full moon sacrifice

The past week I've had a fling with that little 17 watt Sherwood receiver.
The 40 year old underpowered design had slowly grown with the garage,
I had left it running for almost a week and the sound had seemed to mature,
burning in those new electrolytics someone had soldered in.
The once overly heavy bass
had toned down to the warm sound most Sherwood owners had described.
It was one of those sweet relationships that sadly was doomed to failure.

Sherwood S-7100a killer

Hadn't I done this countless times?
Powered up the Dynasty welder and tigged away,
while listening to the radio?
Yeah I said radio I'm not totally pigeonholed in my musical interests!

The first couple tacks - no problem.
Than the filler beads.
Press down on the pedal and !!!!
...ZZT....ZZZIPPPKK....           ......
What the heck?
Only silence.
Ahh poop rocks.

Some urgent flips of the dials and switches,
hooked up the IPOD,
checked the fuse,
still nothing.
Grrrr.

The poor box was pulled down and torn apart.
I was expecting some sign of smoke or bloody residue,
but the insides were just as clean as can be.
Dang it.

powerhouse onkyo tx-8500

Fortunately the big Onkyo was laying in wait on the back table,
and was more than willing to get hooked back up.
The wife more than happy to see it leave the kitchen!
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Peter Tosh - Burial - 16JUL79 - switzerland
bitchin version of a great song
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For an unplanned review here it goes.
There's definitely a big sound difference between 110 and 17 wpc.
The Sherwood was perfect for mid-level background music,
just clean, sweet, almost blended sounding in a way.
The sound seemed a bit uncontrolled at the higher levels,
the bass getting a little rumbly at times.
Of course this was pushing 2 pairs of speakers!
The best thing about the S-7100a was the bulletproof tuner.

The Onkyo on the other hand cranks out clear uncolored sound.
Each range has good definition and the bass is sharp and deep.
At barely a quarter throttle it's almost too loud for a garage system.
The midrange does get a little shouty at the higher levels,
but that could be the horn speakers.
Fortunately there's a midrange dial in the 3 knob tone control.
The tuner has this locking feature and does seem to wander at times.
I'd love to hear this thing after a full blown recap.

vintage receiver killer

So what happened?
One idea is the electrical isn't fully grounded for a large draw.
I'll have to study that as it's not difficult to modify.

Most likely it was the high frequency tig start from the Miller Dynasty.
I never thought that as a problem until I read some stories online.
My old droid phone did get glitchy possibly from sitting on the machine.
I'm thinking the tuner had crossed the radio signals and shorted a circuit board out.
If the IPOD was playing instead it may not have been affected.
Don't really want to test that theory at this point!

I guess I'll be tig welding in silence from now on,
however there is an option to do the scratch-start method.

Anyway maybe it was better to kill the sacrificial $30 receiver instead of the others,
even though it was a sweetheart.

RIP little sherwood!

TP

when to say when

Sometimes it's good to go and visit friends,
especially when they're into similar hobbies,
or in this case addictions.

holey chit

This guy makes any of my past stereo posts look small-time,
which they are in comparison.

travis bean #996

Sean is a guy obsessed with McIntosh sound equipment,
which led him down the dark path towards the Grateful Dead,
who had the biggest Mac based sound system in history,
the Wall of Sound.

grateful dead wall of sound - november 1973
ripped photo

Here's an early version - 1973.
If you look close there are amp stacks peppered all around.

grateful dead wall of sound - march 1974
ripped photo

Here's something close to the final incarnation of the WOS.
Notice it's about 12 feet higher with the radial center speaker array.
Almost 50 of those blue faced MC2300's powered this beast!

jerry garcia - may 1974
ripped photo

If you look in the background,
you'll see how stacks of amps were layed out to power certain instruments.
It must have been fun to wire this thing up.

bob weir - may 1973
ripped photo - m. parrish

While I have more of the musical obsession,
Sean's got more of the gearhead obsession.
He's so deep into it,
that some of the pieces are actually from the GD setup.
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Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders - I was made to love her - 1973
Well this song doesn't have much to do with this post,
but we did talk about it that night,
and it kinda goes with Oldies Month since it's a Stevie Wonder cover!
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chip and mcintosh mc2300 short stack

With the collection overflowing his small bungalow,
it was time to get some documentation.
Another friend Chip and I happily lent a hand,
or back in this case.

