Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

Replies to come, but here's a super quick update before it's time for bed.

Some photos in the order I took them.
This first one will make more sense later this week.

Upon returning from my trip to the South Bay to buy that fine piece of aluminum, I went straight to the garage to try my hand at separating the wheel from the steering shaft. First, I called upon my tired Craftsman two-jaw puller. Longtime readers may remember that I bought this to pull the fiber timing gear off the front of my 'banger. Attentive longtime readers will remember that it didn't work at all. This time around, I gave it a shot but the threaded portion kept on slipping. To counter, I applied the only tool from my garage with a 100% success rate: Liquid Wrench #1 (check DicE issue 100 where I said the same thing in print).

After letting it sit for a few minutes, I figured I'd try something that I knew was destined not to work. I pulled out my ball peen hammer and tapped the stub. Nothing. "I'll just try one more hit," I said to myself. POP. The stub came loose and rolled out onto the floor. I couldn't believe it!

One more item checked off the big list.

 

Other than that, most of my time has been spent figuring out steering things. I've been doing some column drop R&D, but I want to share it when it's further along and I've made a clear decision. So, in the meantime, I present you with this snapshot of my decklid-turned-workspace.
Nice weather=steering wheel cleaning time. That old goo in there smelled awful!

 

As I wait for steering components to come in, I was able to focus on the flange.

Everything lines up nicely. This will mount on the inside of the frame with Grade 8 hardware. I will also fabricate a plate for the outside as well. Can't wait to get the steering box welded to this.

As I mentioned, Benj is hard at work on an overlanding build. He was kind enough to give me the crash course on the Skil circular saw so I could re-purpose some of my car's old wood. With his guidance, I trimmed the old seat base (don't worry, my new one is steel) and shortened the first piece of the trunk floor to fit the new subrails. Feels good to have those finished up.

 

Working hard or hardly working? Benj caught me texting when I should have been wrenching. SMH! That's all for tonight. More updates happening soon!

 

I see what you did there!

Agreed! That Kroil smell brings be back to my old garage. I used about a can of it to try to un-seize the old Triumph. No luck!

Yes! One day at a time!

 

Not much to report, but Jason did share this timelesss 35mm shot from the banger's last hurrah.

Soon thereafter, the park ranger came over to 1) check out the machinery and 2) inform me that I couldn't park in the bus lane. I know I've said it plenty of times before, but I love the look of old cars on old film.

 

On Friday morning, I hopped in the truck and buzzed north to Petaluma. David and I had a fun day planned, and I was excited to soak up some sun and get rolling on the steering box project.

For the first order of business, I was able to gift our friend Ted the seat out of my car for his upcoming Model A roadster project. Once we plunked it into place, I had to hop behind the wheel. Even though it hasn't been that long since I've driven mine with the 'banger, it felt just like home. The seat works perfectly with the car's coastal California patina.

Our main objective for the day was to clean up parts and take inventory for the rebuild. That meant a good amount of time in the sanblasting cabinet, which I find therapeutic. As you can see, all of the essentials went from grimy to good.

Next, I focused my efforts on grinding down the wide splines on the pitman arm. It took a little bit of time to get right, but I eventually got it set up.

 

To wind down the day, David welded a trio of nuts to the back of the steering flange. This will be a huge help during installation, as well as whenever I need to service the box. Once the welding was completed, I also sandblasted it.

 

Overall, it was a fun and productive day up north. Next time, we'll be welding the flange and building the box. I can't wait!

I have more to say about the steering, but it's getting late here. I'll leave you with this—one of the most exciting pieces of the interior to date.

A real-deal Moon column drop. I'll share more about it next time. That's all for now!

 

We've inspected them, and it looks like they'll be good to go. I do have to do some metal-to-metal to fix a rough area on the box, but we'll cross that bridge in a couple of weeks.

Yes! That said, it's getting a very stout flathead V8 soon. It's going to be a great project.

 

There are two things that I wanted to mention about this weekend's update. First, we have the steering wheel.

While we were at the shop on Friday, David, Justin, and I took a look at the splines of the Hudson steering shaft. "I can't say for sure," Justin said, "but the splines seem like they're almost exactly the same as an F-1." I compared the two, and he was right. "It can't be," I said to myself.

Well, when I came home from Petaluma, I took my 1954 Hudson wheel and carefully set it on the steering shaft. The splines lined up perfectly; it slid right on. I was speechless.

I can't remember if I read it somewhere or if it was pure coincidence, but it's now confirmed that a Hudson Hornet steering wheel fits on an F-1 steering shaft. How neat is that?