Hotrodders.com Hot Rod Search • Bulletin Board • Free Newsletter • Photo Album • Project Journals • Tech Article Wiki • Hot Rods for Sale • Company Reviews • Knowledge Base • T-Shirts • Advertising Got a hotrodding question? Get free help on the world's largest hotrodding discussion community. click here to check it out  We have thousands of experts: mechanical engineers, custom car builders, machine shop owners, mechanics, welders, body techs, interior specialists, drag racers, and many more.

Hotrodders.com Project of the Week
To see our Project of the Week archives, click here.

Part 4: Tilt Nose, Exhaust, and Taillights

(Click photo to enlarge)

This is a view of the '54 front end, showing the tilt front end. It's all original steel body panels, and uses an electric screw jack to operate from a dash switch.

Here's a closer shot of the screw jack. The lower end mounts to a frame bracket on the front crossmember, and pushes upwards and out on a steel framework constructed of angle, square tubing, and 5/16" steel rod. This framework is what is hinged to the bumper irons, and what the entire front clip is anchored to. There is no latch mechanism on the firewall or cowl area, once the screw jack opens or closes the tilt nose it's rock solid.

(Click photo to enlarge)

(Click photo to enlarge)

The passenger side lower fender extension, which is welded to the A pillar. Note the sectioning weld seam near the bottom, these had to be shortened 2" because of the channeling.

Here is the upper filler panel, welded from the fender cut line to the door pillar. Note that all the welds were done as a series of tacks, to avoid warpage.

(Click photo to enlarge)

(Click photo to enlarge)

The new taillight extensions I made up. The exhaust runs thru the center of the lens, the flush mounted tube assures an air gap so the lens and bulbs stay cool. I've added flamethrowers to these tips, since the stock lights are supposed to look like jet exhaust anyway. To view a video of the flamethrowers in action, click here (1.1 MB). I reworked the lights inside because an 1157 just would not work in here, there are 6 Christmas light bulbs inside that turn on for taillights, and another 12 bulbs that come on brighter for brake/turn signals. It took a lot of experimentation to get them to work properly.

Working taillights. Six Christmas bulbs are on right now, wired in series to the 12 volt source thru the headlight switch.

(Click photo to enlarge)

(Click photo to enlarge)

The brake and turn lights. Three sets of 2 Christmas bulbs are wired in parallel here, for brighter bulbs using the same 12 volt source. Should be plenty visible, these pics were taken with the auto flash on the camera disabled, so this is really how they look.

Click here for Part 5: Dash and Steering Column


Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Record your hotrodding project in our Hotrodders Project Journals. Add photos and information as your project progresses. Easy to use, and completely free. Click here to check it out.

---