I don't think it's too far off. Add the weight of the fenders and boards + a couple p***engers, it might level out. You're going to need to look at it once everything is in place.
Oh it’ll be a process. It’s a T rear spring. Hopefully it settles. I don’t have it in me to pull the rear to mess with the spring anytime soon. It’s more bolted down than the PO had it bolted on the other frame. 8 bolts, 5 nuts. I still need to get the last few blocks and rubber pads in. Then shim everything. Turns out that cut subrail was a red herring. Apparently Phaetons were two piece bodies with the rear subrail sliding in a pocket at the front seat back. Imagine my surprise when I’m trying to keep half my body from tumbling onto me when that separated! No seats or floor, so no one has sat in it yet. But we’re getting close.
Hey @RyanAK Indeed that is progress, but man, its dammed near painful to watch and observe how all of this progress is going on outside and in the dirt! If ever there was a very deserving individual that needs to have at least a shed or a lean to, or some kind of better environment than gr*** and dirt to work on, its YOU brother! Bravo for having the strength and resilience to get back at it ! Thanks from Dennis.
Thanks, Dennis. I’m not sure about “deserve”, but a floor and roof and maybe one wall would be nice. Also… sometimes the dirt becomes mud! Those are the days I really wish for a small jalopy shed.
You make me feel shame. I have a 24x24 insulated shop attached to a 24x36 three sided machine shed. I have tons of tools including a lathe & mill. The buildings are so packed with "treasures" that I mostly work in the dirt. It is all on me. I prefer the term collector to hoarder but the results are the same.
The ever fetching Mrs. RyanAK is likely afraid of what I would hoard given the space. My small summer kitchen is full of books on broad topics (wooden boatbuilding, 18th century tailoring…) and my vintage fly tackle and 18th century kit. The small workshop is dedicated to small craftsman things like making bamboo fly rods and restoring axes and saws. Plus tool storage. My interests are diverse. Some say “renaissance man”. Most say “idiot”.
Your girl is not wrong. I built a new shop a few years ago. It's shocking, the amount of **** i have filled it with. Pretty much guaranteed to never finish anything again. You'll get the $.05 tour tomorrow...
She’s bolted down. Still skooching things around and trying to determine what needs shimmed to get all four doors aligned. Four. This is a FOUR-door roadster. But I discovered that I can pull four body bolts and rip the rear tub off to go racing… so there’s that. Did you know that the curb weight of a ‘29 Phaeton is only 90lbs more than a ‘29 Roadster? If I pull the rear tub, maybe I can beat Zach…
4-door roadster, you say... hmmm, 4-door, 2 doors-too-many, many-door, old mans' car, old folks' car, grandpas'/grandmas' car, yup, I like 'em too... . You're getting there. . Marcus... (Only thing better than a phaeton, is a convert sedan; same diff for roadster vs cabbie... ) . Not as "sport-ee", but I still like my windows... .
Eh… it’s just rain. Fooled around until soaked completely through to throw on a fender courtesy of @Martinbuilt. Thank you, friend! And if you’ve been paying attention, you know how the luck goes in this garage. Most of the fender bolts are broken off and the heads are covered in bondo inside the body!
Well, I never said I was rear ended. Hahaa. Anyway, you can see the heated and bent spring here, if you zoom. The collision pulled the lugnuts through the wheel and spun the car 180 degrees. Bent the axle bell and radius rod on that side, but the spring was fine
I remember when that happened. Glad you’re ok! I’m actually asking about the old school way of heating a spring to lower a car as a method where I don’t have to pull the rear end out of the car again. If I need to pull it, I’ll either reverse-eye the T main leaf or pull leafs from the spring pack to lower it. Was just curious if anyone heated a spring in the car to drop the al***ude.
If I remember correctly, real-by-god spring businesses, quench the heated spring to re-establish the proper metal temper. An untempered section is a potential breaking point... Correct me if'n I'm wrong....
That's a can of worms I waded into when I decided to do mine. Forgive me if I over-explain (or oversimplify, depending on your point of view). Heating the springs red hot will sort of anneal them, which means removing hardness. Annealed steel is softer, easier to bend and cut. Hardened steel (heated to a critical temp and quenched) is just that, hard, but it can be brittle and less elastic. Tempering is the careful reheating of hardened steel to reduce that hardness and increase the elasticity. Hardened but untempered springs would be more likely to break than tempered or annealed ones. Annealed springs would be more likely to deform (bend and stay bent) than tempered ones. I decided that the likelihood of me deforming a 2 1/2" by 1/4" spring with my light car was low enough that the risk was ok with me. That's why I pointed out that the car ran on those springs without any issues and that the force of the wreck didn't damage the springs. I've made really good knives out of old Ford springs (forged, annealed, hardened and tempered them) it's awfully good, tough stuff.
The Jalopy Journal
