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Just my opinion Don, But, I would remove the lapbelts and tank padding BEFORE any inspection!
It'll be far more headache(s) than it's worth!
Later, after you're registered and titled, then you can create a reasonable seat arrangement for the kids or a passenger.
I don't want to discourage you, I just see that as an added hurdle / hassle for an inspector to give an approval on and would only hinder your effort(s).
Apholstery isn't as difficult as you may think.
When I got a thousand dollar estimate for my Vega, I bought an old heavy duty singer sewing machine. Got it all done for about $500 total investment, and still have the machine.
I wasn't going to say anything else, but this continues to bother me because of the safety issue, especially for kids. I agree 100% with Mike that you should remove that rear lap belt and padded "seat" from the fuel tank, but I firmly believe that when you decided to use the rumble seat/trunk space for your gas tank you eliminated that area as a passenger compartment and made your roadster a two passenger vehicle. You can rationalize all you want, saying it's only for a parade, or I made the tank from thicker material, or I braced the surrounding area, but putting a gas tank in an occupied space is just not right. After you get your registration process behind you (sans the rear belt & padded "seat") then you can decide how badly you want to have a rumble seat. If you want one, then the first order of business should be to relocate the gas tank, and then install a "real" seat and "real" lap belts for the kids. You might consider the Tanks, Inc saddle tanks, which have been used on a bunch of full fendered A's - 1928-29 Ford Apron Fill Saddle Fuel Tanks
Best of luck with your registration process. I recall Jack's (Henry Rifle) stories of his frustrations with the VA process, and I hope yours goes smoother than his.
No more dangerous than a pinto with tank in stock position.
You figure out whose argument that bolsters!
I know about the saddle tanks but I am not keen on using polyethylene tanks hanging low over a rocky driveway or messing with a transfer valve. The alternative is the Dagle kit IC2 has which exposes the tank quite a bit and requires welding frame extensions. This may be a problem that takes time to repair but I think I will see what the inspector says and just present the seat as a one adult passenger case. If I take the seat board off, the connections to the gas gauge are exposed so I need to cover those wires. It cost me $2000 to get all the details tweaked on brakes, ignition, radiator and other small details to get an Inspection sticker so I will just have to work it out whatever is required because I am past the point of no return and I want to avoid the $70/hr. commercial rate so I will just have to work on it over the summer if need be.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Well here is the new title plate which cost a total of $779.75. The Inspector only checked the motor number and then installed the plate on my firewall. My car now is completely street-legal in Virgina and is insured by State Farm. Although your comments have caused me worry they were helpful. I did remove the seat belt and seat cover as per the suggestion of 34-40. In fact this Forum has been very helpful in building my roadster. The only down side is that the title is now registered for a 2012 Special Construction auto so I will have to pay annual tax on a 2012 model.
Moving on, has anyone here calibrated the digital speedometer for the "It's a SNAP" instrument set? My speedometer works but reads high so I would like to contact someone who has successfully calibrated this speedometer. It took me so long to finish my roadster that the wiring and instrument company is now out-of-business so all I have is the original instruction sheet but I need to know the actual sequence of pressing the ground button.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
Congrat's on getting it titled / registered and all legal.!.! That's another one of those milestones.
I don't have my paperwork handy for the calibration but, I can get it for this weekend. From my memory though.. You push the button until it says "CAL", then you drive the single measured mile. Then press the button again, after it goes through a sequence then you shut off the car wait a moment, then you're good to go!
As an aside, I just bought a replacement set of gauges as my odometer stopped working and the speedo wouldn't work below 15 / 20 mph's...
34-40 thanks for the calibration tip, I'll give it a try.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Congrats Don!!!! Enough time to get the shakedown runs out of the way and all the "tweaking" done so you'll be able to have a fun summer of cruizin'!!!!!
Glad it went smoothly for you, Don. Enjoy those first extended runs.
