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That’s right!

The coolest shifter knob IN THE WORLD!

My buddy Dave just dropped this off for me!

He’s been working on it this week.

What a cool surprise!

Thanks buddy!

It looks GREAT!

-Stewart

…Metal Artwork.

I found a guy who makes plasma cut steel artwork.

I am going to use this piece on the tail gate of the rat rod.

It measures about 12″ wide.

This will look good on the tail gate.

We’ll probably paint the body behind the star white…

…so the star stands out.

I’ll use one of these gun cut-outs on each side of the rear bed.

These measure approximately 12″ wide.

Each gun will face forward.

Placement will be between the rear wheel and the tail light.

As mentioned earlier…

…these are plasma cut from 14 gauge steel.

This will allow me to add machine guns to the car.

I’ll weld bolts to the back side, and them bolt them right to the body.

Or perhaps drill holes in them and use carriage bolts to bolt ‘em on.

I’ve been thinking about all the different ways to add a gun to the car.

Everything from a full sized machine gun to the bed on a tri-pod…

…to adding machine gun barrels to the firewall.

None of those ideas seemed “right” to me.

Also, I’d have to use bright orange “safety tips”…

…on any gun that remotely looks “real”.

That would ruin the looks IMHO.

These plasma cut steel pieces seem perfect for the car’s theme.

I can’t wait to get them!

Stay tuned…

-Stewart

.…is now finished.

That’s right.

That sharp metal edge around the body of the Rat Rod is gone.

No more cuts!

No more blood!

The best part is that it looks great too!

This black pebble grain vinyl trim measures 3/4″ tall.

It is for material 1/8″ wide…

…which is perfect for the sheet metal on this car.

It has a built in lock, and is reinforced with aluminum.

I bought it from this eBay vendor.

They call it:  Black Trim Lock Molding – mfg part# 1375B3x1/8.

This vendor has EXCELLENT customer service.

Once I installed it, I gave it a quick coat of SEM Sand Free.

SEM Sand Free is an adhesion promoter.

Even though Krylon paint works well with plastics…

…this edge will get a lot of use, and take a lot of abuse.

I’ve had excellent results with Sand Free in the past.

While the Sand Free is still wet…

…I gave it a few coats of Krylon Ultra Flat Olive Drab.

Now the trim matches the rest of the car.

I am really impressed with the quality of this edge trim.

It formed to the edge very well, but it does not feel flimsy.

It sure gives the body a nice finished appearance.

I highly recommend this product.

-Stewart

…change of plans.

Many of the aftermarket wheels I’ve been pondering are WAY too common around these parts.

Some are downright played out IMHO.

Right now, I am really feeling plain old steel smoothie wheels like these.

Color and center cap options really change the looks of these wheels.

I’ll probably go with center caps like these.

Nice and clean.

No logos.

I’d run the same wheels on the front and back.

15 x 6 in the front.

15 x 10 in the rear.

For tires, I want bias-ply, so I’ll go with Firestone.

These for the front:

710-15 wide whitewall bias-ply.

(These tires are 28.88″ tall)

These for the rear:

These are 1000-15 Bias-Ply Cheater Slicks.

(These tires are 30″ tall)

I’ll probably paint the wheels red…

…using the same red paint we used on the graphics.

That will tie everything together, as that red also matches the seats.

I’ve got to add front brakes next…

…so I can switch wheels, and go with these taller tires.

This tire / wheel combo should give the car…

…all the ground clearance she needs to become drivable.

Just these tires will add:

3.69″ to the front.

3.0″ to the rear.

That should work just fine.

Stay tuned…

-Stewart

…Head with Wings logo.

I bought four of these today.

They measure 55 x 68 mm.

This equals approx 2.2″ x 2.68″.

(I used this handy calculator to figure this out.)

I don’t know where, or if I’ll even use them…

…but I thought they were cool.

I post up some pics when they arrive.

-Stewart

…for the edge of the Rat Rod cab.

This stuff is 3/4″ tall and 1/8″ wide.

It’s black with a pebble grained finish.

I just ordered ten feet of it.

I’ll paint it Olive Drab.

This will finish the edge on the rear of the cab…

…from the rear 3 inches of the cab, around the entire backside, to the other door.

I bought this from a marine supply company.

This should look good, and provide a nice finished edge.

Right now that edge is downright dangerous…

…and I have the lacerations to prove it! 

Stay tuned…

-Stewart

I replaced the hardware for the sight today with brass parts.

The brass hardware looks a lot better.

While I was at the hardware store…

…I picked up a piece of aluminum stock.

This aluminum pipe is the beginning of the machine gun(s)…

…for the Rat Rod.

I have absolutely no idea of how I am going to do this…

I do have some reference pics that I am referring to.

Here is a pic of the guns on one wing of a P-40 Warhawk.

I think I might do a combination of these tips…

…with the aluminum pipe inside a steel pipe.

That would replicate the P-40′s guns nicely.

Then again, I might make the barrels a little longer…

…and give them the perforated look of the M50 barrel seen below.

I like the idea of 2 or maybe 3 guns protruding through the firewall.

Maybe just on the passenger side firewall.

It might look cool to have a row of three in the upper firewall.

I’d just do the passenger side, as the driver’s side has the brake & clutch cylinders.

I’m just kicking the idea around right now…

-Stewart

…for the new sight.

The gun sight wasn’t sitting flush on the grille when I installed it.

See how the base of the sight was not sitting flush on the grille?

The mounting bolts were visible because…

…there was a gap on each side of the sight base.

We’ve gotta fix that!

I sliced the mounting area in an “H” shape.

Two quick cuts just wide enough apart for the base…

…and then I sliced it down the middle.

Finally, I bent the raised area in and down.

Then a quick coat of Olive Drab…

The sight now mounts flush to the grille.

The hold down bolts are not visible now.

This looks much better.

Now I am happy.

You gotta enjoy the little things in life…

-Stewart

…has arrived and been installed!

This is a NOS sight from the Vietnam era.

This thing looks brand new, which it is…

…but it certainly does not look it’s age.

It was used specifically as the rear sight for an M60 gun in an aircraft.

I bought it here.

This is an excellent eBay seller with excellent service.

Here is the sight just installed.

I painted around the sight so I could paint the mounting bolts green.

In these pics, the paint is not completely dry.

This sight locks in both the upright and down position…

I know it’s not WWII era, but the Vietnam era, but I really like the looks of the sight…

…and I feel that it really matches the theme of the car.

Sam and I also went to a local military surplus store today.

She bought her boyfriend Zach a new machete.

Nothing says “I love you!” like a new machete. 

While Sam was machete shopping…

…I looked around the store.

I found this steel ammunition box that is in great condition.

I have never owned a steel ammo box before.

These things are pretty darn sturdy!

I love this thing!

I’m gonna go back and buy more, in different sizes, just I can store stuff in a cool package!

Plus they are airtight!

I think I might install it on the trans tunnel.

This way it will serve as storage, and an armrest.

If I mount it on the trans tunnel, it would be mounted something like this:

As we have no glove box, or any other place to store stuff…

…this ammo box should come in handy.

Thanks for looking!

-Stewart

…continues!

I added some more stenciling to the car.

This time I used 1″ tall letters.

Here they are:

I thought that a moving belt & fan along with hot header pipes warrants some CAUTION…  lol

Speaking of CAUTION…

…I felt it necessary to continue on with the aviation theme…

What follows CAUTION?

DANGER of course!

The 2″ tall stencils are perfect for the DANGER logo…

I might try to find some 3/4 stencils next.

We’ll see.

-Stewart

p.s.  Thanks to Jim at Art Department for the hard to find 1″ stencils!