http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/0710sr_steering_wheel_guide/index.html
I found 2 wheels from Billet Specialties that really caught my eye.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
More Steering Wheels
Found a good resource for steering wheels tonight. Here's the link:
http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/0710sr_steering_wheel_guide/index.html
I found 2 wheels from Billet Specialties that really caught my eye.
http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/0710sr_steering_wheel_guide/index.html
I found 2 wheels from Billet Specialties that really caught my eye.
Steering Wheel Advice
Since we are still swamped at the robot shop - about all I can do is some evening parts searching for SusieQ. I'm about ready for a steering wheel as the interior is nearly done except for putting the seats in. Which I'll probably hold off on doing until the convertible top frame is rehab'ed. I see no reason to work around them if I don't have to.
I've definitely decided I want a 15" wheel - mostly because I have a non-power steering car. And as it is intended for my wife, I don't want her having to muscle it around while parking. It will be tough enough with a 15" wheel w/o handicapping her further with a smaller one. Unfortunately that really narrows the available choices.
Obviously the LeCarra / Moto Lita's come immediately to mind but the wood-look just doesn't fit our car. I changed the woodgrain dash to the black camera finish so there's really nothing that would tie a wood steering wheel to the car. But they are beautiful wheels.
LeCarra makes two styles I really like, but of course, they only come in 14"
I think the slots would complement our wheel choice nicely:
If it wasn't for the slight dish, I would just waterjet what I want out of some 7075 aluminum sheet, attach a wood rim to it and then have someone wrapped it in leather. Or alternately buy a wooden MotoLita and do the same thing though that seems almost sacrilege to cover up one of those beautiful wheels in leather.
Over thinking it? Just buy the wooden Moto Lita and move on? Alternatives that I don't know about? All comments welcomed - except using the exceptionally ugly original one with the flower vase that poses as the center cap. Whew someone took the ugly stick to those things!!
I've definitely decided I want a 15" wheel - mostly because I have a non-power steering car. And as it is intended for my wife, I don't want her having to muscle it around while parking. It will be tough enough with a 15" wheel w/o handicapping her further with a smaller one. Unfortunately that really narrows the available choices.
Obviously the LeCarra / Moto Lita's come immediately to mind but the wood-look just doesn't fit our car. I changed the woodgrain dash to the black camera finish so there's really nothing that would tie a wood steering wheel to the car. But they are beautiful wheels.
LeCarra makes two styles I really like, but of course, they only come in 14"
I think the slots would complement our wheel choice nicely:
If it wasn't for the slight dish, I would just waterjet what I want out of some 7075 aluminum sheet, attach a wood rim to it and then have someone wrapped it in leather. Or alternately buy a wooden MotoLita and do the same thing though that seems almost sacrilege to cover up one of those beautiful wheels in leather.
Over thinking it? Just buy the wooden Moto Lita and move on? Alternatives that I don't know about? All comments welcomed - except using the exceptionally ugly original one with the flower vase that poses as the center cap. Whew someone took the ugly stick to those things!!
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Useful Photo Link
Found a 68 Shelby Convertible for sale on Ebay - a mere $139,995.00 and she's yours!!!
A very nice collection of photos though that might useful to some of you. Especially a shot of the lower reinforcement plate that we have been batting back and forth. This is installed in the same orientation as mine.
Here's the link. A spectacular car!!!
68 Shelby Convertible pics
A very nice collection of photos though that might useful to some of you. Especially a shot of the lower reinforcement plate that we have been batting back and forth. This is installed in the same orientation as mine.
Here's the link. A spectacular car!!!
68 Shelby Convertible pics
Monday, January 2, 2012
What's happening at the robot shop
Hi everyone,
Hope you've all had a great holiday season and found some time to fit in a little garage work. Unfortunately my work has continued to interfere with getting back to SusieQ. Though this has little to do with our common ground, Mustang restoration - I thought you all might find it a bit interesting.
My company designs and builds mobile robots. Big ones, little ones - in between ones. We also 'robotize' vehicles. Bulldozers, cars, trucks, utility vehicles, lawn mowers, 50 ton land mine destroyers - if it has a gas pedal and steering wheel, we can turn it into a robot.
