Yep, fuel flow issue. Think I need to rinse out the tank again, the filter screen seems to be clogged. Also the sediment bowl is still leaking so I think the mating surfaces in there are screwed up, not surprising for a 90 year old part. I forgot I need a puller to get the rear drums off so I'm stuck til I get one tomorrow, but the new rears came in and everything looks great. I think once I get the damn drums off it'll be real straightforward. It's supposed to thunderstorm for a week starting Sunday so I wouldn't have managed a first drive regardless even if everything worked out. No problem!
So my car stopped burning fuel as soon as I got it out the second season. Would get to the carb and run then lean out. After worrying over everything most of the day found it would run with the cap off the tank. The vent I put in when I built the tank was plugged. Bug had gone way down the hose to lay eggs at the steel tube. Made a cover with brass screen soldered to a barb fitting on the end of the hose.
I never would have even thought of that. I have been testing with the gas cap off but that shows how important it is to make sure the vent stays clear. So apparently to remove the rear brake assemblies you have to remove the radius rods and to remove the radius rods you have to drop the brake cross shaft because you can't access the radius rod bolt with a tool with it in there (at least none of mine could get in there). Yesterday that would have taken me an hour and a half with all the awkward crawling around, wobbling out from under the car to change tools, and general finagling, but luckily this morning I picked up a creeper and it took about 5 minutes. The passenger side rear was the worst. The 800 year old fossilized yak grease or whatever it was I found in there REEKS. I gagged when I popped the drum off. Anyway all there is to do now is move the emergency brake levers over; they don't want to come off even with the screws out so I think they just need to soak in penetrating oil for a bit.
Trevor, I seen your post on the houdaille shocks. You're right, $300 to fix is outrageous but I found an article that might help someone as enterprising as you. I've been following your thread from the beginning and I am super envious of how much progress you've made. Wish I had that kind of energy. Good Luck, Crankshaft
Thanks! It's helpful to get an idea of what's inside these things. I'm not confident enough to try and take them apart yet, but I figure I might as well give it a shot at some point. I'm not crazy about the way tube shocks look on these cars and keeping the cantankerous old timey undercarriage visible is important to me. I finished putting the new rear brake assemblies on and got the wishbone etc. all bolted up again. I think I may have done something wrong, though. It's TIGHT. On both sides, the shoes can't retract enough to avoid dragging on the drum, even with the adjuster all the way out. If I bring the adjuster in at all it locks them up completely. The shoes are a lot thicker than the ones I took off. I know mine were pretty much at the end of their lives even before they were forgotten in a field for 40 years, but I'm confused how even with the adjuster all the way out the new ones still contact the drums.
You need to have the shoes arched to match the drums. If you have an old brake shop in the area they may have one. Or you can try to sand them yourself with a belt sander but that's not very accurate.
Ah. I thought that was a "for optimum performance" sort of thing. I don't normally plan very far ahead, so I was thinking I'd just limp it over to the nearby brake shop to have it done - I didn't realize it was an installation step! I got the front assemblies used with matching drums so I know those are good already, but the rear assemblies came without drums so I am using my old ones. Oh, as an aside, I needed the trunk lid out of the way so I set it on the car for the first time since I've had it. It's pretty rough! But the inner structure is solid, so it should be an easy fix even if I have to replace the whole skin.
A non car guy was checking out my project... he says why don't you weld the top of the panel below the decklid upside down onto the bottom edge of the rusted lid ?... their shapes match each other... . wow, why didn't i think of it... those panels are the most replaced panels on model a's... most guys throw them out... should be easy to come by the top 1.5" of one... the inner panel of the panel below can be bent to match up with the decklid's inner panel... it will not have the 1/2" angled flange type thing that keeps the rumble lid's lower edge inside the trunk opening... i can live without it on the trunk in a coupe/coupester... go T go !
Nothing earth shattering to report; the car should be "drivable" now but until I find someone to arc the shoes so I can install the rear drums I won't be able to set her on all fours. In the meantime, I might start taking the body down to bare metal so I can see what I'm working with as far as metal repair goes. There are a lot of dents that are filled in with bondo so I'm not sure how bad it really is. A package arrived today containing horns - a fellow was selling off a parts hoard he got with his coupe and I bought two horns from him at a great price. One is a Klaxon, I believe an 8C and the other is a Sparton-style ahooga horn. I think the Sparton is a reproduction. The Klaxon works great but the Sparton just spins, it doesn't make any noise. I will rebuild it, but I think the Klaxon is the one I'll end up using.
"Wear eye protection" ain't no joke. This guy really liked bondo. Good metal under it so far, which is reassuring. More tomorrow when I get another roloc wheel (this time not from Harbor Freight)
Really enjoying your progress. Eye protection is important even if it isn't 100 percent safe, a couple of months ago I got a metal splinter in my left eye even when I was wearing glasses. Was no fun experience going to the emergency and having someone poke around in my eye to get it out.
When and if you dissemble the flathead have the block around the valve area checked for cracks. Back in the days of flathead popularity antifreeze was not as widely used as it is today and sometimes freezing weather caught them off guard. Cracks are common, they can be fixed somewhat but its best to know before spending a ton of cash on a mil.
I think the last guy was just trying to fill this tiny hole in the QP with bondo and lost control of himself. The bondo bandit actually added so much bondo to this panel it was standing slightly proud of the body line. Check out this old lead work I uncovered. And here's one of the dozens of praying mantis hatchlings that have been watching me work.
