Kit 075 Restart

[wrp]

If your tag says LEZZGO.......

[wrp]

Some of you may have seen the Strat my son-in-law built to go along with my hot rod. I have really enjoyed it. He is a superb craftsman and I could never match his talent. The shop that painted my car is building a fabulous Studebaker Truck that I am in love with. I wanted to capture that look. I have already built some solo guitar DIY Kits so I picked up one of their scratch and dent Les Paul kits. The guys at the shop helped me paint the body. We are moving along towards completion. The headstock will be Ivory white with the logo in red inlayed. Here are some progress pictures.

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[wrp]

Here is another Les Paul Style Guitar I am finishing.

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[wrp]

So today I decided to go to hardwood headstock overlays. My hat’s off to you guys that can lay down a clean coat of paint first time every time. I bought some Bolivian Rosewood veneer and cut it to fit the headstock on the blue guitar. I was hoping for a different effect but I like the result. I will grind up some rosewood and make a putty with epoxy to fill the edges after gluing it on I am calling this guy Les Paul Zilla. It started life as a discounted scratch and dent guitar. The guys at 121 worked their hearts out to help me get a good finish on it. After screwing up what was a world class paint job I decided instead of throwing away the mess, try to bring it back. Sort of like a hot rod. I may yet paint the veneer white and do the red studebaker on the headstock. For now I am excited that the guitar is almost together. Been a tough summer with friends dying, my Dad being ill and yesterday a tree fell on his lake house. Lots of illness and deaths with many of my friends too. Joyful that I have the music to make and share. Also, going to get a guy to help inlay the headstock on the other Les Paul, looking for an Edelwiess.

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[wrp]

Couple more

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[wrp]

played Paulzilla finally

[wrp]

Spent the night at a crossroads in Clarksdale MS

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[wrp]

Really good day today

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[wrp]

Beautiful Day out so I took my Guitar and my FFR out for a ride and snapped some pics.

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[FF33rod]

I can only dream about that right now Bill, -10C and 8 inches of snow
I look at your pics and I hear an audio track as well; some BB King, Stevie Ray, ZZTop perhaps....

Steve

[wrp]

Thanks, I can only wish. I am at the point arthritis is severely limiting my ability to play most of the music I would like to play. Building the Guitars combines two passions

[wrp]

One thing that has been very interesting about this car is the opportunity to take it out and enjoy it. I have become a fan of Route 66 in Oklahoma between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Going to get her up there and make that run. May end up trying out other sections, perhaps one state at a time.

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[wrp]

Took the Hot Rod out and dusted it off tonight

[wrp]

Recently a cousin asked to use the Hot Rod as the getaway car at her wedding reception. No way I can tell you how deep the joy was at the fun they had.

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[Ltngdrvr]

Recently a cousin asked to use the Hot Rod as the getaway car at her wedding reception. No way I can tell you how deep the joy was at the fun they had.

BILLYBOBNCLAY.jpegDavidOdum.jpegEthyl-2.jpegMedleynBradnTonynCallienNancy.jpegMeredithnSamnEthyl.jpeg

That green looks really good at night, I like that!

[wrp]

Thanks, I was thinking the same thing

[wrp]

When I was 3 years old, my parents bought me my first car. It was a beautiful red firetruck pedal car. I had my first rollover in that car riding it down a hill when I was about 4. That was when it got lodge in my brain that when you are in a car and it is rolling over, it is going to hurt. I found another little red firetruck from that era and the guys that painted my Hot Rod are helping me restore it.

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[wrp]

Was in Tupelo MS several times last month. Discovered the Hardware Store Gladys Presley bought eElvis his first Guitar in 1946. Turns out they still sell Guitars. So I walked on in and bought one, standing on the X where Elvis was handed his. Mine was Chinese and I will never be able to play it well, but still, it was fun.

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[Jim Frahm]

There’s something about cars and guitars. I’m currently working on a MK4 and if that wasn’t enough I decided to build my first guitar from a StewMac kit. It's a Strat clone. I can’t play a lick but that doesn’t mean I can learn.

[wrp]

Probably inappropriate place to post but I miss working on the 33. Decided to stat a T-Bucket yesterday. We have a rolling chassis but we are going to replace the original frame rails with 2x4 steel. We will salvage the existing front suspension and we are going to look at a Jaguar IRS. Most likely an SBC, though EV is not off the rails.

