I made a mount for the battery out of angle iron, I don't have a good picture but, it just follows the perimeter of the battery then has a clamp that goes over the top.
It's been slow going on the Whippet lately but, I have been able to get a few things done. The above picture shows the rear panel that I made to tie the rear together. I made it from 18 gauge. Its hard to do long bends without a brake but, if you take your time you can do it with some clamps, angle iron and hammer/dolly work.
This is just a shot of the inside of the panel.
I cut down the decklid to make it fit better and installed the taillights.
I installed a piano hinge on the bottom of the decklid and got some spring latches for the top that I haven't mounted yet. I am currently working on bleeding the brakes after installing all new brake components from Thompson's Garage and a new 48' ford style master cylinder from Speedway Motors.
Till next time keep your ears and eyes open for hidden car treasure!
So I was able to let the flathead go through a heat cycle so I could re-torque the head studs. It's got a bit of blowby. It needs to have a rebuild in the near future. I will just baby it for the summer and maybe go through it next winter, otherwise it runs great. Oil pressure stays at about 5 psi at idle and goes up to 20 at higher rpm. Flatheads are known to have low pressure. The temp stayed right around 180 so that was good.
The V-man was digging the progress
I took a headlight bar I had and butchered it to fit. It turned out pretty good, I just mounted it to the F-1 Shock Mounts. The Headlights are a pair of 30-31 Ford Model A's with a sealed beam conversion.
I finally figured out that on a positive ground electrical system you need to positive ground your electric fuel pump as well.
For the shifter linkage I picked up some solid round bar. I heated the ends of the two pieces I cut and bent them at 90 degrees. This end goes through the hole on the shifter.
I then just strong armed the bars with a pipe bender to the shape they needed to clear each other and to smoothly shift through the gears. Then I just drilled holes through the bars and slid them over the transmission shift levers.
I finally found a use for the vintage Hamms can I had laying around. It's now the radiator overflow container.
I finished up the dash with the guages, switches and an ash tray for a smoking habit I don't have...I just thought it looked cool.
Bought some sheet metal and took a stab at forming my first decklid, it didn't turn out too bad. It would have been much easier with a shrinker/stretcher. I just made a million notch cuts and slowly bent it then welded it to hold the shape.
These are Ford F-1 shock arms. I made some brackets for them to bolt too.
I then made some mounts for the lower part of the shock and welded them to split wishbones. (I might need to move the mounting hole to the inside because the tires rub the metal). Now I know.
I slowly made the floor pans. I had to make templates then go cut out the metal with a plasma cutter.
The little hatch to the left is to fill the brake system through the master cylinder. The slot is for the transmission shifter.
I cleaned up the frame and painted it. Started the semi-final assembly. If I keep the car I will probably take it apart and fix the stuff I hate after I drive it for awhile.
My original plan was to use this saginaw 3 speed transmission from a 57' Chevy with an Offy adapter that you can see in the picture. I would have then had to convert the rearend to an open driveline because it uses a torque tube from the factory.
But I found a 1946 Ford 3 speed transmission for less than the cost of the open drive conversion kit and it makes it a bit more traditional in style.
The next group of pictures is the process of adding steel structure to the body and basically creating framing for the floor sheet metal to attach to.
I left the center open to allow travel of the torque tube under suspension compression.
I then framed a higher section to cover the open torque tube area.
There is one more stick to put in here but you get the idea.
Of course having the engine mocked up in place is essential to getting the rest of the car's proportion right.
So yesterday I made the 3-1/2 hour trip to Glasgow Montana to get a 1934 Ford Frame for my new 33' Ford Pickup project. My friend Jerry also lives there so it was a trip well worth the drive. After I picked up the frame Jerry and I went on a hot rod tour of Glasgow.
We started at Jerry's where he showed me a picture of a car I was told about by my father when I was in high school. I have been looking for this car ever since my dad told me about. Needless to say I still haven't found it. I was amazed to see that Jerry had a picture.
Larry Deal owned the car, that is Murk Mansel in the passenger seat. This picture was taken in April of 1963.
Jerry has got a 70' Mustang Mach 1 that he bought new, it has 16,000 original miles on it. The car looks brand new, it still has the original tires on it! I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of it, it's unbelievable.
Here is a couple pics of Jerry's 33' Ford coupe I just might sell parts of my body to obtain, he fits 5 vehicles in his garage so it was a little cramped.
We cruised around town saw a couple rat rod projects and the front engine dragster seen below.
It doesn't have the engine in it right now but, it ran a 292 straight six...crazy.
This is at the Malta 1/8th mile track.
Here is another 33' Plymouth that a guy in glasgow is building.
I also met this guy Stormer, he sells rc cars on the internet and drag races. He has some cool stuff on youtube, but here is his drag car. It's a 4 cylinder...crazy.
So I found this 1933 Ford 1.5 ton farm truck in a field next to a road that I used to get to a couple Hess Flowbacks.
Luckily, the owner had a "Posted" sign on the corner of the property with his name and phone number.
I called the guy and we struck a deal on the price.
I think the flathead is probably no good, we'll see.
This thing is huge, it looked much smaller when it was sunk into the ground and the weeds.
I found this 1934 Ford frame on The Hamb, it's a website that is for old cars. The frame is in Glasgow, MT.
This is why I am keeping this truck and building it, usually I would have flipped it and made a few hundred bucks. When I saw what it could look like I was hooked like a crack addict.
This is a picture my sister Tiffany took after I got it unloaded at home.
