Thread: Fixing, fixing and more fixing

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Sorry for not posting but the last 10 days have been consummed with roadster little repair projects. The list is long I have spent saturday, sunday and monday last week in the garage working away, under the car, on top of the car, inside the trunk of the car (litterally - I sat in there for over 3 hours sunday, working on fixing lose panels and installing my battery disconnect switch). I am starting with the easy stuff to learn and get my footsies wet. So far every repair I have done is working great. I now have a working fan switch, a working headlight dimer switch, a battery disconnect, a hood prop a new trunk latch that now actually LATCHES (no more deck lid flying open everytime I step on the gas) and currently in the middle of fixing my door handle.

I have decided to add a repair log section to my website, so to keep track of my progress. You can see very unglamorous shots of me working, there.

http://www.bettatalk.com/deuce.htm then click on "repair log"

yesterday I took the roadster to the rod shop and watched and learned while he was doing the brakes master cylinder repairs. I watched while we checked on the wheels, misc leaks and also looked at the steering system (per my request). I am glad I asked him to because we found that the halfrack was not installed properly, rubbing against the oil pan and the frame has cracked where they put the braket to hold the rack. We now need to fix the frame and box it further, lower the rack a hair replace the boot. PLUS we found that the U-joints were lose and that is why I had so much play in the steering and so much wandering of the roadster. In short, my steering was about to come lose so we need to fix it NOW.

Well, I now have brakes (my old master cylinder was leaking a LOT and had lost pressure) and my rod steers much better now that the U-joins have beenn retightened. I can't wait until we replace them, I think it will make a big difference.

Yesterday I also spent 3 hours sraight wiping down the undercarriage of the roadster from lots of grime. It took about 15 rags or more. But it's now cleaner. Everything else under there looks pretty good.

Last but not least I had a chance to take a drive in an expensive new steel 32 roadster. It was 60% more comfortable than mine, but to my delight, my little guy is a lot "spunkier" and really TAKES OFF (I can see the advantage of a glass body now!!) mine is a lot more fun to drive (and I'm running on only one on deuce carb - while the other roadster had all 3 deuces hooked up) hehehehe.

Wondered where you've been. Sounds like you have avoided disaster and were smart enough to have these things checked out. Sometimes we rodders feel when our rod is done it's done, and we tend to neglect checking bolts, nuts, etc. These babies shake themselves apart sometimes, so we have to be constantly checking to make sure nothing is about to go away on them. Also a smart move getting a rod shop to look it over, as the typical repair garage guys wouldn't have a clue about things like modified suspension, steering, etc.

How come only the center carb is connected? Hook them puppies up girl !! Then you'll see what a light roadster will really do.

Don

Originally Posted by HiboyGal

Last but not least I had a chance to take a drive in an expensive new steel 32 roadster. It was 60% more comfortable than mine, but to my delight, my little guy is a lot "spunkier" and really TAKES OFF (I can see the advantage of a glass body now!!) mine is a lot more fun to drive (and I'm running on only one on deuce carb - while the other roadster had all 3 deuces hooked up) hehehehe.

In the fwiw dept: My Wescott 32 body and Brookville 31 body seem to weigh about the same.
Which is to say, they took about the same amount of effort to roll them upside down - on cardboard and carpet for padding - for access to paint on the 32 and to start the frame build on the 31.