Hot Rod

In between buying roses and taking my woman to a fancy restaurant in Minneapolis - where my favorite blues piano player just happened to be playing - I did manage to work in a little time for the Henry J.

With help from Yup, my steadfast friend, I was able to mostly install the new steering column from Borgeson. Like any old-car project, this one was most complicated that you might think. We mocked it all up a few weeks ago, so at least we knew where the column needed to sit.

The column from Borgeson measures 20 inches. I bought the upper and lower mount at the same time to keep things simple.

Before installing the column or even deciding exactly where the column mount should mount, we had to reinforce the bottom of the dash with a piece of 1/8X1 inch flat stock. By bending a 90 tab on one end of the flat stock, we were able to tie the bottom of the dash into the recently reinforced kick panel and door jam.

Here's the double check, the new column hanging in the Mickey-mouse mock up mount we used a few weeks ago.

With the flat stock welded and bolted in place, I double checked the location of the column before drilling two small holes for the upper mount, and one large hole where the column sticks through the firewall.

The final snag came late in the afternoon, when we determined that the lower mount simply wouldn't work with our column because the angle was just too steep for the design of the mount.

So this week I’m going to see if I can't pimp one of my talented motorcycle friends into making a lower mount out of billet aluminum. After that It's just a matter of buying the U-joint and shaft kit, cutting the shaft to length and bolting it all up. Of course, this is an old hot rod, so I’m sure it won’t be quite that simple.

Lower view shows the flat strap that will reinforce the lower dash and make sure the upper mount is super solid.

Willin

Last week I managed to work the song, Willin, into my blog. Turns out lot of people like that tune, so I did a little digging. Though made famous by Little Feat, Linda Ronstadt did a nice rendition, both can be heard on YouTube. One of my favorite versions is on the Live Volume 1 CD by the Kurt Jorgensen Band. KJB is the "house band" at PD Pappy's, our local biker hangout in Stillwater, MN. Unfortunately the Live CD is not available on their web site (kurtjorgensen.com), but some of their other excellent CDs are. And of course they're on YouTube as well. So take a listen to KJB and find out how good the music is at our local waterin' hole.

This is as much as we accomplished on Saturday.

Long-time friend "Yup" and his wife Cindy, stopped over early Saturday afternoon and together we hung the front clip on the old Henry. At one point Yup asked, "how long has it been since the sheet metal was on the front end?" I had to think, and then admit that it was about eight or nine years ago that I sent the engine-less hulk to the fabricator's shop for a front frame clip and some much needed sheet metal work.

As promised, the sheet metal is now back in place on the front of the Henry J.

To see the car looking like a complete vehicle again was pretty exciting. Of course, we couldn't just set the fenders in place and then crack a beer. During the course of the afternoon we had the front sheet metal on and off the car at least three times. During the time the sheet metal was off, we crafted two body mounts that extend off the end of the frame rails on either side, to support the front clip. We even went so far as to test-fit the radiator I have (from a Chevy Truck), and yes, it will fit almost perfect, except that the lower hose connection is on the wrong side.

We did finally crack a beer Saturday evening at the local bar/burger joint and bowling alley, and toasted to a job well done.

Your truly, getting' dirty in the garage. What a way to spend a day off.