RPU progress

Well the 3W went to the interior shop, so I got busy on the RPU. Dropped the engine in,fitted the steering column, mocked up the steering shaft with a wood dowel. Made an electric fan bracket out of some flat stock, sawed it out on the band saw, it fits and I like the look. I will powder coat it black next.
I got one side of the tonneau cover frame made, now I have to match it on the other side. The third brake light is in, a "flying eyeball" with red leds in the eye, its pretty bright too.
Tomorrow I hope to make the driver side tonneau frame. I have ordered the steering shaft from Speedway. It will be here Monday evening. I need to make a 1/4 inch spacer for the column drop, drill the dash for the bolts, install the 14 inch steering shaft and tighten the joints.
I need to get the exhaust system made, Central Welding in Foley is closed up, so I think I will go to West Side Welding in Mound...home of the "Porters" mufflers. I have always wanted to run Porters on something. I met Clark Babler and his wife in LA a couple of years ago, they own Porters, real nice people. We laughed that I had to drive 2500 miles to met people that live an hour from me. Check out there stuff at www.portermufflers.com

more progress

Finally got the passenger glass in today for the last time. I ended up buying a new regulator, the new glass and after several installs, its in.
There is still a pinon leak, I replaced the seal, helped but not dry, in the morning its off to my machinists to have him modify the yoke. Its very pitted, so it will not seal. He will turn it down and press on a new correct size sleeve to cover the pitted area.
Lumpy is coming over at 10 to help bleed the brakes and install the windshield with the newest rubber seal.....the third one! Bob Drakes seals do not fit, I have a Dennis Carpenter one know, sent the Drake back for a refund, I ruined the first one trying to make it fit. At least they will take the second one back....$50, oh yea, Carpenter's is only $27 and it fits.
I am a few days late to the interior shop..............sorry Al. Hopefully by Monday.
I hope I have all the brake fittings tight no, I had to redo almost every one, leaks every where. When I do the RPU, I'm bleeding the brakes BEFORE the body goes back on.
check out the dark glass

more 3w info

I got the rear and driver side glass installed. The door glass is a bitch to get in, and to get in the right exact place to roll up and down. The regulator has to be unbolted and lowered to hook onto the glass, I did that at least 6 times to try to get it just right......finally got it. I was starting the passenger side when I broke the glass,so off the the glass shop for a replacement, hope to be ready for pickup on Friday.
I connected the battery cables and started turning things on..........they all work except the horn. I think the horn itself is dead. I will take care of that Friday or Saturday. The radio plays tunes, without any antenna at all, the AC blows lots of air, lights, signals, fan all work with no extra smoke leaking from the wires!! The neutral safety switch needs adjusting, I will add shims tomorrow to fix that. Now just bleed the brakes, add ATF and antifreeze.
Check out the cool embroidered "V8" design for the interior....will be on black not the brown in the photo.

3W update

I have been busy on the 3W coupe. It is just about done. I have to put the glass in, arriving tomorrow, paint and install the new drive shaft and add some fluids. I picked up the new Gates power band radiator hose clamps Saturday, I will get them on Monday. It is all wired, just need to attach the ground cable and check the circuits for " smoke leaks" hopefully won't be any.
I am very p;eased on how it is looking, I like the stance and the look. The paint is awesome, All that is lacking there now is the thin red pinstripe down the belt line, that will come soon.
The interior is ready to be sewen and installed, it will be going to Rapid Upholstery shop in a week or so. The new wheel looks great and I am pleased with the black dash and garnish. The seats and panels will be black with thin red piping and some red top stitching. In the back of the seat and in the rear trunk panel there will be a "v8" design embroidered in red and silver grey, the sample we did looks great.
The RPU is waiting for her turn...........I am anxious to start on that. It is set up for a trip to the paint and body shop about Christmas, so I have to get rolling on it.
I will add some photos of the 3W progress.

Thursday

400 miles today and made it home. The trip was 2990 miles, I will just round that off to 3000 miles. The drive today was good. I35 to 494 to I94. I94 from Plymouth to Rogers is about like Oklahoma....rough ! After Rogers it was nice again.
We stopped by Fat Joe's to check the RPU, it looks good. Now there is room for a gas pedal and the tranny hump is a hump and not looking like a console. I hated that look ! The shocks worked out great and the new headlight bar is perfect. Good Job Joe !
I will add some RPU pics and of the award we won for Long Distance.
I will continue to blog at least once a week updating the build on the 3w and on the RPU.

