Projects Cadillac Powered 28 Model A Roadster Project Learning Experience

NICE! keep us posted!

 

Thank you for the kind words everyone. I am itching to get the car on the road.

 

hey 63, thanx for the link. i really like your build. your pics answered a lot of questions. i am building a roadster myself and it is my first hot rod build. i am looking for quarter panels, do you still have your old ones? i only have pieces from 30\31 sport coupes, and i would really like 28\29 roadster panels. new ones are way out of my price range. thanx, ron

 

Nothing wrong with your shackle angle as it sits now. When they are at a 45 they'll have less sway. That's important with a cross steer car.

One thing to consider if you want to get the car lower for free. Machine the top loop of the wishbone to a thinner state. Then countersink the top more. Might pick up almost a half inch for $0.

 

Thank you for the kind words. I do have some parts quarters, but they are really bad and they actually will end up going to the guy I sold my old back half and another roadster cowl to. I can reach out to him and see if he is willing to sell it. I don't think he has any plans for it as of now.

Thank you for the tech advice. I did not think about the cross steer factor. That is a good idea to lower as well. It may be low enough now with the leaves removed. I should push it outside to get a better view. I was only thinking of 1/4" -1/2" longer shackles to get it down just a little more, but maybe I am too picky.

 

that would be great if you reach out to him for me. thanx again

 

It looks like he already pieced a body together out of it.

 

hey man, thanx for checking. at least they're being used

 

I have been chipping away at the car as time allows. I have been working on the footwell area. I started by making a framework around the transmission to a lot for the transmission tunnel.

Then I started on the toe board area. I did not take a picture of just that process. I notched the firewall for the clutch and brake pedals. The steering column will fit between them. It will be an interesting puzzle to fit it all in that tight space.

Finally, I have been working on the floor panels for the front. I chose to do them in wood. When the car is done, I plan to have wood with rubber inserts in this area.


Next up is to trim the driver toe board for the pedals.

 

SO I have been able to get back into the garage. On February 19th my wife and I welcomed our first child. Our daughter is beautiful and it is such an AWESOME feeling to be a dad.

I was in a parts gathering mode for a while. In talking with some buddies, it was suggested that I try stock manifolds on the Cadillac. After some searching on Facebook, I put a wanted ad on the HAMB and a bunch of people offered up manifolds from different OHV Cadillacs. I was able to settle on a 56 passenger and a 53 or 4 driver side manifold. I think the driver side will clear the steering etc.

Really the next step in the project is to figure out where the steering column was going to end up so I can get the steering squared away. It is annoying to move the car without a steering wheel hooked up.

Yesterday I decided to tackle the project. I had been kicking around the idea of using a 36 Ford dash. After a day of thrashing at Titus' place and talking with him, he suggested trying to retain the stock Model A dash rail with the 36 dash. Basically, he was thinking to mount the 36 dash behind the A dash rail. This is what I started with.

I started by clipping the ends of the dash off so it would fit the width of the Model A cowl.

The next step was to modify the glove box opening to clear the A dash rail. I sliced the top right corner near the edge of the opening so I could stretch it down.

That caused me to have to narrow the opening by a 1/2" to get the top of the box to line up with the bottom. Next I made a patch to fill the old opening.

After a bunch of slow sheet metal welding and grinding, I test fit the dash rail over the top of the 36 dash. (sorry for the blurry picture)

Next was the really fun part to slice off the top of the 36 dash since it would be in the way of the A dash rail. I didn't grab a picture of that. Then the fun of mocking it up in the car.


I am really happy with the way it turned out. There is still some more work to do. I want to make a structure to secure the bottom of the 36 dash to the cowl so the steering column will be solid in the car. I also need to trim the waterfall to fit and get the glove box door modified for the opening. Hopefully I can get in the garage again soon when the baby is asleep. I am also on the lookout for an era correct (1954 or so) tach to fit in the radio hole of the dash. 3 1/8" should work with a little massaging. Let me know if you have anything.

 

Very nice fab work. Time consuming but will look cool when done. And you can say you did it!

Ryan.
P. S. Congrats on the new baby girl.

 

Thank you Ryan! I had never done anything like that before and I figured the worst case I wreck a 36 Ford dash.

Also thank you for the congrats on our daughter.

 

Since our daughter made her appearance I have been able to make it out to the garage occasionally. I decided to shift gears a little bit to the body. Last summer I replaced the original back half I got with the body initially with a much more solid unit. It still needs a little help as there is still rust to contend with and a bunch of dents. The first area I tried my hand at was probably the worst of the rot on the body; the area between the driver door and rear wheel well.

I started by taking the hammer and dolly and trying to get the quarter closer to where it originally lived. The quarter was dented in and it is sometimes difficult to see where you need to hit from the back side of the dent. I used chalk to mark the high spots on the back side of the body that needed bashing. I forgot to grab a picture.

After that it was time to take the cutoff wheel and cut out the rot.


From there it was fit the panel to the body.

Tack tack tack.

And grind smooth.

I am decently happy with the results. I haven't done a ton of sheetmetal welding. The hardest part is stopping myself from welding the panel at once. When I get in the groove, I want to keep at it, but I also want to prevent the panel from warping as much as possible.

 

great work as per usual - I really like the dash.
I see your windscreen tilts in and out - what holds it closed?
thanks for the update

 

Thank you for the compliments! I am really happy with the dash. I think all said and done it will be awesome. I just need to find an early 50s vintage Stewart Warner tach to fit where the ashtray used to reside. Eventually I will find one I am sure.

