Andy from Andy's Pinstriping gives us 5 Steps for painting Vintage Door Art on Shop Trucks 1. The first thing I like to do is use some wax and grease remover and clean the panel to be painted. This simple step is honestly one of the most critical and most often overlooked steps in any paint project. . . . . 2. I like to make a stencil to help draw out the design. There are several methods I use to achieve the stenciled on pattern. One of the easiest ways is to use a pounce wheel & chalk, but on this particular truck I had no colored chalk, and obviously white wouldn't do, so I went old school on it and cut the pattern out of poster board with an exact-o knife....five blades and several blisters later ta-da, a handmade stencil. . . 3. Finally to the fun part, let's thrown on some paint! I start by tracing the pattern (after centering it on the door) with a stabilo pencil. After that it's pretty self explanatory...just fill in the spaces with the one shot color of choice. ....

Once I'd decided to start gettin’ my hands greasy – the first thing I went for was the tire. It couldn’t be too hard to take a tire on and off, right? Right! Changing a tire is as easy as 1-2-3! 1. Gather all your tools and jack your car up. Most modern cars come with a spare tire, a lug wrench, and a jack of some sort. Look in all of the nooks in your trunk – they’ll probably be there. My Studebaker certainly didn’t come with these, but I’ve got them back there now (along with a pair of jumper cables!) A note about jacks. A jack is a metal contraption that when worked correctly lifts part of your car off the ground. There are a number of varieties of jacks and they all work slightly differently. Most cars are equipped with small scissor jacks. I carry a small floor jack with me in my Stude though. You need to find out what sort of jack you’ve got and read the instructions on how its safely operated. Do this now…don’t wait for an emergency! Before operating the...

Since sometimes its easier to "show" then "tell" I've decided to make some videos on tech issues when they come up with my 1955 Studebaker Champion. So without further adieu...here's my first in the "Wrench Like A Girl" series...let me know whatcha think! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLRDfy7K4VM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999] Topic: I'll be changing out the distributor wires (aka ignition wires, spark wires). Diagnosis: This problem was first brought to my attention by a friend who pointed out the gaping hole in the wire casing. And only then did it really register how uneven my idle was and how much power I'd lost in my engine! Keep in mind that these wires are carrying the electricity into the engine. Without these babies there would be no spark to ignite the gas within your engine chamber! Due to my damaged wire, my engine was not firing on all 8 cylinders - no bueno! Parts: I picked up a new set of ACDelco wires from C&C Automotive Distributors in Long Beach. Cost: $40.68 Tools: Really just the new parts and your hands. I also needed an Allen wrench to undo the hex bolts on the part that...

Seems that the MyRideisMe.com Bonneville experience never runs out of steam. Hanging out at the Nugget one evening, we bumped into Clive from Stromberg Carburetors. After a lengthy BS session, the conversation turned to carb tech. And to cut a long story short, we asked him to contribute to our ongoing "5 Things" series. Alright, so 5 turned out to be 6 – or as the English say, ‘half a dozen’.  Here’s what he had to say: 1. Stromberg Carbs Run Better With The Chokes Left In We’ve all seen those pics at Bonneville with 97 chokes removed and the kicker linkages brazed onto the base casting. It should make sense. No choke means more air space means more cfm. And you’d be quite correct, too. Extensive 97 flow tests carried out this year by acknowledged race carb expert Norm Schenck showed that the carb did indeed pick up a little cfm without the choke plate installed. So all those Bonneville racers were right, after all? Well, yes and no. Salt Racers are only interested in WOT. On the street it’s a different matter. Stromberg authority Jere Jobe told...

If you've visited MyRideisMe.com before, you know I have a 27 Ford Roadster with a fairly hot 2.3L Ford four cylinder that's better known as a "Pinto Motor". I've got a not-so-cool problem with the Weber 44 IDF induction setup right now though... When I get into the throttle, not that I'd ever do that, I get a misting of fuel over the top of the carbs. OK, it's less of a mist than a toxic ozone killing cloud of gas vapor. (I'll commute tomorrow to make up for it!). I owe you a video of this, before and after. So what I'd do? I knew Inglese Induction Systems are the experts.  Inglese has been making intakes for this setup for a long time so they must know what's happening and how to fix it. Even more cool? Inglese is now owned by the Comp Performance Group that also owns, Comp Cams. I've always had great success with Comp Cams in my Ford V8's and my pops has been really happy too. Having 2 great reasons, I called over to Comp Cams. "...should get the torque to come on...

Fabrication, Welding and how-to's for your home built hot rod from WelderSeries.com Dear Welder Series... I have a 1956 Chev truck and want to put a 4 link in the back .was thinking of a triangulated one. would that work? the frame is 34 inches wide.or should i use a parallel 4 bar and a panhard bar and which kit # do you recommend ? thank you Dave Dave, this is a good question... There are several considerations when choosing a rear suspension system. An important one is frame width. A typical triangulated rear 4-link has the upper bars mounting off of the frame boxing plates and angling back to each side of the differential housing. The narrower the frame, the less triangulation is possible unless the upper bars get shorter. Shorter upper bars cause greater pinion angle change. The upper bars could be angled from wide apart on the axle tubes to close together off of a crossmember to get more triangulation. A parallel 4-link and Panhard bar is not as sensitive to frame width. The bars should be mounted as wide apart as practical to stabilize the...

