Belly Tank - Progress

Steering and pedals are mounted.... Race shoes will be in order, its pretty tight in the front of the tank !

34 Ford, Hot Rod Frame, Under Way !!!

Chrome and more Chrome..... Well the 'ole 1934 Ford frame is underway as all parts are back from the paint shop and the chrome suspension pieces turned out just perfect. Power plant, a Chrysler 331 Hemi, is at the machine shop waiting for a new set of slugs ! Brake lines will be completed the following day in the shop.....

See you on the the street real soon...

What more can you ask for, three chrome pedals in a Hot Rod with a "cog Cluster" !

Al Uens, her owner, can't wait for summer !

For more pic's of this build, scroll down for frame pic's. After viewing frame pic's, click on "OLDER POSTS" situated at the bottom of the page, for front suspension and front ' V ' bar takes !

Tear 'Em Up !!!!

Belly Tanker - Roll Cage Pic's

Well the roll cage is tack in place, however; finish welding needs to be completed as well as gussetts added to main hoops above and below the shoulder rail. After welding, will be the instalation of the head rest to the rear of the cage, which runs the entire length of the tank.... Bonneville here we come !

Diamond Deuce - Gets a New Pair of White Shoes !

The Diamond Deuce has recently obtained new pair of 'White Shoes', and Cal Custom carb scoops complimemnts of her owner, Hot Rod Artist Jeff Norwell. The Diamond Deuce will be tearing it up at the Lonestar Round-Up this April in the great city of Austin, Texas ! Before and after pic's....

One of my favourite pictures of the Diamond Deuce is situated in front of SRV on the wall of the Continental Club were Jeff just happened to park his hot rod, imagine.... See ya at the Round-Up and make sure you stop by Norwell's booth for some New & Kool art work, as we need gas money for the trip....

P-38 Tank Build - Update !

Hopefully the Belly Tanker will be ready for this August, Bonneville 2011, running in the XO/GL Class.

Here are a few updated pictures of the frame/roll cage progress....

Power will be a 302 Jimmy mated to an adapter plate/mid-plate which is bolted to a SB Chevy scatter shield. The Munice 4 speed will only have 3rd and 4th gears.... Therefore a push truck will be in order, just maybe, fellow hot rod buddy Kevin Silva from Texas, may have his '40 Ford truck ready for August 2011...

Land Speed Car - Frame Build Underway

Well we are in the process of building the frame for the P-38 Belly Tank. Rear end is solid mounted, no drive shaft, is tacked into place and the front axle is installed minus the lever shocks. The mid plate will double as the adapter plate for mating up to a SB Chev scattershield to the 1956 GMC 302 ci inline six often referrd to as a "Jimmy". Motor mounts are next, then let the fun begin, bending up tubing for the roll cage.

The New Deuce Build

Just a picture of the new build... See you next summer on the hi-ways and by-ways..... The motivation will be a baby Dodge hemi, nothing more than a warmed over Flathead with Arden heads..... Custom frame with a lengthened wheelbase, more on that at a later date....

Bonneville P-38 Tank, Gets a New Heart !

Mr. Jimmy 302 himself, "Joe Fontana", helped me out in a "great way", with new parts for the heart of the P-38 Bonneville tank, for a 1958 GMC 302. The 'roller cam' ground by Ed Iskenderian with .645 lift, WOW, 1.75 ratio roller rockers, roller lifters, 4 bolt billet main caps, steel straight cut timing gears, oil dam and a beautiful polished "SKINNER" valve cover, all manufactured by Joe Fontana.

I cannot say enough about Joe and all his assistance with the parts, the heartbeat of the tank. Joe actually acquired a "cam blank" from Don Ferguson (who was more than happy to part with the blank) to assist with my project. Amazing....

This Jimmy will turn around 6,000 RPM (plus). Now that may not seem like a high RPM compared to todays modern V8's, however; for a 1958 GMC straight 6, 302 cubic inch motor, that is amazing. The tank will be running in the GL/XO class with a stock head reworked by Sissell's Automotive a few years ago with 1.60 exhaust valves and 2.02 intake valves...