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[wrp]

Also made my first delivery of a Hot Rod Guitar I built. I fell in love with the awesome Studebaker truck as it was being built and built a guitar tribute to it.

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[wrp]

Got a new guitar today. It is a Washburn Woodline

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[wrp]

Went to a local show this afternoon. Haven’t been to a show in years. Wasn’t really prepared, but enjoyed meeting others and generally taking the car out.

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[wrp]

Moved forward a little on the T-Bucket today, laid the frame, picked up the Jag IRS, and began to figure out how to channel the body.

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[wrp]

Got a rolling chassis with a mock up of body position. IRS mounted.

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[wrp]

Replaced the broken leaf spring up front and stubbed the engine in place. We positioned the steering box, linkage, and Column Shaft as well as started positioning the body

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[wrp]

When I was 3 years old, my parents bought me my first car. It was a beautiful red firetruck pedal car. I had my first rollover in that car riding it down a hill when I was about 4. That was when it got lodge in my brain that when you are in a car and it is rolling over, it is going to hurt. I found another little red firetruck from that era and the guys that painted my Hot Rod are helping me restore it.

Firetruck.jpgIMG_9986.jpgIMG_0087.jpegIMG_20220526_095317396.jpgIMG_20220526_095312650.jpg

Updating the Firetruck Project, almost complete.
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[peterh226]

Wow. That reminded me of the image below from some slides I've been scanning in.

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[wrp]

Pretty close to the same cars

[wrp]

In early 2021 my dad suffered a fall and was hospitalized for three weeks. When he was released we had to put him in a 24 x 7 skilled nursing care facility. He lived nearly 700 miles from me and really wanted to stay near his home. Rather than move him to our area I kept him where he wanted to be. 200,000 miles and two years later I lost him on December 31 2022. He is certainly in a better place, one he would rather be in. I spent two weeks every month in his home near the nursing facility. Over the time I spent many hours talking to him and revealing in the wonderful stories he had to share in life. I really missed my hot rods but not enough to even consider devoting time to them instead of him. Best investment I ever made. My friends in the DFW area who helped me have been the best suppoters one could ask for. They've done their best to support me and keep me cheered up through the tough times. I look forward to getting back to work. I may in fact finish the T-Bucket here in Tennessee by the lake dad and I enjoyed so much. For those of you here who have truly made me feel welcome, thanks. Watching your builds and sharing thoughts has kept me going through many long nights. Hopefully things will brighten up now and progress will pick up.

Dad Fishing-9.jpgCarol n Dad Fishing 2.JPEGDad Fishing-26.JPGDad Fishing-33.JPGC72C1A35-16BC-49EF-8F2C-22F88E15A69A.JPG

This is a link to a video the Mississippi National Guard put together about my Dad's service

http://fb.watch/i0yZC8ywoP/

[33fromSD]

In early 2021 my dad suffered a fall and was hospitalized for three weeks. When he was released we had to put him in a 24 x 7 skilled nursing care facility. He lived nearly 700 miles from me and really wanted to stay near his home. Rather than move him to our area I kept him where he wanted to be. 200,000 miles and two years later I lost him on December 31 2022. He is certainly in a better place, one he would rather be in. I spent two weeks every month in his home near the nursing facility. Over the time I spent many hours talking to him and revealing in the wonderful stories he had to share in life. I really missed my hot rods but not enough to even consider devoting time to them instead of him. Best investment I ever made. My friends in the DFW area who helped me have been the best suppoters one could ask for. They've done their best to support me and keep me cheered up through the tough times. I look forward to getting back to work. I may in fact finish the T-Bucket here in Tennessee by the lake dad and I enjoyed so much. For those of you here who have truly made me feel welcome, thanks. Watching your builds and sharing thoughts has kept me going through many long nights. Hopefully things will brighten up now and progress will pick up.

Dad Fishing-9.jpgCarol n Dad Fishing 2.JPEGDad Fishing-26.JPGDad Fishing-33.JPGC72C1A35-16BC-49EF-8F2C-22F88E15A69A.JPG

This is a link to a video the Mississippi National Guard put together about my Dad's service

http://fb.watch/i0yZC8ywoP/

My sincere condolences, sorry for your loss.

Jim

[wrp]

Once upon a time the Hudson Commodore was the ultimate badass. Three times NASCAR Champion in the early 1950’s, dual carb with a straight 8, their low sitting stance were almost untouchable.