Now - I know that this is totally basic - but I wanted to take the opportunity to show you the air filter that came off my car today. Generally when I think of basic, routine car maintenance, I think "oil, tire pressure, transmission fluid, and is anything leaking." As I was at the shop today (P.S. I got the headliner completely finished and the new tranny in!...check back soon for those articles) I popped the hood to show off my engine (which is horribly dirty still from when the radiator blew...it was pointed out to me that a guy wouldn't stand for the dirty-looking engine.) Sitting there shootin' the breeze, someone noticed my air filter, so we unscrewed the top and took it out. Evidently, the way to check if you need a new air filter is by holding it up to the light and seeing if any of the light shines through. Not counting the spots where there were holes in mine, there was absolutely no sunlight shining through this sucker. Handy to be offered not one, but two air filters (I love my shop guys!)...we exchanged...

Many of you wrenchin’ around have been doing it since you had a baby bottle in your mouth. When you were out in the garage learning what a radiator was I was over at Miss Sally’s ballet class turning pirouettes. That’s right, I’m a girl – and not exactly your average grease monkey. I know lots of you fellas think ladies are only around to look pretty - and while I may not be too hard on the eyes – I’m not coming around just to pose on your shiny (or primered) hood. I’m here to get under it. Sparkin’ my under-hood adventures is my 1955 Studebaker Champion. After wanting a classic car for years, I finally leaped in a couple of years ago during a move from car-less San Francisco to car-necessary Los Angeles. Now I don’t know about you, but it’s my opinion that you shouldn’t drive a classic if you don’t want to work on it. And I wanted to…the only thing standing in my way was the fact that the only thing I’d ever done to a car was change a tire (and even that...

Pinup Tips for a successful photo shoot. Printed with permission from Varga Photography. You can also catch him at his Myspace page: Roy Varga's Myspace. It’s all in the face... I don't care if you’re flat as a wall or have curves for days if you’re good at making faces that’s all that matters... Props make a huge difference...in all pinup pics the main focus is the gal of course...but sooner or later you will run out of poses... that's where props make a world of difference... plus they are fun and you can play make believe. Always have a backup plan I don't care if it’s a backup outfit or a backup location you always have to be ready... ha-ha one time a gal showed up in what she was wearing and 1 other outfit that didn't match... yeah those are the rough ones. When it comes to hair and makeup leave it to the professionals... I mean personally I don't know jack about hair and makeup. I just tell my gal to make'm pretty... but in my experience if your gonna go all out and make the...

I was cruising the web looking for something and I found this discussion. What speed should you drive to get your best fuel economy? interestingly enough, the discussion was from a story from the site Truth about Cars. That site kicks out a shocking amount of car related content. From the story folks at truthaboutcars.com were trying to help everyone understand a formula that actually came from Howstuffworks.com, another great site to kill several hours... try taking the Alligator quiz or see if a platypus could poison you. The How Stuff works guys did alot better job, but didn't really give any background. After the story, several folks chimed in with their "truth". In reality, they said alot that was dead wrong and then some close, but not right. The equation they were using to answer the question was: Road Load Power = aV + bV^2 + cV^3 where a, b and c are constants and V is the symbol for velocity or let's just say SPEED. There was some mention of where this equation came from, but unfortunately, it wasn't quite right. I also want to say what...

Customer service pays off. Or should I say, bad customer service doesn't pay. If you haven't seen my 1927 Ford Roadster called "Bonnie" then this may be your first time to MyRideisMe.com. In that case, WELCOME! Please stay a while and if you dig it... JOIN here. My roadster kinda odd because I run a 2.3L Ford Motor. That's right! It's a Pinto motor and I'm proud to be part of the 4 banger world. The 2.3's are easy to find, cheap to get and can be made to run hard, but that can get expensive. I wrote a bunch about modifying the 2.3L Ford Motor in my garage blog. Check it out. So trying to save a few bucks, I bought a Mallory dual point distributer. Why a dual point with all the electronic points systems out there? And why not just run a factory Ford electronic distributor? Good questions. For both cases, you often have to deal with a vacuum advance system. My motor makes poopoo vacuum. (does that rhyme?) and those vacuum modulators don't look good. Also, most of the electronic setups are big bucks. Dual...

A person seeing my photography for the first time usually pauses for a moment, gazing, trying to understand just what it is they are looking at. I start to smile, knowing what is coming next. I say, “No…It’s a photograph”. The reply is almost always, “Really, I thought this had been airbrushed or something.” The beauty of a well-designed automobile, truck, or, motorcycle inspires me to photograph them. I have a true appreciation for all the time and effort needed to bring a vehicle to a prime conditioned state. I see photography as a means of permanently recording that beauty. When I first began searching the internet for a more artistic type of photography, I came across a series of photographs from Trey Ratcliff at the website: www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms. Trey produces amazing photographs with HDR, a computer generated enhancement tool. To fully understand all the nuances of HDR, check out the website, www.HDR.com. The HDR technique I use blends several photos together bringing to life the color and texture that is seen, but not recorded by a single photograph. Every reflection, color, and shadow is enhanced to a degree that...