Time to finish my roadster pickup

[donsrods]

I sent it. I don't remember the details but I think you won a contest. Poetry maybe? Bought it from a past member from Canada who sold items like that.

Haha, thank you Bob for reminding me. I feel really bad that I could not remember the details, but I really love this piece a lot. Like I said, for years it has been sitting on my desk, waiting for me to finish the rpu. I have a spot on the dash where it will be mounted. It will be perfect on there.

So, I was a poet and didn't know it, huh ?

 

[donsrods]

Well, this morning I am going to take a little two hour ride to Tampa to drop off the headers for the rpu. I had them coated over two years ago by a coating company up there, and I have had them stored in my air conditioned shop office, in a box on a shelf for the whole time, the car has never been fired up yet.

When I took them out of the box, one looks great, and the other one is rusting in big spots. I called them, and said I know it was a long time ago, but could they look at the pictures. I sent them some, and today they responded and said they will gladly recoat BOTH headers to be safe ! Wow, THAT is great customer service.

We have used them for coating several other headers, and everything has held up great, but he thinks the clear coat they put on mine might have been an issue.

 

[05snopro440]

Well, this morning I am going to take a little two hour ride to Tampa to drop off the headers for the rpu. I had them coated over two years ago by a coating company up there, and I have had them stored in my air conditioned shop office, in a box on a shelf for the whole time, the car has never been fired up yet.

When I took them out of the box, one looks great, and the other one is rusting in big spots. I called them, and said I know it was a long time ago, but could they look at the pictures. I sent them some, and today they responded and said they will gladly recoat BOTH headers to be safe ! Wow, THAT is great customer service.

We have used them for coating several other headers, and everything has held up great, but he thinks the clear coat they put on mine might have been an issue.

That's great news that they'll recoat the headers! It seems to be harder and harder to find good customer service these days. This is making me want to start on mine very badly.

 

[donsrods]

Yep, they were super nice about it. When I was there, he said that this was a coating that they had some issues with and are not using now. I thought that was very honest on their part.

Man, this trip turned into a cross country adventure ! It was only about 350 miles round trip, but since it was Friday the 13th, it was a little goofy. First of all, I was driving along on the interstate, it was sunny, and I got a few drops of rain on my windshield, but it was black up ahead. All of a sudden, the sky fell in buckets. I have been in hard rains before, living in Florida, even in my roadster, but this was something else !

It got so heavy that I literally could not see the cars in front or back of me, and it was almost foggy. I was worried about running into someone in front of me, or someone rear ending me, so I pulled off the road and way onto the grass. There were tons of other cars doing the same thing.

Finally, it let up a little, and I drove on, but then traffic was stop and go because a few cars had spun off the road and down into the boonies. Rescue vehicles and cops everywhere. Then, as I approached my destination, there was a car totally engulfed in flames in the southbound side, and fire trucks spraying the heck out of it.

I got caught in that traffic on the way back home, and the final thing that I saw was a Fed Ex truck sitting smoking on the side of the road. I came home and took a nap and am not going back outside until Saturday the 14th !

 

[bob w]

You're a wise man, Don. Don't push your luck.

 

[smallfoot]

Yeah, lay low till it's over...[ddd

 

[Old Iron]

Weird day for sure

 

[donsrods]

I'm really not superstitious , but I could not get home fast enough yesterday ! Everywhere I looked, there was carnage on the interstate.

Well, true to form, I cut a notch out of the rear crossmember the other day to clear my driveshaft and made up some simple fill in plates that just needed welded in to finish it up. But then , Dan my son decided that it was going to be weakened because of the notch, so he spent the other night (without me knowing about it) making up a steel piece that will weld under that notch to make it stronger !

I have to admit, it IS a nice piece, and it took him hours to make, so I will let him weld it in. When he showed it to me, he said " You don't have to use this, but I made this the other night and thought it would make your frame stronger". Yeah, as if I was going to say "No thanks, but thanks for all the hard work".

Dan has never learned what "good enough" means, he always has to make every piece a 10. Probably why his cars are better than mine.

 

[smallfoot]

He's just takin care of Dad...[cl

 

[earthman]

Interesting posts....good 'ol Don is back

 

[BillM]

Agreed - thanks for coming back Don.

As for Dan's tendencies....I wonder where he learned them from??

 

[donsrods]

Thanks for all the nice welcome backs, guys. One thing that hasn't changed one bit is that this forum is still populated by some of the nicest people on the planet.

The past couple of weeks I haven't really gotten a lot done on the rpu. It is too darned hot in the shop, and on my days off I just veg out, pretty much. But I have done a couple of things.

I got the rear brakes done. My parts came in from Rock Auto, and the rear must be from a 65 Ranchero, because they fit perfectly. After that, my Carter electric fuel pump and fuel filter came in from Summit Racing, so I got those installed. Had to drill and tap a few holes, but they lined up like they were made to go together.

My next project is to run some fuel line from the pump to the front of the car. The line will pass pretty close to my transmission cooler (no other place to run it) so I think I will build a heat shield and insulate it to keep the fuel line from getting too warm.

Anyway, here are some pictures from last weekend and today. (I am still too dumb to figure out how to make them bigger, so just click on them.

 

[Old Iron]

Is that fuel pump regulated inside? Or do you have to add a regulator ?

 

[rustybeercan]

Wow, super clean as always! [cl

Beercan

 

[donsrods]

Is that fuel pump regulated inside? Or do you have to add a regulator ?

I think it is regulated at something like 6-9 pounds (I forget exactly), but I am running the same pump on my 27, and Dan is running the same one on his rpu, and they are unregulated. But those are with 2 Edelbrock four barrels on each car, and this new one of mine has 3 Rochester two barrels, so I am not sure if I will need to cut the pressure down or not.

Funny you should ask, because I was just thinking about that last night when putting on the pump. I think I have a new regulator in the box on a shelf, and I may look at installing it just to be safe. I also have a pressure gauge that I can screw in to my fuel log, so I could monitor it that way too.

Wow, super clean as always! [cl

Beercan

Thanks, this was about the easiest thing I have done on the car so far, those two parts fit right in that dead space like they were made for it.

BTW, we have been using these Carter electric pumps on the last several cars, and I really like them a lot. Prior to them, I always ran the Holley electric pumps, and boy, were they noisy, and they did not like a speck of dirt. I had one on my Jeep pickup with the 5.0 Mustang engine in it, and a guy was riding with me one day and asked what that compressor he could hear running was for...…..it sounded like one, it was so loud.

I also think the Carters last longer, I was going through Holley pumps every couple of years or less.

 

[donsrods]

Ok, the last couple of nights, Dan and I have been working on finishing up the notch we had to put in the rear crossmember to clear my driveshaft. Actually, Dan has been welding and grinding, and I have been handing him tools !

Tonight I got the crossmember faired in and shot some VHT Chassis Epoxy on it. The rest of the frame is powder coated, but this paint flows in pretty well and matches the gloss pretty well.

Now I can move on to the radiator mounting and getting my brake lines run. I can also install the battery and run the cables to the starter. Getting this crossmember done is a huge step, and now I can leave Dan alone to work on his own car.