Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

Right back atchya! Man, that's as cool as it gets. I can't wait to see pictures of it. I love how downright utilitarian they are. As someone who's hooked on estate sales, I can't even imagine the treasure I would haul home in one of these.

Hahaha that's the truth. On all my British bike projects, I made sure to completely wire them from scratch so the Prince of Darkness couldn't make an unannounced appearance.

Yeah, there's something about positive ground that's still a little hard for me to wrap my head around, but I've had success with it before.

This fog is merciless with the wood around here, as you know. Remember our old garage from the beginning of the thread? It basically fell apart from 70 years of Inner Richmond fog—so much, in fact, that I used old Michigan license plates to patch holes in the doors. After we moved out, they finally replaced all the wood on the garage and the house.

A blast from the past.

I most certainly will—all those sound like very neat machines. It was a great weekend in Puyallup. If I were better at coordinating things, it would have been nice to meet up. There's always next time. Your coverage was excellent, by the way.

Chet, thank you for coming along for the ride. None of this would have been possible without all of you guys out there. This build has been a whole lot of fun thus far, and believe me when I say we have some big things in the works.

MG seems right to me. And thank you! I know I'm not the first to run a British mirror, but I think it fits the look and feel of the build just fine. And it's a tip of the hat to my Triumph days!

Looks great on there!

Those are some of my favorites!

Nice!

 

Sidebar #6: The Grocery Getter

Sunday morning was spent in a car, then on a bus, then on a plane, then on a train and eventually in a car again. With luggage in hand, I trudged up my front steps, turned the key and walked in the front door. My Pacific Northwest trip had come to a close and, just like that, I was back.

Even though I was pretty worn out from my travels, there was no doubt that I was going to run some errands in the roadster. Seeing that the cracked windshield post is still with Yama, I asked Michael if he could help me remove the frame and the other post. Within a matter of minutes, I had the car looking like a pre-war dry lakes racer for the street.

Driving around sans windshield feels so much different. To be honest, I think I just got so used to having one that it has become the new roadster normal for me (I'm spoiled, I know). Anyways, I quickly remembered that there's really no hiding in this car now; you're completely out in the open.

Towards the end of my trip, I rumbled into the Safeway grocery store parking lot like I often do. I made a quick lap in an effort to pick the best parking spot. I eventually found one on the far side by the bushes. One three-point turn later and I was backed into position. Key off. Master power off. Fuel pump off. Fuel off. I grabbed my bag and started walking towards the store.

No more than 10 steps in, a teenaged guy and an older woman started closing in on the car. "Is it done?" the guy asked. I realized he was an employee on his break. "It'll never be finished," I said with a laugh. "I have a 199..." he started to say as the woman, full of energy, stared intently at the roadster.

"Can I take a picture of your car for my Facebook page?" she said. I told her that would be no problem. "It's so nice to see one of these being used," she said. "not just for a car show or TV." I asked if she was a car enthusiast, and she said she was. For whatever reason, she reminded me of my mom, taking pictures of vintage tin to send to me and my brother. As she took snapshots of the interior, I told her that she could open the door and sit in it if she wanted to. Much to my surprise, she did.

"You know what," I said. "We can take it for a quick spin around the block if you'd like." Her face lit up. I jumped behind the wheel and brought the engine to life. As we drove, I told her about the car, the build, and hot rod history as I worked my way through the gears. Throughout our neighborhood lap, she continued to take pictures and videos on her phone.

When we returned to Safeway, she hopped out and thanked me for driving a car like this. I thanked her for taking an interest in it.

It wasn't until I was walking into the store that I realized how funny the whole scene really was. Strangers? Hot rods? Hey, I guess that's just what happens when you drive a Model A in the city.

***​

I didn't have too long to laugh about it because, at the entrance, I bumped back into the teenaged employee from before. "So my 1996 Crown Victoria," he said, "it leaks out of the head gasket, oil pan gasket, radiator, left rear wheel, rear differential...but I'm still running it."

"Well, it looks good my man," I said.
"That's right," he replied. "It sure does."

With that, I went grocery shopping.

 

Fun with old cars!

Haha this one has been a perfect fit for being in the SF fog.

For sure, I love nothing more than sharing this project with anyone and everyone.

All clothes were retained. As a matter of fact, I added a layer because the fog was rolling in!

