There’s a fairly new Social Media site for Conservatives called Parler. It was created about a year ago. It has some growing pains, but they appear to working them out. All of the known conservative suspects post there. Trump, Sean Hannity, Bongino, Malkin, Tucker Carlson, Newt, Rush, Levine, ….
NO advertising. No heavy handed moderating.
Everyone keeps screaming that they wish there was a Social Media site run by Conservatives – well here it is. Sign up and check it out. It will someday be the Facebook without Community Double Standards.
We’ve all had them at the track from carb or NOS backfire. The minor ones are put out by cranking the engine to smoother flames by sucking them into the engine.
However, I’ve seen many an engine become toast when that helpful guy runs over and sprays his CO2 fire bottle down your carb. I seen many a race jacket become garbage by throwing it over the engine to smother because nothing else was available. Worse yet, I’ve seen cars burn down while Racers ran around looking for something to put it out.
I’m betting that 90% of the bad damage could have been avoided if the racer had a Fiberglass fire blanket mounted inside his trailer door and/or to the back of his driver’s seat.
Pull 2 tabs and a 3.5′ X 3.5′ fire blanket to throw over the fire. A four pack is less than $40 on Amazon. I have one mount on the inside door of each trailer, and on the back of my driver’s seat on both cars. You might want to consider doing the same. Share this link with your racer friends. I also have a 10 pound fire bottle mounted to my trailer doors if the blanket won’t do the trick. At the least, the blanket will protect the top of the motor from inhaling what your fire bottle is putting out.
Its with a heavy heart that I have to report that my best friend Buster went to the great racetrack in the sky. His health was dropping like a lead balloon over the last couple of years, but in the last couple of months he’d lost it all. I just didn’t have the heart to put him down, but he let me know that he just needed to chase squirrels in the Happy Hunting Ground. The vet broke the (Covid-19) rules and let me be with him as I insisted that I owed it to him to be there to the end.
Superbird
I had someone blowing up my dress that he wanted to buy my B5 Blue, V-code, 4-speed Superbird. So I took it out of the bubble, cleaned it up, tuned her up. Turns out the guy was all talk but too scared to pull the trigger.
I figure as long as I had to bust ass to make it ready, I might as well push hard to sell. If you know anyone interested, information and photos can be found at www.OldHippie.com
Red, White & Blue
Gone through about 35 gallons of paint at my Barnominium/Race Shop. The pictures tell the story.
Magnum
If you’ve been following along Ginger, my 78 Magnum XE, you’ll know that so far I’ve
Put a pump gas drag race big block motor in the car
Street Strip 727 transmission
8.75″ rear end from a 74 Charger, with a Suregrip an 3.55:1 gears
March Serpentine Pulley system
Schumacher headers to dual 2.5″ exhaust, with Flowmaster 40s
Gear Vendors Overdrive to Victory Driveshaft
Brand new Polyurethane paint
And most recently a Holley Sniper throttle-body EFI
The newest update was to take the dull bumpers off the GT I have, have them powder-coated gloss black, and put them on the Magnum XE. The bright chromed bumpers will go on the GT.
And finally, I ordered a pair of new leaf springs and hardware from Espo Springs and Things. She should be finished now.
Sharknose, Step through & Eagle
Many years ago, while racing at NHRA’s Hot Rod Reunion at Bowling Green, KY – I saw one of the Racers running around in an early 60s Harley Davidson 3-wheeled tiller steered golf cart. I decided that would be a natural for a Nostalgia Super Stock drag racer like me, who races a 1960 Plymouth wagon, to have instead of my 15 year old Yamaha golf cart. Then I saw the Cushman Sharknose golf carts made between 1962-1964. I knew that was what I needed as a pit cart.
Years prior to that, I dreamed about some day finding a nice 40s or 50s Step through Scooter, like I saw in my Archie comic books in the mid-60s. Jughead rode one.
Well a couple of weeks ago I stumbled onto a lot of Cushmans that included a 1961 Sharknose with the high speed rear axle, three speed transmission. The original 8hp motor had been replaced by a 23hp Vanguard. The step through scooter is mid-50s Model 70 Turtleback. The other bike is a 58 Cushman Eagle.
I ran up to Tulsa last week and bought them back. The scooter is pretty quick, and the golf cart will hit an incredibly unsafe 60 mph. I really haven’t played with the Eagle yet. I have big plans for all, but that’s for another day.
