priority balls

I've had these red morse control balls lying around forever.
They were originally destined for the shifter balls in the 40,
or replacements for chief.

morse control balls

However there is something a bit more of a priority.
The dipsticks for the 40 were the last throwback to its 90's heritage.

ford dipstick

A quick cut-n-paste and the balls now serve a better purpose.

perich brothers and sister mods

Isn't that the icing on the cake?
Much better than those goofy hooks.

ford in a ford - SBF in a 1940 coupe

Here's the change-up.
I grabbed these smiley face balls from the kids stash.

Jakob - 2013 - smiley face

They're hollow so still need some modifications,
but they do lighten up the engine bay.

moonshiner SBF

Always got my priorities straight!

TP

little feet

After over a year the reconditioned sound cards finally arrived from Terry DeWick.
I also scored some big filter caps from a friend Sean.
Crazy how big they are.

McIntosh MC2300 

The MC2300 amp had been sitting like this for such a long time,
it's become a fixture in the house.
Like a sculpture.

no sound cards

Here's a picture of the reconditioned cards.
I'm figuring if the McIntosh Master says they're good to go,
than they are good to go.

reconditioned McIntosh MC2300 sound/driver cards

Then the typical happened.
I propped up the amp to do some swapping around,
and holey chit there's way too many wires and pieces.
The amp has a relatively simple layout,
but it is one of those all or nothing deals.
The living room isn't a place to spread out a bunch of parts,
and hope that they won't be accidentally kicked around.
More importantly I'll forget how everything goes back together.

operating table

So I did what comes naturally.
If there is something to cut, drill, weld or machine,
I'll find it.

mcintosh feet

The little rubberish feet had been ground down to nubs,
two were already missing.
A chunk of scrap ABS plastic was lying around,
and a couple rudimentary replacements were whittled out.

replacement mcintosh mc2300 amplifier feet

Not exact replacements,
but who's gonna see them other than you guys.
I should make a set or two to sling.

little feet

Another issue was the broken light mount.
There are studs on the meters that hold on the light.
Mine had broken off,
and someone had soldered on a crude sheetmetal tab.
Now it was time for my hack work.

light mount

A couple tabs were hammered and punched,
and JB Weld was used to glue them in place.
Please work...
Good thing I saw the ripped out wire that powers that light bar.
A quick solder job and fingers crossed that it was the right spot!

clamped

The amp was now ready to go.
The filter capacitors would wait for a later time.
Let's see if it works.

McIntosh MC2300

The lights lit and there were no pops.
Whew...
The sound was clean but still no power.
Maybe its cause there's no preamp hooked up?

I've suspected something more major than the driver boards,
that is why the new filter capacitors.
Most likely it is a transistor/resistor problem,
there are 24!
Since the heat sinks need to be removed to swap out the caps,
it was my excuse to not start that job until I scrounged up a transistor set.

test

The good thing so far is the amp isn't overheating like it was.
A couple of the heat sinks would get so hot,
and the heat would trade sides when the sound cards were switched around.
So maybe the cards burnt some transistors?
Looks like I'll be visiting Sean soon!

TP

painfully slow

We've been cranking on Ken's Hurtlocker Truck,
so much that there are too many pictures to go through.
Here's something more manageable,
the progress on the June Bug 40.

cut-off

Now that the shifter is on,
 the transmission hump can be fabbed up.
The first step is adding the permanent part of the floor.
Thankfully I kept this little cut-off chunk.
For over a year this jagged sheetmetal blade has been tossed around,
and for the past couple weeks its been underneath the seat.
I can't believe it didn't cause any injuries.

tacked

The piece was trimmed last week some time,
and then finally tacked in place.
Yep.
That's it!

TP

the christening

Still jammed up on the posting here.
For some reason its been hard to type!
Here's last week...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It's taken a while to get my priorities straight,
and the executive decision was made to pull out the old 40 project.
At this point I thought I'd have done some of the quiet projects,
windows, brake/fuel lines, maybe some wiring.
Instead the project stalled as the green 40 is on its way to road-worthiness.

chopped and sectioned 1940 ford coupe

The busier I am,
the more selfish I am with my free time.
This only briefly mentioned 30 coupe project was vying its way in the queue,
but I realized that the 40 deserves the attention.

1930 ford coupe project

Time to christen the revamped trailer,
and bring the old heap to the yard.

tilt

This would be the first time moving the trailer around after the hitch work.
Regardless of how sturdy it looked,
that first load is always a little sketchy,
as if the metal would somehow crumble away,
the driverless car careening down the road...

beater 1940 ford coupe

The tilt bed is awesome.
No need for ramps.
There is a need for a winch though.
Holey chit.

vanning

Thankfully there's a temporary way around that.
Strategic use of a chainfall was a bit slow,
but gave me the arm workout for the week.

hitched

Definitely more modifications will be needed besides the winch,
some pad-eyes and a good set of straps to start.
The 40 fit the trailer perfectly,
so much easier than that crazy flat-tow hitch.

loaded

After some jockeying around with the invisible 30 coupe project,
Tres Huevos was rolled into the stall.
Gracias Esteve y Tomas!

1940 ford coupe - chopped

There are a couple big welding fixes.
That hole in the hood is obvious,
and the crooked line-up of the rear fenders.
At the time I thought a hammer and bondo could take care of that problem.

cut

Over the weekend I thought a ton of work would get done.
It did just not on the 40!
First things first - building an infrastructure.
I'm a little spread out on my welders,
and usually I'd prefer to TIG sheetmetal like this.
For now I can tack it with the big MIG.
Here's how Team Perich loads up...

