Sad Day in the Hot Rod World

Dave Bell passed away Saturday night. In case you live under a rock, Dave Bell is the BEST automotive artist that ever lived. He drew the Henry Hirise cartoon in Street Rodder magazine for the last 40 years. His art work was on many many T shirts ( I have a couple of dozen), show posters and ads. I was honored to have the 46 Chevy in one of his cartoons in 1995 and just a few months back, Dec 2011, he drew my likeness, with my pony tail blowing back, in the roadster, in the LA Roadster edition cartoon in Street Rodder. I got to spend one whloe day with him in the fall of 1994....what a fun day. We ran errands, visited some other car guys, looked at his art work, I bought a couple, toured his studio, lots of fun that day. His wake was held yesterday. The Nystroms and us drove to St Paul in the rods. We drove the 46 delivery. There were many hot rods and customs in the laot, lots of people, most wearing "Bell" T shirts as I was too. I took the framed cartoon that he drew and sent me, complete with a message and signature. There were easels in the viewing room to place our artwork on, that was nice. There were about 50 or so on display, really cool. At 7 PM, Wings Callahan mc'd a memorial to Dave, he read several letters from hot rod celebs that could not be there, then opened the floor to any one that wanted to speak. There were many great stories about the good times. I thought about telling about my day with him and his big yellow cat that jumped up on my shoulders and then sat on top of my head in his studio. I did not wany to offend Dave that day so just let the cat set there. I did not tel the story, fearing I would get choked up during the tale. It was a beautiful warm day, a sad day but a great send off for a great guy. He will be missed!!

May 2, 2012

The new gear set arrived from Speedway, got their last one in stock. It looks a little nicer than the one I had. LOL I got new rear hub bearings and seals, rear axle bearings and outer seals, gaskets. I hope to have some help and get this all assembled in the next week. I also got the frame in color and painted the firewall a very pretty milk shake cream. It looks really good with the blue frame. Both are done in semi gloss. The dash and garnish moldings need about one more shot of k38 primer and a final sand, then they will be ready for paint. The rear axle bells,drums, backing plates and wish bones have been painted black. The frame has the brake lines reinstalled and the shocks installed. I hope to have the front end attached to the frame in the next couple of days. The front wheels have been painted a gloss black. Lots of little things done this past couple of weeks. Something has changed on this site, I cannot figure out how to post photos.......hopefully I can figure this out soon!!

April 22

With a friends help, I tore the rear apart. It was just what Lance, the previous owner told me......will need to be rebuilt. The ring gear had a lot of wear on the teeth. It looked like brown mud on the inside of the Halibrand section. The next step will be get it all cleaned up and rebuilt.I will order a new ring gear and pinon from Speedway on Monday. Then reassemble it, paint the bells, backing plates and hubs. I will also take 5 leaves out of the rear spring to give it a little better ride.
I did reprime and sand the frame. I still hope to get it painted in the next few days. I needed to do a little project at our daughters on Friday and will finish that project on Monday. That was much more important than building a hotrod.

Not much progress

Well thought I had better post something....Al and now Gary are giving me a bad time about being too silent.
Not much progress.....I had a terrible cold, in bed for a couple of days and then just no energy. Went to the shop and looked at the car and thought about it.......LOL.
I did get the "boat rudder" cut off of the trans and the bell housing transferred from the old trans to the new. (see pics).
I sanded and puttyed the frame, I think one more coat of K38 primer, block it again and then its ready for paint. During all my "think time: sitting there, I decided the dark blue paint I bought was too dark, it is almost black. So yesterday it was back to the paint store, I picked a nice dark blue, much like the old Ford color of Washington blue, had flattener added, I think I got it now. Any one want a quart of super dark blue cheap ?? LOL
Last weekend it was of to the GSTA rod show in St Paul. They invited my Victoria to be in the Deuce showcase. It was a non comp deal but still had to be cleaned. I had it pretty well cleaned before Friday morning drive there, but then it rained on the way. Big thanks to Terry Nystrom for the help cleaning her up, has not been that clean for a long time. I am not a cleaner I am a driver! Driving home Sunday evening was fun, hard rain, a little hail, wind, tornado watches, some lighting, all kinds of fun. I did make it home fine, a little wet (all old cars leak somewhere) this one its the cowl vent, so my right foot was rather wet, no big deal.
The show was tons of fun, lots of visiting with old friends, met some new friends too, I really enjoy the GSTA show.
Thats all for now, I really hope to have the frame painted this week, will show some pictures of that by the weekend...wish me luck.

April update

Its been a month since I updated the progress. I am watching Jessie James new show "Outlaw Garage" while I write this. They are building a complete deuce roadster in 30 days.....makes me feel pretty slow!!
I have completely disassembled the chassis, pulled the engine and trans, removed the front suspension and the rear end. I have sandblasted the frame inside and out. Blasted the front suspension, painted and reassembled it. The side frame rails still need some more body work to get all of the pits filled. The fire wall has been blasted, some holes welded, ground and sanded and primed twice....almost ready for its new cream white paint.
I got the 5 speed back from JMJ with a complete rebuild, new forks, a couple new gears, all new bearings and seals. It should be good to go now. Tomorrow I plan to cut off the "boat rudder" that sticks down on the bottom of the case. It looks bad and is a real good place to hit your head on when the deuce is on the lift....don't ask me how I know that.
When it was so rainy outside I could not sandblast, I moved inside and powder coated a bunch of little parts. Brake and clutch pedal, slave cylinder bracket, steering brackets, hood brackets and a bunch of other little things. I keep the oven hot for a couple of days.
I have the dark blue paint for the frame here, as soon as I can finish the body work on the frame I will paint it, probably early next week. I plan on the rear to be painted about then too, it will be black like the front suspension. As soon as the frame is painted then I can reassemble all of the chassis...frnot, rear, brake lines, engine/trans, all of that should go rether fast.
The gas tank has been resealed and the radiator modified to fit the bottom water outlets, I am glad those are done.

Progress on the B400

Well the fuel line and the brake lines are all plumbed. The E brake cables and brackets are done. The paint is almost all stripped. I blasted the door edges, hood louvers, hinges, dash,all garnish moldings and cowl vent the last couple of days. If it is not raining in the morning, I will push the body on the dolly outside and blast the door jambs and around the window moldings. If it is raining, I will pull the engine the trans and drive shaft and get ready to blast the frame.
I got the exhaust installed Thursday at West End Welding in Mound. Clark Babler did a great job again. We used Porters of course. It looks real good, all tucked up and around the cross members.
Some of the Saturday breakfast guys came by and helped lift the body of of the chassis. Thanks guys !
The 5 speed is at the local trans shop getting the worn and messed up parts replaced. Its due back real soon. Should be back just in time to put it back into the painted chassis. I hope to have chassis all back together painted and detailed by the end of May. I leave the 30th for the "Topless Tour 2012" and won't be back for any length of time until the first of August.