Black&Copper - 33 Hot Rod #1028

[AJT '33]

Screenshot_20200621-180129_Samsung Internet.jpg This is the time it took to get my build basically done!

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I am definitely not a good photographer but once she gets her plate, she will be polished up and then I will get those classic "Black cars look better in the shade" shots!

A few details to be done along with pictures for the inspectors, then off on Thursday or Friday for the VIN plate and then another appointment the following week for the mechanical inspection, then we wait. While waiting I will most likely get the car all polished up as I cant see what else I will need to have added other than a sun visor that they may require (based on info from a fellow Quebec builder who had to add that as well).

All in all its now exciting to be at this point and I hope that i will not need to jump through more hoops to get approvals.

[sethmark]

Your details are gorgeous. Nice.

[JOP33]

Just an absolute awesome job!

[RoadRacer]

One of the best looking ones ever, no doubt. Congrats!

[JimLev]

Awesome built Andreas. You and your son did a fabulous job.

[j33ptj]

What does it sound like??? It is gorgeous!!

[AJT '33]

What does it sound like??? It is gorgeous!!

Its great but computer speakers don't do it justice!

[j33ptj]

Its great but computer speakers don't do it justice!

yeah, I'll bet, but you are a bit too far away to come and visit!! hahaha

[Roger Pugh]

Looks fantastic!!

[AJT '33]

Exciting day tomorrow morning, VIN plate gets affixed to the car!

Sunday afternoon drop it off for final polishing and ceramic coating. That will be a weeks worth of work. Will feel strange to have an empty shop!

When she gets back I'll get the insurance adjuster in to do an evaluation for insurance coverage.

July 9th bringing it for mechanical inspection then on pins and needles for final approval and receipt of paperwork.

[Michael101]

Beautiful!

[AJT '33]

So got to the Certification center first thing at 8am and went in, the owner was great and got the smallest guy in the shop to install the VIN plate so I did not even need to unload the car from the trailer!
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VIN is installed and now I clean her up and bring her for a Spa date on Sunday evening for a week to get all real pretty!!
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As well got her weighed with a full tank of gas, and the weight is......
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Anxious days ahead to see her all pretty and then mechanical inspection, then the wait to see if I get my approval and papers to go and get my plates!!!

Stay Tuned!!!!

[FF33rod]

Kinda surreal? sad that the project is over? (not that ever really is over?

[AJT '33]

Sitting and waiting for the guys to start the spit and shine!!
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[j33ptj]

Please please post a video clip of a fly by,... i mean a drive by!!

[AJT '33]

Okay, so I cheated and went to see the progress, I know I shouldn't but I did.
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You can start to see the mirror effect I was looking to achieve!

[AJT '33]

So today is the big day for me/us, going for my mechanical inspection at 2PM. Had to pull the car from my polisher so its partially done unfortunately but that will not affect the inspection. Will be bringing it back there once I am done and right now should have her home by mid to end of next week. Hopefully by then i will have received news from the Provincial Engineer if the car is approved or not. I hate this waiting game and inspections, even more nerve racking then anything so far!!

PS. Had to add a sun visor for the drivers side as well... went to the local scrap yard and finagled it together and stuck it to the hard top. We will see if that works with them. Also needed to have the side covers on the car for pics to be sent t the Engineer, got that done but leaving them off for now and can add them if its required when there.
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At least she's getting the shine she needs!!

[FF33rod]

Good luck Andreas!

[tony]

inspectors
can be a pain. Sometimes they just nitpick just to justify their position sometimes. I bet these cars are safer than a lot of delipitated cars on the road. Good luck!

[AJT '33]

So a VERY eventful day in one way and uneventful in another. On the uneventful side, the mechanic doing my inspection was excellent and understanding as well as curious how the car was built. The best thing I did was having included the Provincial Engineer right out of the gate. Yes, frustrating at times and he made me add a bunch of stuff that were either required federally or provincially, however when the call came from him to the inspecting mechanic, the call lasted all of 5 minutes which ended up being a really good sign! End result, after 2-1/2 hours of checking and lists, the call with the engineer, and the car passed the base inspection, the mechanical inspection and the safety inspection! So that said, I have my papers from the certification center and now I wait to receive my papers from the engineer, once received I can then go ahead and get my plates, another week of waiting on pins and needles until I get the email from the engineer and hopefully it has good news and I can get my plates. The last thing is to make her pretty and get the evaluator in to get some insurance in it so my wife, son and I can start enjoy it.

