[1937Austin]

Got busy on the Austin again today. After taking the rearend over to a guy to have the gears changed and the whole thing checked out, I started in on the carbs. The little 450 Holleys had 30cc accelerator pumps and I needed to change them to 50cc to eliminate the stumble off idle.
Got the name painted on the door too. Still need to have the rest the lettering done, but I can only do so much lettering and then I need a break or I'll make a mess of it!
The name came from a friend who asked me one day if I was trying to build a better mouse trap. Sounded good to me, so it stuck!

 

[carls 56]

very cool name and nice job on the lettering.

 

[1937Austin]

I've got a guy coming over soon to do the art work below the name. I'll give him some latitude on what will go with the name based on my input. Once it's all done I'll "distress" it a bit to take the newness off it all.

 

[Str8axle]

Thats a kool lookin ride man!

 

[1937Austin]

Thanks! It looks a little different than it did when I bought it last August!

 

[Blacktop Graffiti]

I dig it! Gotta love slots.

 

[1937Austin]

Yeah I love them too. Found the front two from the same guy I bought the Austin from! He had 4 of them I bought for $70 and sold a pair to my buddy. Then found the wider rears in a friend's barn. Pretty scroungy looking, but they cleaned up well.

 

[motorhead]

Nice car. Please keep the pictures comming. Since I am too burried in shop work my stuff was on hold all last Summer and maybe this Summer also.This is starting ta stink. Nice to see you making progress and serves as an incentive to slackers like me. Mtrhd

 

[Marks63PontiacGasser]

Like the name and the car. You have to get the looks going down the street. It'll be fun seeing what the artist comes up with. I was thinking of joining a racing group here in Phoenix called Arizonas Fastest Street Car Assiciation if I get my car built enough (roll cage etc) to run at the strip. But they do not allow car lettering. It's because they want more of a street car look than a race car. Which is fine. But I wanted to find a really neat but original Indian type name for my car. Something to do with the wind since mine will be turbocharged. I did a drawing for a tattoo (if I ever get the nerve up to get one) of a Turbocharger skull with a head dress.

But that is not exactly a traditional look. But would make a great tattoo. Mark L

 

[1937Austin]

My car is a bit of a poser. It's fast enough, but I don't expect it will win any drag races with real gassers. I went a little extra with interior. Didn't want the typical sheet aluminum door panels and bare floors, so I laid down sound deadener and carpetted it. Then I cut masonite for the door panels and covered them with black naugahyde from the local fabric store. Made paper patterns for the headliner and had my wife sew up the headliner material. A pair of racing buckets from a swap meet finished it off and all for under $150. It came out pretty good for a first timer's interior, but the seats are a bit thin on padding, so I may unsnap the covers and replace the foam with some more dense foam for longer trips.
Like the turbo skull! No tattoos for me either, but I've contemplated it many times; just chicken out always.

 

[1937Austin]

Oh, and here's a cheap alternative to the spendy aftermarket shifters for 3 spd. autos. I was at a local rod shop picking up some good used coilovers for my ladder bar suspension when the guy who owns the shop asked what tranny I was using. I told him a TH350 and he said he had just the shifter I needed cheap! We headed to a storage building where he pulled a floor shifter down off the shelf and handed it to me. It was off a Jaguar sedan that came with a TH400. Complete with about a 4' cable and the end has a 1/4" shaft.
All I had to do was unbolt the base plate and weld it to my center hump, then bolt the shifter on and fab up a adj. bracket for the end, then thread the 1/4" shaft on the cable to 1/4-20 and put a couple nuts on to adj. with. One of the nice parts is they have switches for neutral and reverse, plus lighted indicator to tie into the dash lights, and a switch on the back that was for cruise, but works perfect to operate my line lock! All for $20!

