Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

Rebel, looks like your weather is a mirror to Houston's. The warm days and cool nights are killing me! It's roadster weather, man!

 

This one?

 

Yeah, that will do,it didnt really hurt.JW

 

Told you it sounded familiar! Mine was an errant box cutter! Healing nicely though, it's not a month old yet.

 

Yikes !! JW

 

My knife sharpening Kung Fu is strong (I sharpened it just before this because the tubing I was cutting is pretty tough), but my knife handling Kung Fu might need a little work.....

 

Yeah Fred the weather here has been good just too long. We are finally getting some showers. Yesterday was just a break in the storms. It was still fairly warm though. Probably in the 70s. I actually wouldn't have needed my jacket on the way home about 1pm. I had my bomber jacket with the fur collar on. Dick Jones, R.H. Jones in your magazine adds The Billet King has lunch with us and told a story of getting caught in a rain storm in his roadster years ago on the way to the Oakland Grand Nationals he said it was like having a wet cat around your neck. LOL
Fred just keep building the good build. Alls good so far.
Gary

 

Hey Jeremy, that injury looks bad as does the knife cut and I can say that you fella's have put me off my coffee now. I will say this Jeremy, man I am envious of your spacious garage compared to my little one car thing. I will try and upload a photo of my brothers front end and fuel tank that is sitting in our conservatory waiting for the next stage of his build.

 

I have another shed that holds six.......its full. JW

 

And they say this hobby is addictive?

 

My wife is now an addict.............COOL JW

 

Those gashes make my table saw injury look like nothing! I cut up my thumb, didn't cut it off. I wish you a speedy recovery with no nerve damage.

Sent from my SM-G386T using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I've got a couple questions, guys. My last T Bucket didn't have residual valves. I've read and heard that if the master cylinder is below the calipers, you don't need them Is this true?

Second question. My last T also didn't have a proportioning valve. Are they needed? Is it a critical thing? I know the advantages of having one, but is it required to have good brakes?

I'm going with disc in front and drums in the rear......... sorry Rebel.

 

Regardless of where the master cylinder is I would go with the residual pressure valves, 2 pounds in the front for the discs and 10 pounds in the rear for the drums .
Also make sure that you don't have a residual pressure port in your master cylinder.
I would also put an adjustable proportioning valve in the rear brake system, it will allow you to dial in the braking to where the balance is right.

 

Blue, I've read about some defective pressure valves. Can you recommend some good ones?

 

Wilwood are the best I have found.
https://m.summitracing.com/search/product-line/wilwood-residual-pressure-valves

 

That's kinda funny. I had put Wilwood's on my wish list.

 

My T's brakes were iffy at best. Double pump on the pedal usually.
RPV's fixed it.
I was having lock up/sliding issues on loose gravel or grass from the skinny front tires.
A proportioning valve to the FRONT fixed it up!
Spirit cars sets all their T buckets up with a front plumbed proportioning valve so I gave it a shot and it worked perfectly.
Some people are gonna say ALL of the above is wrong or doesn't work.

I don't care really...because it worked great for me on my car...and all our cars have slight or major differences hidden within them that can make what works for one completely unacceptable for another.
Just the way it is.

Now...having said that...I replaced my front brake pads this spring and found that the braking effort went up. Less friction from the new pads I guess.
I opened the proportioning valve completely (from 1 turn in for the original pads) and now my braking effort is better again. I DID however like the old pads (with the prop valve set at 1 turn) better for brake feel, so those pads will be going back on this winter.
The point in saying all that is to show that not all friction parts are the same so with the correct pads for the job a prop valve likely isn't needed.
I'm very doubtful that a T with its 50/50 ish weight balance and much larger rear tires will even need a rear valve.
I would definately try the car without one first as they are so easy to plumb in at a later time if one becomes necessary...no matter which end of the car you intend to put it.

 

A 2 lb residual pressure valve keeps brake fluid from draining back when the m/c is lower that the caliper. No drain back occurs if the m/c is placed above the caliper as in a swing pedal set up. Drum brake master cylinders have a 10 lb RPV to keep the cups expanded and prevent leaks. Depending on the height disparity an inline RPV may not be necessary with a drum brake system. A good guy to run any questions about brakes is Warren Gilliland at The Brake Man in Simi Valley in Socal. Warren was Bill Airheart's protégé as far back as when they built brakes for Halibrand many many years ago. He has Ben involved with brakes since Fred Flintstone drug his feet to stop a car.

 

No in that case you need residuals. Do not waste your time on the red and blue ones, they WILL FAIL. Buy the good brass ones from ECI. Only way to go, you can search 15 years of discussions that confirm this

 

Thanks, guys. Knowledge is king.

 

Another midnight ramble......... brake line tabs in place.

 

Like it and may I ask what you were listening to for your working pleasure? JW

 

Last nights session was Bruce Springsteen "Born to Run". When I was into muscle cars, this song was good for another 100 HP. Or so it seemed.

 

The Boss, another great choice. I saw him live three years back and have all his work. Was wondering what you would listen to on your first drive but I guess it will be exhaust symphony. JW

 

In my world, Hot Rods don't have radios. But if I had a sound track for the first drive, it would probably be......



I got my first slow dance and a kiss off this song. The first drive of a build is the same for me. Pleasure. Pure and simple.

 

Cant get a better answer than that. JW

 

Especially T Roadsters, radio's or those fancy modern thingies that have replaced CD players in cars just don't go into roadsters when one has a healthy V8 burbling just a few inches away from you, no sirry .

 

A few years ago I would have totally agreed about hot rods and no radios. After making several 1000 mile trips in roadsters with and without stereos I realized a stereo is a necessity. At least for me.

Admittedly, I'm an audiophile and love big stereos, but in a roadster there's not much room. The key is quality and volume.

That said, I spend a lot of time driving without without any music.

 

Power of the HAMB and Hot Rodding community.

I've never met this person and really can't remember any interaction on the HAMB. I'm guessing he saw my posts on this thread. About 2 weeks ago, I get a PM with the heading, "Parts". He wanted to know what I was going to do on my front end and thought he may have some stuff I could use. He had ONE condition. He wanted to remain anonymous.

I told him I was going to use the Speedway kit, which has brakes, spindles and king pins. A short time later, he said this was what he was sending. A set of gennie spindles and king pins. He said I'd have to finish cutting the arms off, so that'll be a nice project.



Not only that, but he installed the bushings and reamed them.







Needless to say, I am truly thankful. This will help get my chassis to the roller stage a lot quicker than I thought. I'm a guy on a serious budget, so things like THIS are major moments.

Sir, if you're reading this, thank you very much and when I can, I'll pass it on.