20200709_150608.jpg She just fits over their inspection pit!
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So on the eventful side, right in the middle of my inspection, my door popper decided to jam on and started to smoke and heat up (and I mean it was cooking hot like an induction plate!!(as its a magnetic solenoid) The guys at the center quickly brought out a fire extinguisher and allen keys so I could remove my door panel and I could disconnect the power wire from the solenoid!! Close call, nearly had a heart attack and with the help of the guys there we were able to avoid a disaster. Luckily the mechanic understood and did not make it an issue for me, he let it go knowing it will get fixed, I was lucky when it happened there and not in the shop or the trailer and ignite.

So this is the second Autoloc solenoid that broke! (Right now they are black listed!!) The first one the slide pulled out and it needed to be replaced and now this one which nearly caught fire and could have been tragic. As of now these type of door popper solenoids are OUT!! I will be calling Autoloc and will try and keep my temper and find out why these both F'd up and nearly destroyed 34 months of work! I will be leaving my windows down, and using the manual door openers until this winter and then we will address this. I will also be looking for a better quality product that I can rely on and that may be installing the door handles! I will also be adding a hidden emergency cable to open the latch should I lose all power to the car so I can open at least one door.

If anyone out there have any ideas for alternative reliable and safe door unlocks, please pass them along. Looking at mechanical options now.

So after all that, she goes back to the polisher so he can finally finish his work, get the ceramic coating on it and then I can have her back here in the comfort of her shop!!!

[j33ptj]

Didn't it say, "Made in China" on the box? May be an idicator...

[FF33rod]

Congrats Andreas!! fantastic that you're essentially on the road.... Bummer about AutoLoc, I have 2 of those as well, I'll have to keep a close eye on them!

Steve

[AJT '33]

Didn't it say, "Made in China" on the box? May be an indicator...

Unfortunately yes, will be calling Autoloc this afternoon to get their take on this.

[JOP33]

We used Carolina Customs Poppers (15lb)...

http://www.carolinacustom.com/pages/...motes_page.jsp

What I will tell you is that on more than one occasion I have gone out to the shop in the morning and one or both doors have been ajar. When I first finished the car, I would only ride with the safety pin engaged on the Passenger Side, I now make sure both are engaged. I also have a manual release for one of the doors, however if you have the safety pin engaged, it doesn't help - don't ask me how I know!

[JimLev]

I’ll have dig out my solenoids and check them, think they are 80 lb pulls.
I assume you have a relay that powers the solenoids? Did the relay contacts fuse together? If so a diode in parallel (correct direction) with the solenoid will absorb the back EMF when power is removed from the solenoid, this should save the relay contacts from arcing.

Too bad they made you add all those side marker lights and a sun visor.

[AJT '33]

We used Carolina Customs Poppers (15lb)...

http://www.carolinacustom.com/pages/...motes_page.jsp

What I will tell you is that on more than one occasion I have gone out to the shop in the morning and one or both doors have been ajar. When I first finished the car, I would only ride with the safety pin engaged on the Passenger Side, I now make sure both are engaged. I also have a manual release for one of the doors, however if you have the safety pin engaged, it doesn't help - don't ask me how I know!

We will be installing a manual release that's hidden as well to ensure that even if I lose all power I cans still open the door. We also have a hidden trunk release as well so I can gain access to the battery to either jump or add power enough to get in. Call it triple coverage but you need to make sure your never locked out.

As to driving, we have manual latches that we can hook onto the doors such that if the bear claw does let go the door is restricted in the amount it opens.

[AJT '33]

I’ll have dig out my solenoids and check them, think they are 80 lb pulls.
I assume you have a relay that powers the solenoids? Did the relay contacts fuse together? If so a diode in parallel (correct direction) with the solenoid will absorb the back EMF when power is removed from the solenoid, this should save the relay contacts from arcing.

