Hot Rod Revolution.

Oh man, the Hot Rod Revolution was held here in Austin for the first time. It's regular location is in northern California and the fellas that put it on wanted to try out a satellite show of sorts and try it out here at the old power plant right in the middle of town. There were about 100 cars there, all hand picked by the organizers and it was unreal. I hope that they keep doing it every year. Anyway, here's where Nacho was parked all day. That top picture was taken by one Mr. John Tullis, my favorite shutterbug in Austin. I'd like to think that Nacho was happier than he's ever been. And the fresh coat of WD-40 made him look competitive and maybe even given him better gas mileage.

New shop shirts. Hell. Yeah.

Check 'em out on our web site. www.avenuebarbershop.com Heck yeah we'll ship 'em to ya!

All hooked up.

Told ya I hooked it up. Photographic evidense.... evidinse....evidence. Sounds great too. One genuine ahooga horn.

Look out!

As of yesterday, this is what I hit when I want you to get out of the way. And homeless folks standing on street corners with "gimme" signs seem to get a kick out of it. One fella slapped his dusty old cowboy hat on his knee so hard he just about fell over. I wired it up with the old cloth covered stuff and it looks great.

New (old) horn button.

So, at the Chickashea swap meet a few months ago I found a sweet original Sparton horn. All I needed to do was figure out how to hook it up. Since I re-wired the whole car (and the horn rod in the steering column was now bypassed), I needed to figure out an independent way to wire it. Gotta love eBay for the little stuff. After looking for just the right one for quite some time, this NOS column mount horn button showed up in the listings. I placed a bid and won and it came in the mail this week. I thought that I won just the single button, but four identical and in the box ones showed up. Nice old button, right?

New picture just for the heck of it.

May 8th, 2010.

Yeah, COPPER STUFF!

Sweet new copper spark plug gaskets! Got to love the little stuff.

New header!

Two weeks ago I got tired of looking at the crappy header pictured below, so I ordered a new one from Snyders. Once it got here i sent it to get "Hot Temped". Basically, you send your header in and they (Hot Temp) coats the inside and outside with a finish that will not burn off or get crappy looking at all, even with the high temperatures that these headers see.

Today was the perfect weather outside to put this fella on. Now I feel like I should get a new stainless steel muffler to go along with it. That'll be pricey! But for now, this is pretty sweet.

Old header.

Man, that old header looks terrible! It leaks exhaust fumes and gets carbon all over the block. Next post shows the new one I put on this morning.

Swap meet score!

There's a nice swap meet that is held at the Roundup. That's where I found these beauties! Check 'em out! Old and just cool as all get out, and I actually need them and will use them on Nacho. Right now I just have the "big" bulbs in the headlights, but I need to have all four hooked up so I can see a little better. So, one big one and one small one in each lamp and I'm set. Eleven dollars worth of awesomeness! Roundup = killer!

Roundup ready!

That's right! The fast one AND the slow one are ready to go! Man, this Roundup weekend was fun. There was 1300 cars that showed up and my friend Bill's car won the Kontinentals pick trophy! He was giddy as all get out. I drove Nacho down to South Congress on Thursday as everyone was getting settled in town, and Friday and Saturday were all about speed and volume. Rusty was in his prime. Had a blast, and check out the coverage on the Jalopy Journal and the HAMB. Great photos and stories over there.

New brake light switch from A&L.

Heck yeah. The best of the best. One genuine, hand made by an 80 year old fella, bonafide killer brake light switch from A&L. And check out the instructions. Don't overtighten those terminal screws! I wish that everything came with instructions like that. Awesome.

Stupid brake light switch.

So I couldn't get the brake light to work so I re-wired the whole car. Well, that's not entirely accurate. What happened was, that I ordered a new loom for Nacho, installed it and nothing worked correct. The lights were all backwards, the horn didn't work (still doesn't), the running light at the rear didn't show up at all and the brake light simply didn't shut off. So, I hardwired the headlights and the rear running light to a switch that I mounted just to the left of my knee while sitting (hard to describe otherwise), and ran a straight shot from the hot straight to the brake light switch, straight to the brake light. Only the brake light didn't go dark. It just stayed on. So, after talking to a few folks on Ford Barn, figured that the new brake light switch I ordered was bad. So, there's a different, hand made one on the way along with a new brake rod set up. Hopefully today that stuff will get here so I can drive Nacho around for the Roundup weekend.

The picture above was taken at my buddy Paulie's wedding. I drove Rusty up to North Austin for the wedding and then out to the Hill Country for the awesome reception. Had a great time, and congrats Paulie!