The windscreen frame has studs built into it and bolts hold the screen in place one way or another. Eventually I will chop the posts and lean them back a little bit. I will say though that the more I look at the stock height and lean the more I like it.

 

Well, progress has been slow on the car as of late. Summer is always tough in MinneSNOWta because you have to get out and and enjoy the car cruising season when you can. I was lucky to drive the piss out of my Fairlane this summer and get to some swaps and cruises and shows. I have been able to track down some parts at least.

When I was at Iola, I saw a decklid that was nicer than the one that came with my body. I decided (after a few months) that it should be mine and I had my uncle pick it up at Fall Jefferson.

I was also on the hunt for a tach. I put a want ad in the classifieds and was contacted by a fellow HAMBer (@fleetside66 ) that had one he was willing to give up. Needless to say I was pretty pumped. It apparently is NOS 1945. It should work well for the project. I am a little worried about the max RPM (3500) so I may run it 1/2 speed (1000 RPM on the tach is 2000 RPM on the motor).

Now the fun part of figuring out how to drive it. I think I will attempt to run it off of a generator. A tach drive dizzy might be a little too hard to come by.

 

Any progress on the roadster?

 

Liking this build and the choice of power plant.
Congrats on the youngin,nothing tops that!

 

It has been tough to get out to the garage. 6 months ago we welcomed number 2 kid. The more kids you have, the harder it is to get out to the garage for some reason.

I did pick up a Brookville driver door for it last summer. I got a little frustrated trying to get the driver door to line up correctly. I know Model As are a little tricky to get the body aligned. I does not help the subframe is pieced together. This piece has really got me a little bummed about the project and I am having a difficult time getting past this door thing. I think I need to get another set of eyes on it. Thank you for reaching out. I would like to get this thing on the road sooner rather than later.

 

Checking in on this project...

 

I have been plugging along, but progress is slow and there isn't much to see. I basically have the car stripped down the bare frame and I am finish welding everything before I send it to sandblasting so I can powdercoat the frame, axel, wishbones, and ladder bars.

The two little ones have been occupying most of my free time. I do get a chance to get out to the shop every now and again.

Thank you for checking in. That might be the kick in the butt I need.

 

Looks great, keep plugging away when you can.

 

I have had a few nights in the garage recently. Still plugging away at finish welding and trying to pretty up (read grind my not so elegant welds) the frame. I notched the frame at the front crossmember to give the spring a little more room to move. Before I did this the spring had about 1/2” of travel.


I also picked up some new tail lights for the project from the classifieds on the HAMB. 1947 Kaiser. I was at Iola a few weeks ago and also picked up a spare set of NOS lenses and bezels just in case.


I also picked up a headlight bar to modify and keep the headlights a little more stable hopefully.


It feels good to be out in the garage.

 

Any more progress?

 

Of all the cool hot rod terms I learned in my youth, I always thought "Fordillac" was one of the coolest.
Cool Fordillac!

 

I can always count on the community to keep me going.

I have had some time to work on the car, but I recently picked up a 1960 Ford 9 passenger Country Sedan. That has really thrown a wrench in my garage space situation. On top of that my 63 Fairlane blew a head gasket late in the season so I have been working to get that back on the road. Baby 3 is on his way due in February and the Fairlane needs to be ready to bring him home. With any luck the motor swap will be done this next weekend so I can get back on the roadster. The wagon is too big to work on in my garage in the winter.

Here is a photo of the "wrench in the works." I am loving, but it needs everything though it is running and driving. I picked it up in LA and drove it home to MN over Labor Day Weekend.


I have made some progress on the Roadster. I was able to finish up the welding on the frame. It was a really wierd feeling. I have been working on that thing for 5 years and all of the sudden there wasn't anything left to weld.

I loaded it up in the wagon to get it sandblasted.


Then off to a friend's shop for powdercoat.



I am happy with the outcome. It looks far better than the old blue paint that was on it. It feels good to have it one color.

The hope is to get it back to a roller at least by Spring. Maybe further.

 

Sounds like you need a wagon! My second was born last week. Your getting a lot more done than me, keep it up. I'm going to keep checking in on this build.

 

Any more progress?

 

Not much to report on the Roadster. I ended up getting laid off earlier this year and just recently found employment again. Needless to say project car spending came to a halt.

I made a dolly to move it around easier.

 

This thread is not dead. Just in a bit of hibernation.

Over the last year or so I have slowly plugged away at the project. I got my personal powder coating setup up and running.



I know that spray paint would be easier, but this has been fun and yielded some good results.

Satin black on small parts.

Anodized aluminum on the bellhousing. It plays the part really well of fresh aluminum in person.

Then it was time to look at the Cadillac 390 again.

It needed a rear main seal so it was a fun task to get the replaced. It included pulling all of the main caps off so I could slightly lift the crank to remove the top part of the 2 part seal.

Here is the aftermath.


Then it was time for a bomb can rebuild. I have been going back and forth on engine color. I want it to make a statement and show of the Cad since the car will be pretty simple otherwise. I landed on gold.

We will see if that ends up being the final option. It is growing in me but bronze was also calling to me.

That’s where I’m at for now. I would really like to make some progress this winter and at minimum make it a roller again. It’s been apart far too long.