Full steam ahead. A few stumbles here and there figuring out how things go together but I'm doing well, I think. A bunch of strip work on the firewall to expose a bit more original paint. Sitting pretty with the body back on. Modified the clutch pedal, reshaped the head for clearance and filed grooves. Cut up a headlight bar to mount the lights. Mounted and painted. And finally, the interior. I wanted to leave the sear back because it's original and I like it but had to cover the door panels and seat bottom. My mother was kind enough to find some bark cloth material very similar to what was used during the era. It's slightly different but really fits the car.
Thanks so much guys. I'm really happy with how it's turning out. Sooooo. Now that the body is back on I've been focusing on dressing the engine. As I was doing this something kept saying it needed a change. Last weekend I decided to do this. I'm not used to such cranky heads to remove. Then this made its way home. Explaining torque sequences to my gal. Whipped up some fuel lines. I chose a refrigeration grade thick wall copper and a rubber hose isolator at the fuel shutoff so cranking shouldn't be an issue. Now to button up more stuff. Overall I'm really happy with the motor. I also modified the head so I can run the factory distributor to keep the early look. I still have to make new plug connectors due to the location change but overall I think I'm nailing it.
For the driveshaft I wasn't confident with my tools and welder for such a job. A quick call to ask fellow hamber Roji to see if I could commission him to weld it up was successful. He did a great job and came through in a hurry. With it now sitting on all fours and most of the main parts on the car I've been working on the small stuff to give my body a rest.... I don't know about you guys but I'm getting too old for this..... For the exhaust I wanted to keep it within the spirit of the build but not use a model a muffler. I thought about using a model t muffler but it didn't fit the street race theme I was going for, sooo. I started with a 2.5 inch pipe with a pie cut down to 2. With that in place I took a que from an old race car pic I saw and rolled up some chicken wire for back pressure and perhaps tame the sound a bit. I brought the 2.5 just behind the seat and made a spring loaded hanger similar to the rad mount for some support. I really like how it turned out and I think it fits the car well. The plug locations on the Thomas head are different but I really wanted to run the stock distributor and cap. With a little clearance work to fit the ignition wire I also had to make new plug connectors. I also tapped some knurled nuts to match the 14mm plugs. I gave a bit of thought to air cleaners. With it being tight I formed some stainless screen and tied it off with brass wire to keep the big stuff out. That's about it for now... if every thing goes as planned I'll be at sins of steel!!!
Thanks so much, Brad! I'm doing my best on my first stab at a traditional build.... Update. Sins of steel has come and gone. Unfortunately i didn't make it but it wasn't due to lack of effort. I thrashed almost day and night but ran into too many issues... After the second session of running the water neck cracked, my swap meet carbs were junk, and my radiator leaked in about 10 spots... Quite frustrated I took a few days off. Cleaned the garage to regroup and went back at it. My chicken wire baffle was not enough so I built a muffler to slip in. I wrapped it in fiberglass mat and can tune to taste. It worked out great. With more time I built new floorboards and decide to fancy them up a bit. Last week after double checking everything I took my first ride. Video below. https://www.instagram.com/p/BHaUh_ohioe/ As of today i still have lots to do but it's getting there. Still learning to downshift the damn thing and tune the carbs but it feels good to drive it! I'll keep updating as I go and do an actual photoshoot with my good gear to show all my work and other stuff I did. Here she is out and about. Before and after. Seriously. Thanks for digging the build guys. This place and response to the car has been incredibly inspirational.
Great job man, I dig the hands on attitude and never give up I can do it. The old girl now has a new life thanks to you.
Damn x3. that is a COOL coupe! It's just too cool not to work the bugs out of and drive the crap out of it!
Thanks, pumpman. She was beating me up pretty good but it's been worth it. Took it for a spin today with better results. It's running a lot smoother and I finally had a few successful downshifts. This is such a different animal than I'm used to but I'm learning what it likes and gets better every trip out. Thank you, jet. As tough as it's been it's by far my favorite. After it's running tip to I have all kinds of small stuff to do. Sent from my HTC One using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I've been putting a few miles on it between chasing some gremlins. What I thought was carb related ended up being electrical. One of the connectors in my new harness wasn't soldered causing a weak spark issue. Wish I would have found it before I started drilling idle jets.... Now it seems I need to open them up back to stock to afford a lower idle position on the plates. With the smaller jet size it's not pulling enough fuel without idle in the 700 range with 0 timing... It's still not stopping that well so I've been on the slower roads. Over the weekend I took the brakes apart and replaced the rear shoes. It's a lot better now but seems to need some wear in. I did fit the shoes, and everything works smoothly with no slop. Ended up hitting Woodward for a bit Thursday Friday and Saturday, never parking, just cruising around. The car got a ton of attention and it felt good to take it out after fighting with it for months. I've never had a gal who liked old cars. She loved Saturday and wore a 40's vintage dress to boot. Sitting proud getting some ice cream after the cruise. Still lots to do... I really need to change to a dropped axle so I can run more spring up front. It bottoms out way too easy now that it's settled. Then add some shocks I scored this week. Hopefully I'll take some better pictures of the car this week. I found a decent location. Just have to clean it up and give it a fresh coat of linseed oil to shine it up.
This is the first time i've checked out your thread. So cool, I really like your style of build and attitude. A lot of good here!
Just found this thread. So glad you documented everything. The car and your sense of if - perfect! Congrats on a successful build.
Thank you, Pete. I was totally going for old timey. Haha My friends keep telling me it's a keeper. Oh, you mean the girl? I think she's a keeper too. Thank you. Glad you dig it. Thank you. I think it's a great car.
Your attention to detail is very impressive. One of my favorite builds on the HAMB in a while. It would be great to see a video of the car running to hear that exhaust.
Damn, a favorite build. Thank you. I will get a video this week after I fix a vacuum leak on one of the carbs. It idles like crap right now... Thanks, Bob. There is a whole mess of builds on this site! Thank you. When I got the tires something was telling me to add some color. I think it works very well. Thank you, Pete. Glad you dig it.
This is neat AF man! Great job. Really makes me want to get started on my T roadster as it will have a similar vibe ( I hope!) Thanks for documenting the journey.
The Jalopy Journal
