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 It looks just like the original distributor, but the spark rod is no longer active and it's got sweet modern guts.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........