Hot Rods Is this a Brookville roadster pickup? Update: NO. Now building 1929 roadbriolet/cabrioster pickup

I started sanding the back of the cab and uncovered some rust so sprayed it with Rustoleum's Rust Reformer which has served me well in the past. I'm probably wasting my time messing with painting right now but I wanted to get some paint inspiration started.

 

Welcome to Al's outdoor body shop. I finished the back and the driver's side behind the door. Then I ran out of the Rust Reformer! I started on the passenger side and remembered I had some air powered body sanders while I was hand sanding a section. Dug one out along with the roll of sand paper.
You know, sanding goes a heck of a lot quicker with air tools! Does a better job, too, I think.

Here's a later shot after some more work.
Rust Reformer will be on the shelf this afternoon... I hope!
After so long a struggle to finally get it to run, it is almost a surprise in how quickly it starts now... makes me a Happy Al every time!!
Next thing you know, I'll be driving it with some confidence. First, got to make that trip around the block.
Back to the "body shop!"

 

Just finished first trip around the block!
Transmission shifted fine and nothing fell off!!
It even stopped when I wanted.
Having fun Al

 

2 thumbs up!!

 

Got some more rust reformer applied after sanding. Other half of cowl and driver's door are most of what is left. Then sand that down and begin with the pink.

 

Al,
You can always make a temporary paint booth like I did when painting the 53. As you say, opportunities!

 

What to do after a long day of sanding and painting and taking your first trip around the block?!

This is the Coconut Chocolate Almond ice cream.
Yummy!!
I sat on a bench on the porch of the original 1752 courthouse and ate my ice cream as I watched the world pass by.
I realized the 32 had been somewhat neglected as the 29 cabrioster had it's usual resting place on the lift.
Took it for a spin to one of my favorite places. Weather was great.
Don't waste a day.
Dusty Al
PS Bill, two fenders on your 53 would paint my whole cab! Of course, it could be one of the smallest paint booths ever! Good suggestion. Thanks. I'm gonna wait to see how serious I'm gonna get with the painting.

 

Al.
I will PM some pictures of my paint booth as food for thought. I am probably going to resurrect a smaller version soon so I can shoot the Heidt's Nailhead engine mount stuff that came yesterday.

 

Bill, thanks for the pictures. Glad to hear you got your parts for your Buick... now the fun can really begin!

 

Years before there were hot rods and tools in Al's life...

 

^^^ Priceless!!

 

I'm thinking I might update the 29 cabrioster with a 1936 Ford dash... I've got several spares!
I measured the center of the 36 dash and it is 8" deep. That would bring the bottom of the 36 dash down to about an inch above the bottom of the 29 dash.
I'm really used to looking at 36 dashes. Maybe a look like in the 36 Fordy?

I don't think I have another waterfall without a crank hole!
A dash and gauges like the 36 Fordy would be a huge improvement in my mind. If I could find some dual gauges for each side, that would really seal it. The 36 Fordy has the other two gauges just below the dash on the left.. you can see one peeking down there. I might buy two sets of dual gauges if I can find them and they look good and update the 36 Fordy, too!
I know nobody is gonna offer an opinion!
I removed the windshield (as you can tell!) yesterday to make the body work more simple to do and I looked at the curvature of the top of the dash and got to thinking...
I don't like the current top of the dash in the cabriolster anyway. Don't look right to me... needs something.

 

I think it's a great idea, Al, especially since you already have a '36 dash to use. Those "hole-less" waterfalls are becoming quite pricey.

 

I cut and bent and hammered and got it narrow enough to fit into the cab.

The curvatures are pretty much a great match!

This is the view from the front. You can just see the 36 dash peeking over the 29 cowl.
I've always maintained that I would rather be lucky than good anyday!
I think this could work. And all because I like 36s!
What 'cha think?

Gonna need some new gauges. I can't find any 2 1/16" dual function gauges.
Anybody seen any lately? Ones I found were 3 3/8"!
This one might go the way of the 36 Fordy, too.

 

I see metal surgery in your future. My search didn't show any useful gauges that small. Since you are going to be doing some body work on the dash anyway how about one of these 40 Standard clusters.

 

I'm here every day. Wiring the car now, spending the winter to get it right. Hopefully I will fire it up again in the spring and take it for a road test.Here's a pic. Thought you might enjoy how I did the bed wood. Easy to access the battery and adjust the sway bar. I am into handling since we raced a championship auto crosser.

 

This might be a source for a dash waterfall:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1935-ford-waterfall.1178935/

 

About five years ago I had these made to replace the horn grilles on a 36 Ford. I love them and they look great. As mentioned, it cost a bunch to get real metal products created. These were made from aluminum on CNC machine. I had to make a number of them to keep the price lower but apparently not low enough.
A few fellows have bought them and loved them which made me feel good.
I'm thinking these could also be used for a taillight or possibly in the ashtray area of a 35 or 36.
Opportunities!
I'm happy building treasures and it suits me fine that several of my vehicles have some pretty unique pieces. The very first set went to LARS in 2016... I actually got them the weekend before we left on Thursday! I had to hustle! Several folks noticed the V-8 grilles... I told them they came on the Super Deluxe Cabriolets but they didn't make many.

