Poteet’s ’32 5 Window – Fastlane Rod Shop

Poteet’s ’32 5 Window

2003 Street Rod of the Year

George sent up a really solid 5 window body along with a rendering of the finished product. George had some really neat ideas for the car that really set it apart. It’s a pretty traditional car with a Ford crate motor, 5 speed, Winters banjo style rear and wire wheels. We scratch built the chassis along with doing everything in-house except the interior. The car was completed for the 2003 Rod Run season and it’s going to be at plenty of GoodGuys and NSRA events.

Click on the images at the top to expand a gallery featuring more details. Scroll over for more images!

Here’s a shot of the engine/tranny combination we’re going to use in the 5 window. It’s a crate 351 GT-40 Ford engine with 362HP. We’re going to hook it to a Tremec 5 speed. This combination should work really well in the car. We’re going to make some valve cover adapters to mate old Thunderbird valve covers for a more traditional look. We’re also going to add a really nice 3X2’s setup to it as we progress with the project.

Here’s some shots of the chassis coming together. We started with a pair of unboxed American Stamping rails. And straightening them up nicely (and modifing them so the front rails would be pinched), we boxed them, finishing them up with 80 grit DA. Once they were aligned in the frame jig and everything square, we started making the front crossmember. We’re going to make a flat front crossmember, so the car will sit just a little lower than most.

We built in a 7 degree rake on the crossmember (taking into consideration the rake of the finished car) for proper caster. This will help the car go nice and straight when you let go of the wheel.

As you can see, we’re using split wishbones up front.

After we split them apart, we cut off the spring mounts.

Because we’re using a flat front crossmember, clearance under the frame rails became an issue. So we pie cut them a few times.

After that, we added bungs for the heavy duty tie rod ends we used at the back.

Rather than take them all of the way out to the frame rails, we are mounting them to the crossmembers under the car.

George’s body is back from being stripped. The guys at High Tech Stripping in Colona Illinios did a great job of getting the paint and rust removed without damaging any of the body. They use both media and sand (carefully) to get the job done. As you can see from the pictures, the floors are in great shape (as is most of the body). The quarters are a little rough, but we had plans of replacing them anyway.

Here’s a few shots of mounting the tank. On ’32’s, often the tank does not sit up close to the body. This leaves a pretty ugly gap. We pie cut the rails (less than 1/8″ of an inch), to help in raising the tank. We also modify one trunk brace, that allows the rear part of the floor to raise slightly. This gives some clearance for the tank under the body. You can see by the last shot the tank now sits nice and close to the body.

Here’s a few shots of the body mounted on the chassis for the first time. All of the mounting holes were lined up and everything is tighten down. There is plenty left to do on the chassis, but before we can mount the rear, we want to find the axle centerline. Since we are replacing the quarters with roadster quarters, we decided it would be smart to go ahead and do the quarters first. Once they’re completed, we can get rear axle centerline, pull the body off of the frame and finish up the chassis. We will also go ahead and replace the lower front portions of the cowl where the rust has taken over at this time.

Now it’s time to replace the rear quarters. We’re going to use roadster quarters which will offer us two benefits. First, the original quarters were pretty rough. These are brand new brookville pieces. Second, on a 5 window, the wheelwell opening is very square to the body (above the tire is very vertical). On a roadster, there is a bit of a “flare” around the tire (especially right above the tire). This is rather subtle, but looks so much nicer than the original look. Should look really good on a fenderless car.

George decided he would like to use a ’40 dash. Here’s a pretty decent (other than some surface rust), one to start with.

At this point we gave it a trial fit – quite a bit too wide!

We decided to take the necessary amount out of the center of the dash.

At this point it’s back together, and we’ve started taking off some of the upper lip. Originally the upper ends of the dash start turning back up, but on a ’32 the upper part of the dash is one big sweeping arch.

Here we’ve modified the ends to flow with the windshield, making the upper dash one subtle curve from end to end. The ashtray holes are now filled also.

Now we need to fill the center opening in the dash. A piece is made in the english wheel so it has both a right to left curve and curve top to bottom.

Here the piece has been TIG welded in, and sanded smooth.

The finished dash, bolted in. Several mounts were made to bolt it in, rather than weld it in. This will make painting much easier (along with wiring, etc).

