so its been a while since i had a tub. i had to sell my last one to buy another house...yes i said another...yes i am an idiot. My dad actually bought this car at the auction in mitchell indiana a few years back. He restored it to stock factory 28/29 model a phaeton(which is what he/i do)it needed alot of love. but it is a running ,driving, noise making fun machine. We took it to Iola to sell, but i just had tooooo much fun driving it around the grounds. I bought it.(or i should say i traded my 31 slant and i bought the old man new siding)(which will make my mom happy) soooo.... here is the plan. 1)I want to use all vintage parts 2)aside from the ovious bolt ons (wheels,tires,RILEY, 2 carbs, header, ect) i will not alter the car so that it can't be returned to stock. no radical Z, nothing that wouldnt be done in say 1936 3)paint stock ish colors 4)stock interior so here she is stock and here is step one in the transformation. 33 axle 32 spring perches(from breeder i think) 32 spindles, model a brakes, model a reversed eye spring, model a brake actuators, model a wishbone, model a kingpins tires will be here friday 550-16's front and 700-18 rear and i will be putting in a t rear spring with a leaf removed. this winter it gets paint the riley and the interior... untill then i am driving it.. p.s. does anyone have a windshield they want to get rid of thanks for your time tom
the riley is a 2 port i'll just put it on the stock engine for now(i have a c balanced b that will have all the goodies in the future) fenders are staying on i will probably lean back the windshield posts like Chris did, but thats about it tk
should be a really sweet ride. it is terrific as it is. if you want to put juice brakes on the stock sprung rear, as most know they hit the spring perch , i came up with a solution many years ago. no modifications to perch or spring. PM and i'll share or with anyone else who might want an alternative. it worked for me w/out problems.
i would be interested in your idea just to see how it differs from mine. I have done 5 or so model a's where i put juice brakes on them. I am going to keep the mechanicals on it for now and if i need to i'll put some teds floaters on the stock backing plates with some cast drums. thanks tk
not sure how original this is but in '58 while trying to juice my A mordoor i ended up doing this. brakes were off postwar, 46-48. since wheel cylinder part of backing plate hit perch i flipped them side for side upside down. i then spun wheel cylinder 180 degrees so bleeder is at top. my recollection is three of holes aligned perfectly, it seemed the fourth was near but needed to be elongated or enlarged. just don't remember. it HAS been a while. anyway brakes worked fine all thru high school and then sold car. as i recall i hooked emergency cable to stock handle. anyway look forward to the "tub" many of us are envious. larry
larry that seems like it would work fine. easy enough and as long as she stopped that would be good enough for me here is a slight update t rear spring with the longest leaf removed first a stock picture now the new spring pic new wheels and tires tomorrow tk
Well guys i just went for my first real drive. i put duel tail lights off of an american bantam on it. put my license plate holder on the bumper bracket(FYI they are spring steel and hard as hell to drill) checked all the stuff to make sure i had cotter pins in and everything was tight. loaded up the tool box with everything i thought i would need(including a flash light...its 9pm here) and headed off into the darkness. everything went awsome. brakes worked great, steering is a bit loose but nothing a little toe in wont fix. this thing has some pretty good balls. i don't know what was done to the motor but she goes down the road. 50-55 mph no problem (i drove around at 20-30 for 15-20 min to make sure everything was ok) i just may make it to cheaterama after all. i am a happy campertk