Well, I haven't been here for a while, so I need to do an update. That first test-drive alerted me to a couple of things that needed attention. First, the steering had too much play in it. All the components are brand new to this build, so wear couldn't likely be the problem. Nevertheless, I went over everything to make sure everything was good and that I didn't leave a bolt or nut loose somewhere. Everything checked out except... the double-D steering shaft. There was a bit of slop between the solid shaft going to the steering box and the hollow shaft inside the steering column. I needed something to take up the free play between them. I was looking for an idea when I stumbled across an old set of feeler gauges in my toolbox. The .019" feeler was perfect, so I cut it off the set and it now resides inside the double-D shaft - problem solved.

The other problem was the brakes. They worked, didn't pull to the left or right, but the pedal went almost to the floor before anything happened! My '31 coupe has similar drum rear / disc front brakes and the pedal is right at the top, so what's up with these? Unfortunately, I got sidetracked on another job before I could tackle the issue. Finally, I am finished with the other job for a while. Just last week, my good friend Mike Krupp came up and suggested that we attempt to fix the problem. We began with Mike adjusting the rear brake shoes - that took about half the travel out of the pedal. Still, it wasn't quite enough to make me comfortable with the pedal response. A couple of days later, Mike came back and installed a 10 pound residual valve on the rear brake line. Now maybe I can start driving this beast.

I need to put a timing light on it and adjust the carburetor. If all goes well, I'll be able to move on to finishing some of the details... like the interior and eventually the paint.