'57 Ford Custom 300 Tudor Sedan

[jlsanborn]

Awesome job on the fans Vic!

[Xeen]

Originally Posted by Pick

What holds the "H" pieces in place? I see that they have positive stops at the back so they can only come out one way, but is there any chance they can vibrate out the same way they slid in? Or are they held in with something unseen?

I had the same thought but I just let it go because I figured if Vic thought they were loose enough to come out of there he wouldn't have left it like that.
I also considered that he may have JB Welded one side, so that only one side disengages. #shrug

[swamp rat]

.0005 interference Press fit?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Pick

Vic, it is so much fun to watch and learn as you solve problems!

I have a dumb question though........(but I'm pretty good at those!)

What holds the "H" pieces in place? I see that they have positive stops at the back so they can only come out one way, but is there any chance they can vibrate out the same way they slid in? Or are they held in with something unseen?

No such thing as a dumb question. I cropped the last photo so you can see the retaining screw a little better. The fit was very close and I had to tap the blocks lightly to seat them, but didn't want to take any chances.

Pusher fans are all wired in and work great. Carpet cleaning company will be here in the morning to see if they can get the coolant out of the passenger side floor boards. It's not drying very well on its own. Weatherstrip goes in tomorrow.

[Pick]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

No such thing as a dumb question. I cropped the last photo so you can see the retaining screw a little better. The fit was very close and I had to tap the blocks lightly to seat them, but didn't want to take any chances.

Pusher fans are all wired in and work great. Carpet cleaning company will be here in the morning to see if they can get the coolant out of the passenger side floor boards. It's not drying very well on its own. Weatherstrip goes in tomorrow.

I was pretty confident you had it covered ('cause you are always WAY ahead of me), but I know I always like to have a second set of eyes covering the "what ifs", so I figured I'd ask to make sure.

Good luck with the carpet! I really hope they can get the coolant out for you!

[Xeen]

Hey Vic;
Okay so here you are just a scant day away from leaving, are you feeling confident everything is all good with the car?
Have fun on the power tour, I can't wait to hear all about it when you get back.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Xeen

Hey Vic;
Okay so here you are just a scant day away from leaving, are you feeling confident everything is all good with the car?
Have fun on the power tour, I can't wait to hear all about it when you get back.

Well, the disappointment is thick enough to cut with a knife around here. It appears that Mother Nature is not going to cooperate with Power Tour this year. We looked at the extended weather forecast all along the route this morning and the lowest chance for rain was 60% on any given day except the first day in Madison. Given the high probabilities for lousy weather at nearly every stop, we've reluctantly opted to cancel. I don't mind dealing with an occasional rain shower, but I'd just as soon avoid the flash flooding, hail, lightning and etc. It's rained here 31 out of the last 35 days, so I'm inclined to go along with the soggy predictions. We'll just have to research other events for this summer and try Power Tour again next year.

On the bright side, this will give me time to upgrade the brakes and revisit a few things that could benefit from some fine tuning.

[Xeen]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Well, the disappointment is thick enough to cut with a knife around here. It appears that Mother Nature is not going to cooperate with Power Tour this year. We looked at the extended weather forecast all along the route this morning and the lowest chance for rain was 60% on any given day except the first day in Madison. Given the high probabilities for lousy weather at nearly every stop, we've reluctantly opted to cancel. I don't mind dealing with an occasional rain shower, but I'd just as soon avoid the flash flooding, hail, lightning and etc. It's rained here 31 out of the last 35 days, so I'm inclined to go along with the soggy predictions. We'll just have to research other events for this summer and try Power Tour again next year.

On the bright side, this will give me time to upgrade the brakes and revisit a few things that could benefit from some fine tuning.

I'm sorry to hear that Vic, I know you worked your butt off to get ready in time.
I'm looking forward to hearing about further upgrades and the fixes/changes you are planning.

[jlsanborn]

Aw man, that sucks Vic but I hear what you're saying. I'm sure you'll be getting around plenty once the weather clears.

[knomadd]

Sorry the weather won't cooperate with the Power Tour. It does sound like you can use that as an opportunity to fix some of the things I feel you're still stressing about. I mean literally feel... as I'm reading, I'm feeling a bit of stress about your deadline and the things you say are still needing attention. I can only imagine how you feel, but I bet there's a bit of relief to go along with the disappointment.

Looking forward to your future updates as you get things sorted out. I'm sure you'll blow our minds once again.