 

Very cool pieces, Al. Might be interesting to black out the 4 horizontal bars, make the V-8 really "pop". Just my silly musings..........Don.

 

^^Good suggestion, Don. I've got plenty of spares to experiment on.
Like the guy tweaking a plastic waterfall, I could change the design and spend a lot more money to get some made... I think I like your approach better.

On the cabrioster I've only got the driver's door to sand and treat with the rust reformer. I finished the rest of it up this morning. Hope to finish that door later today.

On another front, I've got a variable rear brake proportioning valve coming tomorrow and I have TWO new master cylinders sitting on the garage floor for manual disk/drum systems. I'm hoping one of them works better than what I have. I won't know if they are the same as what's on there until I take it apart. I'm lining up the parts so that I can get it back together quickly once I start. I'm gonna put an union with a plug in one side on each brake line as I remove them from the master cylinder... hoping to keep more brake fluid in the lines while I'm fooling with the master cylinder. Probably won't make much difference but that's what we do when we have too much time to think about and plan what we're going to do!
With that valve coming tomorrow, I'm gonna wait and hopefully fix it all at one time... probably wishful thinking based on my recent experience! Dang brakes have been a pain. Oh yeah, I think I spied another hand made brake line on the front... and I think it leaks! I'm gonna replace it too I think... back to the parts store!

 

Bert, I forgot to say that I really liked your idea on how to install the wood floor yet still have easy access to what's below... smart!!
Thanks for sharing... that helps make the HAMB interesting and useful.

 

A smaller version of those horn grilles would make some cool AC vents!

 

Well, the whole cab has been sanded and painted with Rustoleum Rust Reformer.
I'm surprised no one noticed that I switched dashes. I decided to use the best dash I had... that I could find!
I'm tempted to carry on with the new dash but feel like that should wait until the brakes and some other issues are sorted out... like headlights that did work but don't now! Getting distracted has caused many projects to never seem to get on the road. My truck came with all the mirrors mounted and a hide-away cup holder under the dash but no brakes! Of course, I'm probably as guilty as anybody else.

 

What is that old line about the best laid plans of mice and men?

The above picture was taken to show that we had plenty of thread left on our bolts to use the aluminum spacer that I wanted to use to replace the seven washers... it would actually space the fan further from the engine by another washer or two.

This picture shows that when you put the spacer on the end of the water pump it did NOT reach back to the face of the pulley!!
So, I spent the next while trying to locate all of the washers that fell under the truck when I took it off!
Eventually, I managed to get the fan back on with the same number of washers and plenty tight with my grade 8 bolts. So much for making the job look a bit more professional by using a spacer instead of stacked washers.
I should have stuck with another old saying about if it ain't broke...
Now I can shorten the radiator support rods some MORE and remove the forward slant of the radiator. I was pondering moving the radiator about an inch closer to the engine by using a different mounting hole already in the radiator support bracket but at the moment I'm not super enthusiastic to prove I found something else I should have left alone!
I think I'll go back to working on the brakes... or the dash!

 

That's the way things seem to always work for me. I try to make it better and it just makes it worse.

 

Looks like the bore on the spacer is too small. Take a drill and open it up to fit the water pump shaft.

 

^^Good suggestion but if you drilled any deeper the spacer would fail because not enough material left before starts the spacer's projection to hold the fan. Dang fan might take off with the spacer tip that is supposed to keep it in place! I'm got going there if I can help it.
I polished the water pump shaft and made sure it was bottoming out on the inside of the spacer.
Just another learning experience.
It would have been great if we'd had enough material to drill it just a little deeper but a little deeper would have been coming out of the front!

 

I'd stick with the spacer and mod as needed to get it to work. The washers work, but I'd still go with the spacer. Your call of course, but if the pump shaft is too long, cut it. If there is room inside the spacer, I'd go with BamaMav and deepen the hole. My pumps haven't had nearly that much hangout, so I've never bottomed a spacer. All you need is about 1/8" more than the pulley thickness. Just enough to have something concentric to mount the spacer. Once the hardware is torqued, it's not going anywhere.

Way less hangout than the red line (even at the very most) in my junk collection.

 

34 5W Paul,
You said, " All you need is about 1/8" more than the pulley thickness."

The whole spacer is 20/32" thick.

The depth of the hole is 18/32"; leaving 2/32", or 1/16" as the difference. That's about half of the 1/8" you want in front of the pulley. Your idea is the same as BamaMav's suggestion which I considered until I realized doing so would drill out the other end!
Thanks for the illustration of the idea but your guesstimate of the depth of the existing hole depth is considerably off.
Cutting off the end of the pump shaft could be done I guess but I'm not going to build a car that has the water pump fail a long ways from home and not be able to replace the failed pump with an off the shelf replacement.
Somebody way down the road is going to be thankful I hope.
Thanks again to all for your interest and help.
Brakes tomorrow... I hope!!