Hot Rods Getting the bugs out -My T coupe build

Time to step back and re***ess the situation. I have a little over a month to get this car to Deuce Days in Victoria. I still need to get it running,inspected, insured, and registered. I don't need to get sidetracked with worrying about all the nicks and scratches and other hurts in the paint in this latest stage of the game. It was good to see the current Model A hiboy on deuce rails thread and see a picture of the Mickey Knight car with an unpainted hood. I'm just going to slap that thing on when I go. Don't need paint right now. I'm also reminded of the old Street Rod Quarterly where it showed Bud Bryan's hiboy getting its second paint job. Later is the time to get the paint good with the car mostly ***embled. All the fiddly parts are already painted orange. That is the time to do that, after I have made its long drive to see what all needs attention. Part of getting the bugs out - the theme of this build. The thing I really need to concentrate on is getting it running again. I am paranoid of this because this is my first fenderless car with hot headers that threaten to burn me while I'm standing there trying to get it tuned correctly. Leaning over cool fenders, no problem. Better get back on it.

 

I agree. Drove mine yesterday and there are many little things pending but I must take it to the Veterans Show next Sat. so it is going like it is.

 

Yesterday, I had the appraisal guys over so that I can submit information to the insurance company. The car still has a ways to go before it is roadworthy but with the deadline approaching, I needed to get that done. After that, I had a friend over who is more knowledgeable about getting my doors to fit lend a hand and the doors fit better after he left. Today, I put the inner door panels back on and the doors are fighting me again. This car just hates me. Time to switch over to getting it running again. Hooked up the battery, and the engine doesn't crank over and lights don't work properly and such. They all worked before I took it apart to finish the bodywork and paint. With the gas tank empty, I went and filled up two gerry cans for the car. That cost $80! Cars that I wired up from scratch are no problem to diagnose electrical problems but an aftermarket harness requires a bit of thinking about what goes where. Hopefully, after supper I will figure something out.

 

I got some similar electrical problems on my 53 Dodge once.
My problem was that all the new paint gave me bad grounds.
Hang in there, you gonna solve the bumps.

 

Getting closer! Good luck with the wiring issues. Probably something simple, it seems that it always is. Still trying to get the gauges working on mine. Suspect an old and tired ICVR that I am using from a 68 Ford that came with the instrument panel that I robbed for the gauges. We will know on Tuesday when the new ICVR comes.

 

Tried putting in the gas and found out that whenever I try to repeal the law of gravity, gravity always wins. My filler tube runs just a bit shy of level for the first few inches and it was a real pain to dump the gas in. There is about a 7" stretch until it hits a 90 degree elbow to the tank. Since this car has never made it to the gas pumps, I hope that this is not an issue. I made a trip to the closest gas station and measured the pump nozzle. It is about 7" long with a diameter of 3/4". Hope that if I carry a short chunk of 3/4" heater hose to stuff onto the nozzle things will work out, otherwise I will not be a happy camper. After that, I tried starting the car and no fuel to the carbs. That turned out to be a simple case of the shut off valve at the tank. Most of the electrical gremlins are being sorted out. Horn doesn't work because I left off the spring on the steering shaft just under the turn signal cancelling cam. Of course, I can't find that spring anywhere. The tailights being on was resolved with adjusting the brake light switch. The park lights are another matter. With them plugged in along with the front turn signals, the park lights don't work. Unplug the turn signal wires and they work fine. The turn signals work in either case. Tried asking for help here but they are made of unmentionable material. Reading about Another Car Guy's recently acquired deuce and how he won't try to get it road worthy for Deuce Days tells me he is one smart dude. Unfortunately, I'm not nearly that smart.

 

I feel your pain. Had to p*** on the Hemmings cruise and won't make it today to the Veterans run. I'll gladly swap your electrical issue for my axle issue. This ***** has so much flex in it that the front tires seem to go in their own direction making it a real steering challenge especially on our great roads. Working on removing 90 year old perches from an A axle now for a replacement. Fun fun fun, ha!

 

An axle change at this stage of the game would be a major hit to the expense account. With a wider axle, different tie rod and spring and with the radius rods splayed out a bit more, maybe a change there as well. I too, have one of those narrow axles and really don't want to go there. Had a chat with my wife this morning about making a long trip with an unproven car with gas at $2.20 per litre and motel rooms at $300 per night. There were initially 12 cars going from here and 4 have dropped out. Maybe common sense will prevail.

 

I shared your gas filler issue with an off topic cube van I had. It had an extended horizontal or reverse to gravity flow run of filler hose. If that section of hose had standing fuel in it from the gas pump nozzle, the pump trigger would kick off and wouldn't let fuel flow until that horizontal section would drain. It got so annoying that I carried around a couple 2x6's that I would drive onto to make sure the truck had enough angle to it so that section of horizontal filler hose would drain. That is until I cut the side of the box enough to raise the filler neck.