Mailster
I’ve also been looking for a Mailster from the Late 50s and Early 60s. While your standard mailman’s leather bag was limited to 35 pounds when I was a kid, the mailman with a Mailster had 500 pounds of mail on board. They were later replaced by little Jeeps – as they weren’t very durable – and a little snow crippled them. There were mainly two different manufacturers of Mailsters. The Cushman above, and the Westcoaster below.
I just bought a very rough Westcoaster Mailster that I’ll pick up Wednesday. I’d prefer the Cushman, but the price was right so I’ll decide what I’ll do with it when I get it home.
Allante
I have two Allantes. The blue one I bought new in 93. It’s had an AC leak. It was finally fixed by first replacing the evaporator, which required dropping the engine cradle, then it wouldn’t charge – requiring replacement of the compressor. That was an equal pain in the ass to remove and replace. Now its all converted to R134 and I hope will last as long as I last.
I also have a Polo Green 93 that had been in storage. I brought it to the shop to be gone through, so I can sell.
Black Bettie & Billie Sue
As Buster got too old to go racing anymore, a new race dog was going to need to be groomed. Buster was a huge (135 pound) English Lab. My wife doesn’t like male dogs because of their size and independence, English Labs because they shed, or labs in general – because they shed. She wanted me to get a Labordoodle, because they don’t shed – but they’re two time Poodle and one part Lab. I don’t want a freakin homo dog! We finally compromised on a female American lab, as they’re smaller. So January a breeder with litter born on Christmas let us check them out. We did and put a deposit on one, to be picked up in February.
In February we went to pick out a female. Since this was to be my dog, I picked the biggest female – who came right to me. However, my wife had her eye on a different one. The breeder said she could have a second for half price, and that’s how no labs turned into two.
Having two Lab pups is very challenging, but also fun. They’re now 5 months old, have been to a race, hang with me at the shop, and love to swim. They’ll be much like Buster, especially Black Betty, the one I chose. Below are some photos as they’ve grown.
Trailer Work
On the single enclosed trailer I’ve been outfitting, I wired a roof fan,
Mounted a pair of batteries to power all of the DC power, and an inverter
originally 1 battery
mounting a pair of batteries with cut off and management
getting it all wired up, along with a track radioCharging lugs
I still have a little work, like an inverter and a charger for when I run a generator.
Also made some backing plates to mount a very secure puck lock for the door.
I’ll bet you you don’t. The Swamp Rat Spotter’s guide tells you about each of the 50+ Swamp Rats Big Daddy had/has, in history and photos. Every one of them.
With this virus thing going on, Deb and I have been spending every other week alternating between the lake and the shop – so not as much got done in the last month. That said, here we go.
Screamin’ Woody
The rocker set from Jesel arrived, installed, and the motor is back to ready.
The rear of the car was ass-backwards, with the batteries in back of the weight boxes, making it near impossible to get them out. So the weight boxes and batteries were swapped around.
While at it, the rear window was made easily removable, so I can clean the insides of the side and rear windows.
I also removed the old name and numbers, and replaced with something that better matches.
The Stacker
I had some boxes Fabricated out of 1/8″ aluminum. One is the same height and width as the inside fender, and a length that fits between the fender and the lift post. That is to carry loose weight needed for the car’s weight boxes – to change the weight of the car.
I drilled through the aluminum floor and installed threads, so I could easily remove the box, should I want to.
I then drilled holes in the box, bolted them down and filled with weights.
The other was to carry the jack stands in the attic of the stacker. They were mounted the same way.
The in-floor compartment for the winch was too small for both a 9000# winch and the pulley.
So I attached 6 strong magnets to it, so that it can be stowed when not used.
I have a sweeping magnet for when my fat thumbs drop hardware – like valve cover nuts – in the grass. I riveted holders for it and a car mop.
Some HD velco spots will let me keep the T-Handle hex wrenches steady on my work bench
Allante
This was my dream car that I bought new in 93. The AC was repaired and the vent that was cracked and broken was plastic welded with Hot staples to be good as new.
The Petty Tribute Car
The first test drive had the pipes scrape on turns, the horn blow on turns, the transmission’s shifter would pop out of 2nd & 4th, and the motor broke up above 5000 rpm.
