Puget Dude’s creations and fabrications (Random project thread.)

[Jayman17]

How do you like the Milwaukee 90* angle grinder? That looks handy but I worry about cordless
grinders. Very nice outcome on the side rail step.

Jay

 

[PugetDude]

The Milwaukee M12 right angle grinder is one of my favorite tools. Very compact, well-balanced, lightweight and easy one-handed operation. Liked it so well I bought the straight version as well, usually have a Christmas tree carbide burr in that one.

2” 40 grit zirconium flap discs do everything I could ask, the disc usually wears out long before the 4 aH battery. Much better control than a 4.5” angle grinder for grinding my ugly welds into submission, especially in tight spaces. Not as fast as a larger corded grinder, but definitely more precise and easier to control- 4 selectable speeds, up to 24,500 RPM- with a variable speed trigger.

Cannot recommend it highly enough. Yeah, I'm a fan.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

I've never paid attention to that M12 grinder, but I can see how that would be handy. I bought the M18 4.5" based on recommendations from GJ and it's been awesome; used it today even.

 

[PugetDude]

You

I've never paid attention to that M12 grinder, but I can see how that would be handy. I bought the M18 4.5" based on recommendations from GJ and it's been awesome; used it today even.

You can come over and try it out if you want; I get tired of grinding my own welds.

 

[rixtrix1]

Found a picture of the garage before I started filling it up. This house actually has 5 garage spaces- my side is the 3- car, my wife has the 2-car that’s perpendicular to this one. She’s the one that wanted more garage/shop space; she was tired of me bitching about working around our cars in a (barely) two car garage. Originally this was all one space, but I put up a wall to keep my shop mess out of her side (and so I could add A/C to the shop side someday)

This is a really neat pic. I've been told there is actually a floor somewhere in my little garage, too! So glad I stumbled onto your project thread as I really enjoy building stuff myself, too.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Jeep is looking great and with the modifications definitely put it over the top. Wow is your shop ever well organized.
If I were to have that much organization I’d never get anything done. Must be nice to know where everything is when you need it.
Looking good?

 

[Bears Fan]

Holy ****! I just realized how long its been since I left a comment on your thread, I had to go back a few pages to catch up, I about choked on my morning coffee when I saw your lathe, kinda looks familiar.













I picked this one up locally and its in awesome shape, no wear at all, it just sat in a old machine shop for years unused and it got really dirty, hopefully I will find time for a complete restoration someday

Great job on the labeling! OCD UTOPIA

Well you made me choke on my morning coffee a second time! I'm with you on the angry birds grill, the original looks a lot better, what caught my eye was where you purchased that new grill, Baseline 4x4 Outfitters in Kendallville Indiana, owner Tony Feichter is a great guy, he has his whole family working for him, "salt of the earth people" his business is about two miles from my house, small world.

Awesome job with that step on those running boards

 

[PugetDude]

Couple of projects this weekend.
First up was a little rolling cart for my shorter metal drops. Got tired of having them take up shelf space and having to root through a pile every time I need something.
This one took about half an hour, used a little HF furniture dolly I forgot I had and a couple of pieces of scrap 5/4 pine for the base. The cylinder is a short piece of 12-3/4” Stainless tubing, dividers are 3/4” square tube I had leftover from an old pool fence.. I’m happy with how well it worked out, cost me nothing. Ignore the weld gap between the old Simpson clips and the tube, I wanted to be able to easily knock the welds off if I need the ss. tube someday..

I’ll let you guess what the next one is….
1”S40 pipe, a few Kee t-fittings, 1-1/2” square tube and two 4’ 2x4’s for the frame. Wanted to put a set of lightweight casters on this so I plugged the ends of the uprights with a 1/2”NF nut welded to a heavy flat washer. Chased the threads and installed a set of cheapo 4” HF locking swivel casters. I dug these out of a flip-top tote that I hadn’t unpacked since we moved; purchase date on the receipt was 2005!
Length is adjustable by 20”, the 1” pipe is a close fit inside the 1-1/2”square tube. Simple 1/2” bolt with a rebar T-handle for a lock.

 

[zmotorsports]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for removing that angry grille. Those things are hideous as well as obstruct air flow. We have (had) many of them in the local Jeep club and people could not figure out why they have problems keeping their Jeeps cool in triple digit heat around here. But they wouldn't listen when I'd tell them to put the OEM grille back on and allow air flow through to the cooling stack. I guess the prefer looks over function and actually thought they look good with those grilles.

Nice job on the step modification and congrats on the new to you Jeep. Looks really clean and unadulterated.

If I can give one bit of advice seeing as you you mentioned that you are using this as a toad behind your motorhome, that is to add some form of rock guard in front of your steer tires on the Jeep. With the stubby bumper I am afraid you will begin throwing rocks forward to the back of the coach creating rock chips. Been there done that and took me a while to figure out that it was the Jeep causing the rock chips and not the coach throwing them back. I built removable rock guards for mine that install quickly and easily once the Jeep is connected to the coach. They work great and not as single rock chip in over 30k miles now and 5 years with the new paint job.