Wednesday

We left this morning to drive the 40 miles or so of windy roads again to Rogers, then hit 71 north to Joplin, a short 120 miles.I dropped Elvis off at a large antique store and headed for Bob's I arrived at Bob Massey's "Metal Werks" shop about 11AM. He has some real nice projects in the works there.
A short time after my arrival, My Omaha friends, Doug and Karen showed up in their 32 5W coupe, they were on the way home also from Lost Pines.
I borrowed Bob's spanner wrench and adjusted my rear shocks about 2 turns, that really help the bottoming out problem. The last 300 miles was much better.
I checked out Wally's new 3w that Bob has been building, it was looking good. He is from Houston. I got a couple of ideas from that.
Then it was on the road towards home. Got as far as Bethany, MO, stayed there on the way down. Tomorrow will be another 400 miles to Rice.
FatJoe called today, I left the RPU with him last week for some work. He says it is all done. A new cab floor and tranny hump, installed the friction shocks and built the headlight stands that I wanted. I am excited to get home and check it out. He does such nice work. I will post some pics of it as soon as I can.

Monday/Tuesday

Monday morning we left Texarkana and headed for Hot Springs Village. We were going to visit a good friend of mine and his wife. He was my boss in the early 70's for a few years in New Mexico and again in the early 80's in Wisconsin. We had a great visit, talked about old Walgreen times for several hours. They fed us a fantastic meal. it was a real treat to spend the night at their beautiful home.
Tuesday morning it was off to Eureka Springs. We planned to drive rte 7, I'm not sure what we did but we got on rte 23 instead. It is also known as "the pig trail" because it is like s pig's tail.....windy is not even a close name. It was 20 mph to a high of 35 for miles and miles, about half way we found a road that headed straight west to the freeway, took that north and then rte 62 back east. We finally made it to Eureka Springs...what a trip!
I parked the deuce, got on the trolley and took that to the downtown area for lunch and some shopping. The whole town is built on sides of rocky mountains, windy, rough roads, twisting up and down.....pretty cool.
Found a hotel for the night. Tomorrow its off to Joplin. I will visit a friend's rod shop there. He has a 3w that is almost done for another friend of mine, need to check that out.

Deuce Reunion

It was a great weekend at the Deuce Reunion. The Hyatt Lost Pines Resort is beautiful. We all parked on the grass by the rooms, next to the lake. There were 120 Deuces registered. The weather was hot and so humid......like 85% and 95 degrees.
It was great to see my old deuce friends. There were cars there from CO, NE, FL,TX,and of course MN. I did manage to win the long distance award again, 1450 miles the way I went, 1325 according to mapquest.
The AMBR contender deuce pickup of Don Smith was there, sedans 2 and 4 doors,3w,
5w,roadsters,closed pickups, phaetons, roadster pickup...all types and colors !
We left Sunday midmorning for Texarkansas, AR for the night, tomorrow it is off to Hot Springs Village.

Thursday...San Antonio

The first order of the day was to catch the trolley and go see the Alamo. We were there in the late 70's, that time we drove to the front of it, jumped out and snapped a photo with the "Wild Turkey" and took off. This time we walked thru it and the grounds, very interesting. My plan was to drive the vicky to the front and do another "drive by shooting", but the street right in front has been all blocked off....darn !
We rode the trolley to Market Square, looked around the shops, had lunch and then walked back to the hotel.
We headed for Austin, a short 85 miles back north. Found our new La Quinta and checked in. Tonight we had dinner with sister-in-law at a Texas BBQ called Salt Lick. Good food.
Found a great bumper sticker in a parking lot..............I honked as I went by !

Wednesday............San Antonio

After a quick breakfast in the Happy Days Motel breakfast room, we headed south on the now famous ROUGH Hwy69, OK still held up to their history of America's roughest roads. Finally as we arrived in Texas near Dennison, the road smoothed out.
South of Temple, TX we blended into I 35. That was a breeze to drive on. We took a picture of the entrance to Texas, a large brick monument, not just a sign.
As I said last year, Texans have such great pride in their state. The flag of Texas is every where, small, big, and giant size...like Perkins' American flags.
We drove across Dallas and suburbs, that was just shy of 60 miles, a big city. We hit Austin at 4PM rush hour, that took a while. We arrived in San Antonio about 5:30 found the La Quinta hotel downtown, checked in and caught the bus to the famous downtown river walk for dinner. A couple of margaritas and a Mexican dinner on the river walk while feeding the ducks at our feet......fun. A boat ride thru downtown, hearing about all the history and the buildings was fun too. 440 miles today brings the total to 1350 so far, now we will head back to Austin and then east to Lost Pines, TX for the reunion.

