More progress

Made some good progress this week. The wiring is 98% done. I still need to attach the tail, head lights, gas sender and a few things like that after the body is on. I also got the Saturday breakfast guys help me lift the body on. Sure looks good to have it mated back to the chassis again. I flipped the master cutoff switch, hit the start switch, the volt meter shows voltage and the starter cranked the engine and no smoke leaks...a good sign !! This week I will continue the final wiring of the head lights, install the exhaust, work on the brake and clutch pedals, bleed the brakes...that will keep me busy for a bit. With the upcoming holiday weekend I probably wont get a whole lot done. Monday I have set aside to fix the seat heater in daughter Michelle's Denali...I promised to fix it for her. I will need to get the John Deere to the shop to install the snow blower before I need to use it. There will be hot rod time next week.

Nov 12th

A snee

k peak at the body..........................

Progress...Nov 12

Motor and trans is in,drive shaft in,

fuel line ran from rear to both carbs, the wiring is started. I made a harness with plugs for the below dash gauges. Next is cutting the holes for the tach and the speedo, wire the lights and then the starter, the dizzy and resistor. I hope to get some help Saturday morning after breakfast and get the body on the frame.

more pics for Nov 1

Photos for the clutch and engine part.

November 1 ...a little progress

I've been busy doing other things instead of working on the B400. I did get a little progress made this last week or so. While I was waiting on some clutch parts I decided to make the kick panels. They are made from ABS plastic panel. I kind of like that stuff. I needed to mount the voltmeter in the right kick panel because the extra gauge panel is full. I am running 2 water temp gauges so the 4 gauge panel under the dash is full. To make the voltmeter fit in the kick panel I had to make a little pod or a bulge in it. I have done this on two other deuces in the past. I had saved the wood buck from the last jobs. The heat gun works wonders to heat the plastic soft, then carefully force it over the buck and apply a little more heat. You can feel when it is soft enough. After it cools, a hole saw makes a nice round hole, then pop the gauge into it. I had my neighbor machine a bushing so that I could use a real bearing for the pilot shaft instead on the bronze bushing that comes with the set up. Next was to drill and tap a hole in the aluminum bellhousing to attach the throwout bearing to. I drilled a small hole at the end of the bolt to attach the spring to. Thanks to friend Darrick, i used his bellhousing as a pattern. His flattie is torn down at the moment, so me taking the bell for a day or so worked out. Yesterday I got the trans and engine bolted together and installed into the chassis. Sure looks good in there. The firewall went back on and the radiator too. Speedway order will bring me more radiator hoses and Gates power clamps to finish it up.

Monday/Tuesday

I left OKC about 7AM and headed to Des Moines by the way of Joplin and Peculiar, MO. I stopped in Peculiar to visit Pete and Jakes. I wanted to talk to them about the broken bat wings. Of course they said they never saw that before. He thinks it has something to do with the broken mono leaf spring in June. Anyway, he gave me new shackles and a new pair of perches. I arrived in Des Moines about 4:30 PM. I met Dave at his shop. After a little visit and a car wash we went to Lone Star Steak house for a nice dinner and then over to his friend Rick's DQ for some free ice cream. After a relaxing night at Dave's house, I left at 7 AM for home. I decided to stop at the Walgreens retirees lunch. That was fun. Hardly anyone recognized me. They new me as a guy in a suit and tie, short hair, no beard.....I walked in with a t shirt, cut offs, tennies, beard and my ponytail. LOL!!I made it to my home at 4 PM. 4109 miles, not sure how many gallons of gas, will add that up later. This ends the "trip of a lifetime" adventure...and it was just that. A exciting, fun trip, so glad I did it. I hope you had fun riding along. The next plan is how and when to get the B400 body home, it is all done, I want to have it home by the weekend. I will be updating progress on that project at least a few times a week.I will be starting work on it early next week.

Sunday

I woke up to cloudy and drizzle skies. I had planned to leave around 9AM, I finally left at 10:45. The sky had dried up for the most part. I headed up the back roads, county 1209 and onto state 95 to get me to Temple, TX. Then it was I35 north all the way to OKC. I got here about 6:30, found a room at Knights Inn...what a switch, last night it was the Hyatt Resort, (regular price of $249.00) and tonight its the Knights Inn at $34.99. Talk about a roller coaster ride! LOL !! About half way here I glanced at the volt meter, it showed 0 ! No charge at all, after a quick panic, I thought, can't be, I just took a break and the car started fine, its been running all day, has to be a lose wire on the gauge. After about 40 more miles I found a rest area, pulled in, reached under the dash and yep, the little brass nuts were loose. I tightened them up and the needle jumped to 14, I didn't even turn the engine off, just reached over, tightened them, stuck it in gear and away I went. It was a good drive here, 410 miles or so. In the morning its off on I44 to Tulsa, Joplin, MO then north on 71 to Pete and Jakes. I want to show them the bat wings and get their thoughts on why they broke. I plan to spend the night at Dave's in Dse Moines, thats the plan anyway. Going down the highway, people pull up next to me with their camera out the window, so I decided I would do the same, I would grab my camera and point it at them.....HA. They would laugh...doesn't take much to entertain me.I will add some photos of the bronze foundry sculptures, really neat. One is a bigger than life horse and wagon and a model T, the horses are about 12 ft tall. Its going to a park in Tulsa, OK next week. Also a pic of Charlie "Deuce Duran", and my new friend "Fordor Jerry"