Valve-Lock Inspection to Save your Engine By Fergus Ogilvy Photos by Moore Good Ink   This advice may only help hard core race engine builders, but any time we have a chance to publish high quality tech like this info from Trend Performance, we’ll do it. Wish I would have saw this before putting the valves back into my Falcon! (course that’s anything but a racing engine!) Enjoy!   Assemble the valve locks on a valve and using your thumb and forefinger raise the spring retainer to its full...

No Keys Needed – Modern Ride Convenience for your Hot Rod Story and Install by Rob Zoller AKA: Mr. Freeze   Ok it’s got power steering , power brakes , ice cold AC, power windows, deck-less sound system, a GPS speedometer and an electronic shifter so I figured when Pikesan asked me to put another electronic gadget into my seemingly “Rat Truck” (on the outside) I figured, why not! I’ve been test driving new cars lately and it seems like all of them have keyless ignition. To seal the...

Building a Battery Tray for an Optima Battery Is there anything worse than when your car cranks, but doesn’t start? (overheating must be a close 2nd) That was the deal with my 1927 Ford Roadster named Bonnie. Especially when I first put the dual Weber 44 carbs on, she was a little hard to start and wasn’t afraid to flood if I wasn’t careful. At the time, I was using a gel-type motorcycle battery. That worked out great because I could mount it anywhere (space is precious in a roadster!) but...

By Dennis Overholser Get the step-by-step as Jim Whittenburg of Custom Auto Wiring installs Painless Performance Product’s 18-circuit universal wiring kit (#10202) into Roc Strickland’s 1956 Belair. Page 1: Getting Started Removing old wiring Page 2: Layout the new wiring harness Start routing wires Mounting the fuse block Ignition Switch wiring Page 3: Light switch wiring Turn signal wiring Dakota Digital Dash wiring Tail lights wiring Page 4: Head and turn signal wiring Engine compartment wiring Final Test Jim sits in the 56 and refreshes himself on the installation...

How to Build a Custom Dash for a Barracuda My buddy Scott Hallner’s a hard working man! He found a 1967 Barracuda that I think alot of people would have passed on. It had what’s known as some, “rust issues”. OK, the car was rusty BAD! Check this out: Scott did a pretty amazing job replacing body panels and a host of other body work & paint, then he got to work on updating nearly everything in the car to install a pretty nasty Dodge small block. See all...

Homebuilt Ford Falcon by Greasegirl #12 Last night Ethan and I stayed up all night working on the Falcon – I’ve never spent so much back-to-back time in the garage! When it came time when we  were supposed to leave, we talked about quitting -but we were so close! We’d already added springs, shocks, distributor, belt, custom brake lines, fuel line, wiring, brakes, primed the engine, and were working to put back the front fenders and body. We continued working nearly 5 hours past the time initially scheduled to...

Homebuilt Ford Falcon by Greasegirl #11 There’s only 12 hours  left of this 10-day dash to get my 1960 Falcon ready for Mooneyes. The picture above shows where things are right now. A couple of obstacles have been ironed-out today – the distributor (which was a different size for the 144 and the 170) and brakes (whose new fittings we got weren’t going to work quite right). Barring some other strange and uncorrectable obstacle, I don’t see any reason why we won’t get done… even though it may take...

Homebuilt Ford Falcon by Greasegirl #10 Although many things are coming together – it seems like there’s an endless list still to do! Some last parts still needed cleaned and painted  today amidst our putting everything back on. While it’s a little disappointing to see that pretty engine bay getting covered up in wires and tubes…it means that sooner or later we’ll have a functional car! While it may look like there’s not all that much progress from last night, there is! Suspension and brakes are almost in, all the...

Homebuilt Ford Falcon by Greasegirl #9 One of the things holding us up from putting the engine in last night – is we couldn’t attach the transmission without getting the pilot bushing out of the old engine and into the “new”. Ethan called up a friend, who’s the Go-To-Guy for getting things taken apart, to borrow the tool.   His friend informed him no special tool is needed…just some toilet paper and water. If Joe-Schmoe were to say this, Ethan or I  probably wouldn’t have believed it… but since...

Homebuilt Ford Falcon by Greasegirl #8 After last night’s final coat of paint, we’re now working towards getting everything back together. I cleaned and painted steering and suspension parts while Ethan continued prepping the new engine block. It still feels like our progress is going a little slowly… but I’m thinking when the parts start getting bolted back in place things might speed up. While I was cleaning parts today, I found a new tool! I was looking for a larger wire brush when I found this $1.00 barbecue...

Homebuilt Ford Falcon by Greasegirl #7 I sanded the few rough spots with 320 grit and feathered them out slightly – then it was back to painting time! Falcon’s second coat of Suede Metallic Hot Rod Flatz went on tonight. I sprayed first (which didn’t seem as daunting as it did last night,) and Ethan took the gun for the last little bit getting a few hard-to-reach places. It’s nice to be able to work together as a team! The finished product looks smooth and clean – the suede...

Homebuilt Ford Falcon by Greasegirl #6 Today the color finally went on… isn’t it purty! And goooooood thing I learned my lesson in mixing the primer, because  this can was very gobbed up at the bottom. I didn’t mind mixing too much though, because the swirls were so nice to look at! I’m using Kustom Shop ‘Hot Rod Flatz’ paint in Diamond Blue Metallic. I’d ordered these from TCP Global, and was happy with their prices and service. Before mixing with hardener and reducer, I made my mix can...