Macey and Jaxon - perich brothers & sister

Who needs a truck right?
The removeable bench seats make it realistic.

delivery service

Now we're cookin'.
If I'm lucky this will be a different car by the end of the week...

1940 ford coupe - chopped, channeled & sectioned

TP

wide berth

I love our van.
Recently it's apparently time to figure out a better moving system.

who needs a truck?

The smarter way to move this stuff would be to remove the rear seat.
A little bit of a hassle,
since there is a garage full of tools stashed inside.
Fortunately the custom bumper makes a good ledge.
perich brothers (and sister): How to make a bumper out of scrap
Wow I can't believe its over 2 years old already...

holey chit

Looking at these pictures,
I am surprised how close people were driving behind me.
These were only short drives!

TP

how to - make a shifter from scrap!

Driving the green 40 has been a bit of a chore.
There's no shifter so doing a 3-point turn is a series of crouches.
I've gotten used to it but this weekend was time to get real.

1940 ford coupe - garage time

With the help of a tasty payback beer from Chip,
I scrounged the yard for some donor parts.

alpine beer company

My original idea was to rig up the original column shifter to the AOD lever.
Although this would have been the best plan,
the levers didn't line up easily without some serious modifications.
For now I'd be happy with a simple floor shifter.

scrapola

Typically I'd make a spring-loaded pivot bracket,
and bend up a fancy stick,
until this trophy appeared out of the depths.
The perfect shifter donor.
With the help of the trusty 34 watt light bulb,
a simple L bracket was cut out and mounted on the transmission.

optimum work conditions

The beer didn't really help with my progress.
I spent way too much time sitting and thinking,
and ultimately it backfired as I couldn't even go for a late night drive.
The workbench did end up a bit cleaner!

parts

The next morning was strange.
A couple weeks ago I joined Instagram,
and found there was this whole community of picture addicts.
Hot rodders are really fond of this program,
and this guy nortongrimm was one of my first "followers".
There's a quick assimilation with the HAMB,
so I had recognized some of his posts on that forum.
Well while lying in bed expecting to see some shameless self-promotion pics,
it was a shocker to find out that he had died that night.
What?
He had just posted a picture of a fireplace and some car stuff,
and now he's dead?
Folks Of Interest Rest in Peace NortonG - THE H.A.M.B.
A quick search confirmed this and wow what an eerie feeling.
It's like you know someone with similar interests,
see there life through their camera eyes and what they write,
but don't expect it to just end in an instant.
The morning was melancholy for me,
a good time to get out to the garage.
RIP Dave aka Norton Grimm!

template

The rest of the shifter went together so smoothly,
I wondered why it had taken so long for something so simple.
How many times have I wondered that?

hidden gem

Yeah you may be shaking your head at this point.
I did warn that this was a shifter made from scrap!

linkage

And here's the almost finished product.
It's like driving a totally different car,
no more struggling trying to find the shifter in the dark.

AOD shifter

There's a spring at the pivot,

which allows the shifter to cock over a bit.

I'll remake or modify the bracket,

to add a reverse/park lockout.

holey chit

Now I can finally make the tranny hump!

TP

Veteran's Day

Here's a late post of gratitude to all those that are serving and have served.
You've protected a way of life that many take for granted,
myself included.

Stanley "Papa" Perich

It's been generations since our immediate family has gone into battle.
My grandfather joined the Navy early,
and was sent out to the Pacific in WWII and the Korean War,
repairing planes and getting chased by subs.
Many tense memories he never spoke of.

sub-killer

Thankfully there are still those willing to continue to put themselves in crazy situations,
a few that I can call friends.
I can only hope to have family and friends that are worthy to defend.
Cheers!

TP

green flash

For Jakob's birthday we went down to Sunset Cliffs,
get the kids out in the elements and some fresh air.

perich brothers and sister - jaxon, jakob, macey - 2013

We went down to a spot that I used to venture around all the time,
and of course the tide was a little high to go for a beach trek.

cliff drummers

Instead we hiked around the cliffs,
and were drawn to these drummers that had set up in a canyon.
They were good enough to not detract from the surroundings!

****************************************************

Santana - Revelations - live chicago 1977

Here's the soundtrack to our following little adventure.

Starts out too mellow and goes wacky at the end!

*****************************************************

sandy

We had fun,
but I realized how rare it was that we got away from our house, projects,
to just hang out at a place where many people would love to be.
Another thing I realized was the kids minimal understanding of the tide.
With the new Iphone I could have checked it instantly.

sunset cliffs panorama

So the next week before the time change we were sitting around,
almost close to 5,
and *click* we rallied up to get out of the house.
This time I had secretly checked the tide,
and knew the perfect spot for a quick getaway.

sunset cliffs panorama

The kids were a little grumpy and had no idea where we were headed.
Please not another trip to the hardware store!
This time we went down the sketchy stairway to the beach,
and had about an hour to cruise around.

sunset

Nowadays most people think the green flash is a beer company.
If you're from PL or OB than you know its the rare blip of color right after the sunset.
With the tide rising the kids were more aware of getting stuck on the beach.
Moving water always gives that sense of adventure.

rocks

The kids masterfully hopped the rocks and we made it too the stairway.
Luckily proved to the kids that nobody would take our shoes!

TP