 

[PugetDude]

Well, no one took the bait and offered a guess as to what the rolling pipe contraption was for….

Got the body off the ‘32 to start working on it again after a 2 year hiatus. I blame LxCam shaming me for not working on it and credit @Grizz1963 and his detailed posts on the RezinRocket for the inspiration to get started again. Thanks, guys!

I will have to dig out some of the old (pre-WA-AZ move) photos on my old computer for some of the earlier work on the chassis and body.

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks like an awesome project. I'd love to build another street rod. Who knows? Maybe someday. Until then I'll follow along on your build.

 

[PugetDude]

Mike, it’s not going to be a show car by any means, I’m thinking more along the lines of something an average Joe would have built in their garage in the 1950’s.

This thing came out of a barn in pieces. Frame rails standing against the wall, a ratty old glass body that was half full of crushed beer cans, and boxes and boxes of parts, surprisingly most were Wilwood, Speedway, Helix, or Lucky 7.
Have a ‘49 8BA Flathead , S-10 T-5 with a Flathead Jack adapter. 8.8 Ford 3.73 limited slip rear end that I cut down 1-7/8” on the long side.

 

[zmotorsports]

Something tells me with your workmanship it will be more than the "average Joe" from the 50's would build.

Looking forward to the build.

 

[LXCam]

I can picture you now

 

[555]

I worked part time at a well known Hot Rod shop in the 80s. One of our customers had started a nice 32 Ford coupe. It was built on Just A Hobby rails with a 350/350 combo and a Gibbon body. The owner was a paint and body guy so the body was immaculate. It was about 90% finished when he got the need for "Real Steel" and sold the project to me for pennies on the dollar. I finished it up and drove it one summer before selling it. Sure was a fun car but I had another child on the way and needed the money more than the car.

 

[csp]

Well, no one took the bait and offered a guess as to what the rolling pipe contraption was for….

I couldn't get past the shock that you found casters at HF with a 1/2" UNF threaded stem. They don't have that size in China!

 

[PugetDude]

csp, i was surprised, too; took them to ACE Hardware to get what I presumed were going to be metric nuts and was shocked when I discovered they were SAE NF threads.

 

[Modern Garage]

I was surprised at that too, but pleasantly surprised as I just raided the junk bin for leftover lug nuts.
Joe

 

[MrPink]

Nice Wrangler, I have had the itch to get back into a Jeep as a toy, but my truck is on the docket to get finished first.

 

[rattle_snake]

Good to see you getting going on the '32. That was my guess for the pipe contraption, but was a bit thrown off by the height difference front to rear. Enjoy the build.
Suggest nitrous on that flathead...

 

[PugetDude]

I'm going mostly stock on the Flathead...all 120hp...It was supposedly rebuilt before the guy I got it from bought it- we pulled a head, nice crosshatchiung on the cylinders, turned over fine- it's not locked up. Hoping it runs when I get it in and plumbed up.
I do have a set of Eddie Meyer Hollywood heads a friend had hanging in his barn in Illinois for 40 years... he thought they were Edelbrock heads, sent them to me because he was cleaning out the barn and didn't have a use for them. Might have to get them decked before I put them on.
I also have a Speedway dual carb aluminum manifold and a few Ford 94 carbs that came with the motor. Should have enough to come up with 2 good ones.

Not going rat rod, but not a show car, either- looking for something I can run around the neighborhood with, go to dinner, etc. Definitely not a go-fast build.

Not a car club guy, either...too many egos involved there. Who knows, I might even paint it with a 4" brush...

 

[XJSuperman]

That brush threat just made several readers sick, Im sure of it.

Honestly it would have a cool look to it with a little brush texture in it. I'm on board. Sounds like a fun plan.

 

[555]

Really piss them off and leave it in gel coat.

 

[RivennHewn]

Rattle can it with ruddy brown primer and call it good.

So easy to touch up

 

[Bears Fan]

Dang! The 32 will look awesome with a flat head in it excited to be following along as your putting it all together! when its done you will need to drive it out to the Big Party Garage for one of Don's kick *** paint jobs and some ice cream

 

[PugetDude]

If I tried to drive it out to Don’s he would have me arrested at the border for impersonating a real paint and body man. Robert would fly out from Maryland and Randy would drive the ‘66 over from AZ to testify as expert witnesses at the trial. They’d be the only ones getting any ice cream.

 

[PugetDude]

Finally got the ‘32 frame and body fitting the way I wanted, so I got started on the frame bracing this weekend.
Had a couple of sticks of 1-1/4” square tube so that’s what I used. Round tube has better torsion strength but this isn’t going to see a lot of stress with a 120hp Flathead.
Had a couple of heavy wall crossmembers in place already, this was mostly just adding diagonals and bracing. Will add gussets underneath when I flip the frame over to weld the underside.

