Projects Shade tree Model A speedster kind of thing

i couldn't find a good used one for my T so i had the old one re-cored and renovated by a local shop.. great score !

 

Thank you. The local shop that did that stuff around here closed a few years ago. Building has been converted for some yuppiefied purpose or other.

In my ongoing and possibly futile quest to make this thing practical (?) transportation, I have decided I need shock absorbers, especially on the front. I am getting a pretty pronounced wheel hop over 50 mph. I'm sure my wheels and suspension have built-in limitations, but I think shocks will help. The car has a full set of Houdailles, but they are all frozen up and none of them have arms. I do have a pair of rear shocks off of a defunct MG TD project, so I decided to use those.

First step was to remove the stock shocks from the front, which was surprisingly easy. I held one of the MG ones up, and was a little concerned to see that there was only about 1/2" clearance between the bottom of the shock and the tie rod.





If I hadn't bent that spring, I'd probably be OK, but I'm pretty sure that those two pieces would come into contact with each other at some point. I played around with tipping the shock this way and that, jumped on the computer and researched whether or not they could be mounted horizontally (inconclusive), and pondered making some kind of bracket to mount them above the frame. Lots of puzzling. Finally, it hit me. Just mount them in front. So I did.



Some of you might think that looks awkward, but I'm a "form follows function" devotee, so I really like it. Only had to enlarge one existing hole and drill one new one on each side. The washer accommodates a narrowing of the frame horns. Look how well the shock arm lines up with the dogbone. I think I'll buy a pair of the ones with holes on the same side , then, if I heat and straighten the arms, it will be perfect.





And finally, just a shot of the whole car from the front, so you can see how they are not as obvious and distracting as the close-ups make them look.




Once I paint them black, I think they'll blend in fine. Hell, I think they fit in fine just as they are. They are from 1952, but that's OK. That design has been around forever, and I already had them, so...

 

Leave as they are.

 

It's funny how things work out. I was checking Ebay for more lever shocks (found a couple off of an MGB pretty cheap) and I found a little wind-up dash clock (also really reasonably priced). The best spot for it turned out to be right over that extra hole I drilled. I had to move the ignition and light switches, which meant that I needed to make a backing plate to cover the holes from them, but the installation was pretty straightforward. I also decided to use the MGB shocks on the front, and I'll put the TD shocks on the back. The arms just line up better. I put my first Speedway parts on this thing. Shock arm balls and dogbones. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to test drive the front shocks. I think I still need to heat those arms and bend them straight. Here are some pictures:

 

But now your toggle switches look too new.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/579400...h_query=industrial+switch&ref=sr_gallery-1-45

 

Dang it. You're right. Thank you for the link. I wish I could find some of those old rotating ones, rather than toggles.

 

https://vintagewireandsupply.com/switch-cover-105-antique-nickel/

Check out the rest of the site for switches.

 

Thank you, Plym. I'll probably wait for something old to fall in my lap, though. I'm on bodywork today. The edges of my wooden body parts are kind of weak, lots of exposed end grain. I've already had to repair the drivers seat a couple of times, split it getting in and out. I thought of facing them with some bronze or aluminum 1/4" half round, but I'd have to nail or screw it into that end grain, which would be inherently so weak that it would really just turn into a cosmetic exercise. I found a chair supply place that sold 1/4" split reed for wicker furniture and bought a lifetime supply (for me, I don't make wicker furniture) for about $10. It's pretty weak across the grain, but really strong in tension (it will break if you bend it, but not if you pull from each end). Once I glue it around the edge of my bodywork, it should reinforce it considerably.

The first step was to flatten the edges with a 4 in hand rasp. I had rounded them slightly back when I built the body, but I need a flat to glue to. You can see the bead and cove edges of the strips pretty well in this picture.



Then I tacked the half round on with tiny nails. It's really flexible, which made taking the bends easy, but also meant that I needed a lot of nails.



Next, just paint on the epoxy and let the capillary action draw it into the cracks. This takes a little time, because you have to keep going back and repeating the process until there are not holidays (little cracks with no glue in them). I used some masking tape to make sure I didn't drip through onto my dashboard and saddlebag. After I was satisfied that I had enough glue penetration, I mixed up a little fairing compound and went over the whole business.



