Projects My GN Cycle Car tribute build

Some pics of the Firestone 8.20 x 15 rear tires. Look so narrow for something that can be mounted on a 6” wide rim. I was so focused on getting tires that fit my unicorn 15” x 6” wide five rim, that I forgot I picked up two 16” x 6” Plymouth minivan rims that you can supposedly swap out the centre sections for a wide five rim. Guess that is not going to happen now. Will have to start looking into other options for rear rims other than wide five maybe for the time being.

 

Got the parts media blasted except the main body with the vacuum port. There is a needle valve stuck in the well. I had this problem previously, and found this thread of mine on the Barn mentioning the same issue. Funny, how 4 yrs later, I find that thread. I think the little ball and spring is also stuck/seized in the accelerator pump well. Can’t recall exactly how all that worked, but will need to double check. For sure no ball or spring/clip fell out. Got other parts soaking in vinegar as well. Realized that I have almost none of DupliColor Cast Aluminum psint left. So will need to get some more tomorrow.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=293424&showall=1

 

Needle fell out while giving the body a cleaning with warm water after soaking overnight in vinegar. Tried banging the body against the top of my workbench with no luck, so very surprised it just fell out. Heading into town later for paint, and a bunch of hardware. Messaged a local vendor on FB for some Ford 15” x 6” rims. Will see if he responds.

 

Forgot about the clip and ball in the accelerator pump well. Can now clearly see them.

 

The hole is for a spring loaded pill that keeps the choke plate from moving off fully opened and fluttering and making a racket. The early carbs have the hole but no spring and pill, later have it complete.

 

In town. Got the Cast Aluminum paint. Was looking at how the backing plate and spindle bolted together. Seems Ford had special bolts since the holes are so close to the large opening for the spindle. Will see if I can get some 1/2”-20 bolts here locally for the time being. Will also need to order the king pin kit as I forgot the original king pins had the casting feature for the mechanical brakes. So much to understand…

 

Finally got around to blasting the main body. Mating surfaces are pretty tough. Used some 180 grit paper, then sponge blocks. Still pretty bad. We’ll see. Looks like some plug fell out or got blasted out. Will need to check up on that. Used some of the DupliColor Cast Aluminum paint I had.

 

Drilled out the br*** rivets on one of the other spare bases. They came out easily.

 

Heading out to a local garage tomorrow to deal with a new DD I recently purchased. Will bring the 16” x 4” wide five rims, Firestone tires and tubes to see if they can install them. Got to start on doing some layout work for the front axle/spring design.

 

Not sure what happened to the fourth base and main body. If I can rebuild at least two more carbs out of these parts I’ll be happy. Waiting for all the bits to dry off before I throw them in my ********y tumbler. Got a second coat on the carb. Hopefully, I can start rebuilding it tomorrow.

 

A bit of cluster yesterday with the garage. Waited in town until 2:30 pm only to find it wouldn’t be ready until today. They told me this morning they also couldn’t install the tires on the wide five rims, but they mentioned that a trailer store down the road might be able. So, stopped there after leaving the garage and they said they could. They’ll let me know when they’re ready.
Also started looking in ernest for another wife five 15” x 6” rim for the rear. Doubt I’ll find one, so now looking at 1940 banjo rear hubs (5 x 5.5”). It’s turned into a bit of a cluster as prices for new hubs are insane (around USD$300/ea). Created this thread on the subject.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what’s-with-banjo-5-x-5-5”-rear-hubs.1345891/page-2

 

Will start a Holley 94 rebuild thread on the Barn later today as I start that process for the secondary carb for the 2 x 2 Edmunds intake.

 

Here’s the Holley 94 rebuild thread on the Barn.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=354939

 

Got the front wide five rims/tires home. They’re not balanced. The counter guy says they didn’t balance wheels back then. lol! Not sure if they need to be balanced as I never thought about it. Haha!
Should clarify that they are Excelsior tires and not Firestones.

 

Tracked down another 15” x 6” wide five rim! Contacted someone who a few years ago offered it to me, but I declined because of its condition. It’s in rough shape, but beggars can’t be choosers. lol! Working on shipping costs now. Also contacted a few eBay vendors who were selling wide fives to see if they might have one, but no luck.

 

Now gotta track down some front and rear wide five hubs/drums.

 

Ouch! I bet there's lots of good wide five wheels, cheap down in Anthony Myrick's neck of the woods.

 

Been working almost full-time rebuilding carbs. Decided to clean/media blast all carb parts. Will only fully rebuild the one secondary carb, but want the others ready to be rebuilt down the road. Taking a lot longer than planned. It’s all in the Barn thread. Should have the secondary carb completed today along with a mock-up of both carbs with progressive linkage. I’ll leave the single carb intake on the engine though as I know it works as I still have some time left to break-in the cam.
Wide five rim should ship today or tomorrow, so that’s some good news. I’ll likely order a kingpin kit and bearings for front and rear axles. Then will be the hubs/drums. Want to have a bunch of stuff ordered to make the trip worthwhile to Odgensburg.
Guy who purchased my 79 IH Traveler emailed me last night and he just started working on it. lol! Sold it to him like 3 yts ago IIRC. He’s going to town on the body. Haha! It will be a beautiful rig when he’s done for sure.

