Turned the car back into a trailer today, so it's ready to go back to the workshop for the exhaust fabrication. I'm also mocking up the whole rear suspension with the 1" spring relocation and the Hotchkis sway bar, so I can route the 3" pipes nicely round everything.

I like the collection of surfaces and finishes in this photo, but I'm looking forward to this all being blasted clean and painted black. If I build a rat rod someday, a good look would be this stitch-weld-burned green primer and bare steel with black patches. With a bright orange motor like the one below.

Some of the aesthetic stages the motor went through. This is what happens when a designer has a motor sitting next to his desk!

Gratuitous 440ci motor porn

This thing is looking so good sitting next to my desk I think I'll miss it when it's in the car. New Holley Ultra HP carburetor and KRC racing power steering pump. I'll be fabricating new brackets for the alternator and power steering pump, and I need to modify the new swivel water neck to fit the Milodon high flow thermostat. Hopefully this thing goes as good as it looks, and it sure looks good to me!

Kuda Komponents III

New stuff

I've pretty much finished the work on the shell now. Lately I've squared up the suspension mounting points, which required some careful measuring and fixing, hence the string as a center line. The car was poorly built from the factory and had some defects from age and accident damage, so I wanted to get it as square as possible while it was in this stage.

To give you an idea of how poorly built these cars are check out these leaf spring hangers. The one on the right is standard (these are Dr Diff 1" relocation hangers, that move the springs in 1" either side, so you can fit larger tires) and the one on the left I've modified to square the spring eye mounting points from side to side. It was easier for me to modify the hangers than it was to try and correct the shoddy factory spring perches (which I stitch welded and added torque boxes to before noticing how misaligned they were). Amazing how different they were, my car must have been built on a Friday...

I added new perches to the diff housing, moving them in 1" either side.

And I also just received my third big shipment of parts from the states. Early xmas!

The big box contained new rear quarters for the car, which seem to fit up very nicely. New sheetmetal is a wonderful thing. There's a new tail panel, deck filler panel, trunk drops, and trunk gutters as well, along with a new roof I purchased a couple years ago.

Now onto the exhaust fabrication!

Exhaust plans

Here's a quick concept image of the exhaust for the car. This is my next job, and pretty much the last before I'm finished with the shell and can sandblast and paint it. I'll leave the electric cutouts and the side exit pipes till after the car is done. Better start practicing some stainless TIG welding!