As several of you say there will be shakeout runs and maybe a few modifications. I already envy Jeep owners who have zippers in the side curtains and maybe I can get "Corkys" to put zippers in the front so I can adjust the mirrors and have some air in the seasons between "all-side-curtains" and "no-side-curtains". Let me thank this Forum again for tremendous help along the way to build my roadster. I think one of my first posts was to ask Dave Severson about a '29 roadster he was working on back in 2004-2005, Techinspector was very helpful with my engine and choice of the 700R4 and Denny helped a lot in the past. Now 34-40 has set up this thread for me so I am looking over my list of more than 200 pictures to select a few to post here to finally document the build. Many other helpfull tips were suggested by other posts along the way, so thanks to them also. The several shakeout runs will try to build up reliability to make a fulfillment of a return to the parking lot of my High School (which is now a medical building) in suburban Phila., a trip of about 300 miles. My family has traveled up and down Route 301 over the Chesapeake Bay bridge many, many times for family visits and I recall seeing quite a few rods traveling the "good-road-less-traveled" on Rt. 301 because the road is 4-lane most of the way but the traffic is light. On the other hand there is little mercy for a breakdown on that route, just cornfields and geese in season. I recall one run in a '66 VW beetle in which I lost voltage and traced it to worn generator brushes but we got home when I went into a corn field and found a cob to pluck off two kernals. I wedged a kernal between the spring and the nub of the remaining brush on each side and we drove home! Thus I am planning to bring a spare fan belt, 2 gallons of gas, extra Prestone and a tool kit for that longer trip but there will be several shorter shakeout runs as several of you have said.
An explanation of the $779.75 cost of my Title Plate is that $644.75 was a 3% tax on all parts purchases outside Virginia less shipping costs, $125 for the Inspection with application of the actual plate on the firewall and $10 for the new title. Had I known about the 3% tax I might have purchased more parts through local speed shops like Paradise Road just south of Richmond but of course those catalogs Like Speedway have just what you want and then you have to pay the Va tax later. Well it is done now but for folks in Virginia it might do well to pay attention to local speed shops and pay the tax up front instead of a big lump later. Hind sight is usually 20/20!
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Survey Question: Is anyone interested in me culling out about 30 pictures from the over 200 that I have of my build and posting them here even though most of them have appeared in scattered threads in other parts of this Forum? I recently had to do this for the State Farm Underwriter to overcome the meaningless name "Bebop's" for the source of origin of the body and frame so I can do it in approximate historical order over the last eight years. Most of it is standard stuff using the suggestions by folks on this forum but maybe a few tricks like adaptation of the Dodge Van seat, and firewall modification of the Bebop's body may be of interest along with the trick of carving out the header bow to hide the windshield wiper and other things that may help some newbie using a Bebop's body?
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
YES DON!! We've been waiting for them! ROFL...
Attachment 57373OK,It is a rainy day here so I will try to put a list of highlights rather than all of the many sequential pictures and I may not be totally in the right order. Another thing is that some of the early steps were later changed/improved. It will be clear that some of this project is not at as high a level of some other cars shown on this Forum but it has been at the limit of my financial capability and some parts like the stainless top irons are excellent, but some other parts and workmanship hint strongly of my amateur craftsmanship. Well it runs and looks good from ten feet away! I will start with the Bebops body as delivered on a palet. I do not have pictures of the engine as purchased. The engine was purchased in 2003 from a guy who pulled it from a 1976 Corvette and replaced it with a 383. Alas the engine was the lowly L48 and had only tin valve covers, not the nice aluminum covers I had fantasized and the block only has two-bolt main bearings. I decided to build only a mild upgrade although I searched out many replacement engines without fully understanding the options. Advice of Joe Butler and Techinspector1 on this Forum were very helpful. The engine sat on my garage floor until 2005 when I dealt with "Joe's Machine shop" (now closed, Joe retired) which was mainly a local business AND build shop for Joe Butler's SBC 400 racing cars. The pictures show I bought the Bebops body with all four fenders connected to the floor and I ordered full latches on the doors and a rumble trunk lid. Since I scattered pictures of my project all over this Forum I will try to only show what I think are the key steps with apologies for the repitition but there are some new pictures.