Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

Thanks everyone! The fog has its charm, but I couldn't be happier about the summer weather right now. Hopefully we'll have more developments on the radiator support status soon.

Every time the Vern book says it'll be easy or quick, that's when I know I need to buckle up. I was happy to see my sector shaft bushings arrived a day early from Millworks. So, when work wound down, I got right to business. After a little bit of strategic hammer and socket work, I was able to get both bushings into position. When I went to test fit the sector shaft, it wasn't even close to working. For the rest of the night I sanded, cleaned, and test-fit. Sanded. Sanded. Sanded. Sanded. Test fit. Sanded. Sanded. Dremel. Test fit. Took a walk. Came back. Tried creative solutions. Eventually, progress was made. It may have taken a couple of hours, but I'm really happy with the way the sector shaft fits.

Nothing on this car happens fast. That's okay, as long as the quality is good. Next time I'm in the garage, I'll start steering box assembly.

 

No photos from the garage tonight. How's this for a traditional article title?

 

Sitting here on another warm San Francisco night, I'm winding down what I would consider a perfect weekend. On Friday afternoon, I went to the local hardware store to secure the steel and fasteners for my upcoming throttle pedal bracket. If all goes to plan, I'll start on that next week.

As much as I wanted to spend Friday night in the garage, I switched gears and baked a key lime pie instead. My neighbors gifted us a carton of fresh limes from their parents' house in San Jose, and I figured it'd be the perfect opportunity to make one of my favorite warm-weather desserts. With the pie cooling in the freezer, I went to bed dreaming of Saturday in Petaluma.

At the shop, we inspected my steering box and took the necessary steps for a smooth operation. Then assembly began. Following the Tardel book step by step, I pieced together the box. Along the way, I'd ask David and Justin for input, making sure I was heading in the right direction.
The end result couldn't have been more exciting. I now have a fully rebuilt F-1 steering box set up for a '32 Ford frame, complete with a 1939 Ford steering column and a 1954 Hudson Hornet steering wheel. Everything is tight, and it steers oh-so-smoothly.
It looks right at home, but don't worry: it'll get lock washers and cotter pins for final assembly. Another huge step checked off the list!

 

Inspired by yesterday's progress, I dove right in this morning and started bending the clutch pedal (again). Frustrated by last time, I devised a plan to do things differently.
It's getting late here, but I'll share more about this process tomorrow.

 

Glad you guys caught the reference. In the past week, we've had the best weather that I've ever experienced in San Francisco in the past 9.5 years. Shorts, sandals, motorcycles (not in shorts or sandals), patio drinks, ice cream cones, concerts in the park—all that's missing is some roadster miles.

That's traditional SF weather!

 

On Sunday morning I sprung into action. Both the vise and the roadster itself acted as heat sinks, so I grabbed a piece of wire and hung the clutch pedal from the outside of our fire pit. Out of curiosity, I broke out the timer on my phone to see how long it really took to get it red hot. The answer? Eight minutes. With a gloved hand, I carefully brought it over to the vise I had mounted on our back porch with a giant C-clamp.
Using my right hand, I popped the torch back on and continued to apply heat. With my left, I grabbed the pedal and leaned backwards with all my weight. The pedal moved. Thankfully, vise didn't move too much. When I thought I was close, I rushed down to the garage to mock it up. Just a little more, I said. I repeated the process until the very hot pedal cleared the column.

I'm overall happy with how they look. That said, I'll need to trim a little bit of the subframe, which shouldn't be a problem. The K-member will also need to be notched, but I'll tackle that once the body is off so I can make it clean and ensure everything is strong.

 

If I ever win the lottery, I'll chrome the brake pedal to match. In the meantime, I'm going to paint it silver in the same vein as the headers.

That puts us up to speed for now. I finally bought some pieces for my coil mount, so that will be a fun one-night project for sometime down the line. I'm also waiting on my radiator supports, which should be here later this week. Oh, and once payday rolls around, I'm buying my chassis paint (!)

 

One final item before I sign off:

David and our friend Ted are diving into their new 1930 Model A roadster project, and they're hunting for a Hilderbrant or Offy adapter for a 59AB to a LaSalle trans. They've searched high and low but nothing has turned up. David has helped me so much with my project, and I'd love to be able to help him out by finding one. If you know of any, please let me know. I'll also add it to my signature.

 

Thank you!!

I've heard of that. Keep me posted on how it looks!

This made me laugh so hard. One of the best posts of the whole thread.

Hahhaha if I could afford to chrome it, I would!

 

Tonight's only update is that my new radiator support rods showed up, and it looks like they're going to work great.
Oftentimes, A-V8s have the radiator rods running uphill. I've devised a solution where I think I'm able to eliminate that issue while still running straight rods. For my homework assignment, I'm going to look at some Southard books to see if I should paint the rods or keep 'em shiny. My prediction is that the answer will fall somewhere in between, much like on Version 1.5.

That's all for tonight. My parts pile is growing, which means that I'm in a great position to get things done.

Spotted this machine on the '50s hot rod thread. Can't wait to paint my firewall black!