'Twas the morning of the day before Xmas etc etc

Had to go over to the Silichs home yesterday, to help fit Vickies coupe body to the frame Darren has built.....this car is so nice and original, the body is dam near perfect.....(I shoulda kept it!!!)

Now the fun begins, have to cut this up to get it around the Chevy, "Take a deep breath...start cutting!"....the Eric Vaughan wheels look great...wait until you see the 8" rears...amazing! Not bad for a car that was only started on 5 weeks ago!!

While I was down that way, called in to check progress on Dave Winters 32 tudor...impressive to say the least...Looks great with the wheel combo, and naturally, a Winters Quick Change, this will be one bad looking highboy...only decision to make now.......to cut or not to cut?

Electronic injected Hilborns on a hemi, with goodies from :Hot Heads"...rump rump!!

Work has just about stopped on the roadster, as Xmas is here tomorrow, but at least the fenders are done , Moon tank and headlights mounted properly, the correct wheels and tires I will use are the Halibrands that were on the Tudor, so if I have time in the next few days, I will start mounting the fuse box/wiring/switches etc.

 

 

All the best to everyone for Xmas, stay safe, and catch you on the next blog...

end of the world...special edition.

Trying to get my fenders finished before Fridays 2012 end of the world deal!!!haha.

So, I started off with making the brackets from flat steel, but they looked too bulky, so I bent some scrap 12 mm round, it seemed nicer, so I thought, "let's try 10mm...that should work!"....so between a scrap of box tubing, an old Moroso pulley, the 12mm piece welded to bench, and a convinient hole, I had my jig...made 4 identical shapes.

These are welded to tabs that bolt to the ears on the disc brake adapters, and to add strength, a 25 mm flat is welded between upper and lower...reasonably rigid now, but I think I will also weld the fenders to these brackets, rather than bolting.

I had to curve the metal to certain diameters, so took a couple of hours and some scrap steel to make this dodgy brothers roller assembly..bit rough, but it works!

As you can see, the fender brackets shaped, and the rolled material....think I should go into marketing these items under "dodgy bros" brand....or maybe "super super cheep"...it is so handy to be able to do most of your work at home!

Rear fenders up until yesterday a'noon..I have to go buy more steel flat today to strenghten these..these bolt to a pre drilled brace I welded in next to the buggy spring mount, so it serves two purposes.

Here's my "dodgy bros." bender, I made this from two old fence posts, part of an old towbar, and quite a bit of leftover scrap metal, but once again, it works fine...I used it to fold a return lip on some 12g sheet metal I had lying around, to see if I could use my home made roller to make the fenders.

As you can see, it does work, and if I spent more time being more accurate with my measurements..(I cut this all out with a cut off wheel and used my eyes as to where to fold)...anyway, it works, but I am having www.oz-rods.com roll them up properly for me..will have them sometime this week and the fenders will be on before the end of the world!!

Some guys have all the luck!

Sometimes a fella gets lucky, and last Friday, as usual, I bought the 10 number Keno....20 games worth...the return is always either nil, or maybe $2 or $6  or something trivial, but you just hope that one day........well, $20 in and $10,004 back wasn't bad....no going to ALDI anymore, I've moved up to Woolies!!

 This will come in handy, but not for the hot rod.....(well, I did go straight out and ordered more tyres..)...but it will go towards a trip we have been planning for years!

 

Back to working on the hot rod now, I had a week off to clean up the acreage for Xmas, now to start on the fenders...I kinda like the 32 with the American Tork Thrusts on it....

But then I came home with the new steelies that are destined to go on the Tudor, and couldn't resist a peek...not sure if I like it or not....maybe if it had the caps on might help....probably needs different paint, and I do like the flat black look.

Stuff it, I said...lets just make three sets of fenders for each set of wheels, so I can mix and match, but will start off making them fit the Halibrands. I experimented today with some flat bar brackets, and some round bar..think the round looks better.

When I saw this car on the www,nzhrm.com website last week, it had me thinking hard about "proper" paint...this looks like the lemon we used on the last race car...might even be that recent Suzuki colour.....but to me, this car looks "spot - on".

 

This is the best you're going to get from me for a Xmas scene....under the Mistletoe..(Poincianna)....so in case I don't blog next week, Merry Xmas to all who read this, hope my twisted humour has brightened your year, stay healthy, we've only got one shot at this life, so enjoy it!

 

I will have a listing of "events" for 2013 soon, but pencil these in...Jan 27 Chev club swap,... Feb 2&3, Toowoomba Swap,.. March 8/9/10 Toowoomba Rodrun,.. March 17 Northern Districts swap,.. March 24 Ormiston Swapmeet,.. Easter, March 29/30 April 1/2 Street Rod Nats,.. April 14 Willowbank swap,.. April 23 Banyo swap,..May 26 Capalaba swap,..July 14 Bruinswick rodrun,..July 27 Nambour swap.

