Latest addition to the roadster is this license plate mount purchased on Ebay, not sure what it was originally for. Liked the look and patina and needed a plate mount. A little trimming of the bottom with a cutoff wheel contoured it to the frame shape on the roadster. Pretty pleased with look. The exhaust is out for welding with Stainless Headers out of Michigan. Just ordered a set of 2” bike exhaust baffles to knock the db’s down a bit. Starting to work through the wiring. Any suggestions on a wrap that looks like it belongs on 70 year old build? I see some fabric type wraps on summit that might work. Also retaining clips for mounting the harness to the frame with the same concern?
Good plate mount... In the past I've used good ol' black friction tape to wrap the wiring. It's a tedious process, but the results are worth the effort and it looks "old".
The old black cloth wire conduit is still out there and my 3 hotrods all have them and come in multiple sizes. There’s also cloth electrical tape to join the fabric conduit. Once I am all wired up I use leather shoe lace to tie them up where needed, completing the old look available in mist stores that etill sell shoekaces! I can’t remember where I bought the cloth conduit. Maybe someone will chime in snd if not, I will check my box of leftover conduit tomorrow in the shop. Great little ride you have there … good luck with it!
Are you talking the old asphalt wire loom? It's widely available today just google asphalt wire loom and there are lots of suppliers out there... I've used in on numerous vintage projects, it's easy to work with and comes in lots of diameters.
Thanks gents, I’d say that’s the stuff I’m looking for, just googled it, readily available. I was unaware that it was described as “asphalt wire loom”. That’ll give me the look I wanted. Al
WOW a parallel leaf suspension....my next build has to be one....you have a really dope care there.... Yes, Asphalt wire loom and friction tape....I buy mine from Brillman....they also have wire...all US made https://brillman.com/
Still out here! New day job been cutting into my garage time. Have been making some progress on the Pontiac however. Fabbed up some tail lights outta what I believe are 34 ford cowl lights and 37 tail light stanchions. Finished up the exhaust with modern rubber hangars of the frame and Harley baffles. Acquired an old set of guide headlights from a fellow HAMB member to replace the Speedway versions I had previously mounted. Turns out that the guide headlights have the exact same patina as the rest of the car, look like they’ve been on there forever! Some times you just get lucky. Did find time to hit a coupla swap meets over the past months and was lucky to find a replacement for the Pontiac rad cap which came with the car and was missing its headdress. Installing the new wiring harness last major outstanding issue before I’m able to get the car outta the garage for some shakedown drives. I’m gonna have to drive the car sans windshield initially as I’ve yet to find the upper windshield stanchions which are missing. May end up having to fabricate the stanchions.
Cool... Looks like it's almost ready to rip! Bet those pipes sound sweeeet! The front bumper resembles a barber chair foot rest.
So it’s off the stands and have had the opportunity get in several shakedown drives. Still no windshield. Working on installing full harness. As of now rebuilt 12v generator installed and wired and temp brake light circuit only. Love the way the pipes sound, would still like to tone down the db’s although my friends tell me the sound level is fine. Those pipes get hot by the way, have a leg tattoo to prove it! The last shakedown drive ended with a severe vibration which came on pretty suddenly and got worse quickly. Barely made it home. Turns out that there was a bolt which was intended to hold the U-joint to the output shaft of transmission which was missing, as a result the u joint was just floating on the splines between trans and enclosed driveshaft. Have a replacement u-joint on the way. Have come up with a plan to fabricate the windshield stanchions, would still really prefer to find the ones that belong on the car but beginning to realize may never find them. Lottsa ideas for improvements, gonna lower the grill about an inch or two as it sits too high relative the line of the cowl. Looking forward to getting some more time behind the wheel and get the car to a couple of local get togethers.
Yeah, it already has one set of Harley baffles in the pipes, I was thinking of adding a second set behind the first or possibly wrapping the baffles with some type fiberglass material.
So it still had the 600w “steam oil” in that section of the drive train. Lottsa opinions about whether yah havta use that stuff. After a bunch online research debating the need to use the stuff, going forward I’ve elected to use straight 90w “safe for yellow metals”mineral oil from NAPA. That old steam oil leaves a heavy coating everywhere. Inside of rear axle has about 1/16 very hard tar like coating everywhere, almost impossible to remove without a scraper. Mineral spirits doesn’t touch it. What I learned online was that this oil / grease was used for steam locomotives back in the day and is resistant to water wash out. Also 600w has nothing to do with the current SAE classification system. The stuff is nasty, stinks. Probably learned some of that info here! Al
I was told many moons ago that a lot of the old oil & various lubes, greases, etc. used paraffin as one of the ingredients. Maybe that what that krap is?
Mayb so, however seems a lotta the restoration folks r convinced that because that’s what they used back in the day that’s what yah gotta use still. Makes no sense to me, lubes have come a long way in 90 years. Al
Been making process on the Pontiac as I put some more shakedown miles on it. Grinnin ear to ear whenever I’m in it! One of my latest changes was to move the rad shell forward and down, never looked right previously as it didn’t align with the slope of the cowl, looked odd. Had previously been mounted atop the forward crossmember. In order to lower it I had to move it forward about two inches to clear the crossmember and then was able to lower it the inch and a half to make it look right. First photo is the before, all the others are after. Car looks much better now. Working on the windshield frame now. First pic shows piece of tape dummying up a two inch chop, settled on three inches. Sorry gents! Screwed up the photo placement!
Bubba would likey a pic of ya going down da road grinnin lyke a mule eatin briars from ear to ear and eatin bugs - Well done Sir
Out on the road grinnin ear to ear! Bubba, hav a great short video :15 second video I’d love to share! Tryin figure out how to post it here! Thanks for the cool response! Al
Despite my apparent ineptitude with this awesome site at times, I do know the rightsy tightsy rule and which end of a screwdriver is the handle end! lol Thanks gents! Al
To share a video you have to put it on YouTube and then copy and paste the share link into a new post here
The Jalopy Journal
