@drdave accidentally dumped some model glue in the drivers seat before his first drive. Hasn’t quite worked lose of it.
Ah, cloth diapers. I'm glad the days of dealing with those things are done at my house! I dig your car and the travelogues, keep it up.
Now that I've stopped moving for the first time in 5 days, I can go on and tell about this weekend It starts on Friday, I had planned on driving the T to work, but it was raining when I got up, so I drove my truck, then when I got off at 2pm it was sunny and beautiful. I went home and pulled out the roadster and put my stuff in dads truck. (handy to have the extra storage) And away we went! (more about the wheel later) It was uneventful, and in a couple hours of easy cruising we were at the fairgrounds in des moines. On the way, I rolled over 5000 miles on the roadster. We grabbed our registration and headed for the hotel to check in. Once we moved our stuff in, we drove right down the street to the bbq joint to get some food. It was hopping as usual, and practically had a car show in the parking lot. oh and the food was delish. when we got back to the hotel, we found some friends from kansas, and stopped to chat. If you recognize the black sedan, you know we had a hoot. I gave a girl a ride up and down the street, and got the seal of approval from Roger, then we parked and walked around the surrounding hotels to see all the cars. I had a couple guys ask questions about the car, and just hung out while dad polished on his truck. Eventually it got dark and it was time to tarp up, and get some sleep. Eventually, after a couple poor hours of sleep, we got up and headed for the fair grounds. we filled up with gas, got some food and headed in. We snagged a decent spot, and staked our spot for the day. soon after, we met this friendly kid, and his dad, that wanted to take a picture with my car, and was ecstatic when I said he could sit in it. he was checking out all the gauges, and had a blast pushing the pedals and turning the wheel. We decided we would head for the swap meet, and got all the way to the other side of the fairgrounds, and through most of the swap, only for it to start raining. So, back across the fairgrounds I went, and since it was raining pretty fair when I got there, I just backed the car into our tent. @32fenderless deuce in the background, he joined our tent off and on throughout the day, and even took dad for a spin around the fairgrounds in the coupe. eventually the rain stopped, and We pushed the car out on the concrete again. You can see the clouds overhead that stuck around all day. About 3pm we decided to head for home, and headed out. (yes that's my knee) We had a nice cruise down the interstate till we got a little south of the city, where things got a little... WET. It started light, but by the time we got to Osceola, it was a pretty solid rain. we stopped for dinner and I tarped up. after eating we hit the road again, and it was ok till we had to get off interstate and go on the two lanes of Iowa. It was really wet, and every time we had to slow down the tires made sure I knew I was in a roadster. Eventually I had to stop and get a coat out of dads truck, cause the wind changed and it got frigid. We made it to within 5 miles or so of home, and I looked down to see I wasn't charging anymore. I putted it home without too much issue, and parked it in the shop. I was pretty frazzled from the ride. My working theory, is that I don't have the belt tight enough, and it already doesn't have a very good wrap on the crank pulley, so when it gets wet, it starts slipping and burning the inside of the belt. So modifications will be made.
In the meantime I had bigger issues. when I stopped to get my coat from dad's truck, I put my foot down on the floor and realized I had about an inch of standing water on the floor. I threw all my towels on the floor and drove the last hour home, but when I pulled the car out sunday afternoon... I had a slight moisture issue. You can see the pile of dirt that is built up on the driver side, it was under my rubber floor mat, that was FLOATING in the car. so I did what I should have done 3 months ago, and drilled two holes in the floorboard. once it drained out, I let it sit out and dry, along with all the towels and other accessories. oh, I also dug dad's roadster out of mothballs. (don't worry, its not gonna be purple, I've got that out of my system now. ) I drug dads roadster out, cause before I can work on it, I've got to revamp the garage and separate the clean and the dirty shop. this started by moving my lathe and my welding table, so I could fit three cars in the first bay. It's tight, but they fit. I got that all done on sunday, then yesterday I tore out the far wall with the windows, and took my wife out for a drive through town and to get ice cream. and finally, today, I built a new separating wall. Clean side: And shop side: I'll work in more photos as I work on stuff, and look for the Coupester thread to fire back up soon. And finally, to round it out, the steering wheel. When I was up in Minnesota, I was looking through a booth with Marcy, and she was talking to the guy about stuff he hadn't put out yet, and so we looked in his trailer, and I spotted this on top of a box. It's a vintage superior 500 (my favorite) in a 15" size, with a killer red metalflake grip. its 3" bigger than the 12" wheel I've used so far, and the only reason it works, is because of the heavy dish it has, it just clears my knees. I've always dug flaked wheels, and it doesn't get near as hot in the sun as my black wheel. Oh and did I mention it was $20? Gotta get lucky sometimes.
