Huh? Now exactly what kind of Kingdom Father [King (2)} would I be if I charged young Prince (2) for parts I own personally? PM me the name and address to the person you want me to send them to. My only hang up is finding that short piece under the ashtray. I've looked but no find so far. I found parts Garrett could use but not it so far. I have not given up yet though however. I remember a while ago running across it while doing something else in a wrong spot and thinking WTF? But was focused on the task at hand.

 

Black BMWs must attract them

 

I'd still try to figure out an end run... something like getting a South Dakota plate, and claim that you are a student there, or where you live, and walk the thin line between the laws. Here in Baja, most of the cars are registered in SD, as their Attorney General figured out that a license is a license, no matter where the car is.. ie. IBM owns lots of cars, and drives them everywhere... As long as it leaves the state, or country, every 30 days, you are good for another 30 days.

I am not a bandito, but it is just legal extorsion

Baja

 

What happened to this thread? Did it move?

 

It's been asleep as Jackson has not been bad lately.
Must just be a workin
Orich

 

I miss it, and he must be doing lots at his new job, but not on his build...Hopefully he will catch us up soon...

Baja

 

I've been in contact with him. He's done some with it but not a whole lot since he finished the paint and body.

Been workin a lot, and working on his Beamer.

 

I figured the new job is taking all of his time. That or women

 

Got to have one to pay for the other!

 

Ok ok, you guys want updates...

So long story short Garrett is right BUT I have recently decided to get my **** together and get going on this thing, which is easier now that I'm making money again and I've bought my tools and paid my tickets and blah blah blah.

I spent the last week measuring and going through catalogs and going back and forth with Crower customer service because, as you guys may remember, my exhaust valves are from a SBC which is .101" longer which means shimming and fun stuff like that. Literally right as I had everything I needed in my online shopping cart I decided to check FTE one last time. Sure enough someone told me that SI Valves now offers oversized 300 valves again! I phoned them today and bought the exhaust valves I need and they're getting shipped out tomorrow, which is awesome. Now my engine is less hokey and my life is easier because I'm not having to machine the head to fit valve seat discs and screw around with shimming and special keepers to reduce installed height... so on and so forth. I made sure to give the guy at SI some grief though for dragging me along almost two years ago saying they were back ordered and then changing his mind and saying they just weren't going to make them anymore.

Ok, so that's aside. Once the valves show up I'm going straight to the machine shop to grind them, pressure test, and then check installed height and seat pressure. Nothing major, shouldn't take them long. After that the head is going on the block and the engine is going in the truck. After that the truck is going to my work on a saturday where I will rock guard the box and the underside of the fenders. Cool beans. I'll do under the cab one day too.

Progress! Sort of.

Ok and since we're on the topic yes I am very very busy at work! It's occupying a lot of my time but I am enjoying it a lot and the days go by so quickly. Monday to Friday flies by. I'll give you guys a photo dump of some things in the shop.

We'll start with this '47 GMC. It came in on a flat bed with a smunched front end. The guy was drunk and did a burnout and went off the road. The only thing stock on this truck now is the cab and the hood. I've replaced the whole front end and the box, but this is proving to be overwhelming because nothing on the front is lining up at all. Also this thing has so much filler on it that it's not even funny. Six guys could BARELY lift the cab. This is in for a collision repair though and not a restoration so I was told to not spend the time to fix it correctly as per our high dollar standards but to simply fix it and get it out of there... so that's what I'm doing.



This is a $350,000 Concours '63 Vette that came in. The guy simply said it was a 98 point car and he wanted us to make it a 120 point car. There is another '63 in the shop as well but it's more of a pro-touring build.



When this 30-something DeSoto came in it was made of wood. The guy building it made the car. He also stretched it and widened it and the frame was made in-house. This will be a $350,000 bill for the customer.



We average about 3 or 4 first gen Mustangs at any given time. The red one is a resto-mod with a Coyote inside and a hand-made 4 link suspension. The rear is a resto. The Charger is a 1-of-1 original owner 440 six pack car getting a resto.



I helped assemble this '56 after it came out of paint. We panel paint everything.



This is a $1.5M dollar Continental with the owner's Ford and plane also in the photo.



Custom builds...



Then of course there are the cars at the early stages of restoration...



Or quick patch jobs like these floor pans I did on an El Dorado.



Or this cab mount on an F100.



Or customers who are in for collision repairs and then decide they want shaker hoods.







But of course with the high rise intake and Holley, the breather doesn't fit so I had to do a LOT of custom work to this fibreglass breather to make it fit without ruining the appearance.



Also this chopped 4 door Merc lead sled showed up.



The guys in the mechanical shop right now are throwing this cage with a 3.0L Honda VTEC engine into this Mini.



As well as disassembling this Cuda for a repair.



Same with this Camaro.



And installing a brake kit onto this GTO.



While the body shop guys are working away on newer cars.



This one is actually a buddy's car.

 

Geez I think that airplane needs a few more straps holding it up!!
Looks like a nice shop to work and learn in though.

 

The owner was an aircraft maintenance engineer and he used to work with my dad who is a pilot approximately ten years ago. The upholsterer also used to work in helicopters and worked with my dad at a different company. Small world.

My dad was laid off in 2008 because he was working with an American company and the foreigner is typically the first to go in a recession. He took the subsequent time off to spend time with his family and now he's flying again after being convinced and he's loving it. He's now up in Fort MacMurray water bombing.

 

That's gotta be a blast! Hahaha

Seriously though, I bet that's fun. I know I'd have fun doing that.

 

Looks like you are having a blast at work. Lots of eye candy there

 

Wow, those projects are amazing. That Continental, oh my god, that is jaw dropping.