'34 Dodge Brothers, double build.

[MercuryMac]

The sparplug wires are held in place now with the little brackets that are bolted on the back of the heads. Everything looks normal.

You can't go around in a ratrod with a fat gearshift, so I'm doing something about that. I straightened out an old gearshift that I had welded a 3/8" bolt on the end, and then mounted it in my big old drill. The other end has a wooden bushing in case there was some wobble. There was some wobble. But anyhow, I started the drill up and latched it and held an angle grinder against the fat gearshift lever. It is getting thinner, but it's taking more time than I thought it would. The second and third pictures are before and partway through the silly operation.

Today I found another pair of NOS glass lenses still in a cardboard box. They also were to too small.

 

[dutch]

those brackets do the trick... way cool haha [cl

 

[Old Iron]

Today I found another pair of NOS glass lenses still in a cardboard box. They also were to too small.

 

[zzrodder]

You are so right about the gearshift, I've got the same fat thing going on with mine, but I think I'm going to cheat and graft on a 34 Caddy stick that I have - if I can just find in the pile - I mean in inventory.. [S

 

[MercuryMac]

More developments. After Mother's day celebrations, I set to grinding on my fat gearshift some more. It was getting close to thin enough when the stick started to bend and flop in the 'lathe'. When I stopped it I realized that it was a hollow gearstick and I had warn it right through in one spot where I had not got it quite straight enough. Some fat gearshifts are hollow, so don't try to lathe them thin. I ended up cutting the hollow one off and welding one on from my pile of ...... inventory. Just like ZZ was going to do all along. I had to waste a couple of days accumulating wisdom.

I found an old Dodge headlight pot fairly complete on E-bay, so I bought it.

 

[dutch]

I never saw a diamond that size on a shifter...
That , and a barn full of classics and hemi cars, just oozes wealth

 

[MercuryMac]

Dutch, either you're not lying this time, or, I bought a glass door knob at a swapmeet for $30, years ago.

 

[dutch]

hmmm... either way, that bling looks slick up there.

 

[MercuryMac]

Thank you Dutch, when I saw that glass house doorknob, I just had to have it, and build a hotrod around it.

 

[Bamamav]

The house my Grandma lived in when I was a kid had those knobs all through it. I thought they were so cool. Wish I’d grabbed a few of them when she moved out and rented out then eventually sold the house. It got demolished years ago, replaced by a mini storage unit….

 

[Old Stuff]

I never saw a diamond that size on a shifter...
That , and a barn full of classics and hemi cars, just oozes wealth

When it comes to truth or legend, print the legend!

I like that knob. Not too much that hasn't been done before but I don't recall ever seeing one in a hot rod. Nice. [cl

 

[MercuryMac]

Old Stuff, I agree with you on telling the truth or a legend, as long as your audience knows which one you're telling at that moment. It's the people who blur the line between the two that really get under my skin. That's one of my weaknesses, [getting mad at people who lie]. I draw a line down between truth and made up stuff, but then I draw another line down between good fiction, [stuff that the audience knows is fiction], and lies.

 

[MercuryMac]

I've put the 'stelth' Hemi and transmission away for a while and called it finished.
Here's a homemade wrench that makes life a wee bit easier. This wrench helps take the tin cap off the gearshift swivel on Dodge truck transmissions, [and I think the Chev ones too]. You have to push the cap down and then turn it 1/8 of a turn, so you slide this wrench down over the gearshift lever and push down on it quite hard and then turn it.

 

[MercuryMac]

Yesterday I had some help so I put the Dodge Bros truck back in the shop. I looked the rear-end over that is going into the truck. It's the light Mopar rear, I think 7 1/4 inch crown.
Anyhow, today mostly I changed the water pump in my daily driver.

 

[bob w]

One of my favorite body styles.

 

[dutch]

yes very cool truck.

 

[earthman]

Somehow just getting to this thread Mac. Interested in your shift lever adventure and your glass door knob. My adventure started when i tried to heat and bend a hollow Lokar shift lever with the predictable amateurs result. I cut it off and moved on to whatever was in my ...inventory...found a 3/8s rod that dropped perfectly into the hollow stub and perfectly into a glass doorknob. It's about 5 inches into the stub so doesn't need to be fastened. Now being removable it can serve as a royal scepter if a situation ever calls for it.

 

[bob w]

The Royal Family is missing a Prince. You could apply.

 

[MercuryMac]

Ya E-man, you could get on facebook with all of your exploits and you'd be in the tabloids almost daily. It'll be great.

 

[earthman]

I dunno it looks like the downsides are starting to outweigh the upsides and there is that lingering risk of being turned into a frog as well.