We found a number of cracks in the usual places, but we never figured out how water got into the intake ports... And actually into the intake. It was as if someone poured water down the carbs. Really strange as the car sat inside.
Man, I've been so buried with Bayou Round Up stuff these last few weeks, I hadn't had time to post here. I'm so excited for whats coming together on the rebuild of the car and all the stuff Keith is coming up with, and having a chance to share some of the background and changes its gone thru over the years with friends. Thanks @Ryan for sharing the story - and keeping the updates going here. This is super special to me. It was a real thrill to read a post called "The Auderer Roadster" - makes it sound like one of those great historic hot rods where the guy also has a hard to spell last name, like Iskenderian, Niekamp or Khougaz!
It's a hard shot to get, but here's a quick and dirty: No telling when this was done... The 1950's? Maybe the 60's or 70's? 80's? Who knows... But it was almost certainly done by a young guy in his garage doing his best to figure out how to properly channel a car. It's almost as if once the body was set over the frame, he took a hammer and just kind of beat the panels into submission until they kind of haphazardly rolled under the frame rail. From the backside of the body, you can see a lot of "patch" panels were used in the body. Most were gas welded which makes me think this was all done before I was born. Now, it's a real temptation to take this body off the frame and address these issues. But doing so would be akin to opening a can of vicious snakes hellbent on spreading their venom to anyone even near a body hammer. And ultimately, this project isn't a complete rebuild of Brian's roadster. If that was the case, it would be smarter from a financial point of view to find another body and start over. BUT, if we did that... If we started fresh... It wouldn't be Brian's roadster anymore. So the idea here is to essentially freshen up Brian's car and do our best to kind of disguise some of these issues without taking them away and without destroying the historical personality of the car. To me, one of the cool aspects of this roadster is its timeline. Walking from front to back, you can see the historical work done so long ago against the trick chassis that Jimmy White built a decade ago and now, against the really clean and simple style of Tardel.
Is Brian planning on new paint or leaving it as is? There aren't enough hot rods running around with Von Franco flames..
Thanks for that Ryan. It is more rounded than I thought it would be, really cool. As Goofy as the roll might seem now when done it was probably a really impressive mod possibly to emulate a dry lake or Bonneville car. If it was always a Florida car that bottom part could very well have been rusted out. I am glad the roll is staying in a complete rebuild you could change it but it would lose some of its soul and charm. This latest work is just adding an extra layer of cool to an already awesome old hot rod. But I am bias to any car with a belly pan or mods to resemble a belly pan.
So, headers... This is tricky. Ideally, Keith would have liked to go between the frame rails and the motor and then out... However, given the space restraints this would have required a header design that tips its hat at the "tubester" and nobody wants to do that. So, Keith went outside the frame rails. These are still getting tweaked a bit, but they already have a really early look to them. And something interesting... You see where the headers meet the bell and there's a seam of sorts? It looks thin and sort of spindly there, right? In person, it doesn't. In any case, stay tuned...
It's exactly as Ryan said in this post. It has to keep it's personality or it's just another rebuilt car. It had a personality of it's own when Brian took over the responsibility of it's care taking and future. It is a complete car already with a persona of it's own that should and is just being refined not changed and that's what's Keith is doing ..... It's more of a challenge than one would think I'm sure but it's really looking great.
One side done, one side to go... Ohh, and also note the grille insert. Brian has decided to go with a stock style insert and Keith is gonna make a quick disconnect system of sorts allowing B to clip on his dimple died insert when the notion hits.
I won't lie.. I kind of just want you to throw the wheels and tires on, put it on the ground, and take some pictures of it as is with all the new changes..
Oh Yeah! That is perfect! Like TexasSpeed I look forward to seeing it on the ground..... All it needs now is a blower......... I will shut up now.
Lookin' great fellas! Thanks for the update pics, nice work. Kinda makes ya proud ta sport a Rexrod shirt.
So since Keith finished mocking up the headers and various other elements already documented here, he has been busy tearing it all apart and preparing to build the fresh flathead... Here's a shot of where she stands now: With the old motor out, you can really get an idea of how rough the firewall is... You might remember, that we are trying to avoid pulling the body off the car. As such, we have a plan for this firewall that I'll show off a little later. Ohh... and the coolest development of the last week? Brian sourced a set of NOS Guide headlights... They are gonna look killer.
The Jalopy Journal
