Projects A Speedster Comes Out of the Weeds—Build Thread

Glad to see it on the road!

 

Last month my brother and I talked about doing the Swindlers Poker Run--it is, after all, World Famous--but the car still needs a lot of tinkering before it's ready for prime time. Most pressing is a horrible wobble in the front end around 25-30 mph. Did some measuring yesterday and discovered I have one inch of toe-in. I'm hoping that's the issue..

 

We need WAY more road pictures of this beauty!!

You did SO good!!!

 

I feel like this thread deserves an update....considering how bad an influence I've been lately

 

What did you do?
Please tell ud it was a Road trip and you took plenty if pictures!

 

To quote one of the greats....

"Impatiently waiting"

 

^^^ Yes sir !!

 

Well, yes, I’m long overdue. I guess the story can finally be told.

When we last left off, the speedster had just made her maiden run. Fun! I was looking forward to a nice relaxing winter, fiddling with a few easy things while I got her ready to putter around next summer.

Then Hitchhiker, aka the Parts Whisperer, had to come along. In one fell swoop he blew up my low-key plans and my bank balance. Specifically:


B-block with C-crank. Lots of machine work already done, including beefed up main and cross-drilled crank.


’39 trans with Zephyr gears and Ansen adaptor, ready to bolt in.


Original Riley 2-port.

So, no more parade-car putterer for me. Thanks to Hitchhiker, looks like I’ll be putting the “speed” in speedster.

Couldn’t be happier, even if my hot rod funds are wiped out for the foreseeable future. This thing is going to be bad-ass. Thanks Matt!

 

Wow. Please do your usual good thorough job of explaining how those 3 go together, and lots of pics.

 

oooo Drivetrane candy , cant wait to see that come together

 

WOW JUST WOW, could this get any Better! Congrats, Gary

 

Hey, thanks for that. I appreciate the positive feedback. My last few months have been exactly that—me sitting in the garage staring at everything and thinking thinking thinking about how I’m going to pull it all together.

I promise, I’ll document everything.

 

Oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.And now the fun really begins.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Looks like you'll really put some "speed" into that speedster! Look forward to the updates.

Sent from my SGH-T399 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

You forgot the part about that silly flathead head I convinced you to buy and the funny shiny carbs...

 

Hey @ClarkH now I know why you went with those big hood vents...to be repurposed as air brakes......you may have to upgrade your back pad on your seat...thanks for the twists and turns to the checkered flag...

 

NICE! Nice to see an original Riley, like the outside rocker oil lines. Bob

 

Oh my!!!

 

It's been a long time since I checked in on this thread... I'm sooo jealous of your progress. You do realize I just spent an hour reading your thread that I could have spent on my chassis! Looking forward to seeing the first cruise with the new powertrain... great work.

 

I know, man, where you been? Ha, like I'm one to talk. But I'm back now! Sorry about the lost hour. Hope it was at least entertaining.

Thanks Stogy! Oh man, those panels...


So last week I dug them out and gave them a good look. The old chrome is hopeless and some have pretty severe pitting. Finally decided you know what, with all that shiney new paint, I really should bite the bullet and have the things chromed. So I took them into the plater. Very nice guy, he looked them over, thought about it a bit, and finally shot me a number: $225. My heart sang! And then he said, "Each." Uh, that's $2,500 out the door after taxes. Yikes! So long story short, it's back to Plan A: they're getting painted.

Oh man, this kind of falls under the category of "embarrassment of riches." Here's the "silly" head that Hitchiker convinced me to buy:


It's an original cast iron unit. Don't let that rattle-can red paint fool you, it's a 6:1 yellow head. Hitch talked me into it right before the Riley came along. So plan now is to run the Winfield on my current A engine while the B gets built and fitted with the Riley. And sorry, don't bother to PM, because my brother and Hitchhiker are already elbowing each other in line hoping to get it when I'm done.


One nice thing about rattle-can paint is that it strips off easy. The head is currently enjoying a molasses bath, primarily to de-rust the water jacket.

