Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Transmission Stand

Transmission Stand

Yesterday I went over to Hobo’s Place and bought a Hearst Shifter and a Chevrolet steering column. Hobo is a local street rod builder and He explained to me a little about the shifter and said it would require some fabrication to adapt it to my transmission.

I could see that was going to be a challenge. The same with the steering column. I decided to make a test stand for the transmission and would figure out how to mount it and get the linkage to work before I tried figuring it out on a dolly underneath the car. I began cutting out the pieces yesterday and continued to bolt it together today.

While I was working I heard a commotion at the window and Frankie, my black walk on cat was jumping up at the window trying to get me to open it up. He’s been gone for about a week and was glad to see me. His mother, Vader, showed up several years ago in the winter and I took to feeding her. What a nice cat…anyway Frankie is a lot like her.

I make my stands from steel tubing and strapping and cut the pieces out on a vertical band saw. I use it a lot. Then I drill the holes on a drill press and make the brackets on my bracket maker. Having some basic inexpensive tools (a relative term) sure makes the work easier. Tomorrow I will cut out the rest of the pieces and TIG weld the whole thing together…maybe I’ll gas weld it…its been a long time since I gas welded. When I get the stand built and the transmission mounted I’ll ask Henry to come over and give me some advice on how to hook up the shifter. Before I do that I need to take some measurements to know exactly where to cut the hole in the floor board. That will dictate where on the transmission the shifter needs to be mounted.

Yesterday I took the engine to be hot tanked and magna-fluxed for cracks. The technician in Portage is going to remove the cam-shaft and valve seats. When that is done I will know whether to proceed or not with rebuilding that particular block.

While at Hobo’s I say an intake manifold with 3 Holly carbs and linkages as well as two fenders and a hood for a ‘40 Ford. The guy who sold me the ’40 threw in a parts body that is full of potential. I am missing the fenders and hood. Soon I’ll have two