Those turned out nice. I guess I need to go back in this thread and see what you used to clean with because I need to clean mine.
Once you get the covers off put them in a pillow case or large bag and run them in your clothes dryer for about 5-10 minutes before reinstalling them on the seats. It will soften up the old vinyl even more and make it easier to pull them tight.
Nice thing about upholstery. After their restuffed, reinstalled, and used regularly in heat that odd crease should mostly come out if it doesn't disappear entirely. Luckily you're in Texas so the heat shouldn't be an issue lol
Diff looks in great shape. It's open... that's hard to understand for a drag car...?? Bolt pattern is definitely 5x5. No idea what these brakes are off of yet. One side is stuck hard and will require a puller. Everything we used came from O'Reilly. I'll take some pictures of the products when I get back to the shop but it wasn't anything fancy, just a foaming upholstery cleaner, a drill brush, some rags, and a conditioner.
Yeah, the adjuster and the lower spring is missing. The shoes are just tied with a wire. But that can be remedied with a new brake spring kit.
With that shackle bung on top of the axle, Sid must have started out with a stock Model A rear spring before going to parallel leafs. If you want to clean up the appearance by removing the parallel leafs and go back to a stock spring, you wouldn't be altering the car much, just back dating a little.
He definitely tore the rear end out of it at one time. There is nothing left of the frame back there and you can tell where it got twisted out.
Driver's side studs are left hand thread... mopar brakes?? Looks like 39-42 Dodge........ paging @VANDENPLAS!!!
Think maybe that rear wasn’t what was in it before? Maybe Sid blew up the other one then never finished putting this one in? Maybe that explains the wrong bolt pattern on the wheels with slicks?
If you end up putting in e brake cables, you will need the strut between the shoes, too. But you know that! Mopar cars are usually 5x4.5. I'd try laying down some plastic, soaking the door cards with some water and glue, then laying a sheet of ply on the flat areas and stack some weight overnight. NOT on the pleats!
That occurred to me but I feel like it wouldn't have the old transverse spring mounts welded to the tubes if that was the case... no telling really. I think it's more likely all the wheels were taken off the car when it was put up in the shed years ago and these are just what was lying around when someone needed to roll it... probably off that Anglia. Why was the rear end unbolted? Who knows... everything checks out with it as far as we can tell. The traction bars are both severely bent so maybe he was going to remake those, or maybe he just needed the u-bolts for something else & robbed them off his old retired race car.
I forgot... found this tag on the rear end (under a diff cover bolt). This works out to a 4.88 gear ratio which was available in the Dana 41 in Jeeps. Based on a diff cover variation (a tag that says USE ONLY HYPOID GEAR OIL) I was able to date the axle to 1948-1949. I'm still puzzled by this diff. I don't know very much about differentials beyond the obvious. I thought if the wheels spin the same direction when you spin one, it is a limited slip, which this one does. But I don't see any kind of limited slip gizmo in it and it isn't welded... I have learned that the 41 can accept the gears and bearings from a 44 so I should be in good shape if it ends up needing anything.
here's a 41, the case looks similar (big notch for ring gear). https://hainesgarage.proboards.com/thread/251/dana-41-rear-axle-rebuild
Congratulations man, pretty crazy deal. So what was that thing laying on top of the left fender in the lead photos ?
It's just a decorative metal panel off an old sickle mower. The machine itself was trashed and went to the scrap pile. I saved the panel... looked kinda cool, might be good for something one day.
We had a great time taking shit apart on the car today. It does smell like ass on the inside because the wood is all piss soaked from critters that were living in it. Not many vermin however. I was expecting a lot of cobbed up stuff on it but was surprised that some of it was really cool and well thought out for the period in which it was done. It's going to be interesting to see what comes from Trevor's visit to the warehouse. I'm hoping I get a call that says "bring the trailer!" and he gets a good load of speed equipment for little of nothing. Now I just have to convince Trevor to help me get my car back on the road as I hope to get clearance from the surgeon to go back to normal activities in the next week or two. We have a drive train to put together and get put in this coupe! And then there is Trevor's poor forgotten RPU stuck in the back room of my shop.....
No piss soaked wood left in the car now! Which brings me to another point... The filled roof is bitchin but I need to replace some of the wood in the roof and I don't know if it's possible to do the header with the roof insert... need to analyze the AA while I have its roof off and see if it can be done. Fortunately looks like the coupe wood kit is a lot cheaper than the truck... kinda funny because it has more pieces but I guess it's an economy of scale thing. I can get just the header for $200 and may not need the pieces over the doors. Only one roof rib is broken and I might be able to just sister it back together... the shed it was in collapsed on the car and broke that rib. It will be invisible behind the headliner anyway.
So....someone better be getting a steak dinner out of this deal. Great job cleaning up that interior.
I might have missed a picture somewhere in this thread but there is one of those little sticker tape things, an embossed sticker on the dash that says Go Sid Go on it. Trevor? Did you get a pic of that on this thread?
The Jalopy Journal
