Projects 28 RPU "problem child" build thread "first try at a hotrod"

Tell me about those taillights. I'd like to copy yours.

 

They just came from speedway they are listed as 1937 ford tail lights.. They are a led light.. I went went two right sides(no license plate light in the bottom) I am going to run a license plate elsewhere (to be determined yet) other then that the stands are just something I made..

Little update tonight...

I ran into a little snag.. I went to try and remove the three studs so I can put the offset generator mount on.. Figured I would weld the nut to the stud and back it out that way.. HAHAHAHAHA silly me...

When I started to turn it.. SNAP.. Broke flush with the head.. So off the head comes... With a fight..

I was able to get the front moving and had to use door shims I had in the basement to basically wedge the head up off.. Figured the wood wouldn't hurt the head or deck service..



Ended up having to knock them in and tap down on the front opposite corner to in turn it moved the wedged end up..

First attempt.. Welded the nut to the top of the bolt.. No dice.. Three times in a row it twisted the bolt of about 3 threads below the weld..


What seemed to work the best was option 2..
Welded the nut lower on the stud, heated the bottom of the stud with a torch lightly and then hit the top of the stud with a hammer s few times..


That seemed to do the trick.. Worked them back and forth with and impact.. My air compressor sucks so it didn't hit really hard which I think helped to keep from snapping them off..


Hope to get some head gaskets and fuel line fittings Saturday and get this thing going back the other direction....

 

Thanks for the info. I had already seen those at Speedway and am glad someone else is doing the "review".
I'll post my version of the "third" stop light when I get a chance.

 

Pretty short update this evening..

Was able to get the head and the three new studs back in.. While I was waiting on new nuts and studs to come in I figured I would try my hand at an overflow tank...

Used a piece of schedule 80 1.5" aluminum pipe and a weld in bung from summit..

Started by turning down some junk to make
A plug for the bottom..


And pretty straight forward weld bung on top and plug in bottom...


Went a different route on the mounts, instead of just the straight mounts, figures I would to a band style..

Hammered them around in the vice and welded the on..

Went with schedule 80 so I could just drill a hole and run a pipe tap though it.. Used 1/4" copper flared and run it down..

I wanted to clean up the studs and the threads so had a brain fart and tried something..

Took the old gasket and clamped it to the cardboard and drilled all the stud holes out to make a cardboard cover for the block..


Seemed to work pretty well..


Lastly tonight I mocked up the third and most important pedal haha.. For some reason the missile carb seems to not be going shut when I left off..


Have to get the carbs worked out, a fan, generator, and some electrical and might be able to take it for a test spin..

 

Let me know what you think.. Only issue I have so far is the one must be missing part of the gasket.. The red lens is kinda loose and wobbles around.. Should be an easy fix

 

Ran some wiring to the back.. Have the block mounted and the routing of the wire ruffed in.. Will tidy up the route and get some cloth loom to put over the wires when I finish it up..

They are clamped and ran through grommets so at least I won't run them over for now...

Tail lights


Brake lights


Hoping the generator and fan blade will be here tomorrow so I can try to start working that situation out..

 

Tail and brake lights are important steps in making it legal, keep up the good work

 

Running into a lot of little things that seem to take a long time to get working..

Wanted to start getting the generator and fan setup working... Got the new studs out in and the bracket bolted on... And two problems show up..


The pulley on the generator is 1/4" to far back to be in line with the crank and pump pulleys.. And the other issue is the generator is to close to the carbs...


The throttle shaft arm is actually inside the case...

I ordered a different mount and see if that will be at an angle to get the generator away from the arm.. Hopefully it will be a little farther forward also..

Mocked up a fan to see if I had room... 13" fan from summit which I think could use about around 3/8" taken off to make room..


Made up a fuel block and some lines also..

Milled a 3/4"X1"x3" block out of some scrap..


Drilled 3 holes 3/4" apart and then one down the center from the end.. Then tapped them all to 1/8" pipe..



Bent up some copper line to feed them....

Bought a ridgid 1/4" bender off eBay and what a difference that makes in having nice bends..


The rollers in the handle make a huge difference

Kind of hard to see but used the throttle cable ball that came with the cable and it had the same thread as the set screw of the linkage, which made it nice...


And put the most important pedal in... Had to make an angle plate to fit where I had recessed the firewall..


Made up a bracket to hold the fuel block and have to call it a day today early to go to a family function





Need to shorten the screws up.. If I was doing it over I would have left more on the back to thread into..

Happy thanksgiving!!

I keep the other roadster in the back of my mind and this picture showed up on the net the other day.... Looks like a good direction to go..

 

nice work on the 1 to 3 feed block for the carbs

 

Great work!

