Projects My GN Cycle Car tribute build

I do believe there is a procedure to start...like press the gas down pull the choke release the throttle and it sets it in a fast idle mode till you open the choke again...

That throttle connection arm looks bent a bit too much...could be wrong...I will have a looksie on the Ole Hotrod...stay tuned...

 

I think your throttle linkage arm is okay...I think it's optical...




...Choke on and at idle...you can see it pushes throttle open a bit for a faster idle...




...Choke off full at idle...

I don't give too much choke maybe 1/2...less in the summer...couple little pumps and giver.

When it starts I adjust choke to get a nice even idle which is typically a higher rpm...

I had gas leaking out of accelerator pump when I press on gas to choke it...

 

Base of lamp in the pic, but he was probably looking at this. Haha! The damn Philco still works. lol!

 

Thanks @Stogy! IIRC, when starting, I had the choke open slightly. Maybe a 1/4” gap between choke plate and throat. I don’t think I opened it up much more when running it at 2,000 rpm. Did use the choke to shut off the engine since I ran a wire directly from the bat (+) to the ballast resistor since the “kill” switch no longer worked (to my surprise). lol!

 

Still need to make the adjustment I mentioned earlier. Your screw is contacting that cam on the throttle linkage cam.

 

Heading into town to get some more sheet metal for the shroud. I got to wrap this damn thing up. Getting 4 cords of wood delivered tomorrow, so cording that will take some time, plus I bring two cords inside from the stash I had from last year.

 

Seller said he was gone for previous weekend, but still haven’t heard back from him. Guy has over 500 other listings! Never seen anything like it. FB algorithm suggested it could be a scam.

 

Still haven’t heard back from the seller. Reported it to FB.
Finally got around to the shroud. It’s close but not good enough. Sides are not square. One corner is acceptable, but the other is out of square too much (I think). Left an extra 1/4” of material around the opening, and didn’t bend along one of the bends which had the thinnest section. The surface/edge where the fan should sit is wavy, and I think the overall height is too high. I’ll futz around with it to see how close I can get it to fit to the rad and fan.

 

Picked up this huge beam comp*** this morning. Will make the next layout much more accurate. I also plan to do a full-size layout of the speedster, so this will definitely be needed for that.

 

Just thought if I have a “tipping” die for my bead roller, I’ll try to bend a lip around the fan opening. Will report back.

 

Had no tipping die, so just grabbed a small hammer and by some miracle, I managed to form a lip around the fan opening. It actually fits the inside of the fan hsg almost perfectly. Doing this caused the corners to become more out of square, and the height is higher by about 10 mm in the centre vs the ends. Going to get more sheet metal to experiment tomorrow.

 

Picked up four more sheets of 20 ga 12” x 24” for the shroud. Will do a new layout tomorrow, and maybe form another sample, but first have to install a new toilet. Also ordered this. Want to check out the inside of cylinders if it fits through the spark plug hole.

 

Toilet for p***enger when u scare them?

 

Haha!

One of the toilets (orig to build in 89) has been leaking at the tank valve. Got a new valve, and it helped at bit, but the tank would still leak, which caused my well pump to keep running - not good.

 

@Ziggster looking better all the time! Keep 'er up!!

 

Just went through my entire thread the last couple days. Started with looking for a particular pic (which I never did find) around page 9 and then I decided to start at the first post and kept going.
It’s been quite the journey, and a lot in my life changed during these last 7 years. I never thought it would take this long, and it will still take another 1.5 to 2 yrs to complete. I look back at all the places I travelled to, and all the folks I’ve met along the way and only have fond memories. I’m really privileged to have the means, time, and health to pursue this dream. Our time here is indeed short, and that hit home the other day while speaking with the seller of the drafting comp*** I purchased. He was likely in his late 70s/ early 80s. He told me that he had purchased it along with a drafting set he also sold me back in the early 70s with the idea of pursuing a career in that domain. He stated that never happened. He went on to talk about his life, and how his father had been a WW2 vet in the navy. His father married his high school sweetheart, and had him and his sister, but then left them shortly afterwards. His father remarried, and started another family. He lost touch with his father for a long time, but said he later reconnected. I could see the hurt in his eyes even though this must have happened 60 plus years ago. He said his sister never forgave their father for what he did. Then the conversation switched to what I was doing. Told him, and his mood quickly changed. There was a sparkle in his eyes when I told him about the speedster. He talked about how important it was to have a p***ion for something, something we could “lose ourself in” where time stood still. He mentioned an uncle who was a machinist, and who could “fix anything”. We talked about the “good ole days” and how folks took pride in what they did. He wished me luck, and was glad to know that I was actually going to use the comp***. It’s moments like that which I’ll never forget, and that it’s more about the journey than the destination.

 

My youngest who’s in her 3rd yr of mech Eng, is going to see if she can do her “project” scheduled for next semester on a finite element ****ysis of my frame. If her prof agrees, she’ll then do it over next summer so she can spend the summer at home. That would be really cool. Nothing better to learn on than a real world problem. Somehow I ******ed up my hip again, but at least the new toilet is installed. Haha!

