Bowling for Progress: Parts, Frame, Music

A quickie to catch up (at least it's within the same month). Since my last post, my friend completed more work, including the super secret coil project I referred to earlier, I got some more work done on the frame, and I checked out a car show with music.

Parts

My friend doing the odd jobs on the hot rod completed the coil project I gave him: adapting an old 6 volt finned coil to accommodate a 12 volt internally resisted coil. To do so, he carefully undid the top ring, removed the Bakelite coil top (seen to the left in the photo below), used mineral spirits to break down the (probably PCP-laced) tar inside and remove the coil internals. He then removed a ceramic spacer at the bottom and discovered the 12 volt coil fit perfectly! A shot of wannabe Bakelite brown Rustoleum and presto chango: a cool and modern roadside serviceable 12 volt yet vintage looking finned coil!


Here's a quick shot of one of my exhaust header tubes he made by cutting in half my '35 (or is it '36?) driveshaft to form two tapered cones. These'll be set up to exhaust just before the door on the cowl, and may end up with 1) no restrictors, 2) VW stinger baffles, or 3) square pipe plug caps, and redirected to a set of steel pack mufflers under the car.


Frame

I finally finished bolting in my Tardel K-member. I got smart toward the end: since I was drilling a smaller pilot hole first, I set one drill (a high speed Dewalt) with the pilot, and left the 21/64" bit in my 1/2" low RPM but high torque Milwaukee. Doing this made for fast work. I did 6 bolts in a couple hours; same as I'd done before, but in a couple sessions. Here's a pic of the finished work, and another of the reason I knocked off before drilling for the motor mounts.



Here's a couple detail shots, illustrating how I tried to mimic how the traditional '32 frames retained 2 rivets in the front of the K-member mount (I guess the rest of the original holes were for running board mounts).



I almost forgot that I mocked up part of the rear end: the axle tube, wishbone (on the bottom), Model A spring hanger (on the top), and the lower shock mount (an add-on piece from the era; I found I'll be able to use the extra long backing plate bolts that came with these to mount all this hardware up while still using original or era parts).



Music

Got up to the Poorboys' Midnight Mass the other night. Saw a bunch of nice cars, although few hot rods - mostly customs. While there were a few jalopies (coupes and roadsters, most traditional) and only 3 Model Ts (2 in 'glas, 1 metal, see below), I surmise the reasons most cars were 50s and 60s was manifold: easier to find, fix up, and work on; more comfortable for every day driving, unlike the limited use from a roadster (even in California); but, primarily this: most of these guys have probably been in the hobby seriously the last 10 years, and now it's marriage and kids time, making a closed 50s or 60s car much more user-friendly for the family - and that's cool. I like those cars and now the family's at the show: wife diggin' the cars and fashions, and the kids' being brought up right - around American Iron.

This car's wearing Twice Lucky's tail lights

You may have seen this T in Hop Up magazine

Performing at the Mass was one of my favorites, whom I've been looking forward to seeing since I saw earlier this year that he'd be playing there: Wayne "The Train" Hancock. Here's his pic setting up, and then playing for my girlfriend and me, and about 100 of our closest hot rod friends. For kicks, since my iPhone can't shoot video (yet!), I linked a video of him in action, for your enjoyment.



This was the most representative Wayne Hancock video I could find, as it has pedal steel, like he had at Midnight Mass
wayne hancock-viper


-30-

Fourth of July (Bead) Blast!

Today I spent some time glass bead blasting parts at my uncle's place. A bead blast machine is a wonderful thing to have at one's disposal. I found myself wondering today how some of these tasks were completed before we had such machines. Here's a look at the work I got done today, in "Before and After" shots:

The 1926 license plates I plan to run on Twice Lucky:



The "spoon" gas pedal assembly I pulled from the farm truck that donated its motor, and a clutch release arm, source unknown. I knew from previous experience that I could free up into good working condition a pedal this rusty after a good bead blasting and oiling, and that was the case today, as well. It operate really well, with plenty of spring tension, after I blasted and oiled it today. Not sure if I'll use this clutch release arm, but it looked close to what I need when I mocked up the transmission and pedal assembly the other day, and it's good to have options. Might end up using one off one of the Lincoln Zephyr overdrive transmissions I have, since I believe it would allow for the most clutch travel with the least pedal movement, because of its long length.



The fan carrier (no "Before" photo), with its part number visible (21A is 1942, so therefore, post-war)



And, finally, the spark plug wire "conduits". After blasting them, I tried semi-successfully to remove some dents that might impede the plug wires from easily snaking down the length of the tubes. You can see in the detail photos that one set was marked with "N" on the mounting tabs, the other with "NS". Not sure what those markings stand for.