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57374Attachment 57375Attachment 57376Attachment 57377Attachment 57378Here are some pictures of the basic Bebops body showing the interior skeleton of 1" square tubing and what was the oversize trans tunnel. The Bebops folks (Teresa Witt and shop folks) were pleasant to deal with and had prepackaged all the necessary parts for a 1929 roadster replica based on a Brookville frame so all I needed was a junkyard rear and I found a 1974 Maverick 8" rear which is close to the perfect width without cutting for the Model A fenders. I did have to weld mounting pads on the rear axel to accept the coilover rear shocks which will be shown in later pictures. The Maverick rear had a 2.73 rear gear which was later changed to 3.55 using a ring and pinion from Speedway (8"). I considered just waxing the black gel coat but there are mold marks on the body which need to be smoothed before painting the body.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57380Attachment 57381I have always been facinated by the Model A rumble seat so I measured the dimensions of an authentic rumble seat and made a cardboard model which was then sent to Rock Valley Tanks to make a gas tank in that shape. Rock Valley shows one of their tanks made from 16 gauge stainless steel (no rust!) that was in a collision without bursting but I ordered mine to be made from 14 gauge stainless for added strength. The volume of the tank came out to be about 13.5 gallons. In addition I added a 4" wide steel plate 3/16" thick across the back skeleton of the body to protect the gas tank and that also added a lot of rigidity to the body. The tank is secured to the rumble hinge on each end and by three additional bolts through the floor by a wide flange that is welded to the front edge of the tank at an angle which fits the slope of the floor.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57385Attachment 57386Attachment 57387In 2005 Bebops drop-shipped a lot of parts for the 5" dropped front I-beam setup and the rear coilover suspension which i assembled without taking any pictures. All these parts were given two coats of Rustoleum black paint. The front end used a Speedway disc brake kit on '39-'48 spindels in a cross-steer geometry connected to a Vega steering box. This assembly proceeded smoothly, although hindsight suggests a 4" dropped axel would have been better. The next problem was making holes in the floor for the coilover mount on the Maverick rear. Rubbermaid spoon trays were used to cover the floor holes with sheet metal hold-downs bolted to the floor. The funny shape of the scrap piece in the middle picture is the initial cutout up front for the transmission, a hole there which would increase over time first for a Gennie shifter and later for a Lokar shifter. In the bottom picture you can see the domed piece of truck inner tube on the left that was placed between the floor and the steel holdown to provide a water splash barrier over the top of the coilover.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57388The final covered floor shock mount is shown with the inverted Rubbermaid spoon trays painted black.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57389Attachment 57390Even though the top of the shock mount protrudes through the rear floor the shock height is still adjustable due to a three hole mount at the bottom on the rear axel housing. You can also see the modified rear bumper mounts made necessary because the authentic frame is U-channel while the Brookville frame is rectangular tubing. Thus the bumper mounts had to be modified but now can support the weight of an adult easily. Note these are pictures at 90 degrees. The Rubbermaid spoon tray covers have a lip on them and a tightly fitting cutout in some sheet metal holds them down with bolts through the 'glass floor. There is a rubber gasket all around the tectangular hole between the 'glass floor and the hold-down plate cut out of a truck inner tube and this will hopfully prevent splash coming up through the floor. The inner tube rubber is the gray material above the top shock bolt. In effect these holes in the floor are covered by both the thick rubber and the inverted Rubbermaid spoon trays.
