We thought it would be good idea to revisit the brake situation since we disconnected the lines by the engine when we did the exhaust …

Yes, we did have to make a new bracket but I think we’re actually getting better at fabricating those bad boys.  We’re even getting a little creative – note the holes in the stiffener on the back of the bracket – sexy – eh?!  Well, maybe you had to be there …

 The original brake line came within a half inch of being able to be used again with the new bracket setup.  Oh well …

Any questions?

Okay … so we tell everyone that Baltimore has mild winters.  For most years that’s pretty much the case but this year we’ve had record snow falls – 2 and 3 feet at a time!  Where’s that global warming thing when we could make use of it?!

Well, we’re almost out of it now and we’ve begun again working on the Vicky project car.   More to come, I promise …

Forgot to mention that Santa was pretty good to Don … he brought a few more tools and a better place to organize the ones I already had too!  You can never have enough tools …

Thank you Santa!

 I threw in a shot of the steering column mocked up (not a final install).  The steering shafts and sundry parts to make it all work are on order.  I’ll share more on the installation when I get them installed.

Is it 2010 already?!  I must have slept through 2009 because it certainly went by quickly.

 I’ve received a couple of requests for status updates and the like so with that as inspiration, I’ll try and bring everyone up to date again … and, BTW – thanks for all of the support and hanging in there with me; it’s good to know that someone is out there anxiously awaiting for the big day when I can light that baby up on the street.  The planned inaugural test drive is August of this year.  Lots to do yet for sure plus it won’t be finish painted and I doubt that the interior will be completely done but never say never.

Yes, we’re still at it in case there were any doubters out there and yes, we’ll see it through until we’re riding off into the sunset to the distinctive rumble from the exhaust,and yes, that is definitely music to our ears!

Building a car like this is like putting a three dimensional puzzle together without a picture to go by – everything is custom.  There are no off-the-shelf bolt-it-on parts to be found anywhere on this baby (or at least it seems that way).  It has parts from a whole bunch of years, makes, and models of cars and even a truck.  And, it’s definitely a  time and money dependent project – neither of which is in abundance at any given moment.  I think I might have said that before but it’s worth repeating.

I’ll add a post or two with pictures (once I figure out how to do that again) to show that we did get a few things done over the holidays albeit not a lot.  This coming weekend we just might do the final bolt up of the transmission to the engine and put it back into the car.  Now that could be exciting 

I found a set of plain Ford wheels that I want to use during the ”mount-the-body” phase of the build process in order to turn the frame into a rolling chassis.  They work great in the back but get hung up on the front disc brake hubs.  The wheel’s center hole diameter is a hair too small … and I mean hair (about 0.1″)  In other words, they don’t seat against the hub properly.  I’ll have to ponder on that one for a bit.

Once I figure out what to do about it, I’ll mount the tires so that it will be ready to roll.  It’s always something but I’m making progress albeit very slowly some days.

We have arrived at a point in time when selecting a steering column is in order.  My friend Jim loaned me three GM steering columns with different features from which to see which type might work best.  The one on the right is a short version from a van with some very nice options contained within the column.  The middle unit has slightly less features than the van model and the one on the left is a fairly simple and straight forward design.

Earlier in the project, Jim suggested a tilt-telescopic model from an 8O-something Cadillac so this is a great way to see what might work and what doesn’t.  I liked the tilt-telescopic idea a lot and hope that I’ll be able to go that route but we’ll see.

I thought getting a set of wheels and tires would be a no brainer for this project of mine but that just doesn’t seem to be the case (at least not for what I originally wanted to put on it).  The plan has always been to put 14″ on front and 15″ on back. Simple enough – right?!

StreetBeast advised that I could run 15″x8″ rims with 5″ back spacing in the rear with 255×60R15 tires considering the rear axle setup I’m running (59.5″ long ‘89 Mustang variety).  They also said I should pretty much stick with a 14″x6″ rim with standard back spacing in front with 195×60R14 tires for good steering and handling characteristics (unless I measure and have no clearance issues with something else).  The build manual for the Vicky calls for 14″x7″ (front) and 15″x7″ (rear) but I can live with their recommendation no problem.

The dilemma now is that I cannot get the wheels I wanted in the recommended combination of size and back spacing.

In attempting to go with the flow, the situation has grown more frustrating, i.e., I can find 14″x6″ wheels but not with the wheel design I hoped for or I find 15″x8″ wheels I like but not with 5″ back spacing.

If I go to 15″x6″ in front, I should go to a 16″ in rear to help balance the visual proportion and scale of tire sidewall to wheel diameter but then clearance problems may be an issue.  I might have to look into that one …

Just a note to update everyone … we “are” making progress even though it seems somewhat slow to show.  We’re also taking time to enjoy life along the way so that we don’t become all consumed by the enormity of this project.  By that I mean, “we’ve been down the ocean hon” (as they say in Baltimore) to “Cruisin’ OC” in Ocean Cty, MD – a fabulous long weekend hot rod extravaganza … it was great!  We’re headed to York, PA this coming weekend for the National Street Rod Association’s big event there and it promises to be even bigger than OC’s was by about a 1,000 registered cars.  Oh yeah, we spent some time on our boat as well in between all of the other fun stuff going on.

After more than a few discussions about Project Vicky and its trials and tribulations, I offer the following to all those folks who wonder why it takes so long to complete.  Building a car from essentially scratch is a monumental task.  I’ve often said to the people who ask about it: “do you know how many parts go into a car?”  Well, it’s even more daunting than that because nothing is a direct replacement for something that is bolted on in the first place.  There are parts from various years, makes, and models of other cars going into this project.  It’s all custom fitted a piece at a time and more times than not, the parts need to be finessed or persuaded to bolt up so to speak.  In many cases - there are no instructions to go by and everything takes longer than originally imagined.  But, that is part of the fun too – making it work.

To think that after it’s all put together (mocked up) that I’ll have to take it all apart for painting and final finishing is a thought for another time  ;-)

I ordered some of the additional brake component parts I needed, such as, the front and rear brake hoses and some clips to hold the lines to the frame.  I still need the straight run hard lines and connectors to run from front to back as well.

Additionally, I’m trying Griot’s Garage for some miscellaneous stuff and ordered a box of H-D Mechanic’s Blue Latex Gloves with a nifty magnetic holder to secure them on the side of one of my tool boxes.

I’m also getting a 3″ Random Orbital from Griot’s to polish and wax tight spots on the car but the primary decision to purchase it really came from the desire to have something better-than-by-hand to do the windows on our boat and of course on our cars.  I hoping it works as well as I imagine it will.

I haven’t posted anything for a while but heard from a friend who was wondering how things were going.  Thanks Joe for your inquiry – it inspired me to at least post an update.

Aside from life’s usual distractions plus some unusual ones, e.g, the economic downturn and a sharp dip in my discretionary spending, progress has been a bit slow.  Having said that, look for things to pick up again now that better weather is apparent and there is more day light available to play even longer …

I believe that I mentioned previously that I had several holes in the frame that I don’t really need thanks to moving the motor mounts around two or three times.  They’re all welded up now and I’ve been grinding them flush – it looks pretty good.

Dave thought we should “box” the strut rod bracket that we cut down some to add clearance for my A/C compressor.  That turned out well I think.  I will try to remember to get a picture of the bracket as it looks now.