Projects Eh, well it's been a minute or T

What a lovely lass Looking forward to what you have in mind

 

Mmmmm... potennn-tiallll...
Got a visual on where it's goin'?

 

Welcome back! Eleanor looks like a keeper.

Bob

 

Whoa! I like where this is going!

 

Awesome!
Does it run?

 

It turns over pretty easy with the hand crank, but is missing a generator, battery, wiring, etc. The immediate idea is to get the basics working, then make it a mild pre-war gow job..nothing too radical. Rail Job's beautiful Elza coupe is a work of art, so I might swipe a few ideas from it. For now, I've got to build back my finances and make some room in my garage. My brain is like a plasma globe at the moment.

 

Wow, 2/3 of the way through January and no update. I'm a little disappointed to say that I was off for almost a month and did very little. Albeit, we had family in, but I also had a lot of down time. It gave me a good recharge.

First thing I needed to do was start organizing my garage a little. It was getting difficult to walk through, with five cars and one motorcycle.


First, I had to get this stuff out of the way:




I haven't seen the surface of that bench in about a year.




Then I did a few mundane things, like the planetary gears for the steering column, an old rusty dash that seemed to match the rest of it;








I have ordered all of the bushings I believe I need, so the next thing to do was to drop the front end. Everything was wallered out or loose, including kingpin bushings, which will be pretty evident later:







Not the intricate art-deco curvature of the wishbone:



I put the spindles and other bits in ATF/kerosene for a couple of weeks, while the weather calmed the hell down. Today, we were finally in the 40s, so I decided to clean them up a bit;


Before:




After:

Bead blasted parts

 

The bushings had to be removed before the spindles could be properly cleaned:



Had to drill out the bushing to 9/16 for a 5/8-18 thread.



After I tapped it, I threaded this ball joint into it because it was all I had. I then had something for my punch to hit while I knocked it out. Gently, I might add.





They cleaned up pretty nicely.



It took two days of moving pretty slowly to get all the cotter pins removed and the front end disassembled. I used metal picks and atf/kerosene with an SS wire brush to clean out as much as I could. I also used a lot of “Knock ‘er Loose” (with a name like that, I had to try it). Worked pretty well, finally got it 95% apart:








Next up will be removing all the rest of the bushings and figuring out what else needs to be replaced or repaired. Supposed to be nicer out this week, and I’m refilling my propane tanks, just in case. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get all of the bushings replace in the front axle this week.

The wishbone is tweaked pretty well, so I’ll be straightening that out, or completely destroying it and buying a new used bent one.


I don't know why this pic isn't showing up, but it takes you to the photo hosting pic if you click it.




I’d like to reverse the eyes on the man spring, but I’m a little worried that the spring might be brittle from the weather, since it’s sort of pitted. If anyone can give me reassurance that I can bend this thing without heat, I’d sure appreciate it.

 

I reversed the main leaf on my coupe without using any heat.

 

Mine too. In fact, I believe that's the way you want to do it if you want the spring to retain its tempering. Some pitting is ok but serious thinning of a leaf wouldn't be good. I set mine across the 4" bed of my press and used a 3/4" piece of round bar taped to the press ram to press every 2" until it got where I wanted it. Took three passes if I remember right. Stay away from the center hole.

 

Another for no heat

 

No heat, in the press 2 inch intervals. If there's a crack or thin spot you'll find it, but better in the workshop than roadway.

 

I think the planets all aligned or something, so I got most of the front end straightened out, with new bushings, an almost straightened wishbone, and a mounted axle.

 

I still need to straighten the end of the wishbone out a little more to fit correctly, from where it was bent. Ran out of time for the weekend.

 

Id drive it