I've been working on my car a little

When I first started reading the OP, I didn’t see the thumbnails for the photos. I was about to

Fire off an angry “you know the rules” comment and then

Jump in the car and head south.
 
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That is really....

I got tired of looking at my garbage fenders and decided they had to go. That's where the trouble began. The car has been wrecked and someone hacked it back together. Little wonder it didn't drive too well. I thought the steering box was bad but found all of the rod ends were bad. The front axle was installed backwards!!!??? and was 7 degrees off from one side to the other. Even the frame was swaying to the right a little. Dang! This is gonna cost me.

I pulled the front end and shipped the axle to a really cool farmer/hotrodder in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma. He does it all. Drops them and straightens them to speck. His son builds frames in another out building on the family farm. I was praying I wouldn't need his services and was dreading starting over with a vintage frame.

To complicate things further I bought a 2" dropped spring and also two nice 1937 spindles because I didn't like the twist on the tie rod connection. All of this stuff is pretty close together and my changes didn't help.

More parts, Kingpin kit, Spring perches with lower shock mounts for tubular shocks.

I put it all together and still the wheel base was a half inch or so off. Grrr. I'm thinking frame again. But the frame seems to have relaxed a little in my eyes.

I took it down the street to a local builders shop to see what he thought, he's been to my house before and said that he thought he could fix it but wanted me to fix what I could first. I agreed and did all of the above.

After a little while trying to figure out what the previous guy did and measuring every thing he found that one radius rod was about 3/4 of an inch longer. Fixed that and bingo! no frame needed. He replaced the frame horns for me and we came up with the headlight/shock mounts. Oh, Added a front spreader bar also.

It drives really well now, custom headers from Virginia should arrive tomorrow.

Pictures? Ok


That is really SWELL!:)
 
I really liked the full fender probably because most are without. $2500 for a set of repops and other things don't get done.

The old hotrodders will tell you that the main reason is weight loss but what I like best is it's a whole lot easier to work on or around. I changed the oil without a jack the other day.

As I'm typing the headers came and my lunch is ready.
 
Death grip. This brings memories from long ago. I'm a fan of Ford flat heads, had several years back. A '33 , a 39, a 46. I once went to the Bonneville salt flats in 1952 as a helper with a crew that had a 1934 chopped & channeled coupe with a Ford flathead V8. Turned 142.51 in the timed mile. I did not race just changed oil & tires. Got a nice tan even under my arms reflecting from the salt.
 
Death grip. This brings memories from long ago. I'm a fan of Ford flat heads, had several years back. A '33 , a 39, a 46. I once went to the Bonneville salt flats in 1952 as a helper with a crew that had a 1934 chopped & channeled coupe with a Ford flathead V8. Turned 142.51 in the timed mile. I did not race just changed oil & tires. Got a nice tan even under my arms reflecting from the salt.

That's cooking!!! It's always been a dream to go to the salt flats. The '48 engine that I mentioned ran at Emilia Earhart Field back in the mid fifties. That's in Hialeah Fl. and is now a huge park. My Dad owned the engine and a Lincoln Zephyr transmission. His partner owned the drop tank and rear configured chassis. Dad told me that they ran 107 MPH in the quarter. I wish I had pictures of the drop tank, everyone else was running Slingshots on the quarter.
 
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