I'm done mocking up the cowl, everything is held by screws and clecos where there are rivets originally (at least on my tudor). So I placed it on the frame to see how well it fits. Well... it needs some tweaking before it bolts on the frame. I also wanted to see the windshield in place, so off with the factory windshield posts, and the filler neck. For a rough first fit, it's pretty close. It will requier a minimal amount of work. I'm super happy, Sellers was making a high quality Hallock. I just love it. It's expensive but the look can't be beat!
Yes, there ain't many at least aound me. The closest to me which is about a 40mn drive, I will never set a foot in there ever again. Then there's one about an hour and half away that does good work, are kinda expensive but they changed owner and don't know how they're doing now, I'm expecting 2 Alfa bumpers from them in a couple weeks, so we'll see. I don't know if they do aluminum though and it might be out of my budget so I might just polish the windshield frame if that's your question. Other chrome shops are really far and I'm not a fan a shipping valuable and sometimes impossible to find parts, I don't want to be looking for my or my customers parts on craigslist.
Everything's going according to plan, I figured out all the parts that came with the kit and I'm missing some screws and nuts and bolts. It seems somebody over at Brookville didn't pack everything, for example there are 5 hinges screws and no tailgate hinge bolts, I didn't check every nuts and bolts yet, but everything was neatly packed so they didn't get lost during transportation, I just hope I do have all the rivets. That sucks because imperial hardware is difficult to find and expensive here. Anyway I wanted to see how I could mount the '32 dashboard without the dashrail, weld it in or bolt on? And in a neat way. If welded, can I still have access to the upper hinge nuts, do I need to put some inserts? Then I remembered I have this '31 to '35 Renault Primaquatre dashboard I found some 30 years ago in a pile of scrap metal. Kind of look like a '33 Ford dashboard, it's the exact same width as the '32 dashboard, it fits like a glove on the A tank, but it's way to bulky. Plus Alchemy insert wouldn't work on that. So it's angle grinder and mig time. After some hours: I will mold it to the tank and the sides can bolt to the A pillars, I even could retain the original gas tank if I wanted to. Best part I still have access to the hinge bolts. I couldn't finish it because I ran out of welding gas and I need to cut the lower part of the tank. But it fits like a glove, and I like the look of it and the way it blends in. I'm super happy about it. I will have to check how to bolt the windshield with the dashboard in, that will determine if it will be molded or bolted in.
Not much done, been working my ass off on customers cars. At first I didn't want too much bling on the car, I was thinking something like late 40's early 50's style, but I like shiny and detailed cars, so ... I decided to fabricate my convertible top mounting brackets out of polished stainless steel. I'm gonna fabricate the tailgate hinges out of polished stainless steel too and install polished stainless steel door hinges. I did some mechanical work because I don't have much time to work on the car and that is less set up time than for the body so I can do more in the little time I have these days. The front end is pretty much done and ready to go in, I didn't take the time to take any pictures unfortunately. Now I ran into something I didn't expect on the engine. I'm using a Powermaster 9508 mini starter, made for the French flathead, but it's a push type starter gear, and a Mc Leod 563300 flywheel for a '49-'53 flathead so the bevels on the ring gear teeth are on the outside so obviously for the pull type starter. I'm no mechanic so I looked for an answer and it seems people say it's not a problem with the solenoid type starter. But I'm skeptical because I've seen this done on a Jag engine and the result wasn't pretty. Is this true? Can I use these parts together without risking damaging the teeth on the flywheel?
I'm sure there are other ways but I have put the lead in by hand on a flywheel before, you could possibly swap the ring gear over if it's a replacement item (shrunk fit), but I'm not so sure how well it'll come off undamaged
The thing I don't understand is that the starter is said to be manufactured for the french flathead with stock or aftermarket aluminum flywheel and both are for the pull type starter. Today I also found out that the aluminum flywheel is 3mm or 1/8" thinner. So I had to cut the bolts on the lathe, it would be great to have this kind of infos in the description of the product to buy the correct stuff from the get go. Now what do I do with the pilot bearing? Can it stay like this or do I need to find one that is 1/8" thinner ? Here's the front end I'm assembling for it, I'm not decided yet if I'll be using a cross steer '40 box or an F1 box, I'll see when mocked up.
Yep, but still doesn't explain how that push style starter is supposed to work with the Factory pull style flywheel. Bevels are still on the wrong side. Or it doesn't matter?
That Renault dash has a great look. In your Initial post you said your engine carries a warmacht tag, does that designate ww2 use?
The 4 cyl came from an AA truck, yes it's a german WWII usage, I suspect that the person who rebuilt the engine at that Pellerin garage or machine shop either did the best with what was on hand or decided that some sabotage was in order because I found some sketchy stuff. Here's the plaque
I would be inclined to put the bevel's/lead in onto the ring gear as it will be kinder on both starter & ring gear. I've done it by hand with a die grinder before on an early car we fitted a different starter to. You can get a reasonable result with a steady hand.
So according to Powermaster the flywheel doesn't need to have the bevels reground I machined the oil pan to solve the starter/flywheel distance problem I assembled everything and gave it a try which was successful : the starter engage perfectly and the engine cranked for the first time since 1992 when I bought it. Now I have an 8BA flywheel where a 59A should be. After I install a pedal assembly I'll see if I need to space the throughout bearing or not. With the T5 matted to the engine I can now place it in the frame to position the motor mount who will be riveted to the rails. I had to relevel the frame prior since I moved it. I positionned the front suspension with the stock spring to see what I need to modify next and where will the hairpins tabs will be. I'm gonna have to drop the rear of the transmission, probably modify the X member and maybe even space the front of the engine in order to have the correct carb float level. I was checking the pedals I have to see which one I can use, I only have a '46/'48 Ford pedal assembly, unfortunately the brake pedal is badly rusted, the bracket is unusable for this aplication. None of the pedals I have work, so I decided to unearth the after market ones I got for free that I promissed myself not to use... After some measurements I machined a shaft for them using some bar stock and a Jaguar clutch fork shaft, I still have to weld some flat stock so I can bolt it to the frame. But I already saw that I'll probably won't be able to keep the hand brake on the left and that the brake pedal interfer with the oil pressure sensor, I have to first finalize the engine placement.
I couldn't stand those pedals so I back tracked a little and decided to use my '48 pedals, after hours of welding and grinding I made the brake pedal pretty again then I reshapped both of them to make this : Now I'm pleased with them. Then I tackled the tube shock bracket, I have a pair of free reproduction F1 bracket Since it's a full fender car I threw on a fender to check for clearance Hard to see on that dark blury pictures but I have about 1/4" room to spare with the fender For those who don't know the problem with F1 bracket and fenders, here's how much it needs to be reshaped Right now the shock absorber is barely compressed but since I put some tires on the chassis I now know I'm gonna reverse the main spring leaf thus compressing the shock absorber a little more to be closer to it's operating specs. I think now I will have to rebuild the rear end to mock it up in the chassis to be able to finalize the front end and transmission mount.
The Jalopy Journal
