MTFCA Forum

Well, a special request was undertaken to complete a special Speedster. Some will hate this and others will love it, to me it is all about personal choices with your car. A Speedster is an individual's car of options and likes. So modifying something to fit in the era is what it's all about.

Since this car I built a lot for and know the man now well, it did not surprise me when he said, "My Spencer steering wheel will not work as I am to big". Options, replace the wheel with a smaller one or modify yours! He took the later.

I am glad we did do the mods because the wheel had beautiful polish but was an accident waiting to happen with metal fatigue and a crappy casting on day one. Multiple passes of cleaning/grinding and re-tinting the metal as you can see was necessary. Kevin Allen's outside wood rim is just beautiful!

So as you can see too that integrity was gained. Hey for us. Racing your files occasionally through canning wax will keep your files from plugging up when doing soft metal. Some shaping, sanding in stages from 80, 120, 320, and 500 grit then to the polishing wheel.




Now my oversize friend can slide in, drop down the steering wheel and look GOOD in total comfort. It is what is all about.

Enjoy and All the Best to All,

Hank in Tin-A-See

Wonderful work Hank! Your projects amaze me. I enjoy seeing craftmanship like that .

Lovely work Hank!

BTW, chalk works well on files, too.

Isn't it amazing what can lurk within a casting??? That fellow is very lucky!

My first thought when I began reading this, was "Dang I wish I had known beforehand, I have a decent spider that would have been a better choice to modify because it is missing everything but the aluminum spider". I figured that would leave a nice spider for someone that needed one. You would have had to do all the rest of the work anyway and not been any worse to modify. Then as I read further, got to the issues that spider had, and realized that was the better one to modify after all. Funny how such things work out sometimes. Besides, the cost for shipping two ways to trade would have been more than the effort saved.
Someday, maybe I will make the missing parts and find a good old wooden rim for my spider. I already did that for one fatman wheel. Came out really nice! And works fine.

Beautiful work as always Hank! You truly are a craftsman.

Thank You All for the kind comments! Just sharing information and skills acquired over the years. Safety is first for sure.

Years back I was moving a gentleman's Neville Wheel as he was commenting how stiff it was. During a cycle of slides with no binding, no warning, breaks off completely in my hand. He just starts raising hell about how much I owe him and so forth! I looked him straight in the eye and said, " you owe me double for saving your and some else's life". But I am fixing yours for free. He shut up real quick!

Folks, please check those old beautiful aluminum castings well, they fatigue over the years from vibration, etc. Just do not want to see good people get hurt having fun!

All the Best,

Hank

I wish to take exception to Mr. Lee's unkind remarks relating to my girth. While I'm not petite nor am I excessively overweight. The problem is due to having to lower the steering column (via u-joints..Thank you Hank) because of the low hood and longer profile. The problem was also exacerbated by a 17" Spenser Fatman wheel which has a concave dish as opposed to a stock T wheel with a convex dish. Once installed the lower wheel rim was touching the seat cushion. Olive Oyl wouldn't fit behind it!

So.....this led to a conversation with Hank....he gave me some options and I selected to have it modified. As Hank has done a lot of work on this car, I have grown to have total trust in his artistic and mechanical abilities. I've never, ever been disappointed.

At this point my speedster is about 90% done with 90% to go. Between Hank, my wife MaryAnn and I, a large photo album has been put together. My hope is to start putting portions on the Forum by the end of the year.

Best
Dave

I REST MY CASE

And if this does not work, plan B. Sending you to a third world country for some orthopedic surgery!

LOL Dave!

Hank

My brother's modern car had that same issue but it was caused by a semi turning right and driving over the hood. HA!

KRW

LMAO Kim!

Hank

DANG! That smarts.....

Hank....does plan B entail coming back to TN and having you perform orthopedic surgery on me in your garage? Maybe I'll pass!

Hank....does plan B entail coming back to TN and having you perform orthopedic surgery on me in your garage? Maybe I'll pass!

Comes complete with a success rate like most third world countries, “the surgery was a success but the patient died”!

We use a homemade pain killer in a little brown jug, wink wink. The only side effects are barking at the moon, calling ugly women beautiful, and getting spooned by a raccoon.

Hank Lee, MD, PhD (Mad Dog),(Popular @ home Dude)

Very nice work on the wheel and thanks for the tip of the day; Racing your files occasionally through canning wax will keep your files from plugging up when doing soft metal.
I am sure that has been around for a while, but I haven't been yet. So new one to me.