Too bad they made you add all those side marker lights and a sun visor.

We will be investigating further once she's back from polish and cleaning. Appreciate the input, I am sure my son has already been diagnosing this in his head.

[AJT '33]

Well while I'm waiting on my car to get its polishing and ceramic work done (hopefully tomorrow) I ended up stumbling on a great deal for a 10' steel work bench. So since I'm cleaning the shop for her return I jumped on it and will get it installed tomorrow.
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Soo I'll get organized, clean and make space for The Mistress to come home!!

[AJT '33]

Received the last piece of the inspection puzzle, went to the Licence Bureau and picked up my plates and they are now installed, major hurdle completed!

Had the evaluator come by and he took all the pictures and whatever he needed to make his assessment and provide an insurance value for our car. Bets are made on the evaluation between my wife, son and myself to see where it will end up.

Regardless, the polishing and ceramic coating has been completed, my polisher had a professional photographer come out and take a slew of pictures of which he will be providing me copies of all of them, looking forward to seeing how they turn out and will be sharing them in here.

He did provide this teaser...
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Here are a couple I took, the sun was crazy strong on Friday
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Looking forward to getting it on the road and starting to slowly shake down the car!

[AJT '33]

Got the evaluation back and I am happy with it, also received a tentative quote for insurance that would include complete loss and recovery, this basically means that if the car, god help me, gets totaled or damaged to a point of no return, I would get the full insurance value of the car and will be able to recover the entire car for parts. This would keep my costs down should I decide to rebuild the car again.

Right now she is sitting at the door waiting to be able to stretch her legs.
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On a side note, we will be loading her up and going to get it tuned on the Dyno tonight such that she will really be ready for her first run!

[AJT '33]

Maiden voyage complete and completed it by going to a friend and Car Club member who is his terminal phase of fighting cancer. He appreciated the visit and also appreciated seeing the finished car. Last fall my son and I (really mostly my son) went over and cleaned up his garage and got his newly installed engine setup so he could get it started and running. This helped him get through the winter to be able to do a nice burnout at the end of his driveway. Why is it always the nicest most compassionate people get this crap... Regardless we help brighten his day and when he feels up to it, we will go for a run before he can't anymore.
This ones for you Gilles!
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[AJT '33]

Before our Maiden run, my son and I brought the 33 into town and got our Dyno runs in. For our car I did not want to go crazy with the engine, however I still wanted to make sure I had the power in it making for a fun economical ride. That said here is the base specs on our '33:

- Engine: Base 2013 5L Ford F-150 engine, no mods
- Transmission: Tremec TKO 600 5 speed
- Diff: 2015 Mustang IRS (from FFR)
- Fuel: Standard Premium 91 Octane
- Air Temperature at air filter was running between 95-110F (very hot and humid day)

So based on this we started with a baseline run which generated 315 PkTq @ 4300 rpm, 255 PkHP @ 5300 rpm. After my tuner was comfortable with the car and did not feel any vibrations at all he started to tune it. After a few runs he was able to get it to 347 PkTq @4700, 338 PkHP @5600. Again he kept dialing it on and we settled on 380 PkTq and 360 PkHP knowing very well that when the level of humidity and temperature was better we could grab a bit more HP.

After driving her around yesterday I am more than satisfied that we have a great driving car and if necessary we will have the power behind it. Looking forward to presenting it to my Car Club tomorrow night after 32 months of working on it.
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20200724_191614.jpg Wally my tuner
20200724_193546.jpg One of the runs results

Lots of fun and the MOST nerve wracking and satisfying time of the entire build!!

[AJT '33]

Just had to drop a quick note to say there have been a few nice moments cruising with our Car Clubs members and Friends. Here is a picture one of them took of our run to a local restaurant this past Saturday for lunch.
33 Hot rod in Route with Gatineau 66 members.jpg
One of the members wives is great taking these types of pictures with her phone, very retro, one for the wall for sure! PS. can you guess which is mine!