 

Started laying out gauges and installing sensors..

Had a old gauge panel laying around so it became a test dummy


Had to recess the tank a little bit and do some lathe work to get the speedo to fit.


Had to face the thumb nuts down so it would clear..




Then what to do with the other gauges.. Since they have no chance of fitting in the stock location.. Three ideas..


The one around the column won

So I added a band around it to help stiffen it up a bit being its just 22 gauge







Went to put the speedo in the better panel.. Tapped it all off and ran it through the mill..


And wham.. Right in the nuts.. Taking the tape off pealed the cheep A$$ chrome off of the panel


And before to long I'm gonna have to clean and seal the tank.. I must have left part of my driveway in it when cleaning it last...

 

Been busy with things and just haven't taken a lot of pictures of progress..

Been aggravated and annoyed with getting these 97 carbs working.. Just trying to get it to run on one single carb..

Had a guy I was told is the man to go to rebuild them and what a joke that turned out to be..

Started off with not being able to idle.. Butterflies in the base wouldn't close off and make a good seal.. He had two different size jets in it... His idea of removing the choke was cutting the linkage off and screwing the left over piece into the base of the secondary carbs...

The primary carb I couldn't get the butterflies to seat no matter what I tried.. After robbing the throttle shaft I noticed the bushing that was on it was WAY loose.. Probably causing a vacuum leak.. When i could get it to somewhat idle with the choke on it was just pouring gas down the Venturi... I'm figuring it was coming from the leak..

Used one of the other bases i could get the butterflies to close and seal up on... Got a set screw put thread sealant on it to plug where he drilled through the base into the barrel are....

Stuck the base in the mill bored the shaft hole out and made a busing for it... Didn't want to wait for on to be shipped..

After that and adjusting the idle mixture screws it idles great!

Now onto the next problem.. Drives down the road decent but when I hit 42-45mph it stumbles and will not accelerate.. I'm running the carb open and not sure if there is to much air being blown around or maybe float level or jets need to be changed..

It is a good feeling to be able to drive it even if it is just for a mile or two..

 

Found the issue with the dead acceleration at 45ish...

Turns out with no hood and air cleaner it was blowing to much air in or around the carb..



Rigged this up and took it for a spin.. Ran right past 55 smoothly

So now going to work out a few bugs.. Leaking seals.. I think the rear torque bars are binding a little it.. Going to try to change to to use bushings..

And start lining fenders and running boards up.. That should be fun haha

 

Been goofing around changing a few things and fixing a few things..

I changed the bar mounts on the top to a rubber bushing instead of one small metal to metal bolt.


Started to attack the fender on the passenger side


Not sure if it was the right way but I ended up making it in three pieces










Not the best but the rest of the fender has bondo in it to smooth it out so this should cover up..

Had to straighten the door edges up a little.. It's not going to be a trophy chaser it's a model A so I'm not gonna try for super tight gaps..






At least maybe it won't stick out so bad now.. I still need to smooth up the edges on the Brookville quarter panels.. Their grinder must be pretty heavy..


Let there be light! Haha mounted the bar quick and ran a jumper wire for the lights for fun.. Lasted about 3 minutes till the drivers side bulb burned out.. Ordered new guide tags for them and working on getting the new bulbs fit in..


I had to go with a h6024 bulb to replace the 6012 bulb that was in there.. Took a little fitting but I have one in.. Anyone have any recommendations on a good bulb replacement for the old 6012-6014 bulbs?

 

nice to see the progress.

 

Thanks! Slowly chipping away in hopes to have it done for the summer..

Working my way through some wiring this week and watching an auction for some metal shaping stuff. Fingers crossed

 

Messing around with a few other odds and ends..

Put some air horns on the carbs..


Had to come up with a place for the headlight switch and I really don't like toggle switches for everything.. So I found a decent looking one at NAPA.. Had to
Make a spacer for it so it would cover the original map/instrument light in the dash.. Had to lightly hammer the tank back for a little extra clearance.





And had to find a place for the dimmer switch.. Not enough foot room on the floor so I figured I would attach it to to the bottom of the tank... Now I hate JB weld but I figure it will hold this and a few tabs for holding wire up..





Disregard the mess of wiring still routing and sorting out..

I had trouble gravity feeding the carbs from the stock tank.. The little pressure from the slight fall wasn't enough to push the needle away when the float dropped.. So I figured I would make an extra holding tank for under the bed and run an inline pump from it..





Turned out some bungs on the lathe


Welded in and fully welded the tank.