 

[PugetDude]

Needed a couple of curved pieces to follow the frame kickup so it was kerf-bend-weld-grind time.
Happy with the fit on these; more pics to come when I get further along.

 

[LXCam]

Kickass scott. Where you able to find a solution to the body/frame fitment issue you showed me or is that the fix we’re looking at?

 

[PugetDude]

Cut the center crossmember out and pulled the frame in at the waist by 1/2””. That allowed me to shift the body over to center it on the rear of the frame.
Then I made a hillbilly frame spreader out of a piece of threaded rod and some scrap 1x2 tubing and cranked the rear of the frame out ~3/4” to fit the body. Pipe clamps with the jaws reversed would have been easier but I left them up at the cabin when we pulled out of there last fall.
Apparently whoever built this body was only using Henry Fords dimensions as a suggestion; I built the frame to match the original prints.
The rails had been boxed before I bought them, could have warped during welding, too- they were pretty rough.

 

[PugetDude]

Started the frame X-bracing with the center section.
Used 1-1/4” x .078 wall (14 gauge) square tube and 1/8” plate for the gussets. These tie into the top crossmembers; I’ll add additional gussets to tie them into the lower half of the frame when I flip it over.

Here’s a shot of the brake and clutch pedal assembly; pretty close to the T-5 transmission. (9/16” clearance)
I already trimmed the mounting brackets down 1/2” on the side, can’t really go much further over or I will have pedal clearance issues. They must have had really small feet in 1932, I can barely get my 11EEEE’s in the footwell as it is.
Also sculpted the bottom of the bracket up 1-1/4” and raised it as much as possible to get enough room for the driver’s side exhaust. Passenger side is wide open.
Still trying to figure out how to configure the bracing forward of the transmission crossmember- plenty of room on the passenger side but almost no room on the drivers side….ideas welcome.

 

[PugetDude]

Parking brake installed, glad I remembered to incorporate it into the frame now so I didn’t have to hack everything up to get it in later.

 

[Bears Fan]

You had me at hillbilly frame spreader

The build looks awesome so far! Wish I was closer, I would love to come over and weld on some of those frame rails and cross members for you.

 

[PugetDude]

You could do the welding, Big Blue and Goldie could try out the M12 grinder and Rattlesnake could shoot a coat of primer on it. Meanwhile LxCam could get the Flathead running.
Like Tom Sawyer painting the fence…

 

[Michael B.]

Scott I just finished reading your entire thread. I must say I'm a fan of your work! Glad to see you are working on the Deuce. A worthy project for sure!! You might find a bell housing mounted cross member to solve your bracing needs forward of the trans-mount.

On a different note, the next time you need to patina/rust a project, you might try muratic acid. It works well with no mixing to fuss with.

 

[PugetDude]

Working toward the rear, 4 more braces installed.
The next two are going to be the most challenging, the frame takes a really tight curve up in the rear and I want this row to support the fiberglass body.
I cut the original frame horns at the rear off and replaced them with a piece of heavy wall tube.
Putting the gas tank inside the body instead of hanging out the rear like Henry did.

 

[PugetDude]

Scott I just finished reading your entire thread. I must say I'm a fan of your work! Glad to see you are working on the Deuce. A worthy project for sure!! You might find a bell housing mounted cross member to solve your bracing needs forward of the trans-mount.

On a different note, the next time you need to patina/rust a project, you might try muratic acid. It works well with no mixing to fuss with.

Thanks for looking, Michael. You must be a glutton for punishment.

I’ve used Muriatic Acid before (mostly for cleaning) but it doesn’t give the instant old rust patina like the peroxide-vinegar-salt solution.

I hear uric acid works well, too.

 

[zmotorsports]

Great job on the frame Scott. I built several street rod chassis when I was building cars and actually quite enjoyed this phase of the build. Keep the pics coming.

If I could give one suggestion, that would be to clean off the mill scale on the tubing and any corrosion off the original frame and get to bright clean steel before welding. It really does create a better looking and more structurally sound fusion without that mill scale becoming liquid and mixed in the molten puddle. Just a suggestion.

 

[PugetDude]

Great job on the frame Scott. I built several street rod chassis when I was building cars and actually quite enjoyed this phase of the build. Keep the pics coming.

If I could give one suggestion, that would be to clean off the mill scale on the tubing and any corrosion off the original frame and get to bright clean steel before welding. It really does create a better looking and more structurally sound fusion without that mill scale becoming liquid and mixed in the molten puddle. Just a suggestion.

I do need to be more diligent about that- the original 32 rails are pretty rusted on the top; the boxing plates aren't too bad- but the tubing is new. I'll hit the joints with a wire brush in the die grinder before I do the finish welding. (unless Bearsfan decides he needs a working vacation away from the Indiana snow...)

Thanks for following this build and especially the advice, your thread is a source of inspiration for us mere mortals.

 

[Grizz1963]

First time I have looked in here.


Thats a serious build.

way beyond my abilities.