[deadbodyman]

There are very handy tables and theres a 1000 uses for them but they are after all sewing machine tables so I would donate one or two to someone needing them for that purpose..
I was going to get all fancy making the slip roll ,the big roller already has the bearings in it to roll freely and I have some trailer spindles for the other two rollers but I needed something right then for making my headlight tunnels so I just tacked them for now it worked beautifully but not near as nice as it would if the rollers actually rolled and under power I have a winch motor with all the gears and chain to get it under power also..but thats for another thread,another day...The headlight tunnel is sitting on the roller in the pic above,it needs to be trimmed and welded but heres a pic of the prototype I made with the old junk fender.

[MARTINSR]

I have to tell you, I don't often have Spiritual moments while working on a car. But I just did, call it a coincidence or what ever you like, but I felt it was pretty special.

I have an old friend who has been confined to a wheel chair since he was about 5 years old (50 years) with CP. He is a true car nut in every sense of the word and if he could afford it, he would have a hot rod. He would would have a 32 Delivery with a lift on the back for his wheel chair and hand controls and everything he needed to drive it. He makes it up to Reno for Hot August nights EVERY year and has for a few decades. He makes it out to EVERY ONE of the four Goodguys shows every year here in California. He is truly a gear head. He had a rough time last year with being hospitalized for most of the year with some terrible infections in his legs and other issues. 3 of those months were in a convalescent home with the sole purpose of being able to "transfer" which is the act of moving from his chair to his bed and back to his chair in the morning. He was in this home getting therapy for 3 months to be able to do this! His first day out was when I picked him up with his van (the only thing he has rode in for the past few decades) at 7:30 which he was up and waiting for me to take him to the Goodguys show this past November.

I got it in my head to see if I could get him in my Rambler so we could drive around the fair grounds at the Goodguys show. Now mind you, this would be picking him up at his house in the driveway, driving him over there and then back to get him out into his chair. I mentioned this and his eyes lit up. He has been asking me if I have gotten the car ready for the last few weeks. The seat didn't move forward or back and I got that to happen this morning (Friggin PITA fought with it for quite some time). So then I moved onto the door, I pulled the door apart because I had to make the check strap work properly as it didn't hold the door open at all, the stop was worn out. I got out my box of door parts from the shed and started on the project. I had pulled all the parts from the four door I had because the latches and check straps stops from the rear doors of the four door were like new, where as the ones on my two door are whooped. Something hit me after I pulled the check strap bolt off the car that I may be able to open the door further. Thinking I could pull the screw out of the check strap when I get to Steve's house and then put a piece of foam or something between the door and the fender so I could open it further this would really help with him being able to get in or not quite frankly. There is a real good chance he simply won't be able to get in no matter what I do. But it hit me that getting the door to open further would be a BIG help in getting him in the car. The door opened much further with the bolt removed from the check strap and I really felt good, I was on to something. So I was going thru the parts and found a check strap, one lonely check strap among all the nuts and bolts, and window cranks and strikers and latches and locks. Now I got to thinking that I could cut up and weld two check straps together to make the door open further! AWESOME!
So I went back to the door and pulled out the check strap and noticed, the one from the door was shorter, and straight. HUH? I can't figure if maybe this was a rear door strap I had in my parts box, the parts car was actually a 1960, did they change them? Anyway, I had this one check strap in the box of parts and it was different, odd. I thought I would give it a try and simply installed the other check strap in the door and swung it open. It went WAY out all the way just a hair from as far as I did without any check strap at all!
I was blown away, it just kept opening, I was sitting there kneeling when I pushed the door open. The SECOND it hit the end the clouds moved away letting the sun shine hit me. We are talking in just a second it went from the dreary overcast it had been all morning to HEAT, to HOT sun shine on me all at the very second the I swung the door open!

You can't believe how that made me feel, wow.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

And the seat isn't even back all the way in this photo. I am thinking this is going to work! YAAAAHOOOO

Brian

[123pugsy]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

And the seat isn't even back all the way in this photo. I am thinking this is going to work! YAAAAHOOOO

Brian

Glad to see you'll be able to get him in.

[deadbodyman]

Great story Brian,Almost like someone upstairs wants you to get your friend there...Doing good by other people IS spiritual and its never just a moment, one good deed can effect someone Else's whole life.
I'd rather live my life like there IS a God and find out there isn't than live my life like there is NO God and find out there IS.....

Well, looks like were the only ones that worked on something today...
Yesterday I woke up and just knew what I needed to do to tie this rear fender ,taillights and skirt all together,so I wasted no time getting up to the shop and getting right on it.got my little stool out ,turned Jimi on and sat down with a fresh cup of coffee and looked at the car, really looked at it,where I was , where I wanted to go and how I was going to get there...and got in the zone.5hrs later it all came together,I called it a day I was" metally" exhausted,
Today I was a little slower getting out but my batteries were fully charged and when I strolled in at 8:30 I knew exactly what I had to do and just mindlessly went at it.I finished the rear bottom patch and tied it in to the rear roll pan I REALLY like the unusual way it turned out and the part I like most no one will ever notice with the exception of a few die hard Mopar guys and I cant wait to hear what they have to say...I quit at 4;30 and called it a day but it felt like two..Tomorrow all I gotta do is finish up the front of the opening then a little trimming so I can start but welding the whole new piece in I should be finished tomorrow night.Monday I'll concentrate on that skirt ,I think what I have in mind is so cool you guys will just sheet I hope so, what a great week.unfortunately I have a job coming in tuesday so play time is almost over...and no pics till Monday night I want I want this chapter to have and end so you can see the finished product...Well ONE side anyway...WOW, I just realized something .....I'll have ... 60 hrs into this fender No wonder I cant make any money doing this, that would be about 1,200.00 for a pair just in raw steel too....
YA GOTTA LOVE IT !!!

