The older the car you’re working on, the harder it can be to find usable parts you need. This becomes increasingly difficult when you get into cars that were short production or year runs. The iconic 1932 Ford is the most covenanted cars to build a hot rod out of. Being that they are a one year only body style, parts get expensive quick (especially original parts!). The seat slider mechanisms for an original ’32 Ford seat are as rare as hens teeth and command a pretty penny when you do come across one complete! Recently my friend Ace asked me to help with the task of getting his reupholstered original seat to bolt into the car AND slide easily. I decided to take some photos along the way and show our low-budget (and fairly low tech) fix.
Tag: hotrod
Smoothing the Back End- Frenched Taillights on Pile House.
I will admit that I tend to over think things when I am building a custom car and sometimes I mock something up and I don’t like it or decide I need to tweak the original idea. A while back I decided on a set of ’62 Oldsmobile 88 taillights for the back of the truck. I liked the lens shape and chrome trim on them, but the bezel had peaked ends that made it tough to sink them into a relatively flat panel. For the sake of getting “something” in the rollpan I temporarily made brackets to slide them into the panel. At first I was “ok” with how they looked, but the further I got with building the tailgate on the backend I knew in the back of my head I needed to revisit how they were sitting.
Solid Rivet FAQ
Solid rivets, sometimes called aircraft rivets, are a solid piece of metal with a large head on one side and a straight shaft. They are installed by sliding them in a hole slightly bigger than the shaft, then deforming the protruding shaft to 1 ½ times its size, so it is tight and cannot pull out. They differ from pop rivets in that they are solid, therefor stronger, and use a buck bar and pneumatic gun to install them instead.
Scratch building a Ford Hot Rod to Scale- Building a skeleton
Recently product developer Mark R. decided to build a 30’s Ford Hot Rod to scale. The process would be fun and it’s going to allow him to test a number of the new Eastwood Metal Fabrication tools and accessories we have coming down the pike. We figured we’d document the process and give you some sneak peaks at new products along the way.
The 2014 The Race of Gentlemen Report
The Race of Gentlemen or “TROG” has by far become my favorite automotive event of the year and this year was no exception. TROG is a perfect example of a small low-key event that’s kept true to their roots. Even with all of the exposure and hype surrounding this […]
2014 Lonestar Roundup Coverage
What was once described to me as the “Best Little Show in Texas” has grown into one of the largest traditional hot rod and kustom car shows in the country. 2014 makes the 13th Annual Lonestar Roundup in Austin, TX. For the 4th time I made the 1300 mile round trip from my home in central Kansas straight down I-35 to the Roundup, for the 2nd time I took my own ride. The show has grown considerably since my first trip, it’s quickly finding the limits of the Travis County Expo Grounds.
Shaving the Column- Custom Steering Column Mods
I had previously covered in a few steps how I had come up with the steering setup on the truck. To make it short, I’m using a Packard steering column housing, a custom column shaft, and a Ford steering wheel. To make all of this work together took a bit of work, but I’ve got it all bolted up and it should all jive pretty good when done. Now I need to finish up the small details that will make the column not only look good, but also work smoothly together. I’ll be covering the latter in another post, but for now I decided to show you how I went about shaving the unneeded holes from the column housing.
2014 Grand National Roadster Show
This past weekend was the 65th annual Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) and it proved to be one of the largest and most memorable yet. With the feature exhibit this year being the “Century of Speed” celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Bonneville, high profile show cars to be debuted, a live charity pin striping auction, new Americas Most Beautiful Roadster Contestants (AMBR) and a forecast for perfect SoCal weather, we knew it was gonna be good. I decided to skip town and get out of the record cold temps in Eastwood-Country to check out the show.
SEMA 2013 Day 2 Coverage
All of the vehicles have been detailed, booths are built, and the beautiful booth models are in place, this could only mean one thing… Tuesday was upon us and the 2013 SEMA Show opened their doors to tens of thousands of industry professionals. We did our best to stay focused (those show cars draw me like a moth to the light!) Monday as we got our booth set up and ready for everyone. This year it seems like there’s a great vibe in the air with more new products on the show floor than ever.