ENGINE AND TRANS MOUNTS ARE IN

Right Side Motor Mount & Frame Plate

Rear View Trans Being Centered To Frame

After looking and measuring,looking and measuring,man must have been 40 times.Like in woodworking,measure twice ,cut once.I ran a string down the center of the engine mains,through the hollow trans,down to the rear cross member and to the front one.

I than had the string on the center line of frame and checked all sides to see how much clearnace I would have.The right side of the block is slightly closer to the frame than drivers side,but centered.Sometimes this happens cause of engine/trans configuration and lenghts.Main thing is to make sure that the Rear Tail Housing is going to be in center with the rear axle center.You do not want a driveshaft that is going to be out of line.I then tacked the motor mount plates to the frame  and sliped the rear trans crossmember in for support and tack-up.Here are some photos showing the motor mount plates in relation to the frame and steering box,etc.Seems I have enough room in the front of the engine,for the  pulleys and everthing else that's going to go there[I hope].

Everything is tacked welded on,will finish the weld up when everything is where its going to be in its final mock up.

Next thing is going to be install the 9" Ford rear and the 4 link system that I'll be welding up.Probably starting that up by the end of the week,if things go well. 

Paisano

Drag Link,Steering Rod & Panard Rod Set Up

Left Side Motor Mount & Locator Plate In Relation to Vega Box/Oil Filter Mount

Right Side Trans Mount & Crossmember

Driver Side View Of Steering Set Up

Homemade Tig Welder - Tig Welding Old School with Scratch Start

heflyinwop.com

john force races matt hagan in vegas

theflyinwop.cpom

TRIED OF SEEING POLICITAL ADDS,ESPECIALLY ON MY SIGHT !!!

SORRY FOLKS,IT WAS NOT MY IDEA OF PUTTING POLITICAL ADVERTIZING ON MY SITE.IF I HAD A WAY OF REGULATING WHAT THEY ARE PUTTING ON,I SURE AS HELL WOULDN'T HAVE IT ON THIS SITE..THERE IS NO PLACE FOR THESE CLOWNS,ON THIS SITE,LET THEM FIND THEIR OWN CIRCUS! I'LL BE GLAD WHEN TUESDAY IS OVER AND ALL THOSE  OLD BUMS GET VOTED OUT & THE NEW BUMS GET VOTED IN
ONCE AGAIN I APOLIGIZE  FOR THIS CRAP.
PAISANO-THE FLYIN WOP 10/29/2010

SLIPPING THE BLOCK & TRANS IN FOR A FIT


Well Panhead Phil let me borrow his "Cherry Picker".So I decided to give it a shot and see how the block/trans would fit between the frame rails.This is only a test fit and nothing is writen in stone yet as I'm checking clearnaces.

1. Examples -where my hand is holding the new billet oil filter pick-up.It seems that it will interfere with the steering box.This billet pickup is better,bigger oriffices and yet its about an 1" shorter.Hard to believe,eh?

I moved the block back a little further and cleared that,Now the trans is hitting the back top cross member as you can see by the flicks.A little more mod to the cross member will be easier than trying to clear a steering box,

Right?This is not the block that's going to be used for the car.The real block is under wraps.



This is a real nice piece I'm holding here





There's those "Model's Hands" again

 

This cross member is hitting the tailshaft housing
perventing the engine from sitting straight up.It's 9 degrees tilt down in the rear.



 Solid Motor Mounts







Next step will be to cut the motor mounts plates that weld onto the sides of the frame and rear trans mount,which I had previously taken out so the trans would move around a little better while jocking it around.Anyway the block/trans is 9 degrees off and needs to be stright and parallel.You should try to correct this cause you will need not only to have a straight shot [AND I DO MEAN STRAIT]! to the rear axle system.Can't be more than a few degrees off.IF not, it will vibrate,and you will have handling and U-JOINT problems.

The engine needs to have the intake manifold and fuel system as straight as possible to keep everything  [fuel ]

going to all the places it should, right.

Paisano

9 degrees more engine trans needed

TAKING UP THE VEGA BOX,ETC

Well in honor of Breast Cancer Month,I figure I owe at least one of my rattling's to this horrorble thing that strikes both women and men alike.I know it well as my spouse of 37 plus years is 5 years clean as of this writing.

Ok,here we go.I started to tack up the Vega box and postioned it where box ,drag link,pitman arm and pannard rod system would sit without getting into each others way.This is not permanet yet as I am going to start postioning the FE motor next and see where everything will be welded up and find it's final home.
Last Saturday morning,Panhead Phil & Homer came over,with Panhead's "cherry picker" so I can use it next week to set the motor and mounts in.Then we all headed up to Reading,Pa with my son for the Toyo Nationals.[I still consider it the Keystone Nationals].It just sounds right,you know what I mean?BEtween the 3 of us,Homer,Panhead and myself-The Flyin Wop,there is over 100 years of FOMOCO knowledge.So I guess we have a fair amount of know how when it comes to talking automobiles and how they are made to run.

