Louver Punching 101: Add Style To Your Hot Rod

Hey, follow me to the horsepower shop where project 32 3 window is just about to fly the coop

today on horsepower TV.

We'll put the paint to our three window coupe then give it a real retro flame job.

We'll vote on more parts including headers and a shifter. Before we vote on the body.

We'll see how the pros punch Louvers to make the mark of a real hot rod and offer you some tips on how to hop up your holly for maximum performance.

So hang on for horsepower TV.

Come on.

That looks good.

Hi, welcome again to horsepower TV. And to the next phase of our retro ride project.

Oh, in case you missed our show recently, Chuck and I are putting together a 32 3 window coupe from Harwood.

Now we started this project with their chassis

added a geo performance parts, small block Chevy

A H

Turbo 350 trans and out back here, a curry eight inch Ford rear end

to help establish our nostalgia theme. We bolted on these cool front brakes from SOCAL

speed shop.

Now, the Wildwood discs are hidden

inside these fin aluminum drums that look just like they came off of a mid fifties buick. And of course, the car duration is yet another cue from the past this cool triple de set up came from auto motion in Great Falls Montana.

Another blast from the past are the Sanderson lime fire headers here. I think that's your side.

Oh, man, that's a hot set of headers, aren't they? Now, we're gonna install them along with the exhaust that we welded up last week. Of course, we just got a back from jet hot where they gave them their ceramic metallic coating now to prevent corrosion and give them a chrome like appearance. We asked for their sterling finish.

Hey, speaking of finishes, I wonder how the paint shop is doing with our body. I'll tell you what. Let's head over there as soon as we get this bolted up. All right,

after our 32 body is blocked, washed and tact

Ace painter Rick Harris applies some primer surface. In

this case, it's tinted purple as a ground coat for the base.

Then after drying 15 minutes, he applies three coats of base. A special horsepower purple color created by the folks at

PPG.

This is followed with three coats of clear coat,

but now Rick's got the body all covered up and ready to start that Fabulous flame job. Speaking of which,

if you ever invest in one, it's always a good idea to get an artist rendering like this first. Like the one we got from Anderson Studio in Nashville. Man. That is cool and it's a lot cheaper than paying for that paint job twice. Now, if you like us, you probably wonder what it takes for a painter to bring those hot lakes to life. And Rick took us through the whole procedure earlier

in a little bit smaller scale. Of course,

we got to get the outline established. First of our flame

up,

we're gonna take eight inch tape

and establish the border first of our flame job.

The reason we use the plastic tape is it has much more flexibility.

And since we're doing a very traditional

type flame job, we need to keep all of the flame legs very consistent.

We've applied all of our two inch masking tape.

Now we're hand cutting

the border with an exacto knife right in the middle of our blue tape.

When we get everything masked up,

we're gonna peel this off. Now, we're gonna be ready for that pearl white base coat

for our candy flame job. We're using house of color products all the way through and we're starting with a white base coat.

We're gonna follow that with three coats of our snow white pearl shimmer.

Then we're gonna do something a little different on this one. We're actually gonna mix a candy base to spray over our pearl white

using the candy concentrates, mixed with our SG 100 clear.

Then after three coats of clear and water sanding. It's time for some pinstriping artistry to bring those flames to life.

You've got to have a contrasting color.

And since our flame is changing four times, color wise,

we had to have a color that will work with all four of the colors in our flame. So we picked a bright apple green.

So it works with the pearl white,

the gold, the tangerine and the manna

uh an airbrush is just a little miniature spray gun. What we're gonna do, we're taking some clear and adding just a little bit of black to it and we're gonna make a real weak wash

and we're gonna barely spray it on there and it, the color still shows through,

but it gives that

that extra dimension.

We're gonna do a little freehand design

on the deck lid that's real popular in the fifties and sixties

guy named Von Dutch got it started

and it's just gonna be a little freehand design

that lets the car have a custom design from the rear since the flames don't go around the back, going down the road from the back. We won't have that, that custom look. It's a quality thing and quality is an attitude and you have to

and uh you have to really think about these cars. You don't just fly in there and do them. Most people do it for the love of it, not the money

and I'm gonna be proud of it. I'm glad my name's on it,

man. That PPG Horsepower Purple really pops with those flames, huh?

In fact, you know what, I'm getting a little bit of inspiration here. What we're finally gonna name this Retro Rod. Hey, you better brace yourself. I feel a bad pun coming on. Hey, check this out. Goodness gracious. It's a great ball of fire. So give me a break. In fact, let's take one. We'll be back with more of our retro rod projects after this. Actually, that's not bad. You mean you finally like one of my puns

for the latest news on horsepower TV. Check us out online at horsepower

tv.com.

