I still have too many projects, but am whittling them down, so I can have more time to spend on Belfast, Tenn. project(s), but this weekend got some progress made on the Model A speedster. I got the rebuilt engine on the test run-in stand, the frame has been sandblasted and painted and I got some work done on the insert panel for the nose grill. I am aware that the colors for both the frame and the motor are not original Model A colors, but I have decided to paint these car items to match my old race car colors. Of particular interest to me this weekend was how nice the stretching dies work in my Carl Adams table top reciprocating machine works. Carl designed this machine in the mid '70's and has developed it as he was building MANY aluminum bodied sprint cars through the years. It has shrinking, stretching, doming dies and he has made some Pullmax style die sets over the years for his own use. Carl is a very quiet man, and you would never figure that he knows as much about metal shaping as he does. He wondered around in the background of the Redneck Roundup. The exposed edges of the stretched 'lips' in these photos shows that there is MINIMAL markings on the side of the lip that is facing the upper side of the lower die. I found it very nice, not to have to finish out this top side of the stretched area. This machine is so nice in this capacity, that I keep it set up just for linear stretching. It is not very noticeable in the picture that I took of the die set, but inserted into the bottom of the upper die is a small diameter 'rod' that runs front to rear. It is a few thousands on an inch lower at the rear of the die, so it hits a little harder in the rear, making smaller numbers of passes required to stretch a wider lip. I love it!
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