Got it running great!

So, turns out that when you move the battery to the back jump seat area, you need to add a second ground to the frame at the engine. My buddy Charlie figured that out, and once I added that fella on there it was awesome! So, TWO grounds with a jump seat battery. One right there at the battery, and one at the engine. In my case I added one from the lower starter bolt right to the frame by the steering box. Runs awesome. Now, does anyone know how to hook up a Spartan horn?

New shoes!

Heck yeah! Finally had the time and the funds to get the tires ordered and installed on the 1935 Ford wire wheels I got from my buddy Norm a while back. These are original wire wheels that have been blasted and primered and powdercoated. The Firestones showed up while I was in Chickasha, OK at the Pre War Swap Meet, so when I got home late yesterday I was hoping that the tire shop would be open today (Saturday). Sure enough, I made a recon/coffee run today early, came back home and loaded everything up, headed over there, and $60 later, had them all ready for mounting. Came home and put them on and it's exactly what I was after.

Chickasha was really cool, but it was mostly Model T stuff. There was plenty of A stuff, but the T parts were everywhere. I scored an original Spartan horn that has never been painted, two water inlet necks (I cracked my last one putting it on with a rachet instead of a wrench), a neat-o license plate reflector thingy and some incredible NOS wax covered cloth wire for Rusty. Very cool trip and I'll be back next year!

Chickasha here we come!

I'm headed to Chickasha, Oklahoma today to go to the Pre War Swap Meet there. It's Thursday and Friday up there and I can't wait to see what I can find. Searching for the elusive overhead valve conversion for the four banger and some other odds and ends. Pictures coming in a few days.

Total. Ruler.

Since I am relatively new to the whole Blog thing, I must admit my ignorance here. I'm sure that you guys already know about the blog I'd like to mention here, but I just found it yesterday and I can't stop reading it. Long story short, this fellow is my hero. He's a brilliant, smart, funny writer that is interested in the exact things I am interested in. One day I will have a real garage and it will be filled with junk that I and only I like, and I just can't wait. But this fellow already has it and it's prefect. If you have three days of nothing to do, go here. Fast. http://hooptyrides.blogspot.com

Before and after shots. 'Cause I'm bored and it's cold outside.

Here's some before and after shots just for the heck of it. All in all I probably have about $250 into this now. Except the distributor. That was pricey. Enjoy! It'll be runnin' tomorrow!

Complete! but not starting.

So I got everything installed today. The distributor is a modern electronic ignition system that the company FSI makes. It looks just like the original distributor, but the spark rod is no longer active and it's got sweet modern guts. I had to run another 10 gauge wire from the battery to the new starter switch, mount the coil, ground a few wires and find TDC on the first cylinder. All is good, right? Wrong. After trying to get it started for about twenty minutes it backfired. A true sign of unhappiness. So my buddy Mark Ford may be on his way here tomorrow to figure out what I'm unable to. Sure does look sweet though! Sigh...

Distributor showed up....and snow did too.

My new fancy distributor showed up yesterday evening, but I wasn't able to work on the car anyway because it snowed! Big deal for us Texans, the snow. One and a half inches and little snow men everywhere. Sure was pretty. I have to wait on a new drive shaft for the distributor to show up anyway before I can mount it and set the timing, so a snow day was not too bad of a delay.

As of today.

......and just a shot of the whole shebang as of today. Going to order up some tires tomorrow finally, and maybe the distributor will show up tomorrow too. More next week....

Back together and AWESOME!

The new water pump, hoses and clamps and fender bolts showed up on Thursday, but because I had to work for Jason (he was sick), I missed the Postman and had to go get them from the Post Office (ours sucks) on Friday. Regardless, I think everything came together pretty nice. The red hoses are the way the cars were shipped form the factory (at least that's what FordBarn says), and look killer!

So that's what I did today. Just reassemble everything, run wires and tighten bolts and wish that my new distributor would show up. But it's Sunday right now and it should be here tomorrow. And that should be everything. Once I get that fella in there I can fire it up for the first time in a long time and hopefully make it to the Dog & Duck Pub for the Park and Hang that Mark Ford puts on every other Monday. Getting excited to drive this guy!

Starter is back!

Day before yesterday I picked up the starter from Texas Alternator and Starter Repair. They totally rule and I've been using them for twenty-some odd years. This is the original starter that was pretty shot. They rebuilt it to new condition and even added the modern starter drive that I got from Snyders instead of the Bendix one that was on there from Ford. The modern style drive doesn't have any bolts or washers on it that eventually come loose and have parties on your flywheel, so I should be set for a while. And check out the wax covered braided cables!

