Technical What did you do with your car today? * NEW*

Thanks for the cautionary tale. I just rebuilt my 351 Windsor with Edelbrock aluminum heads with guideplates and had installed standard pushrods. Haven't fired it up yet. Now I'll bite the bullet and order the spendy hardened pushrods and install them instead. I believe you've saved me some real headaches. Thanks.

 

Managed to finish going over my bumper guards with 80 grit before my hands gave out. Have a few more pits to weld up; taking them home to gas weld them, wire welder seems to undercut too much.

 

Man old cars sure look better. They have character, personality.

 

Fired up the engine in my '39 Tuesday after weeks of waiting for parts, and finally getting my new roller lifters and chromoly pushrods. It ran a little rough of course, so I put the timing light on it and set the timing. Then I got it out of the shop yesterday to take to the Wed. night cruise/drags, and as I backed it out it stalled in the driveway. A little testing with my meter pointed to the distributor, and the points conversion unit.
Ran to a couple chain parts stores and finally found one that actually had points and condenser in stock. But was floored by the price tag! $45 for Blue Streak points and condenser! I've got no idea when the price got so drastically high? Last time I bought points and condenser they were under $15. Did some checking around the internet, and seems like this is pretty close to the going rate, unless you order online and get unknown brand quality.
Anyway, a quick rewire, and setting the gap, and it ran great again. Fortunately it did, as I couldn't figure out what I did with my dwell meter either.

 

went to Ola, Id. , 100 miles round trip, for lunch today. great burger.

 

I believe I have insufficient crankcase venting contributing to my SBC oil leak issue. I'm adding another valve cover breather. I picked up the breather, a baffle and a gasket set last night at a local speed shop. I have to put the cover up on the Bridgeport to do the 3/4" hole. I need to find some stainless steel flathead screws to make it pretty on the outside.

 

Spent the day finishing up some small projects. Added bearings and washers to coil overs to make adjustments easier. Fixed a brake that was dragging. Made up stainless steel pipes for radiator hoses. Top hose I found an elbow that worked. Bottom one I made up from a 90 and 45 elbows. I’ve never welded stainless before, so I took the pieces to a local shop that does stainless piping for dairy’s and creameries, and had them weld it for me.

 

Harvesting parts

 

No offense intended, but man that is nasty! This isn't your engine is it? To me this screams as belonging to a guy that insists the need to change oil is a myth, that oil never wears out, you don't have to change it; and that he hasn't changed the oil in 50 years and has never had a problem. Ima save these photos for the next thread that somebody says that...

 

Yesterday I took the 47 coupe out for a movie shoot. About 4.5 hours on set, just had to move the car up and back a few times to adjust for the different camera angles and what they wanted to see in the background; got fed; and made a nice paycheck! It's time for these things to start paying me back

Here is the set, I had to double park out on the street when I arrived as they weren't ready for me yet.


Here it is moved up into the driveway. Cool old house, I guess nobody lives there, it's just used for movie shoots these days. In need of some attention, poor old thing is going to fall apart if nobody does some needed maintenance.

 

My Model A coupe with a 2.5L Iron Duke Chevy didn't have much poop when pulling hills with these 3.00 gears in the 8" Ford rear end....


....so, I got a good, used 3.55 R&P from another HAMBber and installed them in here...


The change should bump RPM by about 400 at 57-ish MPH, so maybe the little 4 banger can keep up better on the road. I just hope I did a good job of setting them up so they don't whine or grind going down the road!

Building cars is a whole lot more fun than actually working on them!

Lynn

 

Modified the drivers side inner fender panel and got the fender back on. It's looking more like a truck again...sort of.

 

^^^^^that out to haul the groceries home fairly quick

 

No offense taken, it is mine. It's in a old truck I bought. I planned to freshen it with some valve seals and a timing chain but after I got into it I just am going to do the seals. But really it is not that bad. I just washed it up and vacuumed it out real good and will put it back together and see how it does. Your right though it is nasty, neglected service and just cooking the oil. Pretty common sight back in the 70's and 80's . I know modern oils are much better than that time frame and the OEM's turning the temperature up on the motors keeping the oil dryer has made a huge difference.

 

My plan is to get the Studebaker to the track, for that to happen I have to have door glasses in place. So I have been working on making that happen. I have the stock track and had to do a little repair to the studs and bend up a channel for the Lexan to set in. And the plan is to use a seat belt to raise and lower it.

 

I bet those Jeep window regulators would work for your doors like @goldmountain is using now in his T project. They seem to be flexible and are readily available in the yards fwiw, just saying.

 

Thanks for the tip, but this is such a limited use machine the only reason for the windows is to get through tech. If I run it to hard they will shut me down anyhow. Mostly looking to get some starting line work and make a few easy laps. I am driving it through the summer and plan to get a cage in it next winter. Then we can turn it loose ! Plus the seat belt window pulls fit the old school race theme of the truck.

 

I did absolutely nothing on the car...
115-degree heat and the house air conditioning went out. Earliest date for repair is June 20th.

 

Took the Studebaker and had it weighed, it came in heavier than I expected. But the rear axle weight was better than expected. The numbers are with my 186 lb body in the cab.
Front axle is 1760, rear axle is 1540 and total is 3320. That is a SBC , Turbo 400 and a Dana 60 with a spool. And that is with about 13 gallons of gas behind the axle.

 

Had my driveshaft shortened 1-1/4", so I get to put it back on today!!!!! WOO HOO! Hopefully that will solve the leaking problem. The seal wasn't sealing to the yoke. You can see the leak in the photo...lol

 

In the process of doing a little reconditioning on a old truck I bought I found this gas line issue. It is unbelievable the thing did not leak much less run. The guy I bought it from drove it 60 miles to deliver it to me. Just goes to show you need to look things over. That line is the main 3/8 supply line. It was just sitting on the end of the tube. And I would say it has been this way for a long time.

 

Got the door glass on drivers side installed

 

Did some mockup work

 

Got the rattle can green in

 

From Hirsch?

 

Just what the dr. Ordered, new old stock air cleaners

 

So.... which one did you say is yours? Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

Painted the radiator with eastwood rad paint

 

The gear change was a big success, now taking on hills with much greater ease. and didn't notice the rearend grinding or whining. But, then again a Model A makes a lot of ambient noise to drown out any pesky mechanical malfunction noises.

Lynn

 

Needed to make two small panels for under car for the coil overs could clear the sub rails. Didn’t have a shot bag or mallet. So I improved a small shot bag out of a knee pad and leather glove. I used a ball peen hammer to get a shape. Then used a hammer and dolly to smooth it out somewhat. Needed a little more persuasion once welded in, but worked pretty well.