Hi. Welcome back to the shop and more of our three window build up better known now as project grape ball of fire. Now, before we drop our body onto the frame, we have to install some things. First, we'll like this fan. Now, since they didn't use electric fans back in the sixties, we got this chrome plated flex fan for Mr Gaskin,

we might be using a modern automatic transmission, but we're gonna top it off with just a touch of the past

this low car shifter. Now, it attaches directly to the automatic transmission case and well, that means that we won't have to worry about the linkage binding up every time the engine is torqued over.

We've already installed these little aluminum bushings inside the bosses here that are part of the transmission case.

Well, now we can install the shift or body.

It just drops right down

and it's held in place with these set screws and a couple of bolts right here on the tail shaft housing

your shift or arm attaches to a stud that comes out of the side of the transmission

right here. Now, all that's left to do is connect the rod from the shift or arm back up to the shifter

and you'll wanna make sure that both your shifter and transmission

are in part before making any final adjustments.

Once that's done,

run her through the gears to make sure you have proper operation.

Well, now we want to remove the shift lever by loosening this jam nut down here. Of course, we'll reinstall it later on

once we get the body bolted to the chassis, that is our next step. But first had to poke some b

toes in this anti chafe strip. This is very important because it prevents squeaks and rattles and it keeps the body from rubbing paint off the frame.

All right. Let her down

how you looking over there pretty close. Come on forward on my side.

Ok.

Yeah, that's

fine.

All right, I'm lined up.

Tell you what I'm gonna go get the bolts and the shims. Good idea.

Well, no matter how straight your body and frame are, you're still gonna need shims

like these to take up the slack. Now they come in varying thicknesses

and you just stack them to fill the void.

Of course, once that's done, you just install the bolts that attach the body to the frame.

Now, to keep our engine cool, we're using this Walker copper brass radiator that fits right into the grill shell of our 32

these tabs here on the bottom of the radiator bolt right up to the car's frame rails.

Now, the top of the radiator is held in place with these support rods

attached right here to the firewall.

Now, we'll make our final adjustments once we get the hood on,

of course, once the radiator is secure, we can go ahead and install our grill shell. Now, this one's already had the stainless insert installed and we spec ours with a crank hole still in place. Now, that's gonna help us keep that nostalgia theme going.

The radiator has four tabs on the sides and of course, they're gonna help us bolt that radiator shell right in place.

Well, the hood's next, but first, we have to lay down some of these self adhesive rub strips on the firewall

and

appear on the grill shell.

Now, we're laying the hood in place to check for fit.

You know, we put masking tape here to keep from scratching the paint. Of course, we'll adjust those radius rods under there to get the radiator forward and get the gap we need.

Now, once everything is adjusted, the hood is held in place with these special latches

and they engage this bracket right down here on the firewall

for the Ford's finishing touch. We've added this cool piece of custom trim that

really adds to the retro. Look. What do you think, man? I think we really turned up the heat on the old great ball of fire today. Now, next time we're gonna hang the steering column and the dash plus work on the lights and wiring. Well, we got some grassroots racing that comes down to the wire today. Our horsepower race of the week is just ahead.

Welcome back to horsepower TV, and to Las Vegas, Nevada. Well, we've come to the annual S

A show again that showcases all the hot new aftermarket products. You might be baked into your ride during the year. Want a quick sample of what's here?

Hey, I said it'd be quick. Anyway, you'll see a lot of those cool parts put to work on projects in our shop during the year. Besides, we've come to see a, to make an announcement about something brand new to horsepower TV.

Something that'll put our high performance. How tos into action.

Horsepower T V's race of the week.

Celebration of the real world warriors who battle on America's drag strips,

the hardcore competitors who both on the hardware, build the cars and run them in exciting grassroots racing events struck coast to coast.

It'll be a show within the show

as we invade a new track every weekend starting next weekend.

Chuck and I presided over a press conference to officially introduce our race of the week.

And on board were leaders from the I hr A,

the National Street Car Association

and other sanctioning bodies that will take part in this exciting new addition to our program.

No doubt our race of league features will put more power into horsepower PB.

Well, see it is also a great place to grab some styling ideas for your next Street Rod project.

Speaking of which, we're leaving Las Vegas now for Laramie Wyoming

to get a tip on how to put one of those styling ideas to work in your garage.

These are Louvers now back in the old days, they were a functional feature that helped you removed heat from your engine.

Well, today, Louvers are more a retro styling cube than anything else

as you're about to discover punching a set is as much a lost art

as it is a science.

It is certainly a lost start because of

uh the fact that

not every shop is certainly gonna have a Louver press or even know how to punch a Louver the proper steps and uh requirements you need to know before you can actually start the job

as a Street Rod instructor at Wyoming Technical Institute, Matthew Harris uses a hydraulic press to teach Louver punching

and invited us for a crash course.

Here we can see the male and the female dyes

uh on the male dye itself. We can see the actual shape and contour of the Louver itself that's actually gonna be stamped into the sheet metal. If we look at this a little further, we can see that this edge right here is going to be the edge that's going to create the cut line for the Louver itself.