'46 / '48 Ford Cross Member

Recently built and installed a cross member in a '46 / '48 Ford frame encompassing a removable transmission mount. The hot rod will be powered by a 331 Chrysler Hemi mated to a automatic transmission. Pretty "Kool Kar", for a gentlman 70 years young ! Enjoy, the completed pictures and one before pic/in the beginning.....

Cover of Rod & Custom, Wow !!!!

Hot rod artist, Jeff Norwell, took his Deuce down to the Round-Up in Austin, Texas this past April which we completed shortly before the show. Photographer extrordinarie, John Jackson, shot Jeff's Deuce in an industrial area of Austin, Texas on a rainy Sunday morning. I though to myself, "what a terrible morning for rain", however; 'man oh man', did the pic's turn out great with all the rain !

A 5 page feature and the cover of Rod & Custom magazine for the January 2011 issue. Wow !! Rod and Custom Magazine, the second oldest car mag in this great land....

It was a pleasure working with you Jeff on this build and folks stay tuned for our next/current project out of the ""Candy Factory"" !

And to John Jackson, what an amazing talent, he has a great eye for terrific shots...

30 Seconds Of Speed and Chrome

Have a view of our new movie..... Ha Ha Ha.... New TV Commerical for airing, north of the 49th in eastern Canada...

Get FINK'ed !

Friend, Larry O'Gorman, master engraver with over 28 years of experience mastering the 'plates' which print the bank notes and coin we carry, engraved a few coins for upcoming projects of Hot Rod Artist, Jeff Norwell and myself.

The "Rat Fink" has been engraved on a brass coin, polished to a high luster with a coating of clear applied to prevent tarnishing.

Too Kool.....

To contact Larry for your personal engraving call (613) 820-7383 or email: engraverguy@rogers.com

Headers And A Quick Change, Then What ?

Just finished the headers for the baby Dodge Hemi... As Jeff Norwell refers to his Deuce as; D.A.D. - The Dodge Ardun Deuce. Hence the little baby Dodge Hemi is nothing more than a flathead with an overhead valve conversion, without the huge expense of running an Ardun...

Headers are completed, Quick Change is installed. Next; "Porter Mufflers" and exhaust over the QC axles, then along the bottom of the frame rails beside the gas tank.... Enjoy 'til next time.... More to come, spy pic's at a later date when Norwell completes the art work for this build...

Next Project Under Way - P38 Stretched Tank

Well hot rod artist "Jeff Norwell" did it again ! A real quick sketch by Jeff of my next project which is under way. It will be a stretched P38 tank, 20" added to the middle, powered by a '58 GMC Jimmy six 302. The tank will be running in the XO/GL class at Bonneville. XO - relates to a straight engine, pre-1958 and limited to 325 cubes with a stock head, however; porting is allowed.
GL- relates to a 'gas' 'lakester'.

Well back to the garage to bend up some more tubing. Yes folks - there will be a canopy covering the crazy pilot attempting to reach 200 MPH. See you there in August 2011 ?

Louvered Panels and a '34 Ford Frame

Two louvered panels our shop recently punched out for an nostalgic drag car being built up our way. 36 louvers in each aluminium panel.

Second, is a '34 Ford frame we recently completed which came to our shop as a rolling chassis. The front end has a nice set of split wishbones and drop axle set up, however; the rear was donated from an 80's Corvette suffering from instalation issues. The half shafts and brake calipers were hitting the frame rails !

After some discussion, the customer (his first hot rod build) decided to switch the rear end to a Chrysler 8 3/4" which certainly has the nostalgic feel to accompany the 331 Chrysler hemi, three pedals, air plane seats and steelies wrapped with wide whites.

The customer wished to retain the center cross member, so we made some alterations to accept the new rear end. The rear end is now suspended with a set of QA1 coil-overs and ladder bars. A custom rear cross member was manufactured at our shop, notched, to allow for proper travel of the third member.

See more pic's of the '34 build below....

Have fun Al and great working with you ....