Don shillady
Retiired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57391 The next problem was to make foot room in the cockpit which involved cutting out the large trans tunnel and sandwiching the firewall between a 1/4" aluminum plate in the inside which provided strength side-to-side and gave a sturdy mounting base for the fuse box, accelerator and heater. The aluminum plate is larger on the left side to provide a stronger mount for the steering column. I have another picture of a stainless steel sheet bolted on the front of the firewall and later painted body color. The little domed piece painted red is all that is left of the previous long, tall trans cover. The Gennie shifter shown here was later replaced by a Lokar shifter. The bulls eye brake pad is a nostalgic throwback to a former cherished '47 Ford convertible. Except for the small transmission hump the front floor is now more like the original model A floor board and provides more foot space.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57392Here is an out-of-sequence photo of the stainless steel plate on the front of the firewall. Feared loss of side-to-side cowl stability was not realized after installation and the result is rock solid. A hoped for reflecting panel did not work out because the plate was not polished so it was painted to match the body. This photo was taken after the frame was plumbed and the painted body was mounted.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57394Attachment 57395Attachment 57396Attachment 57397Attachment 57398In 2005 and 2006 the brakelines were plumbed and the frame was sent to the nearby garage of John York Sport Cars. Although John has built many different kit cars such as MGs and Porsche speedsters based on VW chassis, his speciality is building Cobra Kits with Ford drive lines. John sent out to Standard Parts of Richmond for a balanced driveline to match the Maverick 8" rear and installed the other end to a Monster Motorworks 700R4 (low 1400 rpm stall) and installed the recently rebuilt Corvette L48 350 engine. You can also see the proportioning valve for the power brake system. After the body was mounted on the frame the dangling parking break cables were attached to the underside of the floor with small hose brackets to keep them away from the driveshaft.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57399Back to the engine. While I was assembling the frame components the Corvette 350 was being rebuilt by Joe Butler at Joe's Machine Shop. In 2005 Joe was in the process of retiring so my engine was certainly one of the last he assembled. His shop was tiny with barely room to turn around with milling machine, boring machine, derusting tanks and some storage of in-progress engines but I was impressed by the number of racing trophies on a shelf above his one-man work bench. His shop also served his building of SBC 400 blocks so we settled on a 0.030" overbore, three-angle valve job, smoothing the exhaust ports of the 882 heads, 0.020" shave of the heads and just a standard rebuild kit with new rods, cast eyebrow pistons and polishing the crankshaft. The desired compression ratio was to be near 9:1 and Joe cc'd the heads to 72 cc pockets. The cam was chosen as a Blue Racer grind which is essentially a copy of the 300 HP cam for the stock 327 SBC. All in all this is surely equal to the GM rebuild of 180 HP and might be up to 270 HP intended to cruise at 2500 rpm with the low gear of the 700R4 providing good acceleration. TechInspector1 ran a dyno-sim for me that showed the HP might be as much as 300 HP using the Edelbrock Performer-RPM intake, shorty headers and an Edelbrock 461 four-barrel carburetor but 270 HP is OK with me and so far the 700R4 provides plently of low gear quickness. I have yet to weigh the whole car but it should be about 2500 pounds.
Further research on the L48 shows it was shared between the Corvette and the Z28 Camaro and the 1977 Z28 LM-1 was rated at only 185 HP (net)
http://www.nastyz28.com/camaro/z28lm1.html .
Apparently there was no Z28 in 1976, but the 1977 Z28 looks a lot like my engine
http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z...et-Camaro.aspx .
It is listed as a two-bolt main block and the Blue Racer cam in my engine looks like a regrind with about 0.010" more lift than the Z28 cam. By coincidence I had Z28 springs installed in my 882 heads and the Z28 Camaro also had the 882 heads. Overall the specs for the 1977 Z28 LM-1 are close to my engine except for slightly higher comprehession and a regrind cam. Thus I may just have a warmed over Z28 engine with a Performer-RPM intake, shorty headers and an Edelbrock 461 carb and I might be just above 200 HP. For comparison here is a quote from a spirited discussion by Tango, Techinspector1 and DennyW several years ago according to Techinspector1 using the 1.5 ratio rockers now on the engine:
"RPM HP TQ
1000 49 259
1500 93 327
2000 134 352
2500 171 360
3000 223 391
3500 270 405
4000 305 401
4500 331 389
5000 336 366
5500 327 313"
The DynoSim run assumed an HEI distributor which I could not fit in my firewall, but I used a small cap 327 points distributor modified with an electronic Pertronix kit. Even so according to these DynoSim results the engine should be able to exceed 300 HP which was my original "design goal". If I ever pull the engine out I could get a dyno run just up the street at the Progressive Performance shop but for now I am just going to run it!
