Projects 26 T Roadster Pick Up build Thread

Larry, the pickup might just be the coolest hot rod you have built to date, I absolutely love it! HRP

BLUE ONE

 

Thanks Danny.

 

Vancouver Island Covid cruise social in Nanaimo on September 2nd. Fun times.

 

Cleaned up shiny and out on the town.

 

Larry, seeing the roadster pickup and hearing it is two entirely different things, I knew it looked great but I now know it sounds great, congratulations all the work sure paid of big time. HRP

 

Sounds like a sweet HOT ROD to me.

 

We need to see it at least once in the snow with chains. The driveway would be fine.

 

Sounds great Larry.


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Been away from this thread (and every other thread) for FAR too long! Larry, the pickup looks AMAZING!

 

Thanks Eric.
And it’s so much fun to drive.

 

I followed @mctim64 ‘s valve lash adjustment procedure on his video and then took it out for a ride.
It’s pretty cool here today but I didn’t want to come back to the garage

It’s really running nice with the valves adjusted.
Thanks Tim

 

You gotta share the video.

 

You bet Tim. I was considering that but I was busy putting some miles on the RPU

 

Cool video. So there's no lock nut of any kind on those adjusters?

Trucks sounds good Larry. I always enjoyed doing a valve adjustment and then listening to the engine afterwards to see how well a job I did. Run the rack on a Cummins or Detroit for a real thrill!

 

Thanks, it really makes a difference in the way it runs.

No lock nuts one of the adjusters seemed looser than it should be but the rest were fairly snug while adjusting.

I’ll keep an eye on it if it doesn’t keep the adjustment setting it’s easy to hear when it goes out of adjustment. Tap tap tap

 

If one seems a bit loose just take the adjuster out and smash it a little in a vice. Makes them tight again.

 

@mctim64 do you have a preference for the non lock nut adjusters over the ones equipped with lock nuts Tim?
Is one better than the other?

I just wondered because I did a little digging under my workbench into my little stash of Y Block parts and re -discovered a pair of complete rocker arms in really nice condition with full set of the lock nut adjusters.

If I have problems keeping the lash in adjustment I could change them over.

Larry

 

Either kind is good, I like the interference type for race engines because they are lighter but the ones with the lock nut do stay adjusted better. I would say in your case just go with what's on it for now and if one or two have a habit of backing off just do the thread mash as I suggested. That always seems to do the trick.

 

Sounds good Tim

 

Well, today was a good day.
I sorted out my saga of y block valve lash adjustment.

I attempted to follow Tim’s advice regarding the interference fit valve lash adjusters but no matter what I tried, smashing the thread a little in the vice or lightly tapping on the threads to deform them trying to tighten up the fit nothing worked.

I had 4 rockers that refused to stay in adjustment. The interference fit adjusters were loose and easy to turn almost without a wrench.

Before I gave up I tried a serious crush in the vice and you guessed it snap the adjuster self destructed.

See the picture. A serious oh shit moment

At that point I said screw it (even though I have extra interference adjusters and could replace the broken one) and got out the spare rockers and cleaned up the lock nut equipped adjusters.


Now that I have them installed and adjusted my engine runs even better and the lash adjustment will last longer.

Interestingly enough I tried the interference adjusters by threading them into my spare rockers and it became apparent that they would work on them quite well.

The threads in the rockers on my engine are obviously a little oversized on the 4 troublesome rockers.

I’m happy now, the RPU is running better than ever.

 

The saga continues. Winter brings time for garage days with the heater running and time to do upgrades and improvements.

I had some issues with the fuel system and along with changes and improvements that I’ll post later was being unable to shut off the fuel from the tank to allow something as simple as removing the fuel filter canister from the bottom of the fuel pump.

Trying that would lead to the gas tank emptying itself out onto the garage floor.

There was also the possibility of flooding the engine with a whole bunch of fuel if a carb valve ever leaked while sitting.

Being the type of guy I am I wasn’t going to be satisfied with just installing a manual shut off valve.

I wanted a solenoid valve that was on with the ignition and off when the ignition was off.

The valve also had to have a manual lever to operate it manually in case the solenoid failed or lost power for some reason.

That’s hard to find.
Apparently it’s a marine regulation for those valves in some parts of the world to keep a boat from being stranded out on the water.

I ended up ordering one up from Sea Screw, a UK marine supplier.
Details later on the installation.



I’ll also post on the other upgrades as they happen.

 

So here’s the installation of the Solenoid valve.
Since the valve came from England naturally it’s supplied with fittings that aren’t friendly with our sizes of tubing etc.

For example. It comes with the compression fittings for 10 mm steel or copper tubing.

Naturally since I have 3/8” Ni-cop fuel line that wouldn’t work.

Plan B. It also comes with the 10mm hose barbs you see in the picture.

My solution was to machine off the hose bumps and then modify a couple of 3/8 tubing compression fittings by removing the threads and drilling to snugly fit over the now smooth hose barb.

A little silver brazing and presto adapters.

After that it was pick a spot and fabricate a little stainless steel mounting bracket secured by a couple of 1/4 bolts into inserts.

Along with that was disconnecting and draining the fuel line to cut it and bend the offsets to connect to the valve.

Next comes opening up the wiring to add a fused power supply that’s on in the start and run position.

 

Very nicely done and the install matches the rest of what you have done...tidy!! JW

 

The last part of the installation involved the power supply for the solenoid.

Tearing into the wiring is fun when you wrap it all up and loom everything.

Not impossible but more work than just stringing a wire Willy nilly like some guys would do.

Not me Of course I opened up everything and used a spare circuit on the Rebel fuse panel and then added the wire to the bundle got it out to the solenoid and wrapped it up again just as it was before.

Tested it out and it works perfectly

 

We've come to expect nothing but the best from you...

 

Looking good

 

We expected it to be ''Perfect'' JW

 

Blue one.... can I ask where you found those wheel stands?


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Ditto on the wheel stands

 

Thanks guys I like building towards reliability and functional detail is a big part of that.

The wheel stands are something I built.
Cut from 3/16” steel plate and welded up.
12” high, they’re nice to have.