 

I was really expecting to have to do something illegal to get this car registered but everything went smooth. The lady at the registry office was nice and pleasant to deal with, I managed to show up with all the necessary paperwork and I don't have to submit my car to the dreaded "out of province" inspection; the appraisal was good enough. I'm legal and haven't even made it out of the driveway! Today, I finished putting on the roofing material from Cl***tique Upholstery and tomorrow I'm having someone come over to help get the car running right. Most things on these cars I am comfortable doing, but with tune up, I tune out. View attachment 5435022 View attachment 5435023 View attachment 5435023

 

Thats a major step forward.
Congrats

 

A wise friend told me "The first thousand miles is a *****"

 

^^^ Wise words. By now, I had hoped to tell about me cruising happily down the road but it still hasn't happened. Got the car running and it ran terrible. I had sent my intake and carb setup to Old Rek in Winnipeg and it ran just as poorly as it did before. Since I really don't know what I'm looking at, I enlisted help from someone more knowledgeable on tuning matters. With his electronic sniffing tool, it was determined that the engine was running way too lean. We called up Ken in Winnipeg who said that my carbs were worn out - too much play in the throttle shafts. Don't understand why he didn't fix them. I see that there is a current thread running here about similar problems with Rochester 2GC's so more playing around to come. After this, we came up with a plan to plug off the two end carbs and just try running the center carb since the that throttle shaft didn't wiggle as much. Still not good. On Canada Day, there was a car show in the park and I was bemoaning my troubles to Don Soenen, my old boss at the radiator shop who happens to sell all sorts of flathead speed equipment. He offered to loan me two new Stromberg 97's from one of his display engines so that I have a chance to drive to Deuce Days in Victoria. Presently, I have them mounted with the center carb blocked off. Tomorrow, I will try again.

 

GM, feel for ya! Still fixing issues with mine and I am only about 40 miles into my first 1000, HA!
Those 97's need a max of 2 1/2 lbs of pressure so dial that regulator back. I would start at 2 and see how the floats work out. I would disconnect the throttle linkage to get it running evenly on both carbs first then attach the linkage. They also should have 45 jets which may leave the engine lean. They can be easily changed without removing the bases by removing the 3 body screws but you will need a jet tool.
On my 3x2 I have only run the center carb so far as I move thru issues and I am running a bit lean. Uncle Max sent me some 47's which I will try to see if it improves the color of the plugs.
Keep at it you are close to driving I hope.

 

Yesterday, I had help getting the Strombergs set up and the car runs good. From there, I proceeded to the gas station for its first fill up and things did not go well. The gas nozzle would constantly shut off. After taking a kink out of the vent tube, I returned to the gas station but the problem was still there. I'm dealing with a bunch of problems. The trunk lid didn't want to latch so I blamed that on my prop rod holding the lid up only on one side causing the thing to warp. Well that wasn't it. I cruised up to visit a friend who noticed that the wood support on the back side of my trunk lid had a mark where it hit the gas tank. Makes sense. This trunk lid had never been on the last time I took the car for its first trip around the block. Some wood carving to come. The goofy shift pattern where I have to put it in overdrive before engaging third gear while inconvenient, is doable. It is sort of like driving an old car with three on the tree where there is a big downshift to second. The doors don't close good or seal good so there is a bit of exhaust smell to deal with. At least I'm not running just lakes style headers with baffles - the exhaust goes out the back but on a little car like this, all the way back still isn't that far. Today I hung out with the old car crowd at the park in the evening and on the way home, I took the car along the ring road faster than I had been in town and the car has a nasty death wobble. I have a few more days to sort things out before heading for Deuce Days and it sure looks like I won't make it.

 

Today was the car's first car show where there was a large number of cars at the Lethbridge Street Wheeler's Street Machine Weekend. At least some people like the car. I have thrown in the towel as far as trying to make it to Deuce Days in the car. Instead I will suffer making the drive in some late model thing that gives better fuel economy, with a/c and cruise control. I do take comfort in knowing that I did make a valiant effort and am working the bugs out. The speedometer reads pretty good for a wild stab in the dark; the gauges taken from a '85 Cutl*** work - maybe, still have that fuel filling issue to deal with before I know if full tank reads F. While I really like the looks of the '58 Impala steering wheel and like the clear view of the instrument cluster with it, it takes up a lot of room with that large diameter. The rear view mirror shakes too much and loses its adjustment. And the list goes on but the good seems to outweigh the bad. The main thing preventing taking the car is the fuel filling problem which should be an easy fix when I get back home.

 

Glad to see that you were able to attend the show. Car looks great.

