Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

Yes we are!

Funds. That's the main motivation there. I think I found some other things to sell, so I'm going to hold on to them for the time being.

No event that I know of. I'll just be returning the red engine to the seller.

Yes, we'll be dropping the pan and cleaning it, removing the clutch and inspecting the flywheel. If that all checks out, we'll run it.

True, true.

 

Sidebar 820: Cleaning up our act!

Saturday's objective was a straightforward one: clean up the engine. In the past 75 years or so, the old flathead had accumulated plenty of dirt and grime. Since we already know that it runs, we decided it was time to make it look the part.

To kick things off, I covered up the valley and scraped away the remains of the old intake gasket.
I then used every tool in the arsenal to chip away as much crud as possible.

I pulled the starter, and David explained the finer points of the Bendix and related hardware.

Next came the foaming degreaser and the power washer, neither of which had any issues decimating the dirt.

Fun with flatheads!

 

And here we have it: the cleaned engine. Next time, I'll hit it with a wire wheel and paint it. (Longtime readers will know what color it'll be.) Like I mentioned before, we'll also be dropping the pan and inspecting the clutch and flywheel while the engine is out of the car.

 

In other news, the brakes I bought ended up being unusable. Both were out of round and measured 0.090 over. The seller claimed they were "ready to bolt on," which couldn't be further from the truth. Despite my efforts to contact him via phone and text, he's gone radio silent. That one hurts.

At this point, there's nothing I can do other than keep my chin up and continue to move forward. From this day on, I will not buy drums without using a brake gauge. Simple as that.

 

David gave me the loaded backing plates off his old roadster for my birthday in May, so I'm thinking these may go up for sale.

 

A postcard from tonight's adventure. I'll share the full update tomorrow.

 

Thank you so much for thinking of me. As of right now, I have two front drums that measure 12 even and 12.010 that I bought from a local Early Ford club member. They may need to be turned. My plan was to get these other drums to avoid the turning process all together, but that clearly didn't work. I'll let you know if the two existing drums don't work out.

 

Hey everyone!

I haven't forgotten about this build and I most certainly haven't forgotten about this thread. I appreciate everybody's replies, patience and, above all, enthusiasm. As I'm sure you can surmise, 2023 has been busy for me. I've doubled down on my writing, and I'm working every day to improve. I have some exciting pieces in the works, some of which I'll share on here.

Right now, I'm in Palm Springs with my girlfriend and her family. Everybody is getting ready for dinner, so I figured now would be a great time for an update.

Saturday started with a very fun assignment: retrieve David's engine stand from our friend Justin. He lives 15 minutes north of Petaluma in Penngrove, and we hatched a plan for me to swing by before I headed to the shop. When I arrived, he had his roadster parked outside of his barn. Talk about inspiration!

The license plate was recessed back in the day. Same goes for the taillights. I love how far apart they are. Not something you often see on contemporary builds.

 

Jumping right back in, now typing away from my hotel room in Scottsdale, Arizona (more on that later).

Last Saturday, I was focusing on the new flathead. Once I had the engine stand back from Penngrove, I proceeded to lift the V8 with one of David's chain hoists. Soon thereafter, the engine was in position and ready to be partially pulled apart.

Strange to see this thing without an engine.

Just like that, I pulled the pan. What did I find?

Gunk and sludge.

Plus crud in the oil pump screen. No metal or traces of metallic debris, which was good to see.

Oh, and did I mention sludge? About 1/2 inch of it in the rear of the pan. It'll all get thoroughly cleaned before it all goes back together.

As many of you know, this was some pretty messy work. But with the sun out and my hands moving, I had a great time learning more about this engine's internals.

 

Next, I pulled the clutch and flywheel.

Complete, except for it's missing one of the bolts to attach it to the flywheel. We'll measure next time to see if it needs to be replaced.

A detail. I wonder if this is stock or aftermarket?

While I was working, our friend Jerry stopped by in his '32 pickup. "Now throw it back together and run it!" he said with a laugh.

I also pulled the oil pump to clean off some of the sludge. Next time, I'll finish cleaning it and re-install it, along with the clutch and the flywheel.

 

Before we knew it, the day was winding down. I had disassembled the engine as far as I needed to (for now), and we were itching to get some paint on the thing. So, with that, I hit it with a wire wheel and broke out the primer.

As the primer dried, I knew we were running out of time. While I was shifting my attention to cleanup, David queued up "What is Hip" by Tower of Power on the stereo. He then walked over to one of his cabinets and pulled out a plastic bag. That could only mean one thing: chrome acorns!

We snapped on the acorns one by one. I rushed over and grabbed my intake and carbs off the shelf above the door. "Now," he said, "it's really a hot rod." In our book, chrome acorns are a must on any souped up machine.

At this point, there was no stopping us. "Grab a header!" he said with unbridled excitement. I zipped to the back of the shop and did exactly that.
As the sun set on Petaluma, we both were grinning ear to ear. "There's nothing better than leaving on a high note," David said. I couldn't agree more.

 

Palm Springs was excellent. I was only there from Tuesday-Friday, but I enjoyed every minute of it.
I'd really like to park my roadster in this house's three-car garage.
But it's hard to beat the Neutra-designed Kaufmann Desert House. Can't wait to drive down here in Version 2.0.

As fun as that would be, I don't think I'll be able to swing it with my travel schedule. In a perfect world, I'd drive it down to RPM later this year. Right now, I'm just taking it one day at a time.

Amen!

Mitch, thank you for coming along for the ride. It's been so fun thus far, and I can't wait to see what the new year has in store. Feel free to reach out if there's anything you need help with on your project.