The latter was cured with a distributor re-curve and carburetor adjustment. The horn required the steering wheel disassembled many times and played with. Loosening the bottom shifter stops allowed the shifter to stay in 2nd & 4th. The car leaning so much in the turns and scraping the exhaust was solved by calling Espo Springs and More for a set of stiffer springs having a 1″ lift.
I took the car for a ride and it is exactly what I’ve wanted. I took a short video, which sucks because I’m trying to hold the phone, shift and steer a manual steering car.
This car has been rattling around in my head fir almost 20 years, and I’m happy to finally cross it off my bucket list. Here are some Glamour photos I took with my phone when I got back from my ride.
The Magnum GT
If you’ve been following along this blog for the last six months, you know that I dyed the leather, got new Radial TAs tires, and repainted the car. The only thing keeping it from being perfect was an under hood detail and paint, bumpers chromed, paint for the trunk and door jams, and new exhaust. I pretty sure I last posted photos of my cleaning, wire brushing, priming and painting the trunk; and also pulling the drivetrain.
Since then, the motor and trans have been gone through and inspected, resealed, cleaned and painted, while under the hood has been cleaned and made ready for paint.
The bumpers have come off and sent to be crush glass blasted and powder-coated gloss black. They’ll go on my Magnum XE and the freshly chromed ones on the XE will go on the GT.
Magnum XE
I bought a Holley Stinger Throttle-Body EFI with an in-tank fuel pump, 20′ of 6-AN black braided fuel lines, a large black in-line filter with 6-AN fittings, and assorted black anodized fitting to get hooked up from the pump to the black anodized throttle body. Also bought a dropped air cleaner base made for the throttle body. I fell asleep at the wheel photo documenting the install.
I drove about 100 miles at varying speeds while in learn mode. Car drives great when driven sanely. Fast, with no stutters or hesitation. It still has some learning and tuning to happen for when it is hammer time as this motor is about 550hp and much faster than what it limited me to on the first hammer down. I’m sure it will make me happy and the car will run like a raped ape when dialed in. Below is a hammer time drive after 100 mile learn.
64 Imperial Convertible
I’ve been working on getting the car right, and its not far away. I had a leak in both convertible rams, and bought replacements that were suppose to fit off Ebay. Their stroke was about 1/2″ short, so they were cut, threaded on both ends of the cut, and an extension screwed on in between.
While the back seat is out and I’m at the lake, my Shop Rat will vacuum, degrease and paint that area with POR 15. The car needs an exhaust modification as the new factory pipes have the left side has about a 1′ too close to the floor. After the exhaust, the car gets new carpet. Someday, if I win the lottery, I’ll convert it to EFI and overdrive too. Hell, it might someday have a pump gas 440 race motor that I have ready to go into something.
Red, White & Blue
I’m not just stopping at my single-car trailer and three rocking chairs in Red, White and Blue.
I had my Shop Rat paint my fence with Red top boards, White posts and center boards, an Blue bottom boards.
Since Grandson #6 and his mother live at our Beasley residence, I had the playground strip down, the vertical boards painted White, horizontal boards painted Red and diagonal boards Blue. I ordered blue grips for the climbing platform, a red swing and a red toddler swing. The slide is in my paint booth, waiting for me to scuff, hit with adhesion promoter, and paint blue.
But why stop there? I have two chairs and table in front of my shop.
One chair is fixin to be red, the other blue and the table white. Then there’s the furniture on the front porch of my barndominium.
Yup, you guessed it. Red, White and Blue. That porch is fixin to get tripled in size and screened in for front porch time.
Coach & Stacker all polished up and ready to head to Bradenton, FL
The first NMCA race of 2020 is in Bradenton, FL, which is south of Tampa. Since the Stacker trailer is brand new, the thrash was on to finish outfitting it for racing. My coach is 3′ longer than the last one, so the trailer was ordered to be 2′ shorter. That requires optimal space usage in trailer. Below are photos of the finished product.
With the Stacker finished, it was time to load up.
Since the Screamin’ Woody has a new and untested motor, I put the Texas Thug – which had the bugs worked out, on the Lift. I’ll rent the track Wednesday to test the Wagon, but if it doesn’t cut it – then I’ll run the Thug. It was an incredibly tight fit getting both cars and the golf cart into the trailer – requiring many steps. I’ll chop the top of the golf cart 4″ when I get back. That will eliminate one of the steps.
Petty Tribute 1960 Plymouth
I took the Petty Tribute car on it’s first drive after preparing the front tires and getting tires mounted.
