Jim, that is an amazing adventure. Getting something that forgotten and bringing it back is priceless. I can only imagine all the fun you have with it Maybe instead of boattail or speedster, some kind od woody may be in order? Good luck!
Thanks! I actually am planning on painting it...once I figure out what all it needs repaired, and what to do with the body. I don't really want to make a complicated wood body for it, for one thing, it adds weight, and this thing has barely enough power to move without a body. If I do add a body, it will be a very basic, crude early race car type tail. It won't look like a boat, that just takes too much work. The concept I have in mind, is to make it look like something that was built at home a long time ago. After driving it around the yard a few more times, the engine is leaking oil pretty well out of the front. I ordered a set of new spark plugs, ten bucks, which will let me use modern plug wires. The old plug wires are really bad, and might be contributing to it running not quite perfectly. Oh, one other thing I did yesterday, I forgot to mention, I put a muffler on it. The engine itself still sounds quiet, no knocking. I think it might be ok internally. I'm thinking that when it's time to fix everything a little more "right" and make it look good, I can pull it all apart, sandblast and brush paint the chassis parts. Carefully clean the engine, pull off the oil pan and see about fixing the seals, and then brush paint the assembled engine. I don't really see any need at this time to pull the head, or the pistons. It has darn good compression, and doesn't seem to be losing any water. Which I find amazing.
You are blowing the budget all to hell! Glad to hear it runs/sounds as well as it does. Great work Jim!
Just a thought I have. So when ya go to the parts store and say I want plugs, wires, or whatever for a 1928 Chevy do they ask you what motor you have. Or if it has white walls or A/C? HA HA Joe
Jim you are having to much fun ! these are always the projects that I enjoy the most bringing something back to life. if you dont want to tear that old carb apart try some seafoam in the fuel usually works wonders. what ever you do with it in the future it is already cool
thanks! When I need parts, I spend some time on the computer and looking at old catalogs and stuff, and figure out the part number I need...then tell them the part number...then if they ask for the year/model/color I just say their computer don't go back to 1928. You gotta know more than the salesman. Always. I started in on the wiring today, which meant taking out the dashboard. It's a rusty mess. But I did find enough brass fittings to install an old pressure gauge to see how the oil system works. 9 psi idling cold, not bad!
We have three of them...and a Suburban...and a step van.... I got new spark plugs today, Autolite 3076 which according to some looking up are close to a good replacement for the AC 78 plugs that were in it. They have a modern connector, so I can use modern plug wires, which I have laying around. Anyways...newer plug wires did a lot for the misfiring problem. I also noticed the intake manifold is pretty cold when idling on a warm afternoon....maybe they put that heated air tube in there for a reason? there's no accelerator pump on this thing, and it likes to stumble. So I put the tube back in, from the exhaust pipe heat exchanger to the carb inlet, and it likes it. Runs better. I went for another short drive around the garage, it's running pretty good! I got into 2nd gear, too. The cowl sure moves around a lot when driving, as does the hood, nothing is secured very well. Time for some more video. Sorry, no driving action in this one, it's exciting enough driving with two hands, not holding a camera!
I think they made those things to operate on a constant loss system. It would have been nice if they had put all the mains in the pan. Or even most of them. I guess that is why driveways had a gravel strip in the center in those days.
I haven't looked into how the seals work. I did see main bearing cap bolts between the oil pan and flywheel... After removing the dash, I also removed the lower window sill (or whatever it's called) at the rear, top of the cowl. And the piece of wood that it was all nailed to. That's the only piece of wood that was left in the body. I was looking at the shape of the cowl, it flares out quite a bit...not quite what I need for a speedster. I was thinking I could cut a pie shaped piece out of each top corner, and straighten it out and narrow it a bit. But I'll deal with that later. I also removed the hood, I had been dreading trying to unscrew the nuts off the radiator support rods, but they came loose very easily. After taking off the hood, I tightened them back up. The whole thing is getting rather floppy, there's not much support in the bare cowl. Wiring...I screwed a piece of thin plywood to the top edge of the cowl, to make a new mini dashboard. Installed an old SW ammeter and a toggle switch for ignition. I was really curious about the generator, it was kind of sticky, but I got it to turn easily, and the brushes looked good. The cutout relay on top also looked to be in good condition, I cleaned the contacts on it. I wired it to the ammeter, and fired it up...it works! Now on to the next challenge.
WOO-HOO!!! But before you spend too much time in 2nd gear don't forget what you said earlier about the brakes... Like the background music at the end of your last video. "Come Together" seems like an appropriate theme song for this project.
Can't help but to smile when reading this thread! Thanks for taking us with you on this adventure Jim! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Jim - just read the post about the idle tube. The idle tube is inserted into a passage that has a slight taper at the top. This causes the tube to seal itself at the top when inserted, as the taper will squeeze the tube. Once removed, the tube needs to be expanded at the top slightly, maybe 0.001 inch so it will correctly seal when reused. And the idle screw works in reverse to common use; that is, turn it in (clockwise) to make the mixture richer. The screw meters air. Jon.
I was told by an old timer when I was just a kid that is exactly why driveways had two strips and dirt, gravel, weeds in the center. If I remember correctly he said the cars I drove all leaked something if not everything. That's how I knew it had oil or water in it. If it didn't leak I needed to check it! Joe
I would think the driveways had two strips because it was less expensive to build them that way...labor was less expensive than materials. But I could be wrong.
I did some more tinkering...took the radiator off, just to see what's involved with that. It had a lot of tree debris in the top of it, I finally got almost all of it out. leaves and nuts. I've been thinking about the body, and what it would take to make one that would look like an old race car, but not tax my meager metalworking or woodworking skills. I have a rough plan, involving lumber and a table saw, we'll see how that goes. But first I need to work on the cowl. I think I want to put a sheet of plywood on it even with the top rear edge, going down as far as the dashboard would go, then to the floor along the edges where the door jambs used to be. I was thinking about cutting the metal back even, and attaching some angle iron down the sides. The body would be one piece. I also decided to play with the seating position, and so I got the 31 Chevy passenger seat out of the bread truck, and set it on the floor. I loosened the clamp bolts on the steering gear, so the column could drop down a few inches. The position is pretty good now, not too high, not too low, decent leg position and pedal action, etc. Knowing where the seat will be, lets me work on the body design. I need to do something about the brakes. I'll probably take the front drums off and blast the inside, and maybe try to turn them at a friend's shop. The drums are really thin, steel, so I don't know how that will work.
Jim check out this thread, " A Speedster Comes Out of the Weeds—Build Thread" A guy finds old speedster left in weeds for 40 years.
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