But in late October, we landed a job a bit outside our normal scope of work. We hooked up with an ad agency that asked us to design and fabricate a robotic couch for Conan O-Brien's show in New York City. It was an intense 3 week build that had more 21 hr days in it than I cared for but when you are having fun, sleep is typically irrelevant. TBS required the ad agency to produce a 'making of the couch' video as part of the contract. So we were followed around the shop like those guys on Orange County Chopper - which though intense, didn't result in any chairs being thrown through windows or doors being kicked in. Here's a link to the video. I'm the old guy with the grey beard.
Couch Video
Immediately after this 3 week firestorm, our waterjet arrived and we rolled straight into infrastructure upgrades to support it. Accomplished quite a bit over the Holidays and got the building-in-a-building completed and water/heat/electric plumbed in. Just down to getting the step-up transformer wired in. Here's a shot of the building-in-a-building. The car is actually just behind my back in this photo. Once we get up and cutting, I'm hoping to give her a little time. Until then we have to keep the bills paid.
Hope you've all had a great holiday season and found some time to fit in a little garage work. Unfortunately my work has continued to interfere with getting back to SusieQ. Though this has little to do with our common ground, Mustang restoration - I thought you all might find it a bit interesting.
My company designs and builds mobile robots. Big ones, little ones - in between ones. We also 'robotize' vehicles. Bulldozers, cars, trucks, utility vehicles, lawn mowers, 50 ton land mine destroyers - if it has a gas pedal and steering wheel, we can turn it into a robot.
But in late October, we landed a job a bit outside our normal scope of work. We hooked up with an ad agency that asked us to design and fabricate a robotic couch for Conan O-Brien's show in New York City. It was an intense 3 week build that had more 21 hr days in it than I cared for but when you are having fun, sleep is typically irrelevant. TBS required the ad agency to produce a 'making of the couch' video as part of the contract. So we were followed around the shop like those guys on Orange County Chopper - which though intense, didn't result in any chairs being thrown through windows or doors being kicked in. Here's a link to the video. I'm the old guy with the grey beard.
Couch Video
Immediately after this 3 week firestorm, our waterjet arrived and we rolled straight into infrastructure upgrades to support it. Accomplished quite a bit over the Holidays and got the building-in-a-building completed and water/heat/electric plumbed in. Just down to getting the step-up transformer wired in. Here's a shot of the building-in-a-building. The car is actually just behind my back in this photo. Once we get up and cutting, I'm hoping to give her a little time. Until then we have to keep the bills paid.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Interesting leveling scheme
I came across this interesting technique for leveling a car in an unlevel garage.
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/sills.htm
Using red wine over water due to viscosity differences was a key detail. One of those things you could quickly jury-rigged in your own garage. As everyone is in some stage of panel installation, thought it might be of some use.
rj
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/sills.htm
Using red wine over water due to viscosity differences was a key detail. One of those things you could quickly jury-rigged in your own garage. As everyone is in some stage of panel installation, thought it might be of some use.
rj
Monday, November 21, 2011
Pondering Brake Scoops
Well it has been awhile since I've had anything to post. Between a tight project deadline and moving my business to a new location - there's been little time for SusieQ. I did get her moved to the new location and she seems happy in the new hangar. More space, more light - extra shelf space to spread all the cardboard boxes out.
Big news is that tomorrow, our new waterjet arrives. They sent photos of it today being loaded in Chicago. Should be here tomorrow morning. I'm expecting a day of heavy lifting and toting. Machinery moving is always a tense time. Lots of places for things to go wrong...
But lack of actual work has been replaced with some mental effort. I'm currently in a sort of Catch 22. I can't button up the rear quarter upholstery until I get the window regs back in. And I can't put the window regs in until I decide on what's going on the exterior quarter panel. My car comes with the standard quarter trim with the thin chrome insert. Like many of the chrome items on these cars, they are beginning to look dated. What I saw in the 50's cars as a kid, I'm beginning to see in the 60's cars as an adult. The overall design remains fresh, but the small details begin to age design-wise. I had considered just welding up the trim holes and going with a cleaner look but that's an awful lot of sheet metal expanse w/o any detail - which is why the quarter trim was put there in the first place. BTW, this is the sort of thing Chip Foose is so good at. He has a great eye for detail. He occasionally chops cars up more than I prefer, but his eye for small detail is excellent.
