Had an `what is that noise‘ moment yesterday. Even though its a new to me car it just didnt sound right going down the road at one point. Got out and checked and the rear wheel nuts had worked their way loose, one of them was about to leave the building. Stoked I stopped as they are OG magnesium Halibrands. Had no tools with me so rang the wife and she popped down with a wheel brace. Checked the rest of the wheels and sure enough not all were tight. Got home and did a bit of investigation. I had to remove the Halibrand spinners to get rego and there are small spacers between the WMS and wheel plus the spinner mounts on the front. Im thinking perhaps by removing those the wheel nuts may have been just bottoming out on the WMS. I also checked the threads on the studs and nuts and whilst they were generally good there seemed to be a build up of dirt and or possibly grease or similar. They all got a thourough clean before reassembly including refitting the spinners. Hopefully that solves it and will keep checking them. On a more positive note got to drive the car quite a bit on the weekend and its awesome. I`m going to have to be careful in it as may start getting tickets. Its geared rather short so is LOTS of fun going through the muncie. Had my wife and mother in law in it and whilst a little scared they loved it too. It feels solid on the road and with the off topic front end rides really smoothly. After the 1st drive I got home and told my Mrs to advertise the Model A as I can only keep one. But then I pulled out the Model A and went for a cruise in it and whilst a completly different drive its awesome too. Going have to make a decision in a week or two which one goes but pretty sure I know already. All in all another great day here in Japan and finished it off with a family BBQ and introduced our neice and her boyfriend to Cafe Patron so a couple slow starters today.
heh...one of those cars looks like a hot rod! Good to see you finally got it on the road. What a struggle!
Whaaat? After all that you're thinking about selling the A? Say it aint so! Come on, Pete, where there's a will there's a way...
drove a '33 fiver for 19 years, cranked the windshield in or out at will... now i have a '30 coupe, have to pull over to swing the w/s in or out... in the '33 getting in or out didn't affect your feet at all. the doors sloping out at the bottom made it easier. i have to bend my foot in to get in or out of the A... add that to the plus column of the '33/'34... go pete go !
A major issue for me when I see this kind of stuff. I won’t even begin trying to figure what’s wrong. Out comes the wire cutters and away it all goes. Color codes are there for a reason. Don’t get me started on house electrical wired the wrong color. That makes me even more upset. But on a positive note. I’m glad I don’t play with aircraft wiring.
A new wiring harness is part of the long term plan that`s for sure. Besides the one color fits all a LOT of wiring is under the car which Im not a fan of. For rego we had to get it that crappy plastic tubing
There is no way you could pry that 34 from my hands after all that .Think long and hard on that decision Pete. There is something very special with that car that is very hard to replicate. It has the Soul, the Stance, the Aura that doesn't come easy. Some work their whole life to come close to that ,only to miss it by that much. You have the one in a million lottery winner in your hand.
Im keeping the 34. Had a fault with the fuel gauge and chased it down yesterday with some help from the HAMB. Got really lucky that who ever built this back in the day had left an access panel in the trunk to access the sender so didnt have to drop the tank. After checking the gauge, then the wire from the sender to the gauge I worked out why it was OK when the tank was full to 1/2 and then no good after that. Got a new sender on order and arrives tomorrow so hopefully that fixes that. https://youtube.com/shorts/mrLrNYmWYWo?feature=share
Yup, mine was at the other end. Sender ohm’s good but as you can see at full position at sender gauge read only 5/8’s full. Sourced an original replacement gauge and all went back together well.
I bought a VW once, that the owner thought it would be cool to have ALL RED wiring on a red car! I put a whole new wire loom in it. Couldn't chase down any issues....
All that blue wiring is a treat so feel your pain. Been watching youtube videos on wiring cars of late....
Had an interesting moment in the traffic today. Car wouldn't start on a busy road after a long wait at road works. Turned it over quite a bit without luck. Jumped out and pushed it to the side of the road as best I could. Not sure why but decided to check the battery cables. Power cable was warm. Checked the ground terminal and burnt my finger! Managed to get it home as after waiting a while it fired up. Started to have a solid look at it when I got home and this is what I found. That is the ground wire off the battery attached to an old electric fuel pump that isn't used. Needless to say I started there removing the ground then the fuel pump which was a PITA to remove due to its location and mounts. Once off I cleaned up the terminal and where it will bolt up to the frame. I then noticed some electrical tape over a slight buldge in the cable. Thought it worth investigating and found this. At this point it was obvious after being built in the 70s it was time for a new cable. I couldn't get that sorted in my little village so drove 30 mins down to this shop. 10 mins and $15 later I had a new one that is a true upgrade in quality and size. Heading down to the next town was also a great excuse to stop for Yakiniku. It was the least I could do seeing as we were down there sorting out car parts on my wife`s birthday. The plan this winter is rewire the whole car including replacing the main power cable from battery to starter but this should keep me on the road for the next 3 weeks before the snow arrives.
Buying and living with an old car/hot rod can be full of surprises. Glad to see that you are handling it, Enjoy the Ride!
Indeed mate, could easily been a start to a fire. Burnt car vs burn on thumb. I was nervous about the wiring before this but am now focussed on getting it sorted this winter. Whilst doing this job started pulling other old wiring out that no longer does anything. Didnt have my multi meter with me but wouldnt have been surprised if some were unswitched power and live. Here`s a short plug for the HAMB too. Without some of the awesome wiring threads here, particularly content by a few including @Crazy Steve I wouldnt even be considering taking on rewiring this. Thanks heaps to Steve and all those that contribute to those threads.
"Motor Fashion Stage FRIENDS" is the greatest Japanese name for a hot rod shop that I have ever heard, I love it!
Hahaha yep we thought the same. Asked the guys how it came about and apparently it was a `corporate` decsion back in the day The boss there was super friendly and loved the car when I showed him a pic.
The Jalopy Journal