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57400Attachment 57401Next we come to a critical piece of assembly in which TechInspector1 helped a lot in making the steering column safe. I spoiled the first D-bar I bought from Speedway to match the Flaming River tilt column to the Vega steering box. On the second try I bought a small drill press so I could drill a hole to pin the universal link as Richard explained and he approved the picture here of the finished link.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teem Rodder
Attachment 57402Attachment 57403Attachment 57404Several photos have shown body features so here we show the full body in the paint process. The work was farmed out to Haskins Auto Body in Ashland Va and a metallic maroon was selected from a color chart. The shop called it "Shillady's Merlot". It has some fine metal flake in the paint and is topped by clearcoat. Unfortunately I chose to paint the body before a number of other tasks were completed so during the rest of the project a number of dings and scratches occurred. By now the car still looks good but from ten feet away. For those who might be interested the original paint was:
Color Max
M8237A
Diamont/BASF
Unfortunately the shop has since changed over to a PPG paint system and they tell me there is a conversion chart for the PPG "equivalent". However it remains to be seen if they can match a few imperfections if I need a touch up. The paint looks "red" in bright sunlight but wine-maroon in the shade.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57405Attachment 57406Attachment 57407With the body painted attention turned to windshield ((2" chop), windwings, instruments and the seat. A trip to a local pick-a-part (Chesterfield Auto Parts, Richmond) revealed a number of Plymouth and Dodge vans with a nice middle seat with just the right width for the Model A (1929) cockpit. I picked a nice one in red from a Dodge for $15. I had to modify the legs and add some angle iron mounts to bolt the seat as far back as possible and anchor the built-in seat belts.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57408Attachment 57409Attachment 57410The windshield was cut at a local glass shop for the 2" chopped frame from Bratton's in Md. and Speedway chopped stanchions (stainless) were drilled for two mounting holes for the windwing clamps. Glass windwings were heavy and tended to slip through the rubber-lined clamps and plexiglass windwings were impossible to cut without frayed edges so finally Lexan windwings were cut from 3/16" stock. Lexan is light, strong and cuts clean. Then a lot of little parts were purchased from Bratton's along with rubber gaskets and other fittings for a very nice stainless steel set of top irons from Bratton's. Oak bows from Bratton's were coated with spar varnish and attached to the stainless top irons with screws embedded in epoxy, especially the front bow. However the front bow needed a lot of work to accomodate the windshield wiper.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57411Attachment 57412Attachment 57413Attachment 57414Attachment 57415Since the top is chopped 2" visibility is reduced somewhat and yet a windshield wiper is required for State Inspection. If you purchase an electric windshield wiper from Speedway (No. 911-23502, 12V stainless) you need to know that it parks to the LEFT as you look through the windshield so if you want to hide at least part of the wiper you need to carve out part of the top bow! In my case I carved with a Dremel Tool and I carved and carved some more. This probably weakens the bow compared to the stock bow which has only a small cutout for the stock wiper in the higher windshield. The final result is that the wiper blade is almost totally hidden under the brow of the top bow. Of course the wiper blade has to be shortened (cut off) about 1" because of the chop. I have had occasion to use the wiper in the rain and the small wiper does clear a useful part of the windshield. The fourth picture shows the wiper motor mounted on top of the windshield frame and the bow just laying on the top irons to check the space for the motor.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Great stuff there Don! A lot of those pics I don't remember seeing before. Thanks for getting them up...