Tuesday .....Mcalester, OK

We left Bethany, MO this morning and headed south on I 35 to Kansas City. I 435 around the west side of town and picked up 71 south. The first planned stop was Pete & Jakes in Peculiar, MO. I picked up a couple of posters and the front spring plate that I needed for the RPU. Then it was south on 71 again to Joplin, MO. Lunch at Steak and Shake in Joplin. I44 out of Joplin to OK.
Plans were to stop at Starbirds Rod & Custom museum in Afton OK, I checked the Internet and it shows closed on Tuesday,darn..... we would have been pressed for time anyway, so maybe on the way home. From I44 it was hwy 69 south to Mcalester.
Boy, Oklahoma gets the award for the roughest highways...except for I44 the toll road. Hwy 69 was so rough! Every 20 ft they had sawed a stripe for a patch, not one of the patches were even with the road surface, they were either higher or lower. It was like driving on a washboard. The the wind was still with us all day too, from the south. So it was a strong headwind, felt like driving with the brakes on, when going west, it was a cross wind, tried to blow me off of the road. Finally the last 40 miles or so, the wind slowed down and the road smoothed out.
We are staying at the "Happy Days" motel, (Rodney and I stayed here a few years back on the roadster trip). Now there is a new diner out front called "Angel's Diner". The food was good, (not free) but we did get 2 coupons from the motel for "Free Beer"....that works!!
Tomorrow its another 400+ mile day to San Antonio, TX.......Alamo, here we come!

OT but great news

Friday night we attended the MSRA Friday Night Picnic in New Brighton, MN. There were a lot people there, probably 400 rods and customs. The event is a "voting event" for car of the year nominees. The good news is the "Fine Wine" Buick was nominated for Custom of the year ! Wow, what an honor ! We are both on cloud 9 yet.
It is so exciting. The awards banquet is January 15 in Hinkley, MN and for the first time is several years it is not during the GNRS show in California...we can attend both events.

On the road again.....Monday 9/20

We left this morning, cloudy skies and drizzle until we stopped for lunch in Mason City, Iowa. Then the skies cleared and it got hot. It was 52 when we left Rice, 87 in Iowa. From sweatshirt to AC.
We took hwy 15 out of St Cloud all the way to Albert Lea and then hwy 65 south. 65 had good and bad areas, finally I got tired of the headwind and bumps in the road pulling me all over the road,I headed west toward I 35, We hit I 35 north of Des Moines about 60 miles and stayed on it until we stopped tonight in Bethany, MO. The days travels were 420 miles. Mileage was all over the board, it was 18 in MN doing 60mph on 15, dropped to 14 in the strong headwinds in Iowa. The car is running fine. Hopefully the winds will be less tomorrow.I have to decide the route tomorrow, I 35 to KC or try hwy 65 again.
I plan to stop at Pete & Jakes to pick up a couple of things I need, then on south to OK.

Home for a few weeks!

I left Brookings SD about 6:30 Monday morning. It was a good drive, nice road, cool, no wind. I arrived home 10:15, just minutes before the insurance adjuster arrived....good timing. It is good to be home.
I will leave again Sept 20 for the Deuce Reunion in Bastrop, TX, by Austin. This trip will be in the 32 Vicky.