The Nationals were great,some real low ET's were set,don't know it they were records or not.Nitro Alley was hopping as ususal,and the nitro fumes were everywhere.[Man I could "OD" on that stuff.There's just no other scent like it.Maybe I ought to market a new after shave just for us guys who can never get enough of it.Whatcha think?Replies are welcome.

Here are some pictures of Homer&Panhead inspecting my work,making sure everythin's looks ok before we headed out to the Nationals.

Paisano-The Flyin' Wop



Paisano with one of America's Finest
Pssst-that's not my beer there!



Setting up the New Spindles

Last night I received the new spindles from JW  Rod Garage.They are are good people to deal with,and they stand by their products. Eric in sales/tech is real easy to talk to and very helpful.Prices are fair also.Tell them the Fyin Wop sent ya.
These were Super Bell units and they said that the bushings in the  units are pre-reamed in the spindles.I ordered a new king pin kit along with the spindles.They were a super tight fit,and I knew I was going to have a problem if instsalled that way.
I pulled out a brake wheel cylinder hone,attached to a drill and some penetrating oil,and honed them out a little bit more.that did the trick and now they fit snug on the axle and spindle.They should loosen up a little bit more when the grease get moving around them.
I'll be flipping the frame over next week when some friends come over to start the engine/trans mock up.
Paisano

Set Backs are part of the game

I guess there's always a set back when doing things from scratch.Last week when I was setting up the front steering,rods,etc,I ran into the common problem of clearance  of the drag link.It was hitting the radius arms,preventing full travel.The solution to this is the famous well known,art of heating the spindle where the curve of it starts to lower it aprox.3/8 to 1/2" or so.All went well when I did this.The secret is to heat the spindle till its cherry red,but not enough for it to start that "flaking" of the metal,before it starts to seperate and melt.You have to do this process slowly and take your time.Use a long pipe to do the bending.They say to do this on a big vise, or on the axle, so I chose to do this on the axle,with all rubber and joints off.That way I didn't have to possibly over bend the spindle arm.And besides,running back and forth with heated metal and assembling for fit just wasn't in my nomanclayture.{I can't run worth a damm anymore}You have to let these pieces cool down on there own,Slowly!! is the word for this ,[not dipping on water whatsoever,belive me].Everything came out well I thought.So I figured that I would take the spindles to Bill Colman's shop and have them manafluxed.[He did all my block prep] Cheap insurance,I thought considering these pieces are what's going to tie the front wheel on eh?Before we eve started he told me that these old boys [44-48],were famous for cracking around the machined area near where the back bearing inner race seats.
Man if  he wasn't right,one had a crack in it 3/4" & the other almost a 1/2". Where I had heated it was ok.At least I didn't screw that up,which gave me some encouragement.

Anyhow,Bill charged me 20 bucks and was on my way home,after he recogmended not to use them,unless I wanted to walk home someday,and maybe in one piece if I was lucky.So I drove home accepting his exprience in these matters,and went on line to buy a new set.Here's a couple flicks of the spindles,showing where to heat them in order to modify for radius road clearance and where they are prone to hairline cracks.[My fingers point to where to heat,pic/#1,and where the cracks are#2].

Paisnao
**"I know what your thinkin'.My hands are so pretty,that I should have been a "Hand Jewelery Model",right"?**With a size 16 ring finger,these Meat Hooks can bearly make a fist anymore.

JUST LIKE "MANNA" FROM HEAVEN "Bread", I think,don't ask.

Man,I wouldn't have believed it if you told me so,or at least till I got one.Yippie,its a "Foot Pedal" for my tig.Anyhow,I been using the stupid little switch on the handle,and by getting a foot pedal has made what seems all the differance in the world.This is not a very expensive machine,its an import,{I know,I know} what you going to say or think.But that's all I can afford especially when your trying to build something on a shoe string.It's got a 5 year gaurantee [will'l see].I can control the flow of currant and it seems to wear the tunsten  rods out slower,which after a while,ain't cheap either.to me the switch on the handle is a pain in the ass,and also gets in the way,wouldn't you know.It cost able 80.00 bucks,tried to haggle with the guy,but I really coudn't unterstand what he was saying. Not from the US. It took 2 trys to get the right one for the machine,even though he was the dude that sold it to me a good while back.Don't which Chinese New Year it was.I'll have to check my calander.
I 'm making a show car,but I want to be proud of my ride,just a little better than a silk purse."That was for all you ladies out there".Don't want to get slammed thinking.  I'm Biased.I'm Italian,as the name goes-The Flyin Wop
Like I say,I 'M NOT A PROFESSIONAL WELDER AND DON'T CLAIM TO BE. JUST  A GUY TRYING TO DO A PROFESIONAL JOB,THAT'S  STRONG AND ALSO  HAS COSMETIC QUALITY  [Stacking Dimes].
Paisano-The Flyin Wop