34-40, Thanks for looking. You are my excuse for documenting my project in case Brent wonders why I am repeating material. I readily admit there are some other superb build projects elsewhere on this Forum that are far better than mine. On the one hand I have wanted to "build a car" since I was a teenager so this is a big item on my bucket list and about the best I could do but it is still a "a car that looks good from ten feet away"! I have a few more pictures since I made a big push since last May to get the car on the road and there will be a few more which are actually new to the Forum. While I helped my Dad in shade tree overhauls since I was a boy I have great respect for the folks here who have run businesses and raced for their practical expertise so I am just glad that I finally got my car to the street-legal stage.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
It's all good Don. And stop beating yourself up on the build. You did it and there are a lot of guys out there who never finished one never mind started to do one! Besides, that's why we say they are never done. You see a great feature on someone elses and will want it for yours, so apart it comes and then while your at it... oh well.. you get the idea.
Keep'em coming, I love seeing someone elses build.
Attachment 57449Attachment 57450With the body in place the details rapidly increased. When the steering column was assembled through the firewall and through the Flaming River tilt column I found it was still not easy to get into the car even with the column tilted so I ordered a 13" race wheel from Speedway with knobby bumps on the underside and had it coated silver. I figured it will get nicked and show aluminum in the nicks so why not make it all aluminum in appearance? As it is even with the small steering wheel and the column tilted I have to squeeze myself into the seat! I also found that if I put the speedometer in the center console it was hard to see so I cut another hole in the dash and bought a tachometer to put in the place where the speedometer was. With only three spokes in the wheel it is easier to see the speedometer through the steering wheel and only a side glance to see the tach. The other quad instrument unit is still easy to see in the center right and at present the tach is closest to the wheel. A small B&W temperature gauge is to the extreme right of the dash to monitor the transmission temperature. Unfortunately I cut a rectangular hole in the dash for a radio very early in the project not thinking that the windshield seal might leak in the rain so I bought a marine radio that has a coated circuit board in case water drips onto the right side of the dash. I had a clear plexiglas cover fabricated to go over the radio but I have not attached it yet (not shown). The radio can be operated from a IR blinking unit so you don't need to touch the dial if the cover is transparent. I left a lid in the cover to accept discs in the CD player. The cover looks clunky but might save the radio in a downpour so I need to get busy and get some small screws/bolts to attach it over the radio. In one of the later photos you can barely see the cigar lighter in the dash to provide a means to charge a cell phone or run an air pump. In that picture of the interior you can see the Lokar shifter that was added last May to replace the Gennie shifter in the earlier pictures. The black heater unit is from Vintage Air with a three speed fan and it really works well, maybe good enough to use for engine overheating relief in the summer? The kick panels are just painted with maroon house paint and the elbow panels are padded vinyl but I have no cover for the door edges and I consider the interior unfinished at present.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57451Attachment 57452Attachment 57453Next we come to a long period of very slow progress due to frustration with the mysteries of wiring the car iterrupted by winter weather in an unheated garage in 2008. I bought an "It's A Snap" wiring loom because of the support and the labeling on the wires. I also bought a set of headlights with LED turn signals from the same group. Fortunately I finally got the wiring straightened out about three months before It's A Snap went out of business and the support was gone. I lost at least six months because ot two purple wires on the headlight switch. I thought the thicker heavier gauge wire was the one coming into the switch and the thinner smaller gauge was to the dimmer switch, but no, the dimmer switch gets the heavier gauge wire! Fussing an fuming led me to take out the switch and test every combination of connections with a voltmeter and finally I got the headlights to work right.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57454Attachment 57455Here are the LED lights. The front headlights have H4 bulbs and are quite bright. The lower yellow LED portion of the lights are the turn signals. The rear tailights are the 1929 "Teacup" style with modern LED lights on a circuit board as sold for Model A Fords by Bratton's and they are much brighter that the old 6v bulbs. These LED lights need to have special relays at the fuse box because LED lights actually take less current than tungsten bulbs. The battery box under the rear of the car is empty here because I am running the electrical tests from the battery on the floor connected with jumper cables to the car battery posts. Thus if there was a problem I could quickly disconnect the battery.
