Hi Ed.Great build sir.Sweet sounding engine too.Please keep the updates coming. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
Getting closer to a finished car now. Yesterday the mechanical fuel pump failed but I got many of the little problems resolved. I swapped out the 1 1/8" front brake cylinders with 1" cylinders and that almost doubled the front braking power, but it still isn't enough so I'm going to try fitting a master cylinder with a larger bore. New additions are the gas tank cover and the windshield wiper mount.
License plate light is from a '49 Chevy. The parking brake is from an early 50s Morris Oxford. The taillights are reproduction '37 Ford. The rubber floor covering is Model-T Ford. The gas pedal is '32 Ford.
I replaced those cheesy self locking chromed nuts which come with the '32 shackle kits with castle nuts and cotter pins. Also pictured here is the modified '40-'48 column gear change which now operates the automatic transmission. That lower water hose took some finding too! It is very tight down there and I needed a double bend in the lower hose. I struck lucky and found a 1938 Chevy truck lower hose which fitted after cutting down a bit.
Great job Edward! I always enjoy reading your posts, and seeing what your up to. That Nailhead will be a real torque monster in that little roadster! What are you using for front turn signal lights?
Nice work, Edward, but (with respect) your statement on wheel cylinder sizes don't make sense. Bigger wheel cylinders should increase braking power relative to the pedal effort applied. Likewise a bigger master cylinder bore will decrease braking performance relative to applied pedal effort. The exception to this is if the original pedal is travelling too far and you're too far down the pedal when the brakes come on. In this case the smaller wheel cylinders and bigger master cylinder can make the brakes better because it brings the braking back into the "sweet spot" of the pedal. This is what happened with my roadster - it works better with a 1-1/16" cylinder than the 1" cylinder I had before. Mart.
Well that's what's happening Mart. Pedal pressure is no problem. Its servo assisted too. Brakes come on fine and the rears lock up but I run out of travel before the fronts are firm enough. The Smart master cylinder has a 19.05mm bore. I'm going to try one from an Espace 3 with 23.8mm bore.
On Saturday we had a party to celebrate it's completion, even though it's not quite finished. However the final upholstery will be done later after it's registered. The hub caps are fitted and the seat bottom and side panels have been upholstered in black leather rescued from an old sofa.
So what you're saying is that you need more volume, not pressure? As you'll end up with less wheel cylinder pressure with the same pedal pressure - when going to a larger master cylinder. Let us know what the final 'solution' ends up being.
I found a 33% larger bore master cylinder which fitted the Smart servo and reservoir as if it had been designed to fit! It's a 26.8mm cylinder from a non-ABS Renault Espace III. With 1" cylinders up front it works perfectly. Apart from the bore size, everything else was the same. A combination of luck and three hours trawling eBay for new master cylinders.
Well, you ended up with more or less the stock ford master cylinder size, so it should be good. Car looks great by the way. Mart.
Gotta ask a question: The steering wheel sure looks like it it really back close to the drive . . . have you noticed that as an issue and would you have preferred to have it further away? (closer to the dash). Just wondering . . .
The driver is very tall (6'6") and needs the space behind the wheel for his knees. The car was built to fit one person. All components, brake pedal, gas pedal, steering wheel and shifter were mocked up first and built around the driver. However I'm quite fat and a little under 6' and still have plenty of space behind the wheel. The wheel is quite high up. When driving you look through the wheel not over it. It's not a cut down, '40 wheel, it's a full size one. This makes for quite an exciting pre-war race car feeling when sitting in it. However there's still plenty of room between your body and the wheel to cross your hand to the other side. The seat back will only be thinly upholstered. It's actually surprisingly comfortable just the bare metal seat back.
Thanks - was just wondering. I kind of forgot about the very limited leg-room in a car/body style like this . . . so you have to have someplace to put them! This is a very common challenge in any early body style like this - especially when it is channeled (though your car doesn't look to be). The people back in the day MUST have been a lot smaller! Hell - every vintage race/dry-lakes picture you see . . . bunch of skinny damn kids! LOL!
Here's 6'6" Alex sitting in his Rod. As you can see, plenty of space but the wheel couldn't have been any closer to the dash.
I made some cycle fenders for the T. Fronts were made out of a 1933-34 spare wheel ring which fits on the 1934 wheels. Using a left spindle from a RHD car came in handy here as I was able to use the two redundant holes in the steering arms as one of the mounting points for the front fenders. Rears were made from a pair of new front fenders from a tractor. The fenders are bolt on and easily removed.
It's funny you say not noticeable, it pops in to my eye as the first thing, maybe because I have wet dreams about some going era perfect on the fenders on a new build, I almost messed up my pants in pure ecstasy! That is awesome Edward loyd! Any more info on the supplier of said rear fenders, because they would be perfect to make my car live up to the Danish fender law!
Here's the link to where I bought those rear fenders. The beading on it matches the 1933-34 spare wheel ring beading perfectly. I actually prefer the car with the fenders on it. http://www.ebay.de/itm/200908551938...49&var=500150917238&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
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