 

[motorhead]

Hey 46
It's always a pleasure for me to see someone who builds their own cars out of stuff they altered to make it fit. I used to do work for guys that had thick wallets and anyone can 'mail order' a car. It looks like most guys on here do most of their own work and that is nice to see. I have WAY more fun talking to guys that are building on a budget,because it takes a lot more talent,patience and hard work and that is something that I respect. I (personally) would walk past a $90,000 show car to see yours. Mtrhd

 

[Marks63PontiacGasser]

I second the above. I also give credit to the guys that build the cars for the open wallet croud. It just irks me to no end how a guy buys a build then boasts about how great HIS car is. I built a couple of engines for a really good working buddy. Actually, he became one of my best friends. The first motor went into a nice '78 trans Am that we caravaned to another forum's car show. Instead of introducing me to people asking about the motor that I was his friend that built the motor, he introduced me as HIS engine builder. Kind of bothered me although that usually doesn't. But I got over it and we became very good friends. I built 2 more motors for him. Mark L

 

[1937Austin]

Thanks guys! I feel the same way you guys do. I enjoy seeing what guys are building themselves, and also enjoy the high end cars. What always tickles me is the guy with the high end (or any car!) that tells everyone about the car he built, when it was actually his check book that built it.
I know there are things I wont try to build, like my straight axle, but I try to do whatever I can; not only to save money, but to just be able to say I did it all. My axle came from Speedway in a box, but after that it was all me to figure out how to put it in and set the kingpin angles. My engine came from a neighbor's '67 Chevelle after it got wrecked with less than 500 miles on a new rebuild. I have rebuilt a lot of engines, but at $1200 for a running 327 I wasn't about to build one and probably end up with a lot more into a 350 Chevy. The tranny came from a friend's race car that got wrecked, and he let me have it for the price of a rebuild kit for a TH350. It was fresh too, so couldn't pass that up. The rearend was under a '41 Plymouth that a friend was building and too narrow for his project. It needed a set of gears, but it was already narrowed and had new Dutchman axles installed, so it was a huge bargain too.
Including the purchase price, and everything I've dropped into the car since, (minus the engine/trans I sold) I'm still well under my guesstimated cost by several thousand dollars. Of course it's still not done, but it's getting close and I will have it ready by the cruise season!
Oh, and one question for you guys. Anyone know anything about "Motive Gear Performance gears? I know a guy who bought a 4:56 ring and pinion for his car and never installed them. I can get them cheap, but I know nothing about this maker, so hopefully someone does?

 

[406Rich]

Motve has been around for a long time and into the racing crowd as well, so they can`t be bad....

 

[mt94ss]

Hey Austin, nice updates. You're coming along nicely! How tall are your tires? 4.56 gears, short tires and a turbo 350 should really wind up at freeway speeds! I put Motive gears in my '94 Impala 6-speed (4.10s) and they seem fine. I also put their 3.73s in my '55.

Later,

Mike

 

[1937Austin]

My rear tires are MT 29.5-12.50-15 Pretty tall. I'm guessing it will be around 2,800-3,000 rpm at 60 mph.

 

[1937Austin]

How's this for a "patch panel"?
The old Austins didn't come std. with a glove box door, and mine never had one. Once I set the firewall back I literally didn't have room for anything in it anyway, so I mounted the fuse block behind it. Figured that would make easy access to fuses, but also needed something to cover up the fuse block and the big hole so I didn't have to look at fuses and wiring.
I was at a swap meet recently and spotted a dash grille for a 1949 GMC truck. The condition was beautiful, and it had a built in ashtray for my change! Got it for $25, and after cutting a tiny clearance cut in the dash for the ashtray, it fit in and dressed up the gaping hole!

And that litle heater under the dash is from a Toyota Landcruiser back seat heater, to take the chill off on cold days. Another swap meet item!

 

[Marks63PontiacGasser]

See, ingenuity at it's finest. Think it up and make it happen. Great idea. Now that kind of fabbing may give someone an idea to cover a need on thoer car, then they can share their idea and so on. Kind of a pay it forward affect. Mark L

 

[1937Austin]

My rearend is supposed to be ready Fri. afternoon! I still need to order the locker so I can install it when I get the rear back.