 

Last night, I broke into my spare set of brakes. The plan was to strip these clean and build my second set on the bench while the car was still in use. Well, after breaking into them, it became immediately clear that these were in rougher condition than the ones on the car.
The main issue was a seized E-brake lever on one and a pair of broken external E-brake springs. These are both fixable, but repairing them and putting them into play seems like a step backwards compared to the decent set that are currently bolted in place.

 

Thank you! It's been a fun and eventful year thus far, and I'm looking forward to the next steps.

Hell yah! I like the sound of that.

 

Monday night updates:

Yama fixed the windshield post and now the setup is more secure than ever. I replaced the bottom wing nuts with chrome bullet nuts so that I could torque them down better. Vintage fiber washers were used up top.
What's that package in the front seat you ask? Well, it's a whole lot of hot rod history from my good friend Kerry. With any luck, you'll be seeing more of it later.

Also, I was able to lube the chassis. Very cool to use my vintage Stewart-Warner grease gun, which was an estate sale find from a few pages back.

Other than that, not much else happening. We had our Loyola Terrace block party yesterday and it was neat to have the roadster parked in the driveway. Although most of the neighbors have seen it, everyone appreciated getting to check it out up close.

Oh! And my rear brake shoes have been arced and paid for. I'm going to be in Louisville for the Street Rod Nationals later this week, but when I get back I'm going to break into the brakes and get this thing stopping as it should. I can't wait!

 

Those of you on Instagram may have already seen this, but I recently had a roll of Velvia 100 slide film developed and I'm really happy with some of the results.
A snapshot of my Sunday morning drive though Golden Gate Park taken with an old camera and expired film. I love that you can almost feel the fog in the air.

 

Thank you, Tim! It's always fun brightening someone's day with an old car. Big things are on the horizon...

Hahah I agree! Great sign.

Yes! I have Flathead Ted floaters on the front and I'm considering running them on the rear too. Once I get the rears on, I will have a 100% fresh setup.

 

The last two days with the car have been a learning process. It's good because I'm, well, learning. It's not so good because I'm not 100% sure I have things sorted out. Here's the story.

On Tuesday evening, I felt that the car was idling higher than usual. Per the plugs, it was a little rich. I did some tuning, driving around the neighborhood and trying out various mixtures with the bottom two screws on the Stromberg. I drove the car to dinner without issue. After dinner, I drove it towards home, stopping a couple of times to play with the carb mixture/idle. My guess is that, in total, the second leg of the trip was about 30 minutes with the headlights on. I spent a fair amount of time with it idling below 1,500rpm which, according to the Secrets of Speed Society description of the pulley, means the battery was not charging.

When I got home, I read the plugs, which were tan with a little bit of black. I cleaned them up and decided to do some more fine tuning the next day while running lunchtime errands.

When I went to leave on Wednesday, the car fired right up. I made an adjustment on the carb per the Stromberg manual (screw in until it stumbles). It stumbled and then died. Here's where it gets strange. I went to start it again and...the battery was too low. How?

Other than the dying after weeks of sitting, I have a high level of confidence in my electrical system. 12V Odyssey PC680 sealed battery, 12V PowerGen, NOS headlight switch, new ignition switch, LED taillight, all new wiring of the correct gauge—the works.

My first move was to throw it on the trickle charger, which brought the battery up to 12.6 in a few hours. Next, I rigged up a digital voltmeter so that I could monitor the readings as I drove. I also thought about what has changed somewhat recently. Maybe the dash light? I popped off the panel and saw that there may have been a place where it was accidentally grounding. I disconnected it for the time being.

From there, I took it out for a drive. Here are my findings.

Initial start: 12.2V, starts easily
Idling: 11.5-12.1V
Revving, blip of the throttle: 13V
Driving: 14.1V
Driving with headlights on 13.5V

So the alternator is definitely working. When I was finished with the rather lengthy drive—with headlights on for half and off for half—the battery read 12.2V, which isn't ideal. Was the battery at a deep state of discharge and the driving couldn't bring it back? The car ran great and had no problems starting or operating. No issues at all.

When I hooked it to the trickle charger when I got home, I got it back to 12.8V. I bet I didn't have it fully charged before my trip, but shouldn't driving it bring it back to full voltage?

My hunch is that my reduced crank pulley size is hurting the charging capabilities. 28% smaller size means 28% less charge. Maybe it's time to switch back to the stock size when I'm installing the old chrome front cover? Seems like a step backwards, but charging for nighttime driving is a must.

I'm about to board my flight to Louisville, but I'm interested to hear your input on the situation.