Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

My other adventures brought me to Bayview on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. The car did great on the cross-town hauls, including on the hill climbs. Each time, I worked to take a different route to change up the scenery. There was a lot to enjoy.

Last Wednesday, I drove the roadster to welding class. The temperature was in the 70s that night, and I made sure to savor every second of it. In class, we had our intro to TIG welding. I've been looking forward to that day for a long, long time. The fact that I got to drive there in my hot rod felt pretty surreal—almost like something you'd read about in a Henry Gregor Felsen book or watch in a hot rod B-movie.

While I was walking over to pick up my gear, I saw the nose of the car through the shop's garage door. I couldn't help but smile.

I'll share more about my TIG welding experience at a later date, but I will say this: once I have access to 220, I'm buying one. I love the feel and I can't wait to put it to good use on this project.
I did swing by my favorite neon sign in all of San Francisco on the way home. When I pulled up, folks spilled out of the bar to see what was causing all that commotion.

"Are you ever going to paint it?" asked the man in the flannel shirt.
"Nooooo," said the woman in white, running her hand along the quarter panel.
"I wanted to at one point," I replied, "and maybe I eventually will. But right now I'm having too much fun with it exactly how it is."

With that, I hit the road.

 

My next trip was Norm Rapp's garage sale, which I mentioned earlier. For that full story, check out my Jalopy Journal entry here.

Mags.

Late-'40s hot rodding.

Racecar stuff.

And my parts haul. On the first day, I searched high and low for those fuel line clamps and couldn't find any. When I went back on Sunday I stumbled upon this custom fuel system and I couldn't be more excited. These will be perfect with my Strombergs on the Weiand 2x2 intake.

 

That's all for tonight. Next up, we'll be talking front suspension, spindles and more. Stay tuned!

 

Thank you! We're having lots of fun, and we have some big things planned.

Thanks Tim! I've been driving more than I've been posting, that's for sure. The car is running excellent.

So, that's the big question. I believe they're Midget rear suspension components from the 1950s. Interestingly enough, they're cast steel that's been chromed. If you look closely, there's a name cast in there. I'll take a detail photo tomorrow. My first thought when I saw them? Headlight stands. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to run them, but they could be fun to mock up!

Right now the goal is roller by summer, driving by fall. Not a day goes by that I'm not working on this thing!

Thank you, Mark! I'm glad that I can follow your builds on Instagram too. No shortage of fun happening in either of our garages!

Hahah I do. The problem is that our place turns 100 this year, and when you walk the lights sometimes flicker...

In a perfect world I'll have a MIG and a TIG in my life. Maybe even a front yard too...

You got that right!

We missed you this weekend! We have an exciting day planned for this upcoming Saturday, though.

You're for sure a friend. I even keep your business card in my desk! I told my friends about the Broadway Tunnel drag racing and they were shocked and excited. It gives me goosebumps knowing that I'm driving the same streets as the hot rodders of yesteryear. I have an article in the works that I think you'll appreciate.

For sure! Back when I lived on Corbett in Twin Peaks, you could see the neon glow from a mile away. I'll snap a picture next time I'm there with the roadster.

Hahahah I'm always thinking about your adventures as I cruise around the area. Oh man, Caldecott Tunnel is a fun one for sure. I remember ripping through it on my motorcycle one night after a party in Martinez. Seeing that it was sunny when I left San Francisco, I only brought sunglasses. Well, when nighttime fell, I realized I would have to ride home sans eyewear. Not ideal! Especially on bias ply tires with no front fender on a half-century old bike. At least I got a good shower from the puddles at the mouth of the tunnel.

 

Ever since day one, this project has been about learning. In the past two weeks, David has helped me demystify so much of the hot rod building process.

Last week, we put together the front suspension.
It all started with the bare frame on the floor.

Then we laid everything in place.

And then we pushed out the old bushings on this spring perch using a modified KR Wilson tool.
Out with the old.

After I sandblasted the perches, David gifted me a set of bronze bushings machined by his friend Jerry. They're perfect. He then showed me the correct way to disassemble a spring using clamps and all-thread.

This is exciting stuff!

I blasted the old U-bolts and related hardware.

And then we ate lunch.

 

Since the original crank clamp won't work with the Deuce radiator and grille shell, David welded a block to the bottom to make up the difference.
We were both dead-set on using original U-bolts, which took a little bit of convincing to work with the So-Cal front crossmember. But it's all together now, and I'm really happy with how it looks.

Last Saturday, we were confident that we could get the front end together. Unfortunately, I discovered that my '35-'36 Ford spindles will not work with the four-inch dropped '32 axle and the '37-'41 kingpins. Luckily @Hitchhiker is the man and set me up with a set of round-back spindles that will be getting here later this week. It's hard to say for sure, but I think they came from the same old hot rod as my perch pins. We'll see.

 

Right before I left the shop, David showed me how to remove rivets with a torch. He perfected this technique while working at Vern Tardel's infamous Prune Orchard, and it's incredible to see how easily he can make the metal do exactly what he wants. "Cutting, bending, cleaning—the torch can do it all," David told me as 90-year-old rivets popped from the Model A crossmember.
That afternoon, he gave me a homework assignment: have the crossmember trimmed to the exact width (39 9/16ths) and cleaned up by the time I came back.
So I did exactly that. I'm sure the neighbors enjoyed it.

 

Last Saturday, we jumped right in. We started by setting the narrowed crossmember into the frame and removing bushings. Next, David taught me how to correctly remove a torque tube from an early Ford banjo.

It was fun to finally tear into this thing. I was surprised that nothing was seized or even stripped. We'll be shortening the torque tube once we get the quickchange in place.
Some of the work even required a very small wrench.

Salvageable hardware.

On Saturday afternoon, gray Petaluma skies transformed into a clear blue day. We took a customer's 1945 Ford GPW for a test drive during lunch. David had just revived it from a long slumber, and it ran perfectly on our trip to town. I had never been in this early of a Jeep (type vehicle), but I had a blast riding shotgun. With its flathead four, three-speed transmission and solid axles, it's amazing how similar it feels to my roadster.

Other visitors included our pal Sonny and his HD Servi-Car and one of David's customers in their 1967 Crown bus.

The bus is an absolute behemoth, and the inside is a total time-warp with its streamlined features throughout.

Once the visitors had come and gone, I used a pair of homemade C-clamps to help disassemble the rear spring. Three leafs were removed, and we slid everything into position.
All the rear end components are on loan from my friend Aaron. My quickchange leaves Texas in the morning, and I'm already counting down the days until I can unbox it!
We're now up to speed on the fabrication and assembly. I have a few small updates that I'll throw in when it's time, but more on that later.

 

Keep going Kid.

Great journey you are on.