Somebody Help Me
As you know, Ford distributor caps are at the front of the engine - nice for working on the car, but not so nice for building a beautiful, polished engine. I complained about this until one day, when everyone was tired of listening to me, Mike said, “I have an idea about that,” and we were on our way to the Trekkie item you see in the photo.
This is a solid piece of molded and polished stainless, constructed in a generally triangular form, and running from just off of the firewall, forward to drop over the distributor cap. It looked great, but how do we get air to the carb? Easy! Mike ran a 3 inch stainless tube from each of the triangles rear corners, left and right to and through a polished or painted (not yet decided) inner fender wall. The carb is now getting air that is both high in volume and much, much cooler than engine-bay air. The result is an absolutely fabulous looking piece which simply rivets your attention, and gets us a few more horses into the bargain.
I shouldn’t use the word “bargain.” This is all very, very time-consuming work. All of us are car-insane, but you have to be certifiably nuts to go through this process with never a whimper or a cross word from the owner (me), because you realize what you will have when they’re done. (I wrote that last sentence so that D.J. and Mike will fall down laughing when they read this).
OH, I almost forgot: hidden under the edge of the air-box are 94 LED lights to sparkle the bottom of the carb, the intake manifold, etc. You will look at this car and cry!
I’ve touched on just a few items. How about the seat-belt bolts backing-plates? They are polished stainless formed and fitted to match the turns and curves of the floor pan. If you’re under the car, they look like so many diamonds. How about the door moldings? When the door handles were removed, we put a filler piece in the appropriate spot. Later, as the car “came together,” we decided that didn’t “look right” so we ripped it off and had one single piece of stainless machined and molded by Mike to the exact original dimensions.
The license plate mechanism has been off the car for three weeks, and I don’t even want to ask where it is or what they’re doing to it.
Before I end this second metal-work installment, I should point out that the plug wires in the photo are not the finished items. A new set (the fourth) is being made as I am writing this, because we couldn’t find any that were the proper length to go down the inside of the manifold and around to the proper destination of each.
Somebody help me! Please!
Next The End is Near!