Saturday, November 19, 2011

29 A gets new threads!






The little 29 A pickup had a "well worn" interior. The back of the seat was a Mexican blanket, the cushion was black oil cloth vinyl that was crisp and starting to split at the seams. The wind lacing was worn and kind of shredded.I decided it was time to spruce it up.
I painted the garnish moldings green rattle can, also the top part of the dash. I made some ABS plastic panels that go below the map pockets on the B pillar, and made a speaker cover from the ABS and painted them green too. I had already added a AM/FM 8 track radio below the seat......yes, a 8 track. I bought a couple of Waylon and Willie 8 tracks from the swap meet for a dollar. Now I have cool tunes.
It had real nice green carpet on the floor, kick panels and door panels that Dan had put in. I thought a nice green pleated seat would look good. I tore the seat apart, the springs were really bad shape. I decided to make a new base of 3/4 inch plywood and have Al use webbing and new foam for the cushion. The back was already good foam. Al sewed up a beautiful pleated cover for the back and the cushion, looks and sits nice!
To finish it all off I added a flying eyeball third brake light and put a sending unit in the gas tank so now I have a working gas gauge! No more need to have a note with the mileage at last fill on the dash.

A little work on the "Deuce Delivery"






The seat handles on the delivery have always been broken, I tried to glue them a couple of times and did not work.
This idea came up back when the interior was done. I finally decided to do it. I also replaced the passenger side door glass that had been cracked for a couple of years and had the chip in the windshield repaired, looks all better now.
You can see the broken handle. I made a new one from some tubing,, one end flattened and drilled to bolt onto the seat adjuster. I finally decided to paint them brown, I thought of chrome, nickel plate, powder coated black or silver.....it all seemed to stick out too much. Brown rattle can worked well! To fill the end of the tubing, I used a railroad date nail that had been chromed, a "32" of course. It fit perfectly in the tubing.I attached the handle with two little stainless button head bolts. I think they look good..much better than the broken plastic ones!
I had the front tires rebalanced and reset the toe, now the annoying little vibration that would occur at 50 to 55 mph is gone.
I wired the fog/driving lights up, (they were just decoration before)so now I can see at night better, cleaned it all up, touched up some paint underneath, cleaned the interior, re glued some carpet pieces..I think its all ready for the summer trip

Friday, November 4, 2011

My new "Deuce Garage"






I needed more garage space, I was out of room. All last winter I used the empty house garage across the street to store four of my cars. I have had 13 cars crammed into my house garage. It is very hard to keep nicely finished cars in the work shop when I am grinding, sanding and painting there. The decision was made....build a new garage to park the finished cars in. This garage will house just 32's. The other rides will stay in the house garage.
I got the variance and the permits to build a 46x60, 2x6 stick built, cedar sided garage to match my house and shop building. There is a 12 ft wide door in the north wall, small windows up high on the ten foot high side walls. The light can shine in but you cannot see in. I don't need snoopy eyes looking in the windows.
There is floor heat and brick red epoxy floor coating. It is all drywalled, textured and painted two tone grey with a "Ford" blue stripe separating the colors. It is lit by old school house lights down the middle and two rows of aluminum dome lights from Ikea on each side. At the top of the long walls are two rows of blue neon tube lights and a large 48 inch diameter red neon "Open Tonight" sign. On the south wall under a red and white stripe canopy is a half of a deuce chassis, powder coated red, complete with the front and rear axle cut in half, a vega box, chrome brake pedal, chrome 4 bar and a 3/8" glass counter top. Rope lights under the canopy and two red bar stools finish it off. There are two high top bar tables and bar stools in the middle.
There are lighted show cases with die cast deuces and deuce pictures and posters on the walls. I added a glass top desk, dvd player and tv, security camera/tv, micro wave, coffee pot and fridge full of beer and water. This should be a cool place to hang out this winter between shop projects.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

A little work on the #42 Deuce






With no big projects on the plan for this year, I thought I would do all of the little lists that I have for each car. The first one up is the 42 car. I call it that because at one time I had two black hi boy deuce sedans. The first sedan I had painted on the door a big 42, that was to mean "four deuces", I had my son design a lady luck gal with 4 deuces to put on the front quarter. Anyway, the list for this car.
1. weld in new patch on passenger side rear quarter.(its all painted and looks good now)
2.straighten the exhaust pipes to be even and straight.
3.replace the ugly yellow plug wires, (see the before and after pics)
4. move the hoodlum plaque from the chain to the right taillight
5.clear coat the original 32 rear license plate
6.clean the interior
7. clean the engine
8. clean the tires and use rubber dressing on them
9. add a hand pressure pump to the eelco tank. (I bought a pump in 2007 at a swap meet in Colorado, finally got it mounted.)
The list is completed, not very big I know but sure helps the look of the car, now just drive it a few more times before it gets too cold and snowy.