9" Ford Housing



Waitin' For A New Home



Great Henry J at this year's Columbus Good Guy Show



 I shorted this 9" Fomoco housing many,moons ago.Its 52" from end to end.Considering that the demensions in the rear chassis is 44" that gives about 4" on each side not including the axle flanges where the rims will bolt.It is a rare housing as its tubes are thicker than the average 9".It has 7/16" axle plate holes and big bearings on them,with 31 spline axles.I am getting ready to ship the axles out and have them shorted &resplined,with new bearings & locks.Moser's is gettin' the job,as I have been given a fair price for the job."Senior Citizen Discount" I would recogned. 
It came out of an T'Bird.Paid about 50 bucks for it and it came with everything,punkin and all.I'll use use the pumpkin for mock up,etc as a couple center sections ready to go now.I used to do quite a bit of axle work,in the old days,and have just able all the set up tools I need plus.
I can't do much heavy work as I have had bad Spinal Stenosis and severe Arthritis, with 4 major operations 2 years ago.I have to rely on family & friends to help move things around  most of the time.No more sad stories,I promise!
Anyway,here are a couple flicks of it.

Paisano

Mocking Up the Front End

Well I'm starting the front end fitting.I clamped  the spring down to get the system basicly in a fairly straight line.Took some measurements and tacked up the radious rod brackets to the frame.  Then I took a measurement to see if the brackets were distanced the same from the axle and related pieces.The rods slipped in easy due to having the front axle staight and inline.I tacked up the Panhard rod bracket and took a measurement from both mounting locations,measured distance and this will be the length od the panhard rod.This is not in concrete due to I'm waiting for the Vega box bracket for a fit and clearance.I'll tack that up and see if there will be any interfrence with the drag link to radius rods.Here are some pictues of the front mock-up so far.
*Just remember to put anti-seize compound on all your threads,especially if working with premium stuff like stainless or I can gaurantee you will wish you did!
Paisano

Fitting the center cross member in

Well,this week I started to fit the center cross member system in.I had tiged this piece up a while back.Had bought the tubes about a year ago.I cut and fit it into the center.Got a pretty close cut with the  use of a Zaw-Zaw,with a by-metal cutting blade.Worked real well and only screwed up one cut,about a !/8" too much taken out.It will tig in okay.Have finished boxing in the rails.Next step will be setting the engine/trans location,&motor mounts.

New Plates being tiged into place

This is picture of back of the shop and the old boxing plates system on the frame which I hand made about 30 years ago.Cut,shaped and all welded into place.Looking back I seemed like a good idea at the time,too bad it just wasn't a bigger gauge.New pictures of the new plates.These are the new plate being welded into place after being tacked every 6-8" or so.Sometimes they had to be tacked a little closer to comform to the curve of the frame.After the tacking of both sides,I'm trying to "Stack the Dimes" in about 10" at a time alternating on each side to give a cool down to each side.I don't claim to be an expert welder,but I'm doing ok,&  for the most part happy with it especially in sections of frame that will be visable.Here's a not so well focosed picture of a short run dime stacking.It a strong weld done with a tig.I have more experience with a mig than a tig,but  for this go around on the frame I wanted to tig it and see how it comes out.

COMMENTS GOOD OR BAD OR ANYTHING ELSE IS WELCOME.I'M ALWAYS WILLING TO LEARN FROM PEOPLE WHO MIGHT KNOW MORE THAN I DO
Paisnao.

Practice makes perfect & perhaps someday it will be !
Iv'e seen worst

Start of tacking up the Boxing Plates

Well I started to tack up the boxing plates up & so far so good.Man its nice when you have a tig doing this.It makes it so much easier.Frame is starting to get heavier now,soon I'll be putting in the center cross member and motor mount locations.It should start looking like something by then,instead of a long box.
Paisano

Mistakes made in my youth

First & foremost,let me apoligize for letting this blog go so long without adding anything to it.Some important family issues takes priority over all.Now that I got that out of the way,lets get going.I had a long,long time ago,cut and welded all rivet holes,mounting locations,etc.Man,what was I thinking?I had also boxed the frame,without installing body mounting holes,had welded them up too.and hopefully my last stupid blunder was to install less than desireable thickness boxing plates on top of all this mess!Well,you know what would happen if installing a 4-link rear and a big block to it,right? Well I drilled,cut openings on the inside of the boxing plates,welded flat type welding nuts [3/8],taped everthing out to have a nice mounting for the body.

I am installing 10 gauge frame boxing plates over the old plates.I know what your thinking,why not just weld some heavier plates over critical areas and go from there.I really do not want to go that route,I rather be safe than sorry in the future.Everything is getting tiged into place.
Man what a dumb ass, I must have really taped into Mom's medicine cabinet to many tmes.

