Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

All the credit goes to Andrew—a long time H.A.M.B.er who tends to fly under the radar. I've always been a Death Cab For Cutie fan, and the Postal Service bring it to a whole new level!

What would a road trip story be without a little drama?

Thank you! We've come a long way since Page 1, haven't we?

Thank you! Nothing beats driving old cars like, well, cars!

I read this when you posted it and I keep on going back to it. This is so true. Very well said.

Yes!

 

Sidebar 0.00: Bad News

I love this car and I love this thread. Maybe that's why I've been putting off posting this. They always said bad news comes in threes, but tonight's comes in a pair. It's been a long day, and it's time to break it to you. Here we go.

After the camping trip, Andrew and I made our way back up to Petaluma. Our objective as as clear as can be: get that flathead fired up. After meeting with David, we decided that I should go pick up parts while the two of them got everything into position. My shopping list included thick washers for the custom lakes headers and a pair of crab rotors from the local NAPA.

At Maselli's, I made a beeline towards the hardware cabinet. At first, I thought about stacking two thick washers to make up for the thin flange. Then, as I studied the drawers, I asked if they had any sort of spacers. Within minutes, I found the perfect 11 washers. With a little bit of finessing with the POWER-KRAFT drill, they worked well with the stainless hardware. Andrew handled the installation like the pro he is.
As he worked on the headers, I focused my attention to the cloth-wrapped wiring. Just like on the last version of the car, I stressed every connection to make sure the wires all looked—and functioned—as they should. Oh, and we made sure to have a little bit of fun along the way.

AWOOOOOGAH!

Large Adel(e) clip up top was a di Falco idea. Don't worry, the zip-ties are only temporary.

 

With that, the engine was ready. Carb on. Fuel tank ready. Exhaust in place and all systems go. David hit the starter button as Andrew and I looked on.

Err. Err.
Nothing. Not even a pop.
Err. Err.
Again, nothing. We all looked on, confused. What could it be? The starter wasn't turning over the motor. Right then and there, we knew it. The engine was stuck.

David didn't panic, no neither did we. We pulled the starter to bench test it. It was strong, thrashing on the workbench like a large-mouth bass. I put it back on the motor. We tried again. Nothing. Nothing at all.

That's when it really hit me. This engine is seized. Completely locked up. My mind began to race. "How did this happen? What did I do wrong?" David suggested that maybe it was just stuck for sitting and that pouring ATF down the cylinders would help free it up. So that's what we tried.

As Andrew and I left the shop that day, I felt terrible. I've made so many mistakes on this build, but this could have possibly been the biggest one to date. I bought this as a "running motor," and that couldn't have been further from the truth. Everyone told me not to beat myself up over it, but I still am.

***
​

Not hearing that motor run that day broke my heart. I wanted it to happen for me, for David and for Andrew. I apologized to them for leading them astray, but neither would listen to any of it. "You know what, Joey," David said. "This all brought us closer together." Even though I wasn't so sure then, I now know that he couldn't have been more right.

 

The following week, David and I went to a memorial for one of our friends who passed away.
David thrashed all week to fix the rearend on his car, and it felt so good to have it on the road on a beautiful fall morning in Petaluma.

There were a ton of incredible vintage bikes in attendance. I was especially happy to introduce David to my friend Max who built this perfect swingarm Knucklehead. The bike is on the cover of issue 97 of DicE Magazine.
The "Oakland Orange" paint has always reminded me of Dave Marquez' roadster, which featured eye-searing paint acquired from the local Air Force base.

 

No shortage of vintage tin in attendance.

Readbeard's roadster looking great with a full hood and steelies.

 

After, we pulled the heads. The passenger side put up a hard fight, but we managed to break it free.

As you can see, we used a wide variety of tools.

Including ones we made ourselves.

But in the end, no matter how much ATF we used, or how much we hit them with a hammer and wood block or breaker bar on the crank nut, nothing would budge.

I pulled the other head, for posterity's sake. Same story.
So it goes.

But the story isn't all bad. I called the seller, and he said I could still return the engine for a full refund. I plan to do that soon. In the meantime, I've been searching far and wide for a replacement. I have a line on a few, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can come up with.

 

As I let my A-V8 thoughts simmer, I continued to enjoy Version 1.5 post-camping trip.

My girlfriend Gen and I hit the town on a crisp San Francisco night, cruising to the Sunset for dinner.

And taking whatever opportunities we can to put miles on this thing!

On Sunday morning, I woke up early(ish) to hang out with Yama and friends at the Hunter's Point Motorcycle Swap Meet. I've always wanted to take my roadster there. The whole thing was a total blast. The car looked especially at home amongst the old industrial buildings.

Yes, I did make an offer on this Harley Hummer-powered mini-bike. Thank goodness it was declined.

 

Here's Part II. of the story I didn't want to tell.

As I was driving home, I started hearing a noise when I shifted into third. It was clunking noise, and I immediately knew it wasn't good. I pulled over, looked under the rear, and realized that some of the hardware on the differential had worked itself loose. I did what I could to tighten it on the side of the road and limped the car home.

I sat on it for a day, considering my options. I then drained the trans oil, drained the diff oil and greased the zerk beneath the trans inspection cover. After adding new oil, I took it out for a test drive. Everything was exactly the same. I sent some footage to David, and we bounced ideas back and forth. At first, we thought it was the clutch, considering that I thought the noise was only happening with the clutch in. Then, when I rolled down Fulton in neutral with the clutch not pushed in, I still heard the noise worse than ever. The verdict was in: the rearend is toast.

I jacked up the rear—again—and spun the driver's side wheel. Grinding. Same with passenger side. Talk about a sad moment. Version 1.0/1.5 and I have been so far together, and it hurts to see something like this happen in the final chapter.

It'd be easy to say, "Well, that's that. We had our fun," and just pull the body to put it on Version 2.0. If I were more rational, I'd do that. But I have this email sitting in my inbox, and I'm determined to have my roadster in SoCal next month.

 

By page 93 of this thread, you guys know me by now. As soon as I discovered the rearend was broken, I started looking hard for a replacement. Believe it or not, I may have a line on one that I can pick up this weekend. I plan to pull the driveline apart and sub in a mystery rear to race at T.R.O.G. in 15 days. I ordered new shackles, gaskets and a spring spreader. Yama let me know that he's in for an all nigher—or five—to make this work.

It's a big hill to climb, but I know we can push to make it happen. Disassembly starts Sunday.

That's the full update. I'll let you know how things progress.

Thanks again for following along.

 

Actually, two more things. My roommate Benj gave me this Zink photo of cruising the San Francisco streets. Such a good time.

This shot from D&B motors is exactly the era I'm going for with 2.0. The Deuce roadster in the foreground is right on the money.

 

Gotta Love a good looking woman who picked you Kid, not based on the car you drive.
Then again maybe she did with a free spirited adventurous side.

Mercedes, Porsches and BMW's got nothin' on a rusty old Model A roadster.
You better keep her Joey.
Did I say she was good looking ?

 

I have a whole lot of responding to do, but I’d like to take a second to say Happy Thanksgiving. I’m thankful for each and every one of you for helping make this project a reality. I hope you have a relaxing long weekend with those you care about most.

Things are looking positive on the ‘banger front, the flathead front and everywhere else. I’m optimistic.

My friend Erik shared the first images from his feature shoot, and I figured there’s no better time to post one on here.