Vol#4 the evolution….

Well here she sits , and if you’ve been following along we had a stocker and have been moving forward with what a kid would do in the day to get one of these mothers moving faster and looking the part. Well with the head , FSI ignition, and tires we got this girl up over 65 mph max speed. which aint bad for the old girl. But that wasn’t enough . Zephyr intake with 2 stromberg 81’s were added and a header from Reds headers. well that was the nail in the coffin for this one, well maybe not . A knock arose and my heart sunk like the titanic. Im thinking damn that’s gotta be a rod.

Well it wasn’t a rod at all and the bottom end looks great , all new even. This was the cleanest bottom end I had ever seen on a running banger. I pulled the caps , plastiguaged each one and got all the shims within spec with a little wet sanding on 2000 grit taped to glass( old VW trick ). Looking around I thought I found the culprit . My Lower pulley had a huge chunk out of it and the timing gear ate said skunk and took some teeth with it . Easy poesy I thought . I ran down to CW Moss in orange to get a gear pulley and gaskets . also a few other items and a good afternoon bench racing with the boys down there. Came home , jammed it all on and buttoned it up..

Well that may have been a problem but the clacking clack still persists. I had to sit back and think about my next move very hard. my options were keep throwing hundred dollar bills at this thing which I really never saw the end game for this car as a banger car, hell I don’t even own a trailer so it was about out of the question. I had 2 flathead 8ba’s I had picked up both fresh machined and ready to get put together so I forged forward. started collecting parts and pulling stuff out of my rat holes I have in the garage. Got to a point in my life where I am so damn busy with working that its time and money and I don’t have time , its a luxury.

8ba fitted with a merc crank (4 inch stroke) .030 over , max one cam , All new speed parts from Offenhauser Equipment Adjustable lifters , hardened seats and on and on , bunch of good stuff

I built the flatty and got out the quick change I had purchased from John years back. Obtaines a 39 bis from my buddy Dom and started making calls on other stuff I needed. I had 2 separate 32 frames on tap but as my work schedule wouldn’t allow me to go get and pay for them I let them slip through my hands. Bummer. Things however were looking up and I was moving forward. I went over to Walden speed shop to see what he had cooking and there I stood drooling .

If ya been to Waldens well you know what I mean, the guy is sent from hotrod heaven and has a way with metal, detail oriented, and know what works. He’s even built a ton on the fastest car in the world , Speed Demon. I could jerk him off all day long but that’s between me and him. He’s a good friend for one , and he inspires me . We had a chance to hang in the office and over a Tejava I pretty much decided I wanted to have one of his chassis. He just came out with the direct fit 32 chassis for a model A. The trimming you gotta do to the body is insignificant . the way he has it worked you just gotta notch out the rear sub rail and that’s it . floors stay the same and no heavy modifications. Figured this would save me a ton of time as that shit is non existent in my life at the moment. I bench raced with him about the parts I had and what I was thinking I wanted to do … 8ba , 3 speed , and a QC rear. Keep it simple and running .

* Disclaimer - stop reading here if you don’t like Zora Duntov and his engineering feats.

Well in that meeting I came to my senses on what my end game was going to look like . The model A was a test in progression of a hotrod. I originally intended to move it to the next step and build an AV8. which is all well and good , and I am not saying a flatty can’t be reliable because they can. I decided to take this story into the next and final end game for the roadster. Bobbys works amazing , I was on board so I took the money I had saved from the sell of my van and invested in a chassis , an advertiser, and a friend. It hurt but didn’t hesitate paying Bobby for his and Matts work. It’s flawless.

The Walden Chassis is very updated , might be too updated for a bunch of you , but for me it fits the goal. I wanna drive this daily just like my wagon and if I wanna hook up the canned ham and go to Bonneville I won’t have a worry . Well I don’t wanna jinx myself. Went home told mama bear what I was thinking and she promptly said DUH, sell the ford stuff and get the chevy , were a chevy family. lol I never looked at it that way as I like all cars for different reasons but yes Chevrolet small blocks have been good to us. So here I am taking my stock bodied 31 and fitting it to a monster of a chassis and driveline. Check out the details on bobbys chassis and follow along as the whole thing comes to fruition. Gonna start mocking up all the goodies very soon so be sure to come on back and check out what’s happening.

TS

en hopup varitas