[swamp rat]

I can feel the frustration Vic, I hope the places you lined up to stay at won't charge you for canceling this late in the game, but i think in this case playing it safe is the best way to go, think how much worse you'd feel if the car was damaged by the a hale storm or if someone lost control in a down pour and collected you in the process, sounds like the rains can get pretty bad out that way.

Kick back for a couple days and relax with a cold beverage of your choice, even if its an iced tea you deserve it!

[Vic1947]

Thanks, guys! You're right about the stress... guess it was sneaking into my recent posts. I feel a lot better about the decision this morning. It's been raining for several hours and won't end until mid morning so I'm going to kick back and have an easy day. Kathy got on the phone yesterday and cancelled most of our reservations. We only had two that we couldn't (St. Louis and Memphis) but we can change the dates of the reservations so we're going to research car shows/cruise-in's in those towns for this summer and reschedule. More later.

[Xeen]

We had good size hail here last night and there is damage to my truck, so I am positive you made the right decision in canceling, it's just not worth the risk of damage to the vehicle.

[Gus350]

You can always do the Des Moines Goodguys show the weekend of July 4th. Plus I'll be there and check this beauty out lol. And it's a nice venue from what I hear.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Xeen

We had good size hail here last night and there is damage to my truck, so I am positive you made the right decision in canceling, it's just not worth the risk of damage to the vehicle.

Dang, Brian! If it ain't one thing, it's always something else. Hope it didn't tear up too much.

Originally Posted by Gus350

You can always do the Des Moines Goodguys show the weekend of July 4th. Plus I'll be there and check this beauty out lol. And it's a nice venue from what I hear.

That was my first thought, Kevin, but my wife reminded me right away that she's got a family reunion that weekend and we'll have out of town company staying with us. Probably bad form to skip out on that.

[Gus350]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Dang, Brian! If it ain't one thing, it's always something else. Hope it didn't tear up too much.

That was my first thought, Kevin, but my wife reminded me right away that she's got a family reunion that weekend and we'll have out of town company staying with us. Probably bad form to skip out on that.

Even better reason to go hahaha couldn't help myself

[Russell Ashley]

I love this build, hope things are going well today. Did you ever find the stainless trim for the rear window? I saw this ad on the Atlanta CL and thought I'd post a link in case he might have something you need.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/wat/pts/4946627641.html

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

I love this build, hope things are going well today. Did you ever find the stainless trim for the rear window? I saw this ad on the Atlanta CL and thought I'd post a link in case he might have something you need.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/wat/pts/4946627641.html

Thanks for the link, Russell. I can always use a parts source since they ain't making anymore of these. I did find the corners for the rear window. Good old East TX boy named Roy sent them to me and were just what I needed.

Things are indeed going well today. The rain we got earlier has moved out, the sun is shining, the roads are dry and we're headed for a cruise-in here in a little bit. Revised the aluminum radiator cover and got it installed, put the passenger side seat back in now that the floor has pretty much dried out and I think a few minutes of "make ready" will be all that "Maybelline" needs.

[jlsanborn]

Glad to hear you're getting a peek at the Sky. Take any pictures of Maybelline while you were out?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Glad to hear you're getting a peek at the Sky. Take any pictures of Maybelline while you were out?

Man, you're not going to believe this, John, but we forgot and left the camera at home. Put a fresh battery in it and then left it on the desk. Realized it right before we rolled into the parking lot. Only picture we got was posted online by one of the roaming photographers. But I aim to get some more soon! And a video.

We encountered a couple of things I'll need to address. I reckon the car won't stay cool without a radiator shroud. We ran the a/c on the way to the cruise-in and turned it off just as we got to the parking lot. Place was full and it took a few minutes to find a spot. By the time I just about had it parked, temp was sitting on 210 and Maybelline got hot and wouldn't do no mo'. Died and wouldn't restart. Later after she cooled off - no problem, started right up. On the way home, we stopped at a neighbor's house briefly. When we went to leave, turned the key and nothing happened. Several tries later, the starter finally engaged and the engine fired. So I guess my future includes ordering a new high torque mini starter to replace the stock starter and pulling the header off the passenger side to install it. Then figuring out the best way to mount a shroud to the radiator and fabricating it.

So in light of these new car bugs and the weather thing (line of heavy thunderstorms went right along the PT route this morning) I'm feeling better all the time about staying home.

