesman and blue collar all the way.

I guess I must enjoy what I do as it's been so long now. It really is a rewarding job in a lot of ways.

The hemi was given to me around then and sat in a friends yard for a long time.

It took a long time to get back on the feet so to speak, but things are good.

As far as the little hemi goes, even though it is only a 241,there must be some way to wake the little engine up.

Stock it was only 7.5 compression and surely it could be built to crank out some ponies.

Any ideas beyond looking for a 392 etc. ?

I will post pictures of the T body when I figure out how !

Enjenjo, that's nice to hear about my kit in the 47. You may have noticed I built those kits to be solid, and that is probably why it drives so well.

Larry

kb426 · January 24, 2010, 09:04:19 AM

There's lots of parts available now for that series of engine. It will respond well to normal improvements. My point was that a common thought is "if it's a hemi, it makes lots of power."

GPster · January 24, 2010, 10:50:24 AM

I would think that there would be some similarity between a 241" baby "Hemi" and a 239" "Flathead" with "Ardun" heads. Maybe they would be a source for ideas. I've don't profess to be a "Hemi" expert but I've had a couple. Mostly they've been rescued from junk. One piece of information that I have picked up is that everyone seems to bypass the Desoto "Hemi" that is different. Half the weight of a vehicle doesn't need to be the engine. GPster

Old Blue · January 24, 2010, 11:36:25 PM

The little 241 is the Dodge Red Ram, it says so on the valve covers which are mint by the way.

I will look into the performance parts availability, I have even considered a supercharger if it could be done. Nothing like a little boost to wake up an engine.

I know it's small but it's still a V8 and as such should have some potential for a small light car like the T roadster.

Any companies you can suggest for parts and tech help ?

By the way, the roadster body is now safely tucked away in the garage. We just got home from a 2 day banzai run over to Saskatchewan to pick it up. All through a snowstorm etc.

Was quite the adventure, stayed overnight in Carlyle Sask., and then went to a farm and had to put the Ranger in 4 wheel drive low and crawl through 3 ' of snow to the quonset shop where the body was.

Loaded it up and headed for home.

The roads were awful, loads of snow from Regina to Saskatoon and running in 4wd.

After that was better.
Here are some pictures of the body !
Larry