[AJT '33]

Well its been a while since I last had posted anything as I have been enjoying being able to actually get out and drive around. As well its been a bit frustrating where I have had issues with the overflow tank and trying to get the level of coolant set correctly in the rad such that the tank doesn't spit out the top and create a huge mess. That was solved by removing some coolant out of the rad (about 1" lower than the bottom of the neck), then making sure the overflow had no more than 1" of coolant in it when cold. I also increased the hole size in the vent from the 1/32" to 1/16" which allows a better venting when it starts to expand into the overflow tank.
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However, now the coolant issue has moved to the fittings on the top of my engine, they are the Dorman compatible fittings which slip on and clip into place, what I am finding is that if they don't sit virtually perfect on the top of the engine they leak! And here I am cleaning the engine bay and below again from coolant! So I ended up biting the bullet and bought AN fittings from MMR, http://www.modularmotorsportsracing....roducts_id=549, (they only sell them in kits and not individually), ouch they are expensive but will look great. Again, HOWEVER, even though they specify they will work on my engine, the drivers side fitting is different on my engine that comes with their kit! DAMN!!! Will be speaking with MMR t see what can be done and go from there.
20200305_194546 - Markup.jpg The two fittings that are circled in red

On a side note I buckled to my son and changed the battery as well (had a few close calls of not starting without my booster pack I keep in the car), I think I could have killed the original Odyssey PC925 battery that FFR recommends by keeping it constantly charging and recharging, lesson learned is don't buy the permanent battery until its time be able to run the car or you'll kill it. We ended up getting a "OPTIMA YELLOWTOP® 34/78 Battery, 750 CCA" battery and the car can go for a couple weeks sitting there before you should put the tender on it.

[j33ptj]

On a side note I buckled to my son and changed the battery as well (had a few close calls of not starting without my booster pack I keep in the car), I think I could have killed the original Odyssey PC925 battery that FFR recommends by keeping it constantly charging and recharging, lesson learned is don't buy the permanent battery until its time be able to run the car or you'll kill it. We ended up getting a "OPTIMA YELLOWTOP® 34/78 Battery, 750 CCA" battery and the car can go for a couple weeks sitting there before you should put the tender on it.

Did you consider a Lithium Iron battery? They are much smaller and lighter, and hold the charge better too (you will need to also buy a tender that is suitable for LiFe Batteries)

[AJT '33]

This past weekend was really interesting, I was asked if I could allow a first time model use my car in her photo shoot, of course I said yes. Was interesting how they setup some of the shots and how they turned out for her. She did the shoot as a birthday present for herself, and encouraged by her daughter. Some of the shots were great and here is a sample of a few.
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After experiencing this first photo shoot, I think may more of a Steampunk style model would match the car better.

[1932]

That is good for first time, but she needs to learn how to play back to camera. I have done a little photo and takes time and practice.

[AJT '33]

That is good for first time, but she needs to learn how to play back to camera. I have done a little photo and takes time and practice.

Agreed, this was her first ever photo shoot and I don't think the guy who was taking the pictures ever directed her properly. A better photographer would have better pics. I am sure she will learn over time.

[AJT '33]

Well, another first! Yesterday was our first full drive, this was not just down to the local weekly car meet but a REAL drive of over 100 KM (about 60 miles). I was VERY nervous (to the point of feeling sick!) as I had not done a real good drive and with a top fitting on the coolant system having a pesky leak (drip) and buttering the engine I was unsure. Regardless we bit the bullet and dropped some fuel in the car and would you know it, I over filled it!!

We went ahead and decided since its a long run I will be sucking down the fuel anyhow and it would go away, in the end all good. (My son was on call in case I needed a pick up!!)

Had a great run with our good car club friends and "The Mistress" ran excellent maintaining a 195F temperature, Charging at around 12.5 volts while cruising and maintaining around 35-40psi oil pressure when cruising along. All in all a great run, was able to get around without issue and I am gaining confidence driving this beast. One thing I do notice every time I park with my friends is how small this car is relative to their beasts, however its also the first car that everyone migrates to!

Nice weather not too hot and with the leaves changing color it was a nice sight to see!
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[FF33rod]

Congrats, that is a milestone! I don't blame you being nervous, I'm going to be too!