Thought I'd put together a build thread for my roadster if for no other reason than to keep myself motivated. This is going to be fairly slow moving, and I'm doing a lot of rattle can rebuilding of parts. Started with a 28/9 cowl and doors bought from Jeffrey James in August of 2010, then some subrails, quarters and other parts from Mel(Dirtyest Devil) I picked up in October of 2010. Lots more parts gathering and figuring out what I wanted to do for a while. Started getting the chassis set up about a year ago. Yeah, like I said, slow moving. Mock up pic from November of 2010. First thing I did was to repair the missing part off of the top of the passenger A pillar. I didn't take a before picture, but just imagine the picture below with the shiny part missing. Then I started checking out the quarters and scraping bondo off. All clean. Decided to set the body aside and do some chassis work at this point. I did reskin the drivers door at this time also, but no pics of it. Axle. Front end together. 32 brakes/drums, A kingpins and actuators. Pedals, made new shaft, rebushed, new pads. Starting to fit K member More of K-member. Center fit. Fitting the legs. Legs fit. T rear spring. Lightly primered. Greased, assembled, installed and painted. Checking steering box fit. Will need to drag cowl down and see how it jives there. And that's where it sits as of right now. B trans sitting out front. Looks super clean inside. Will get it fit to k-member this week, then it's on to engine mounts. Picked up an original set of subrails last weekend to replace the reproduction ones I had. I am super excited about this because the repro subrails were one of the main reasons I set the body aside. I didn't like em one bit. The originals have some pitting and cracks, but they are original. The engine. Counterbalanced 'B'. Doesn't look too pretty right now, but rolls over nice. Hope to get it looking better in a few weeks, maybe. I had planned on using this 36 V-8, which, while also ugly, does run.
Continued... But, I picked up something I had been looking for to go on the 'B', so it got the nod. The head is at the machine shop getting mag'ed and checked over right now. Also to go along with the head, a Winfield intake and carb. And that's all for now. Will update this thread as I make progress. Comments, criticism's etc. welcome, but don't bother with the mechanical brake stuff, I've heard it all.
Damn damn it son of a bitch! Why are all the cars I've sold turning out to be do damn awesome? First Thunderbiresq's '34 coupe and now my old '29 cowl and doors being turned into a most righteous roadster!!!! the list of parts is killer and it's like a dream list for anyone that loves prewar/immediate post war hot rods. I for one think it's rad that you're running Mechanical brakes. I mean the restorers can get them working just as good as juicys so why can't you. I figure if it was good enough for Pete Henderson's roadster even through the restoration of it then it's good enough for most. Just gotta know how to set them up and adjust them which is like anything. That brown gauge pod in the back looks like it would fit the bill real well and the Winfield head? C'mon dude you're killing me!!!!!
Very good I will enjoy this project because I like traditional roadsters, because they have more history in itself, is easier to place a new engine with many HP and burning rubber
Thanks, JJ. Yeah, I relined the shoes and arced them to the drums, fresh cut on the drums, all new parts throughout, so they should be good to go. Not sure what I'm going to do for dash and gauges yet. By the way, you have some pretty righteous stuff your damn self, and that Andy guy makes us all look bad.
Properly adjusted and maintained mechanical brakes feel good and will lock up all 4 wheels. Truth be told, that's about all a feller could ask for from his brakes. The rest of it seems to be according to a well thought plan. This should end up a nice old hot rod.
Not much to report yet. Been sick the past 2 days. Started to pull the 'B' apart to check it out. Bottom end looks good and clean. Will pull caps to check the babbit. Hope it's in good shape so I don't have to have that redone right now. Cam has pitting on tips of a few lobes. No good, me thinks. So, I guess I'm on the hunt for a cam. This one's no good for a regrind either if i had to guess. Engine did have a tight spot, but that turned out to be where the fiber gear had come apart into steel crank gear from years of sitting. Valve train looks clean save for one of the tappets. Need to get that apart and see how bad it is. Got the oil pan and baffle all cleaned out and de-sludged today. Trans looks good inside, no chipped teeth. Got the tower and rear bearing retainer parts cleaned up. And that's all for now. Any advice on b cams and timing gears? Was going to do the Winfield regrind, but I don't think that's an option now, going to have to be a new cam I think. Also I think I'd like to go with the bronze cam gear. Who sells these?
