Rock and Roll meets Hot Rodding - Secret project revealed

onanysunday

onanysunday

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So our general manager of 29 years retired this week. (Semi retired since he will be helping us part time as a consultant). Our new general manager of two years gives me this idea to build a piece of art. Granted I have never done a single piece of art in my life. So then it goes. Took me two weeks and about 85 hours to build both pieces. Sure was a fun project. He plays and loves the bass guitar. I get a real bass to make the dimensions as close as possible to the real thing. Started out with new in the box Cloyes timing chains. I think I used 6 chains for the whole project. Had to lay out the shape and weld each link together for each double chain setup. This was full day of work alone.

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I knew I wanted a real roller cam for the fret board. Found one we use for mockup in one of the machine shop tool boxes and stole it.

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This was one of my first layouts. Was up till the wee hours of the morning a few nights trying to picture how I wanted it to look. I had stopped at Turbos direct to pick up the turbo for my truck and saw his bin of scrap turbine wheels. Thought, damn, perfect for the the two knobs. Plus this layout did not have enough automotive vs gears, sprockets, bearings, etc. You can see in this pic the only thing welded in at this point was the two brake pads for the pickups, and the end piece for the strings. I was determined to make the strings vibrate like a real guitar. 

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Then it finally all came together. I cut up a new 4l80 GM flex plate for the piece that has the two knobs. Looked at every flywheel we had in the shop and this was the best. It has a big hole and you can see other gears layered below it.  I used carriage bolts and ground slots so the strings can each be tightened and adjusted.  Plus that bridge piece was important. Filed the 4 grooves by hand to get the strings to line up perfectly. 

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That is badass! Good job, especially for your first time building an art piece!

 
Early on in the project I determined just the guitar would not be enough. Of course it needs an amp. I knew I needed a vw clutch for the woofer so I stopped at AZ transaxle to see Bill. He let me dig through his scrap barrel of trans parts and it was like hitting the mother lode. Lots of cool pieces in these came from there. Actually forgot and drove back to his shop and asked for a junk v dub clutch. Can you guess what the mike is? lol Of course the amp needed a boost gauge so it got a Banks 50 pounder from a diesel. Used the torch quite a bit to blue the steel. Here I did the logo and the frame made of rods. This thing weighs about 80 pounds. Notable parts in the amp are:

440 Dodge 6 pack connecting rod.

New Cloyes timing gear set I think for a 6 cylinder.

Ring gear in the bottom from I believe a VW.

C1 Corvette horn button glued into a larger bearing race.

New off the shelf lower blower pulley.

SB Chevy 4 bolt main cap.

In the top something super cool. Broken piece of a blower pulley I picked up at the end of a race at Firebird probably 25 years ago. Real deal from one of the nitro cars.

Flex plate for a mopar.

Part of a SB Ford flywheel.

Fuel injector.

Distributor rotor.

Set of points.

Rear Mopar cap for the rear main seal.

Old Egge pistons medallion.

Rod and main bolt plus some valve train parts.

Just to name a few.

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I built the base for the guitar out of a GM flywheel. Guitar bolts to the base so it is solid. Two sb Chevy connecting rod caps at the bottom. Mike is a Pinion from a VW transaxle. I blued the teeth and little and it is super cool in person. Bent a big wrench with the torch for the mike holder. Added some wire and Earls fittings to make it look realistic.

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Video from today after presenting this to him.

Notable items in the guitar:

C1 Corvette 4 speed shift knob.

BB Chevy stainless roller rocker arm.

Bent pushrod from a customer engine that got bent that way. I blued the end and it looks super cool.

Bent valve the way it came out of a customer engine. (BTW in the amp there is a bent connecting rod from a customer engine. Forgot about that)

NEW BB Chevy never run 12.5 to one GM piston standard bore. Well half of one. lol.

Pair of roller lifters.

Snap on screwdriver.

Chrysler oil pump concentric which spins.

Vintage Isky cam lube in the the steel container. Have to think this is very old and was one of my dads collectables.

Brass carb float under the head of the adjustable wrench.

Beehive valve springs at the bottom and 3 Nissan valve springs from my VQ35DE Nissan motors.

KTM 400 Cam gear. Cool looking gear.

There is one heim joint in each piece.

Several 930 CV balls in both pieces. Some I hit with the torch to make the blue balls. 

That round aluminum Ford logo came from one of the guys in the shop. I had to grind forever on the cam to get that to lay down low enough to make the strings work.

Clutch pivot arm ball.

Plenty of really neat gears and bearings.

Up top of course a gold retirement watch.

Not sure if the video will show it but there is an old champion spark plug key chain that I have had for probably 35 years. Just a fun thing I have always had.

Hanging from the top and the key chain piece from when my dad went on the 2017 Hot rod power tour. A very personal piece as well. 



 
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So this photo to the very right you can see that little vintage Champion spark plug key chain.

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That Isky cam lube tin is still 3/4 full of cam lube!

 
I wanted those spark plugs removable for transport. So I sliced up a couple of lug nuts to get that 9/16 thread.

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If I were you I would put that up for auction for a starting bid of 100K somewhere and see what happens........ I am serious. I can see someone like Slash buying that thing in a heart beat. 

Its AWESOME!!!! 

:poule:

 
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