Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

The coil is a new, high-output unit from FSI. If the problem persists with the new setup, I will look into a coil issue. I'm excited to say that the fuel pump is one of the next items on the list. Seeing that I'm surrounded by hills on all sides, I think that will help big time.

Very cool. I think I am going to build my next seat from scratch, so that is good information to have.

Thanks, Tim! Haha you caught me on the job. Wish we could have connected to catch up. As much as I like the idea of lowering it, I feel like it may not be worth tearing down the suspension in the foreseeable future. Now if I had a shop to work in, that might be a different story.

Thank you! It was a gift from my brother years ago. Still dangerously sharp and extremely useful. No earthquake retrofit at this time. We got a new garage door! You can get the full story on the Journal here.

Thank you! Good idea about the blockage. When I take it apart to install the fuel pump, I'll make sure the petcock and fuel line is clean. I'm with you on the top. It takes on a whole new persona.

 

Hahah @barrnone50 I don't think it even had doors at the time.

No condenser on this car. It has electronic ignition from FSI. It very well could be the coil, but it's suspect that it dies specifically on hills. I will give the tank another rinse when I have everything apart to do the fuel pump.

Thank you! I'm always keeping Seattle Speed in mind!

It's like Thanksgiving dinner all over again. Great idea.

It only running a 1/4-inch fuel line from the filter to the carb at this time. I may need to bump it up if the problem persists. We shall see!

 

Thanks for tuning in. I have some pretty exciting things planned for the coming months!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Plenty more stories on the way.

The filter is clean, and the gas flows into the carb. New pump and some of the tubing has arrived. I'm still waiting on my flaring tool, but the pieces are coming together.

So so cool. Was that a Portland car? It's interesting how similar that top is to mine. Even the rivet/attachment points and the seams appear to be pretty close. I wonder if this was some sort of aftermarket top available at the time? Maybe Jack may recall.

Thank you! I'm so excited that I unearthed it. I love how the car looks with it. It gives it a totally different profile.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check it out!

Hahah fair questions! We both give it pretty high marks for comfort, but a longer ride will tell the tale. That being said, Lindsey and I have covered some serious miles over just about every terrain on my survivor Ironhead chopper; almost anything is more comfortable than that!

 

Well, it's been quite the weekend with the car. Busy? Yes. Productive. Eh, not so much. Now that we have our new garage doors, I was able to get everything set up and organized just like it was. Once that was done, I rolled the roadster out and prepared to install the new brake shoes, springs, Timken bearings and drums. In addition, I wanted to go with the Flathead Ted full floating brake setup.

Last week, I spent a few nights studying how everything was to go together. Research, then dry assembly on the kitchen table after breakfast. You know how it goes. The plan was to do one brake Saturday and one Sunday—just taking it slow and learning. Well, I did some learning, that's for sure.

The whole thing was way harder than I expected. Over the course of two long days, I managed to only get one of them on—and I'm pretty sure it has to come apart again. I'm almost embarrassed to post this, but it's important to share every aspect of this build. Even the not-so-great ones.

For this project, there were problems from all sides. First and foremost, the instructions provided by Flathead Ted were confusing. Day #1 was spent tearing down the old front brake setup and trying to make sense of the convoluted directions. It was clear that someone had done a brake job in the past 90 years and, even though all the pieces were there, I had to go through and tighten bolts, add new cotter pins and apply fresh LocTite. After the sun went down, I discovered that I was not alone in my frustration with the instructions, and I found some more suitable ones online.

Today, I approached the brakes with fresh eyes and a can-do attitude. Well, that didn't exactly go as planned. As I put the new setup together, I realized some uneven wear in the upper adjusting shafts. Rather than throw in the towel, I scavenged one from another set of brakes that I had on hand. It was fun digging into them and finding the parts that I assumed would make the brakes work as advertised. From there, I spent the remainder of the afternoon installing, testing, cutting, grinding, sweating, swearing and wondering how the hell these things are supposed to actually work. By the time it got dark, I had everything re-assembled.

This is what I started with:

Then this:
Getting some parts...
A lot of work to get to this point:

With the new bearings greased and installed, I found that the wheel has more resistance when spun than the previous setup—unless I have the spindle nut looser than I feel comfortable with. With the spindle nut tighter, it increases the resistance. I used green grease, which I understand is waterproof, high heat resistant and ideal for trailer wheel bearings. Do you think I just need to drive it a bit for the resistance go down?

I feel like you guys might get a kick out of this last part.

So what's the best way to test your new brake? How about reversing down your driveway and seeing how you stop. How'd it do? Wayyyy better. I then shifted into first and gave it some gas—right towards the new garage door opening. Again, another great stop. Encouraging stuff.

Closing thoughts: after thinking about the assembly, I realized that the brake operating pin needed an aftermarket shim to get the upper brake arm at the correct angle, and that the brake adjustment shafts may have been excessively worn. Those pieces are relatively cheap to replace, so I figure I will order them and give it another shot.

At this point, should I just have gotten juice brakes? Yes. But I have a plan, and I'm doing everything I can to stick with it and keep on making progress—even if it is a little bit at a time.

Just like they say, "The good things are hard, and the hard things are good." I'll keep that in mind.

 

Thank you and thanks for following the build! I've learned a whole lot thus far, and I'm looking forward to the build thread on your car soon! Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

Also, that is a great thread on the 'Barn. I downloaded the Snyders instruction sheet so I can print it out in the morning. I have a lot more reading to do!

You got it, Tony! My brother has been itching to build a Model A hot rod for the past few years. I think with all my spares we can get him up and running.

Amen to that. I'm already itching to get back into the brakes even though I said I was going to give it a rest for a day.

Great article, Marty! Jack's Deuce was extremely cool, as were his other machines. In today's dollars, his top was $760 and the side curtains were $140. Still a great deal. I should ask the previous owner if my top came from the Portland area.

Thank you! That really really means a lot. I've ordered some replacement parts, talked to friends who have done this before, and I am continuing to research. We will get this figured out.

Great technique. I will do just that after the brake job is complete!

Nice, I will look for those. Thank you for the heads up! I would have gravitated towards barbed but I am glad that I know to avoid them.

 

Nothing much to report for today. I exchanged emails with Flathead Ted, made some phone calls and bought a bunch of new parts for the brake system. I forgot to post this, but I also got my fuel pressure gauge that was removed from a fellow H.A.M.B.er's front engined dragster. I need to figure out what NPT it is to buy the fittings.
Also, I'm finally getting the finer parts of the fuel and intake roughed in. Everything from the linkage ends to the tubing flaring tool are in the mail. In a similar vein, I have a pretty neat piece of the puzzle coming in the mail tomorrow. Stay tuned!