 

“Finished” with the rebuild of the secondary carb and tested out the progressive linkage. Still some work and tweaking left, but about 90% done. Next will be fabbing up the fuel line. I think I will solder the dual carb joint. Not a big fan of all the big fittings on multi-carb setups. Links to some vids I posted in the Barn rebuild thread.

https://youtube.com/shorts/at1q_GFSrdo?si=AQpZBZhIMBmWU4YS

https://youtube.com/shorts/pPoi7xlR8Ow?si=qBwGRQdbLA7KoM6G

 

Still futzing around a bit with the carbs. Should start with the new fuel lines from the pump to both carbs today. Wide five rim is making its way from CO to NY. Looking at king pin and spindle bearing kits, so will likely order some by the weekend. We’re just getting hammered by snow this winter. Seems every day we get some. Right now we’re under a snowfall warning. Had a warm spell a few days back and driveway became a skating rink. Farmer who plows my driveway slide backwards in his tractor which was a first. He got a friend who does other driveways to plow in his pickup with chains to clear it. Can’t wait for spring.

 

Still researching the bits I need. Will order stuff hopefully in the next few days. The wide five rim arrived in Ogdensburg, NY. Haven’t decided if I’ll pick it up now or wait until more stuff arrives. I would really like to get it now so I can ***ess the damage and get it fixed sooner rather than later, but we’re now in the middle of the mother of all cold snaps. It’s -31C right now, and similar temps tomorrow.
My kiddo’s prof approved the idea of her to do a Finite Element ****ysis of my frame, but he wants her to include another system as part of the project, so we might include the suspension, but it might be too complicated for her as he has no background with any of this kind of stuff. She’ll be doing it during the summer, but will also have a full-time job, so have to manage expectations.
Pic of the dual carb ***y completed. Watching FB vids of H&H Flatheads with dual carbs, and all of them have straight linkage and seem to work fine. So, will also need to order the correct jets and PVs for that style of linkage vs the stuff in there now for a progressive setup. I left the linkage in the pic set up as straight just to have a comparison with the progressive setup.

 

Tried calling the shipping forwarder in Ogdensburg, NY three times and no answer. They have a storm warning in effect, but it really doesn’t start snowing until tonight/tomorrow morning, so guessing they called it a day. Still chilly there though.

 

Well, can’t avoid this any longer. Got distracted for far too long with the dual carb setup, but have to get back to the front axle mock-up and suspension. Since my short term memory is almost non-existent, it’s a struggle much of the time trying to recall all the info I’ve come across any given area of technical knowledge. In this case, I believe the front and rear axles I bought are 28/29 “Model A”, and ***umed I could use the original king pins. That is until I saw a vid showing how all the mechanical brake parts were integral to them. Somehow, I found the original ones and still thought I could just drop them into my new Speedway axle and spindles. Haha! Not even close! So, had to resort to some Red/Green hackery and came up with a wooden one. lol! Damn, it’s going to be a rough road ahead trying to get straight what it is I’m going to need to keep plugging along.

 

Found the “king pins” in this box. It also has some bearing, spindle nuts, and washers. Mocked up the backing plate, and can now understand why these 1936 wide five hubs/drums will not fit. Backing plate would need to sit about 2” further inboard to clear the drum.
Just realized those things that I thought were the king pins cannot be the king pins. I believe those p***ed through the axle. Got to find the box of spindle parts. Only God knows where that thing is. Getting dark out and just too damn cold out to starting looking for them.

 

Got the other spindle “mounted” and threw on the wide five hub/drum. Measuring from the front face of the spindle (where the backing plate would rest against) to the outside edge of the hub/drum, it’s about 1.25” and not the 2” I thought it was measuring the distance between the bearing and race when mounted with the backing plate. Spindle nut is not tightened down completely, but don’t feel any play, but this is just loosely mocked up. Got to find the orig spindles and king pins tomorrow as I’m curious to see how all that went together. Trying to guess where the tapered bolt/pin would go for the king pin on this axle/spindle combo. Guess it’s back to watching some vids again.

 

I guess I’ll start installing all the drum brake bits to have an idea what it all looks like. At some point I should paint the spindles and backing plates. All this has also got me thinking of all the steering linkages and what if any of the original stuff I can use. I’m going into this pretty much blind at the moment. Haha!

 

Of course, I had to mount the wide five hubs/drums to the front wheels. lol!

 

Had to go back and dig to understand what was going on with the king pin tapered bolt. I guess, with this tube axle, you can’t use the regular tapered bolt because there is no corresponding hole in the axle spindle/kingpin section. There is only a set screw. I’ll confirm tomorrow with Speedway what kingpin kit I need. Will also check up on all the bearings etc for both the front and rear axles.

 

Speedway instructions were almost useless, but then I ***ume they ***ume I know what I’m doing. lol!
I had a bunch of brake drum tools when I got my IH Traveler, but not sure if I gave them to the buyer. Will have to now check and see. I recall as a teenager futzing around with drum brakes without the proper tools. Not fun…

 

Found some tools but not the spring pliers. Ordered one from Amazon, said free delivery tomorrow, but after ordering it said delivery Friday. lol!
Likely heading to Ogdensburg tomorrow to pick up the rear wide five rim. Hopefully, on my way back there will be time to drop by the welding shop that did my exh flanges. Hope they can fix it up.