Making progress on the A roadster —she runs!

I can’t have a roadster sitting in the garage and not be working on it! After staring at it for three days (morning, noon and night), gathering tune up parts, and doing a major garage cleaning the time had finally come to see if she’d go or blow!

Monday night after work I hurried home to assemble all the parts I had been gathering up to see if the A would run. I had let a ‘cocktail’ of sorts fester in it since I brought it home Thursday night. By Friday afternoon the motor was turning over by hand nicely, a good sign the banger motor would stay. After reading the comments on the HAMB from my initial post and doing some research I have made some decisions (not an easy thing for me to do for those that don’t know me ): I will leave the fenders on for the rest of this ‘season’ in Ohio. I should have another good month-month and a half of drive time before they salt the roads. I am putting new bias ply Firestone tires from Coker on the car (even though the old ones still hold air ). They are 6.00 X 16s in the front and 7.00 X 16s in the rear. I think it will give me nice proportions with or without fenders. I am going to basically leave everything just the way I found it for a couple weeks until I drive it to a local show. Then once winter sets in I’ll probably look into a drop axle and begin collecting parts to build a nice B motor. And put the battery back where it belongs--if I can stand it in the wrong place that long!

First of all the custom horns had to come off, it was nearly impossible to work on anything with them there!




Much better!

 

Once all of the crap was out of the way it was time for the exciting part. New plugs were in, the gas was flowing freely thru the stock tank (rather clean I might add ), and the battery was hooked up I figured I give her a go. A few friends were over but Matt, Whiskeyrunner, was definitely a huge help to me to make sure I didn’t burn the shop down . It seemed like it was going to take 5 hands to get this thing going. My nephew wanted to help to. It is unbelievable what a 3 year old sees when you aren’t paying attention. He had watched Matt touch the starter wire to a plate in the car one time and next thing you know he was in the car trying it himself- amazing! The first few times the starter only whirled around. After a few convincing ‘love taps’ the starter got with the program and the motor began to turn over! The next thing I knew it was running! On all four cylinders! I’m not sure why but I was pretty shocked. After I ran it for while it stopped smoking and I wanted to go for a spin. Nevermind I didn’t have any brakes and the shop is on a giant hill. The clutch was stuck but we were able to pop it out once I removed the inspection cover in the top of the tranny.



Once it was free it was time for my cruise. Without further ado, my first ‘drive’ in the A!
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In case you hadn’t noticed I was a little excited!

I figured I might as well end the day on a good note so I called it an evening. This morning I got up early and took the front tires off since I already have the 6.00 X 16s to change out. Tonight I plan to tear the drums off and see how the brake situation. I also need to figure out what front end it is because it needs new king pins really bad. I think it is late 30s-ish?









More to come tomorrow…

 

Girl some one taught you well. If that is not the case, you pick things up real good. good plans ,good luck!

 

Pretty cool! I dig the fenders and I am kinda not a fender guy.

I would lose that scary draglink ASAP!!

 

The front end looks like a '40 to me. Are the spindles round? That is one great score, looks like a lot of fun. Enjoy!

 

Front end looks like later '40's Megan.......judging by the brake drum style and the way the bones mount to the front spring......definitely not '37......that would be a wide five!

CB

 

Very cool! Congrats!!

I agree with TMAn. Draglink looks a little scary...

 

Yup, still jealous...

 

Great to hear! You are lucky to have good friends there to help you out. I'm sure you'll have working brakes and good tires in no time at all - keep us updated!

Very cool-
Malcolm

 

Now that's what I'm talkin' about... beyond cool, Megan!

Thanks for takin' us on the maiden voyage!!!

 

That is cool as hell.

You need to wash that thing!!

 

cool glad to see it run that well!!

 

Megan is the drag link cut and welded together? I think I'd chang that first thing.

DD

 

That is so cool,,I watch the video 3 times!,,I am so happy for you,,,but please do something about that drag link,,,It scares the crap outta me. HRP

 

I forgot...Very cool. Good luck with the build.

DD

 

Yay!! I am so stoked for you.

 

fanfreakintastic! the grin on your face says it all!! congrats..

 

Front end needs some attention. I would look into replacing what you have with a dropped axle and spring over set up. You can split the wishbones you have (whack off the spring perch) and recycle the spindles and brakes if they are serviceable. This should give you a longer (stock A) wheelbase and a better ride. And speaking of "ride" I think you need shocks as well.

 

congrats megan!!!,you dont mess around do ya

 

It really needs a '28-34 front of some sort. There's a big 16, probably 7.50-16, that fills an A rear fender perfectly, giving the car a low, solid look...I suspect you would like the look.
My thoughts...B carb, manifolds, intake (maybe the secret 26MM B carb), B distributor, 4.11 gears and high ratio Mitchell OD...fenders, '31 shell, proper front axle...remove spiders and go. Model A's just want to have fun.

 

VERY COOL!!! Congrats!

 

Cool....
Nothing wrong with that front suspension.....other than putting the wheel back in the fender a tad. The draglink on the other hand...
I was looking in some old Hotrod Mags (1960-2) the other day....ALOT of hotrods back then ran that same setup.....only chromed...

 

Brakes? Brakes kept you from a ride around the block? You have way more self control than I.

I love the big smile, thumbs up, and clapping after you parked it. Typical girl, lol! Nice work.

 

A clutch is almost a brake... c'mon you sissy.

 

Glad to hear that it runs Megan. What a neat old car.

Your front spring, axle, & wishbones are '39-'41 stuff. Drums & hubs look to be '46-'48 pieces. Without pics, I can't tell about the spindles though. '37-'41 take a shorter kingpin than '46-'48. Are they round or square?

The Deuce roadster at the bottom of this page has 6.00 & 7.00 'Stones. Not the best pics but it may help you a little. I'd be tempted to run a 5.50 & 7.50 combination if yours was mine.

http://www.kennedyshotrodshop.com/home/?cat=3

JH

 

very happy for you Megan. Congrats!!
someday I will have roadster.

 

Good to see the A up and running. Defintely agree with Bruce - 28-34 front end would look nice and sit right.

You don't mess around though, its only been there for a couple of days. Looking forward to seeing it at Latimore!

 

Spindles look like they have the integral steering arm...'32-'36?

 

Don't you just love to hear it run for the 1st time? Congrats once again, cannot believe that you got it started it would have never started for me.

Can't wait to see it.

 

I think all pre-48 Ford spindles had integral steering arms.. at least, the used '37-41 ones I have for my ride have the sad, torched-off remains of steering arms still attached. Aftermarket '37-41 ones that all the street rod suppliers don't have steering arms attached because they're meant for the bolt-on ones.

At any rate, Megan, if you can get a photo showing the spindles clearly that oughtta give one of the gurus on here enough info to tell you the kingpins you need, and whatever kingpins you snag for the frontend that's on there now ought to bolt right up to an aftermarket or dropped original axle when you upgrade over the winter.

P.S., that roadster rules and I'm hella jealous...