Projects time to build a new car for the hills

That engine is beautiful. The SU carbs add so much eye candy to it. Congrats on it firing up!


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This thing is badass!!!!

 

Loving the build!

Thanks for sharing!!!

 

Pete, are you nuts? You cannot possibly do any of that stuff - it's all dreamland.
Making a aluminium body, grille shell like that - it's not possible.
I must go and sit quietly in the corner now, sobbing gently.
P.S. you will need to add more translations for our American friends............ popping a bollock - OMG! I nearly swallowed my chewy!
Subscribed and looking forward to many more installments to come.
Thanks for sharing - even if it is just make-believe.

 

Thanks for all the good comments.

Last post was a short vid of the motor being run, all things seemed good, but alas, too good to be true. It turned out one of the Champion heads that Nathan (Nifty) lent me was cracked and was leaking water from the rear of the head.

So, the heads were removed and I re-fitted the stock Mercury heads that I intended to fit in the first place and have now welded up the Champion head and awaiting for it to be skimmed.

Since then most of the bits I have done haven't been worth taking pics of, things like the wiring has been done, all the brakes have been plumbed and bled, all the oil lines and coolant system is in including the aluminium radiator.

I've also made a little pod for twin water temp and oil pressure gauges, fitted the front lights, fitted bear claw latches to the doors, fitted the very small gel battery and made the rest of the exhaust system.



Battery mounted under the floor



with the floor in place









I've also made a start on finishing the steering wheel. It's now wrapped in leather cord, just the mounts to finish and do something with the center.



The fuel tank I have used is just an off the shelf item. Time is passing and I need to get the car registered as soon as I can so this will do for now until I get the time to build a nice one.





And finally the headlights.





Pete

 

wow!

 

Pete. Some clumsy oaf has dented the cap on your fuel tank!

Inspirational stuff mate, can't wait to see it tearing up the hills!

 

holy shit

 

Another little update.

A while back a pair of well used dark red leather seats from the 30's came up for sale on the dreaded bay and they were just down the road, so I took a chance and bought them. So my daughter Ellie and myself jumped in the truck and went to collect them.
Back home and with the body on the floor placed the seats to see if they'd fit. And they did, sort of. They were a good fit at the base but a little wide at the top. A quick trip to my mate Rik and the covers were removed which meant I could adjust the frames and fit the mounts.

The mounts need to be both simple and easy to remove, so I decided to make the front ones as pivot pins and the rears are bear claw latches so the seats can be lifted up for storage behind.















They're now back with Rik waiting for him to get a bit of time to re-fit the covers.

This is now up to date and where I'm at with the car. I working on it as much as possible wanting to get it on the road as soon as I can, which is just a bit late for my poor old roadster, while racing at Prescott hill climb this last weekend I lost the rear end and it took a ride into the crash barrier. Not too much damage, bent front axle, bent drag link, and crumpled front fender. But with the help of friends we got it back up and running for me to compete in the final two races of the day and the end of the roadsters racing career.

Pete

 

Well that sucks pete. But atleast ya didnt total it

 

Pete's a bloomin' 'ero and no mistake.

Mart.

 

Yesterday had a bit of a lazy day as far as the car was concerned. Nifty, UK Comet, another friend and i were just talking shit and generally doing nothing when I decided that if I fitted the rear axle keys we could drive the car forward and back from the garage onto the drive and back. I know this doesn't sound much but it was a milestone. It was the first time this car had moved under it's own power, and I have the tire marks on the garage floor to prove it.

Happy Happy Happy.

And while UK Comet was here he took a couple of pics and a short bit of video.













and the video, turn up the speakers.

http://vimeo.com/51388578

Pete

 

Forgot to ask, but does anyone know what the speedo is from?

Pete

 

The engine looks the tit's!! I saw the video and I know you probably have a bunch of stuff to tidy up and the details to tweak but it sounds like the carbs need to be synced. I grew up on sidedrafts and can hear when one is just out of time. It could be the video. I am also wondering if you could give a couple of closeup intake shots, top, sides and front? I get so much grief when I mention sidedrafts on a flathead (V8 or 4 banger) and have found a new love, the SU carbs.
Thanks for that mate!

 

A quick qoogle shows 37 Pontiac and 38 Buick had Safety First on the speedo, but don't look like that one, but chances are some other later 30's GM product.

My wild guess.

EDIT! Found it! 1937 Olds.

Mart.

 

You are right about the carb balance, I have one slide opening slightly behind the other two, and as yet not sure why, but working on it.

There are plenty of pics of the whole build here

http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d79/kingcoolrides/model A race car/?start=0

with pics of the manifolds starting on page 17.

Pete

 

1937 Oldsmobile.

Nicely done.

 

Still been working on the car all the hours that I can and finally it's ready for the MOT, which is booked for 9am Tues morning.

It's far from finished, lots of work still to do on the body, but that can all be done once the registration has been completed.

We, as in Nifty and myself, did take it for a quick drive around the block on Friday afternoon, and it did run very well and I very pleased with it. Did have one issue though, seems the clutch occasionally chatters. Not sure why yet, I'll take a better look once the MOT is done.

So this afternoon I had nothing to do, didn't have the time between now and the MOT to do anything meaningful and all the little jobs done so just took a load of pics and went and sat on the sofa. My wife Sue did comment that it's the first time in ages she's sat opposite me, on the other sofa, while it's still light outside.

So, it runs and drives nice, except for some odd intermittent clutch noise, the steering is light and quick, 2-1/4 turns from lock to lock, the carbs seem to work well with maybe just a little more tuning required to correct a slight stumble that's hardly noticeable, and the brakes pulled to the left, hopefully due to not being bedded in.

I'll report once the MOT is done, should be a longer drive so I'll have a better feel for the car. But for now I'll leave you with some pics.







Indicator in the headlight

































Pete

 

In a word.....Excellent.....in every way!

 

Amazingly beautiful work, sir!

 

Good luck with the MOT Pete

What am I saying - you'll piss it

Cheers

Juggs

 

Wow man you are oozing great ideas!

 

Yay! Finally and after much pissing around,I have a registration number. Two letters, four numbers.

happy happy happy, so skiving off work to have a play.

Big, big thanks to Neil and the VHRA for guiding me through and answering all my question.

Turns out that the day I skived off work was the wettest day we've had with floods everywhere, roads closed all over, peoples houses flooded out, the worst I have seen.

So I took the car for a drive

Picked up Rik (KFC) on here. He video'd some of the trip, guess the car got christened

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6qkZ7H9vLEE

And the girl giggling is Rik. We got soaked through, and this was only one of the puddles we went through. We did have fun that day.

Pete

 

Congrats...

 

Still working on the car, trying to tie up some of the loose ends.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been making both the fuel tank and windscreen, and although not totally finished, they'll do for now.



















Still plenty to do and I'll keep it updated as I do them.

Pete

 

My oh my, it just keeps getting better. Nice job. Gary

 

beautiful job! have fun!

 

I have to say.. I like the wires better! Congrats on passing with the MOT.

 

Wow very nice work. I wish I had that much talent.

 

Wowsa! Nice