Attachment 57456Attachment 57457Attachment 57458Back to the gas tank. At present the engine uses a stock fuel pump and the fuel line is shielded by running the steel line through some rubber garden hose from the tank which is higher than the pump on the lower corner of the engine. Since the tank is in the rumble seat position and has wires for the fuel gauge I put a plywood cover over the tank and made it look like a seat complete with a single large seat belt. The reasoning was that the wires need to be covered and also if anyone ever sat there they should have a seat belt. Some folks on this Forum think it is too dangerous to sit on a gas tank even if it is made from 14 gauge stainless steel. My Title inspector did not flag this nor did he look at it so I will use the seat belt as handy to tie down a package or in some rare case where a single adult might be on the rumble seat he/she ought to have a seat belt so as not to fly up over the top on a sudden stop. Actually the main point of these photos is the fuel filter and shutoff valve for the gas line mounted to the inside of the right rear fender.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57459Attachment 57460In 2011 the main project was to place a metal reproduction 1929 hood over the engine and some alighnment problems were encountered along with the need to add shelves for the hold down springs. At present the hood alighnmet is a compromise that you don't notice from ten feet away. Don't look too close! I know what the problem is, it is that the cowl/body is slightly shifted, not the radiator. You can't hardly go wrong with the bolt holes in the frame for the radiator on the narrow front part of the frame. However a slight offset of the main body bolts puts the cowl slightly off to one side or the other. Maybe someday I can loosen all the body bolts and shift the cowl a little bit but for now I just want to drive the car this summer. At the time I took these pictures I did not fully appreciate the flexibility offered by adjustment of the two rods between the radiator and the cowl. Since this picture was taken some improvement has been gained by adjusting the two rods between the cowl and the radiator.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57461Attachment 57462Along the way I splurged for the expensive stainless steel bumpers and then faced the problem that hanging a license plate from the headlight bar would block the radiator and it also turned out that I need all the cooling I can get as it is. Thus I noted that 1934 Fords have the plate bracket on the right part of the front bumper. Thus I made an adapter out of aluminum plate to attach a 1934 plate bracket to the right front bumper bolt and now the radiator is not shielded by the license plate. The 34 plate bracket is available from Speedway and Bratton's.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder
Attachment 57463Attachment 57464Attachment 57465Attachment 57466Attachment 57467After I received the Virginia Title plate on the firewall of my roadster my State Farm underwriter requested photos to explain what a "Bebops Roadster" is. Thus I referred him to the Bebops Glassworks site and provided more pictures shown here. The front axel is a 5" drop with TWO added 1/4" plates over the front spring to bring the bumper up to the 9" minimum height of the front bumper as required for a Virginia Street Rod. The bumper height is now 9 1/8". Then under the car there is a photo of the 2.25" diameter exhaust system with catalytic convertors in front of the turbo mufflers. According to what I have read these "cats" cost about 5 HP in restriction but the engine is a 1976 Corvette block which had a large catalytic convertor in 1976 and folks in this area owning Cobra kit cars with engines later than 1970 are required to have catalytic convertors. So for the sake of a few HP and to avoid non-compliance hassels I put the "cats" in the exhaust system. Next is a picture of the turbo mufflers which are too loud in the opinion of my wife and not shown are racket buster tubes on the end of the exhaust pipes. Then there is a photo of the Derale transmission pan on the transmission which holds two extra quarts and is steel which will dent but not crack as would an aluminum pan. Finally there is a picture of the rear universal joint on the 8" Maverick rear. It is tricky to get the pictures to load in the same order as this text but you can figure it out easily. At present the front I-beam is the lowest part of the car but is comparable by actual measurement to a modern Corvette so going slowly over a speed bump I should hear the axel scrape before any damage is done to the engine pan or the Derale trans pan. In the first picture you can see the power brake cannister next to the trans pan. Phil Hahn installed the "cats" and the spring spacers for me and these pictures are on a lift in his Mr. Transmission shop. This is important because Phil tweaked just about everything on the car so as to reach the level of Virginia State Inspection.