[John long]

I love to hear both of your testimonies. There have been so many times God has spoken to me in so many neat ways. Personal faith in a loving Creator is priceless. I just got back from a Saturday cruise in Cleveland Tn. Probably had 300 cars. Would have been more but it was 96% today. Really hot. DBM, The fellow who helped me build my English Wheel also helped me make my slip roll. We used conveyer rollers from a paper mill and drove them with 2 sprockets and a bicycle chain. I will try to take a picture and post it later tonight. I don't know it will give you any great ideas but it won't hurt either.

John L

[dinger]

Cool Story, Brian. I had a "brother" I cared for for about 12 years, a quadriplegic, in home care, he wasn't a full time deal, he was not needy and I didn't have to be by his side 24/7, it gave me time to do bodywork in the shop next to the house. He was a car nut also, we had many great times at the shows and races. He passed in 91, I am still a member of his family, Mom, brothers and sisters, so very dear to me, I am always invited to the family functions, to this day.

With the door opening that wide, taking the armrest off the chair and the foot rests, he should be able to slide right in. AWESOME! Kudos to you for doing this for him, the MAN upstairs has smiled upon you and it doesn't get better than that. On a side note, your buddy is one tough son of a gun to survive all that he has gone through, many would give up. Tell him the good guys at HR.com are saying "Hi!' Dan

[John long]

Well said Dinger.

DBM, here are a couple of pics of my slip roll. Let's not discuss the great paint job.





John L

[deadbodyman]

I'm not positive but O think my big roller is for a dumpser truck its a 1/4" thick and weighs a ton but it was brand new and just laying there on the ground at the local scrap yard..I think I gave them 5.00 for it...I've had my eye on a carpet roller like the ones at lowes they put the full roll on but that deal probably wont happen.. those rollers are like 20 ft long though...the other roller is a drive shaft (not shown) the two smaller ones one the unit are just pipe I had laying around...but post some pics I love looking at stuff people make I get all kinds of ideas.I hate to say it but I enjoy making stuff like this almost as much as working on the cars I make the equipment for.

[deadbodyman]

HOLLY SHEET !!! Thats awesome John and dont worry all paint does is cover up the flaws and I always take points OFF for nice paint...I want it !!!!
......Thats so cool....hows it working for ya ???? can you make cones???? (tranny tunnels)
You know...........If we ALL got together at one place........... with all our stuff.
Imagine what we coujd build and donate to some deserving Hotrodder that cant do for himself like a custom built panel wagon with wheel chair loading equipment and hand controls...
Man ,if we only had someone to organize some kind of charity build, I'd be there for sure..does that sound like fun or what???? get some one to take vidios and everything especially when you unveil it to the winner...I sure would love to be involved in something like that...AND I'll bet all the parts stores and rod supply places would be throwing all kinds of stuff at you. free...Hmmm ....
If we only had someone to get it all started and organize it...Who could take on such a big undertaking and responsibility.....Who....Maybe God will send someone.....Maybe he already has....what did you get started here Brian ? Or maybe the guy that started this thread is the one that got it started ,well it WOULD be interesting if something does happen ....

[John long]

Wow, Those are some heavy thoughts. It would be awesome if we weren't spread across 2500 miles. I miss the old days. We had a car club that rented a 6 bay club garage that the members could use. Club members would get together and work on their cars at the club garage. There are still clubs but the atmosphere is different. We get together for a cruise night but not much along the lines of helping each other or club projects. Those days are pretty well gone. I was always like you DBM. Never had a lot of money to throw at the cars but found that if I started with a desirable body that was rougher than anyone else was willing to tackle, Did all my own body, paint, interior, and mechanical I could make the hobby pay for itself. Never count my labor. Just considered that my recreation and relaxation.

By the way the slip roll will make a cone by tightening one end further than the other. The end plate comes off also so you can roll a tube and tale it off when it is done. A good friend and neighbor was a maintenance Engineer for a fairly large plant in town and deserves most of the credit for the slip roll and English Wheel both.

John L

[deadbodyman]

Maybe something like .......moving the "CAR" around to a few locations throughout the country instead of everyone going to IT, would work better..
Just a thought ,memorial day and all...

[123pugsy]

I got the chrome tranny finished up this morning.

She looks pretty good.

[MARTINSR]

What a shame to hide it under a car.

I like the "no fluid" sign on it. Recently at the shop we had a rear end rebuilt for a late model Mustang collision job that had an axle broken in a crash. We got the rear end back and stuck it in the car and delivered it. It came back making a howling noise, you guessed it, no gear oil was in it. The shop who rebuilt it said something like "We figured every shop would know that a rear end is delivered without oil in it". I guess they save a lot of time leaving that sign off. double

Brian

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by deadbodyman

Maybe something like .......moving the "CAR" around to a few locations throughout the country instead of everyone going to IT, would work better..
Just a thought ,memorial day and all...

When you figure out the logistics on this project let me know and I'll contact my buddy to see what kind of car he wants.