AND....... I overlooked a major flaw in this idea.... I planned on using the stock tank to fill the tank under the bed... Only problem is that when the stock tank goes to fill the lower tank it will air lock since the lower tank isn't vented.. And I would have to run a vent above the stock tanks.. Soooooo.. Now I have a 5.5gal aluminum tank to use for something...




Was able to get a few test drives in before all this and the snow hit.







Now if the weather would straighten up I could test drive with the inline pump just pulling from the original tank..

 

[QUOTE="twenty8tudor, had to find a place for the dimmer switch.. Not enough foot room on the floor so I figured I would attach it to to the bottom of the tank... Now I hate JB weld but I figure it will hold this and a few tabs for holding wire up..
[/QUOTE].

Great work! Coming along well. Instead of creating a different location for dimmer, consider wiring it to the headlight switch at the parking light position.

 

Thanks man! I just used a push pull switch so this switch only has on and off..

That is a good idea I had never thought of doing that might have to use that on the next one

 

Easy to change it. Those three way push pulls are cheap.

 

Such a cool RPU --- looking good!!

 

Working on sorting through my stash of wire wheels to find two good 16s and sending the good pair of 18s I have out to be straightened first of the week..


Finished up some wiring so I know have tail lights and blinkers.... The led tail lights are giving me some fits due to not putting the proper load on the flasher.. I have them working but they won't flash when the brake pedal is pushed... Just goes to solid brake on both sides.. Still working on that issue.. But do have instrument lights working now.



But did manage to make up a little cover to hide the tail light wires from hanging down..

I noticed it when taking some pictures and it drives me nuts seeing loose hanging wires..

Some box tubing will fix that..



Cut in two... Slanted the one end on both.. Milled a slot for a grommet... And drilled two mounting holes..



Used 1/4" bolts and welded them to the side bed rail




And that makes it a little nicer.. Will put some loom over the last part sticking out and where they go in at

 

I forgot to take pictures of doing this last time.. But after a test drive the other day looks like I get a second chance to do that..

The main carb is leaking around the shaft on the opposite side that I made the bushing for..

Removed the top from the base


Turned a piece out same size as the throttle shaft so I could put it in the mill to make sure I was in line with the base.




Switched bits to bore the hole a little bigger


Then jump to the lathe to turn the bushing out.




Worked my way up to a 1/4" hole.. Then luckily when I bought a bunch of machining junk from a guy in town there happen to be a bit in there the exact same size as the throttle shafts. Lucky day..



Cut off then faced the excess off in the lathe..




Left it about .001-.002 over sized so I could tap it In with a hammer to make a good fit..

Put it back on and so far so good.. No leaks yet!

 

Love the jaws on that old lathe. They've taken some hits haven't they?!!

 

Haha yeah like everything I bought it used.. It has a tag on it says property of Polaroid so must have been used for camera parts..

Don't think it's ever been crashed hard but it's taken some hits that's for sure!

Thanks for the likes and support btw!

 

Ran the wires up the passenger side kick panel to get from the dash and gauges down to under the seat.. Working out how to cover them up and get them secured..

Bent up some sheet metal and welded a few pieces on..



Hoping to get the tank all cleaned out and ready to put some sealer in it..

 

Made a few steps back and forward... I knew there was some putty in the door just wasn't sure how much.. So I sandblasted part of the bottom and seen how much.. I'm sure a decent body guy could have fixed it but I'm no good at that yet..

So off the skin came..


Ordered a new one from Brookville... Primed the inside of the structure and skin.. Had to weld up a few cracks in the structure anyway so it was nice to have the skin off..



Took some bending and pushing but it fits... Still need to cut the gap at the top front..



And have been cleaning the tank out through the week and it has turned out pretty well..


After


Working on getting it all dried out so I can put some sealer in the tank after work today..


Did get a piece of glass cut and installed in the frame also.. Waiting to make any adjustments to the door till I get the tank back on...

70s next week so it would be nice to have it driving again..

 

What sealer were you going to use in the tank? I have done a few bike tanks with varying degrees of success.

 

Using red kote.. Following steps that a guy that built custom bikes told me.. Said he never had an issue...

Fill tank with water and use about 2.5 cups of muriatic acid let sit for couple days.. Dump and do that till it's clean... I had to take it to the car wash to blast all the loose rust out after the second go around..I made about three cycles.. But the third didn't do much.. It was really clean by the second after power washing..

Let dry very well.. Use fan to blow air through and use acetone to get water out.. Then sealer..

I'll see I guess.. Haha.. Have multiple filters on it one in the tank one inline before pump and one on the inlet of pump..

 

Red Kote is the one I have had great luck with. Good to hear somebody else likes it to. My dad used it on his 1910 overland tank over 10 years ago and not an issue. I am loving this build. The workmanship is fantastic.