Thnx Scott!
1929 Model A Sport Coupe to Cabriolet conversion
- Thread starter markg
- Start date
Many thanks!
Door latches and releases....
In my typical OCD fashion, I used bearclaw latches for the now flush fit doors. The plan was to retain the roll up windows to use with a future soft top and possibly hard top installs later down the road.
To do this however, the outside door release's handle would have to be connected to the bearclaw latch via a linkage that would go down under the window track, reverse direction and come back up to the bearclaw latch on the inner side of the window tracks.
Here's what I came up with. Overkill, I know but .....
I acquired a bunch of left and right thread 1/4" rod ends from Summit Racing. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-msm4
These, along with some 3/8" aluminum rod and small flanged bearings will make up the turnbuckle links to fine adjust the length of the links. The bonus with this system is that all play will be removed from the door release and I will be able to adjust the outer door handle to perfectly horizontal, and stay horizontal, but that's just an aesthetic consideration.
I fabricated two reverser bellcranks that fasten to the rear face of the door .
To open the door from the inside, I just added another rod ended turnbuckle link to the inner door handle and ran it down to the bear claw latch. I wanted a small delicate looking lever for the inner door release and was having trouble finding one I liked. Then while watching a Dennis Collins Coffee Walk YouTube video ( https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dennis+collins+coffee+walk ) I spotted the lever I thought would do the job on a car he was buying.
Who'd a thought? '65-'67 El Camino tailgate release lever ( https://www.ebay.com/itm/144513095035 ) . Not perfect, but it will do for now.
In my typical OCD fashion, I used bearclaw latches for the now flush fit doors. The plan was to retain the roll up windows to use with a future soft top and possibly hard top installs later down the road.
To do this however, the outside door release's handle would have to be connected to the bearclaw latch via a linkage that would go down under the window track, reverse direction and come back up to the bearclaw latch on the inner side of the window tracks.
Here's what I came up with. Overkill, I know but .....
I acquired a bunch of left and right thread 1/4" rod ends from Summit Racing. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-msm4
These, along with some 3/8" aluminum rod and small flanged bearings will make up the turnbuckle links to fine adjust the length of the links. The bonus with this system is that all play will be removed from the door release and I will be able to adjust the outer door handle to perfectly horizontal, and stay horizontal, but that's just an aesthetic consideration.
I fabricated two reverser bellcranks that fasten to the rear face of the door .
To open the door from the inside, I just added another rod ended turnbuckle link to the inner door handle and ran it down to the bear claw latch. I wanted a small delicate looking lever for the inner door release and was having trouble finding one I liked. Then while watching a Dennis Collins Coffee Walk YouTube video ( https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dennis+collins+coffee+walk ) I spotted the lever I thought would do the job on a car he was buying.
Who'd a thought? '65-'67 El Camino tailgate release lever ( https://www.ebay.com/itm/144513095035 ) . Not perfect, but it will do for now.
Updates?
Right, the interior panels got their upholstery skins back at the beginning of May courtesy of my son and his ancient 1940's Singer 111W walking foot industrial sewing machine.
The material used is marine grade UV resistant vinyl backed by 1/4 inch scrim upholstery foam and glued to the aluminum door and quarter cards with 3M 90 spray adhesive.
The car made its first hop on May 7th and covered about 80 miles without much drama. As of today it has 340 miles on the odometer. I've been chasing a few leaks, squeaks and rattles that are to be expected.
I've also a been chasing a driveline vibration at about 55-60 mph that we have about 95% solved by a combination of having the driveshaft rebalanced and using an S10 pickup front hub to create a lugcentric adaptor for our Facebook Marketplace sourced dynamic balancer to be able to balance our 7.50-16 Excelsior rear tires on their Wheel Vintiques Gennie steelies, neither of which are very straight or round (!)
The T5 trans is a wonderful thing allowing 5th gear cruising at 60 mph with a loping 2000 rpm engine speed.
On the geek side, I added a Dorman No. 84622 USB phone charger plug set that swings up out of sight under the dash when not in use.
Onwards and upwards!
The material used is marine grade UV resistant vinyl backed by 1/4 inch scrim upholstery foam and glued to the aluminum door and quarter cards with 3M 90 spray adhesive.
