red dot II update

The other day receive an email from the Red Dot II's new owner,
way overseas in the UK!

red dot II - UK era
1929 ford roadster with hallock windshield

Many hands and many changes after our time,
but it looks like definitely gone to greener pastures.



The roadster had changed hands and appearances manytimes after leaving us.

red dot II
1928 1929 ford roadster with hallock windshield

In it's brief heyday with us it took on this form.
A great driving hot rod that had the potential to blow out eardrums.

Red Dot II Roadster

When Jalopy Joe got his hands on it,
the transformation was quick and obvious.
Some things I liked,
he nickel plated some stuff,
and did his trademark burgundy upholstery...
and others not so much,
the wild use of bondo and blue + red paint,
and ditching all the hard to find gauges and moon tank...
As long as he was happy all I could do was bite my lip.

red dot II - jalopy joe era

Before he died the roadster was passed on to a guy in Arizona.
An acquaintance out there put some time refinishing some things,
and it turned into this.

red dot II - arizona style

What happened to the track nose and hood!
Fortunately he had kept it just in case.
Dig the louvered hood.
Also cool they kept some of the little things like pushbars and headlight stands.

red dot II - blue era

After Peter's email,
I searched around,
and found out that the Red Dot was for sale earlier in the year.

1929 Ford AV8 - THE H.A.M.B.



Cool video,
but hope he knew the roadster was way faster than that!

red dot II - doggy style

It does look good with a 32 grille shell.
The old tracknose pieces are getting shipped out too.

Anyway it was good to see and hear the old hot rod.
I'd love to do donuts in that lawn!

TP

conscious procrastinator jr.

Unlike Jaxon who gets nervous if a project isn't finished without a week to spare,
Jakob has my procrastinator gene.
He had a myth diorama project due monday,
and of course he waited til Sunday to start it up.

the minotaur and theseus

The problem is he finished it no problem,
and maybe it came out better than if he had started 2 weeks ago.

TP

growler

Had the best intentions to finish up the welding on the rusty 40,
but something got in the way.
There was just enough wind to not get an easy start.

1940 ford coupe projects

So while waiting to let the wind die down,
I tinkered with the new points distributor for the green 40.

289/302 SBF points distributor

Next thing ya know all the fancy new wiring was ripped out,
and the old breaker points distributor was wired up.

SBF

All that time dickin with that electronic ignition mumbo jumbo,
and yep I ended up going back to simple points.
It was frustrating trying to troubleshoot that HEI module,
and I had ran into a brick wall with it.
That's why it had been dormant for over a month.

idiot light

It is so much easier being able to know there's spark just by using a light bulb.
Fortunately I had all the parts needed for the swap - coil, ballast resistor etc.
Other than timing it 180 degrees out and getting some good flames at first,
the engine started right up.
Yep it started!
Made me wonder what got me going that secret HEI route.
I'll re-examine that after the car is on the road.

charging

With no water or radiator hooked up the engine only ran for a short while.
(I took a slow picture but the alternator was charging over 13 volts.)
Definitely a mellow stock engine,
just enough growl with nothing but headers.
May go straight pipes on this one.

holley fuel regulator

One of the other issues I was having
was some serious fuel shooting out the top of the carburetor.
I had swapped to another carburetor, (thanks dynodanny!)
but it most likely is a pressure issue.
Basically the engine could only run off the float gas,
no pump on,
so I've got to figure out where to install this pressure regulator.

rivalry

I guess that's how it is.
One 40 sees the other getting all the attention,
and now they're fighting over who gets the time!

TP

third base

Some of you are going to wonder why I posted the same picture over and over.
Others will understand why.

prepped

Remember over a year ago when there was 25 feet of welding left?

Now it's down to the last 5 or so feet,

and over the long weekend the time had come.

bumpy

All these tacked seams and random holes were taunting me.

Like that one right above the edge of the decklid.

not as bumpy

Both rear corners were also still unfinished,
and I'm not sure what the hold up had been,
other than it was definitely mental.
The seams were all rough fitted way back before there was even a frame,
and I considered recutting some of the parts with a heavy step or lip.
Instead a test seam was hammer-welded and it cleaned up well.

smooth

This was basically TIG+hammer-welded,

and after every cm of weld I had to reach around with the dolly and hammer.

There was definitely a rhythm going and it felt good to watch it smooth out.

It was strange almost like no thinking involved just doing,

like going for a long bike ride.

I've got to mention one thing though...

perich brothers (and sister): full moon sacrifice

A couple months ago I had burnt out the stereo welding with the dynasty.

It made me really paranoid and I'd turn off the music whenever the welder was on.

Well now that the welder was pulled to the end of the garage,

the replacement tunes were tested with no issue.

So much better having a little background music.

It should be fine as long as it's playing the ipod or CD and not the radio.

seams

After that I had to fix that huge door gap.

Now you can scroll up and down and see the difference easier,

right above the door there.

This is one of the mistakes only the 36 readers will know about.

The door top flares wider as it goes front to back.

It looks like the tops of both window frames make a matching arc,

so the only solution would have been to chop the front of the door a little more.

Next time.
The last stretch of welding on this side is the length of the lower patch panels.
But that will have to wait.

welding in style

Late today I was able to tackle the other side,
with the help of this fancy wind break.

japanese wind break

These panels are crazy it's like some molded clay.
I'll get some better pictures later on.

kids

If you look closely it's obvious how stepped the fit was on the left side too.

This was the corner that had been rocked before the chop,
You can see the row of old dents above the cut line.

smooth and rusty

Now the inside is almost as smooth as the outside,
not quite metal finished but really close.
What was I thinking starting this project?
Such a rusty hulk!

chopped channeled and sectioned 1940 ford coupe

After a couple hours annoying the neighbors with all the grinding and pounding,
I sat on the stool and it was so cool to not see the unwelded imperfections,
and fat gaps that had been bothering me all these months.

