1928 Roadster project "Salt Shaker"
- Thread starter rboyd73
- Start date
John in Oz
Well-Known Member
Good on you, the car looks great and performs great now to by the sound of it. I always say once you have done a short test run like that just go right over and touch/check everything and you are good to head out on a long run, that is a cool car so good for you.
Good to sort the bugs out, enjoy your driving.
That's perfection right there! glad to hear the bugs are few.
Just passed 1000 miles on the car. A few minor issues have been popping up and I’m slowly getting them all ironed out
Fuel boil over – any time I would shut the car off hot my carbs would boil over and pour gas down the intake. I tried setting the float level lower but that just seemed to create more issues as I was now running very lean, and the car would not accelerate off idle. I ended up settling on 1 5/16 float height that seemed to be its happy point. But to keep the heat out of the carbs I pulled the intake machined up some blanking plugs and blocked off the exhaust cross over. Additionally, I installed some phenolic spacers as well. So far this has stopped the boil over. Now I just need to get them to stop leaking fuel around the top plate I suspect new gaskets are in order as I had reused the old gaskets multiple times
Rear wheel run out – I noticed that my left rear wheel had a lot of run out when driving and you could see it walking around. Checked and had .100” run out on the rim. After pulling the wheel I find it was my axle that was not true and had a .022” run out compared to .002 on the other side. I was able to mount the axle into my old lath and do a face cut on the flange to remove the high side. All back together the rim run out was under .010” now. Not surprisingly my fender no longer bounced around as much on that wheel
Rear axle ratio – I built the car with a 3.80 rear gear but I did not factor in the T5 transmission was out of a 4cy S10 so I had the extremely low first gear. I found first was almost useless and once you were moving you needed to be in second. Even making left hand turns you were shifting just after you cleared the opposite travel lanes. I picked up another center section that had 3.50” gears. After cleaning the gear surfaces of light rust I installed in into my car. After the swap I was much happier with the car. First gear was now usable and around town I was always bouncing back and forth between 2-3 with the higher ration most side streets are 2nd gear
The fall weather is still holding around this part of the country so I’m trying to put get some more miles on then car any chance I get. It’s even been doing the preschool pick up and drop off the last few weeks. About as opposite as you can get from the other parents in the minivans. My 4 year old loves cruising around town in it so how could I say no when he requests the hot rod for transportation.
Fuel boil over – any time I would shut the car off hot my carbs would boil over and pour gas down the intake. I tried setting the float level lower but that just seemed to create more issues as I was now running very lean, and the car would not accelerate off idle. I ended up settling on 1 5/16 float height that seemed to be its happy point. But to keep the heat out of the carbs I pulled the intake machined up some blanking plugs and blocked off the exhaust cross over. Additionally, I installed some phenolic spacers as well. So far this has stopped the boil over. Now I just need to get them to stop leaking fuel around the top plate I suspect new gaskets are in order as I had reused the old gaskets multiple times
Rear wheel run out – I noticed that my left rear wheel had a lot of run out when driving and you could see it walking around. Checked and had .100” run out on the rim. After pulling the wheel I find it was my axle that was not true and had a .022” run out compared to .002 on the other side. I was able to mount the axle into my old lath and do a face cut on the flange to remove the high side. All back together the rim run out was under .010” now. Not surprisingly my fender no longer bounced around as much on that wheel
Rear axle ratio – I built the car with a 3.80 rear gear but I did not factor in the T5 transmission was out of a 4cy S10 so I had the extremely low first gear. I found first was almost useless and once you were moving you needed to be in second. Even making left hand turns you were shifting just after you cleared the opposite travel lanes. I picked up another center section that had 3.50” gears. After cleaning the gear surfaces of light rust I installed in into my car. After the swap I was much happier with the car. First gear was now usable and around town I was always bouncing back and forth between 2-3 with the higher ration most side streets are 2nd gear
The fall weather is still holding around this part of the country so I’m trying to put get some more miles on then car any chance I get. It’s even been doing the preschool pick up and drop off the last few weeks. About as opposite as you can get from the other parents in the minivans. My 4 year old loves cruising around town in it so how could I say no when he requests the hot rod for transportation.
Says your a new guy..did you post some pics of your ride?…we want to see stuff….
JBG, some pics....
1929 Model A Sport Coupe to Cabrio conversion
Hi all. Been working on this one for a while. Basket case 1929 Sport Coupe piecemeal body converted to a Coupester/Cabrio. Except for paint, it's been entirely built here in my home shop. There are lots of subtle body mods done in an effort to try to wring the ugly out of this early Sport...
canadianrodder.com
Well I have found my transmission oil leak. There is a fine line between too much RTV and not enough especially in the right places. When I put the transmission together I missed a small section in the front bearing retainer. Just enough to allow for a leak after it was run. Going back together this time a a real fight after a few attempts of bench pressing it into place a gave up and fabricated a transmission adapter for my floor jack to give me that 3rd hand to finally wiggle it into place
Cool that you found the issue…And you made up a useful shop tool too!! Gotta have the right tools, shop made ones Rock. Thanks for sharing.
Not to much to report for winter projects on the car most of the time has been cleaning up the garage from this project, selling off the spare parts I did not use. I had been having trouble with my mechanical brake light switch the micro switch is too light and just bends so I needed a heavier switch. Before I installed one I realized I needed a brake pedal return spring. My setup work but a return spring would provide the needed force to actuate the brake switch. I salvaged the spring out of a broken grease gun and made an aluminum adapter for the other end and put it over the brake push rod end.
It worked well on the brake so I did the same for the clutch. This time found the right sized frost plug and just drilled a hole through that for my clutch pedal return spring. Made up a couple brake pedal stops that bolt to the floor and limit the travel up on the pedal. Painted it all black and it just disappears
Couple small projects was to build a cup holder that swings out from underneath the seat to hold my coffee cup. I also made up some covers for my king pins. They are matching my air cleaners
I also modified a cheap 5.0L mustang shifter to fit the GM T5. I wanted a shifter with positive stops to prevent any fork damage. I then got to do something new on the lathe and tapper cut a new shift lever. First I did one in mild steel to prototype it then the next one I made in stainless steel and polished it up. It was a nice +5c day out and couldn’t resist taking the car for a spin the 2hrs of cleaning was well worth spin around town. Now I’m just waiting on spring when the gravel is picked up so I can get the car out again.
It worked well on the brake so I did the same for the clutch. This time found the right sized frost plug and just drilled a hole through that for my clutch pedal return spring. Made up a couple brake pedal stops that bolt to the floor and limit the travel up on the pedal. Painted it all black and it just disappears
Couple small projects was to build a cup holder that swings out from underneath the seat to hold my coffee cup. I also made up some covers for my king pins. They are matching my air cleaners
I also modified a cheap 5.0L mustang shifter to fit the GM T5. I wanted a shifter with positive stops to prevent any fork damage. I then got to do something new on the lathe and tapper cut a new shift lever. First I did one in mild steel to prototype it then the next one I made in stainless steel and polished it up. It was a nice +5c day out and couldn’t resist taking the car for a spin the 2hrs of cleaning was well worth spin around town. Now I’m just waiting on spring when the gravel is picked up so I can get the car out again.
love the addition ! May need to add one of those myself ..........doubtful be coffee in the holder tho !
Cheers