We wanted something a little different to mount the Crate 351 SVO motor. They will use hidden urathane bushings. Here the chassis end is made and tacked into place.

Here’s the completed unit – the slots will go along with the slotted front axle and front wishbones.

The goal was to make it look as if it were one piece to the engine. When painted (black), it will be a pretty smooth transition from the chassis to the engine.

We’re going to slightly modify the hoodtops. We’re going to pie cut them 3/8″ at the front to nothing at the rear. Although this is not much, hopfully it will make the front of the hood less ‘heavy’ looking, without being noticable.

Here the hood has been cut just above the body line. Care was taken to cut very straight with very little heat build-up

Once the 3/8″ has been removed from the front, we carefully clean up the edge so it is a tight fit from one end to the other.

Here the hood has been TIG welded and lightly sanded. It will be finished up once back on the car (it’s held into place better, making it easier to work with).

Here’s the uncut roof, everything fitting pretty well. George decided we should take an inch out of the height – enough to look a little better than stock, not enough to be obvious why.

First the wood was removed around the window areas. We only cut through the wood on the quarter windows – the back window we can take apart and shorten (as to not have any cuts) and the B pillars will also be shortened at the top.

Taking an even inch is pretty easy to mark off – 1″ masking tape does the job real well.

The top is removed. Notice the B pillar wood – we can now cut 1″ off of the top and when we reinstall the roof, the wood will remain one piece.

The roof is back down and welded. At this point the right rear quarter window area is metal finished.

Here’s a shot of the left rear quarter area – everything has been ground, hammered and sanded.

Here’s the 1″ difference. The door on the left has not yet been cut. We’re not taking much, but the overall look of the car will just be a little nicer.

We’re starting to add the wood back in the car. The quarter window wood is the only wood that was cut. This area is really for the upholstery – not for structural support.

The top is done. Now on to the garnish moldings…

The drivers side doorskin was a little rough – looks like it’s been through a couple of repairs already. We decided to just reskin it using one of Bobby Walden’s handmade skins. He does a great job – the contours are excellent.

We started by grinding the edge to remove the skin. Once this edge is cut though and the skin is removed, then the tack welded strip needs to be removed.

Here we’re marking where the clearance for the hinge needs to be cut. Once we cut the hinge area, we welded the skin back on and folded the back edge according to are desired gap.

Here we had to remove the inside door structure in order to hammer the welded area just below the belt line. Once all of the finish work is done, we will reinstall.

Here’s the finished product – a real nice door, not all beat up from 70 years of abuse…

The lower back corners of ’32’s look rather unfinished. George decided he wanted some corners made like the one’s we did on his roadster and John’s roadster. It really helps finish off this area better.

We start by making the top piece. This is the area that will bolt on to the lower part of the body. Three bolts will hold the corner in place.

We then move on to making the body of the piece. The back half is worked in an English wheel in order to provide the compound curve required in this area.

Once the desired look is met, it is TIG welded into place. Now on to making the front half.

This piece has a curved, turned-out section, which is hammered in using a standered shot filled leather bag. Once it’s fit, it’s TIG welded into place.

From there, we weld in a 1″ finishing edge to the areas that are close to the tank and frame. This gives it a nice, finished look. Also add a drain hole at this time.

Here’s a shot of the finished piece, ready for primer and paint.

Sure helps this area look more finished.

The other side is then made to duplicate the first one.

Usually venting the rear is no big deal, but on this rear is a little different. Because there are seals in the axle tubes near the center section, we need to vent at the center section. The tapped hole for this is at the top of the rear, which means we need to run the vent inside the car to keep it above the rear. We will plumb it using -4 lines, to a vent tube, which will then vent to the outside of the car.

Here’s the pieces we’ll need for the vent. We’re making it out of stainless, so rust will not be a problem down the road. The fittings going into the vent are 1/8″ pipe to -4.

Here’s the finished vent ready to bolt in and plumb.

We bolted it to the right side quarter brace.

Here the -4 line has been run. We left plenty of line underneath for suspension movement.

We’ll start at the rear floor area. Even though the floors were really nice, we had to add some additional clearance for the rearend, driveshaft and panhard bar.

Here’s we’ve cut out the section that needs to be raised. We’ll use the original piece above the rear (just raising it a bit), whereas for the driveshaft we’ll roll a new section.