 

You might be surprised at the power output of that Winfield. Any chance it is a crowsfoot? If so never leave it out of your sight.

 

At least you asked......Hey minimalist is fine too...You will find other ways of balancing what pleases you (some finely applied pin-striping perhaps)...but yes the value of services packs a punch many times with our toys...Maybe some will appear in the future.

Almost don't want to ask but heck did you ever give that spray chrome a thought? Polished Copper Plate?

​

 

You should ask your palter what it would cost to get the old chrome stripped, it will make priming & paint go a lot quicker with bare steel as a starting point. Merry Christmas! Bob

 

My plan for the Winfield is to put that v8 in your brothers car

 

Well, that would be cool. Ashamed to say I wouldn't know how to spot the difference, so I'll post a picture after it emerges from its soupy brown spa treatment.

Everybody remember the scene in the movie "A Christmas Story," where Ralfie's brother lifts the toilet seat and the camera cuts to a shot of mom lifting the lid off a pot of sloppy brown stew? Yeah, I see it too...

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I hear you, Stogy. Fact is, I suspected chroming would be out of range right now, but had to find out for sure. May still do it someday, but right now I can get a lot more bang for the buck elsewhere, like a new interior. And she still needs a windshield, aprons with louvers, fenders... chrome is somewhere over the rainbow...

Meanwhile, just to show I'm making progress, here's pics from last night, which I spent making stainless brackets for the hood panels.


Man ten panels is a LOT.

Bob, that is an excellent suggestion. I'll call the guy today!

You're right, that car is begging for a V8. And he's already got an 8RT just sitting in the back of the shop, for crying out loud. But as you can see, he needs a little prompting to get the project moving again:

 

As long as you're going paint ...... someone near you probably applies that paint that specifically mirrors chrome. Alta-chrome or similar. Good enough probably. Then again, blue may be good enough twice.

 

Just went through the thread, Wow, don't forget about powder coating, they do a chrome like coating, could work.

 

Also, you could Nickel them. I love the look of good, thick nickel plating. Not too shiny, but better than chrome paint. It can be done in your garage too... search YouTube for directions.

 

We’re coming up on Christmas and the two-year anniversary of this thread. I’ve made a lot of progress in that time, and sure appreciate everyone’s advice and input as you’ve followed along.

I’ve recently launched about half a dozen projects and upgrades that will be going concurrently over the next few months. Some have been “foreshadowed” already in this thread, but I figured I’d use the holiday to update everyone more fully on what’s going on.

I’ll start with the splash aprons. Here they are again, as found:


They’re 50s-era homemade, but actually pretty well done. They have a rolled edge and a nice gentle taper along the bottom that appears to mimic the shape of the original Mercury aprons. (I won’t be re-using the chrome spears.)

First step was to strip the many layers of old paint, then hammer-and-dolly them back to fairly straight.


I now need to shrink one stretched area, and weld in a patch where somebody cut an access hole (project for this afternoon, hopefully). I originally thought these were made of galvanized steel, but after I stripped them I wasn’t so sure. One side looks galvanized, the other doesn’t. Turns out, it doesn’t really matter. I did some research, and despite some alarmist online comments, it turns out you can weld galvanized safely with good ventilation and a mask rated for zinc oxide—both of which I already have.

The plan is to louver the aprons in the style of the old Bugatties, as seen again in this classic shot of Bugatti Queen Helle Nice.



There’s a twist, however. The louvers on the right side will end a foot early, leaving a blank space for a hole through which the exhaust will exit. I want to bring it out just ahead of the rear tire. I think it will look pretty cool.

An aside on exhaust: I decided the straight pipe wouldn’t cut it, so I got this Porter muffler, which by an odd coincidence matches the car’s paint. But that’s temporary—think I’ll paint it high-temp black.


I’m here to tell you, that Porter is a heavy sucker. Don't’ think it will rust through in my lifetime.

More to come…

 

Happy to see the aprons making it back to the car!