Which leads me to the title of this post - brake scoops. I've always liked the Shelby brake scoops and put a pair on my 67 fstbk. For SusieQ, I'm leaning towards the faux 68 California Special scoops. After trying to win an original pair off Ebay for less than a gazillion dollars I ordered a pair of knock-offs. Which was basically a waste of $60. The ones I ended up with are good for nothing more than skeet practice - 'PULL' - 'BOOM'. No mounting studs on the back and not even close to matching the 1/4 profile. Lesson learned.
I'm thinking then either Tony Branda or Maier Racing if I decide to go with the stock scoops. They both have two studs for good securing. Alternatively there are the Eleanor scoops but for my tastes they are just a tad large - esp for a convertible. Ring Bros have some cool scoops - but again - too over the top for a convertible. What I really want just isn't available. Which means I either make a pair of one-offs from scratch - or I just go with the original style but from a decent vendor. If I make a pair, I'm going to make them out of sheet steel but still leave them as bolt-on. I like the seam detail of a bolt-on rather than filling them in. My only hesitation is the sheet metal forming. Going to need a little profile to the outer surface and I've no experience with hammer/leather shot work. But what can wrong? If I hate them - toss'em and go with stock.
All suggestions / opinions welcomed. Maybe you guys have seen some other alternatives for this area that you like. I'm all ears!!!! Thanks!
rj
Big news is that tomorrow, our new waterjet arrives. They sent photos of it today being loaded in Chicago. Should be here tomorrow morning. I'm expecting a day of heavy lifting and toting. Machinery moving is always a tense time. Lots of places for things to go wrong...
But lack of actual work has been replaced with some mental effort. I'm currently in a sort of Catch 22. I can't button up the rear quarter upholstery until I get the window regs back in. And I can't put the window regs in until I decide on what's going on the exterior quarter panel. My car comes with the standard quarter trim with the thin chrome insert. Like many of the chrome items on these cars, they are beginning to look dated. What I saw in the 50's cars as a kid, I'm beginning to see in the 60's cars as an adult. The overall design remains fresh, but the small details begin to age design-wise. I had considered just welding up the trim holes and going with a cleaner look but that's an awful lot of sheet metal expanse w/o any detail - which is why the quarter trim was put there in the first place. BTW, this is the sort of thing Chip Foose is so good at. He has a great eye for detail. He occasionally chops cars up more than I prefer, but his eye for small detail is excellent.
Which leads me to the title of this post - brake scoops. I've always liked the Shelby brake scoops and put a pair on my 67 fstbk. For SusieQ, I'm leaning towards the faux 68 California Special scoops. After trying to win an original pair off Ebay for less than a gazillion dollars I ordered a pair of knock-offs. Which was basically a waste of $60. The ones I ended up with are good for nothing more than skeet practice - 'PULL' - 'BOOM'. No mounting studs on the back and not even close to matching the 1/4 profile. Lesson learned.
I'm thinking then either Tony Branda or Maier Racing if I decide to go with the stock scoops. They both have two studs for good securing. Alternatively there are the Eleanor scoops but for my tastes they are just a tad large - esp for a convertible. Ring Bros have some cool scoops - but again - too over the top for a convertible. What I really want just isn't available. Which means I either make a pair of one-offs from scratch - or I just go with the original style but from a decent vendor. If I make a pair, I'm going to make them out of sheet steel but still leave them as bolt-on. I like the seam detail of a bolt-on rather than filling them in. My only hesitation is the sheet metal forming. Going to need a little profile to the outer surface and I've no experience with hammer/leather shot work. But what can wrong? If I hate them - toss'em and go with stock.
All suggestions / opinions welcomed. Maybe you guys have seen some other alternatives for this area that you like. I'm all ears!!!! Thanks!
rj
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Interior / Trunk - 2
Back into the trunk and interior today. Getting ready to move the car to a new location and wanted to button some things up beforehand. Would like to get the gas tank installed so hence the focus on the trunk. Got the trunk speckle-painted last weekend and wanted to touch up the inner wheel wells. It looked like someone threw sand on them before they sealed them with primer during the first restoration. Got the palm sander out and hit what I could - and what I couldn't - got hand sanded. Few hours later, a little primer and she's not looking too bad. Probably re-sand to fill the small stuff and hit it again. Found a can of Plasti-Kote on-line called Ford Candy Apple Red. If the cap color is any indication, it looks close to what I have. For the trunk area it will be good enough.
 |
| BEFORE |
 |
| AFTER |
 |
| LEFT QUARTER WINDOW |
 |
| FRONT CARPET REINSTALLED |
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)