super bowl sunday

Super bowl Sunday.
A day when millions of Americans drop everything to watch their TV.
This is usually the best time to go outside and have fun,
beat the crowds at their own game.

perich super bowl sunday - 2014

If it's a charger game we'll usually listen to part of it on the radio,
then see if it's a close enough game to watch the last quarter.
Fortunately this super bowl took out that desire really early.

stool time

The kids and I ended up getting caught up in our own individual projects.
Besides some yardwork,
this was the perfect time to put that model A carburetor together.
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oldies month #2


bobby comstock - just a piece of paper
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zenith 2 carburetor - model a ford

I got lucky not needing a carb kit.
The brass pieces cleaned up quick and easy.
The only issue was the gasket.
Fortunately I had saved the perfect scrap of gasket material.
Usually a cereal box, playing card or milk carton comes in handy at this point.

crude but effective - carburetor gasket

Another scrap found its way on the water pump.
If you think this isn't normal,
try finding these gaskets at your car parts store!

holey chit

I'm actually running a homemade oil pan gasket on the RPU's flathead!
One night it was faster to buy a cork gasket roll and a sharp razor!

TP 

recycler

We've been using the green 40 as the daily driver as much as possible.
As a town car its great for me,
but there are some concessions.
One of them is no real floor...

templates

There is so much heat coming through its time to start plugging some holes.
I figured to go from the top down,
starting with the steering column.

holey chit

A quick template was made,
and some scrap aluminum was cut out.
Normally I'd use road signs...

not quite

I've had this idea simmering for a while,
and it totally changed once the pieces took shape.
Prototype stuff usually comes out better on the fly.

puzzle

Definitely a temporary-permanent fix here.
Once its covered in carpet it'll be hidden.
I'll do a little more trimming,
and then seal the hole up with some 1/4" rubber hose
cut with a slot lengthwise,
forming a gasket while keeping the column sturdy.

trippy engineering

Since I was on a roll,
the tranny hump template was cut out of some recycled boxes.

tranny hump

It sure would be nice to have a machine to make this all into metal...

TP

jackson truesight w60 review

Yesterday I was tig welding some sheetmetal,
and realized I couldn't see clearly.
It was outside and the sun was behind me,
and it was a weird almost overhead position.

Jackson Truesight w60 welding helmet

After getting a shade hooked up,
I realized the more obvious problem.
The welding hood lens was toast!
After every dirty job,
I planned on changing it up,
and that was about 4 projects ago.
Time for a tune-up,
and a good opportunity for a review of this awesome beast.
This blog gets alot of hits from people searching this hood.

tune-up kit

I've had this helmet for about a year and a half,
and love it.
perich brothers (and sister): jackson vs miller vs speedglas (vii)
perich brothers (and sister): KC cheerleader
At first I babied the almost $300 tool,
using it for welding only.
This is only half table-welding,
the majority of the stuff is underneath cars, tight spots, outside,
you name it.
One of the reasons I chose this one is the hood is really small,
and will fit in places the larger hoods could never reach. (see old posts!)
I had a concern that the plastic was unusually soft,
but this has been a benefit as it can conform to a wedged location,
not to mention the times its been dropped or the carry bag was on the bottom!

Now it's on for torch cutting and grinding.
This may be the reason the lens gets so wasted,
as it also becomes a protective shield from smoke and flying debris.

Jackson TrueSight w60 welding helmet-inside

Here is one of the reasons the helmet is so versatile.
The buttons are idiot proof.
Even with light-duty gloves it's possible to push the buttons,
and there are lights that notify which darkness position is on.
I've been trained now to know not to weld if there is a green light visible!
Basically it's possible to switch modes without removing the hood.
So easy.
While others may have more features,
this one is consolidated to what I actually need.
There are 4 sensors,
and the only real issue I've had is adjusting the sensitivity for outside or sunny days.

brains behind the w60

After over 1-1/2 years of moderate use,
I can't believe these are the original AAA batteries.
There is a battery life gauge and it's about half-down,
but I haven't noticed any significant changes in performance.

jackson truesight wh60 welding helmet

Last month a friend was searching for a helmet.
Of course I pushed this one,
but we went to the local welding shop to check other models out.
I was surprised they no longer carried this model on display.
It was at their warehouse,
but they pushed the new Lincoln and the old Miller Digital Elite.
The Lincoln had a great large window,
but the controls were designed by office engineers not welders.
Same with the miller.
They also had very intricate headgear that looked like it would last about a month.
Aaron was on the fence until he observed me working on a HD project,
and the amount of changes from grinding to torching to stick welding were seamless,
making the work that much quicker.
I was stoked when he ordered the TrueSight online,
as I wouldn't have to hear any complaints about the other helmet!

The only badly designed aspect of the helmet is the flat front,
which made it too easy to scratch the lens cover.
if you remember I had a quick and simple fix.
perich brothers (and sister): pedicles
I'm not sure why they designed it that way.
The other negative are the special w60 only plastic lenses.
I get them online and its good to have a couple reserves.