Now, we can actually see that center line scribed on the panel and when it comes time to actually punch the louver, we must align

that center line with the hash mark on our male dye.

Now, if we take a closer look, we can compare the different sizes of louvers by changing out the dyes. Here. We have a one inch by three inch Louver compared to a three quarter by three inch Louver.

All right, Matthew enough show and tell, let's get to work. Now, you're gonna put some Louvers on my 50 mark hood here. What do you do first?

Well, Joe, it's not too difficult. We just pulled out a few panels that we had lying around

and we're gonna just kind of arrange them on the hood and see what really looks best on this style of hood.

I think you nailed it. This looks good, but you're working on the other side. How are you gonna line them up? It's not too bad, Joe. All we have to do is once we have the panels lined

reference, this cut line onto the center line of the hood, which can be easily transferred on the back side. Cool. Let's flip it over and get started. Ok. Great.

Well, Joe, the first thing I had to do was remove that cross brace before I could lay anything out. I see it. It looks like you got a jump start on this thing. Yeah, I did, Joe. I was really hoping you'd like that design. I showed you earlier. So I already spent quite a few hours laying it out. Well, I do like it and

I guess this number one here means the, the first press.

Exactly if you remember that reference point

made earlier. All I had to do was transfer that over to establish that first cut line. Then from there just accurately lay out the rest of the louvers accordingly. Yeah, for several hours, I'm sure. Now each circle represents a louver. How many are here? 116? Wow, I'm impressed. We better head to the press. Let's do it

a

little bit left

a little more,

little back.

OK. Guys, that was the first one. That's always the toughest.

We just gotta remember. Always keep the horizontal line and also watch that center line. Also. Keep the hood nice and flat on that female die. Hey, I hate to ask this question. Now, Matthew, what if one's just a little bit off? Oh Joe, I can't believe you asked that, but you better have a spare hood on your parts car. I don't, we'll be careful.

One

punching,

ready to punch

four.

Well, there you go, Joe and with a hood like this, it'll certainly punch up the image of that lead sled of yours. No doubt. I'm impressed. And

speaking of impressions.

Do you do any buddy Holly Songss by any chance? Well, that'll be the day.

Well, that'll be it until we take a short break. See you in a minute.

Great job. Thank you

for more horsepower. Join us online at Horsepower tv.com.

You know they say who who hesitates is lost. And while that may be an especially appropriate saying

if your Holly has an off the line stumble.

Now, most of those stumbles are caused by either too much or too little fuel being delivered from the accelerator pump. Next time you leave the line, have a buddy, check your exhaust. If it puffs black when you mat the gas, hey, you're getting too much fuel.

Now you can correct this by reducing the size of your squirter.

Holly offers these squirters in an assortment of sizes to meet the fuel needs of your engine.

You can also change the rate of delivery by changing the accelerator pump cam. It attaches to the throttle arm right here. And as you can see, changing the cam profile, not only modifies the amount of fuel delivered to this quarter, but even more importantly, when it's delivered.

For example, if you need more fuel as soon as you crack the throttle, well, then your cam profile should look something like this. But

if you got to reduce and delay the amount of squirter action, well, then a profile like this one should do the trick.

Of course, you can tune the squirter delivery even more by changing the cam mounting position to one of these two holes on the throttle arm.

After each change, make a short run to make sure that you're heading in the right direction.

And if you are continue making small similar changes until you've eliminated the bog.

If you're running a vacuum secondary carb, like this one hesitation can also come from having the wrong spring tension inside the vacuum secondary diaphragm. Now, too weak a spring will cause your secondaries to dump open too quickly. And well, that's where you'll get a real hesitation.

But if the spring is too strong,

well, your vacuum secondaries may not even open at all. And well, you'll never realize the full power potential of your engine.

This assortment of springs will help you get the right rate of opening for your engine.

Tuning your Holly takes some time and trial and error. But with the right combination, hey, you'll lose that hesitation and find the performance that you need to win.

Stay with us. Hot parts is next.

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Hey, and while you're on the computer, why not log on to Horsepower, tv.com for information

about all the hot parts and hardware that we feature in the shop.

Our websites also got news about upcoming shows, video clips, racing updates, merchandise, background materials. And

hey, who are those guys

again? Horsepower tv.com is the online address. Uh now let's address something else hot. Our show next week

we'll puff up the power in a late model mustang with a cold air kit.

Power, police oversized throttle body and high performance exhaust

in our race of the week. It's a blowout in the bluegrass state

with NSC, a competition from Bowling Green, Kentucky.

And how lead still leads the way in this shop when it comes to Street Rod Retro projects.

And remember high performance fun is what this show is all about

for information about the products used in today's show. And more. Check us out online at Horsepower tv.com

Horsepower TV is an RTM production.