1934 Dodge. The Stewart mini van

As you can see from the pic on the way to Beatersville the cowl needed something.

I was wanting some traditional style licks laid out. He did okay but it's not traditional and really not the style I want on the car. They will do for now but will be sand off when I finish the firewall.

I found some taillights while I was at the Road Rocket Rumble. I've been trying to smooth out the low spots and skim coating the rear of the body so I can mount my lights and plate. I'm hoping it will be done by the weekend for the Hell on wheels trip. If it's not then I will be going in bare metal. Ronnie also found me a seat for the front. (Thanks Ron) It's a little narrower than I wanted but it feel better than those racing buckets.

always looking out for you bro

I got the rear end smoothed out a little better and mounted my 50 Pontiac tail lights before the Hell On Wheels Show. The day after the show Corey and I went down to a Carter County Cruisers event. Bailey snapped this pic below.
I still need to do some blocking and figure out what type of bumper I'm going to run. Chrome bumper, a set of nerf bars or a loop style nerf to go across the rear. I'll figure it out soon.
I have it on jack stands now and tomorrow I should have the rearend on the garage floor. I'm sticking in a Ford, disk brake 9" rearend with a friendly highway gear so I can cruise 70 and 80 without taching my engine sky hi.

what are you currently running in the rear end? Might be an early lesson learned for me. Bill

RebStew wrote: I'm sticking in a Ford, disk brake 9" rearend with a friendly highway gear so I can cruise 70 and 80 without taching my engine sky hi.

Did Jeff talk to ya about the gear that you're taking out? He mentioned putting that in something.

IT looks better now that the duck tail is gone Where did you find the disk brake rear end? Those big gears make for low gas milage and less fun with a hotrod their for straight line driveing 1/4 ata time. YA need them big gears if you dont have the horses the big ones are usually found under those Gm products with the mouse and rat motors.

It's an 8" Ford rearend without any brake hardware and a steep gear. 390 or 411 I think. My max cruising speed is about 60 mph on the highway. I've had to push it hard to keep up with guys I'm cruising with or they have to kreep down the road so I can keep up with them. That thing is coming out of there. Jeff has already ask me about the gear and I told him he could have the thing.

Sounds like it would be a lttle too low even with an overdrive. With big motors you can get away with the gears in the 4's but with little motors you run them to death. I got my fill of that after one trip to Indy runnin about4 grand all the way. I thought I was going to wear it out on one trip. I'd rather keep them closer to 2 grand on the hiway.

The old rearend is out. I want the car lower. I was going to use a set of split bones on the new rearend but while I was at the HOW gig someone told me they bent a rear bone when the car hooked on the track. So I figured I'd stick with some curtis rods or something. Speedways sells some! Then I read where someone else at the track bent their cutis rods they bought from Speedway. They also said to run some webbing if you run them. The more I thought about it I figured I'd stick with my leaf springs for a bit longer, or at least till I redo the frame. Most of the engines I run are warmed over so I do have to watch what I put on it. I will take out a couple leafs for a better ride and to lower the rear a bit.

Do you need help putting that back in? You changeing the springs or takeing a coupe leafs out. With two people it shouldn't take but a couple hours you got my number if you need me.

big dogs 42 wrote:Do you need help putting that back in? You changeing the springs or takeing a coupe leafs out. With two people it shouldn't take but a couple hours you got my number if you need me.

Thanks for the offer 'Dog. I have a few thing to do before I stick it back in. I'm taking out a couple leafs and moving the mounting points higher on the frame to get the car a few inches lower.

Let me know if you need help! Can't you flip the springs to make it low

big dogs 42 wrote:Let me know if you need help! Can't you flip the springs to make it low

I can only lower it about 5" without notching the frame. A few leafs left out and a little relocating of the mounts should be enough to get it a few inches lower.

I went out and worked on the rearend for a couple hours tonight. I have the hangers moved up and removed a couple leafs. I also took each spring and sanded them down and shot them with some paint. They were in sad shape. I got one side done and was working on getting the leafs put back in the other side when the center bolt broke. Yeah it was new. All the stores close early on Sunday so I have to wait till tomorrow to get a bolt. I was hoping to have the rearend sitting in the car by tonight. Oh well