It might be hard to see, but I went around the terminal edges of the rear projection, the seats, and the main cowl. Now it's just a matter of letting it all dry, pulling the nails, hitting it a lick or two with some sandpaper (that fairing compound sands really well), and painting. I might sand the whole body and re-coat it, or just touch up, depending on how I feel.

Here's a picture of a scrap of the half round, just for educational purposes:



I'm pleased with the results, so far. Once it's sanded and painted, it should look better than the exposed end grain did, and, most importanly, it should strengthen the whole structure. And, once again, even though I used a modern epoxy glue, I could have done this with one of the glues they had back in the day. Probably should have, but the epoxy was at hand, so...

 

good job

 

Thank you. I pulled all of the little nails this morning and did some rasping and sanding, then brushed on one more coat of epoxy just to seal the split reed and fill the tiny nail holes. I'll let that dry and sand it lightly, then paint it. Probably next weekend. It's looking pretty good, though. This picture is before the last epoxy was brushed on.

 

That is so Fnnnnnn Kool. I just love this car and your thought process. I'm the same way--- use what ya got!

 

Had an unexpected couple of days off. Yesterday I hand-sanded the body and hood, then gave it another brushed-on coat of paint. Hit the new half-round first, so it got two coats. This morning I made a little video in the fog. Forgot to get a close up of the new shocks, but oh well. You can see I'm not trying too hard with the painting and finishing, in general. Once time and exposure and use knock the shine off of that paint, it'll all blend in pretty well. I am actually capable of putting a pretty nice finish on a wooden boat, but I just haven't bothered with this thing. It's pretty utilitarian, and I like it that way. One of these days I may sand all of that Rustoleum off, do some filling and block sanding, and spray on a nice paint, but I doubt it. Anyway, here's the video:



I've also decided it's time to do a more proper wiring job on this thing. To be perfectly honest, a little mishap that occurred when I was moving switches and hooking them back up kind of prompted this. I don't have any headlights right now. Ha. Back to the point. I need a wiring block, (is transfer block the right term?)
so I took a piece of bronze half-round rubrail:



Did a little cutting and sanding and drilling and tapping:





It mounts on the firewall. I think it will be protected enough. I'll run a feed from the starter post with an inline fuse holder to the bottom terminal, then feed into the dash from the other ones and run them up the steering column. When I get a minute. I'm just going to run the one fuse, like a lot of the Model T guys do. If I'd had sense enough to do that in the first place, I wouldn't be in this fix.





I probably don't need that many spots on that block, but extra won't hurt. Thank you for looking.

 

I see wood piece under brass but are screws going into metal firewall? I also need small wire/fuse holder so watching this part closely

 

Nah, the firewall is wood. The other piece will eventually be glued on just so the screws have a little more bury. I would like to eventually build an old-timey metal clip style fuse holder into it, but for now I'll just run one of those plastic inline doohickeys.

 

Still chipping away in my random fashion. First, I was never happy with my little red charging indicator dash light. Just a little cheap thing from the generic auto parts store.



Too chrome, too shiny, too edgy, too 60's. I was sure the housing was plastic, but I decided to chuck it in the lathe to knock those edges down, thinking I could disguise it somehow. To my delight, I discovered that it is made of brass. Problem solved.





Now, on to the rear shocks. The stock ones were a real pain to get off. No pictures, but the nuts inside the frame rails were rusted to lumps, so I had to hacksaw the heads off from the outside, then hammer on them a bit. Tedious, but effective. Holding the MG TD shocks up revealed a couple of issues. Model A frames splay out in the rear, so the shock arms just wouldn't line up. I considered heating and bending, but the arms are almost too short already, and the amount of bending I needed would just compound that issue. I decided on tapered shims. I made them out of a real hard hickory we milled long ago.





It was kind of hard to hold the shock in place with one hand and take a picture with the other, the shim scooted forward a bit, but you get the idea. There is an inside piece as well, so the bearing surfaces inside and outside are parallel. I know some of you are thinking that wood aint going to work, and you may be right. I can always replace them with steel ones. That's just a lot more trouble, and I didn't have any 1/2" plate lying around. I'm going to try this first, worst that can happen is the wood compresses or splits out and my shocks clang around until I get back home. There should be enough play in the bolts, if I lose the shims, to keep from busting anything. I ordered another pair of ball stud things and dogbones from Speedway. While I wait for them, I have the shims soaking in used motor oil. Should help fight rot, and maybe keep them from compressing.



