Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

It's Sunday night, so that means it's time for a weekend update. First and foremost, I got a couple of important items in the mail: Sta-Lube SL3131 wheel bearing grease and my extended manifold studs and some extras. Before I drive the car again, I will be removing the previous Green Grease and replacing it with Sta-Lube. I am not sure this is completely necessary, but from what I'm told this is the grease to use.
On Saturday, I was able to finish a smaller project that I had started a few days ago. Remember that gaping hole in the firewall where the heater pipe once ran thorough? Well, at last weekend's estate sale, I managed to score a free circle of polished stainless steel. (I believe it was once used as a part of a mobile or other folk art piece.) Anyways, with a little massaging I made it work as a patch on the firewall. It's home-brewed, but I think it fits the overall theme of the car just fine.

Working the drill press.

It's the little things.

 

For the next order of business, I started working on the fuel system. I've never done any of this before, so it took a couple of tries to get a feel for the tools and materials. First, I drained the fuel.

I could have just unscrewed the line directly under the tank, but I wanted to filter the gas for re-use. Plus, when your garage is in the basement, you want to avoid spills at all costs! That being said, the fuel flow was strong. When I removed the lower line, I encountered a bunch of dirt that wasn't removed when I rinsed the tank over the summer. Good to commit it to the earth once again.

Practice bend.
Next came lots of measuring, cutting, bending and flaring.
Eastwood Flaring Tool. Not cheap, but it does a great job.

One of the finished pieces.

So after a great deal of research, I decided the best way to run the setup is to tuck the fuel pump on the right side frame rail beneath the floor board. I will be cutting a small hole (and making a custom grommet) in the lower firewall to accommodate the fuel lines. Two hard lines down, each with a two-inch segment of rubber hose where they pass through the newly cut and grommeted hole because the area is susceptible to flexing, then an inlet and outlet line to the fuel pump, also connecting to the pump with 1.5 inch segments of rubber fuel line. P clamps will be used for reinforcement throughout.

The random lengths of rubber fuel line are just scrap that I had for mockup. I'll be cutting the firewall approximately at the point of the blue rectangle. After a super short segment of rubber line, it'll pick right back up with the hard line. More on that tomorrow.

 

Thank you! I've been enjoying seeing your coupe evolve. Once we get them running, we'll have to compare notes!

Thanks, Tim! The 3/8 fuel line fits snugly over the hardline, so I plan to just clamp it and keep an eye on it.

 

Great advice. That's exactly what I'm doing!

Thank you, Ned! It's been a fun journey so far, and I'm excited to see where the build takes me.

 

Last night was a two steps back, four steps forward kind of night. But all's well that ends well. To lead things off, I carved a hole in the firewall for the fuel lines.

Dominoes anyone? If you haven't guessed by now, I have no idea what I'm doing!

After the cutting/filing was complete, I went to go fit the fuel lines and I realized one was only single flared and the other was too short. No problem—just another opportunity to get more familiar with the tubing cutter, bender and flaring tool. When I got them all wrapped up, I was able to finally assemble the system.
This is the basic shape. I still need to fine tune the length of the hoses. Next up I'll be cutting a rubber gasket for the fuel pump and mounting it to the frame. Then I'm going to clean up/clean out the tubing, make my firewall grommet and get some insulated P-clamps to keep everything in place. Hose clamps will be used on all connection points, and I even have a couple of vintage ones that I'll use on the visible portion inside the cabin.

Looks a lot better when the floor is in, that's for sure! Overall I'm happy with how this is coming along.

I'm a little apprehensive about the amount of rubber hose used on the top portion (4 inches on one side, 3 inches on the other, not including the clamping area), but based on my research I believe it should be okay. As a first time builder, these are the kinds of things I'm concerned about? Why? Because I've never done this before. Like I've said before, I'm here to learn. Thanks everyone for sticking with me!

 

Bonus Update

Last night, after I had finished messing with the fuel system, I sat on the front tire and looked at the car. It was getting late, and it seemed as if the rest of the world had gone to sleep. While examining the engine block, I eyed the four studs that I knew I had to remove to continue with the project. It simply had to be done at some point. I grabbed the Kroil and applied it to the base of each stud. I remembered that I had put one of them in, so that one shouldn't be too hard to take out. Which one was it? I figured I should just start with the easy one and call it a night. Was it #1?