Sean and mcintosh mc2300 tall stack

Each one of these amps is about 130+ pounds.
By the time I got there the 5 tall stack was already bowing the floor,
even with the plywood reinforcement.
Figure a 7 stall stack is right under a 1000 lbs.
A half ton on a 2'x2' section of the floor!

me with tall  mc2300 stack and travis bean guitar

Not only does he have 2 actual GD mc2300 amps (top ones)
he's also got an early Travis Bean guitar similar to the 1975 model,
and some speakers used on stage.
The lower left double speaker cabinet was actually in Egypt 1978!

Mcintosh MC2300 + grateful dead speakers + preamp

To top it off,
he also scored a bitchin Mcintosh MC-225 tube amp,
actually used in the GD studio about 1975!

grateful dead studio mcintosh mc-225 tube(less) amp
vince welnick's speaker box

I'm not sure where Sean was stashing all this stuff!
He had so many early JBL speakers it was crazy.
Finally an intimidating mini Wall of Sound was set up.
Funny thing it was so big there wasn't enough distance
in his living room to take a good cellphone shot!

sean marcy's 4600 watt wall of sound

Sadly we didn't have time to actually hook everything up,
but it would have been fun to blow the fusebox.
It's only 4600 watts of power!
Now Sean is getting a book together to document all the stories
from his acquisitions.
He's met with so many of the brains from this time period,
it will be an interesting read.

TP

real time

Anyone who has built a car or motorcycle,
knows that it's not one project,
it is a compilation of countless little projects.

modified 1940 ford front suspension

In some builds,

I've made the mistake of listing those steps too early,

and it can make the end result seem unrealistic and out of reach.

A long list can be overwhelming,

especially when you know each step is a couple hours,

and then there's all the unmentioned hiccups.
Like slogging through a mud pit.
*****

Grateful Dead - Main 10 - 1970
*****

The important thing is to keep focused,
and use any spare time to make progress.

original spring perch bushings

Removing the original Ford spring perch bushing or pivot
is one of those steps that can stall a project.
They don't come out easily unless I'm missing the trick!

torch hole

Here's a quick how to that I've already done for the rear suspension.
It takes a while but the end result isn't a smashed up spring perch.

torched

First the ends are cut off,
then a torch hole is drilled out.
This takes the most time,
but keeps the torch work error free.
A hammer and punch and voila.

new cheesy spring perch

After some filing,
the new plastic spring perch bushings are pressed in.
Now the spring can be installed.

workshop

But nope.
It was time for our monthly TJ dental visit.
That's how it goes though.
At least I'm over the hump - the rest is easy!
Right!

TP

friday the 13th mojo

My cousin Bitsy made these keychains for us for the holidays.

key fob

Mine broke last week but I've been carrying it around just in case.




At least til today is over.
You never know.

TP

ZIBO

Many of you may know the name ZIBO.
Few know who or what it means.

ZIBO
american bulldog

This was ZIBO,
the last of a long line of dog's in my life.
My wife (to be) and I got him after another dog, SIRKI (great dane) had died.

Zibo was a true shop dog.
Didn't stray too far,
guarded his family and territory,
loved lying in the dirtiest asphalt.

He had some great tricks.
One was sitting on a barstool for hours,
long enough to actually fall asleep.

Early on I had taught him to not cross the street,
as another dog of mine, ZUKE (rhodesian ridgeback)
had collided with a car many years before.

Since we lived across the street from the shop,
this was really important.
Many times I would get caught up with the kids (2 at that time),
and he would be sitting there hours later waiting for me to come back.
Ventura was a small enough town,
and people would go buy the shop just to see him.

zibo at paso robles 2001 or so

ZIBO had a sad ending with us after 5 years or so.
One evening he was just missing.
As stated earlier he wasn't a wanderer,
and I knew someone had taken him.
The police don't treat missing dogs as stolen property,
and the animal shelters never recovered his license.

After a half-assed flier/reward attempt at finding him,
with the help of many friends,
I had to admit that he was just gone.
Having 2 baby kids at the time,
it actually helped me to focus on our family.

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grateful dead - wharf rat - february 18, 1971
The first and probably best live version of this tune.
Even better when heard in the dark - rat - star sandwich it was played in.

Grateful Dead Live at Capitol Theater on 1971-02-18 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

Click the above link,
and play the next 20 minutes starting with number 9.
Three listens and I will guarantee you will be a deadhead.
Bad ass jam right there...

