Completely Disasembled

So it has been a while since my last post--work and life seems to sometimes get in the way. Over the last several months we have completely dismantled the Hornet. With the exception of the front and rear glass it is ready to head to be media blasted.



Here is a picture of the inside of the car a month or so ago:





We located a powder coating company and dropped of a load of all of the inner fender well parts and the radiator supports last week. They should be ready to pick up in the next few days.

A few items have been sent off to have work done on them. All of the stainless was sent out to be straightened and polished.



Rick Monroe stopped off in Phoenix right after the New Year and picked it up. Should be ready in a month or so.

Also have just about all of the chrome on the car re-plated. We will picking up most of it at the Hudson meet in a few weeks.

The next big step is getting the car media blasted and then the body work done. There is minimal body work that will need to be done---but I am trying to figure out if it is best left to a pro or if it is something that I can have done at a reasonable price in Phoenix.

We are heading to the Hudson Western Regional Meet in Yosemite in a few weeks.

Engine and Transmission Complete

We picked up the engine a few weeks ago. Several months ago we located a NOS Borg-Warner transmission. I was contemplating making the switch to a hydro but was offered a deal that I didn't want to pass up. I know that most Hudson diehards hate the Borg-Warner as they are not as quick off the line---but I am going to be cruising around and not drag racing.

Below are a few pictures of the transmission after it was cleaned up, new seals put in it, filled with transmission fluid, and spun at the transmission shop.





Over the weekend we connected the engine to the transmission and did a little detail work. Below are a few pictures of the engine and transmission.





I have also picked up a media blaster that I am going to use to start cleaning the frame. I have spend a few hours working on it---and have created a huge mess in the garage. Over the new few months I hope to get the frame and undercarriage of the car cleaned and painted. I have been spending my free time reading up on all the different paint options. After a lot of consideration, we have decided that the car is going to be black.

Engine Rebuild Almost Completed

Took a trip to Mesa to see Joe Polkus and Max (his trusty dog). I had some miscellaneous parts that I needed to take to him to finish the engine rebuild. The engine is running! There will be a good amount of detail work to do on the engine--pretty dusty in these pictures but once we get it back to my garage I will go to work on in.







Next weekend we should be able to pick up the engine from Joe and continue to work on the car. Hoping to get the dash board out and the wires out the way so that I can go to work on the front end.

Here is a short video of the 308 running!

Engine is out!

On Sunday Lenny and I drove to Aurelio's house to pick up the engine hoist. Thank you Aurelio for letting me borrow the hoist. I will add a picture of the Hornet without the engine soon.

Side story: I met Aurelio last year at the car show and party that he hosted at his home. Great time as there were at 25 cars or so at the party at his house including Lenny's 1960 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 that he had just finished. See picture below:





If you are wondering why there is a poster from the movie Kingpin, it is because this car can be seen in some of the opening shots of the movie. Lenny has put together a nice display that has some stills from the movie as well as some photos of the car on the set.

Good morning neighbors; good bye front end

Dad decided at 7:30am that it would be a great time to start whacking on the rear drivers side drum. After a few hits that could have raised the dead, I suggested that we postpone until at least 9am. Don’t want the neighbors to hate me.



We decided to remove the hood, front fenders, and anything else that we could get off. Here is Dad in action.



Hood off:


I would like to get the engine out so that I can begin cleaning up all the suspension, but I don’t have a cherry picker at this time. Will borrow one from a friend and get the engine out. We removed the intake manifold, water pump, generator, etc. Will need to look into having the carburetors rebuilt. Dad thinks there is a guy in the White Triangle News that will do it. Finished cleaning up the garage and called it done for now. Here is a picture of yours truly at the end of the day.

Don’t bend the stainless!

Using a lot of WD-40 and patience we were able to get all of the stainless removed without damaging it.








We then went after the front bumper. It was hot and the sun was shinning on it making it almost too hot to touch so we worked on the back.



Took a few hours but we were able to remove the entire rear bumper.



Also decided to remove the gas tank. It was in pretty rough shape---large dent on the bottom and after we removed, determined that it had several holes in it where the metal was just rotted away. Might be able to have it repaired, but not sure if it is worth it rather then locating a new one.

This drums for you

I woke up early and decided that I could start by getting the garage cleaned up. My dad works in the garage the same way that my mom works in the kitchen---in a huge mess! After an hour or so getting things back in order dad was back in the garage and it was time to work on the front brakes. I used a wire brush to clean off the sludge and grease from the drums. Overall the Bendix brakes were in really nice condition.

After we removed the front drums from the front, we went onto the back. We needed a drum puller to move forward so we headed back down to Checker’s. They have rental tools which if you return in 24 hours, there is no charge. After getting the tool mounted to the rear drums, we started cranking. After a few minutes, it was apparent that we were not making any progress. We tried to back the screw out of the tool and it was stuck. Somehow, the pressure using the breaker bar that we applied distorted the threads on the tool and it was stuck. Back to Checker’s. This was the only one that they had---fortunately they didn’t charge me for the damaged tool. I was then off to the other Checkers, and they had the tool in stock and within about 30 minutes we were at it again. Still no luck. Committed to not letting the rear drums beat us, dad took a trip to a local mechanic. For $20 cash the guy loaned my dad a slide hammer drum remover. After taking turns for about 30 minutes whacking the hell out of the drum, and dad finally getting a huge blister, we called it a day. There has to be a better way.