Not much to update, short of the fact I've been driving it anytime its not raining, s Still putting along on the shop remodel, and gathering parts for this winter's engine rebuild. This is my current favorite corner of the shop.. The old craftsman box came from a shop here in town that I also have some hand painted signage from. The intake came from @Dennis Lacy , and the Mallory distributor came from @need louvers? Cant wait to put it on my car, but less than excited to not get 22mpg anymore. In the meantime, its fair week in our town, which just means driving through town is impeded, and that we get pancakes on Saturday morning. drove uptown with dad, ate pancakes, Then he went to the parade, and I went back home. after I played mockup with the new toy, (The Speed Coupe) and did some more work in the shop, my buddies Erik and Taylor stopped by. Erik is getting this latest version of his coupe sorted for a trip to Bonneville for speed week, and just needed an excuse to put more miles on it. he came down checked out the shop, the new coupe, and then we went and had lunch. Not a bad view if I do say so myself. It's pretty neat to have a car I can just hop in and go to lunch. hot rods make even the smallest trips fun.
Update: Stuff happens fast when you have a little kid, and when my wife reminded me that her and the little one were leaving this weekend on a 4 day trip with her sister, I had all sorts of lofty ideas about what I could get done if I ignored things like the sleep and food my lovely wife so diligently reminds me that I need I got.... Some of it done. I've been driving this thing to work every day that allows, It's much more comfortable to get into a roadster for the short trip home, than my truck that sits and bakes in the sun all day. So mama and baby girl left mid-day Thursday, so after work I cruised out to my buddies house, to properly procrastinate on my work that was waiting at home. He had some tree limbs fall in a recent storm. luckily, no damaged cars. Unfortunately, while bitchin, his current chevette project is VERY OT. Did I just say bitchin and chevette in the same sentence? Yes. So I got a whole lot of nothing done at the late hour I got home from mikes, but the next day was to be sunny, so hey, at least more roadster weather! We did some overgrown plant removal at work so I had to move from my normal spot at work. After work I went into the local print shop to pick up some artwork. right after I drove home I realized there were faint vertical lines on the prints, not super noticible, but I couldn't let it slide. So back to the print shop to sus out the problem, we determined their scanner had an issue, and printed a couple modified versions off that were clean. Loaded up and headed home. The next morning I slept in, (a luxury reserved for those without kids) and mid morning headed down to Atchison Kansas to meet up with my buddy Brad. He has an ok-ish deuce sedan. As you may have figured out, the art was for him. We both agreed though, these kids stole the show. After hanging out for awhile, and swapping road trip stories, I headed for home. And I continued on that garage reorganization project I hinted at awhile back. My buddy gave me this old Dewalt radial arm saw base cabinet a year or so ago, and its sat in the corner till now, when I decided to repurpose it as a base for my drill press. It's really sturdy, and is an ok height. of course I had a good view... Eventually our four legged fuzzy creature convinced me to play with him, again with great views. Note the piles of parts in front of my garage? Its most of a 28/9 coupe (need quarters) that was in the back of my truck until @Austin kays needed to borrow my truck to transport his coupe (see thread: A long time coming ) It has since repopulated my mobile storage unit. I continued my work in the shop on Sunday after a short trip to pick up some stuff from St Joe, including some pegboard to finish the new wall. I moved my coke machine into it's corner with the help of my buddy Tanner, and also installed a little transom made of some vintage 80's plastic windows. I finished out the other side with some extra sheets of sheetrock, and a smattering of weesner posters. And even though its dusty, here's my pedal car I built from scratch while in tech school. hopefully this will stay cleaner now with the shop separate. On the shop side Tanner also helped hang my Pa and Ma sign, that I liberated from a local business when they uncovered it under a newer sign. and just cause, a candid shot of the speed coupe in its new home, Did I mention I'm having an open house? Gotta find motivation somewhere... Salina this weekend is the plan, See you there? .