As you would expect, there were a few bugs. The clutch lever had to be modified, the shifter adapter needed to be modified, the collectors needed their gaskets changed, as did the headers. The pipes scrape on turns, so I called Laura at Espo Springs and Things to order a pair of new 5-leaf springs with a 1″ height increase and some other rear hardware. The radio antenna sux – so I ordered a windshield antenna. It should be ready for me to enter into the car show at the Atlanta race.
I also have an aluminum 24′ trailer from the 90’s that I’ve been refreshing. I put a front straps hangers, a tire spinner holder in the rear, and some shelving to hold plastic jars of nuts bolts and other hardware. I’ll finish up when I get back from Bradenton.
My son and I own Bloomin’ Blinds of The Woodlands, through our company Daldavco, LLC. Its been a record month in sales, plus we had Dock Side Magazine out for a feature they will run in their March issue. We also have a double size booth at the Montgomery County Home & Garden Show this coming weekend – so a lot of time has been spent preparing for that.
I bought a Gear Vendors overdrive unit for Ginger, my daily driver 1978 Magnum. Got that installed and ordered a new yet shorter Victory Driveshaft. Took it for a 50 mile drive and I’m real happy. Before installing the overdrive, my tire (275/65-15) and gear (3.55:1) combination had me turning 3100 RPMs at 70 and if I cruised at 85 my temperature would shoot up to 220 degrees quickly. My Trans team would also rise to 225-230 degrees. Now I’m at 170 degrees at 85mph and maybe 2100 RPM. At 70 I’m at about 1900 RPM. The Trans oil temp never got above 140 degrees in the 50 mile drive documented below.
The Speedometer reacts slowly as its GPS and the satellite calculates speed. There’s a delay.
OldHippie.com
As many of you know, we typically live at the lake Thursday evening until Monday morning, and then commute (100 miles each way) to our home next to my shop in Beasley. I have 4 containers and a 12×16′ shed full of cars parts, 30+ vehicles, and an attic full of furnishings from the last two homes we’ve sold. The goal is to down-size my life, buy some land close to my lake house, build a shop there to stop commuting, and later build a home to rock on the front porch on. I’m not going to build anywhere near the number of buildings I currently have — and need to dramatically downsize my life by selling what I don’t need and won’t use.
I had an eBay store and all was going well, until they wanted me to charge sales tax and file with every county I collected it from. That’s just not practical. So I’ve created a Craig’s List Style (only even easier to use) classified ad web site, and started to list my stuff. In a purely selfish move, I’ve made it available to anyone in the United States to use COMPLETELY FREE AND WITHOUT ANY CATCH. The reason I’m paying for this for everyone to use is SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The more ads listed on the site, the more visitors (potential Buyers) are bought to the site. I’ll pay for you to help me sell quicker.
So this is you official invitation to register at https://www.oldhippie.com securely and free, and like me, to clean out your attic, shed, garage backyard, storage locker… and convert stuff you don’t need into cash.
When you register, you are immediately emailed a confirmation link to verify that you’re not a robot spammer. Clicking that link makes you ready to post ads. The knuckleheads at GOOGLE are putting that email in your Spam folder if you use Gmail. The email is sent immediately. If you don’t see it in your Inbox, you’ll most likely find it in your Spam folder.
Spring Cleaning
So I moved four of my bikes so I can move my Street Rod to the garage I keep my ready to drive cars. However, my Shop Rat has not been starting and running every Friday like I asked, so the battery won’t take a charge. New one is on the way.
I have black rolling carts for various jobs. Electrical work, power Tools, sanding and grinding, small detail work… They tend to get disorganized quickly – with crap thrown on them and stuff not put back where it belongs. I straightened out the electrical cart.
I also have red rolling carts that has just about anything from used parts, to mail, to garbage thrown on. I consolidated it to one by throwing out garbage, photo and listing for sale usable parts I won’t need, and putting away stuff I will need.
My 1979 Magnum GT has its drivetrain pulled, and the bumpers pulled. It will get prepped for new paint under the hood and door jams (to match new paint on the body) and the bumpers blaster and powder donated flood black.
Finally, I reorganized where we store new and used hardware and supplies I use at the shop.
So that’s it for the February. I’m about to head to the lake to do some puter work, accounting, and setting up at the Home & Garden Show. This Sunday morning we’ll come back, hop in the motorhome, and get to the NASA rest area in Mississippi to find a spot for the night. Monday morning we’ll finish the trip Bradenton.
