princess bricknose

Weekends up here are tricky.

After a 5-day 7-330 work week,

it's great to sleep in and just lay around.

Which basically gets me in trouble,

as I'll search Craigslist and Ebay a bit too thoroughly.

Get me a project!

One weekend goal was to fix some electrical gremlins in the new truck,

hopefully caused by the overzealous use of crappy wiring techniques.

I'll admit,

I wired our old 30 coupe with all black wires.

It looked cool but the next owner hated me!

This guy used yellow and red for both positive and negative/ground.

Ok let me clarify that...

He ran two yellow wires as +/- for the fog lights,

and two red wires for +/- for the running board lights.

After an hour this 100' wire pile was tediously extracted.

Perfect cause I needed speaker wire for the new shop sound system.

Free thumpin' Craigslist speakers!

Still didn't fix the windshield wiper glitch...

Another small annoyance was the running boards.

They were held on with sheetmetal screws,

swinging back and forth when I'd chip ice off the windshield.

It was like slack-lining.

Good times.

Not sure why the guy who bought them would want them but...

It allowed me to get this big ole box of mostly air.

For a grand total of $24,

an eBay guy shipped me just what I needed,

in a box the size of an upright piano.

A cheesy stock plastic grille insert,

at least I can easily reach the hidden hood latch.

By the way,

the '87-91 years are called bricknose,

the earlier models are called bullnose.

The chrome version was 3x the $$.

Yea the silver paint clashes with all this shine...

You'd be surprised how flimsy that guard and bumper are.

It's definitely a princess.

One search is for plain steel wheels,

or aluminum with the round holes,

although it won't look as fast when parked.

Yea fun stuff...

Jaxon sent up the fog lights,

and one made it safely.

Shipping glass sucks!

It'll probably be a cyclops a long time.

TP

Princess - 1989 Ford F-150

Using the hot rod for a daily driver was a blast,

until heavy rains were predicted.

Craigslist hunting took precedence during any free time.

After weeding through dozens of sub-$1000 ads,

this jewel popped up.

A 2wd 1989 Ford F-150 long bed 

with a 300 6-cylinder and manual transmission,

hand crank windows and locks...

just what I needed.

While there were many cars,

having a hauler that can help with the future move seemed like a better tool.

I'd have loved to get another van,

but they're a premium up here,

either to keep stuff dry or as sleeping rigs,

I'm not sure.

A work friend drove me down 20 miles.

The truck looked and ran great!

Sold!

There had been some recent repairs,

starter solenoid, battery... starter, clutch,

as well as some shady wiring mods.

I didn't ask why,

but about 18.75 miles into the 20 mile drive back,

I found out!

At the time it was 7:20pm,

raining... dark,

and I was ready to call it a day.

So was the truck,

as it died as soon as we reached our exit.

Holey Chit!

Too heavy to push,

I was barely off the freeway on the side of the road.

Poop rocks!!

I called the old owner,

and he basically had fixed the same problem,

without ever testing the charging system.

Most likely the alternator was bad.

Ayayay...

The walk to my temporary home wasn't too bad,

but by the time I rode back on the bike with the voltmeter,

a tow truck and emergency vehicle had already arrived!

Holey double chit!!

Fortunately the guy was super nice,

and pushed me up the hill,

to guess where?

Within 60 feet from where the Mazda was snagged!!

Holey triple chit!!!

The spot,

the neon,

the situation,

it was a surreal experience,

especially after blowing my wad on a busted vehicle.

I rode the bike back and got the spare battery

that I had been jumping the hot rod with.

Oh did I mention that part?

The rains had wreaked havoc in the 6-volt system,

so I jumped it with a 12-volt spare from the van,

all week long...

Voila!

The fresh battery got me to my bed,

and actually got me back and forth to work a few times,

til the weekend when the alternator was replaced.

So here it is in all its chromed trucker girl glory.

I swear the previous-previous owner

musta had the cheesy chrome catalog wish list.

For a work truck,

the bumpers are so flimsy and thin.

I hope this isn't how Ford made them,

definitely wouldn't tow the hot rod with these.

I've always wanted to rock 

the chrome girl license plate holder,

truely complete now.

I'll be calling this one princess...