Here’s the finished rear section. It’s welded solid, and will be finished off nicely on the bottom side. Now on to the front…

We start filling the hole by making two identical pieces and rolling some bead rolls in them for strength.

Then we add the toe board areas. At this point everything is welded in.

Now we add the tunnel area and the rear piece between the two large sections. The tunnel is made in several sections to allow for tight clearances between the tranny and floor. Once everything is tacked in and tested for comfort and clearance, it’s all welded solid. When finished, it’s a very sturdy unit.

George wanted to match the wishbones to the axle, which we had already slotted. So we had ovals made in three sizes, 1/8″ thick with a highly polished finish on the inside for ease of chrome plating.

Here’s the slots laid out on the wishbone. We’re looking for a nice spacing between the slots.

Next we needed to mill out the outside diameter of the oval in the wishbone.

Here’s a before and after – should be a neat look.

They’re both done, and ready to be sent off to the plater. The next shot shows the sloted axle – should make for a unique front end.

We’re using SoCal upper shock mounts on the front, but as usual, we need to modify them to work a little better. Since we’re using a flat front crossmember and a super low front spring, our C notch is a little deeper than usual. This posses a clearance problems with the upper shock mounts. On a good bump, the spring would get into the mount.

To aleviate this problem, we cut and rotated the lower portion of the shock mount.

You can see how it now works with the C notch to provide the needed clearance.

Here’s a shot of the original ’40 Speaker grill. Because we narrowed the dash to fit in the confines of the ’32, this grill cannot be used. The solution was to scratch make one to fit.

Here’s a shot of the original ’40 Speaker grill. Because we narrowed the dash to fit in the confines of the ’32, this grill cannot be used. The solution was to scratch make one to fit.

The tedius task of adding them one at a time, TIG welding them from the backside. Care is taken so there’s no warpage and they stay perfectly in line with on another.

Here’s the finished unit, readly for the plater.

Here it’s mounted in the dash – hopefully it will appear as the stock unit.

For this exhaust sytem, we are using 2.5″ steel pipe and Ron Covell’s donuts. The donuts allow for really tight bends without any kinks. Every joint is carefully fitted, TIG welded, and sanded smooth. When completed, everything is Jet Hot coated.

Here’s a shot of the pipe coming off of the left header. You can see the nice radiuses the donuts provide.

The pipes wrap around the rear and drop down below the gas tank (not in picture). The ends have a slight flare added to them.

Here’s how the exhaust passes through the frame. For a clean look, nothing is below the frame rails.

Here’s a shot of the finished, coated system. With minor care, it will look like this for many years (and many miles!).

George wanted a traditional headlight bar made. Something with a crossbar and would conceal the wires. Since nothing like this is available, we went ahead and made one. We started with SoCal headlight stands, which we cut in several pieces. One of the reasons for cutting was to cross drill them, so we could run the wires through later. Another was to turn the base (the stands were made with the headlights mounted to the side of the base and we needed them to mount forward of the base.

At this point we decided to use a crossbar (originally the plans were to use just the stands), so we cut the ends of the stands back off. We would join them with a piece of 5/8″ stainless bar (“v’d”) to match the shell insert. It would also be drilled on the ends to accomodate the headlight wires.

The tedious task of headlight placement is complete. At this point we could do all of the final welding.

Here’s the semi-finished piece (notice the pull wires to later help in getting the headlight wires through).

Here’s the finished piece. Even though it’s made of stainless, we had it chromed to better match all of the other chromed pieces on the car.

We’re using a Ford Motorsport 351 Windsor crate engine. There is very little available (read nothing) in the way of multi-carb setup for these engines. Luckly, an outfit called Price Engineering makes adapter plates to bolt on a 289 intake to a 351W. This opens up all sorts of options. George decided 3X2’s would be a great look on the car (we totally agree). Here’s a shot of the adapter plates along with a cast aluminum plate that bolts to the block (sort of a windage tray).

Here’s a shot of the finished unit. We will now send the carbs out to Holley to detail (black powdercoat the centers, everything else chromed). The intake and linkage goes to John Wright’s Custom Chrome Plating for a dip in the chrome tank. The aluminum plates will be painted with the engine so as to not stand out.

We started with a Tremec 5 speed tranny. Not real pretty to look at.

After a few hours with the die grinder, it’s alot nicer. We didn’t take it to a polished state, just removed alot of the casting marks and rough edges.