[swamp rat]

Ok Vic i posted a while back asking what the cars name was and you replied it was hard to name a money pit you have been packing around for 25 years... I gotta ask, was the name in your sig all along and i missed it? or did the name Maybelline come about recently?

On the rat when i did my rebuild around 95 i installed headers and ran into the same hot start problem, i ended up running a remote bendex and put some heat wrap on my starter, its been trouble free since.

Sure glad your finding happy times locally and not dwelling on the Power Tour.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Ok Vic i posted a while back asking what the cars name was and you replied it was hard to name a money pit you have been packing around for 25 years... I gotta ask, was the name in your sig all along and i missed it? or did the name Maybelline come about recently?

On the rat when i did my rebuild around 95 i installed headers and ran into the same hot start problem, i ended up running a remote bendex and put some heat wrap on my starter, its been trouble free since.

Sure glad your finding happy times locally and not dwelling on the Power Tour.

The name (and the sig line) are both new, Mike. Seemed appropriate given Chuck Berry's references to a hot and bothered V8 Ford.

I don't have a lot of room for a wrap around the stock starter, which is why I'm thinking about a mini starter. More torque and more room for a heat shield.

Watching all the heavy weather today right over where the PT guys are all clustered makes me thankful for the decision we made. No regrets.

[Gus350]

Been following the power tour on Instagram Man looks like you made a good call they have been getting pounded with storms.

[texasld]

HOLY CRAP!!! I have been in Memphis pulling 18 hour days for two weeks. I have been checked out from the form and the build. The car looks killer, Vic. Love the work. Your small bugs aren't to major! Glad to see it on the road.


Now time to get back on RCLS!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Gus350

Been following the power tour on Instagram Man looks like you made a good call they have been getting pounded with storms.

I've been trying to stay busy to keep my mind off of PT, but every once in a while I'll check the interactive weather radar map. Seems like popup storms have been all around them, but at least nothing severe. Hope they can make it one more day and everyone has a safe trip home.

Originally Posted by texasld

HOLY CRAP!!! I have been in Memphis pulling 18 hour days for two weeks. I have been checked out from the form and the build. The car looks killer, Vic. Love the work. Your small bugs aren't to major! Glad to see it on the road. ...Now time to get back on RCLS!

Hey, Mike. I'm working my way thru the "bug list" slowly but surely. Crusty looks mighty forlorn after being banished to the upstairs garage. Not sure when I plan to move it back downstairs. I have another small metalwork project I'd like to complete first - a '55 Chevy pedal car I'm converting into a 2dr hardtop. I'll post it on alternate builds when I resume work on it.

I've been mainly working on maintenance items the past few days. The original weatherstrip I got for the Ford sucked. I glued it on the driver door and when I finally got it closed, the door edge stood away from the body by a quarter inch or more. Pulled it alll off leaving behind bits of foam rubber and adhesive and then spent the better part of an hour removing the residue with DX330 wax and grease remover. I bought some small and large D shaped hollow weatherstrip off of eBay. It comes with 3M adhesive tape already on it and it fits and looks great! We're sealed up much better now... and the doors actually close.

The gear reduction starter arrived today and looks like it will work. I was unaware until I started to do some research that the 385 series Ford engines had starters with different snout lengths depending on whether it was manual or automatic. Thru blind luck, I managed to end up with a combination that may actually work. Also found out the wiring diagram is very different for the gear reduction unit. There were no instructions in the box, so again it was just luck that I noticed it buried in the starter / flywheel info I found on Google. Went back to the Summit page and found a couple of .pdf files and they confirmed the wiring change.

The rack continues to leak, even with the new lines, so I ordered another unit from Rock Auto. Should be here tomorrow. I have to drop the rack to replace the starter anyway, so I can kill two birds - so to speak. Also plan to remove the collectors and the tubing going to the X-pipe and have them ceramic coated while all the other parts are going in. Might as well get it all out of the way at one time. Probably start on it next week or the week after. We have company coming from Houston this weekend, so I don't want it torn up while they're here in case the weather allows us to do a cruise-in.

I dumped a bottle of Redline Water Wetter into the radiator today and fired the engine. It refused to get over 180 degrees even though I let it idle for quite awhile. In fact, it never go hot enough to turn on the electric fans which are supposed to trip at 185. Don't know if the stuff made that much difference or if it was other factors. I'll know more after a road trip.