 

Finally addressing the fuel filler issue. The tube is 1 1/4" diameter so I looked everywhere to find something, ended up cutting the upper tube out of an old bicycle frame which I took to Maxim Muffler to bend in their tube bender. After welding it in place, thought that I would take it in to the rad shop to test for leaks on Monday but then remembered that Monday is a bank holiday and I really didn't want to wait until Tuesday. Back when I was learning how to weld on motorcycle gas tanks, I would fill them with water to the level of the weld and dry off the excess water with my torch and look for leaks. Went with that method this time again. I stood the tank up on end so that the filler neck was at the highest point and filled it with water. No leaks. Had lots of water for the garden.

 

I just read this entire thread!
There was a lot of problems to solve in this thread. I enjoyed it. Your model T is nice!
I have a suggestion that might work for your curved vinyl interior piece. I had to curve a 1/8" thick peice of b***wood once that was 6 x 8 inches square into a U-shape with out cracking or splintering it.
So I wet it with water and worked it around the outside diameter of a pickle jar. I then wrapped it with rubber bands to hold the shape and soaked it in water in the bathtub overnight. When I took it out, I let it completely dry and took the rubber bands off. It was a perfect U-shaped piece. Maybe you could do this to match the curve of the body panel then stretch and glue the vinyl?

 

No real work on the car to report. I mentioned previously about my weird transmission shifter setup. You really shouldn't use a Jeep shifter top for a T176 transmission on a Ford 3 speed+ overdrive transmission. To correct the problem, I need to look for a Ford T170 RTS version of this transmission. I have looked everywhere I could think of on the internet and even have a parts wanted thread here. While searching for all transmission ads on Kijiji, I spotted one for a FREE S10 2.2 engine and manual transmission - only a 5 hour or so drive according to Google Maps. I had previously measured a S10 T5 transmission and it would fit but had dismissed the idea because it would mean I would have to get a new speedo cable and a different driveshaft - that speedo cable was a bit spendy for cheap me. A free transmission would lessen that pain. I left the house at 9:30 AM and finally got home at 2:30 AM. Everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong, but I do have an engine and transmission for my efforts. I had made an effort not to ask too may questions that would transform my free parts into not so free parts to my detriment. Hoped I was dealing with someone not too smart to know what he had. Well, he knew what he had. On his workbench was a nice clean T5 transmission he was working on for his son's new project truck. The engine and transmission were from a newer 1996 S10. Who knew that not all S10's were not created equal? Anyhow, I now have more parts to get in my way until I figure something out.

 

Congrats on being licensed and mobile despite setbacks...

Your patience is admirable and frustrations are part of the experience...

I bought a built Hotrod not without burps and farts but most were already ironed out...

My gas tank is a slow fill...it backs up and spills so I just watch for backup and listen for the gurgle meaning its there...

I take it the small pipe below the filler is the vent...

That filler pipe must have been a tricky weld on the underside...

Anyways patience Gold...next year will be the cats meow...but the icing on the cake is you might still have some quality cruising time this year...

 

Just found this thread and read all 7 pages really enjoying the build!

 

It has been a long time since I posted on this. Lost interest and switched over to working on the Austin but now with spring here and having joined a car club, time to get back to the car. Went to the World of Wheels car show in Calgary and my wife got a free promotional prism from some insurance company. I cut off the excess and stuck it onto the windshield with two sided tape to use as a traffic light spotter. I like free.

 

I have to remount that prism lower on the windshield. Traffic lights are not located there in the real world and the image is upside down. Obviously, I haven't done much on the car since September. Updating the engine to the 1970's. The various multi carb setups are gone to be replaced with Holley 4 barrel on an old Torker manifold. At least, I can retain my breather cap/ filler tube. Put it back together and just couldn't get it to run proper. Drove me nuts. Tried replacing everything I could think of and then it wouldn't even turn over. My 13 year old Optima battery had given up and the gas that I put in last summer turned out to be the problem. It runs really good now so I tried to take it to the first car show of the season only to find that I haven't eliminated the death wobble yet. My friends I met up with at the show tell me to put on a steering damper, something I've always considered a band aid solution but upon reviewing the situation,OK worth a shot. Other than that it steers real nice and rides good.

 

That coupe is looking great. Glad to see you have it going. Well worth the wait.

 

Lookin' good. U R going to enjoy this hot rod............

 

Good to see it on the road. sorry to hear about the death wobble. What toe are you running? Caster?

 

According to my cheap plastic angle finder, too much caster so band aid solutions look good at this point in the game. Get serious when the snow flies.

 

Measure your wheelbase. Both sides need to be the same

 

I appreciate the comments. Finally had a chance to measure the wheelbase and one side is 3/8" longer. Going to try and adjust but this got me to thinking about my OT Ford Ranger with its twin I beam suspension. That one has a much greater discrepancy, but then again, the two sides don't share a common axle. Something to try in any case while waiting for my steering damper to arrive.