Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

Thanks everyone! Just to clarify, David still has the shop. It'll continue to operate without any big time changes.

 

An Important Note

Hey everyone, I went through and cleaned up a few of the comments. This isn't supposed to be a thread about shops, moving logistics, or people's personal lives. Instead, it's a thread about the car I've been building with one of my best friends, David. Even though I'll be wrenching on the project at my house, he and I are continuing to work together on the big and small pieces. I can't wait to head back up to the shop to narrow the tie rod, rebuild the transmission, ride bikes and soak up some summer sun.

Let's keep things focused on the positive.

 

Parts have been coming in from all sides. Nuts, bolts, gaskets, springs, you name it. Some of the most exciting pieces—big time bucket list stuff—just arrived from my friend John Uildriks in Indiana. These will get cleaned up, rebuilt with fresh internals and pair nicely with my soon-to-be turned front drums.

 

Me too! I've known John for years, and I'm so excited to have these on the car. I love the home-spun lightening holes.

 

Making progress. I just need to button up a few more odds and ends and this will be ready to drop into the chassis. I plan to do that next week.

The details. I bought an angled oil fill tube from Gear Drive that I plan to install soon too. Is there a trick to pulling the tube off the fuel pump stand? I tried heating it and didn't have any luck. Nonetheless, the engine is getting there!

 

Last weekend, I was vending at the Hunter's Point Motorcycle swap. Of course I had to take the roadster!
No problems on the freeway portion. I've always loved this view.

Selling motorcycle treasure to buy hot rod parts—a tale as old as time!

Out and about in Bayview. All in all, a super fun day in a Model A!

 

Swap was great! Did some selling, some buying and celebrated Yama and Blues' birthdays. Couldn't have been better.

 

Last night, I mocked everything up, including the PowerGen, the fuel pump and one of the headers. Tonight, I plan to do a little disassembly and put the engine back in the chassis. Wish me luck!

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement. After work, I had a great phone call with my brother. As we talked, I took care of the pre install checklist. I removed the headlight bar, grille shell and radiator. I situated a jack under the transmission, cleared the front of the garage and unfolded the hoist. And when we signed off, I hooked the chain to the flathead's lift plate and got moving.

It took a some strategic maneuvering, but I carefully connected the engine and transmission. I tightened the bellhousing bolts (using plenty of anti-seize) and the whole assembly became one. I was relieved, but glad I took my time.

The calm before the storm.

Good in-tension

We're in. Once everything was in position, I made a pre-fireup cardboard list. Tonight, I checked off the starter bolt-in, header installation, the spark plug swap and a few other odds and ends. Tomorrow morning, I'm walking to the hardware store to grab the intake washers and the fuel gauge blockoff plug (I'll be subbing in the SW fuel pressure gauge off 1.5's firewall when I'm actually driving 2.0). I have the oil and break-in oil. We're close to first attempted fire-up.

This whole thing is kinda funny. It's deja vu. As I sit here eating a super late dinner, I feel like I'm back in the summer of 2020—the earliest days of this build. Buttoning up this engine reminds me of 1.0's 'banger. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew that if I approached every sub-assembly with as much care as possible, it would raise the chance of success. That's how I'm working through the flathead V8, too.
The way I see it, I'll never be sorry I took the time to do everything right. This 'banger was a mystery and things worked out. I'm hoping the same goes for the V8. Time will tell.