Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

Amen to that! I'll try to take a picture of them this weekend. They're original Ford script pieces, so almost too cool to get rid of (although I probably should, from a space standpoint).

 

On Saturday, I focused my efforts on the brakes. I was nervous, but I was ready. I called up my friend Justin who was more than happy to help. He had just picked up a 1959 Pan-Shovel in Geyserville, so his stop doubled as a show-and-tell.

Vintage truck, even more vintage bike. Looking forward to seeing this one in action.

With the roadster securely hoisted on jack stands, we began the adjustment and bleeding process.
Which included a lot of this.

Which unfortunately turned into this.

As we finished bleeding the right rear brake, a waterfall of fluid poured from the left front. Fluid filled the grease shield and leaked onto the shoes. To say I was frustrated would be an understatement. That was it for the day. I felt defeated on my long weekend of hot rod work.

After a little bit of time away, I read that I could scrub the shoes and bake them in the sun. So I did just that. First, I threw on some rubber gloves and scrubbed away in my apartment building's wash basin. Then, since it was a nice weekend, I put the shoes on the fire escape to dry. And you know what? Most of the fluid came came off. I spoke with my trusted experts who recommended giving them a little scuff too. I'll be rebuilding the brake cylinder and giving the whole thing another shot this weekend/next week. Down, but not out.

 

There aren't any good parts about being stuck on a project, but I've worked to find some silver linings. This has given me a little bit of time to focus on other aspects, like finalizing the fuel pump stand.

Yes, I did splurge for chrome nuts and lock washers.

I've also gotten to take a break to explore the outdoors. Here's a mid-century house that I've been meaning to check out. It's even better in person. Okay, now imagine a shot with my roadster parked out front.

 

In an almost uncharacteristic fashion, I've been getting things checked off the list but not taking pictures. This is because 1) some of the items aren't too crazy and 2) my garage lighting isn't 100% dialed in. Nonetheless, here's what I've done lately.

• Install fuel pump stand
• Install oil pan drain plug gasket
• Finalize master cutoff switch with cables and grommet
• Buy fuel line materials
• Buy wiring materials
• Buy not-so-era-correct exhaust clamps
• Seal quickchange
• Finalize tie rod hardware
• Install one seatbelt

And, last night, I finally filled the engine oil.

While I was on a roll, I also used a traditional funnel as I filled the steering box.

It mostly worked.

Tonight, I installed a couple of star washers on electrical connections. I have a busy weekend of non-car stuff on the horizon, but I'm going to try to get out there tomorrow night and make moves. Wish me luck!

 

Thank you! Just trying to get this thing going one piece at a time.

That's very true. I'm excited to give it another shot. I was thinking about calling it the Balboa Boiler Room, but I like the Hot Water Garage too!

Hahaha that's a good plan! Good thing the black paint on these was already pretty messed up.

 

Time for some weekend highlights. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I liked what I did get done.

On Friday night, I added the Royal Purple to the quickchange. After it was filled, I actually went back and carefully removed each of the nuts one by one, adding chrome lock washers and then torquing everything to spec. No leaks thus far.

Reminded me of purple Faygo. I also filled the transmission using a custom-cut funnel, but no pictures were taken.

The following morning, I motored over to the Sunset to explore an estate sale. The story went that the homeowner, who had since passed away, bought out the local hardware store in the 1970s for $250. He then proceeded to rent a U-Haul and fill his garage with a wide range of nuts, bolts, fasteners, and more.

Here he was hauling the chassis of his Porsche 356-powered Meyers Manx. Remnants are still sitting in the backyard.

And here's the powerplant, which has been sitting here since the 1970s. "When he had that motor in there, the thing couldn't keep the front wheels on the ground," the son recalled. I was informed that the chain was for safety in the event of an earthquake. Looks like it's held up just fine.

A little taste of home with this Rotunda seatbelt box. It was filled with mostly burnt out bulbs.

 

Being space constrained, I knew I could't take home much. I scored a couple of boxes of hardware, plus some vintage hose clamps and a little cabinet full of treasures.

Can't beat this.

Era-correct parts certainly help build an era-correct car (and motorcycle).
Back at the house, I got straight to work on the first segment of my fuel line.

 

Made some bends in the NiCopp.

Ate a coney.

Redid the whole segment at least once, but I'm happy with it.

 

I still have a few more updates, but that's all for tonight. Oh, and happy fifth birthday to this thread!

 

Thanks guys! And we're back. So on Sunday night, I figured I'd knock perhaps the easiest task off the list: fill the radiator with distilled water.

It may seem like nothing, but I will admit that I was excited. I remember filling up version 1.0 with water from Safeway and watching it drink it up.

The olden days.

This time, as the rest of the neighborhood slept, I popped off the radiator cap and began to pour. When the last drips found their way into the radiator, I called the job done. Then I realized that the water level seemed a little low. "I'll just add more water tomorrow," I said. While I was walking away, I saw a wet spot on the rug. You guessed it—something was leaking on my brand new radiator.

It didn't take long to discover that the leak was coming from the bottom—not from one of the outlets, but rather from a little red plastic plug. I searched my garage for a suitable replacement with no luck.

At my old garage, I could just drain the water onto the floor and let it run down the drain at the center. Well, this garage doesn't have that. I moved my motorcycles, pushed the car towards the mouth of the garage, and let it all gush out.

For more than a minute, 3.5 gallons of water shot from the radiator onto the sidewalk. To the people around me, it must have sounded like someone was taking a leak as the stream pitter-pattered onto the concrete. I laughed at the absurdity of it all.

And, with that, I called it a night.

 

Last night and tonight I've been focusing on the fuel line. I got the center portion sorted out last night, and I'm making strides on the final leg. I'll post pictures once it's all assembled, but I figured I'd share how it's looking thus far.

Rather than have the fuel line run straight down the rear of the tank, I wanted to clamp some of the hardline to the body. It will be insulated by rubber segments on either side. The problem is that on the Model A, there's not a ton of opportunities for places to mount P-clamps—so I made an extension of the driver's side body support that connects to the inner wheelwell.

This was once a spare piece of my free workbench, now outfitted with vintage hardware. Final photos hopefully happening soon.

And that's where we call it for the night. Thanks everyone for following along!