Projects **Malcolm Model A Roadster Build**

Thanks, Brady!

Thanks, man... I had hoped to meet you during the LSRU.. Maybe next year?

Thanks! Did you make it to the LSRU?

Thanks for introducing yourselves -- it was nice to meet you!

Thanks, Mark!

Matt, it was very cool to run into you in Omaha. Hopefully I'll see you at the Goodguys Des Moines event in July.

 

...and a little update on the car.

I've fixed a couple small things that have shown up after some driving.
-Replaced a rear axle seal that was leaking. It seems to have fixed that problem.
-Everything seems fine with the new engine, besides a couple small oil pan leaks that I need to tend to.
-Still having some rear tire balance issues that I need to look into. At around 68mph, a 'bounce' occurs and makes the shifter wobble side-to-side. Sometimes it's barely noticable, sometimes it's worse.


Otherwise, I've just been driving the wheels off it. We finally have had some nice spring weather around here and I made a trip up to northeast Nebraska to visit family yesterday.

These photos are on my uncle's farm. It was a ton of fun driving the dirt roads/paths up to his cabin on top of the bluff.

 

It's good to see your having fun with your car after all the work. Good Luck in the future.

 

GREAT shots!
Keep driving the***** outa it!

 

Does the bounce go away at higher speed or get worse? I am very interested in the rear suspension on your roadster. That is why I started following this build. Then I just got drawn in by the car and subscribed. I want to use the same suspension set up on my roadster but several people tell me it it can not work because the change in spring length as the spring flexes will move the axle if the spring is used as a locater. I can see what they say but you seem to be having success with it. Could the bounce you have be some sort of harmonic that sets up as the springs take turns flexing when they have nothing else to do? It seems that at a constant speed on a flat straight road might be a place where something might show up. The movement might be so slight that in turns it is corrected by steering or not noticeable in bumps or acceleration. It looks like the travel in the suspension is very limited which would lessen the effect. Just a thought I wish I could have seen it at the Roundup. I really like the dirt road shots. Mine will have to do 2 miles of that every time it leaves home.

 

Nick, if you drive up this way for anything, you've got a place to stay..just gimme a call!

 

Tricky stuff, even tire air pressure has an effect.

 

Thanks, Steve!

I really think it's one of the tires. In the next couple of days I'm going to swap out my rear tires/wheels with a friend - he's running 7.50x16 bias plies and hasn't had any problems. That should definitely tell me if it's a tire problem, or not.
I must add that I am not running any balancing weights on the wheels, but I have balancing beads in the tires. The bounce does occasionally go away -- could be the beads shifting around in the tires? Hard to tell.

As far as the spring length change under compression, I really don't think that is an issue. They don't have a ton of arch to them to start with, and like you mentioned, their isn't much suspension travel.

 

Wouldn't these same things happen to all the cars with full parallel springs then? The length of the front arc changes as it goes up and down. The pinion angle changes slightly. The flexing spring should be just as suscepable to harmonics.

If that's the case, 75% of the cars on the roads would have the same problem.

 

Find a set of modern tars (radials) and give those a try too. Not that I'd ever think you should put a modern profile on that car.

 

These problems a usually handled by a tire shop, but there are a lot of ways to overcome the problem.

 

Nick...I've had some experience with the balancing beads back in my 4x4 days, my takeaway was that they are less effective in small light tires and vehicles. They worked well on big trucks with 35" and larger round tires, not so well on jeeps with 30" tires. Make sure you try indexing and dual-plane balancing them before you condem one.
B.

 

Nick, did you ever tell me what part of NE Nebraska your uncle lives in? I'll second 18n57, if you're near Norfolk we're just another 30 minutes west on 275. It would be kinda funny if I ended up meeting up with you here before I ever get to it in Omaha.Ha Ha!

Whenever the finances say it's time, let me know, I think you need a Jigger rendering of that Li'l roadster.... Heck, it will probably happen anyway, that thing has all the hallmarks of what I 'draw' inspiration from in the hot rod realm...

PS: love the headlight set up!

 

That makes sense . Very good..