The car made its first hop on May 7th and covered about 80 miles without much drama. As of today it has 340 miles on the odometer. I've been chasing a few leaks, squeaks and rattles that are to be expected.
I've also a been chasing a driveline vibration at about 55-60 mph that we have about 95% solved by a combination of having the driveshaft rebalanced and using an S10 pickup front hub to create a lugcentric adaptor for our Facebook Marketplace sourced dynamic balancer to be able to balance our 7.50-16 Excelsior rear tires on their Wheel Vintiques Gennie steelies, neither of which are very straight or round (!)
The T5 trans is a wonderful thing allowing 5th gear cruising at 60 mph with a loping 2000 rpm engine speed.
On the geek side, I added a Dorman No. 84622 USB phone charger plug set that swings up out of sight under the dash when not in use.
Onwards and upwards!
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Very nice..lots of quality work…thanks for sharing..
Thanks JBG!
An update......
The car now has almost 900 miles on it . I'm still chasing squeaks and the odd leak but that's part of the fun, right? All in all it's running well.
Another piece of the pie was delivered by Dan today.
Those sliced and diced '33 Ford pickup hood sides posted on here that we fitted a ways back have been out for the dogsh*t-to-gold treatment for several weeks and are now back and they look grrreat!
They are held in place by two 5/16'' screw in pins in the top of the frame rail and two flush taper head 8-32 stainless screws that screw into welded in bungs in the 1/2'' x 1'' rectangular tubes that run from the cowl to the rad shroud, this so no hood sides or hood fasteners are visible from the outside.
Completes the look we're looking for, very happy!
The car now has almost 900 miles on it . I'm still chasing squeaks and the odd leak but that's part of the fun, right? All in all it's running well.
Another piece of the pie was delivered by Dan today.
Those sliced and diced '33 Ford pickup hood sides posted on here that we fitted a ways back have been out for the dogsh*t-to-gold treatment for several weeks and are now back and they look grrreat!
They are held in place by two 5/16'' screw in pins in the top of the frame rail and two flush taper head 8-32 stainless screws that screw into welded in bungs in the 1/2'' x 1'' rectangular tubes that run from the cowl to the rad shroud, this so no hood sides or hood fasteners are visible from the outside.
Completes the look we're looking for, very happy!
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Good stuff..great picture too…thanks.
Update.
I drove the car right up to the end of November. November 29th to be exact.
There were drivable days after this but Quebec has a mandatory snow tire requirement as of December 1st so we were up against the bump stops as it were.
In the end the car was parked with just over 3800 miles on it this summer, not bad considering that July was the wettest on record here in the east.
The car is currently apart for some winter service, going to finally chase some leaks, install these unleaded gas compatible 58cc Chevy 416 (early 80's Camaro 305) cylinder heads on the 283, swap in a fresh T5 and put some heat reflective material ( https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productdetails.asp?RecID=11221 ) on the underside of the trans tunnel.
Also some pics of a fun side project, some little S10 transmission stands I whipped up for the local T5 rebuilder. Boy was he happy, he's using 2x4's to keep the gear cases upright on the workbench now....
Hang in there guys, only 90 days 'til April 1st!
.
I drove the car right up to the end of November. November 29th to be exact.
There were drivable days after this but Quebec has a mandatory snow tire requirement as of December 1st so we were up against the bump stops as it were.
In the end the car was parked with just over 3800 miles on it this summer, not bad considering that July was the wettest on record here in the east.
The car is currently apart for some winter service, going to finally chase some leaks, install these unleaded gas compatible 58cc Chevy 416 (early 80's Camaro 305) cylinder heads on the 283, swap in a fresh T5 and put some heat reflective material ( https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productdetails.asp?RecID=11221 ) on the underside of the trans tunnel.
Also some pics of a fun side project, some little S10 transmission stands I whipped up for the local T5 rebuilder. Boy was he happy, he's using 2x4's to keep the gear cases upright on the workbench now....
Hang in there guys, only 90 days 'til April 1st!
.
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Love it..thanks for the update..
Only 90 days!!! Shit!! Gotta get on the list ;-)
Thanks for your updates, it’s looking great.
Thanks for your updates, it’s looking great.