Building My Tool Chest

Over the past few months, I’ve really gotten into hand tool woodworking.  There’s something soothing about building something entirely with my own hands and my own energy. It all started when I was looking at sizes of garages and how big of a woodworking shop I needed to suit my needs.  I started adding up all the machines I would need to do the type of woodwork I wanted and realized it was ridiculous.  It was about that time I started reading about and tools and discovered Chris Schwarz and his book The Anarchist Tool Chest.  Since then I’ve been working on gathering the tools I need to get started.  I’ve always used my dad’s woodworking tools, and the only tools he ever used were power tools.  I think he got his first set of chisels a few years ago, and he only uses screws for joinery.  There’s not anything wrong with that, it works for him, and its how I learned much of what I know today, but I’m ready to move on.

P.S.  I’m still working on the GTO and the truck, but I have a serious case of MPS (Multiple Project Syndrome), and I’m trying to build a house at the same time…  More on those at another time.

Done! Finally! Well Kinda…

 

Well I finally finished the body cart.  It seems to work pretty well.  It should do exactly what I want (lift the body up and down).  It took me about 3 hours to assemble the thing.  It was fairly awkward with one person doing it, and it was hot.  Either way it should give me a chance to get back to work in the trunk area.  I’m going to go up to Tractor Supply either this coming weekend or the following and get a few bags of the Black Diamond blast media.  I only plan to use it on the bottom side of the trunk floor, interior trunk and any other areas that I really need to see the metal before I start separating panels.  Once I get that done, I’ll be able to start cutting, fitting, cutting, fitting, cutting, fitting, and eventually welding the new trunk pans in.  I need to make a patch in the inner wheel house where the trunk supports sat.  They soaked up a good amount of water and rusted through.  I’m not sure if I should just buy a wheelhouse and cut out the part I need, or if I should make a patch.  I’ve got plenty of time to think about it though.  Until next time…

Almost There

Well I’ve almost got the body lift and roller completed.  It’s been a long time coming.  I’ve been extremely busy with other crap.  I’ve got an order in for some hardware from McMaster-Carr that should be here this week.  Once I get that, and lay down about 60 more weld beads, I’ll be ready to put the GTO body up on newly made roller! WooHoo!

Whats on the agenda for the GTO now you ask?
1.  Sandblast Undercarraige
2.  Prime Undercarriage
3.  Start replacing Floorpans

After the car is up in the air, I need to start working on the truck, before winter gets here.  Photos below!

      

Body Lift and Roller

This is the project I have been working on for the past month.  It’s taken some time, mostly due to money concerns.  We’re trying to save for a house, so the budget is pretty tight.  Anyways, I am building a Body Lift and Roller from plans I bought from Red Wing Steel Works.  The roller is pretty cool.  It will allow me to lift the body on and off the frame to roll the body outside for sandblasting in between body work phases.  This first picture shows the parts I’ve, up to yesterday.  The rest I did tonight.  The second (top right)  shows the top tube and the threaded rod that will eventually be threaded in.  The last two show the rod, that has been turned into a bold of sorts and welded to a plate.  When it is all assembled, it will allow me to adjust the height of the body to get it over the frame and out the garage door.  All this effort just to allow me to do body work with the body on the frame.  I’ll update with more pictures as I make progress.  Check out the link if you’d like to see how it works.

Rebuilding Some Hinges

Today a buddy was coming over to use the sandblaster on his motorcycle gas tank.  I thought I would take advantage of that time and sandblast the GTO door and trunk hinges.  In the previous post I took apart the package shelf that I am going to put in car once I get the trunk floor replaced.  Well the shelf came with hinges that I have no desire to take off, so I plan on making them work on the GTO.  All’s I need to do (man I’ve heard that one before!) is blast the old ones up, drill out the spot welds holding the bottom brackets to the hinges, replace the rusted metal on the brackets, and weld them to the new hinges.  My wife did most of the blasting for me while I took care of fixing her recipe box and making patches to repair the rusted portions of the hinges.  I’ll post up some more pictures when the project is closer to completion.

Sorry for the crappy photo’s.  All I had was my cell phone

Trunk Filler Panel

I spent about an hour yesterday and about three hours this morning working on the underside of the truck filler panel for the GTO.  Since you might not have any background info, I’ll remind you the underside of the filler panel was completely rusted away.  Water seepage from the rear window caused this metal piece to meet its demise a long time ago. Earlier this year I found a used panel online and bought it right away.  Finally I had some time to work on it.

The only thing I really had to do was drill out the spot welds all around the panel to remove the exterior filler portion (I bought a new one in much better condition, you can see it in the last picture above).  Now that it is removed, I need to do some minor repairs and get rid of all the rust and spot weld drill outs.  I’ll probably use some rust converter and some welding to get that job done.

I’ve got final exams coming up this week and next, so that’s probably all you’ll  hear from me until just before Christmas.

Cleanin’ Up the Garage

Well I finally got the new motor on the stand.  I put a tire down underneath so it wouldn’t bend up the oil pan.  It seems to work pretty well.  Then engine is pretty heavy so it is still kind of hard to move around.  You’ve gotta get it moving before it rolls well.  I also put up some pictures of the wood stove I’ve been installing.  I still need to get a good fire going in it to get it fully seasoned.  After I got the fire started last night I continued to clean the garage.  It is almost done.  I just have to get the load of junk next to the garage door out so I’ve got room to move around and build the body roller.  More to come next week I’m sure!

Pontiac 239 Flathead Six

It looks like I won’t make it up to the garage until Saturday so I wanted to post a picture I had of the engine the seller sent me before I decided to buy it. Don’t laugh! I know it looks rough, but theres a lot of potential there, and an awesome Poncho sound. Who else do you know running a Pontiac flathead in a Model A? The engine turns over and seems to be in good shape internally. It supposedly only had 65,000 miles on it (supposedly). I’ll post again after Saturday and show some pictures of the garage modifications and as promised the engine on the cart.

Track A Roadster

If you’ve read my projects section, you know that I have intentions of building what I am calling a Modified Model A Ford.  Some would probably argue with me that it is not a traditional “track” A, but I’m not really sure what else to call it.  I drew this a couple weeks ago to give myself some direction.  Initial plans include a ’30/’31 Model A grille, hood, cowl and doors.  I want to turn a ’50’s Ford F-series hood on its nose to use as the back for the body.  A late 20’s or early ’30’s GM frame so that I can do an axle over frame setup, and a Pontiac 239 Flathead six for the engine.  I’ll post pictures of the engine on the roller I made as soon as I’ve got ’em.

Engine Cart

Wow.  It’s been a really long time since I posted.  I’ve been really busy with my Master’s degree and with work, but with the end of school in sight, I have begun working on some projects.  Last month my wife an I drove to Cleveland and bought a Pontiac 239 flathead engine.  I plan on putting this in a modified Model A project.  In the meantime though, I’ve still got a ton of other crap to work on.  When I got the engine home, I plopped it down in the garage to get my dad his truck back.  Now it’s in the way.  To remedy that situation I built this little engine cart to put the engine and transmission on so that I can roll it around and move it into the storage shack.  It’s made of 1/8″ angle and flat stock I got from Lowes and some cheap Harbor Freight casters.  I plan on putting some wood in the bottom, and setting the engine on top.  Hope to do it sometime this week.

Total Time: 2.5 hrs