My coupe has lead on the same area of the roof on both sides, assume it was original. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Something I have read here and been told over the years... Start doing body work on the passenger side and gain experience there. When you do the driver side, you will be better and it will go quicker. Reason being, you will always see the driver side and if it's the 'better' side, it won't make you wince as much. I realize you are dealing with shop room, but something to keep in mind. Soak all those wheel well studs now so they have a chance of unscrewing. Lay down a rust eater to get into those pits before priming, too.
Agreed. The passenger side is rougher and needs more work anyway, so that will be the side that I learn on when it comes time to start cutting and welding. So far the driver side is really solid and it's cleaning up nice. The pits aren't as bad as they looked, surface discoloration around the pits was really exaggerating them. I see one hole and one serious dent on the side so far, so I'm calling this a great quarter. The rocker panel behind the door is a little worse off. The cowl doesn't even have any bondo in it on the driver side as far as I can tell but I haven't started cleaning it off. On the passenger side of the cowl, there is a DEEP (maybe half an inch or more) dent which seems to be entirely filled with bondo, so that will be fun. A little journaling so I can laugh at myself in a year for not knowing what I was doing... at first I was using a die grinder which was way too fast, so I switched to an air drill. I was making good progress with a softish polycarbonate wheel from Harbor Freight, but I blew it up on the die grinder. Walmart didn't have any more polycarbonate wheels so I got some other, softer wheel which was also said to be a paint and rust wheel. This one had about the consistency of a brillo pad, and it was really effective but it didn't last very long. Today I went to Lowes in search of a proper 3M Roloc wheel, which they don't carry, so I picked up another polycarbonate wheel, but this one is much harder than the first one. I appreciate that for the deeper pockets of bondo but I'm wary of using it on the steel - it generates a lot of heat and I'm a little worried about warping. I guess I'll pick up something else tomorrow and continue experimenting. Also, I used an actual brillo pad on some parts and found that quite effective but also quite tiring. I'm starting to think more about paint. Due to the era and attitude of my build, I'd really like to try to get that chalky/flaky "it's 1955 and we had some paint left over from painting the house so I slapped it on the car" look. I assume paint formulas are different nowadays and it may be impossible to achieve that exact look, but it's a look that I think is in the spirit of the build... not fake patina but a kind of shitty paint that will develop a patina on its own. I will be brush painting the car... I see a lot of hostile attitudes toward that in threads about it and I just don't understand it. I have been up close with a handful of cool survivor hot rods and a lot of them were brush painted. It gives the car a cool texture and a unique "fingerprint." Doesn't seem to get more traditional than that.
If abrasive wheels are failing like that, take a look at their rated max speed. Air tools turn some serious rpm vs electric, and that could be part of your problem. Be safe!
The die grinder was definitely way too much tool. The drill I’m running now is about the right speed. I think the second wheel wore out because I was bending it trying to dig into the deep bondo.
Keep trying different stuff until you find the best cost/effort/life for your situation. Before dragging out the body hammers, take a look at paintless dent repair methods on youtube. Old sheet metal is harder and tougher than new stuff, but getting the majority of the dent out before the hammer and dolly can help with shrinkage and warping, especially for novices. Remember, almost every dent is from outside in, so they need to be worked inside out. Work the edges toward the center in a swirl pattern, not just beat out the middle. As for the paint, there was a big fad for a while on brush and roller painting about.. (looking, jeez I'm old) 14 years ago. Here is one thread from here, just search the net for "paint your car for 50 bucks" and you will find a ton of old internet posts all over. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/roller-painting-your-car.291389/ TL;DR it is very labor intensive and is hardest on vertical surfaces.
I'm excited to say I found a great seat. This is the driver side middle row seat from an OBS Chevy Suburban. It's a perfect fit; the bolt holes on the rails line up with the subframe and it's already at a comfortable height for me. Best of all, I can retain the package tray. I have to figure out the floor situation there but it's a great fit in the car. I also got all the seatbelt hardware with it, so if I can figure out good mounting points she'll get belts.
"Old body style" but it's late model. Late 80s-early 90s? The guy had a cool early 60s Suburban he had bought this for. The build was off-topic (street rod) but he had done it all himself in his garage with basically the same set of tools I have and it looked like a shop build. It was pretty encouraging. Here's a better picture showing how it fits. A tall guy could set this back quite a bit. I think this is a great seating solution for a Model A.
Yeah, buddy! Set reasonable goals (I just need a seat) and achieve them! Progress! EDIT: with the roll date getting closer, please have a good fire extinguisher with you for the first drive.
I gotta get the floor pans next I guess. No point bolting down the seat without the pan that goes below it. Has anyone used the floor pan from Howell’s? Price is half of Brookville’s, but I have seen some complaints about Howell’s body panels.
I used Howell's body panels on my Model T, they were okay but needed a little work. If you have a hammer and dolly set, some clecos or tek screws, and some patience I think you could get it done with the Howell's stuff.
I ended up with a Brookville panel from somebody’s project... unused, in primer, for $40. Excited to get it here and install it.
I’ve been overthinking the rear brake situation for like a week. I just realized I’ve got an extra set of fronts still in a shipping box I can cannibalize for used but still good shoes.
Sitting on all fours for the first time in a long time. The checklist is getting shorter. Only a few things left to do. Roll day is coming.
The Jalopy Journal