Oops
I almost forget. About two weeks ago our family grew by two.
Meet Ole Black Bettie and Billy Sue. Bettie & Billy are sister Black American Labs with a good lineage. Yes that means we currently have 5 dogs, and will be bringing them all to the track.
The new motor is in the Screamin’ Woody and I took it for a blast down my nasty rural road. Appears to be fine, but I didn’t take it above 4500 RPM as we’ve had a lot of rain and the 35mph road is pretty rough. Changed the preload a little to help it launch straighter – but haven’t test that. I’ll come to Bradenton a day early and try to work out the wrinkles.
Back at the shop I put it on the rack. Changed the breakin oil for racing oil, cleaned the underside, and found a crimp in the fuel line making a 90 degree turn – so it was cut out and replaced with a couple 45 degree hose ends and a m/m fitting. Polished the wheels, put it back on the ground to clean under the hood, interior and exterior.
She’s ready to go into the Stacker when I finish out-fitting it.
The Thug
Because the Screamin’ Woody will be untested before the race in Bradenton, FL in early March, I’m gonna throw the Thug on the Lift as a backup, in case there’s an issue with the Screamin’ Woody. So it too had its oil changed, wheels polished and a through detailing.
Tool Time with Jake
In the above photo, you see Grandson #2 – Jake. He and his twin sister Elwood spent a few days with Deb and I, as their mother was having a medical procedure. Jake spent a 1/2 day in the shop learning a little about tools and cars.
He naturally wanted to grab a seat (including back seat) in the three cars in Shop 1 – where most of the work is done. Afterwards, he learned how to mark a 1/2″ impact wrench holster level on the Stacker door, drill through one panel while stopping before going through the outside skin, and riveting the holster on the door.
As I was trying to show him how to mount and wire up a 9000# winch in the Stacker, I found that a 5-year-old boy’s 1st tool-time (keep in mind I have two sons and three handy daughters – so this isn’t my first rodeo) has limited patience. To get him to stop rummaging through the tool drawers in the Stacker, I used the “Ole Tape Measure Trick” and had him measure some stuff.
After he got bored of that, he decided Tool-Time was over and decided to play on the playground I built in front of my house a couple of years ago.
Stacker
So speaking of the new Stacker, I need to finish out-fitting it so I can load the cars up. Check a couple of previous posts to update yourself where I’d gotten by mid last month. Most is done, but the winch (to get the cars in and out of the trailer) was not.
When I ordered the Stacker built to what I’ve learned about trailers over the years, I had them build an in-floor compartment for a winch with 1/2″ platting. There’s a door that covers it to make for a flat floor. I test fitted the winch and drilled some 1/2″ holes through the plate. The winch was then mounted by bolting in from the under the trailer, using Grade 8 hardware.
Once bolted in, it became obvious that Intech didn’t make the well deep enough for the relay box that sits on top. I took it apart to remove the mount, and the only place it would fit was in back of the winch – only if I removed the lower mounting rod off the winch.
Even then, I only had about 1/2″ clearance from the now neatly rolled spool. Since we all know this will be the last time the spool will be neat – that wasn’t going to work. I removed the relay and rolled under the trailer with it and a mount I had made from aluminum bar stock. After tearing out a clump of hair caught in the creeper’s wheel, I remembered that now that my hair is again Long – that I have to have hoodie up when on a creeper.
I then drilled a 2″ hole through the 1/2″ plate, almost breaking my wrist many times when the broch stopped moving but my big Dewalt drill still wanted to turn.
It would only be Natural that after taking two shots of mounting the relay box under the trailer that the cables to the winch would all be 1″ too short. So work stopped on the winch while I placed an order for 4Ga copper cable butt connectors and a couple options on 2″ hole grommets.
However, there was other work to be done.
Like a couple door baskets, disposable glove holder, magnetic bars for wrenches, and a couple Velcro straps to hold a yoga mat for me to lay on when under the car.
Mounted power tools, batteries and charger on bench splash board, and an oil pan holder on the wall under the oil rack. I should have the Stacker finished and the cars loaded in by the end of next week.