Looking good!!! Glad to see that you have started on your roadster. That thing is going to be killer when you have it finished. Keep posting pics when you can...
A few updates. Spent a lot of time trying to fit the 32 rear brakes to the A axle only to realize they won't work on there, so it looks like it will be A brakes on the rear for now. Picked head up at machine shop, one small crack on the engine side that runs between two coolant holes, ok to run. The B trans was worse inside than it appeared. One of the cluster gear bearings fell apart when I disassembled it, so I rebuilt the trans. I had a 33/4 V8 trans sitting there also, so it came apart and the best of the parts were put in the B with all new bearings and a NOS cluster gear. Also had to do some repair on the shift lever as it was well worn so some welding and filing and much better. I picked up the 33/4 drag link I was looking for, and also have 2 B cams on the way, so hopefully one of them is good to send back out for a regrind. Also got some parts in the mail from (Nick) Spragg in Canada. Top and laid back stancions. You can see the angle on the passenger stanchion. I just stuck the driver's side in there to prop the top up to have a look. And that's all for this update. More soon if all goes according to plan.
Rad! I was just thinking about this car so I'm glad we got an update. To bad things are snowballing, but when ever do they not right? The trans case looks amazing bud!
Love the traditional roadsters. And the B engine is so cool. Pre-war all the way! Keep it up, Carter.
A little more progress this week. Fit the trans and engine in to check everything out. Found some issues with drivers side K member leg fit when pedals were installed, so it had to be cut back apart and reworked. That's done now. I was seriously considering setting the front mounts up to use B stuff so a V8 swap would be easier later if I decided to do that, but I don't think I will, so I'm just going to use the A front mount. Dragged some more parts down to check fit on a few things. Yesterday and today I got the e-brake bands relined, lapped the hubs to the axles, and fit all of the rear brake parts to the axle. Got the brake cross shaft installed and started on the brake rods, but decided to get some new clevises before I proceed. And that's all for now. This week should see steering box being rebuilt, brakes all finished and k-member installed. Then it's on to the engine.
One of my favorite builds right now. This thing has all the right stuff going on. Very excited to see where it goes!!! Keep going man!
Thanks for the positive encouragement, fellas. I finished tearing down the B and found bad babbit all around. Rod bearing: #2 Main cap: The crank has corresponding grooves on the rod journals as well. So, I guess I could tear down the other, non-counterbalanced, B and see what it looks like, or just skip that and start selling some of the stash and prepare to drop this one off at the machine shop. I'm thinking option #2 right now. Went through the 32-4 steering box stash and gathered the best parts. Should have it together and ready this weekend.
Well, not much to report, gentlemen. I was at Canfield swap all weekend. I did drop my B engine off at the machine shop. When I get it back, it will have fresh babbit bearings, new valves, guides, and seats, bored, honed, new pistons and rings, shot-peened, magged and painted block, new Stipe .330 Roadrunner cam, adjustable lifters and my iron Winfield head in place, and test run. That gives me about 6 weeks to drag the body down and get started on it. Wish me luck, I'm no body man.
I really like the way you are going on this build! I think you made the right choice on the camshaft also!! Keep up the great work and the updates. Really, Really Cool!!!!!!!
Well, finally got the steering box put together, properly shimmed and adjusted. Just needs some paint now. I also mounted up 2 5.25/5.50-18's to put on the rear so I could roll the chassis out of the way. I need to mount up 2 more as this is what size tire I will be running all around. The front tires are just some 50's Firestone racing tires I use for rollers in the shop. Tomorrow night I hope to finish cleaning up the k-member and get it in the frame for good. Also want to get the e-brake cross shaft installed and finish installing the brake rods. That damn steering box kicked my ass tonight. Figured that would be an hour tops, ended up taking me over 2 hours to get it dialed in.
My favorite build on the HAMB right now. Looks like it's gonna have some nice wheels and tires under it. I've recently found the light in pre '35 Wheels and am planning on running 17" wheels on my '33. That's one sexy chassis!
Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. I dig 17 and 18 inch wire wheels. I don't think I really care for 16" wires any more. I don't know if I'd call the chassis sexy... at least not yet.
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