I found that the frame was off by about 5/8" in the center,so I used a porta power to bring everthing out to specs,and welded square tubing to hold temparily in place.Don't want it to move when I start welding the cross membe set up in place. I'm using an original copy of a 33-34 chassis blueprint.I have 2 differnat copies,and both are differant by about 1/16".Also,you kind of have to be careful,cause the pick-up chassis specs are also shown.Can't mix the 2 up,or else,you'll be drilling a bunch of unnecassary holes,like the ones in my head.

Here are some pics of what's going on.

Paisano

The Flyin' Wop: Canadian Street Rodding Hall of FameTags

The Flyin' Wop: Canadian Street Rodding Hall of FameTags

2010 SUPERNATIONALS,ENGLISHTOWN NJ

Elvis is alive and well,here at Englishtown.Here I have living proof!
Paisano

This is not a Homeless Man-hint-no cup full of pencils.It's Homer,taking a break from the heat.

It was hot as hell in Englishtown this weekend.Went there on Satururday with Panhead and a new member of our crew,Jim-aka "Homer".He's probably the "Best Front End Man" in the East coast  in my opinion. And believe me,I've seen a lot of them !

 The conditions there were pretty good,considering the heat.Et's were fair.People were sweating & having a good time as it appears.It was a shame that a racer died this past Friday in a mishap.You could feel it out there that it was felt.

This is Panhead head with some of Englishtown's Finest.And to think his mother had to tie a pork chop bone around his neck to get the the dog to play with him,when he was a little kiddie!My wife thinks I'm a dirty old man.

y Paisano trying out his new spark plug ear plugs.What,what "jouu" say?

Here's a shot of the Famous Englishtown Tower.It really does have a lot of features that you don't see here.

The "WINNER" of the Ugliest Shirt contest goes to this dude. His prize [punishment actually],is having his picture on this site!Panhead & Homer were checking him out to see where he got it, so they can also add to there their own  fashion wear!Was looking for the "Golden Greek",but he was a no show.Well maybe next time.

Center cross member getting ready to find a home

Well,I'm starting to mock up the center cross member to its new home.We made it a little bit larger than we needed so well be cutting it to fit this week some time.Then we'll bring the engine/trans and begin that mock up for location.

Heading for English Town ths weekend for the Summer Nationals.Its called somthing else now,but I don't care,its still Summer Nats to me and will always will be.Can't change and OLD DOG ~

Paisano

Well folks,of what I saw of  the Carlisle Ford show was nothing to brag  about.It was Mustang,upon Mustang ! Must have been a thousand of them.Believe me,I do not have anything against Mustangs[I owned 5 of them],its just seems that's 80 percent was in this catagory.The vendors also were there,a lot of the reliables were missing.Not to many parts under the 50's year range.And it seems that nobody was given anything away.I didn't see any deals there. I don't mind paying for something that I think is reasonable.Prices were compatable to what's on line,even with shipping added to the tag.

This picture is of Dick Estevez of the world famous Phil Bonner Car," Daddy Warbucks". This car ran in the early sixties through today.Dick is the owner /driver now,yet of what he tells us Phil Bonner still has his hands in it.[Good for him].We all like to see things like that.And if you ever been to the races,you know that this

ride really hums.
The last picture is of a Fairlane with a real 427 Tunnel Port setup.
Talked to the owner and he calms he's got over 40 grand invested just in the motor! By the looks of the great detail of his ride,I have no doubts about his claims.Its Beautiful !
Paisano- The Flyin Wop

Man,have I got to lose that gut!Paisno,with the other two "Unholy's"

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

FREE AT LAST,FREE AT LAST ! [ONLY FOR THE DAY,THOUGH]

Heading to Calrlisle Sturday with The Breeze and Panhead Phil,to the Ford Show.We're going to check out for some goodies and see what else is out there this year.always looking for bargains,when you are nickel and diming like I have.
Anyhow it gets me out of the house for a while,"Yes Dear",if you get my Drift.
Paisano
* And don't tell me you don't know what I mean.Most of us are on the same boat if you been married for a good while.

The "Resurrection" Sunday Memorial Day Weekend

Finally I got enough family and close friends out for a cookout and family fun.WE pulled the body off the "WOP's frame after sitting on its frame for 23 years.Man I felt like a little kid getting his first Christmas present.I was so happy.I was forever thanking them for the great job they did.Now I can start on the frame.My son had come over a little earlier so we could shift the whole thing around for more room and light.These pictures were taken by my best Friend's wPaisnaoife,Patty Ann.Thanks! Last picture are the reguys, Brother in law #1, Uncle Tony,my Son "The Breeze",grandaughter#1 and me . Start of frame pictus coming up next