Projects The Swamp Yankee Coupe

montreal steak cost went up as i felt the wait staff needed a little boost...

 

Rock-A-Dundee was the perfect excuse to take old Henrietta out for a spin. (Just 5 miles away)
Thank you NHBandit for explaining the New Englander's art of negotiation. I was brought up this way, going to local swap meets with whatever little money I earned. Every dollar saved on one part, is used to buy that expensive part further on down the road. It's not being cheap, its being frugal. Keep "Playing the Game"!

 

Thanks for the memories. I spent my teenage years in Chicopee and that road and the wild stories about weird things going on are part of my younger years. My daughter and grand daughters still live in the area. I don't miss all that White stuff on the ground though. Here in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains I can look up on the mountain tops and see it but not have to deal with it down here where we live. Not to mention my property taxes are under $400 a year.

 

I love New England. Nice build.

 

It's been a while since my last update, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on the SYC.
When I left off I was finishing up the F1 crossmember, I blocked off the original master cylinder hole and moved it over 1.5" towards the transmission. Then I welded a tab on the top for the pedal bracket.

 

It's my personal preference, but I like the look of unsplit wishbones. Finding a wishbone that's long enough during the New England winter, is not an easy task. To keep the project moving forward I decided to extend the model a wishbone, and upgrade it in the future. My crossmember has a provision for the ball and cap.

 

If I did this over again, I would have extended the front with a pie cut for caster. But this wishbone is only temporary so I can work that out later. I'll doll up the welds later on the bench.

 

I got to a point where I said to myself "How far am I taking this"? I mean most of the parts are close to 90 years old. The frame is in pretty good shape but it has surface rust, and I was thinking do I address this now are kick it down the road? So I took it to our local sandblasting pro "Mr. North"

Money well spent and a piece of mind moving forward!

 

Before I painted the frame I fabricated a section in the original crossmember to accommodate the mustang master cylinder.

 

Then I welded in slugs and shot it satin black.

 

When I started breaking down the Model a front end I noticed that years of bad shackles and perch bushings allowed the top of the axle to get worn.

So I found this 36 axle axle on craigslist (Ridgefield CT) Thanks Ray!

I had my eye on it all winter, I believe it will give me a one inch drop as well?

 

Satisfied with the extended wishbone, I decided it was time to paint and assemble the front axle.
I want to get this chassis back to a roller state, and keep the project moving forward.

 

Nice progress! Looking great!

 

master clearance seems tight, i have seen a master cylinder cover with a remote fill option...
just in case... go j go !

 

I appreciate the compliments and likes... It keeps me hustling
Anyone local have .812 reamer? I'm doing the bushings on my round backs...

 

Thanks TFoch! I was in your area last Sunday for the swap meet. First time I went to Epping, but the weather wasn't great. Hope to go next month as well.

 

I bought a reamer and installed the new king pins on the 36 axle, but I had a clearance issue with the steering arm and the wishbone.

When I mocked up my speedway tie rod kit it interfered with the wishbone.

I moved the arms down on each side about an inch and now the tie rod has plenty of clearance.

 

With the new axle in I put the old model a drums on so I could get it back to a roller.
I don't know why but this has been a goal of mine since mid winter when I started disassembling everything.
It makes me feel better knowing I can roll it in and out of the garage, if needed. I still need the garage space
to do repairs on the family vehicles.

 

I picked up these drums a couple months back, now I'm in the process of collecting brake parts.

 

I'm looking for advice on the routing the brake lines... When I search the old threads on brakes, I notice most often people run the rear brake lines down the radius arms to the rear axle. My guess is they do this to keep the lines lower than the master cylinder? I want to run the lines up on the frame both front and rear, but the lines will be higher than the master. Will I have an air problem if I do this?

 

Nice looking, well built chassis,
F1 crossmember / tranny mount is neat...
brake lines may need residual valves,
beware, they used to come with pipe thread ends and needed adaptors to get back to tube threads...
because the 2 threads look so close it is easy to strip if not paying attention...

 

Builds looking great!

I think some of the later banjo cars with juice ran them down the wishbones also it makes for a clean set up. The lines being on the frame or wishbones won’t make any difference because your wheel cylinders are still in the same spot.

This is where a residual valve comes into play on each line I believe.

some masters have them built in. Lots of conversation and debate about it so there’s some reading/ searching / rabbit hole for you to go down LOL

I like your extended wishbone up front, I narrowed a 46-8 on my A to do the same thing

 

Nice to get it as a roller! Keeps you going to get more done!

 

Thank you Tim and Smitty for the answer.. I'm not completely sure how I will route the lines, but knowing I can run them higher than the MC without much trouble gives me many possibilities. Rabbit hole research - here I go...

 

Thanks to 40fords my 46-48 drums arrived yesterday and I wasted no time breaking them down.

Gary gave me a good deal because the one on the left had been re-drilled for a smaller bolt pattern.
Someone from yester-year did some high tech welding as well. I was forewarned, but I like to roll the dice.


With the hub welded to the drum, I decided to cut away the hub section and then try tackling the old welds.

Next I'll work on the slow process of grinding away the old steel and welds from the hub. Fingers crossed its not warped.

 

I picked up this old drum lathe down in Chaplin CT off RT 6 next to the Back Door.
It's got some serious backlash but I was able to turn both 48 hubs to a clearance fit with the Buick drums.

 

This cut off tool worked good for removing the meat so my backing plates fit.

 

With the Buick drums turned and fitted to the 48 hubs, it was time to fab my backing plates. I bought some 40 Ford backing plates and converted them to Bendix style using parts from rear F1 plates.


I used F1 wheel cylinders and 1970 F250 shoes and hardware.

I'm satisfied with the way the front brakes turned out, but it was a ton of work. If I could do it over, I'd stick to F1 front brakes and be way ahead in my build. Not to mention I also spent one day at the eye doctor for two slivers that slipped past my safety glasses.

 

What size wheel is that? Whatever it is I really like the way the Buick drum fits. Bob