The interior has the must have "Hang 10" pedal kit,

complete with the little brights switch mini foot.

Thankfully the radio works!

First car in 15 + years with non-stock tuneage.

The sides are graced with the weakest running boards,

they're barely bolted on,

and the bracketry is Home Depot after thought.

There's actually a string of lights on the side too.

Classy!!

Interestingly enough there's a magnaflow muffler 

and catalytic converter,

although it sounds stock,

at least I won't be hose clamping aluminum cans

 on any rust holes.

The directional wheels...

Oh yea...

It didn't take long to realize I'm a van guy,

trained to drive around with precious junk at all times,

however with a truck there's no hiding it.

Tough to park and go to the store.

Camouflaging with rags will only work so long.

A chance Craigslist score procured a perfectly fitting camper shell,

or as Oregoners say it "canopy".

I've got to admit every Craigslist deal has followed with a chat fest.

People here are so nice and interesting.

This was found in the Washington town of Battleground,

and picking it up was the perfect excuse to visit the area.

Thanks Corey!!

And lastly check this out,

an actual tree growing in the windshield.

It is so tough to grow tree seeds,

and here they grow on a car,

in 55 mph wind.

I transplanted it to get later when we move.

Hopefully this one sticks around...

TP

Inoxidable iv - shiny ugly

This little project was tough,

taking expensive stainless hinges,

and cosmetically ruining them.

Someone had used chromed hinges,

then welded extension plates.

Over time rust bled out through the white paint.

It was important to recreate 

the exact messed up angles,

unequal positioning and random holes,

otherwise the alignment would be off.

It takes longer to copy a bad design!

This was a rare occurrence 

as the eBay seller let me down.

Locally the donor hinges were going to be $400!

I found an ebay listing for less than $100/pr,

but the 3rd party drop shipper only sent one.

After a week of no replies a third was found for this project, 

and of course 3+ weeks later the original order was sent.

So if anyone needs one shiny hinge...

Anyway the end result looks sharp.

Most of the hinge is covered up.

Fun stuff...

TP

Inoxidable III - crackola

Here's a quick can of worms,

that didn't end up being that quick.

Although stainless,

this piece had some obvious weld pitting.

A little grinding uncovered 

some serious rust penetration,

water had wicked behind the weld seam.

One reason to not grind a weld down too far,

even if it makes it prettier.

It was kinda obvious this was toast,

but the owner wanted to try re-welding.

Nope.

The stainless had weakened so badly,

the heat literally ruptured the plate.

Not a good sign.

Time for a new one,

cut out of fat 316 1/2" plate.

The form followed the original template,

but instead of a weak fillet weld,

a slot was cut like a Japanese joint.

Fat stick welding melted everything together,

not the prettiest but dang strong.

Yes this was all cut with a grinder...

Much faster than you'd think.

Also buffed out with the grinder.

Who needs anything else!?

That weld overlap bugged me,

a full 308 stick only made it 2/3 the way.

Not like ya can see it when installed!

A relief when a bolt-on is a real bolt-on.

That little piece basically holds up 

the mast and bow sprit.

No big deal...

TP

inoxidable II - digi-pipe

Who needs digital sketches...

Fortunately he had his emergency repair to follow,

as the flange angle was not like the pic!

TP

not ski nautique

Man I've been lagging with the posts lately...

Fortunately it's been busy,

and now the kids are out of school.

I thought it was busy before!

Here's a recent project.

A friend Rich got this boat for the sole purpose

of heading out to Ralph's for surf sessions.

(A kinda remote spot off Point Loma)

The boards were getting battered 

in the relatively small space.

He waited patiently for weeks

while I got my chit together...

His first idea was palapa style,

with vertical tubes set up in a big square.

He had tubes bent at a local shop,

who crimped them like hacks.

He would've been happy with a cube structure,

just to save his boards.

No way could I ghetto the old Chris Craft,

even if 90 degree fish-mouth joints 

are easier to make.

This was knocked out in one big day.

The angled bars still make a massive rack.

Now it looks like an old Ski Nautique.

Way cooler.

It's been a real surf machine,

guess he's gotten 4 boards up there!

I need to get a loaded pic...

TP