Not sure if I'll get time in the garage on Sunday. I'm contemplating a change in my work schedule (presently a 9/80, wherein I get every other Friday off) to a straight 40-hour work week, so I have some personal time each night, instead of getting of work well after everyone else, including my girlfriend. Plus, I never can get through a "day off" Friday without having to deal with work, and usually spend them running around doing errands I could just as easily do during the week on my lunch, so where's the benefit? I can always take a 3-day weekend because I have so much vacation time, I had a hard time spending it all this year. I've ended up taking off every Friday from May through July 4.

Yeah, I think that's a change I'm going to make. As stated at the top of this blog: a(nother) measure of progress in...my life.

-30-

Farming Out the Work

Somewhere along the line, I realized there are many, many tasks involved in building a hot rod (duh). And, frankly, many of those many tasks are ones in which I'm not heavily invested. That is, if time were no object, and I could fuss and finagle to my heart's content, I would have no problem doing everything on this car (except perhaps painting it (nicely)). However, I want to get this car on the road. It's nearly a year over my original timeline, and frankly, my hot rod-building self-confidence is not dented by farming out some of the tasks on this car that don't spark me, don't necessarily require my creative touch, or are just plain tasks. Therefore, I've begun handing off work to my friend who assembled Twice Lucky's body.

Once I started listing things he could work on, I could feel a sense of relief knowing that he can be working on these concurrently with my work, such that upon his completion, I would have parts that are "ready to use" when I got to the time I'd need them. And, the initially short list has continued to grow as I consider the upcoming stages of the build. This is really a mutually beneficial deal, as my friend can use the work and I get thoughtfully finished parts from someone who's likely done it before. Plus, he's really fast.

Here's a look at what he completed in the first round:

He reproduced one of the clamps for a set of rear upper shock mounts I have that clamp over the Model A rear crossmember (he made the one on the right in my hand). He also cut off the Model A spring mounts from the axle tubes I got recently and ground them to fit on my '39 or '40 rear end. These will be bolt-on spring mounts for my Model T spring, as previously described to me by my friend, and confirmed by an old-timer who said, yes, that's what we used to do. The second picture shows one (admittedly somewhat poorly) how they'll mount.



He prepped my Arrow headlights for assembly and installation. They just needed a little fitment and hardware. Now they're ready to take a new set of 7" sealed beams and get wired up. He robbed parts from a set he had, fabricated the little spring clips for one, and added the carriage bolts. The second picture shows them on my Model A headlight bar, which I'm going to cut and weld to stand up from the frame rails.



As soon as he completes the next round, I'll post some pics. He's currently working on a secret project adapting a vintage 6 volt finned coil, sloshing my '25 Model T gas tank, and doing some secret header work for me.

-30-

Hot Time in the Old Garage

I don't know what the temperature got to today, but it was hot. Probably cracked 100, but I didn't want to look and get discouraged from working in the garage. To cool things down a little bit, I threw a wet cloth over my box fan to make an improvised evaporative cooler.

Although I probably put in 8-10 hours today, between lunch, dinner, and visiting my uncle to borrow a hole saw, unfortunately, all that work doesn't translate to much visually, either in person when I showed my girlfriend tonight, or in the images below. Nevertheless, in the interest in of documenting this build for myself, and others who may be able to get helpful tips from my work, here goes:

Spent the day continuing to drill and bolt in the Tardel K-member. The instructions make it look and seem easier than I'm encountering. I think one thing is the instructions refer to it with some of the holes drilled. Mine only had the transmission mounting holes drilled. For all the others, I'm having to measure (twice), mark, center-punch, drill once with a small bit, and then drill again with a 21/64" for the 5/16 x 3/4 fine (SAE) thread Ford bolts I'm using. Drilling through isn't the easiest, either, because although I have a good drill - correction - apparently, a great drill! (Milwaukee 75th Anniversary 1/2" Magnum #0234-75), I have pipe cleaner arms, and have to really lay into the drill to get through the thick repop and Ford steel, so I oil the bit as I go, to avoid burning it.

So, all I got done today were the bolts on the top


the top two against the face of the crossmember


and installed the pedal assembly! (Yay! This was a big deal; it wasn't at all easy to measure and square up)

First, I had to drill a hole in the left leg of the K-member to allow the pedal shaft to poke through. I measured maybe once less time than I should have because, while it fit, I could have centered it better. Oh well, no one will see it, and it fits, so what's the difference. Drilling the hole was not easy, since I tried using my cheapo Chinese Harbor Freight hole saw kit and - although you probably can't see it in the image - got about halfway through the leg by the time I ground the points on the hole saw to useless nubs.


