Re: A '54 named Busty
 

thank you, sounds amazing, speaking of drawing lines I started studying drafting and wanted to be a mechanical engineer but our first year drafting teacher was a tyrant - we are talking early 90's here and where my colleagues were using AutoCad he insisted on us learning how to draw everything in pencil cause when he went for his first job interview in the late 60s he was asked to draw free hand, what a total jerk that guy was !!! and so I became a keyboard jockey ie IT guy instead, so when ever I get to work with my hands, I jump on the opportunity - solving software issues by day and laying down horrible beads by night, ha ha

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

Oh snap, I just realized who you are, Russ?!, your build is amazing, as are your skills, the brackets you design, and cut out are mind blowing, so the fact that you are even looking at my thread blows me away, not to mention that Aces High Iron Maiden wallpaper, ha ha.

I better clean up my welds, the Pros are watching.

pics stolen from here: Project "Bickle" 1948 1/2 ton 4.3 4l60e

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

haha thanks, but dont straighten up on my account, I like the process of making mistakes and then making it better too much.

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

Run, live to fly
Fly to live
Do or die

Run, live to fly
Fly to live
Aces high

This relates to metal. But not necessarily the fabrication thereof.

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

You guys just derailed a good portion of my last hour with a stage dive into British heavy metal. Aces High. Hell Bent For Leather. Green Manalishi... I hope you're happy. I should be working in the yard.

"Many have tried to prove that they're faster, but they didn't last and they died as they tried." JP/HBFL

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

so today I needed to build some pedestals on top of the frame horns for those radiator frame brackets to sit atop..

... but instead I decided to blacken my hood bolts using the torch and engine oil technique

now heating up metal weakens it by altering it's tensile strength but in my case I don't care this is holding up the hood it's not like it's holding the cab to the frame, and there's redundancy, there's four of these bolts

I use Denatured Alcohol to clean the oil off of them as the last step, work's great

introducing the starting line up, from left to right, original bolt as found, middle is a bolt after it's been cleaned by a 4 1/2 wire wheel on an angle grinder (pronounced fast RPM) not on a drill, and on the right is the finished product after the hot oil bath, and a rinse in alcohol

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

DISCLAIMER: I completely do NOT recommend this blue propane aparatus, it sucks, not only does the flame burn out every 20 seconds but it doesn't heat up enough to turn the bolts red, don't buy it, don't use it Update: one month later, it's not the tanks fault it's the trigger, see later thread for update with the TH8000T new trigger, what a difference!!!

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

then it was time to take some measurements for evenability between the passenger and the drive side, and remove the fender and inner fender from the passenger side first to expose the frame horn

we're using a welding blanket so we don't get dead!

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

first we clean it up a bit so we can weld, cause you can't weld rust, and we C clamp the bracket to the radiator frame for stareability

we're going kinda high with this bracket to match the other side later, which has to go over the power steering pump

originally I just wanted to use the two bottom bolts that hold the inner fender to the radiator frame, but those may get cut out on the driver side, I'm not sure yet as they like to hug that steering box

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

so after careful consideration I grabbed the first piece of scrap metal that I tripped over walking to the metal shop

if you are reading this after the Apocalypse you will understand why I couldn't just run to Kmart and get me some fresh metal, ha ha

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

so we lop off that stick em up piece and womp it in half, this will be the top of our brackets

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

alright now let's make them tall dark and handsum

I am doing it this way for 3 reasons:

1. I don't have 3" square tubing, I wish I did

2. this way the legs can slide up and down to level off the tops (you will see later what I mean) since the frame horns are polywhompus

3. I don't care... ha ha

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

and here are the twins, don't they look kinda cute with their Will Smith red ears

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

here's what I mean by leveling them, this one is just staged for a pic so please don't judge me if it looks crooked here, it was removed and put back on again before final welding, (ok, shoot, it fell off, ha ha)

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

and here it is all weldered up, nothing to write home about, it is opened facing the frame, I probably should have made it opened to the outside to put the nut on the bolt easier but oh well, it was easier to weld it this way

I also weldered up the openings in the front of the frame rails, I honestly do not understand why people do that, it don't ad no horse power, but monkey see monkey do (I know they tell you it's to add strength and prevent flexability, but I call BS on that, it's benign)

... wait do I spy with my little eye in the background of that last pic a supped up LS enjin ready to go in to this beauty waiting on the sidelines !!! [move along folks, nothing to see here]

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

ok so here is a mock up of the monstrocity, the bracket will pivot on a rubber grommet which will in turn sandwich the top of that square pedestal,

what?

one rubber grommet will go inside that square box the other on top of it, think Oreo cookie

I'm sorry these pics are craptacular

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

Grate work man.

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

Right on! Priest, nice, love them. so sorry I missed this post the first time, my browser did not refresh, (yup I'm going with that excuse...)

I usually like to shove the following line up into my six CD changer high fidelity stereo shelf unit:

1. METALlica (Metal Up Your @55)
2. METAL Church
3. IRON Maiden (ofcourse)
4. MOTORHEAD
5. Rage Against the Machine
6. TOOL

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

Those are substantial! Nice work. Good tip on the drilling too.

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

thanks, I appreciate the encouragement, I'm just winging it!

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

next it was time to clean up that front passenger side inner fender (or what's left of it - think Camaro front clip swap, so it involved some trimming)

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

let's dance !

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

there are many reasons I like to clean my parts, but finding staples wasn't one of 'em... I knew they existed just I thought I already got them all

my hands thank me

Re: A '54 named Busty
 

.. and five minutes later - I had most of the rust transferred from the inner fender on to my body!

remember the goal is not strip it down to bare metal, that's for 17 year olds, and as a 47 year old I just knock off the loose rust and let the paint over rust primer cover the rest

(don't even try to recommend POR15, that ship has sailed after my '68 Mustang engine bay ended up blotchy, and the frame on my '74 dime started peeling in pieces the size of a 3x5 cards - I called the company, and they go "Yeah, sometimes it just does that!")