Art & Inspiration 2016 LA Roadster Show Express Smithfield, VA to Pomona, CA... we hope!

Went for a little reliability run today. Took both Roadsters. We did my favorite stretch of old US66. Here is Rickster in the rearview mirror

Had a Laguna burger, green chili cheese burger. The best ever.

Photo op on the most favorite part of the highway.
The gals played tourist
Highway out the windshield

We did 131 miles and the '31 got just over 16 mpg and the '29 got just over 19. Pretty awesome if you ask me. Cruised most of it at 70 to 75. Banger even went 80.
See you in a couple of weeks.

Larry

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Let's go!!

The more inspiring pictures I see, the more I want to leave now! It won't be long.

Two weeks from today, about now, we should be rolling up to the exit with our new pals from New Mexico... IN New Mexico!! With all the free coffee, according to Larry! We should all still be quite able to BUY our coffee on the way out to Pomona. Coming back... we might be looking for handouts!!

By the way, I told my pals about an app for their smartphones called GasBuddy which will show the surrounding gas stations, their hours, recent prices, and directions to get to each one. I caught a bit of grief about being "Cheap Al" until I explained the potential for the app to save some of our gas tank size challenged fellows from walking!! It is one thing to stop an exit that says gas available and then you stop only to find it closed. It helps considerably to be able to check the app and realize there is another one that is open 24 hours about a mile up the road should that happen.

Dickie, our most veteran distant traveler, has found himself in that predicament too many times. Once would be more than most of us would prefer! And as cited earlier by our journalist, who still isn't going this time!, it can make for a very uncomfortable feeling. Thankfully, Dickie's legendary luck, held true for his many trips and we hope will continue to hold for our trip out west. Still, I felt an ounce of prevention, or an app!, is worth a pound (or two gallons!) of prevention.

Oh yeah, New Mexico Larry told be he was considerably offended by my reference to using smartphones as he still had a rotary dial flip phone!! I immediately apologized and offered to bring him some replacement cans and string for his and Rick's walkie-talkies!

Yesterday Shadow and I rode over to visit Scout and see what he was doing to prepare for the trip.

We found Jack planning ahead and adding a few features to make the most of the available space and be prepared for a long range run. Jack, too, has considerable experience going down the road as well and shared a few of his preparations, such as having a set of early Ford front wheel bearings, already packed with grease, in a small container along with a spare rear axle bearing and seal.

In the course of the conversation, I think Jack hit on the source of the mysterious noise I've been chasing on my cabriolet. I'm going to have to hustle to get it fixed before I go to York but I'm going to try. Jack thinks the problem stems from the left rear axle bearing. His reasoning made sense so I'm going with it and I greatly appreciate his help. Again, Scout is not just another pretty face.

Scout told me now that instead of leaving one day before us; he is going to leave TWO days before us! Being the kind, considerate pal I am; I did not even mention how surprised I was that he felt we needed to spot himTWO days head start in order to get there by the time we do. Of course, he had some lame excuse about needing the extra time to visit here and there and smell the roses and see something called the "dirt drags." Dirt drags, some guys really have an imagination. I'm counting our our veteran Alabama Scout to ensure that Jack doesn't lose his way and gets him to Pomona.

I AM looking forward to some pictures from the scouts as Ron has already shown us some real treasures.

Just 10 days!! Two days before leaving to spend 5 days in York!

Ready Al... except for that rear wheel bearing thing!!

PS Larry: You guys need to quit rubbing in that gas mileage thing... some of my VA boys are starting to cry from disappointment in their own mileage!

 

I carry wheel bearings in my trunk but never thought about packing the bearings, already packed with grease in a container. That's a good ideal, I'll have to do that.
Roadster almost ready for the trip. Another good day and it will be ready.
You should take time and see the Dirt Drags....really something to do. I ran it last year and had a really good time. This year just a short visit there in the middle of a 300 mile day.

 

Long Arm Ron , did you take this Dynamite picture?????????? LOL

 

Alabama Scout ,Too Tall Ron trying to conquer another track, Indy in his " Coupes are for Chickens" .....

 

Alabama Scout sure knows a good number to use on his car!!

Must have been great minds thinking alike!

I agree with Jack that it is a great picture.

We would love to see more.

I agree Jack's tip to already pack the spare wheel bearings is excellent and one I intend to copy... in the next few days! I'll also bet there is more than one HAMBer that will be doing the same thing, thanks to 'ol Scout.

The old adage about you can always learn from others seems to always hold true... if you are listening and paying attention.

 

The saga of replacing the rear wheel bearing.

It seems straightforward. Pull the wheel, drum, and axle with old bearing.

So far, so good. I already had what I thought was a spare bearing and seal for an eight inch Ford rear as I bought them at the same time I bought a new wheel bearing and seal for my white 40pickup at York when the rear bearing failed on one side in the parking lot of the host hotel with my gasser hooked behind it.

