Late night build stories

[Ktjones603]

We've had so many late nights, early mornings and a couple of all nighters this year! This time it was from a spun rod bearing, worked til 1am. Up at 6am to finish it and then drove it right to a car show! Ended up getting top 35 and best pontiac. Let's hear your late nighter stories! 

[JUSTA6]

Awesome to see you up to your elbows in it N payin the dues.  You have much to be proud of and will fit right in here with this bunch of gearheads.

[64 kiwi boni]

Great shot of you working Katie, with your forman keeping a eye on you from under your chair !!

[JUSTA6]

3 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

Great shot of you working Katie, with your forman keeping a eye on you from under your chair !!

Good eye Kiwi.....  We have a pet thread for you to introduce the foreman.

https://foreverpontiac.com/forums/topic/55-the-official-pics-of-our-pets-thread/page/8/#comment-138128

Been playin the late nite, all summer to get my engine built. Now it's the carbs turn to screw things up!

[64 kiwi boni]

Justa ! great pics mate, and well done considering how much space your working in ... you need a mahal like frosty ! 

[Frosty]

Five years ago I was preparing to come to my favorite car show, the Charleston WV Boulevard Rod Run and Doo Wop. Earlier in the summer I was having problems with my power top going up and down. The night before the show, my top wouldn't go up or down, nor would my power windows go back up. Dead. Nothing. No click, nothing.  I managed to get windows up around 1 am, but no luck with the power top. So I simply unbolted the top from the hydraulic rams and made the top a manual one for the show.

Once I got to WV, a friend of mine found someone who was good with electrical diagnosis. There at the evening cruise in, we quickly determined the problem to be the power accessory relay in the driver side footwell had failed (hey it only tool 44 years to fail completely). I actually had a spare relay with me at the show. We swapped it out, and viola, both the power windows and top starting working again.

I admit it, I was lucky to have had the spare with me.

Edited October 13, 2022 by Frosty

[Last Indian]

Treasure those late nites, they will help you grow in many ways. My late nights are done, or at least I hope so! But I had a life full, both professionally as well as personally. In my teens, my buddies & I would work lots of late nites, drag racing, break it, fix it go back for the next round & so on! Once I entered into amateur racing, 24 hours straight many times to be ready for race day wasn’t unusual. When I was 20 through my 30s many late nites on a rock driveway building two cars to be ground pounding muscle that just plain handled like they were slot cars & would leave most guys scratching their heads! 

Worked many a late nites on Dash 9 locomotives in Little Rock, Council Buffs & Lincoln. Mine haulers in the Powder River Basin & Chuquicamata Chile, installing or overseeing my prototype monitoring systems being installed, which always meant problems when they finally interface with the drivetrain, diesel electric is a complicated beast.

Than of course there was the Indian! Not a lot of late nites under it, but there were many at a computer that I spent in the early part of the planning of what it would eventually become. 

 

Then there was this beast & it’s friends! 

Then there was this beast!

Edited October 8, 2022 by Last Indian

[Ktjones603]

On 10/6/2022 at 1:28 PM, 64 kiwi boni said:

Great shot of you working Katie, with your forman keeping a eye on you from under your chair !!

He's a good shop dog! He never leaves my side 🤣 

13 hours ago, Frosty said:

Five years ago I was preparing to come to my favorite car show, the Charleston WV Boulevard Rod Run and Doo Wop. Earlier in the summer I was having problem with my power top going up and down. The night before the show, my top wouldn't go up or down, nor would my power windows go back up. Dead. Nothing. No click, nothing.  I managed to get windows up around 1 am, but no luck with the power top. So I simply unbolted the top from the hydraulic rams and made the top a manual one for the show.

Once I got to WV, a friend of mine found someone who was good with electrical diagnosis. There at the evening cruise in, we quickly determined the problem to be the power accessory relay in the driver side footwell had failed (hey it only tool 44 years to fail completely). I actually had a spare relay with me at the show. We swapped it out, and viola, both the power windows and top starting working again.

I admit it, I was lucky to have had the spare with me.

Damn! Shows and cruises are the best and you always meet awesome people always willing to help each other out. A great community to be apart of for sure! Also electrical issues suck!