A couple more hours on the rear,
and then we'll flip it around and tackle the hood...

TP

shmedley

Office of the day...

white

Here's the wrap-up for those mysterious rings.
perich brothers (and sister): Holey Water™

taped

Everything starts with a template.

whittler

Most people think there's a magical replicator that creates shiny objects.
Little do they know it's usually a guy with a glorified grinder.

pipe

While you may think making circles with a grinder is tough,
it's more fun than searching for hard to find materials online.

thirds

They say all you ever needed to learn was from kindergarten,
but in this case it was 5th or 6th grade compass work.

shiny

After all was said and done I realized it may be time for a new phone.
My old droid-copy is pushing 3 years now and sometimes pictures disappear,
or come out super blurry.
Whatever they weren't too exciting just a bunch of clamping cutting and welding.

over-engineered

These were tricky as the space was tight.
The backing plate is threaded and the bottom piece is for a future strut.

pulling a shmedley

Here's a rare picture of me in action,
pulling a shmedley as Folsom does the actual labor.
Hey I've been doing this a long time,
and know how fun it is to holesaw fiberglass!

Check out my handiwork with the vacuum.

It's incredible.

Nice action shots Tom!

double team

If you've ever worked with fiberglass,
the vacuum (or a fan) is your friend.
Just remember to make sure there is a filter,
so the dust doesn't just get blown back at you.
Years of experience...

yacht work

The funny thing about doing shiny yacht work,
is it's best to make sure you bring an onsite buffing wheel.

fastener mods

Those backing plates were a bit too perfect for the depth of the hole,
even though they were designed close to the thickness of the deck.
Instead of having a catch lip from the sharp edges of the screws,
the flat tops were gently rolled down.
Top secret stuff.
Also remember to get twice as many fasteners,
the first set to fit and gouge up taking off and on.

custom stainless

After gluing them up,
they looked like they were custom made for the boat.

cozy

Fun project!

TP

ten years

This weekend was a major anniversary for the old roadster pickup.
A little over ten years ago Chief had taken it's first breath as a hot rod,
after a 2 year transformation.
The first car show was Paso Robles 2003,
a great drive worthy of it's own future post.

chief at jack murphy stadium

We haven't been to the show now that it's moved to Santa Maria,
but for the past week I thought it would be a fun 10 year anniversary.
After a half-hearted try it was easier to not go,
but enough was done over the long weekend to make up for whatever was missed.

SD auto swap 2013

Jaxon and I did rally out to a little car swap/show held at the stadium,
making sure we were late enough to miss any of the good stuff.

paradise road & perich brothers
junichi shimodaira & travis perich

While strolling through the swap,
we met up with one of the regulars of the old Paso days,
JS from Paradise Road from Japan.
It was one of those moments when you see someone,
and you know who they are but need a double take,
as they aren't supposed to be there.

If you've watched that second "good ole days" video on the left,
you'll see both of us in a similar picture from 2007.
Fun to talk too and cool to see someone I'd miss up in Paso Maria.

SBF points distributor

The swap stalls were picked over and that was fine with me.
The only thing I was looking for was a basic ford points distributor.
I was surprised there were none around...
Until the 3rd to last stall in the last row we checked.
There sat the $20 jewel,
complete even with spark plug wires.
This dizzy may be the piece needed to snap me back into the green 40 project.

1936 ford 5-window coupe

After slogging through the swap area,
We did a quick pass through the car show.
All I had to see was this bitchin '36 ford coupe.
It was simply perfect.
An aged blue repaint with enough scars to know this was the real deal.
I loved it,
okay let's at least say I really liked it .

1936 ford 5-window coupe

On the way out we saw Paradise Road again,
and got a quick snapshot...

chief, paradise road & perich brothers

We headed back with a good 8 mile run on the freeway.
Not anywhere near the 800 mile round trip to Santa Maria,
but enough to get the flathead warmed up.

Me and Jaxon

On the way back Jaxon found out why most hot rodders have shorter hair.
He's on the verge of cutting it he said after school let's out!

Good times...

TP

brewing

Over the past couple months,
a brief acquaintance had planted a seed,
which like a non-native weed had finally taken root.
I realized that there are many people that have great ideas,
in time few people that actually see them through,
or are even able to see them through.
Out of convenience some have others get their hands dirty,
but you know that's not the case with me!

chief's hallock style windshield

It has taken a while to clear out some backlogged projects,
making space for ...let's say investments in the future.

shiny

First off is whipping out a few hallock style windshields.
These look easy but are very time consuming.
I had templates from the Red Dot II,
and have Chief's windshield to go by,
but all it has done is made more clear the mistakes I had made.
The final designs are still in the fermenting stage,
as there are some details to smooth out.
It has surprised me how much thought is involved.
The goal is to make at least 3 in the next month or two.
You'll see why.

posted

With the windshields turning into prototype development,
I decided to practice a production line on a grander scale.

bat wings

The converted band saw was put to the test.
The 24 tpi blade whipped out the aluminum pieces.

more bat wings

I was hesitant to cut the stainless steel plate,
as I thought the blade would get wasted quickly.
Not so.

modified portable band saw

All these pieces cut and the blade is still sharp.

The variable foot pedal is the ticket.

I've got no regrets selling the bigger machine now!

office

This evening was hammer time.
It took a while to get a good rhythm,
Situating the anvils, hammers and blocks was the trick.

hammer time

About mid-way I figured out the pounding order.
Once I got the system down,
each piece took about 300 hammer smacks. (x30!)
The earlier ones took way more.
The last 6 or so were so fast,
I wished there was another pile to do!

Stick around and you'll see what they are...

TP