 

Haven’t had a chance yet to start work again on the shroud. Chasing a low water pressure issue down with the house plumbing, then this morning the trans started slipping badly again on my Tundra, and have neglected to see if I can plug a tire leak on my Lexus which had just gotten steadily worse. At least my endoscope arrived. lol! Will try it later on the flathead to see through the plug holes, but first need to deal with the low pressure issue.

 

Pulled the plug from #5 cylinder. The lens head measure only 0.331”, so no issues going through the threaded hole for the plug. In the spec data for this endoscope, they did not list that dia. Can’t really get in far enough because of the valve. Tried the side camera, and same issue, and it just would show the threaded hole for the plug. Nonetheless, very useful tool. Used it to take these close ups the that spark plug.

 

Well, fixed the leak in the tire of my DD. Fixed the low water pressure issue in the house. Still working on the on-going trans issue with my Tundra. Dealer gave me the wrong fluid this afternoon. New kid at the parts counter I’ve never seen before. So, back into town first thing tomorrow morning.
Another layout, another potential issue again as the two corner are not 90 degrees to one another (I have about 94 degrees). I have no idea why it’s not 90 degrees. Will try again tomorrow with yet another layout if I can put the Tundra trans issue behind me. At least I used the beam comp*** which I think helped with the accuracy. Centre “curve” for fan shroud dia looks more uniform/symeyrical.

 

First snow….



Was only just over a month ago I was standing on the beach in sunny Wildwood, NJ. Had to use the AC at night. lol!

Tundra trans seems to be ok after almost leaving me standard in town less than a week ago. Torque converter was slipping pretty good. Somehow managed to limp it home about 40 mikes doing about 30 mph all the way. Turns out it was low on fluid by 3-4 quarts. No sign of leaks from what I could see.
Going to try a different approach to the shroud layout later today. Got some errands to run.
The Makita cordless air compressor arrived yesterday. Used it to inflate the tires on the speedster. Very handy. Not as big as I thought it would be and this is the 160 psi model.

 

Finally figured out what I was doing wrong with the layout. I was forgetting to complete the 2nd and 3rd triangles bounded by points (1,A,B) and (13,D,C). It’s these triangles that form the 90 degree angle that I needed but could never achieve.
The layout is still not 100% symmetrical which is extremely frustrating since I’m using a professional grade drafting table. I’m not sure if it’s my age, eyes, or something else, but it was very difficult just to divide the fan opening (semi-circle) into 12 equal “slices”.
Going to go back over the layout to see where the discrepancies are if possible and correct as required.
Never thought it would be this hard to complete what should have been a very straightforward layout.

 

Decided to go back and check the alignment of my square with the horizontal layout line, and it’s now off a bit. Then went to check the squareness of the two rulers in the square, and it’s off a bit. Holy hell! No wonder I’m having issues with symmetry. Will see if I can fix this mess.

 

Success!

Adjusted the square so that it was actually 90 degrees.
Reduced the number of transition triangles from 6 to 5. The points along the arc for the fan opening actually fit the French curve really nicely.
Thought I was beginning to lose my mind over this. Supposed to get 4” - 5” of snow tomorrow. Damn!

 

Yeah…Got 5” - 6” snow yesterday afternoon. Storm was just south of me, but then just grew into a m***ive weather bomb.
Will fab up another half shroud today and hopefully it fits. Fingers crossed.

 

Turned out pretty good. Bent the first set of transition triangles too much (about 15 degrees each). Then used about 10 degrees for the other set. Was much “flatter”, so went back to the first set and “squished” them back down in the brake. Then bent the lips for the top, bottom and side. To my surprise, the thing came out as square as square can be. lol!
Noticed the centre was about 3/4” higher than the two sides. Tweeked it by hand and now much better. Will work on it tomorrow by trying to get it the correct height, parallel (top to bottom), and form the lip.
This thing has turned out to be waay more difficult than I could have imagined.
Also noticed this sheet is thicker than the last piece I tried. Measured it at around 0.034” which is around 20 gauge which is what I asked for, but thought that was what I got last time supposedly.

 

I still use a t-square and triangles! But I’m thrifty. It’s the Scot in me…

 

Progress delayed. Slide into a ditch yesterday morning not far from my place. Was a 90 degree bend in the road, and slid sideways. Luckily no damage although ABS light came on later for right front (this was the side in the ditch). Actually 4Hi and traction control lights were flashing when I left the house, but I thought I was still in 4Hi as that’s where it was when I parked it. Local garage got me out in about 30 mins and $258 later. Ouch!
Was actually heading into town to look for another toilet as the second one I purchased would not fit. Had no idea there were different “rough-in” dimensions. I need one with a 10” distance, and it seems most if not modern ones are 12”. D’oh!
Have been reading up on how to tune dual carbs. What an unholy mess of info out there. Stromberg vs Holley. Progressive linkage vs straight linkage. Power valves installed vs no power valves installed. Nothing ever seems to be star sight forward when it comes to flatheads.

 

Kiddo came home for her birthday, so busy with all that. Came across this for sale. lol! Might check it out. Haha!

 

I find now that the biggest deciding factor relating to buying neat old stuff like that is space for it, not the price.