Gregarious13

It's true that you will have more control and cleaner welds (no slag to chip off) with solid wire. It's much easier on thin sheet metal, but keep that inner shield wire for when you need to weld thick steel as it will penetrate better on a 115V welder. Also use the inner shield wire for outdoor welding where the wind can blow away the shielding gas. If you do make the switch to GMAW (Gas Metal Arc Welding) don't forget to switch the polarity on the machine to reverse polarity, "ground" clamp negative. Greg

Practice! Play with the settings on some scrap sheet until you have a reasonable weld. Then practice some more. And just in case, check the polarity on the welder. Flux core is straight polarity i.e. electrode negative. There should be two connections under the cover the "ground" clamp should be on the positive terminal. You say your on the lowest heat setting but I see your burning through, try turning up the wire feed speed a little until it works. Greg

Hmm... Well no bump steer is good but probably means you'll have bump steer return if you change the Ackerman. How much steering travel did you loose after the rack install? Can you get a set of spare steering arms in case the bending makes things worse? Greg

My wife Danielle absolutely encourages me in my obsession with cars and fabrication. She knows when I'm having a hard time spending money on something for a car and tells me to just buy it if it will make me happy and give me something to do (She knows I have to keep busy) she doesn't even think it's weird that I work on cars all day at work them come home to work on cars for several more hours. She will even go to the steel supplier and pick up an order for me and likes going to the welding supply store too! Sometimes she sits I'm the garage just to be around and watch. Can't thank her enough! Greg

I figured just as well but was hoping there may be a little more to shorten. Looks like the tie rod end is close to the caliper in that picture already without much more room for movement. Of course the other issue with shortening the tie rods is you can end up steering over center and the wheel wont return, just locks up. I suppose a quick and reversible test of changing Ackerman would be to space the steering arms from the knuckle, effectively moving the tie rods closer to center. If it turns out terribly and you have a bunch of bump steer then you can go back without any ill effects. Maybe you are already suffering from bump steer after the rack installation and this will make it better. Greg

Yes, keep me posted and I'll come help out. No big deal! I can show up a day early too for assistance. I'm Happy to help in any way I can. Greg

Here is how I made the fuel line clips. I marked them out on a sheet of aluminum and cut the widths first so I had all the tabs and then drilled them all before cutting them loose. Once they we're cut loose I rough cut the round end with the band saw then finished with a file. Each piece was bent to 90° in a small break. Once all the pieces were bent. I made the curved end by pressing a 5/16" bolt into a small piece of angle iron in the vice. Greg

I was able to crawl under the car today and get some fuel lines installed. I moved the lines to the passenger side frame rail for a more direct route. Because I will be making the gas tank I will.move the outlet to the passenger side too. The lines have a gap to install a fuel filter under the car. The line clamps are home made from 16 gauge aluminum. Greg

Do you have enough room to shorten the steering arms more? The best way to increase steering angle with the least affect to bump steer is to shorten the steering arm on the knuckle. You will also have slightly quicker steering. I wouldn't move the steering pivot point in or out from stock, this will induce lots of bump steer. Greg

Sounds great! We'll keep in touch Greg

Tim, anything I can be of assistance with prior to or during the BBQ? Greg

That sounds fun. Let me know the details and I'll see if I can make it happen. Are you going to Yosemite Saturday evening? Greg

Cool! Greg

The simple answer: A fluid coupler (Fluid Drive) also known as a viscous coupler transfers torque from the drive to the driven shaft. A torque converter will multiply the input torque at low speeds, effectively becoming a reduction gear. Torque converters commonly have a lockup clutch that mechanically connects the input and output when speeds are equal to avoid loss of torque. I imagine there is very little heat buildup from the fluid drive compared to the torque converter. Leaving the fluid drive engaged for long periods of time should not harm anything.

That's what I do. Haven't had a problem yet!

I'd like to see this project take shape. Grev

Planning to bring the Coronet if we get the fuel system straightened out in time. It will be the first real drive! Greg

Great looking car! Geeg

So true! Just trying to keep us all alive. Greg

Brake components are all taken care of. That was step one. Well getting the engine running was really step one. All new hoses, cylinders hard lines and all. We'll build a tank before buying one. Not too hard. It'll look much like a tanks inc. We will definitely run new hard fuel line and rubber hoses. I don't take shortcuts. Thanks for keeping us in check though! Greg

My buddy came over yesterday and pulled the gas tank to see what it looked like. Well, it's Swiss cheese, the front and bottom are covered with holes. He's going to pull the tank from my car and see if it's any better. We may end up making a tank if mine is no good too. We think it would be fun to take the Coronet to the Clements Tailgate BBQ so we need to get some things in order. Greg

All it takes to ruin the hardening of steel is about 1000 degrees. You can affectively remove the hardening from a cold chisel when grinding it too long and allowing it to get too hot. But I agree, there is nothing to hurt when heating the cylinder head or or a spark plugs. If cast iron is for cooking, should we run bacon grease in the crankcase? Ha! Greg

Too much heat can aneal a heat treated steel but I doubt the cylinder head has any heat treat anyway. After all it's cast iron, is it not? Greg

Yes, none of that please! Laughing is a pain. The worst of it is I can't go to work and I can't work at home so I have to just sit on the couch and spend money on the internet. I have restocked my hardware cabinet, I got a new steering gear box and ring and pinion gears for the Ford. I ordered some weatherstripping for the Dodge, I order two 4'x10' sheets of 20 gauge steel and miscellaneous lengths of tubing. I found a Motors manual on eBay, actually two. The list goes on. Golly, I need to get back to work or I'll go broke! Greg

So the wipers and DC-DC converter work fine. Looks like the wiper switch may be a little funky, only one speed works. I'll have to take it out and see what it looks like inside. Otherwise no more updates at the moment. I fractured a rib at work so I won't be able to do much on the car for a couple weeks. It's also been a little wet here in CA and the car is outside. Greg