Not a lot of movement on the hot rod still and probably will be even less for a while as other projects have popped up. But there is something: I have been threatening to throw a pickup bed on this thing for a while. Trying to salvage the turtle deck has been frustrating me and I'm ready to move past that. Knowing that I have to get it done to move forward with the car has been a major drag. It has just felt like a roadblock and I dread having to deal with it. I scored this old converted trailer today... For now, we can squirt some paint on this thing and bolt it to my car, and worry about the turtle deck later. That will get us closer to tying up this project so we can focus on Robin's poor neglected Chevy and my new AA. I want to revisit the turtle deck later but having an alternative to move forward with for now is a big weight off my shoulders. What all this means is that Sunday is gonna have a very busy itinerary. I have another new radiator for the T so we can slap that back together and I'm sure we will want to at least mock up this bed on it. We are also planning to clean up the AA and try to get it to run.
Thanks! The bed sides are laser straight. The tailgate is a little beat up, but it will come around at least to my standards. The back of the bed got smushed at the bottom by the homemade tongue but it will beat back straight. The whole thing is scrapped together from early Ford junk and even the pintle hitch is made from an old wrench. The axle is a Model A front axle that is in great shape and it has spindles with brakes and drums as well as a nice straight wishbone. I will have to carefully grind some booger welds to separate everything but it's all salvageable. Nothing I need this instant but more stuff for the stash. I'm not sure exactly what year the bed is. I know it's not Model T because the front stake pockets are all the way at the front of the bed instead of offset, but I don't know how to differentiate the 28-29 from the 30-31 beds. Something to do with the hinges for the tailgate.
Dusting this one off for a small progress report... finally done moving and life is slowing down again so I'm hopefully back on track working on old cars. I picked up a dinky farm trailer made out of a Model A truck bed a while back, I don't even remember when now- but it was cheap as hell and the bed was in reasonably good shape for $150 despite some booger welds and minor rust. Since I've long been tired of chasing my tail on this otherwise running/driving car with the turtle deck, this puts me close to the finish line. Well, once I bolt on the radiator... fix the doors... and paint it all one color. This is a Model A bed and still has the Model A aprons attached. In the A application, the aprons sit directly on wood pads on the frame. Ts do not have this apron because the bed has to sit on the body subframe, so with the A aprons it sits kinda high. I trimmed the aprons to let it sit down over the T subframe. This lowered the bed a couple inches... I think it's just about right and looks much less naked than it would without the aprons altogether.
I looked at this again and my first thought was,..."well, he did start off wanting a pick up!" I like it!!
I don't know why I keep looping back to trucks. I really like the way it sits and the straight lines off the bed rails look super cool to me. I will probably eventually finish the turtle deck or find another one to put on it, but I really burned myself out trying to fix this one and I'd rather have a driving jalopy for now. I really just need a starter (robbed it to put on my AA), a water pump and a fan and an hour or two of wiring to be able to plate this thing and drive it... so why keep fucking with it?
I can understand that! All my hot rods but one have been trucks. I've always wanted a 30-31 closed cab pick up but at 6'5" witn my age and the hard miles I have too much metal and too much arthritis to try and shoehorn my butt into it now.
We had an opportunity to get a little work done on the T today. We remade the radiator brackets to move it down and forward slightly, hopefully away from the fan, and I replaced the water pump with a new leakless unit to eliminate the thrust issue that was allowing the fan to walk forward and back. I need a fan and a starter and I think she'll be drivable again.
Been a minute. I was talking about yanking the engine from this car to put in my AA but when we went to Robin's today I was reminded how close this jalopy is to being "done"... so it came home. I might detour a little from Sid's coupe - this thing is pretty much at a point where we could attack it with the drum sander for a couple hours, shoot some primer on it, color coat it and drive it. So... fuck it, why not?
Okay, just so long as something runs in a week or two! I'd warn you not to spread yourself too thin, but NOBODY would have passed on the Coupe deal.
Spent a little time trying to get it running. Re-wired it and picked up some parts. It should run... but it doesn't want to. I recall having trouble with the 1932 distributor previously and indeed it has some internal short. I also know now that the B timing curve is way wrong for an A and will just never run right, besides being difficult to time correctly in the first place. So, back to an A dist for now. I found the rebuilt A distributor that I initially removed from the car, but I had taken the special ignition wire out of it for my AA, which I need to keep running for the moment, and I didn't want to wait for another to ship, so I improvised... I epoxied a plastic trim retainer into a 3/8" brass pipe bushing and tapped it for a long skinny bolt that I can put a ring terminal on. The plastic trim piece keeps the hot bolt which energizes the points isolated from the distributor body. This should get me going today... this is kinda ugly but once I heat shrink it it will look fine.
And 5 years ago you didn't know anything except you liked old shit and you wanted a hot rod. Look at you go! Great improvisation on the distributor, man!
A really elegant solution would be to just 3D print a nylon 3/8 to 1/4 adapter but I don't have that ability. Here it is all together. Can't wait to get home and slap it on the car!
Here is an original. You may remember how we cut & spliced the one that was on the car when I got it. I used that one on the AA, then replaced it and foolishly threw it away. An original type cable won't reach where my ignition switch goes so I was going to have to cut one up anyway. Might as well just do this. I don't have the spring loaded plunger but I don't think I need it because my contact is depth adjustable unlike the original...
Distributor is working fine. Ran out of daylight in my dark shop or I'd still be out there. Had it running but I wanted to get water in it to try and get it dialed in, which turned into a whole series of events culminating in a trip to Tractor Supply for a belt and a hose clamp. Then I noticed the spring on the points arm was contacting the cam for some reason and causing a short, and decided to replace the points with a NOS set I've been hoarding, and now can't seem to get the timing right even though I've done it a hundred times... I'll mess with it tomorrow... should have it driving.
Omg... had a brain blast and had to run back out to the shop. I was so laser focused on spark I forgot about fuel. The substance formerly known as gasoline that has been sitting in the tank for god knows how long is 100% not flammable and has plugged the sediment bowl to the point of barely allowing a trickle through. No wonder!!!! It ran very briefly earlier but wouldn't stay running... The timing is right, it's just flooded with shit that won't burn. I've drained it... I'll let it air out and come back with a new filter & some fresh gas tomorrow.
@Ryan it may be a cell phone picture, but how many times was a banger engine repaired by lantern light?
I was under the impression, that a B-distributor were an upgrade - timing just has to be acc. to TDC, and not the pin-way - but why shouldn't it run properly in an A?
The Jalopy Journal
