Here’s a recap of the Happenings in my MoparStyle Racing shop in the last week.
Texas Thug
If you followed the hood ejection story at the Bradenton race earlier in the month, you know The Thug lost it’s hood in warm up. A quick repair with pop rivets and duct tape got me through the weekend. Once back home, about 10 hours was spent repairing the broken off corners, the rivet holes, and the scrapes and breaks. On the underside it was reinforced where the reinforcement was broken, sanded and skimmed.
This poor hood been through Hell. Dallas lost it warming up the car in Maryland 6 or 7 years ago, when the car was black. Its been repaired so many times that it weighs more than a metal hood. On Thursday I took it to a friend who owns a body shop. He says still needs about ten hours worth of putty, sanding and three coats of high build primer before the paint. I should be picking up next Tuesday Morning, and put it on in the afternoon.
The Thug had its oil changed, interior cleaned, and aluminum tank and weight boxes polished. Valves were run, header bolts tightened, and plugs looked over. After the hood is reattached, the slicks will get swapped, the car washed and wheels polished by my Shop Rat (a 70-year-old Latino who is strong like Bull) and my Assistant Shop Rat (youngest daughter Hope, who goes to College in morning and works four hours in evening). I also got Summit racing to swap out my 16v battery charger.
The Stacker
I took it to get inspected today and renewed the registration. Shop Rat washed it. Assistant Shop Rat cleaned out the cabinets and washed the shelves. She’ll polish the wheels and scrub down pit mat. Have a few repairs to make, like reattaching the rear strap hanger, the fire bottle holder and gluing up some pads for the straps to bang against. The Coach is cleaned in and out and full of 15 gallons of DEF.
The Screamin’ Woody
If you’ve been following the progress at www.screaminwoody.com , you know the car is pretty close to finished. The underside stripped and painted, new fuel system, new 00 battery cables, new wiring, back compartment finished in spatter paint, new fuel cell and weight boxes, rear end rebuilt, transmission rebuilt, converter freshened and new Lexan. We’re waiting on the rotating to arrive so Damon can build the engine. I hope to bring the car to the Hot Rod Reunion in June.
Today, I took the tailgate to Tasco and had them match the color to a quart of single stage paint. The engine compartment was wet sanded with 400 grit and the first coat of red sprayed.
60 Plymouth Post
Moving on to my street cars, I’ve had this car for many years. In the last year or two, the interior was pulled and floor sanded to bare metal before getting a couple coats of POR, and new interior made from Indian Blankets I bought in New Mexico.
I bought a 8.75″ rear end out of a 68 Newport and rebuilt it with new brakes. The understide was also taken to bare metal, painted with POR15, and new rear end installed.
The Leaning tower of power and three on tree yanked and a bad ass aluminum head 383 built.
That engine and a yet to be purchased Passon Performance 5-Speed 833 will be installed. The car will be wrapped to look like Richard Petty took his NASCAR from 1960 after the season and drag it out back to let 58 years of weather beat it up. This brings me to what was recently done, and that was to paint the engine compartment Petty Blue before the engine goes in. The front end was also rebuilt last week.
1978 Dodge Magnum GT
I’ve owned 9 Magnum XEs, but this is the only Magnum GT I ever seen in person. I’ve owed it for about 16 years. I’m in the process of selling what I don’t drive, so this whole car has been gone through to make run like new.
The driver’s seat was looking worn, but not ripped.
So I Cleaned the leather and redyed it red.
Last week top coated the leather. It looks pretty damn good.
1964 Imperial Convertible
For the last 40 years I’ve always had a big Chrysler convertible. There’s nothing like cruising down a country road at 70 with the top down in a big barge. First I had a 67 Newport, then a 64 300 and then a 65 300. About 15 years ago I bought this off the original owner old lady, who was in a nursing home. We’ve been going through it to fix anything not perfect. I intend to keep this car forever. The driver’s seat was a little rough, so I bought some leather repair and green dye.
It took about 10 coats to cover the repair. It still needs top coat. The closest match was a Ford color called Evergreen. Its a little too blue, so I ordered another pint so all of the interior can be done.
and Finally
I managed to mow five acres before the sun set, getting the Zero-turn stuck in the mud and having to pull it out with the John Deere.