The truck didn't leak oil but some of my fellow club members thought it would add to the authenticity of the look if they put some large cardboard under it... while I was gone looking at other cars!
I fixed the truck the next day in the considerable heat thanks to MHRA fellows and their trailer; and some good fellows at the NAPA store that came out to see what all the noise was when I drove up in my gasser.

Today, to make sure I get the right stuff, I get the part number off the old bearing and buy a new one and the seal the parts folks said went with it. Seal was wrong and after several trips to parts stores and digging through old stuff I'd saved from other repairs long ago... I finally got the correct seal and things went mostly normally after that practice in being patient. I was surprised that if I had the original part and part number from Ford that neither parts store could come up with the correct seal. So much for the almighty computer cross over capability!
Luckily, I still had the old bearing and seal and the boxes from the replacement parts from NAPA that recorded the date as April 19, 2004 when I had to replace a rear wheel bearing in my 47 Ford patina coupe.

Once I gave the parts store the NAPA number, they crossed it to the correct National part number... and they had two of them! I bought both!

While I had the axle out, I installed longer studs as I had added a 5/16 spacer to get a bit more inside body clearance some months back. I had enough threads in the lug nut but I knew I'd feel better with longer studs.. took two trips to get the right size studs, too.

Here it is going back together.

I took a closeup with the parts boxes so would have good record of the correct part numbers but at the time of the following picture I didn't know the seal was wrong!

By the time I finally determined and located the correct seal, I was over taking pictures for a little while.


Note the studs protrude all the way through the lugnuts now.

Ready to go, I hope! Dang weather is so lousy that I'm postponing until tomorrow the test drive to see if that was the cause of the noise.

Stay tuned.

9 days,
Tired Al

 

Al , question is was the bearing bad, and did it fix the noise?

 

Great tip about pre-packing bearings and taking them along in a container.

 

I think we ought to name the concept of pre-packing spare wheel bearings in grease and taking them in a small container a "Jack Pack."

I think it is a good way to honor a fellow hot rodder that was kind enough to share a few of his secrets to a long successful record of driving his car and being prepared.

Now to go test the new rear wheel bearings.

 

The good news is that I feel much better after replacing the studs on the rear wheel that uses a spacer with the longer studs. The bad news is that the noise is still there. I don't feel changing the rear bearing was a mistake as the old one did seem to have more play than the new one so it was still probably a good move to replace it.

Now to replace the LF wheel bearings. And, yes, I'll store the old bearings, packed in grease, in my "Jack Pack" that I'll take with me as spares.

Opportunities!

 

Al, you better at the very least check the RR bearing... for the long trip...

 

The noise is gone!! The noise is gone after I replaced the LF wheel bearings but the bearings seemed fine.

One of the things that having an unresolved issue is that your attention to the details gets amped up. As a result, I noticed when I got ready to remove the LF hub that it seemed a bit loose so I adjusted the tightness before I took the wheel off and then counted the revolutions as I removed the nut.

I replaced all bearings anyway and put it back together, paying close attention to the tightness of the nut that holds the hub on. It took the same revolutions to get it back to what felt correct.

I'm pleased that we solved the mystery but am a bit disappointed to realize that my own great mechanical skills might have been at the root of the issue!! I might not have paid quite enough attention to the torque on that LF hub nut when I installed dropped spindles on the car last year... I was pretty anxious to see what it looked like at the time.

There may be a reminder in this for all of us that while it is good to be focused on an upgrade or change to our cars or trucks; we need to not loose sight of the value of proceeding in the normal, steady process that I feel most of us strive to follow.

It is five o'clock somewhere... if you know what I mean!

Won't be long now and I'm feeling better about it and yes, Jack, in the course of working on the LR wheel I also took time to check the RR wheel and it seemed fine. I still greatly appreciate all the help and ideas and encouragement as we prepare for what Jack called "the long trip."

BTW, George has had a few "opportunities" in getting his car ready to travel as well. I think his recap included new brake calipers for both sides and a new master cylinder. He said he has good brakes now... I was glad to hear that as I was wondering how I was going to convince George that his ought to be the lead car! Now that shouldn't be necessary. He and Randy, with some help from George's son(young eyes, you remember!), have really been busy and are closing in on being ready for "the long trip." He's bought new wheels, too. Hope he manages to get some tires on it before it is time to leave!

We leave in the morning for York.

Happy Al

 

Al. Hope you have a Great Trip! I know it`s just a shakedown, but still.....

 

Al, you sure have a lot of wheel bearing problems, but I'm glad or I would have never met you.

 

Hope you all have fun in York.
I'm not too bright. Less than two weeks and I'm waiting on a head gasket. After our little run, it started leaking coolant, between the block and head, pretty good. I didn't want this to be a missed opportunity to work on it.
Mr Steve Serr has a gasket on its way.