missing pics

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Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Friday morning I took Rodney to the airport and headed for Casper, WY. I called friend Rick in Casper and found out he was going to Douglas, WY for the weekend. The State Fair was on, and a bunch of street rods were going to be in the parade. I got him to get me a room in Douglas, stopped at his house and drove with them to Douglas.
Just before I got to Casper, I saw a pickup and a trailer on the side of the road, the trailer was on fire. I hit the brakes, turned onto the side of the road, ran back with my fire extinguisher to help. Just as I got to the trailer, the tire blew up, boom!, boy was that loud! It was still on fire. I gave my extinguisher to the young guy, he sprayed the tire, and contents and got the fire out. They, 2 young kids about 25 had been pouring drinking water on it to try to kill the flames. There was a dozen or so bottles on the ground. The one kid was on the trailer, slipped and fell and hurt his shoulder. He was on the cell calling 911. The trooper and a fire rescue truck arrived after the fire was out. They were going to South Carolina, the trailer had everything they owned. A drum set, big speakers, mattress head board, TV stand all the things young kids have. When the trooper arrived, I wished them luck and left. The trailer was loaded so heavy that the tire was rubbing on the wooden fender humps in the trailer floor. The friction had started the tire and the wood fender humps on fire. I don't think they even had a spare.
Saturday morning about noon I left for Rapid City. I had breakfast with Rick and some street rodders. It was a short drive to Rapid, it was very hot. I was glad to stop in Rapid. This morning I left Rapid City about 8 AM. It got hot fast. It was a hot, windy hard drive. The wind was about 30 MPH blowing side ways against the car, it was 98 degrees......it was hot! I hit Brooking, SD about 5:30 PM and decided to call it quits! I found a Days Inn, cashed in my points for a free room, had a couple of cold beers and a burger at a sports bar and am going to crash in bed real soon. I plan to leave about 6AM and finish the trip home, before the heat. I will arrive a couple of days earlier than planned, but still have work to do at home with the storm damage. Oh yea, the speedo hit 50,000 miles just out of Casper, WY

Thursday

This morning we headed out to visit Salt Flats Speed Shop. It is owned and ran by a 27 year old master craftsman named Chris Davenport. I traded Chris some 32 Ford parts for a couple of his aluminum blisters to be used on my RPU project. I was really excited to meet him in person. He is working on a killer chopped tudor, flattie powered, chopped 5 inches, pinched and bobbed frame, an awesome rod.

We met up with Jim's Hot Rod Tours there, and was going to follow them to the next stop. As we hit the freeway northbound the skies were really scary, black, boiling, we could see the rain just a few miles ahead. We hit the next exit to look for cover. As luck would have it, we found a car wash, empty of course and took cover in the bay. We got the top on and it was raining, blowing like a bitch! After several minutes we spotted a Mexican cafe across the street, got the umbrella out and ran. We had a good lunch and within another hour the storm blew over. They received the entire months average rainfall in about 30 minutes.

I called Jim, found where they were and took off for the next stop. "Customs & Classics" about 20 miles away. An outstanding shop, over 20 projects going on, he gave us a grand tour and a tshirt.
Next was a private individual that someone told Jim about. He is 74, still has the car he learned to drive in, but now it is a channeled, fenderless, 6 banger Chevy sedan.It was featured in Street Rodder mag last year. Next he let us in the garage to see his 58 Chevy, and then two buildings in the backyard. He was woodgraining a dash for a guy I know here in town...cool. His name is Glen, had story to tell about each car there. Had to be over 30 cars of all kinds. One that was really cool, a 58 Caddy stainless steel top Eldorado.
Jim and the guys headed for the airport, Rodney and I went to the hotel. In the morning, I take Rodney to the airport and I head to Casper, WY. I plan to spend the night with friend Rick there.

Salt Lake tourists

Today we played tourists. Rodney got to pick out where to go. The first stop was the Salt Lake Art Center. There was a great photo exhibit there and an indoor miniature golf coures that was made by several artists. Each hole was done by someone, all works of modern artists.very interesting and fun.
Just a couple of blocks away was the Mormon Temple, we had to check that out. Wow, a neat place, huge temple, beautiful yards, trees and buildings. We were approached a couple of times by Mormons, starting conversations with us, and asking if we would like more info on their religion, I guess we looked like we needed to be saved!
The next stop was the Kennicot copper mine. Worlds largest open pit mine. It the only man made crater that can be seen from outer space. It started as a mountain in 1900 and now is a hole several hundred feet deep. We took a picture of the roadster next to a big truck tire. Huge tire.
The aquarium in the town of Sandy was next, saw all kinds of exotic fish and marine life, very interesting.
Tonight we visited with Stanley Wanlass, his wife and daughter, Brandy. Stanley is a world renown artist and sculptress. His bronzes sculptures of autos are out of this world. If you don't know about him, just google his name. He owns three steel 32 roadsters that are masterpieces also. One of his coolest sculptures is the 4 foot long "Dago Deuce", boy how I would like one of those! I could by 3 or 4 real nice real deuces for what they sell for, so I don't see one at my home very soon.
Tomorrow are hot rod shop tours.