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A couple years later a neighbor came over really distraught,
saying she had known all along that the daughter of the shop owner next door had taken him.
Now that her (ex)girlfriend had found out about their long-term affair,
it was okay for me to know what happened to our dog she pretended to help look for.
Some friends and I tried to rattle more current information from the Mom and her cronies,
but the mixture of stripper, tweaker and dog thief was too hard to crack.
I would have rather never found out!

Anyway,
ZIBO's birthday is somewhere around this time.
Now he would be 14 or 15 years old,
so hopefully he's dead,
and had lived a better life than we could have given him.

Names withheld to protect the guilty!

TP

goodbye little sunflower

After over 4 years as our faithful steed,
today the old Lincoln was put to rest.

1990 lincoln town car
photo by piGPen

What started as someone's $30K luxury vehicle,
transformed into our $800 family sled,
even moonlighting as a shop truck in it's retirement.

OG lincoln town car SUV

Heck,
it was even good for smuggling people!

perich brothers visits chabott engineering
photo by ZAP

Gotta love the trunk space.
Funny cause the Chabott crew is going through their own vehicular turn over.
shinya kimura @ chabott engineering
Must be in the planets.

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Legion of Mary - Little Sunflower - July 4, 1975

A great work jam or cruising tune.
This is the musical description of driving a Lincoln Town Car.
Really.
Goodbye little sunflower...

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For the car that never stranded us,

sadly there was no long final good bye cruise.

Just a limp around the block,

not even enough to really warm up the old V8.

sturdy 5.0 ford engine

That's what was tough about deciding what to do with it.
The car ran great,
engine hummed and shifted fine.
The main problem was the brakes.
Sometimes they would work,
sometimes they would barely work.
It was a little disconcerting.

Probably a cheap fix,
but with the broken power windows,
the leaky main seal,
and the smog/registration coming up,
it was time.

spaghetti

A half-ass attempt to sell it on craigslist valued the car at maybe $600.
While that would have been the smart decision,
the hot rodder in me couldn't let a good running 302/aod combo go for that low.
This re-seed was planted from the very beginning.
The car was purchased with 167K miles on it and we only ran it 10K in the 4 years.
Just enough to test its durability.

holey chit

I've pulled this engine out before,

and for some reason I don't remember there being so many wires and hoses.

first engine pull - 2008
photo by piGPen

Funny how that works.

The plan is to keep the engine, transmission, battery and driveshaft.

sprinkles

Unfortunately it took alot longer to pull than I remember too.
There's a couple interested buyers for the carcass,
but a surprise storm messed up my timing.
Why didn't I start this on Saturday?

so cal rain

Oh yeah,
we were making a shelter for the chocolate and cheese roadster.
Weird how things work out.

TP

muffin top

Strange things happen when the full moon's out.

Add caption

After a win on one project,
and a light disappointment in another,
I was about to call it a day,
or an early night anyway.
Than I sat in the 40.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Okay let's do a quick backstory.
A couple months ago,
I had been contemplating options about the dash.

crusty 1940 ford dash

The original dash came with the basketcase project,
and the design is one of my favorites.
It looks good in the pic but it's alot crustier in person.

I had to try something new so I pounded out a quick panel one night,
and since November it had been tossed around the shop.
Last week,
I found it while cleaning,
and decided to tack it in,
and see if the design would grow on me.

test panel

It's not too original.
basically a copy of the top part of a 40 dash.

I kinda liked it.

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Okay let's do an early song.
Here's to the full moon.

One of the best versions of this GD cover.

Grateful Dead - Werewolves of London - july 8, 1978

I'm used to the crispy soundboard version,
but these matrix (audience + sbd recording) sound like a real party.
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So last night.
It's about 9:30,
I'm winding down,
and took a seat in the 40,
stared at the dash gap,
and had an idea.

dash template

Using a bit of 1932 ford dash shape,
and the sizing of a 1936 ford speedo,
did some cardboard cutting.
Hmm,
not bad.
The next step was to make a rough wood hammer buck,
and fortunately a friend Cop Mike came by,
stopping that train of thought.

professional hammer form

Good thing cause I'd have never finished.
Who needs a buck when there's a 2x4 and a vice.

dash panel

This only took 2 songs to make.
Which doesn't mean anything when it's that 21 minute lonesome.
Jerry Garcia Band - Lonesome & A Long Way From Home (1 of 2) - 04/03/76 - YouTube
(thanks chip)
I'm one of those guys that will listen to the same song over and over.
Yeah it's crazy.
I kept on thinking, okay, just one more time, 20 more minutes...
2 hours later...
The "sweet spot" of 11pm - 2am has returned!

muffin top

It took a long time to fit that thing in.
I'm kinda past that point of the
"let's see if it will grow on me" stage.
Almost immediately I nicknamed it the "muffin top" dash.

custom 40 ford dash

With some finish work, some gauges, a dash insert and paint,
I think it will work.