Yuck. I'll pull them out in a day or so and let them drip dry for another day or so, then I'll report back on this whole experiment. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess.

 

Well, not much has been happening with the speedster, but I did get the shock parts in and got the rear shocks mounted. This is what my hickory wedges looked like after a couple of days in the old oil:



Sorry it's such a terrible picture. I think my ancient phone (ancient for these modern times, about 1/20th the age of the car I'm working on) is on it's last legs. Anyway, they dripped dry over the next couple of days, and turned out pretty nice, if I do say so myself. Remember, one wedge on each side of the frame, opposing each other. Real solid, right now. Some road time will tell the tale.



Don't those new dogbones and that shiny hardware just jump out at you? I'm sure time and miles will blend them in. I hope everybody is healthy and well.

 

If you have problems with them breaking up you could always use the one that hasn't broken for a pattern and cast some from aluminum. Would be a pretty easy casting to make from old melted aluminum parts ( pistons etc ). If you have never cast parts before this would be a great first project ...there are a few threads about it.



e.g.https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...housing-out-of-an-old-intake-manifold.464599/

 

Had a blast reading through you thread. I was interested to see how you incorporated the MG shocks and you nailed it. As you say they dont have the asthetics of friction shocks but will definetley work better and they look functional and cool. Such a sweet build all round. Well done!
On a side note I was pretty impressed in some of the small details like the leather case in the cockpit, and that engine turned dash! Details I must keep in mind.
Cheers,
Josh

 

Hi rwrj, did that piece of rub rail come off of the rescue minor ?

 

Flat44, it didn't. Hahaha. Just a leftover. Josh, thank you. I like them fine, and, even though I wish they were older, the basic design certainly fits my timeframe.
97, that's an intriguing possibility. I did find time for a quick blast this morning, and the wood and shocks stayed tight. I got up close to 70 mph, no more wheel hop, not too wiggly. Granted it was only about 10 miles on paved roads, but I'm encouraged. We'll see, I guess.

 

I love it when a plan comes good!

 

I used the Armstrong shocks on my race car (avatar) front and rear. I bent the arms cold to line up with the points where I wanted them to go. The cool thing about these shocks is you can vary the action (still 50/50)with different viscosity oils. Red Line make them and they are called suspension fluid. There is also a place here in WI that will modify the shocks with external valves so you can adjust rebound or compression. Similar to Koni and others. I have not mess with that yet; still playing with oil

 

Used to put STP in my autocross Bugeye...don't recommend it for the street. Most of my suspension was provided by the slicks running 12 to18 psi depending on course design and surface.

Some one suggested hydraulic Jack oil for road use.

 

You could also use motorcycle fork oil, available at most any motorcycle dealer near you.

 

Somebody said Hydraulic Jack oil also.

 

close to 70 mph !!!...Sheeech Man...You're gonna need a Hickory Roll Cage soon,...Bonneville Next!

This is Insanely Cool...Nice work on the LED's, Shocks, Blocks, Trim, Exhaust...Everything!

 

Thanks, but you guys are giving me credit for being a whole lot more sophisticated than I am, with all of this fine tuning of shocks advice. I just wanted the wheels to stop hopping. Hahaha.
Hilburn,
LED's? Heaven forbid. Hahaha. Seriously, though, I don't want to give the wrong impression about the speed. That's just a brief shot, I usually stick closer to 55ish. Had to work my way up to that with improvements and practice.

 

I been thinking lately about if I'll be able to drive my car on the road. Specifically, the not having a windshield part.

I'm sure your state is different. But did they ever give you a hard time with it?

 

Oregon requires windshield wipers but not a windshield! Go figure.

Dave

 

Wiring this morning. You may recall that I burned my headlight circuit up during the dashboard adventure, so I decided I needed some fuse protection (duh). Just a cheap inline plastic deal with a 20a fuse between the starter feed and the wiring block. It's kind of a dammit nest, because I didn't completely rewire it, just replaced the headlight wiring and made sure all of the rest was protected by the fuse. I originally intended to redo the whole harness a little more intelligently (I started originally with just an ignition circuit and kind of kept adding stuff as I needed it), but I quickly decided that I didn't feel like replacing circuits that were working. If it aint broke...



It looks better with the hood closed. Hahahaha