Plumbing the pickup
Whizzing toward completion at the speed of a geriatric sloth, my Homebuilt Hot Rod project has finally received a bit more attention, this time with the long-overdue installation of its brake line plumbing. Like many of the assembly and fabrication chores I tackle in the pages of SRM, plumbing is yet another task that's less than rocket science. It's one of those more mundane phases of assembly, though not one of minor significance by any means, because hot rods that go fast but don't stop are usually only good for one trip-and I'm hoping to enjoy mine a heck of a lot more than just once. So it was with that in mind that I whipped out my dog-eared copy of the 2007 Speedway Motors Street Rod Master Catalog, flipped through the pages until I hit the brake parts section, and started shopping.
As you may recall, the Homebuilt Hot Rod is equipped with a quartet of '40 Ford drums. Not the most technologically advanced choice, but one I made none the less since I'm trying to build a traditional-styled hot rod on a shoestring budget-and the quartet of drum brakes was part of the original pile of parts I'd purchased as the starting point of this project. In keeping with the budget-minded build, Speedway Motors was a natural choice for me; the vast array of components the company offers is second only to its awesome pricing structure that goes a long way in helping to keep the project on or even possibly under the outlay I've allotted-and that's no bull.
So take a look at the accompanying images and captions to see how I went about my plumbing chore. Keep in mind that I don't profess to be an expert in the art, but the way I did it here has always worked for me.