Other than that,
if you're in the market for a quality auto-darkening welding hood,
you won't be disappointed.
And no,
I don't get paid or sponsored by these guys!

TP

MMW autopilot

Two weeks ago was Jakob's birthday.
He waited patiently for swap meet time,
and of all things he picked out a cheapy skateboard blank.
This was a concession to him not getting one of those plastic Penny boards.
Why follow a trend right?

Jakob Perich - 2013 - never bored-never board

He had this wacky idea of painting it with splash graphics,
something from an era that I lived in that had happily passed by.
Well dang it if I didn't get a series of "how to" pics,
as he figured out the method with the help of the internet.
I was amazed how well it turned out!

You can see he did a basic sunburst background,
then with a dish soap overlay got the black splash shadow.
See why I take so many pictures,
that definition doesn't make any sense!

clearance

What was I doing that was so important?

Well I was trying to eliminate this nastiness underneath the green 40,
which meant greasy hands don't touch the new iphone!

As time has gone by,

the suspension had begun to sag.

This is typical as the leaf springs learn how to hold the weight.

The side effect was the radius rods smashing the transmission pan!

Awesome!

Good thing it was sheetmetal as it basically conformed around the links.

stool time

The fix was easy,
a couple 3/8" aluminum spacers to raise the engine and transmission.
The radius rods pivot on that clamped ball,
so there isn't a huge amount of space needed for the first foot or so,
as this suspension has maybe an inch of upward travel.

custom grip tape templates

Meanwhile Jakob had made a design for his custom grip tape.
He's learning templates are key to the fabrication process!
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▶ Medeski, Martin and Wood - Austin, TX, 1996-04-13 - YouTube

As the day progressed into evening,
neither of us could stop with our projects,
pushed by our desire to see an end result,
In the background this crazy music would have derailed many others,
but in our case it was like fuel to the fire,
both of us in the zone.
Get out of our way!

team perich

While he finished his deck,
I made templates for a temporary floorboard.

rat rod road sign floor

Some day I'll make a real tranny hump and do it right,
but these plates will work for now.
No more lost wrenches, change and screwdrivers falling down this hole!

holey chit

In true Perich Brothers fashion we finished by dinnertime.
Pretty wild for a 12 year old kids first try at a custom grip tape!

stance socks and wavy tape

Don't you think this is better than a Penny board?

TP

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

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

Return of the Hurtlocker Truck

Man I've been lagging on writing up posts on here.
We'll go most recent first and see how far back I can remember.
Here's the return of the HURTLOCKER TRUCK!!

Hurtlocker Truck - 1955 Chevy w/corvette running gear

After 2 deployments,
Ken is back and good to get restarted on his truck project.
It's been a long haul,
and while it seems like the end is near,
there is a ton of stuff to do.
Guess that's what happens when you don't just throw stuff together!

Add caption

Fortunately the project was stored in a clean garage.
Not much has changed for the worse in the year or so it had been sitting.

chevy 350

It took and is still taking some time to get a master plan.
For now it is to start installing the box of mail order parts he had stashed.

typical

It seems like for every $50 spent,
there is an hour of assembly issues.
Nothing has been an easy bolt-on with this thing!
Here's a good example,
the accelerator pedal had to be on the spot with the floor gussets.

insert face here

I'll use an excuse to not wear a dust mask,
like outside in the wind,
or holding my breath as long as possible,
but underneath a car in a garage,
it's nice to be able to breath.
I still don't see how some guys don't realize the junk they're breathing in.
It's nasty stuff.

pipes

This gave me a chance to clean up some of that nasty patch weld too.
Thinking about the pedal installation was harder than the actual install.
These companies try to come up with a one style fits all type application,
but it doesn't really work that way.
I'm betting this will need to be modified to be comfortable to drive.

bolt-on

A Lokar accelerator cable and a trans-dapt kickdown cable were used
to hook up the carburetor.
There are alot ot little parts and adapter brackets to hook up.
In my opinion the shine masks the one style fits all type engineering.
I'd still suggest modifying a TV cable for certain applications.

street rod chevy 350

While going through the pandora box of treasures,
the EZ wiring harness was found.
Holey chit...

holey chit - metal spaghetti

There's alot more going on than it appears.
First thing was to mount the fuse panel.

template

Grinding is always a good opportunity to let the subconscious kick in,
hoping a solution will pop up.

bracket

Interesting that a simple bracket isn't made to mount this panel.
Hopefully they won't read this and put guys like me out of work!

mail order engineering

I like this fuse box,
it is small and tight,
not huge and square like some of the other ones out there.

wired

This was really the easy part.
There are door poppers, a push-button ignition,
and other accessories in addition to the deluxe wiring kit.
All these relays and brain boxes need a clean panel.
That's my homework!

wired

Meanwhile Ken was hard at work redoing the seats.
Of course there are no clear pics.
They really are too perfect to work around!

radiator template

One of the more important (to me) things he did was make a radiator template.
Measurements were made and the radiator company designed a system,
but the measurements were just off enough that the time needed to make an
actual cardboard replica was well worth it.

Stay tuned - more to come!

TP