[wrp]

So, once again into the breach. Steering play was a nuisance and seemed getting worse. I have danced with that POS a number of times so I figured what the heck. Inspected the rack input shaft and 9/16 spline to 3/4 DD steering joint and discovered the 26 spline side of the joint had been dragged about a half inch downwards towards the back (figure 1). Plans changed when I got the joint off the shaft. (Figure 2). Further inspection revealed the entire connected series of Steering DD shafts had experienced a backwards movement of about the same distance. ****!!! (Figure 3) shows the backward movement of the DD steering shaft and the rear of the flange bearing. Moral of the story is there was a lot of movement of the DD shafts over time. I discovered that the lower shaft, connected to the 9/16 26 spline and 3/4 DD connector passed through the flange bearing and had two set screws on the front side of the bearing to set the DD shaft running through it from the input shaft back to the steering joint on the back side, shown in figure 3. Only problem was those set screws are supposed to be tight (Figure 4), and that steering joint on the back side is supposed to but up against the bearing’s backside. Obviously due to the movement. I have purchased a Burgeoson 9/16 to 26 spline steering joint and a new DD shaft. (Figure 5).

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[wrp]

To continue comparison of the Borgeson Steering Joint images are at figures 6 and 7.

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We were concerned about the movement. It was most obvious on the input shaft to the rack and the gap between the steering joint and the rear of the flange bearing. WeÂ’ve decided to go with a Borgeson slip joint which puts a safety in the DD shaft line to compensate for movement of the shafts. As an example, we theorized the chassis may flex at high speeds on concrete highways with expansion joints or bad potholes. The slip joint will require a 1 inch DD shaft and a 1 inch DD to 3/4 DD steering joint. I'll post more once we’ve go that done.

Couple of notes here. First my car is a gen 1 car and few if any of the steering components bear any resemblance for the Gen II and beyond Cars.

Any of you that have movement in the 26 spline fitting on the steering joint on the input shaft, that ain’t right, find out the problem and fix it.

Even if you have the best 4-5 shops in the world build your car for you, get the manual and go over every single nut and bolt. If you build it yourself, read the instructions or you will die and take someone with you.

Just for grins I made some videos of my previous setup steering shafts and joints in action, enjoy.

[wrp]

This is what it is all about

[wrp]

To continue comparison of the Borgeson Steering Joint images are at figures 6 and 7.

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We were concerned about the movement. It was most obvious on the input shaft to the rack and the gap between the steering joint and the rear of the flange bearing. WeÂ’ve decided to go with a Borgeson slip joint which puts a safety in the DD shaft line to compensate for movement of the shafts. As an example, we theorized the chassis may flex at high speeds on concrete highways with expansion joints or bad potholes. The slip joint will require a 1 inch DD shaft and a 1 inch DD to 3/4 DD steering joint. I'll post more once we’ve go that done.

Couple of notes here. First my car is a gen 1 car and few if any of the steering components bear any resemblance for the Gen II and beyond Cars.

Any of you that have movement in the 26 spline fitting on the steering joint on the input shaft, that ain’t right, find out the problem and fix it.

Even if you have the best 4-5 shops in the world build your car for you, get the manual and go over every single nut and bolt. If you build it yourself, read the instructions or you will die and take someone with you.

Just for grins I made some videos of my previous setup steering shafts and joints in action, enjoy.

Changing this post. Replaced all components with Jorgensen parts and spent extra time clearancing the U-Joints. Results appear very good. Car is stable, steering lag gone, and Rack input shaft tight.

[wrp]

Testing the new steering component setup

[wrp]

Here is the new Jorgensen setup

[wrp]

So having gotten older and much less dexterous, I’ve been struggling a lot with some under dash challenges. I broke a fan ground while installing my new steering components. Of course that turned my fans off. Being highly technical and intelligent. I yanked a fuse out. Replacing a fuze under the dash with an AC installed is a *****. Finally put on my problem solving hat and purchased a scaffold. What I couldn’t get done in three days I got done in a few minutes this afternoon. Found the problem with the fan was that I had broken a ground wire screwing around with the under dash steering shaft and ujoints. I know you young guys think I am funny but for you older guys, this saved my attitude.

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[progmgr1]

That looks like a great idea! I wonder if HF has one that I can use with the car on the ground and when it's up on the lift?

Keith HR #894