Awesome car. I don't know how I missed this thread. What is your wheelbase? Also, are you planning to use that crab cap Mallory distributor?
Thanks! Wheelbase is 99" And yeah, when I install the four carb manifold I'm gonna put the crab cap on. Stay tuned here....
Well, another fun weekend. As I stated in the speed coupe thread, I picked up a new project car, (1969 rambler station wagon) on Saturday morning, along with a bunch of parts. It rained all day and the presence of the trailer (with station wagon still on it) parked in my driveway, waiting for the yard next to my shop to dry out, made it impossible to remove the T... But where there's a will, there's a way. Sunday after church I was to meet a guy 30 minutes away to sell him some parts. And I sure wasn't taking a daily. but then again.. this thing IS my daily. . . nevermind. Car go vroom, boy go smile. On the way back I kept seeing these purple ... weeds? along the road, and they looked like the matched... Gravel road acquired. Flowers found. Yes, they match. Pretty good eh?
I mean, I got bored. Two bent pieces of conduit, and two rolls of masking tape later, I was excited to see what it was like inside and how hard it was to get in, and well.. It was a bit of a circus. But no worse than any of the rest of my cars, and I found my way around. My wife even suckered my dad into a photo op. ' I was pretty stoked, so when I went to bed, I determined that if it wasn't raining, I'd take the back way into work, and drive it there. Well, it rained. So I chickened out. Good thing too, cause it poured. But once I got home from work, I was able to drag it out and go for a ride around town. pretty neat, and a very different experience. anyways, better pictures, more light, ect. then I figured out that I had a fisheye lens thing on this phone... so, here's the inside of the top. as you can see, its held together with the finest hopes and dreams money can buy. oh, and tape, lots of tape. I have a woodworker buddy who is gonna make a top bow/visor thing to slip over the front window, so it will have a little more pronounced lip on the front. then I think I'm gonna just coat the whole thing in fiberglass and calling it a day. has anyone laid glass over masking tape? any ill effects?
Last time I did it, I was able to get the glass peeled off. Stuck ok 'till I wanted to pull it off. Was surprised that it acted similar to release-agent. You should be ok, as long as there aren't any holes/voids where the resin can leak thru. FWIW, if you have the headroom, I'd drop the back bow down a little for better proportions. You'll get a nice stripped mini-'gatorskin effect for the underside of the top. Almost like very-fine wrinkle-paint. Black plastic garbage bags work similar, but get really wrinkly since they're so thin. You can also stretch muslin across the bows, wet it & then dry it to snug it up, & glass it. I used an extremely thin coat of 'glass resin 1st to harden it(was building a ~`62 chopped Carson topped Karmann Ghia at the time), but a thinned whiteglue coating would also work. All to keep the muslin from sagging while glassing it. Marcus...
Looks good though you using anything but blue tape is a little weird to me lol I’d consider making that back window zip or snap out
thanks! that's the practical experience I was hoping to find. Have you ever tried using felt? I happen to have a large bolt of bright yellow felt. Rear window will %100 be removable and-or opening. And.. if you look at the underside pictures, I supported it first with 3 strands of blue tape...
I would lower the rear brace just a Skosh. How about covering it with a flannel sheet and glass over that? I don’t think the tape is going to hold up very well.
Never used felt, again, the "trick" will be to get it fairly taunt before you 'glass it, & then to keep it from sagging while you lay-on the (very thin) 1st layer of 'glass n matt. Should work similar to muslin, give you an interesting inside look. Marcus...
well slow progress due to waiting on the header, and I haven't been driving much due to all the rain we've been having, its like its taunting me for not having a top. Top front bow/header thing diagram. Even with the rain I've got a few drives in. Last night I made it to one of my favorite photo spots in town. As I was getting done taking photos, a family went through, and made the usual comments about the "nice old car", After they got about a block away I fired up to leave. Even at that far away It still surprised them a bit. Observations on the new (temporary) top. It works well to keep heat in, and block the wind. that will be nice come fall, but it starts cookin' in traffic with no airflow. It also just as bad as any other chopped car to see a stoplight. If i sit in traffic long enough I do get a little exhaust smell in the cab. I'm sure my wife will love that... All things considered, a worthwhile thing to make, and I'm excited to cover it with glass and try it on the highway. Oh, and I think it looks bitchin. .
The Jalopy Journal
