Projects So this is how it starts T RPU turned Roadster

Still pounding away at this thing. Got my rear drums cleaned up wheel bearings cleaned packed and seals installed. Didnt have a chance to get the shoes arched to the drums like the fronts.

Spent a few hours this morning at the solvent tank washing lasalle parts. I ran a reamer down the holes of the trans cases to get any glyptol that found its way into the wrong spots. Hoping to spend a few more hours tommorow getting the rest of the trans parts cleaned before I make the final selection of parts to ***emble two transmissions.

 

Moving forward nicely. JW

 

Nice! You clean the drums and arch the shoes yourself or have you got a go to spot for it?

 

So many things I love about this build thread.

That roadster shell is so cool on so many levels and your workmanship and build plan are totally on point.

 

Noticed the p***enger rear drum must have been run loose, the wheel studs all have a waist worn in them. I ***ume the studs are swaged inplace like the earlier drums and can't just be pressed out.

Also noticed these drums don't have a tin oil/grease baffle below the race. I filled that area with grease installed bearing and wheel seal. Hopefully this lack of baffle won't bite me down the line.

Also these are 1936 rear drums, the common lore is that 36' drums are not compatible with juice brakes I think this is only true of the front drums/hubs. Backs fit fine.

 

Rolled it outside today, felt good. I'd like to get it about 1.5" lower in the front and 1" lower in the back. Not terribly difficult to climb in and out.

 

Oh baby! Look at that!

 

Took a leap of faith today, I've really been struggling with pedal placement finally cut them down today and tacked it together. Not alot of room to work with. Knees are pretty close with a 17" steering wheel. Thinking I will have a pretty flat firewall with little to no toe board. Going to inset the floor into the tubular subrail structure in an effort to save any room possible

 

With the channel you run out of already limited room pretty fast! Sometimes it’s worth cutting **** up for version one just to get to version 3 lol. Good progress man you’ll be making noise bounce off the buildings in no time.

 

Sat in the car for awhile today and decided the brake pedal could be heated and moved closer to the steering column opening up a bunch of space for the gas pedal! Also started cutting some plywood to inset for floor boards. The cheap-o bandsaw I picked up at the swap meet has been treating me really well; everyone should own one. Not pictured a bunch of boring work on transmission parts getting it ready for ***embly

 

Awesome

 

Threaded the clutch and brake pedal holes for studs for some added grip, cut the edge pieces of floor board and started playing with a s**** pedal for the throttle. Had an art opening upstairs at the shop that took up some time but was able to get in a few things that look like progress.

 

Blew the front end back apart to address the shimming of my spindles and get everything tightened down. I played with the idea of running a hood which has led to me needing a shorter radiator even with the grill shell slammed as low as possible it will still be taller than the cowl.

Also mounted some new/old tires. These are 6.00 before I was running a 6.50 id like to see what a 5.50 looks like.

 

looking so good!

 

Looks great with the tires/ hood etc. love watching this come together.

 

Not much progress we had a big blow out birthday party at the shop for my friends 30th over the weekend and the shop is finally back in order enough to work on the car and get some customer welding work done.

Picking back up on the throttle pedal going to use this ornamental iron leaf as my s****. Also made a lexan cover for the lifter valley to keep the dust and grit at bay.

 

I can dig that!

 

Not much for progress recently been doing a bunch of handy man work to offset work not picking up this year and it hasn't left me with much shop time. I did manage to get the radiator mounted ahead of the cross member with some z brackets between rain storms flooding the shop. With minimal t******* the grille shell fits nice and low which will allow a hood to be ran need be. The brake equalizer bar was cut down for a speader bar and I really like it.
View attachment 6705754 View attachment 6705755

 

Man that ****s about the rain getting you guys. We got over 3” the other night. I think the city is at nearly 8” this month.

glad you made some progress anyways! Looking forward to seeing it together with the new grill/rad position

 

I honestly like the way it sits in your street shot march 31 post ago. Seems old school.

 

I like the height, pretty painless to get in and out of if you climb up the rear tire and swing over the side.

 

Ended up mounting the spreader bar and grille shell bent some 1/4 rod up to make a brace for the radiator using some existing holes in the firewall. Started playing around with some chopped F1 shock mounts and Plymouth tube shocks. I really like the shape of the tube shocks and dont mind them behind super visible. Looking at mounting them forward of the axle or behind the axle and run my stud down to the radius rod possibly. I will likely be mounting the headlight cups to the shock mount which lead me to the realization I don't own *any* headlights for the car and don't have a vision for what I would like them to look like.

 

Check out Arrow 775 headlights; think they would fit right in.

Shocks in front of the axle look good and lower mounts are easy.

 

Love the progress. And I have an inexplicable urge to put fridge magnets on those side murals, little people or boats or something that could move around. That paint job is the best kind of bizarre.

 

I want to get myself painted in a little row boat

 

I appreciate all the headlight suggestions. Swap meet in Lawrence today and tommorow I'm going to keep my eyes peeled. Can't really think of much that I need for the car but I figure I'll know it when I see it.

I think I finally have a use for one of these cast heel plates I've been hanging onto.

 

Coming along well. The radiator stay looks cool but will not last long and will most likely kill the radiator as it needs to be triangulated and heavier, this is what happened on my RPU... an expensive lesson. JW