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Ron,

Like the way you and your buddies are attacking this project. But no wonder you have to do a number of things 2 or 3 times!

11/2008 photo

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11/2008 photo

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12/2008
December 2008.We continued to refine our procedures for the body bucks. These bucks will only be the form for the sheet metal (yes sheet metal, not aluminum) and will not be a part of the finished body. They don't have to be exact, but they have to be very close. We've all heard the stories of different hand built bodies being an inch or two different from one side to another, and know I see how it could happen. Making one side the mirror image of the other is easier said than done.
Early in the month I stumbled on a Craigs list ad from Oregon for some Packard parts. I seems someone had deceided to street rod a strong running and driving 1930 Packard Hearse and had the straight 8, 4 speed box, front and rear axles, and other steering and suspension parts for sale. Just what I needed, a straight 8 and 4 speed to replace my 3 speed 6!
They were already sold. But I got the buyers number and it turned out he really didn't need anything, he was just a Packard guy who couldn't pass up a good deal. After a few conversations, a lot of begging, and plying him with money I got the parts. A very nice gentleman. Cost more to ship them to Detroit than it did for the parts! They arrived just before Christmas. Merry Christmas to Me!

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1/21/2009
January 2009. Replaced the original 6 w/3speed the the newly aquired 1930 8 w/4speed. The parts look great. They will need to be restored but they were as described and look like they were running yesterday. Switching engines required building new front engine mounts, the rears stayed the same. There was no problem with space as we had left room for this swap when we relocated the 6 in the chassis. The trans is also slightly longer but it will not cause a problem. We also located the steering box (using the one from the '30) and the seating position. We are finalizing the body bucks and starting to experiment with the sheet metal and bracing. It's hard to tell from the photos but the body will have almost no flat panels, everything being suttley curved. Photo pac 13 seems to show the teardrop shape best.
On the 16th my car buddies again converged on the shop and we fooled around with the new engine and got it fired up! It ran a little rough but no strange noises, leaks, or smoke so it looks like we will be starting the rebuild with good basic engine.
Thanks for inviting me to show my project on your site. It has become required daily reading.
Will keep you posted on the speedsters progress.

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Just out of curiosity, how are you doing your steering? I'm finding that my steering column is too short and I'll need to extend it, which might be more work than I'm wanting.

Eric,
I moved the steering box back in the frame and located it's exact position after I located the exact position of the seats. I will modify or make a new drag link to hook it up to the front spindel.
Ron

1/2009 photo

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1/2009 photo

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1/2009 photo

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