Projects **Malcolm Model A Roadster Build**

Awesome pictures Nick! Looks great with that merc!

 

You must be really short

 

I like it. I have a quarter too...

 

Damn Nice!

 

very nice work

 

polished off a couple cups of coffee re-reading this thread. Great motivation to hit the garage. My favorite build this year!

 

I thought about starting a new build thread to document the next "chapter" for this car... But what the heck, might as well just keep going with this one.



I was still driving it some into mid-December, but knew that I needed to tear into it soon to get some more work done. I'm down to about two months left before driving down to Austin for the Lonestar Roundup.

Before working on the car, I absolutely HAD to get my garage organized and into a better workable state. It was a disaster after the thrash last spring/summer.
(I thought I had a photo of the new arrangement, but I don't -- will have to take one tonight and post it.)


Finally started disassembly. I should have the body off tonight, as well as the engine/trans out.




I started cleaning up all of the front end parts to get them ready for paint. While stripping the old paint and rust off the front axle, I realized it was bent! Had a slight bow to it. I made two phone calls and found a shop here in Omaha that was able to straighten it. Never even knew this shop existed and it's been in operation since the '50s. The primarily do big truck repair and body work -- dump trucks, school buses, etc.

I stopped in Friday afternoon and they said they could do it right away. A guy my age tackled the job and let me help out. Pushing this axle into shape was nothing compared to the big truck stuff he's used to working on. He noticed it had a slight twist to it and took car of that, too! I brought the spindles and king pins along and we checked the camber. One side was 1.375 degrees and the other 1.875. A little more pushing and measuring and we were set -- both sides are at 1.5 degrees now. (Thanks to a thread by 296 V8 - that's where I found the preferred 1.5 degree measurement)

 

The headlight/shock mounts were pretty crude and for from finished. I spent a bunch of time on them over the weekend -- grinding, welding, sanding, blending...




All the front end parts are now clean and ready for paint

 

They do alot of coolshit down at Paul lucht's.Thats where I do my painting and work on my big trucks.Great guys,great old equipment. Can't wait to see some paint! Rob

 

Glad to see it progressing!
Lsru will be great this year.

 

Fixed that for you.

 

Chrome?

 

Chrome, Nick...??? Paint, Nick...??? I thot you liked the patina the car has now...???

R-

 

I wish I could afford to chrome all these parts! Really, though - it would take MANY more hours of sanding, filling, grinding, smoothing, etc. to get this stuff ready for chrome. Not gonna happen!

Besides, I've never intended for this car to head that direction. This is a simple, bare bones, budget-built Hot Rod.

 

This was just to get the car on the road last year. I've always intended to paint it. Because of time constraints, it'll probably end up in primer this year.

Seems like most of my projects go this way. Keep the down-time to a minimum and do a little improving/finishing each year as budget and time allow.

 

I forget, did you mention colors at some point?

 

Black with flake in it? I know someone locally that may be able to ship you some.

 

Body (and frame rails) will be Ford Washington Blue and all suspension parts gloss black.

Just black - probably a single stage paint. Thanks for the offer, though!

 

I was thinking that is what you said, should look great.

 

Looking good. I loved it in bare metal, but I can't wait to see it in paint. Great color combo by the way. Never can go wrong with that combo.

 

I really like Washington Blue.....great choice

 

A few friends stopped over tonight to help lift the body off. I pulled the engine/trans. after they left and separated the two. The transmission (Mustang T5) was making some noise in 3rd and 4th gears, so it's getting rebuilt. It and the new engine (just another SBF) should be back in the chassis within a couple weeks.

I also need to pull the center-section out of the rear axle to have the gears/etc. switched over to a Ford Trac-Lok unit that McTim64 (Tim McMaster) gave me.

 

Awesome work...can't wait to see it in color!

 

Great progress. Shoulda called, I would have been there to help

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

Can't wait to see you and the car in Austin!

 

Might be a calendar car two years in a row!

 

I've been subscribed to your build for quite a while. This one is on my "must see" short list for LSRU this year.

I'm collecting parts for a roadster and I want the same drive train that you've got in yours. Hope to see it in paint in March.

 

Thanks, Jeff -- I know I've said it before, but I should do a shop night soon. If anything, it's a good reason to get everyone together!

Cool - looking forward to meeting you... in April

 

The last couple nights I've been working on getting the new engine cleaned up, parts switched over from the old one, painted, etc.

The new engine is a 347 stroker with Edelbrock Victor Jr. heads and it had an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake on it. I've read/heard the the Weiand Stealth is a little better intake and decided to switch it over from the 302 I had in the car before. The 347 is slightly used, with not many miles on it. I was told it was ready to drop in and go. Bought it with the carb, ignition, everything.

Well, I'm glad I pulled the intake. There was a nut sitting on one of the intake valves! I'd hate to see what kind of damage that would've done. Thankfully, the engine is nice and clean inside and I can very easily see cross-hatching on the cylinder walls, looking through the spark plug holes.




Another thing I noticed is that the intake gaskets don't match the port size. they slightly obstruct the openings. I ordered the correct gaskets, with a slightly larger opening.

 

Dodged a bullet there!