Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

No major progress today, but I did do some painting—the most exciting being one of the front wheels. I didn't get a photo, but I did roll it up to the front backing plate and spindle just to see how it'll look. I couldn't be happier with how it's all coming together.

Right before hopping on here, I finally pulled the trigger on a die grinder. I have some tough-to-reach places on the frame that my angle grinder can't get to, so this seems like it will be the right tool for the job. Or maybe I should just call these guys?

 

After a fun call with David on my lunch break, I made some adjustments to my backing plates and slipped on the front drums.

I'm not sure the last time these brakes were adjusted, but all four upper cams are now operational.

If you're reading this, you know how long I've been looking forward to this step.

And, to wind things down for the night, here's how it sits. I'm waiting on my castle nuts from Third Gen, but other than that we're pretty darn close.

I believe I've posted this before, but I figured it's worth sharing again. I've dreamt of setting up this front end since the summer of 2021. In so many ways, it turned out way better than I could have imagined.

Earlier tonight, I left the garage, closed the door and walked halfway up the stairs. Rather than go inside, I walked back down and opened the door again. I took one last look at the brakes. The chrome, the white, the black, the crudely drilled holes, the cable-wrap—this is my roadster. This is vision realized.

 

Thank you, Brian! Will I be seeing you at the Pasadena Roadster Club Reliability Run at the end of the month? No car for me, but I'm going to check out the scene in the morning.

Thank you! Building a traditional hot rod cannot be rushed.

Thanks, Jeff! I'm hoping to have it back rolling by the end of the month.

Thank you, Tim!

I've used that spiral wrap before with similar results. As a matter of fact, I used old phone cord on the headlights of Version 1.5. On the new version, I used Speedway Cable Wrap from eBay.

Thanks, Joey! It's getting there. My next big pieces are finalizing the pedal mount and assembling the torque tube. Once those two are all set, the engine and trans are going back so I can route all the brake lines. A long way to go, but we're still chipping away!

 

These are just stock 1946-'48 Ford brake drums. I do like how these have ribs on the outside of the drum. Maybe it's just for style, or maybe it helps with cooling?

 

It was a rainy Saturday on the Terrace, but I was able to make some good progress in the garage. Today's challenge was one that I have been putting off for quite some time. Last time I had the transmission in position, I realized that my pedal mount was a few degrees off while I was lining up my clutch linkage. Easy enough fix, right? Well, not quite.

Fixing it meant cutting away some of my welds, and those welds were in a pretty hard to reach spot. So, I ended up buying a new cutoff wheel, which showed up yesterday.
I'm a big fan of corded tools, but this was in my price range and works with my existing drill and impact driver. This morning, I pushed it to its limit on that old frame.

Yet, when the metallic dust settled, everything ended up where it needed to be. After tomorrow's swap meet, I plan to tack the master cylinder mount in place so I can start thinking about brake line routing. Sorry, no good photos from this subassembly to share.

Earlier today, I was able to pop the old bearing and seal out of the torque tube in preparation for the new ones. With any luck, that'll be something I address next week. And, of course, I did some more painting!

Despite the rainy weather, my roommate and I still went out for pizza in the roadster!

That's all for tonight. See you at the swap meet in the morning!

 

Sunday was another busy one. It started with the All Ford Parts swap meet, which I'll be sharing more of in a future Jalopy Journal installment.
I was planning to drive the roadster, but looking at how much I wanted to do on 2.0, I decided to take the truck and spend the remainder of the afternoon in the garage.

I will say that I'm so glad that I already have my rear brakes in order, or else I would have been temped to buy these.

 

As soon as I got back from the swap, I started preparing the garage to weld. All the bikes got rolled into the driveway, and anything even relatively combustable was moved into the next county. I swept the floor, plugged in the box fan, and set my welding hood out in the sun. I prepped my surfaces, grabbed the extension cord, and plugged in the welder.

Longtime readers remember my last attempt at welding at my house. Try as I might, I couldn't get it hot enough, and the welds didn't hold. I'm using a Harbor Freight 110V. My house is 101 years old, and the wiring is all original.

After much measuring, I locked the piece in position with welder's magnets. Gloves on. Hood down. Psssppppptt. Pssspt. Splatter. A tack. Psssssptttt. Splatter. A second tack. I lift my hood. Looks bad, but maybe it worked? I removed the magnets and the piece fell off. Not surprising.

I cleaned my surface again and started welding. This time, I was concentrating my heat. As I worked on one side, I stayed on the trigger a little longer. All of a sudden, everything went silent. Fan off. Welder off. Lights? Off.

Dammit. My roommate is on-call for work this weekend, so I immediately panicked as I imagined a week's worth of code disappearing. I cautiously walked out of the garage and peered upstairs. His bedroom lights were on. Walking into the house, I didn't say anything. Instead, I tried each light switch and took mental notes on what was and wasn't working. After a few minutes of snooping, I narrowed it down to the bathroom, garage, and one of the hall lights.

I popped open the fuse panel and studied the knob-and-tube wiring, cross-referencing the tattered, hand-drawn map of all fuses that had been taped to the panel door long before I was born.

 

I'll follow up with Part II when I have some spare time tomorrow.

 

In the meantime, I'm going to skip ahead. Which side faces the front on the torque tube seal? Is it: or

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

During my conversation with my brother on the phone this evening, he said, "You're leaving me hanging." Confused, I asked him what he meant. "I need to know what happened with your welding story!" He was right; I'm slacking here.

Looking at the diagram, I saw I needed to replace fuse number three. I unscrewed the fuse from its socket, rolled my bike out of the garage, kick-started it and was on my way. When I explained my dilemma to Cole Hardware's most senior employee, he ever-so-cautiously led me to the back of the store and pulled the exact fuse I needed off the shelf. Twenty dollars and a two-pack of Reece's later, I was heading home. "That sure is an expensive Reece's," chimed the man at the register.

Back at the house, I dove into my closet with the new fuse. No luck. In my mind, I started drafting my email to the landlords. I thought about where I would hide the welder, and I thought about what it was going to mean for the future of the project. Defeated, I explained the situation to my roommate. We proceeded to test various circuits throughout the house. Nothing worked. I felt a rush of guilt run through me.

Then, as I was about to throw in the towel, I noticed one of the other fuses was a different style. "Wait a second," I said, "This one is actually broken." Much like the fuses on my past car and bike projects, I could see that this one had popped. That's it! I did some fuse shuffling and hit the reset button. The lights were back. I could breathe easy knowing that I didn't cause any serious damage to our beautiful, 101-year-old spot on the Terrace.

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Just like the name of the thread states, this is a roadster being built in San Francisco. Space is still limited, and sometimes I find myself having to make due with simpler tools. It's all part of the fun, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

So, at this point, you're probably wondering what I was working on. Here it is. Pedal mount in place, clutch operational, and brake piston set up.