Ace-Garageguy

Got the roof over the back part of the house/shop pretty well sealed on Thursday afternoon prior to the soaking rains we're having now and forecast through next week. When I moved here, the plan was to correct the too-flat slope of the rear add-on shed-style roof that was done by earlier "experts" during a previous renovation. The same "experts" poured the concrete floor below grade, and then had to build a French drain adjacent to the back wall so water wouldn't run in under it. Naturally, the French drain wasn't built correctly either, isn't deep enough, has no outlet or dry-well, so in a downpour, it fills up and water comes in under and through the wall anyway. All of this horse hockey, and MANY more issues with prior "renovations", contributed to my finally deciding to quit the idea of rebuilding this hot mess and just move out West where the weather suits what I do better anyway. But I'll still need a reasonably functional shop that doesn't leak excessively during the early phase of the moving process, while getting the machine tools and vehicles ready for transport. So I'm a little closer.

Thanks guys. Interest and comments always appreciated.

What I corrected was your incorrect statements that plastic "never" breaks down and that it's "forever". Yes, the floating garbage is a very real problem, but there is much misinformation floating around about it as well. For instance, one of Canada's environmental honchos recently quoted a widely spread false assertion that a dead whale had been found with 40 kilos of plastic in its stomach. There was much wringing of hands and quavering concerned voices. Then somebody corrected her with the truth that the "photographic evidence" widely circulated on the idiot-parroting internet was in fact an art-installation done to draw attention to the floating waste problem. Accuracy matters.

Actually, that's not true. Plastic in landfills is pretty much forever, but plastics exposed to UV from sunlight and oxygen will break down over time, even our favorite styrene, and the polyester and epoxy-matrices in fiberglass products. This is the reason that much effort has been spent developing stabilization methods to achieve longer product life in products made from plastics. Plastic dashboards in cars, for instance. The cracking we're all familiar with is due to breaking down from environmental effects. Eventually, they'll turn to inert powder. And though all plastics can be recycled one way or another, it's usually not done because there's no (or very little) economic incentive to do so. It's not profitable, and nobody cares enough to do it just because it's the right thing to do. There are many ways that individuals can reduce the amount of plastic being wasted and landfilled, but again, they usually just can't be bothered. And the no-plastic-bag and plastic-straw-bans are stupid, uninformed knee-jerk programs that accomplish almost nothing. The truth is that the plastics both products are made from are very easily recyclable, but the typical volumes are so low that, again, recycling companies won't bother with the stuff. Some stores take a more intelligent approach. Publix, for instance, has receptacles outside the store for used bags and other polystyrene packaging materials. They collect a sufficient volume of the stuff so that it's actually worthwhile for a recycling company to pick it up on a regular basis.

Raise a herd of genetically modified 1/25 scale mos, and shave 'em.

When men were Men, willing to face death in order to preserve ideas and ideals that are often either taken for granted or outright ridiculed today. I wonder what they would think now...

Time to start bringing the engine home while working on other things. First step is to fill the old metal-axle holes in the block, sourced from the ancient AMT '57 Chevy. Next, the floor and tunnel assembly turned out to be very fragile at the glue joints (no surprise really, as the tunnel is .010" stock). The floor also tended to want to bow up as the glue evaporated. The solution was to reinforce the joints with light angle, using the chassis as a fixture during drying. Driveshaft straps helped in the reinforcement of the assembly as well, and maintain the proper curvature of the rear of the tunnel. A little black primer prior to the "bare-aluminum" finish. Yes, I know there's a slight joggle between the rear of the tunnel and the front. It's a race-car. The floor and tunnel would be in and out fairly frequently. It might get a little bent. That's my story. She's getting a radiator, but I didn't have anything the right size that looked period-correct (downflow with brass tanks). I decided to scratch-bash something with a core cut from the forward panel of a '49 Ford, and the upper tank from same. The Moon fuel tank is from the parts bin. Moon tank installed in the frame, accessible through the hood panel. Here's the radiator progressing. Core separated from the support, upper tank holes for flathead hoses filled, parts for the side frames and lower tank laid out...

Seeing one of your models always makes my day. Consistently among the best of the best out there, and always inspiring.

Thanks for the heads-up on this one. Costs are definitely becoming more accessible.

Among the very best of the very best. Sad news.

One of those ideas that's so good it needs to be a real car. I love Porsches, I love Bugs, I love buggies. If your finished product delivers the promise in the concept sketch, you will have one hello of a thing here, sir.

Well, I'm sure they got enough stuff wrong in it to make your skin crawl if you lived through the era paying attention, and a whole lotta Hollyweird "poetic license" with enough stuff flying and blowing up to appeal to the mouth-breathers, but I'm gonna have to see it anyway.

The 5-slot "kidney-beans" were intro'd in 1955.

I've heard it said that highly intelligent people like yellow...

IIRC, the first design had no slots, and had ribs on the backside. People were running these on hot rods by 1950, definitely. People sometimes mounted them backwards with the ribs showing. Tony Nancy's 22Jr roadster ran them reversed on the front. And the general design followed through and showed up again on the very special Halibrands on Micky Thompson's Challenger I. Similar wheels to those below are in the old AMT double-dragster kit, and the original Monogram hot-rod kit.

As Joe said, Halibrand started making alloy sprint and Indy car wheels in 1946. Other wheels and the famous quick-change rear-end center sections followed. As the early wheels were real race-car parts, pretty much only real racers and the well-heeled amateurs were running them in the beginning. Here are a few links for further study: https://www.hemmings.com/blog/article/the-heritage-of-halibrand/ https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/halibrand-wheels-the-original-mag.1055968/

That is definitely the Schmitz. Very nice.

Love it. You're the man for hard working trucks.

Not exactly "on" the road, but down the road and over the hill, past the swamp and the prison, then take the third left, go seven miles...

The trick will be finding whoever it is, and proving it. But one cat dead in the yard, obviously shot, and two more that haven't come back, all within 48 hours...it's too much to be coincidence.

I've already contacted Richard some time back to get his permission to do just that.

I'm a little beyond "irked". Somebody is killing my cats. I found one by the side of the house obviously shot in the throat. Small entrance wound, exit wound tore half its jaw out. Cat was trying to get home and bled out. Now two more are MIA. Killing pets is aggravated cruelty to animals here, a felony.

Yes.

All the first gen Chrysler hemi engines 331-354-392

Thanks for your interest and comment. Your little '32 looks great with that engine. Perfect recipient for it.