 

Alchemy, On cars with "regular" parallel springs one end is fixed and one has a shackle. The shackle's purpose is to deal with the difference in the length of the spring through it's arch/dearch travel. The axle stays in the same place and only the shackle end of the spring moves. With a Quarter eleptic system like Nick's where the spring is the bottom link of a four bar the difference in spring length through the arch/dearch moves the axle forward and backward. His springs have little arch and the overall travel is limited so it works for him . We'll see how things behave with tire and balance changes. I once had a faulty new tire that could not be balanced for different speeds. I want it to work because I want to use it.

 

Same goes if you're ever down this way Nick. Probably not so likely but stranger things have happened. Nice and warm here when it's snowing there.

Pete

 

Even on full parallel springs, there is arch to the spring. From the front fulcrum point (solid mount bolt) to the middle of the axle, the length will grow as the arch of the spring is flattened out.

Now, I'm not sure this growing arch is Malcolm's problem, as that was suggested by somebody else. I'm just trying to point out that the same principle of arched springs perpendicular to the axle has been used successfully millions of times.

 

He said a tire problem?

 

Boy, lookin good! Those windshields usually don't do much for me... But it looks perfect on your car! Same with that hood...

 

Malcolm you still headed this way for good-guys next week. Can't wait to see this car it's one of my favorites on the HAMB

 

Thanks!

Yes, sir - I'll be there! Will you also have a car there?

 

Malcolm ,I don't know that your car is a true representative of traditional but it sure looks like what a true hotrod should be........

 

Yep we'll be in a 67 camaro and a Nash metropolitan. I know neither is really HAMB friendly

Check out the roll call thread for Des Moines
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=812559

 

Happy birthday nick!

 

It's been a while since I updated this thread, so I figured it was time to add a few things.

I left off with a rear tire issue. It has completely gone away. I really don't know what did it, but all is well now. It can cruise down the interstate at 80-85+ all day long now. Not sure if it was messing with tire pressures, switching them side-to-side, some burnouts that wore the tread down... the 'bounce' is gone.


Anyways -- the more recent updates:

Tim McMaster (McTim64) gave me a 28 spline Ford Trac Lok differential last summer at Bonneville Speed Week. I finally got around to installing it a few weeks before the HAMB Drags. Big thanks to Tim for the differential and to Tom Holland for helping me install it!




I was also given an old roll bar (out of an old Model A Roadster drag car!) that I modified and installed in order to pass tech at the HAMB Drags.

The next couple photos kind of show front and side views...

Near Gavins Point Dam / Yankton, South Dakota -- on the Nebraska side.



Cousin It went to the HAMB Drags with us

 

The HAMB Drags went great! I wasn't really sure what this thing would run - was hoping for somewhere in the 13's. On the first pass, I ran a 13.25 @ 110 mph. I was surprised and knew there was alot of room for improvement. Lots of tire spin in 1st & 2nd gears, so I dropped the tires down to 27 lbs. of pressure and started to figure out how to launch on the skinny radial tires.

My last pass of the day was a 12.36 @ 113 mph, which ended up being low E.T. for my class (Gas Roadster) that day.

Thanks to Ryan for the trophy!





Here's a video of my first, slowest pass.
Thanks to Timm for uploading it!

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PQzzWxFPLoE?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

I've also been lucky enough to meet up with some great people as they're passing through Omaha.

Some of the Bruce's Rod Shop family as they were coming back from Canada.
I actually just ran into them here in Omaha, had no idea they were in town.




Spent a couple hours with the Rolling Bones guys-

 

..And now to the most recent work.
I'm finishing/modifying a few things on the car to prepare for a trip to The Rodder's Journal Revival in Baltimore - just three weeks away!

I never have liked how the hood meets the grille shell. It just didn't flow well at all. The old radiator cap opening stuck out like a sore thumb.

Did some cutting on it last night to make things flow better. It's now headed in the right direction and shouldn't be to hard to finish up.

Before:


After:

 

I hadn't even given the grill shell a second thought until you posted these pictures. You definitely improved it Nick. Great work!

 

I dig the rad shell changes.

Kinda gives it that whippet rounded shell look.