Brake Backing Plates

Still in the “don’t spend money stage”, so I am trying to do things that are labor intensive but not much cash. So I mapped out a pattern and drilled (actually milled) out the backing plates I have.

I don’t even think I am going to end up using these, because the wife seems to think the hot rod should stop. So I will probably be using disc brakes, but if not, now I have some bad ass backing plates. 117 holes in EACH!

Wheels and Tires

I have the front wheels and tires figured out. I am going with 16 x 4 Ford Steelies. They are from 1940 and I fitted them with some cheapo 600-16 Nanco tires. They have tubes and a bunch of places I called would not touch them. After a bit of research and briefly trying my self I decided I needed to keep searching for a shop to do it. I finally found a great shop in Wilmington (right on my way home from work) called Eddies Tire City. Here is the info:

Eddies Tire City (ask for Gato)
825 W. PCH
Wilmington, CA 90744
310 830 5331

They were fast and made sure not to damage the wheel, plus the whole thing was $30 bucks. I am sure for someone who has the right tools and the know how it seems like a waste of money but I knew after a few minutes I was not getting those tires on. Here is a shot of them, I powder-coated the wheels twice to help against dings, the color is almond.

Starting the BUILD!

Well I guess it’s official I am starting my build. I know it has been a while but I am going to get moving now. I am still a little low on funds and have not found an affordable / build-able sedan body yet, but I have enough to move forward.

First thing I did before I put any money in the build was to try to get a title for my ‘31 chassis. I have read countless horror stories about trying to get a title from nothing and I was a little worried, especially here in CA.

After a lot of searching I decided to use a guy I found on the H.A.M.B. named Rich, “I partout chevys!!” is is tag on the forum.

I don’t think it could be easier, for a reasonable price he got me plates for my ‘31 in a few days and two weeks later I got a title in the mail. All registered as a ‘31 not 2010 which a big deal. SO if I were done today I could throw the plates on and drive it right now. Might be a little early for that but I wanted to make sure it was possible before I sank money into something I could never title.

Call Rich for titling – 909 821 0262

Adjustable Lifters

So I started a new project with Buddy Walker to make some adjustable lifters for our Flathead Caddies. Here is a shot of what the lifter assemblies look like and what we are starting with.

The goal here is to make an adjustable solid lifter because the hydro lifters tend to float up at higher R.P.M.’s …well at least that is what I have been told. So I had it in my head that I could just throw a little jam nut on a the shaft of a threaded head and call it a day. Easy enough.

So the key to the design was trying to get the lock nut or jam nut to be part of the lower piece. We looking at a few options.. we could weld it. I did not like this option for a couple reasons, one, welding can get expensive if you are going to make more than a couple sets, and two, my welding at least, leaves a bigger margin of error than machining does not.

Then we were throwing around the idea of recessing the nut in the lower portion. But again there are a few problems, one if you recess half of a jam nut there is not much left to grip on to when you are trying to make adjustments. The other problem is that it would leave you will a very thin walled piece in the lower section which made me uncomfortable.

So this is what I came up with. I figured out a way to make my own center lock nut and machine it as part of the lower piece. That cuts down on the number of pieces we need, two instead of three, and all parts are strong and beefy. Now the down side is I think there will be a limited number of times you could adjust them, but I think that number is large enough to make this a viable piece to our motors.

We will see, now we need to do some testing.

Here you can see the stock lifter hieght on the right and the stock lifter height +.045 on the left.

If you are interested I can be reached by PM on the H.A.M.B. by my name “keeper”.

Drilled Axle

I had a bit of free time a bit ago so I thought I would drill out the front axle. 17 1 inch holes, it came out pretty sharp.