Thanks for the kind words to everybody that's still following along! Trying to make it to RPM nationals in September.
Hey! Gonna try and catch us up to where this is now. We left off in the fall of 23 when I was doing bodywork. Finally getting everything in primer.
Had to rebuild my door latches, they were broken and full of sand. Got some help from Bert's Model A parts bin.
My old compressor could not keep up with the paint gun so I had to install this vintage monster I got from a buddy. This probably took another couple months to wire and plumb before I could paint. Thanks to @PINEAPPLE and Alan for the help!
I am not painter and this was my first time painting anything other than the frame so it was a big couple days to get here after months of sanding filler and primer
Sadly, when I got it outside and in the sun, it was pretty clear this was not the color I wanted. I lived with it for a few weeks but ultimately decided I was never going to be really happy with it and I was going to reshoot in a darker color. I spent weeks trying to find a car or paint code I liked and was really coming up empty. Eventually I saw photo of a car at a local show on instagram and a friend of mine was standing next to it. I called him up and got the name of the car owner. He actually still had the old can of paint in his garage and was able to give me a paint code. I sanded everything back down to scuff it up and shot it again. I will never regret this choice.
So that gets us caught up to December 2024. Got everything wired, plumbed and ready to fire it and start tuning for a first drive. The universe had other plans.
You have done a great job on the whole car, it looks like a time capsule T. The color is perfect and i wish my T's body was that blue, worried what's under the paint on mine. Looking forward to the start up and first drive....All too cool. JW
Well done on the colour change, it's a lovely colour, alot of people wouldn't have gone to the extra effort to change it. Interested to hear what the latest curve ball is. There's lots of smoke in that garage!
Like others waiting to hear what happened. Trust u & family friends all well ready to fix any problems & be ready to roll on.
Thanks for all the messages! I realized I never took any pictures of everything that happened and the story is so crazy I have to figure out how to even tell it because no one will believe it, haha. I'll try and get this updated soon.
great to see the partial update. looking forward to seeing how you tell the story, so funny..... keep everyone wanting more!!! haha
Okay we're back. On with the story of the engine fiasco. Way back in this build I got a Merc flathead from a buddy who said it had some valve train noise. I had this motor in the car for ages before I actually got it running. A few pages back I fired it up and it ran ok but it had some issues, backfiring through the carb and missing pretty bad. I did a compression test and found a dead cylinder so we pulled it and found a bad crack. I decided to s**** that block and save the Merc stuff for another engine down the road. In the mean time I got a "good running" 59 A from a friend and put that in hoping it would get me on the road sooner. I had the outlets redone on the radiator and redid all the front of the engine stuff to work with the early motor. New plug wires, fan, belts and generator. With all that sorted out again, I pulled the body off and did all the paint work and then re***embled.
Fast forward a few more months. I have the car wired, plumbed, lots of little things tied up and ready to fire it for the first time. We start it and it runs pretty well but this engine is also missing a little and backfiring out the intake a little. Nothing huge just a little sputter here and there like another dead cylinder. I start going through things and eliminating obvious stuff. Compression test was solid. I take the carbs to a really experienced local guy and he goes through them and doesn't really find much. I swap distributors, check the intake runners for a blockage, adjust and confirm fuel pressure, build a couple new sets of plug wires, change plugs multiple times. Change distributors, intakes, literally everything I can think of. I'm finally out of talent and patience. This has been going on for weeks and maybe months with no progress. In a fit of frustration I lose my **** and pull the motor thinking it must be a stuck valve or some other fatal internal issue.
The Jalopy Journal