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57468Attachment 57469Attachment 57470Now for the most important picture of my present state of the engine. There is a LOT of frustration here. In September of 2012 my neighbor, Chester Houghtaling of Progressive Performance Racing Engines and machining stopped by to put 8 degrees static timing in my distributor which is a rebuilt (Advanced Auto) 327 small cap with a Pertronix electronic kit in it. I bought a new electronic distributor but it just would not fit due to the lip on the fiberglass firewall and so I used the Pertronix kit in the small cap points distributor and even then it only slipped in by about 1/32"! Anyway Chester got me to put the car up on jacks and take off the hood while he messed with the timing and we started the motor some seven years after it was rebuilt by Joe's Machine shop! On Shell 93 octane it roared to life and we ran it at 2000 rpm for 20 minutes to break in the cam. So far there are no cam worries using Joe Gibbs break-in oil. Chester is just up the road from my house and has a large luxurious machine shop back in the woods complete with a dynometer! Who knew? Well three houses in the other direction is a Model A restorer/Guru Mr. Dick Ivey who is famous in these parts for excellent restoration and general Model A repair. He has a perfect Mustang II, a 1953 flathead Ford convertible and a beautiful Model A Sedan. He once owned a 1929 Model A Sport Coupe that held a tag with "First in Class, Hershey" on it which he sold for a more spacious sedan. Anyway I include his picture because he introduced me to Chester so I have two auto experts on my street! Anyway once we got the engine running I took the car to Mr. Transmission nearby where I knew Mr. Phil Hahn had a sedan with a Corvette motor and a 700R4 transmission and he tweaked many things on the roadster and brought it up to roadable condition with a Virgina State Inspection sticker. I do not have a photo of Phil but Dick Ivey is the older gentleman in the Model A shop. So these expert friends helped me a lot:
Chester Houghtaling, Progressive Performance Racing Engines, Ashland Va
Dick Ivey, Model A restorer, Ashland Va
Phil Hahn, Mr. Transmission, Hanover Air Park, Va
John York, John York Sports Cars, Hanover Air Park, Va
Now to the engine. Soon after Chester got the engine running for me I seemed to have an overheating problem. After changing the fan four times. using three different thermostats and using up at least four gallons of Prestone, Phil Hahn found I had left a packing plug in the lower outlet of the Walker radiator which allowed flow but with restriction. Now I am running a 180 degree thermostat and Phil Hahn rigged up a double pully fan belt setup on my Zips water pump. I am using a 20% overdrive pump pully compared to the crank pully and so far it runs without overheating in the cold weather, warm weather operation remains to be seen. You would not believe the range of discussions among mechanics and engineers regarding the proper thermostat but 180 degrees seems to work now. Some of you on this Forum may know Chester Houghtaling for building drag car engines in his shop and while he was a nice guy he did not think much of my short duration cam. He said anytime I want to pull out my engine he would dyno it for me but after a ten year project I am not inclined to pull the engine as long is it runs OK with the low gear in the 700R4.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder
Attachment 57471Attachment 57472Last but not least I have two pictures of the recent addition of a top with side curtains sewn by "Corky's Upholstory" on Hull Street west of Richmond. He used no pattern, just measured the stainless steel top irons. I requested side windows with 5/16" rods bent and shaped to have the windows extend behind the back of the door for greater visibility. I bent the rods and the shop added Lexan windows. I think I am going back before next winter to get zippers in the front of the side curtains to allow my hand to adjust the side mirroes and maybe we will have to use a flexible clear plastic because the Lexan is too rigid. In the back of the top I liked the large window Dick Ivey had in his award winning 1929 Sport Coupe so I ordered the frame from Bratton's for a Sport Coupe to get a larger rear window with a light weight Lexan window. I stilll need to add the four little rubber feet on the back deck to prevent scratching the paint when the top is down. For now the visibility is good, better than a stock Model A and enclosed enough so that the Vintage Air heater really warms up the cab! I regard the interior as unfinished and if/when I get a summer job I will be able to afford a professional job on the interior.
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen rodder
