Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

Tonight, I planned to spend an hour in the garage. Well, that turned into a night of working on odds and ends. I’m not mad about it!

First, I mocked up the flywheel and pressure plate. Next time I’m in the garage, I’ll bolt them all together, complete with Loctite and safety wire where applicable.

Next, I installed the driveshaft and bolted in the transmission to make sure everything fits. As far as I can tell, it does.

The setup leaves 15/64ths of an inch of axial movement for the speedometer gear. When I install the gasket between the rear of the torque tube and the quickchange, that’ll bring it up to exactly 1/4-inch. Per my research, that’s spot on. (Yes, the gear needs cleaning.)

 

With the rebuilt trans in the frame for the first time, I was pleased to see how well the clutch lever lined up with the pedals.

After a little bit of modification, I should be well on my way.

That’s all for tonight!

 

Last night, I went down to the garage to pull the rear wheels and get the rear drums ready to be turned.

But when I got to the fourth rear—the one I measured at .045 over—I realized I made a mistake. It was actually out of round and came in at .070 in some portions. Darn. I reached out to some sources, and I’m hoping we can find one. In the meantime, it’s back on my “Wanted” list in my signature. Please tell your friends!

 

Yes, I scored a set of original 1932 Ford V8 anti-chatter rods that I will be mocking up once the engine goes back in. They need the threads cleaned up, but otherwise they look solid.

Hahahahh jam session!

 

After work, I made my way over to the auto parts store to buy more paint and primer; I'll be painting the front end components in the next few weeks here. The big news, however, is that I got my spindles back from @NealinCA. They're absolutely perfect (photo by Neal).

Although I was pretty tired from some long days at work, I couldn't help but head down to the garage to see how they fit.

So so well. Can't wait to get everything painted and assembled. That's all for tonight, but I'm hoping to have more updates over the long weekend.

 

A Quick Note:

Before logging off tonight, I skipped back to a random page to remind myself how far we've come. I was drawn to this shot from page 91. To the casual observer, it may seem as if not much has changed. But for those who know, it's clear that everything has been refined, rebuilt or replaced.

Updates:
Chrome front backing plates
Different drums
Dropped tie-rod ends
Narrowed tie-rod
Reamed spindles
Pedals installed
Different transmission, rebuilt
Running engine
Functional radiator
Same pants
Same boots
More determined than ever to keep things moving

 

Thanks! Those are for the rear, but I want to hit them with a counter-sink bit before it's time to paint them.

hahahahhaa noted!

 

@Six Ball I thought I had included this, but I guess not. I'm loving the look of these.

 

Made the most of my lunch break and got my Carrillo shackles ready to go. Don’t worry, I won’t be using the plastic bushings. Cotter pins will be used all around.

 

Hot rods, bearings, brakes, BBQ, strange encounters with strangers on Valencia street, night drives—we have a lot of catching up to do. That said, it's currently Sunday morning and I need to get to the garage to get to work! Today's tasks? Spray some paint before it rains, then install the flywheel, clutch, pressure plate, and oil pan.

 

Sidebar 170: Strange Guests

After a fun and productive day in Petaluma on Saturday, I made my way back to the city. The rain had finally subsided, and I was itching to drive my roadster somewhere. As luck would have it, my roommate was in the Mission grabbing some drinks with his co-workers. I figured I'd head that way, grab some tacos, and then give him a lift home.

Driving a car like this on the streets of San Francisco is one thing, but driving across town into one of the busiest areas on a Saturday night is another. Nonetheless, I weaved up, down, and across town with the hood off and the banger buzzing. When I reached Valencia Street, I decided it was time to stop for some food. I spied a spot close to Taqueria Cancun, threw it in reverse, and parallel parked.

It didn't take long for me to make my way through the taqueria's line. Basking in the aggressively fluorescent light, I held a paper stub with a four-digit number. 0091. 0092. 0093! Showtime. I grabbed my tacos, thanked the staff, and headed back out on Valencia.

Down the street, I could see the chrome outline of my windshield frame underneath the streetlights. Something looked off. "Is that...a person?" I started walking faster. As I approached, I realized that yes, someone was in fact in my car. And there was someone standing beside it too. I broke into a half jog/half run. The person saw me and stood up. He tried to jump out of the car, but got snagged on the inner door, almost slamming face-first onto the pavement.

"Hey," I said sternly. "What are you doing in my car?"
"What do you mean?" the man asked. His girlfriend looked on, speechless. "Why wouldn't I sit in your car?"
"Because it's...mine? Why aren't you sitting in that guy's car?" I said, pointing to a Dodge Charger idling in the spot behind me.
"Come on man," he said. "How about I give you a dollar?"
"I'll take more than that," I said, sarcastically.
"Fuck you," he said. With that, he and his girlfriend stormed off.

As I drove away with my tacos, I couldn't help but laugh. You never know who you'll meet while driving an old car. But hey, at least it made for a good story once I got to the bar (see the above photo for power parking at Shotwells).

 

Let's rewind to earlier that day. As I mentioned before, I made my way up to Petaluma to work with David on a wide range of projects.

Including photography!

TRJ cover shot, anyone?

Then, David taught me the finer points of disassembling early Ford backing plates.

And pulling seals and inspecting bearing races.

When it was all said and done, we had three drums ready to hand off to Jeff of Moose Motors. He's a master of all things brakes and clutches, and I couldn't be more excited to have him turning the drums and arcing the shoes.

 

Next, David and I worked together to get the master-cylinder mount ready to weld into the frame.
The best part? The MC cap by David.

He's always thinking at least three steps ahead!
Before I left for the day, David gifted me some safety wire from our friend Ted's collection. I went on to use this on the flywheel bolts.

 

Updates from the rest of the weekend

Old roadster, new hat.

Rainy day oil pan delivery.

Flywheel install? Check. Clutch and pressure plate install? Check. Everything has been surfaced, balanced, safety wired, Loctited, and torqued to spec. When I had questions along the way, I spoke with Mac Van Pelt.

 

Lastly, I cleaned up the holes on one of the backing plates.

Then I primed them and began to paint. I'll post pictures of the finished product this weekend if it doesn't rain!