Projects Glass '32 5 Window

Making progress on the front end. Disassembled the front end, cleaned and lubed everything. Glad I bought this So Cal drop front end about 6 years ago cause I sure couldn't afford it now. It's mostly stainless with a chrome axle. Fit the 42' Ford brake backing plates, all went well until installing the mounting bolts. They are to close to the spindle to seat flat. So ordered some grade 8 socket head cap screws in the correct length. Meanwhile I can install the brake linings and get them ready to bleed.

 

Right brake, hub, and all the goodies are in. Tire clearance is close! Used my bubble balancer on the brake drums as well as the wheels. Drums were right on my wheels took an ounce, not too bad. Torqued and safetied all the bolts plus thread lock. Now for the left!

 

Had an old canteen laying around and found some hardware. Put it together and now I have a puke canteen! Undo the snaps and pull it out to drain. There's also an 1/8" copper vent tube on the backside of the inlet fitting!

 

I have been admiring your build since the beginning. Your attention to detail is outstanding. It will be as nice a finished product as I've seen. I'm a little worried, what is your completion date. I have no idea how old you are, I want you to be able to drive this car. Please don't take offense, I'm just teasing you.

 

Doing good! I understand what Gary just said.

 

No offense taken!!! I really have no finish date! Being retired opens up lots of possibilities. I only work on her when I am in the mood! Winter kinda slows me down a bit! But I will be 74 this May. Only issue I have had lately was becoming lactose intolerant! Luckily that turned out to be a blessing. Within 3 months I dropped a bunch of weight, BP dropped to 121/67, cholesterol is down, energy is up. I only take a vitamin and that's it. Dairy is tough!! Anyway thanks for your comments. I love what I do and do what I love, when your not in a hurry things go better! After I took the pics I fired her up and put some heat in her. Can't wait to drive it, probably this summer, doors and windows are optional! Have been an aircraft mechanic my whole life , I only know how to do things one way! Oh yeah, I use alot of Krylon paint and plan to use it on the body!

 

You are doing great @Splitbudaba the car is really starting to look right and tight!

 

Working on the trunk area, fuel tank straps, trunk lid stays, and battery box with wiring. Pics later. Can anybody out there tell me the largest diameter of a 57' Chevy ignition switch? Looks to be about 2". But looks can be deceiving. Bought a 3 1/2" tall air filter to look a little meaner.

 

I dig the overflow bottle, was thinking the same thing.

 

Got a bunch done, brakes, windshield wiper, and the correct pressure switch for dot 5 brake fluid. Had the threads pull out of the brake master cylinder. Had a very hard time finding the same style cylinder. Wound up at Speedwaymotors, a young guy there went above and beyond to find the exact style. He even had a warehouse guy take pics to confirm the one they had was correct, which it was. Should arrive Monday. Also ran all the main power wires thru in inside of the body and mounted the fuses box. Cut out the forward header panel for the electric wiper motor. Decided to put all my toggle switch on that same header panel. Soon ready for the first test drive!!!

 

ALLRIGHTALLRIGHTALLRIGHT!!!

 

I love what you have done with the project, the only deviations I'd make (it IS your car, so just advice) would be to paint the WP engine color and to paint the fan shroud Black.

 

Jusy my personal sensibilities here...........
Painting the fan shroud black is fine but nothing wrong with raw aluminum either.
As to painting the aluminum water pump orange, maybe if the car was a "traditional" build, same would go with painting the aluminum intake, why not celebrate some of the more contemporary components too.

 

Shroud will be satin black on the final paint and assembly. I like the raw aluminum water pump, matches the intake and fuel pump!

 

That's looking good, I did the canteen overflow as well, except I ran mine upside down so I just unscrew the cap to drain.
Took some straight rod I had laying around and bent it up to make a "spring tension" holder, worked out great.

 

I took the easy way, mounted the cover. Undo the snaps, pull it out, open and pour. Maybe back in the radiator if needed.

 

Dude! Your garage is far too tidy! My wife was nagging at me about all the lock washers and nuts all over the floor the other day. I told her "I have more and I'd rather walk to the bench than bend over". C'mon. At least scatter some nuts, bolts and sockets around when you take pics.

 

I took that pic right after I reorganized and cleaned the entire garage! Probably won't look like that for too long!!!

 

Okay buddy, but just so know you're on double secret probation. Well, not so secret anymore

 

Truth be known I was an aircraft mechanic my whole life. Clean was a requirement! Don't tell anybody!!!

 

Your comment above about the cost of hot rod parts is right on. Just got the parts needed to do all stainless suspension on the front of a roadster plus Ride Tech shocks I'm doing and what a surprise-expensive. That's one of the reasons I retired from the chassis business. High input costs, I built chassis for regular guys, not high rollers and it just got to difficult to keep my prices within the reach of my customers. This major inflation is pricing a lot of guys out of doing anything new. As I said above your project looks great. Now about that spotless shop?

 

If my project wasn't so far along it would probably be in Craigslist! Fortunately the needed parts list is less then one page long!! Plus my wife is behind me, says get her done!!

 

Here's a pic of the other end! I have the big 70 series Flowmasters and Spirotek inserts in the 3" tailpipes. Nice part is I can lean on the cowl and hold a conversation with somebody on the other side of the car, with the engine running and not scream! Same inside the car!

 

Well brakes are leak free, finally! Found out my double flare tool was shot!! Started on the wiring, mounted the header panel upside down to do the wiring! I'm using Tefzel aircraft grade wire, crimp on ends with a dab of solder just in case. One white wire at a time!

 

Got a nice surprise. Sat in the car, flipped two toggle switches and the motor came to life! No more jumper cables. Also found out my diy rebuild on the generator and eBay regulator work. I had 14.5 volts at the battery just after start up. Went down to 14.2 in a minute or two. Sometimes life is good.

 

Generator charging at idle?

 

Yep, the pulleys and generator came off a 1957 Chevy truck 265. I assume that's the factory set up. The generator pulley seems rather large, time will tell. But I plan to wire up my SW volt meter to keep an eye on that.

 

Cool seeing period parts used! I always thought generators put out very little charge at idle, maybe a bit smaller pulley would aid if you notice a drop. I got a wild hair and gutted my 8ba flathead generator and stuffed in a Denso 40 amp alternator from fork lift. This Steves Auto Restoration article shows how its done. https://www.stevesautorestorations.com/articles/tech-how-to-hide-an-alternator-inside-a-generator/

 

I will definitely hang on to that article, just in case. I did some research and found several different size pulleys that I might try if the voltage drops to far. I am running a 4 speed, so I can idle a little faster than an automatic, plus the Thumpr cam sounds good about 750-800 rpm. Thanks very much for the tip. I too, like the old stuff, I even have a single point distributor, all you need is a matchbook and a screwdriver!!

 

Now that's a tiny pulley on that alternator.