Battery mounted.

The original floor in the jump seat area was completely rotted away, so I cleaned up the edges and went and got a piece of 3/4" birch ply from the lumber yard, cut it to fit and figured how to mount the battery with bolts and such, run the cables and make it solid back there. It's super steady and I like the way the cables I made turned out with the old braided wax covered loom and shrink wrapped ends.

Much better!

Aahhh....nothing like a little Henry Ford engine green. Got everything painted and put back together with new brass gaskets and new head bolt studs and nuts. Like they say, it looks better in person than in the pictures and they are correct. Now I've got to wait to get paid before ordering a new fancy distributor and hoses. Friday come on! I have a good rest of the day in front of me, so I should put the front end back on before it's all said and done. But I'm happy with the new stuff on here and the way it looks. Hope that it runs better than before, but we'll see. Excellent!

That head is OUTTA HERE!

Today was the first day in a week that it was nice enough outside that I could work on Nacho and get rid of that cracked head. I pulled the light bar, radiator shell, radiator and it's hoses, and the generator and set them aside. Then I pulled the water pump off of the front end, pulled the distributor off, and then pulled the intake and exhaust manifolds off. That left me with just the head bolts to loosen and get that cracked head off. After I took these pictures I managed to get the head off and cover everything up for the evening. And I painted the new head on the kitchen table because it was getting too cold outside.

Tomorrow I'll clean everything up a little better, paint it all and re assemble. Going to look great all nice and clean and tidy. Fun day.

Air cleaner for the Zenith.

Got this new reproduction air cleaner for the Zenith carb while I was away. Going to be nice on there and help keep him clean.

New valve covers for Rusty.

Heck yeah! Got some sweet new valve covers for Rusty, the hot rod coupe. Very nice original Imperial covers with sweet unmarked breathers. Don't know if I'll get 'em coated black or leave 'em chrome. Guess I'll have to see how they look once they are on there. Oh yeah, I'm also going to re-paint Rusty's 331 and get him all cleaned up for the Roundup. Going to look sweet with these on him!

Kevin is brilliant!

Yep. It was cold enough here in Austin to crack the HELL out of my head. But I could have prevented this tragedy by simply draining the water out of the engine before I left. But I didn't think it was going to get this cold. Anyway, a new head from Snyder's is on the way, along with a gasket set and bolt studs and some new wires and wire cover loom material. Got some engine paint and other odds and ends to build it up again, so I have my hands full for a while. Geez, what a bummer on that head.

Trip.

I went on another trip recently. That's why it's been a while since I posted any progress on the coupe. It was hot and balmy in Thailand and I think I would rule over there as a translator. But while it was hot and balmy where I was, it definitely was not hot and balmy at home here in Austin. In fact it was record breaking cold. Cold enough to do what follows........

New wood.

Since I'm re-locating the battery to the rear jump seat/trunk and didn't need access to the original floor board cut out which was right under the drivers feet, I decided to ditch the original set of floor boards (they were very trashed), and make these up in place of 'em. I think these turned out really nice. I'll leave 'em stained like this and won't paint 'em because I like the look of the natural wood. I put a nice piece in the jump seat/trunk space too. Looks a lot cleaner in there. Now I just have to come up with a rig that will hold the little battery down, along with two holes for the cables to pass through, wire it all up and be good to go.

Speed of light!

Got these from a regular customer at my local auto parts store. I went in there asking for some 6 volt bulbs and this dirty bearded old timer back in the oil section says, apparently to no one in particular, "What do ya'll need 6 volt stuff for?". So I say "An old Ford". He says he'll be back in an hour, and he was. He left these for me with the counter fellas and says if I need anymore to give him a call because he has about a hundred of 'em. Needless to say, I got his number from them.

Had time today to roll out Nacho and discover that the starter is shot. At least he looks good with black painted wheels. The 1935 Ford wire wheels that I purchased from my buddy Norm have been sand blasted and powdercoated too. I can pick them up tomorrow after I get paid and then order up some new tires and tubes, get 'em mounted and be set. The starter will get fixed soon too, so all should be rolling well soon! Yeah!

Change of direction.

Well, I've decided to keep this coupe's build to a minimum. In other words, things that I thought that I would do, I'm not. It's going to stay mostly original. It will still look like the picture below, and I'll leave the banger in there too. Just going to change the wheels and tires out, do some re-wiring, add a temp gauge, re-upholster and clean everything really well. I'm even undecided on painting it. For now though, just going to do the things mentioned here. And I'm pretty happy about it.