Sure are liking a hood less, fender less car to work on. No A/C, no power steering, no automatic transmission cooler, no nothing to get in the way.
It'll be ready and if not, I will be setting along side it in my folding chair with my hat on waving you by as you motor down I-40.
Larry

 

Larry,
I am certain that you fellows will be ready and have both cars in good order by the time we get there.
George was all set Thursday morning to begin the shakedown to York with the car packed... and it would not start!
He switched to his 56 wagon to not hold us up but he was not happy. ️
His son is going to check it while we are at York. Hopefully it is just something minor that those younger eyes will spot right away.
Due to wet forecast, I drove the 36 Fordy.

6 days

Al

 

George said his son found the very minor thing that keep the car from starting Thursday and fixed it.
Going home in expected wet weather tomorrow from York.

Big news is we got a new recruit from Vermont!! He is a veteran and will be driving his 32 roadster.

More later on new pal, Bart.

4 days!

Al

 

looking forward to lots of pics from the road

 

Yep, Enloe, me too......

 

I'm not making any promises about the timeliness of any pictures from the road but I am going to take enough stuff (I hope!) to do it if I can. Item one will be to get the pictures and hopefully some good ones. Item two will be sharing them with y'all. We'll do our best to accomplish both.

Just got home from York; about an hour ahead of some expected terrible weather in our area.

We got wet now and then but never felt the threat of getting drowned!! All five hot rods made the trip without any significant issues except that George's 56 chevy wagon felt he was a bit too comfortable in the A/C while several of the rest of us were doing without so it vapor locked to bring George back down to earth. A little rest and revision to how much A/C was used, and we were on our way for the rest of the trip.

Just 3 days... yikes!!

Al with much to still do!!

 

All back together. See you all in a week.
Larry

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^^^^Great, Larry!!

I never doubted that you would get 'er done!!

On another note, I've calculated the latest recruit to be 645.1 miles from our Thursday breakfast spot. We are about 200 miles from the same spot. I gotta call him... we ain't holding breakfast!

We've already spoken about him spending Wednesday getting down to Roanoke... we'll figure it out.

Al

 

Bart , is a great guy , and knows the ropes, has traveled with The Bones... Couldn't get spare engine and trans in trunk of Roadster so packed as lightly as possible or was that heavy as possible ?? Heck at this age it doesn't matter...Will be leaving from Hampton before noon Tuesday , heading on the 64 west t rail will pickup 460 trail. Making camp in Roanoke . Early Wednesday off to Dickson Tenn.. to meet Ron ...Will be looking in rearveiw for you guys...

 

Jack, glad to hear that you are ready to ride with your steed in good order. Thanks for taking the pass along 460 to check the trail for us. You might get to see Tourman Tom in Roanoke... he knows ALL the places to stay and eat.
Tom's latest accomplishment is the 32 roadster shown on here early on. You would like that I'm sure.

I'll be working to get Bart caught up on trail plans in the next few days and look forward to his added insight and suggestions, if any. I met him through my fellow Westchester club member, Herb, and Herb said he was a good guy and asked me to watch out for his friend and there is no higher recommendation in my mind and I'll do my best not to disappoint Herb. I look forward to Bart's campfire stories! It is great to have such a veteran along to keep us rookies on the right trail!

Safe travels and we'll follow the trail as marked with yellow lines... thanks.

See you somewhere and call us if you need us.

Al

 

I've ordered a spare stoplight switch and trying to find a spare module for the distributor but no luck yet... maybe it won't quit!
Also installing something I had made for my car.

Dang tough to install as it is tight!
I am determined that after a year to get them made, they ARE going on the car!
One is mostly on there.
Back to the garage.
2 days!!!
Working Al

 

Got them both on!! Look good to me!

Pictures later... I've got to go get my hair cut for "the long trip."

 

Get your hair cut, Al! After all you gotta look good in So Cal 'cause that's right near Hollyweird. You might get into the movies.............Don.

 

Hey, Guys just now seen this post and I am hooking up with Ken from the Rolling Bones on the 11th (Sat) and we will be making our way to Denver and then to Grand Junction to hook up with Judy & I think Peter V. and then on out west. See ya in LA.
The Mayor

 

New LED taillights purchased at York are now installed and they are bright! Hopefully, they will increase our visibility to others and provide an added measure of safety.
Best news is they still flashed without me having to add the special LED flasher that is sometimes required if the LEDs don't blink. The special flasher requires more work as it has to be grounded but it does come with a polarity reversing adaptor if needed.
Thanks, Don, for the kind thoughts but movie material I ain't!
Dinner with the family tonight and a favorite waitress treated ME to a hot fudge cake with ice cream and a cherry on top! And my birthday isn't until tomorrow. Nobody in the family put her up to it either... they were as surprised as I was. I made sure before I left that her unselfish generosity was appropriately rewarded and then some. The dessert was great, as always, but the thought and actions were priceless. And, yes, I did share it with the table.