Project33 is back on wheels!

Project33 is 1 year old now. Some may look at it and say "is that all the further you've come?" but in my mind it's come a long way. I look around and see that most of the major components to finish the car are here. Now comes all the nickel and dime stuff that keeps adding up. Let me ask the people out there who have built a car, when you were estimating the cost to build your car at the start of the project - did you figure in the cost of insulation? all the fasteners? brake fittings? fluids? This stuff is referred to around here as "cost override", and all these things are really the nut and bolts of the car.

Yesterday I dished out $43 for 3-quarts of synthetic gear oil for the rear differential. There went the rest of this month's Taco Bell lunch money, it's 50-cent hotdogs from the gas station next door instead. Oh well, you only get one life so you gotta go for it - and I should probably lose some weight anyway. :)

Things are going to start happening. More has been done to the car in the last couple weeks than the last couple months. I finally have a little time to work on it but also it's right here in my face all day at work. You'd be surprised to see how much can get done in an hour's time if you're prepared. It will take longer to write most Articles than it does to do the actual work. A lot of phone calls are also made. Today I ordered all the brake line fittings.

The water pump has arrived! You're probably thinking, "what's so exciting about a water pump?", so let me explain. This is no ordinary water pump. It's a Stewart High Flow hand polished pump. Stewart high-flow water pumps are designed to deliver maximum flow with minimum power consumption. They deliver up to 180 GPM (gallons per minute) of coolant flow (at 8,000 RPM), yet only consume just 2.26 horsepower (at 4,000 rpm)! You may not be familiar with the name but ask any NASCAR engine builder. Stewart is the overwhelming choice of NASCAR Winston Cup engine builders by a margin of 42 to 1!

If you want access to a gold mine of cooling information, check out Stewart Components web page. For applications like street rods (that are known for cooling problems) this information is VERY useful. Give yourself some time to look around the site - there's a ton of information.

Project33 has enabled me to meet some great people. Some of them keep in contact by email and we've never met each other in person. I had the pleasure of meeting one of the guys who has emailed me and his wife at our annual Labor Day Rod Run, in Sioux Falls (BTW, you're all invited!). Roy and his wife have a nice little 429 Cobra replica that looked like a gas to drive. They're great people and it was fun meeting them.

There's an unsung hero here at Project33.com and his name is Bob. What about Bob you ask? Bob is a fellow street rodder from Nebraska (whom I've never met in person) who acts as Lead Spellchecker. He also gives great advice. He's one of the many people who make this all happen and he has the coolest garage you'll ever see! Thanks Bob! and thanks again to everyone who has contributed in any way to this project. What's that old saying? "It takes a village to build a street rod". :)

The T-shirts:
I never thought I'd be in the T-shirt business, but TONS of loyal project followers have visited the T-Shirt Order Page and I'm not just saying that because of all the XXL's! ;) Thanks everyone! It's way cool that you would want to wear a Project33 shirt. I'm having a blast doing this and I'm so glad others are enjoying the project.

Scooter