History Grandpas el mirage roadster recreation p.r.c

Damn it. Grandpa will be here tomorrow and it's raining now and going to keep raining till Wednesday. Hope we can still go for a ride.

 

Maybe we will get a break in the weather for a few minutes. Your Grandpa might be too excited to wait for a sunny day to go out on a drive anyway. I'm wishing you Luck! This build has been great to watch unfold


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Look at this crap. It never rains in California. Only during trog or when grandpa wants to go hotrodding.

 

Thank you if we can't I will take it to his house next week. It will be nice and sunny as the weather report says. I will still get some pictures of him cruzing in the garage.

 

Now I got to save up for some tires.

 

I got good ones on the front for a putt around town and the rears are from the 50s so I put my 18s on the rear. Now that I look at the 32 wires I see why guys went to steel wheels in the 40s. I think my mini bike could break the spokes on these things. Let alone the 286" badass flatty motor.

 

Did you get your brake and fuel systems done?

 

Yep all good there. The brakes work like a new car. I ran the fuel line just like original. I even got the original firewall clamp from early ford store last week when we went to gnrs. Something is going wrong with my steering though. Seems my 32 "heavy" axel lol is bent back both sides after spring perches. I can get like 1-3/4 turn to the left and only about 3/4 to the right. I'm going to play around with the tie rod ends and see if I can adjust it some. If not I might have to find a 32 pitman arm it's the same gear box from 32 to 34 but I'm not sure if the pitman arm is clocked different for the wheel base. Or if the drag link is the wrong one. I don't know anyone in my area that has a original 32 so I can't just go over and measure. But I do have all y'all so help me out and measure up all your 32 steering for me. Tell the the length of the drag link, steering link, and so on. All of the front end issues might just be from the bent back ends of my axel. Grandpa will be here in a
few hours so we will get down and dirty. And I found out my gas tank has more pin holes then A street rod convention. I will have to get another tank to stop from burning down the car.

 

If that is an original tank, might be able to get it sealed . . . or if somebody KNOWS what they're doing, it can be welded up (with a lot of dry ice and whatever else they use now days in it). I know I don't weld on gas tanks - but there are those that can and do. LOL

 

I'd think the issue with steering has to be the length of the drag link and/or pitman arm. Do you know the original lengths and clocking - or you need some measurements?

 

I weld on motorcycle gas tanks all the time I just stick the torch in them and burn out all the old fuel. Iv never had one blow up like everyone thinks. Maybe iv just been lucky. This one is original and needs a lot of tig welds. Iv heard that sealing them clogs up the original sending units. What have y'all heard about the clogging issues????

 

I would like to get the measurements of all the frontend rods if I could please with cherrys ontop.

 

Well me and grandpa took some time to look over the front end. We figured out it must be the bent axel ends that are screwing with the steering. Also maybe the damn drag link length. Still trying to figure that out. I talked about this many pages ago on this thread and I thought it was right but maybe not. Also need to know if a 34 pitman arm is clocked the same as 32 on the spline keys location. Or I just need to find a 32 pitman arm. We were to busy for pictures but here's a funny one from dinner. We took pictures of each other taking pictures of each other.

 

Also I can't tell you badass it is to use the tools he gave me that he used on his 32s and use his cotter pins he gave me that are from his hotrod days to pin this car up. Hear his stories and the things that come back into his mind. We talked a lot about distributors and the v-12 Lincoln conversions and ford duel coil set ups. He told me one time out at el mirage right when he was leaving to come back home that somehow the distributor chewed up the carbon piece with the spring behind it that runs on the rotor. So the only thing he could think off was to cut a piece of coil wire and jam it up in the spring hole and let it hang down on the rotor. He said it worked and got him all the way back to Pasadena. After that he carried extra carbon.

 

Love the stories from you grandpa.....the piece of coil wire was very cool.

 

Getting to where you can walk on it is one thing. Getting to where you can squat down to change a wheel takes a lot of self rehab. Just keep after it. Been there and doing that
Greg



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Chopped liver I am.

 

Cool stories bud, can't wait to see you tearing up the hwy


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Went through about 9 boxes of nos stuff today and found some goodies for the roadster but I didn't find one piece of paper with 32 ford front end measurements.

 

Found a cool 6v niehoff coil. A 40 ford king pin nos set. Distributor cap boots for the wires. Found about 8 sets if 21a rod bearings. Ford oversized .010 and .020 piston ring set and a bunch of other crap I forgot about. Just didn't see any 32 measurements.

 

I'll measure my 100% stock stuff this AM - the drag link and the pitman arm (and clocking). I'll take a picture of the clocking with the wheels straight ahead.

 

Looks like that would be a fun time going thru those boxes of real treasures.....

 

Well Dennis if I had enough shop space I would love to be able to spread it all out to look through it. I can't remember all the shit I have nos and I keep buying things and then later down the road find that I already had it. I have crates of nos crap iv never even looked through.

 

I looked through a box last night of just engine bearings and there must be at least 8 sets of full floating 21a FORD oversized .010 and .020 bearings in cosmolean. 8ba Johnson bearings new in the boxes. Full race american hammered piston rings in 3-5/16 and 3-3/8. Lots of gm bearings to. V8-60 stuff too. I think I'm going to have to post a bunch of it for sale or take it to Lars this year.

 

Thanks dale your the man. Also please tell me what way the drag link goes. On a stock drag link one side, the hole for the ball is closer to the center of the link and one other hole is closer towards the outer end of the tie rod. Please tell me what one goes on the pitman arm. I did measure a friends 32 yesterday and his draglink was 27-1/2. But it was cut and re welded. He just got the car out of a real barn been sitting since 1967 and it has a 348 w motor in it. He is putting his Lincoln flathead out of his 49 Cosmo in it today.

 

Hey Bruce - the draglink is 29 3/4" long and with the wheels straight ahead, the pitman arm is hanging almost straight down (which makes sense - as it should be in the middle of travel). Notice my extensive exhaust system . . . LOL

 

Well dale my draglink is also 29-3/4. So I'm good there. It must just be the bent front axel. I bought the axel-wishbone-spring perch pin complete set up from okie joe at the Turlock swapmeet last year. He told me it was bent alittle and he said if I took it apart and sent it to him he would straighten it for free. So it looks like I will have to have it straighten. Just don't want to wait to send it to ok. So I might try and find someone here in cal. I think if it's straight the spindle will be in the right spot. Check out the pictures and tell me what ya think.
Also NOTE how my exhaust is also muffled and super quiet like yours.

Also note in second picture I put a small rod flat against the center of the axel so you can see how far bent the ends are. Iv been told axel should sit flat on their side all the way across a flat surface. So it must be that.

 

Also I guess I never showed how I ran the brake line. I didn't drill the frame. I just made little tabs to hold the front lines. No sure if I like it or not. But it works great so for now I just keep it this way. Also used the stock holes under the rail so no drilling at all.

 

Okie joe also said he believed that the axel has never been apart so he said use lots of heat....
I carried that some bitch about a 1/4 mile before a guy told me hey you know they have a tractor that comes by and will take it out to the parking lot for you. I said ya I'm just getting a work out in.