I am on the home stretch. I did all the engine wiring today. It was nice enough to push the car out into fresh air. I choose cloth covered wiring to look a little period correct. It is not like the original with a cloth covering over regular insulation. To finish off the look it was protected with asphalt insulation. It all passes through a model a junction box on the firewall. I installed a Sun transmitter to drive the rc-50 tach. I am going to try the 1.5 volt AA battery idea and see how well it works. Heck it it moves the needle I will be happy. Don't forget the braided ground strap to the frame.
Thanks Tim. I like things nice and tidy although that gets me in trouble when I forget a wire like a hot wire to the coil now that is all covered!!!!!! Wiring was never my strong point. My dad was an electrician all his life might tell you something.
looking real good... making it YOUR car is in the details,,, may steel the old regulator trick... like you, i like asphalt wire looms 5/16" to 7/8" inside diameter... antique bike stuff... about $2 a foot... 10 foot lengths.
If you want to get anal about it you can buy some fat black shrink wrap and seal the ends of the asphalt loom. I also slip a piece over if I poke a hole in the asphalt to sneak a wire out. Looks nice and clean and no unraveling
I took a day off wiring. It is kind of boring and addressed the limited front shock travel. Like I said earlier the front really dropped quite a bit after installing the engine. As the picture shows it would bottom out with everyday driving. I like the look but this needed to be changed or add some leaves back in. The shocks were Pete and Jake's #1084. I purchased some shorter shocks from Speedway (T bucket) with a compressed height of 7.875". That gives me an additional 1.375" of travel. Here is a comparison. Another benefit was the reduced shock body diameter but a bigger rod. It allowed me to angle the shocks a little instead of straight up like they were. The steering arm would hit with a hard left. I hope they give the ride I am looking for. A little flat black and we should be good to.
The wiring is almost finished. I needed some more wire insulation so I decided to take care of a few other things on my list. First where to mount a headlight switch. I put it right on the dash bezel. It's a tight fit but it does work. With that wired up it turns the headlights on as well as the dash light mounted right above the dash bezel.
Second I added two pedal stops. One for the brake pedal and one for the clutch pedal. With the 40 master cylinder being use the pushrod just fits into its bore. If the pedal would be pulled up, the pushrod would just pull out leaving you with no brakes at all. Not good. So I welded a bracket on the bottom of the pedal asm with a 5/16 bolt as positive pedal stop. I did the same thing for the clutch pedal. This allowed a positive stop to bring the pedal back to with the aid of a return spring. You don't want your throwout bearing to ride on the clutch fingers.
Anyone else hate wiring? Just finished up today not without a few headaches. The starter solenoid didn't work well after I over tightened the ignition stud. I must have broke loose inside and it took some long hard searching to figure it out. A screwdriver shorting the two studs together did nothing. So a quick trip to Advanced Auto fixed that. All good. Motor turns over and all the lights work as they should. The gauges reacted to the sending units when 12V was applied but their accuracy remains to be seen. The first test drive will confirm that. Hope that is pretty soon!
Maybe I'm weird (actually, I know I'm weird), but I actually like wiring. Getting a nice clean wiring layout and tucking everything in nicely, labeling things well and using the right type of wire for the application...yeah, it's a disease...
Body work now there is another one....I like running my hand over a well wet sanded panel but getting to that point is no fun. Although beating out a panel I enjoy that. Out to the garage I go...
I installed my fuel regulator today in between my crossmembers.( model a and a 32 ford) It's a nice fit and hidden from sight. It has a range of only 1-6 pounds. Before we all jump on the fact that it should be as close to the carbs as possible, I am mounting a pressure gauge close to the Strombergs. It is only temporary to set the regulator at 2.5 lbs and will be removed. All intended purposes I am keeping the fact that I am running an electric fuel system hidden. It looks more traditional.
Look what I found today! I have a small brake fluid puddle from running down the front left brake drum. These are brand new wheel cylinders. Yes I know they all come from China I hear. It's the bigger 1.375 side that's leaking. The bore checked out right on the money. What the heck????? After further inspection I believe the seal is the problem. There is some mold flashing around the lip keeping the seal from sealing properly. It is big enough to capture in the picture at the top. I took some 600 grit wet sandpaper and a flat piece of metal and very gently lapped the seal in. The flashing came off as a fine string and I stopped. Its re assembled and I will bleed the brakes again to see if that was the cause. Another day in the life of working with poor quality replacement parts.
Update on the brake cylinder seal. My garage remedy worked and the cylinder looks to be sealing. After bleeding the brakes again, the pedal goes about 1/2 or less before the pedal gets real firm. Not like before. It always felt soft. Check one more item off the list.
Well it is almost complete and ready for it test run. I put the interior back together with my sheet metal floor covered with a textured rubber mat I picked up at a swap meet. It is about an 1/8 thick and I used contact cement to glue it down. Shifter and boot are in as well as the gas pedal. This pretty much wraps up my build. The last entry will be a link to a video of me driving it. Oh one last thing. Yes those are army document bags on each door used in jeeps for operation manuals and maps. A good place to put your stuff in.
Nice ! like the tailight treatment among other things, just thinking you might want to close that door when running or risk the headers blistering the paint .
Funny thing you say that. The door keeps popping open when the car is idling. The cam idles a little rough and shakes the body a little. I adjusted the latch again and it seems to stay shut now. It never fails a lot of little things pop up when you go to test drive it. Yesterday the fuel filter plugged and I had three young lads walk over and checked the car out. I talked them into pushing me a block to my house. I paid them with ice cold beer. They seemed old enough but than what do I know? I got my car home and they got the last of my beer!!!!!!! Fair trade I would say.
Did you take it for a test run yet? A “good” stretch of road to do some testing, is Hwy 59 from Eagle to Palabama! HaHaHa. A roadster looks fantastic!
If you look at my last post I never got out of my park when a fuel delivery issue put a stop to that. I found a kink in my hose off the bottom of the tank. I found it after pulling the tank out and draining it. It had water in it.......hmmmmm. I guess that's why a sediment bowl comes in handy. I never looked at it. Anyway its all back together and off to get some good gas. Premium no ethanol please!
Roadster is looking and sounds great now that gas bowl is interesting. My buddy at the marina told me the ethanol absorbs water when it sits. He finds water in the separator all the time because folks us pump gas on boats.
The Jalopy Journal