The Old Aluminum Trailer
If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that I have a 25 year old aluminum trailer I’m making new again. A few posts back I showed how the inside and outside was stripped and painted, new LED tail and marker lights, reflective Red/White/Blue stripes, Texas Flag painted on door, and about half of the out-fitting done. Since then:
I cut a 1″ square 3/16″ steel plate into four 6″x6″ plates, punched 1/2″ holes in them, primed and painted White to match the trailer. They’ll be backing plates to the Puck lock, to spread the stress on the inside and outside of the door, inside and outside of the trailer. I’ll be mounting the Puck lock next week.
At the rear of the trailer I mounted a jack pouch, spare tire, and blower on the curb side. On the street side – I mounted a strap holder with a cut down yoga mat as a wall protector. A broom holder and a holder for my director’s chair – in the black bag. Also hung a couple cord holders. I mounted some small D-Rings for bungee cords – to keep stuff from flopping or falling onto my car – as this is a very narrow trailer. I also secured the basket holding the jacks with bungee cords and D-Rings. That’s for in case the car gets too close winching out and I need to get them out of the way. The plan is to be able to quickly get to the spare, two bottle jacks and tire spinner by just opening the rear door – and not having to climb over stuff. I have much experience with flats as I drive fast, for long periods of time, on hot southern roads.
Moving to the front curbside of the trailer, I have a door cabinet with drop down table top, wrench/oil rack, fire bottle holder and a disposable glove holder on the door. On the side of the cabinet, I have rubber hands to hold the Weather station pole that extends above the trailer. Outside the door I have a White Board to leave and receive messages when I’m not in my pit. Inside next to the door is a strap rack with a yoga mat protector.
On the front street side:
I have hangers for my power tools, racks for papers and my log book, double helmet rack with stereo under and speakers to the side, a couple magnetic bars and some hand tools mounted. I still have to wire in two batteries, an inverter, a charger, the roof fan, the stereo, a pair of charging lugs and other incidentals. I also need a cover for the radio and plumb for compressed air receptacles under door and rear of trailer.
The Petty Tribute
The gas sending unit in tank was swapped so the gas gauge now works. The shifter was hitting the steering wheel in 1st and second, so a spacer was made to fix that. The retro tach still doesn’t work, so I need to deal with that. The car was cleaned up.
I dug up three old 15″ Mopar wheels for the front, and spare. I took them down to Discount for my bud Gregg to dismount the rotted tires. They were cleaned up, prepped and I hit with rust colored primer. Next week I’ll play around with cream paint and primer to make look rusty like the back wheels and then take to Discount for some new Goodrich T/As to get mounted. Then the car is done.
Ginger, my Magnum XE
The Gear Vendors overdrive is in the car, just waiting for the Driveshaft from Victory. It arrived yesterday, and that car should be back on the road next week.
The Skipper – My Magnum GT
The engine and Transmission was pulled.
All of the under hood parts were pulled.
Under the hood will get cleaned, wire brushed and scuffed before receiving a fresh coat of urethane to match the exterior. The engine will cleaned resealed and painted – as will the transmission. Then gets stabbed back in. The AC compressor cleaned and painted. The wiring cleaned – maybe replaced if I can find new authentic. Power steering pump replaced, hard lines either made to look new or replaced. I want under the hood to look as new as the exterior.
So I think that catches me up on the shop reporting. Next report in about two weeks.
The refurbishing of a early 90s aluminum race trailer
About 18 months ago, I bought an early 90s Aluminum Trailer from a racing buddy. The reason was that I had a Motorhome and a Stacker Trailer for week long races, a pick-up truck and gooseneck for weekend races, and a Toy Hauler and pick-up for motorcycle trips. The Toy Hauler needed to be replaced because it was shit and cost me money every time I took it out. I came up with brilliant money saving idea that buying an older, quality, aluminum trailer would allow me to sell both the Toy Hauler and Gooseneck. I could take the Motorhome and trailer (If I set up to carry both my son’s and my Harleys) on motorcycle trips and pull it behind the pick-up for weekend racing.
So I buy this early 90s trailer from Jim Bailey. I paid a premium for it, but it was well cared for and I felt I could freshen up reasonably. To this date, I modified the interior floor to accept the “Lock ‘N Loads to transport bikes, added a winch, some D-Rings, and move the wheel stops to accommodate a bigger car. I then scuffed, prepped and painted the exterior walls white with Red & Blue Stripe. It cost me a gallon of Rustoluem white and a quart each of red and blue Rustoleum – plus some supplies. I also painted the A-Frame gloss black. I later replaced the red and blue stripes with red, white and blue reflector tape – and wrapped the bottom in red/white safety tape. Electrically, I replaced all marker and tail lights with LED and the 7-blade trailer wiring. Finally, I installed an electric jack. Below are a list of shop update links on Maniacal Ravings of Dave Schultz, where I posted Details and Photos of this work.