Not the best picture, but it’s smooth and it’s black!

Just a shot of the painted wheels. A real mild yellow, similiar to yellow post-it note pads. Should look real nice next to the black body.

This 5 window is going to have plenty of chrome! Here’s a few shots of some of the parts we’ve had done. All of the work has been done by John Wright’s Custom Chrome Plating out of Grafton Ohio. His work is second to none. When you see it in person, you’ll be impressed. Here’s the SoCal drums (front and rear) along with backing plates and scoops. An ugly job to do, and they turned out great.

The front wishbones and rear radius rods were also done. Adding the slots just made things a little more difficult for the platers, but they came through. There’s no waves, and all of the common pitting associated with the factory weld seem that ran the length of the tubes has been filled. They are really nice.

Although not the best picture, these are the rear backing plates. All of the nooks and crannys are flawless.

We had the garnish moldings done also. These are the quarter windows. These can be real difficult due to the entire piece not having a flat area (what appears to be flat areas between the curves are actually dished). These turned out gorgeous.

Here’s the door garnish moldings. These can also be real difficult to get polished real nice and also get the chrome to “throw” into the tight areas. No problems with that on these.

The corners can be especially difficult to get polished without waves and to get the chrome in the tightest of areas. John’s got these areas perfected, as the polish work and chrome in the corners is flawless.

After the initial two coats of DP, then any filler work with DP sprayed back over, we then moved on to the filler primer stage. After several times of block sanding and filler primering, the body was finally ready for paint.

George’s 5 window is going to be painted black, so we went with Dupont’s Super Jet Black. First to be painted was the firewall and floor. Once they were completed, sanded and buffed, we could move on to the body shell.

The firewall and floor is carefully taped off and the body is cleaned for the last time.

Here’s the body after being sealed, painted and cleared.

The doors were also done in the same way, just painted seperate to ensure good and equal coverage. Plans call for a pinstripe down the side and a little around the tailights. At this point, we now have to sand the body and doors to prepare for the pinstripe and then reclear the entire car. Even though this is a considerable amount of work for a small stripe, it’s the correct way it should be done. The clear over the stripes will not only provide protection, it will have a much more finished appearance.

After the clear had dried, we went back and sanded the body completely to ready it for some pinstriping.

We are going to do a little stripe around the taillights, so we added them for reference.

Josh Shaw, who originally did the artwork for the car, did the striping. He is a fantastic artist who really has the eye. He’s based in Ohio and does all of the flame layouts and striping for Wade Hughes. If you have a need for Josh, you can reach him at 513-659-6219.

Here the striping is complete. It consists of two very thin white lines above and below a 3/8″ yellow stripe. These colors are matched to the colors we’re using in the interior (and wheels). Not seen in the photo is the hood, which the stripe follows to the front edge of the hood tops. Josh also put a single white line on the wheels which is hardly visible, but a really nice detail.

You can see the taillight treatment in this shot – again yellow with fine white lines bordering. These were Josh’s ideas – they fit perfectly with the theme of the car. Now onto reclearing everything, sanding and buffing.

We’re putting a ’40 dash in George’s 5 window. Modifications had to be made to make it fit. Here’s a shot of the dash after all of the modifications have been completed. It’s been blocked several times and is ready for paint.

It’s going to be yellow and white. First the entire dash was painted white. We will now mask off the areas to be left white and paint the rest yellow.

Here’s a shot after the yellow and clear has been sprayed. It’s been sanded and polished, and is ready to be put back together.

Here’s a picture of the dash with the gauge panel, custom knobs and speaker grill. Classic made the gauge panel for us, using the same look of a ’40 but with our fonts, colors and George’s Camel Toe Racing Logo. It’s a real trick piece. Also, Dennis Crooks from Steering Wheel Restorations made us the smaller ’40 wheel and dash knobs. We turned a pattern for the knobs and he made them to match in yellow and white plastic with a stainless ring as a divider

This is the prototype knob we sent Dennis. From here he made molds and worked his magic!

Here’s a side shot of the knobs Dennis made. They are just sitting on the dash right now (the switches are not yet mounted). They will be straight once everything is completed.

With the custom made wheel, it should be pretty striking when completed!