TP

tit for tat

I've got this typically huge post waiting but don't have the time to finish it.
So instead here's the fun I got to do yesterday.

patches

This was the last major dent on the "hurtlocker truck".
Now there's just a ton of smaller ones!

patching

I'm getting better quicker at doing this.
Far from perfect any filler needed will be very thin.

patched

The forming and fitting are the easy parts,
the welding and grinding are the tougher parts,
since the heat is what warps the metal,
and I'd rather not over-grind the already thin sheetmetal.

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deadbolt - patches the clown
play it loud.

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So if I'm on a roll,
might as well keep on rolling.

patches

Now that the doors are lined up,
this last part of the reveal can be tidied up.

hammered

It was tricky to get the right bottom curve.

Add caption

I only had time to tack up the driver's side,
and don't know why I didn't stick around to do it
while I was focused.

At least its the side that I have to see every day!

TP

how to - bear claws!!

After the hinges were figured out,
I thought a bit about door latches.

partially eaten bear claw

Well before I could think too much about them,
a buddy of mine sent me these super bitchin bear claw latches.

bear claw latches

These are some really bitchin mechanisms.
If you are in the market,
here's the link.

USA Made High Quality Bear Claw Door Latches - THE H.A.M.B.

They're not an easy bolt-in,
lotsa modifications needed.
Of course there are no instructions,
and very little info with an internet search.

So,
since this is the first time I've done this,
let's do a...
"how to install bear claw latches"

The first thing I did was make the mounting plates.

rough 1940 ford door

Instead of imagining what to do,
the plates tell you where to cut.
Hopefully.

roughed in

After the plates were tacked in (each side)
the posts landed in the worst possible position.

original striker base

The stock 40 striker has a box that the threaded nuts live in.
This all has to be cut out,
but the remaining sheetmetal is holey and flimsy.

flimsy base

It did allow the mechanisms to be test fit.
Now the doors could actually close and click shut!
it was time to finish the installation.

First the doors...

Add caption

The mechanisms were installed and removed at least 4 times each.
The bases needed to be tacked, cut, moved, twisted
than retacked to get the proper alignment.
I didn't want to ruin the moving parts with cutting disc or welding spray.

The filler strip boxed in the plate,
so the door assembly was now very rigid.
Not too pretty though.

bear claw latch installed

Now that the door part was permanent,
the latch post could be positioned to the perfect spot.
This meant filing the hole a little further inward making an oval,
until the door and body was flush...

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Today I had to pull out one of my favorite repeaters to finish the last part.
With maybe an hour to work,
I wanted to get this last section finished,
and this song definitely helped. 10 times!

Jimi Hendrix - Hey Baby - (new rising sun)

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Since the latch post is continually hit by the door,
a reinforcement base was cut out of some 1/8" plate,
and a 7/16 hole was marked using the ovalized hole as a guide.

base plate

The post was a little short cause I inset the latch a little too far,
even though it was flush with the outside of the door.
The plate helped space it out properly.

positioned correctly

With the post tightened in the right position,
the plate was welded on.
Since I was pressed for time,
I jumped around the plate welding <1" beads,
but didn't let it really cool at all,
just finished it.

migged up
crude but effective

Well you wouldn't think it would warp,
but those posts need to be centered in the mechanism,
and somehow it warped in the right direction.
both sides actually fit better after they were welded and tightened.
Whew!

working passenger door!

To say I am relieved that everything worked out is an understatement.
This project was spread out over 9 days,
working about an hour every other day.

The latches were test fit the first couple days,
and the alignment was a little off.
The doors sagged a bit,
and they also stuck out so they weren't flush with the body.

working driver's door!

When there's too much time inbetween work sessions,
my mind goes a little crazy,
basically making a molehill into a mountain.
Maybe that helps being prepared.
If I had done this in one long day,
I probably would have gotten a little burnt with a half-ass finish.

side view
1940 ford chopped coupe
wow it looks rough in this pic!

If you look closely there's a custom pull string.
This works so well it may be there a long time.

Now I can move on to that huge gap under the door!
With the doors held tight with the new latches,
the patch panel can be positioned correctly,
much easier.

Talk at ya later...

TP