So the above brings you up until this last week. Everything on the wall was removed and the interior walls were scuffed with 400 grit on a DA Sander, wiped down, taped off, and painted while with a roller.
Then I started to outfit to my convenience. I started with buying a black Yoga mat, cutting it in half, and riveting into place (with 1″ aluminum stock) at the back of the trailer. I then mounted a broom holder, strap holder, cord and hose holders and the Spare tire. I also mounted a hanger for the Director’s chair carrying case.
Moving to the front, I mounted a double helmet closet next to the bench. Onto it I installed a Kenwood stereo and a pair of speakers. To pick up the track radio from pitted in the Boonies, I mounted a high quality antenna on the street side – extending above the roof.
You’ll also note the 12,000 pound winch with a wireless remote mounted against the wall and a removable snatch pulley in the center. Also on the floor are the Lock ‘n Load plates for the removable motorcycle chocks.
Moving to the door, I mounted a door cabinet with fold down table. Below that is an oil bottle shelf, which also holds wrenches and screw drivers. That should alleviate some of the running in and out of the trailer for the most basic tools.
And speaking of convenience, I bought another cheap Yoga mat with carrying strap and riveted the sprap above the door. That makes it easy to grab for those times in the pits when you need to lay on the ground or work under the car.
I still need to:
Replace the trailer lights junction box with waterproof new
Mount dual batteries with cutoff switch under bench
Wire stereo and speakers
Wire roof exhaust fan
Run air lines under the trailer from rear and side door to air compressor under bench, and wire a on/off switch on bench
Make a rack for a set of 4 jack stands
Mount a rack for two bottle jacks and tire spinner under the spare
Mount a front strap holder and wall protection
Mount a 12V fan under upper cabinets
Mount a intelligent trickle charger for when the trailer is plugged in
Mount a set of Charging Lug on A-Frame to charge batteries
Install an inverter to provide AC power from a pair of DC batteries
The goal is to organize a 2′ shorter trailer with far less storage than the last one.
So far the oil shelves are up and the lift control mounted to side of top cabinet; coat rack, helmet hanger, and baskets for racing gloves and shoes are on the front wall.
The telescopic pole for the weather station is mounted on the wall. for storage.
A fire bottle is mounted to attic ladder.
Some of the Specialty Tools are in the lower cabinet. Sill more ae needing to be stored there.Logs and cleaning supplies in upper cabinets
I still need to mount something to store my folding Director’s Chair.
In the attic I started drilling holes.
Pressed in some threaded insertsBolted in some angle iron, which can be quickly unbolted if I was to need some more flat floor space.
Spare Parts tubs ain’t goin anywhere. Yes, I need to flip the front floor bracket around.
Buster, my Ole Chocolate Lab, has been goin to races with me since 2005. He’s been having a rough time lately and can barely walk. However he was so excited that I was working all day in the Stacker that he found the strength to climb in and keep me company. His tail was wagging like he was a pup again.I sure hope he makes it long enough to go to a few more races. He’s never happier than when were. racing.
A couple feet of three in pipe with an end cap, and s a notched 4″ to 3″ reducer
and a little pewter paint
and I have a holder for the High Strength clear RTV that I use to seal my oil pan to the block
I mounted a couple baskets on the rear-side door to hold various items (gloves, carb caps, ..) often needed when working on the car in the pit. Also riveted three magnetic bars to door to securely hold a set of wrenches for convenience.
The other side door is also outfitted for convenience.
And a Wall Mount for my cordless drill. I’ll mount another for cordless Impact wrench
I still have to mount and wire up the winch, mount a cord-reel and air hose, install a radio and speakers, make a rack for Jack stands and mount some arrangement for hardware.
Ginger, My Magnum XE
The Gear Vendor Overdrive unit is on the transmission.
The master power switch is mounted in the console as is a USB port and 12V outlet for Bluetooth my Amazon Music and Sirus from my iPhone. The LEDs and the enable/disable switch for the overdrive are mounted on the console plate.
