Cliff's 33 Hot Rod Build in Virginia

[colsen23153]

Tim_Dust

I am retired and had a lot of time on my hands. I decided building the 33 would solve that problem. You can see from my earlier posts that from the time you order your kit until it finally arrives is quite a long time. The anticipation was killing me. There are many ways to go about building a kit. One of the suggestions I heard about was to get your car built but don't wait until your completely finished as in painted and everything. Get it driveable with the unfinished body on it and have some fun with it. Work the bugs out. Go to car shows and auto crosses. Then do the body work, sanding, blocking, sanding, prime and paint. Re do the things that didn't look the way you want. That's the path I have chosen. After I got the kit delivered I spent about 10 to 12 hours a day for the first two and a half weeks. 17 days straight. Now I have backed off to between 4 to 6 hours a day. They estimate between 400 to 800 hours for a build. So I have spent about 200 hours so far.

As far as the firewall, That has to be done before you put the engine in. It's almost impossible to do it after the engine is in. I am going by the assembly manual that I got at build school. You will find out if you skip ahead when you come back again you will find that what you did is now in the way and you have to take it apart.

In the beginning of the manual they list about 6 or 8 parts to powder coat. That is just the beginning. You will find in later steps that other parts should have been on that list. That list isn't half the parts to coat. I was going to powder coat my parts ahead of assembly. When I checked with the powder coating place they will not powder coat parts that have grease in them. That's the upper and lower control arms. I went with Eastwood metal prep and black chassis paint. I don't have a paint booth so my parts didn't come out looking perfect. I know later on I will have to take them off and touch them up.

That's my approach to this build. I will build it with bike fenders and get it registered, insured and plates and drive it. Next year I will take the body off and have it painted. Black with red pearl. I'll assemble it with the hard top on. This year roadster. Next year hard top and the year after with complete fenders and running boards.

I'm gathering pictures to explain the motor mount changes you will have to make with your 400. I'll post that next time.