Projects KIWI MADE 1927 T Lakes modified - Journey to the end of the road!

This car is just unbelievable beautifully done great detail.

Frenchy

 

I am workin on it!

Cheers Frenchy!

 

Seriously cool!

My '27 T Roadster build: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

Thanks Daddio.

I have been busy sorting through some interesting characteristics of the Buick Dualpath trans that were causing me some concerns. The car is still on stands to make it easy to work on everything under and over. The cars sits soooo low that it is a whole lot easier on the back to be elevated.
Being on stands there is no resistance on the rear wheels when running the engine. I was concerned that the wheels would tend to spin with the trans in neutral, and in park if the revs are raised enough the trans will over-pressure the park mechanism and make a horrible noise.
As it turns out after a lot of searching and researching on Buick forums, the trans torque converter configuration is such that there is a single central shaft running from torque converter right the way through to the drive shaft front yolk! This has a tendency to load up when the revs are raised in any gear. Now that we (My trans builder) are happy this is the way things are designed, I will just learn to drive it accordingly.
I had the sparky here yesterday to finalize the alternator wiring, but the trans pan was off at the time so we could not run he engine to check things before he left. When I put everything back together and ran it up today. The charge light on the dash is not behaving, so I will pull the alternator and get it tested this week.
One more small modification behind the dash tomorrow then I can drop the body back on.
I am working tonight and tomorrow night then back into it on Monday.

Thanks for all the supportive comments guys.....it won't be long soon!

 

Wooo Frikken Hooo!!! I drove the car tonight!!!!!!

Everything went well. I was just playing on the driveway, to check the brakes etc. The driveway is 500 meters long unsealed with a few pot holes. I knew the rear spring would be borderline soft. So I am pulling it out to re-arch it to lift things up a bit.

My concerns with the trans turned out to be unfounded. Once the wheels have some resistance on the ground everything seems fine.

No bump steer, tracks true under power and brakes even on unsealed path.

There was a loose contact on the fan fuse, so with the load and vibration, the fuse popped. I tightened the terminals and replaced the fuse. Fingers crossed that should be sorted.

Back to work in the morning, but I might take the nights off to get this spring sorted and back into some road testing.

 

Congrats man! We want pictures!

My '27 T Roadster build: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

Yeah I know! "It didn't happen if there ain't no pictures!"

 

Last night after work I pulled the rear spring and dissassembled it. Tonight when I get home I will set up a jig for tomorrow to reshape the leaves. With a bit of luck and some solid beating I will get it sorted and back together by the afternoon for more road testing.

 

woodbox do you have enough leaves?, I got some spare if you need them.

 

Thanks for the offer. I have another complete spring if needed.

If the re arching doesn't achieve the required result, I will probably suppliment with a couple of the longer leaves from the spare and remove some of the shorter ones. I don't have the luxury of being able to increase the overall thickness of the total without running into clearance issues.

 

Woodbox , sorry to crash in here - did you get my email regarding Pickup ?

Rod .

 

Yes thanks Rod. Sorry I didn't reply. Flat out on this project and broke like you wouldn't believe!
Cheers.

 

We don't want pictures Wade.......we want video!!

 

Hell, is settle for a drawing of a stick man at thus point!

My '27 T Roadster build: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

Here you go Boys and girls! Please excuse the dirty tyres, our driveway out to th road is unsealed.
Time for a big clean out in the shop today.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoECAETDE-k

 

Nice.

 

How bitchin'!!!

 

I have just been for another run. This morning I had the front wheel/tyres balanced which has stopped a bit of the front end high speed wobble/bounce.
This car damn light with the distribution well back which may be allowing the front end to bounce more than usual. I might try loading up on the torsion bars a bit more to see if that will make a difference. It is hard to see what is going on from the drivers seat which is very low. My shoulders are even with the top edge of the body. I can only see the top of the offside wheel/tyre and can just see the kingpin on the nearside.
Wednesday I am booked with the certifier to jump through the legal hoops and register it.

 

Very nice!

 

This car reeks of sexy-time! Amazing job!!!! VERY inspirational.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Cheers Daddio.

Hey thanks Auto.

 

Took a run into town today to my engine builder for some fine tuning on the carb. First time in traffic and it behaved very well. I have wrapped the fuel line in the engine bay with some heat shield material. Yesterdays run with the hood on, resulted in some vaporization of fuel. I hope the wrap will help.

To assist in the removal of hot air from the engine bay I made a replacement front belly pan, this one has a few large holes to let the air flow. If the new one works better than the original I may modify it to suit.

The current ratio in the Q/C is very tall and I barely get out of low around town, but I live out of town so there is always some open road driving and the engine is just purring along then.

Still a happy boy!

 

Nice work ...........congrats on finishing it right with no short cuts !!!

 

Keep in mind, heat shielding doesn't only keep heat out, it keeps it in too! Once operating temps are up and the heat has absorbed into the protected part it'll take forever to get it to cool off again.

My '27 T Roadster build: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

It may have been asked already, but how is it to get into? I'm welding up my doors and it seems like it may be a bit of trouble to get in and out of.

 

Cool fuel will be running through the line all the time, so hopefully the temp should remain fairly constant.

It's not too hard to get into, but I have no roof or provision for one. The certifier tried to get in for a drive today, but his legs were too long to fit between the pedals and the wheel! Ha! Ain't it great when you build a car to fit you!?


I had the whole day with the certifier crawling all over it and writing pages and pages of info to be submitted to the legal eagles. We finally did a test drive with various maneuvers, a brake test, emissions test and a decibel limit test. I am supposed to have (new car standard) max of 90db @ 3000rpm, unfortunately I am 100db, so some work to do there.
A short list of remedial work to do now to keep them happy, then we are done! Woohoo!

Lots of good comments today, some of them even said "it look like a brand new car"......Well DUH! It is!!!

Driving along people just burst into huge smiles and wave and some even try to climb out there windows to express their approval! A real buzz to see so many getting so excited.

I have to try and stop grinning like a Cheshire cat and waving like a dork!

Coming home this afternoon I got rained on!!!!

 

Wow, 90dB from 100dB is a HUGE gap to fill! Good luck with it.

You may already know, but as loud as 90dB is, 93dB is twice as loud. And 96dB is twice as loud as 93dB is. You're going to have to get creative.

My '27 T Roadster build: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

That's something I never knew.
Do you have link somewhere that I can read about that?

 

Have since been informed that there is an allowance due to the close proximity of the end of the pipes to the engine. Watch this space..............

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Perceptions of Increases in Decibel Level
Imperceptible Change 1dB
Barely Perceptible Change 3dB
Clearly Noticeable Change 5dB
About Twice as Loud 10dB
About Four Times as Loud 20dB