The silly season is upon us!

Well, Xmas is just about upon us..(click on the arrow above to play video..), anyway.. there always seems like so much to do in December, weird  that even when you are retired, the days just get gobbled up, and this year is the no different...every weekend, on both days, we have somewhere to be., or something to do in preparation...but, little jobs on the hot rod can get sorted, as all the major work has now been done.

Off the subject, but as you probably know, I spend at least 3 hours a day on the computer, and look at all sorts of things...recently I needed a new electrode holder, and saw this complete welder with no bids on it on e bay....I chucked $10 on and forgot all about it until Saturday.....I won the darn thing for $3:50!!.....it works like a beauty.....you can have a win sometime...trouble is, now I own three arc welders!!

Darren came good with the stock hardware for the hood, so these are now done...as usual with Deuces, you have to put some spacers under to achieve the correct clip dimension, so a piece of scrap 3/8th alloy was whittled to shape and all works well. I even started on the dreaded....ffff..fenders...well, made a paper template anyway.

The seat belt mounts are now in, I wanted plain black lap belts, and just used some 3/8th steel tapped to suit, and zapped them in...plenty of room to go around my gargantuan gut, and holds at the correct angles...another win!

Nothing much different here, but I had to cut the hole for the gearbox, and once I clearance the f'glass hump a bit, and bend the stick a bit straighter, it will be done, the pedals are back in with their bolt on pads, and home made connections underneath and now they work the clutch and brake cylinders...I've done the trial sit and all feels good...will fit an inside firewall panel out of  sheetmetal next and work the wiring panel into it somehow, so it flips down...user friendly style.

The double D shaft is in, and radiator hoses have been sourced, and on the other side, the low mount alternator is mounted....(need to get some flat black paint on that Griffin alloy radiator though, it stands out like 3 breasts on a woman....hang on ..that's not so bad..."there's one for the money..two for the show, three to get ready etc etc")

Have to make a decision soon on the new steelies...should I put them on the Tudor...or keep them for the roadster...I have to make up fender brackets soon....probably just make three sets so I can change the look between the steelies, Halibrands, and Americans.............Decisions??

 

Finally, when researching abot the hot rod clubs in Qld...came across the add section in the old Hot Rod mags...don't you wish you had the foresight to buy and put away..

."36 Ford roadster, 48 Mercury motor, hydraulic brakes, twin Lukey mufflers, new brake linings, battery, tyres,Turquoise Mist paintwork,red upholstery, ready to register, $350.00 o.n.o. Rodney Boscoe, 4 Hibiscus Haven, Burleigh Heads, Qld 4220 Ph 5-2081"   

Why didn't we call!!!.

 

Many thanks once again to Glenn and Sue Watts for putting on the coffee morning this time, and providing all the eats and drinks...especially those yummy muffins.....Glenn organised a tin for donations, then passed it all over to the SALVOS....job well done!!..Thanks.

 

 

Coffee time at Cleveland.

Had another great "coffee-catchup" at Glen and Sue Watts shed in Cleveland...for those that don't know them, the Watts brought their kids and hot rod up to one of the first Parklands shows in the 90s....they fell in love with Qld., went back to Bendigo and did the seachange to the bayside.

Another car we don't see out and about much is Eric Cornes '37 coupe...Eric migrated here from England in the early 80s...once again...did the seachange to the Redalands...I asked for photo albums to come along to this morning, Erics were cool, as he had all the pics from the 70s-80s hot rod scene in Pomania...more regulars here with Chris Dansies coupe, and the roadsters of Tony Fox and Dave Winter.

Local TAC inspector John Wilkinson had this T bucket sparkling with the bright green paint...Gasser style front wheels looked great!

Long time hot-rodder Mick Dillon must be getting close to finishing his 3 window coupe, but until then, the trusty roadster comes out to play...Mick has been playing with hot rods now for over 50 years!.(see further down, the pic. he brought along)

Nothing like organising a coffee morning, to also have a shop cleanup....normally, Glenn has his every space being used as he works on his next project....The photo albums were getting a workout here.

This is now the current project.....Glen finished his 30 coupe, then built up the 54 Ford convert for Sue, then the chassis and drivetrain that was under this US imported coupe went into the recently finished roadster, .....now this former channeled coupe is raised up, new steel fenders, injected flathead, 5 speed box, Rod Tech independant frontend, with a coil sprung 9" rear....The way Glen works, it will be on the road in no time!!

 

 

Cool pic below was from Mick Dillon, and shows him riding in Evan Isaacs channeled 29 roadster back around 1964......good times.....3 buddies, out havin' fun!!