Finally crawling out of my extended work exile – I forced the issue on Monday when I called in dead, and judging by the way I smelled after a 16 hour day on Sunday, two ‘must attend’ post production parties, and my Lazarus reflex when I got home Monday morning at 4:30, it was probably the right call.
But what’s really cool is that while I was personally on build hiatus, work was progressing.
Dave Bartelt did the chassis work on Stan Johnson’s ‘27 Olds powered roadster, and he’s doing some updates to my cage. You know a build is taking too long when your cage requires rule change predicated updates before you even get it to your first SCTA-BNI inspection.
The new gussets are in place – 1” v ½”.
Dave also pointed out a few things that had slipped through the cracks, so we’re working on solutions. When I had Skeeter put the cage in initially, no thought was given to bars under the seat – the seat is suspended between the front seat attachment bar and the cage itself. Blackslax asked about an “anti-submarine” bar two years ago, and I thought the front attachment was what he was talking about – you attach the nut belt to the bar, and it keeps you from submerging under the dash in a crash. Still learning this nomenclature, guys. Dave has some proposals, and I’ve got a call into Kiwi Steve on that.
Dave also pointed out that my seat belt attachments didn’t provide the proper angle of pull, so a rework is in order there, also.
Just as well, the outside bung was welded by yours truly, and it is butt-ugly.
There’s the reason I sold my welder.
We’re also reworking the steering rack crossmember to accept the Gilmer drive Fordboy is putting together for this. The old cross member was 3/8” from the toothed crank trigger wheel, and quite honestly, I suspect an unfortunate hard braking situation could have shifted the engine forward into the crossmember. Dave’s opening it all up, which will also make it easier to put a wrench on the snout and adjust valves.
Topic: Milwaukee Midget (Read 3576978 times)