[64 kiwi boni]

4 hours ago, Last Indian said:

Treasure those late nites, they will help you grow in many ways. My late nights are done, or at least I hope so! But I had a life full, both professionally as well as personally. In my teens, my buddies & I would work lots of late nites, drag racing, break it, fix it go back for the next round & so on! Once I entered into amateur racing, 24 hours straight many times to be ready for race day wasn’t unusual. When I was 20 through my 30s many late nites on a rock driveway building two cars to be ground pounding muscle that just plain handled like they were slot cars & would leave most guys scratching their heads! 

Worked many a late nites on Dash 9 locomotives in Little Rock, Council Buffs & Lincoln. Mine haulers in the Powder River Basin & Chuquicamata Chile, installing or overseeing my prototype monitoring systems being installed, which always meant problems when they finally interface with the drivetrain, diesel electric is a complicated beast.

Than of course there was the Indian! Not a lot of late nites under it, but there were many at a computer that I spent in the early part of the planning of what it would eventually become. 

 

Then there was this beast & it’s friends! 

Then there was this beast!

last Indian, i am so impressed with the full chassis build for the gen 2 !

Edited October 8, 2022 by 64 kiwi boni

[64 kiwi boni]

3 hours ago, Ktjones603 said:

He's a good shop dog! He never leaves my side 🤣 

Katie, is he a maltese ? 

[64 kiwi boni]

Sunday is race day at mount panorama in Australia, bathurst 1000 race.

 this is the last year for holden, it went the same way as our Pontiac's and for anyone interested in watching the last great race...

here is the link to the web site. not sure if you guys state side can watch it on tv, or stream. but 

i am going to my hot rod club, to hang with my holden mates , drink beer all day, bbq big chunks of cow, and bench race ! while watching the race... woop woop !

Fitzy, hope your watching too  mate 

here is the link for anyone with a r8 

https://www.supercars.com/repco-bathurst-1000/

Edited October 8, 2022 by 64 kiwi boni

[Last Indian]

11 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

last Indian, i am so impressed with the full chassis build for the gen 2 !

The build for the “74” proved to be a good one. Made a vast improvement to handling as well as a better/quieter ride, but it paled by a huge margin to the “69” build! I have said it before! I have driven more cars of all makes & models, domestic & foreign. Sports, luxury & trucks than I can even begin to name. Not one compared to that “69”! 
One of the subtle differences is the orientation of the 2x3 channel & it’s configuration. In the “74” the 3” side is sideways. This gave a flat look to the frame like a traditional frame. It also allowed the frame to be hidden by the rocker panels. But the G forces acting on the frame when loaded in cornering create a substantially different effect on that orientation than they do when inverted! The “69” had the 3” side, vertical, as well as a dogleg in the frame at a critical point, the front leaf spring eye attachment. This orientation changed everything about the physics of the design when acted on by G forces. The down side was everyone would ask why the frame hung down at the point!

Look at it this way Kiwi! You love your Hellcat, right! Imagine just for a moment that it weighted 3350 lbs. instead of 4400 lbs. & the power to weight ratio was .182 instead of .161! Plus it pulled 1.17 Gs in a 300 foot skid pad test. That was the “69”! Damn I miss that car!

[Ktjones603]

18 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

Katie, is he a maltese ? 

He is a Maltese. 😁 also have a golden retriever but he's more active and up to no good in the shop lol

[JUSTA6]

LOL, like crazy Springer gran pup?  G'pa, Blast out of the car, jumps up in the engine compartment to see what I'm doing and if he can help.  This could have been bad if the GTO was running at the time.

[Ktjones603]

On 10/9/2022 at 10:41 AM, JUSTA6 said:

LOL, like crazy Springer gran pup?  G'pa, Blast out of the car, jumps up in the engine compartment to see what I'm doing and if he can help.  This could have been bad if the GTO was running at the time.

Awww he's too cute! That could have gone wrong so fast but glad it didn't! Thats a great picture tho! And ya! He likes to put his front paws up on it to see what I'm doing innocent but not a fan of his scratch marks he leaves behind!