This prompted a trip to visit my uncle and borrow his American-made one, which was handed down to him by his car mentor. It went through like butter.


Once I did that, I was able to clamp and check the pedal box to ensure it is square and level in at least two axes:

Yaw


And Roll


and bolted solidly in the third (pitch). Here's what it looked like after I reassembled the pedal assembly to confirm everything fit like it should, before I finish drilling and bolting up the rest of the pedal assembly and K-member.


Here's a couple pictures with the bare transmission case installed, showing how tight everything is in these Model A frames when installing a flathead.



I'm using a '33-'34 Ford pedal assembly (probably 1933, since its part number is 40-XXXX, rather than 40A-XXXX, which is 1934), by the way, instead of the often-used '32 pedal assembly. They're easier to find, and are nearly identical. I couldn't tell you the differences, as I must confess that I had Keith Tardel modify mine to work a rear-mounted '39 master cylinder, when he built the '32 frame that will go under the Model A Roadster Pickup on my back deck (the next project!).

And, for kicks, I grabbed the '40 pickup steering column that I'll be using and mocked up the steering height. Here you can see me test fitting things (you'll have to imagine me making vroom vroom noises as I "shifted" through the gears!).


Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll finish off the pedal assembly, K-member, and start on the motor mounts.

-30-

Frame Work

Although I spent much of the weekend helping a friend install a ceiling fan, I got out to the garage for a few hours on both Saturday and Sunday. I worked more on correctly locating the motor mounts and center crossmember (Tardel K-member): measure twice, and thrice, etc., and drill once (or, as many times as you have mounting holes).

There seems to be as many opinions about where the flathead motor mounts should be located on a Model A frame as there are people building these things. Here are some of the dimensions. I'll try to flesh out this post more with additional photos and dimensions, but here's the big one: 6-1/4". That's how many inches, center to center, my Tardel flathead motor mounts are located back from the radiator mounting holes in the front crossmember. These holes are NOT in the center (front-to-back) of the crossmember, however.

For those of you building a hot rod based upon the very good book, "How to Build a Traditional Ford Hot Rod" (Mike Bishop and Vern Tardel), you're probably here looking for better measurements than those in the book. The authors have acknowledged there are a few errors in the book. For instance, they suggest using a '34 front wishbone to correctly locate the front and center crossmembers for a flathead and standard three speed transmission. Ain't gonna happen. You're going to come up about 1-1/2" too short. You need to use a '32 front wishbone, or lengthen the '34 to match the '32's dimensions (this link goes to a repost of Mike Bishop's). Another of the chassis dimension errors (and, frankly, a pretty big one), is the location of the motor mounts. They suggest 3" from the radiator mounting holes to the front face of the motor mount. This is too close to use a mechanical fan.

Mine are 4-5/8" from the radiator mounting holes to the front face, which provides me enough room to run not only the standard 4-blade fan (immediately below), with 1/4" clearance at the bottom as I discovered when I mocked it up this weekend, as this is the type of fan I'll be running, but



I also have enough clearance to run a 5-blade truck fan (which is apparently too noisy, according to my friends; I know it's too ugly - only going to use it if I have cooling problems) with about 1/8" clearance (which is pretty snug).



Other progress this weekend involved the very scary (for me) drilling and bolting in the center portion of the K-member. After pulling the radiator and mock-up block, I pulled the wheels and tires off the chassis, and jacked up the frame - allowing the spring/axle/wishbone/K-member/transmission case to "float" in relation to the frame, without interference by the block. I did this to square up the K-member to the frame left-to-right, as it was ever so slightly off.

After getting it square, I C-clamped it in place (along the the various C-clamps holding the legs the the center crossmember, and the legs to the frame rails), center-punched the location of the holes on the top of the frame rails to the center crossmember, drilled with a 3/16" bit as a pilot, then final drilled with a bit one greater than 5/16". Because the drill bits I have probably aren't great, and the metal's pretty thick, I had to really lean on the drill, and kept oiling the bit so it wouldn't burn.

Once the holes were drilled, I threw in a couple of Ford 5/16" bolts and called it a night.




My friend tells me Ford bolts are Grade 8 (maybe; they sure held everything together back then, and are still equally strong today - probably due to Henry's Vanadium Steel), and I have more than enough to assemble the whole chassis, if not the entire car, thanks to my parts-hoarding uncle. Some of them are already cadmium plated, which was apparently the restorer's standard, before it was discovered most Ford bolts were not cad-plated from the factory, and toxic concerns (at least in California) outlawed cad plating.

(The bolts I used for the front crossmember are cadmium plated)


-30-