Plans are to change out those screws with something more appropriate.
I’m waiting on the driveshaft from Victory and I’ll have to modify the exhaust system as the overdrive interfere with the cross-pipe and need to make it curve away from the solenoid on the overdrive.
MoHawk
MoHawk is going to be part Mopar and part Studebaker Hawk. It is a custom Tube Chassis frame, rack & pinion steering, a Mopar 8.75″ rear end, a 340 ci Mopar motor, Tremek transmission, 63 GT Hawk body with 60 Plymouth rear fins, and a 53 Commander front clip.
This is where MoHawk’s chassis stands. Frame is powder costed in Satin black, as is the 8.75″ rear-end and Super Stock leaf springs.
The Skipper – My GT Magnum
Trunk has been taken tp bare metal, repaired and painted. I’m waiting on the floor pan plugs so the carpet can be reinstalled.
The grill is removed and will be dechromed and painted black. The bumpers will be removed, blasted and powder coated gloss black.
I’ll be reconditioning the clear plastic headlight covers and corner lens. The motor and transmission will be pulled, cleaned, painted and dressed up. Everything in engine compartment will be removed and the compartment also cleaned and painted before the engine and new under hood components replaced. The door jams will also be cleaned, scuffed and repainted.
And that’s it. The next report will also include work on the Screamin’ Woody and the Petty Tribute.
I aged some 15″X8″ Wheel Vintiques wheels to look Rusty, and mounted 245/60-15 Goodrich TAs on the rear. I still need to do the same for the fronts.
I repaired the old steering wheel, primed and painted to match the interior.
I tried three different shifter handles and all hit the seat, dash, or both. I finally made a 6″ adaptor to raise a pistol grip shifter 6″, which was enough to clear the bench seat and stay under the boot.
I bought all of the pipes needed to get the block hugger collectors to 2.5″ side exiting exhaust. This is all that is required to finish the car. These are the pipes needed to do the right side.
Magnum GT
If you’ve been following along on the Magnum GT, You’ll know it was recently treated to a new poly-urethene paint job, and the leather dyed before that. This week, everything was taken out of the trunk, the Surface flash removed, it was then masked, primed and painted. Since the car is pure black, it was an easy rattle can project. I’ll give the a paint a week to get hard, and then clean and replace the carpet.
The Screamin’ Woody
The engine was reassembled with a new crank, rod, and set of lifters; and stabbed into the car. It will be started and tuned next week.
Outfitting the Stacker
I spent a day getting the Stacker trailer mostly outfitted. On the door I installed a door cabinet fire bottle holder, tire gauge holder, rack of screw drivers and a pair of clamps that hold the weather station in travel mode, and the telescopic pole it goes on (to raise 5′ over the stacker’s roof) when in the pits. Another set of clamps were installed inside the door to hold the pole in travel mode.
On the front wall of the trailer, I mounted a stainless coat rack with 4 stainless steel hangers for my safety suits. Above the coat rack I mounted a pair of stainless steel baskets for racing shoes and gloves. On the ceiling I mounted a swiveling hook to hold my helmet.
Next to the overhead cabinets I mounted an Oil Rack and used Industrial Grey Velcro to hold the lift’s remote control in place. To the rear of the trailer is a strap holder, jack pouch, a blower holder and a couple cord holders.
I also put the hand tools in the appropriate drawers, but I’ll need to go back to clean and oil them before the first race.
In the attic I mounted a holder for four 5gallon fuel jugs.
I still have a day left to finish organizing myself into a 2′ shorter trailer.
Other
Installed an electric gate
Replaced all bulbs in Magnum XE with LED
Replaced AC blower motor on Magnum XE
Removed the Grill to the Magnum GT to paint when it gets warmer
Figured out I had the wrong parts to install an overdrive in the Magnum XE, and ordered the correct ones
Engine has been reassembled with a new crank, a new rod, New roller lifters. The fresh motor was stabbed in yesterday and will get fired up and tuned next week.
Shop today: Detroit locker waiting for the carrier bearings and chunk gasket. Took the rear wheels I painted along with the rear wheels to the Magnum XE to my bud at Discount. He took the 245s off the Magnum wheels and put on the Petty wheels, and put 255s on the Magnum. Painted up the shifter handle extender and bought some Stainless Steels bolts, nuts and split washers. Remounted the door cabinet 1/2″ to left as it interfered with other door.
