@nutrocker -Your engine sounds really good. It was nice to have good sound in those videos, no wind buffeting the mic.
HNY @nutrocker...always exciting to see this Thread back up...how's the envelope pushing over Yonder?...crazy times I know but here we are... May this year bring back more normalcy and get you up where your targeting...ever faster...
Hey Stogy, thank you for your kind words. The motor hasn’t changed, it ran fine so it’s been left as is. What I have been doing is rebuilding the rest of the car and going through all the running gear. One of the things that needed work was the brakes. I’d spent so much time on the motor I didn’t get around to setting them up properly. This time around I’ve decided to go for hydraulic fronts but keep the rods on the rear. Should be a fun job balancing them! lots of other stuff being done, bits it’s being kept quiet for now. Have a great new year. Pete.
Similar to Pilot, although Pilot was cable operated at the rear I think. What I’ve done is use the original A crossover shaft to operate the rears as per normal, but also added another lever to the bar that operates the single circuit master cylinder for the fronts. It looks like I’ll work ok once balanced.
I really have enjoyed this thread. Outstanding workmanship and dedication by you but also brilliant detail in your posts. very cool car and engine!
Thank you for the interest in my car, very much appreciated. the last post I said that I was working on the rest of the car as it had been neglected by myself in order to get the motor sorted. I have not only gone through the car sorting all the bits that needed attention, but I’ve changed up the style a bit too. One of the things I wanted to do was move the motor back as it was too close to the front crossmember due to the blower pulley. This meant having to jack the motor up at the front if I wanted to change the belts. Not ideal. While at it I also wanted to move the body and turtle deck backwards too, just for the looks. The easiest way to do this was to cut the front and rear crossmembers off, add 8” to the front and remove 8” from the rear. So that’s what I did. I replaced the front crossmember with a large tube and suicide spring perch so I could lower the front a bit, plus it makes it easier to lower it further at a later date if I want. All that was pretty easy and went without issues, and sadly I didn’t stop to take photos. The next bit wasn’t so easy though. I like the look of the Cooper/Hayes and the Navarro roadsters with the front cowl removed and long side and hood top. Will it work with a 25 T? Who knows, but I’ll give it a go. Maybe centre seat and steering too. First bit was to cut the cowl off from the door hinge forward. I mocked up a repop 32 shell and grill. Plan is to build it with the shell then if I have time before Pendine I’ll make one akin to the Navarro one. Simple hood sides. Will be louvred later. New full width dash and small amount of cowl.
With the seat mocked up in the central position and liking the idea, I made a sub structure to mount the original model A steering box. I didn’t want to go down the route of cowl steering and the bump steer that comes with it, so I mounted the box as low as possible on top of the gear box. I positioned the split wishbones in the centre of the chassis and with the drop of the pitman arm it all pretty much lines up with minimal bump steer. Got the throttle pedal mounted on the fire wall via a long rod on bearings I modified my Louvre tool to press the old style louvres. I cut the dash panel for a rear mounted gauge panel. The reason for mounting it behind the dash is that with an ‘L’ shaped panel I can fix all the electrical components in one place and it can all be removed easily. I also made a box for the switches that fits alongside the seat. This is because I can’t reach the dash when Im strapped in with the harnesses. Start on the hood top. A one piece construction that’ll just have some simple catches to hold it down. Cut out was made for the twin 97’s with a lip around for strength. I used the Rev counter from the old dash, found an old aircraft ( maybe) vacuum/boost gauge, but sadly due to lack of funds the other gauges are just cheap Chinese shite. I’ll replace them when funds allow.
With most of the bodywork roughed out it was time to sort some of the details and get it off to paint. I could paint it myself but time was against me, so I sent it out to a friend who owns a powder coat company. My brief to him was not to overdo it. I didn’t want all the imperfections in the metal work to be filled, but left as they were. What I wanted was for it to look like it had been painted by an amateur in a garage. And that’s what I got. It’s got 30% matting agent in the paint, so it doesn’t have that modern paint gloss to it, but it still shines. Perfect.
Wow! Thanks for the show. Lots of ideas there that I probably would not have come up with on my own. As construction of my modified roadster comes closer to reality I'm sure I'll be back to this thread for many hours of pondering. Great job and I'm impressed with your shop too.
No, just just rattle can. The chassis is going to evolve over time and powder coat will make it harder to clean off for welding.
Getting the car back together. I bought a cheap alloy radiator from ebay, cut off the tanks and fabricated new ones. The rad now sits on its side in the trunk. I had a roll hoop rolled. Simple seat hung from the roll hoop. High turn up on the front to stop me sliding forward. Alloy fuel tank fits in the rear section of the turtle deck. Radiator filler neck mounted to the motor.
Before and after. That’s it up to date. Pendine is in 4 weeks so we’ll see how it runs. Thanks for taking the time to read the thread. Pete.
Wow what a change from last year, it looks all together now! You made some good choices there and you must be very chuffed with the results, really looking forward to seeing you run at Pendine.
Great stuff @nutrocker...when I say Across the Pond Excellence this is exactly what I'm referencing... Taking Vintage Hotrod, modern regulation, your own twists on things and voila!!...we're screaming along with you...I love you're pushing the envelopes at every level while keeping 1940 something as the core of it all... Thank you for taking the time to share...Always...what an update with a Bang...er...
That’s an amazing build! You’ve really transformed that little roadster. Hope to get a Pendine report.
I really enjoyed meeting you on the sand Pete, and the car is perfect! I got some video of a couple of your runs, unfortunately the best vid of your last run taken from the top of the dunes which showed just how spectacularly squirrely it was, got corrupted due to a dodgy card. I had the best weekend for years, must try and get mine down there soon!
Brilliant, thank you for the videos. Shame about the other video, but that’s life. It was good to meet up with you too. Always nice to put faces to names. The car ran great. Never missed a beat and other than the usual spanner checks over night didn’t have to do a thing.
The Jalopy Journal