Well, remembering what I learned on this thread about channel locks, I grabbed them from my toolbox and gently tried to twist stud #1. In the past week, I played out a thousand hellish scenarios of snapped studs and everything I've tried to extract them. (Having wrenched on vintage Hondas for over 10 years, I know all too well about stripped/broken hardware). Soon thereafter, the first stud started to loosen. "No way!" I said to myself. "Now is a good time to call it a night." That didn't happen...

I tried #2 with the channel locks. Nothing. I didn't try to force it. Then #3. Nothing. The fourth stud came out with ease. I recalled that was the one I installed; I used a dab of anti-seize on it for this exact reason. Two out of four—not bad!

Prior to shutting things down, I applied more Kroil. I figured I would break out the torch for the next session in a week or so. Then, just for kicks, I figured I would try the double-nut technique, being extra careful not to cause damage.
It worked like a charm (and the engine has quite the Kroil aroma to it). All four studs are out; I'm considering myself extremely lucky.

Sometimes a task you're dreading ends up not being so bad after all. I'm glad I gave it a try, and I'm excited to get the longer studs on there so I can get this intake and exhaust going.

 

Sounds good. Thank you for the reassurance.

Thanks, Tony! I feel like I won the lottery and the hot rod gods were looking down on me favorably that night. I've had my fair share of rotten luck with these things, so I'm counting my blessings!

Thank you—it's doubtful this configuration will ever see a NHRA track, but it's nice to know that I'm under the legal limit!

Right! I was wondering what that option was for. Now I know. Thank you!

Thanks for the heads up. I will for sure grab some of that from Napa. An extra thank you for providing the part numbers.

Great tips that I will keep in mind for the remainder of the project—and all other projects too. Thank you!

Oh wow, those are trick. I'd like to take you up on that offer and also check out your roadster while I'm there. I'll send ya a PM.

 

If you thought the Eastwood flaring tool was pricey don't even price the Parker beading one. But since you have access to the one in Napa that's a different story. Plus a quick stop at a winery or 2 wouldn't hurt either.[/QUOTE]

I did just for fun and all I can say is that I'm lucky to have folks like @bandoola who are willing to help. I'm heading over to his place at the end of the month and we're going to get the fuel lines finalized.

Good point! When I have the V8, this car will be driven to Mo-Kan and raced there.

Glad you noticed! Vintage estate sale hardware is used whenever possible—and the price is right!

I really like that strategy. It's amazing how much it helps to have someone around who has already done some of these things, just to help point you in the right direction.

 

I'm away from the car for a little bit, but here's a small update.

First, I drilled the frame for the fuel pump and created a simple gasket to cut down on vibration.
On to some more noticeable stuff. At the end of last week, I wanted to test the firewall paint. Initially I was going to get a custom mix from the hardware store, but I decided that Rustoleum Gloss Almond should do the trick (and it was considerably cheaper). I gave the firewall a quick sand, cleaned it off, grabbed the nearest paintbrush and got to work.
The box fan helped big time with the fumes. The following day, I broke out the tinfoil and got the majority of it finished.

It still needs some touch-up, but I'm really happy with how it clean it looks.

Later that day, I had a fellow hot rodder come by to pick up a bunch of stock Model A parts that I was giving away. He's in the early stages of his coupe project, and I was happy to hear that he is going to use my old front bumper and brackets on his car. It was fun to talk Model A's for a bit—and he even brought a six pack of beer as a thank you!

(I still need to paint the support rod housings, but I'll take that on next time I'm in the garage.)

 

Great info! I'll keep that in mind once everything is dry.

Very nice firewall—and build as a whole. I too plan to run my Alliance tag up top on the passenger side, considering my data plate now says nothing at all.

Thank you! Those were my thoughts exactly. Nothing on this car is completely clean/fresh/bright white, so I felt like this would be the right fit. It's interesting that the color is pretty damn close to the paint on the original windshield stanchions. I always wonder what color this car used to be...