Once the bare frame was thoroughly cleaned and ground, we could spray the first coats of primer (in this case, PPG DP90). We’ll do any bodywork over this primer

Once the bodywork has been finished, we move on to the filler primer stage. We block then entire frame until everything is just right.

Here’s a shot of the frame once the sanding and buffing has been completed. It’s a down hill slide from here…

Here’s the chassis with all of the brake lines run and bled, front and rear mounted and tank mounted and fuel system checked.

Here’s a close up of the front suspension. You can see how the slotted wishbones are going to look on the finished car.

Here’s a shot of the mid to rear section of the chassis. You can see how the exhaust stays above the bottom of the rails and you’ll notice everything is either painted, polished or chromed.

All of the wiring has been pulled through the chassis at this point, just waiting to drop the body down for the last time.

The finished chassis. It went together real quick and easy with no surprises. We almost hate to cover it up!

This is what we started with, a pair of FE valvecovers with the embossed “Thunderbird”. We made adapters to bolt these to the 351 SVO heads on our new crate motor. We’re going to eventually have a black valve cover with chrome letters.

First thing we did was have them plated. We told the plater to make sure the letters were perfect, but the rest of the valve cover didn’t need to be.

We then lightly sanded the letters and applied several coats of clear over them. We then taped off the letters and sanded the rest of the cover so the primers, etc would adhere well.

Here’s a shot in the final stages of primer. It’s been blocked once before and after this time will be ready for paint.

We now sprayed the entire cover black. After this has dried, we will carefully sand back through to the clear on the letters. This will give us the chrome letters with the rest of the cover in black.

After we sanded the the letters back to the chrome, we cleared back over the entire cover.

Here’s the completed cover after wet sanding and buffing. George is really happy with the finished look.

Here’s of shot of the tripower before getting detailed. This will make the engine a little more interesting since there was never a 3X2’s setup available for the 351.

Things look a little better now. Holley speed shop did the carbs (powder coated the centers black, everything else plated). John Wright’s Custom Chrome Plating the intake/water neck.

Everything’s all bolted together. We made our own alternator mount and had it plated. You can also see the handmade overflow tank. It’s real subtle and follows the contours of the radiator/fan shroud/grill shell.

Here’s the other side. The air cleaners are from O’Brien Truckers. We have another set at the platers and when they get done with them, we will paint the fins black and switch them on the engine. It’s tough taking decent pictures with the black and chrome (either it’s too dark or it gets washed out). Anyway, we’re real happy how everything came together nicely.

Well, here it is. All buttoned up and ready for the upholstery shop. We’re taking it to Steve Pearson of Upholstery Unlimited in Clinton, Iowa. He does really high quality work. It will be all leather – white with yellow pleated inserts. The yellow leather has been color matched to the dash/wheels. It should be very striking when completed.

We’re really happy with the overall look of the car. Everything seems to flow real nice and nothing looks out of place. Once we get it back from the interior shop, we can do some shake down runs and get everything ready for this summer…

We just got George’s 5 window back from Steve Pearson at Upholstery Unlimited in Clinton, Iowa. Steve does great work and he didn’t let us down on this project either. In this picture you can see the armrest Steve fabricated to match the dash knobs and shift handle. The material is custom dyed leather to match the interior paint work.

Steve did exactly what we were looking for. We really wanted him to stick to the theme of the car, and he did exactly that.

Everything is kept fairly simple looking – exactly what we wanted. The piece that wraps around the back window area is one piece – a difficult thing to do, yet it fits perfectly.

The trunk basically follows the same basic look as the cabin. We’re really pleased with the outcome.

Here’s some shots of the finished car. We’re real happy with the way it turned out. Look for it at many of the Goodguy and NSRA events – It’s going to about 9 events this summer. The last two pics were taken while Scott Killeen was shooting it for either Super Rod/Street Rod builder and possibly American Rodder. The location was just outside of Knoxville during the NSRA event there. We’re really thrilled he wanted to shoot it!

Here’s a shot of the Top 5 (Street Rods) from Columbus. These cars were picked from the cars located in the Pro’s Pick area on Saturday. There are also 5 street machines on the left up for the Street Machine of the Year. Congrats to Troy Trepanier on winning that one! There were alot of nice cars in the Pro’s pick area and we were excited at this point just to be in the Top 5!

George and I with the trophy! If you look closely in the cup you’ll see the $1000! This is one for the traditional guys!!!