Roadster pickup build, take two.

Thanks, guys. Dan has one of these setups in his rpu, and it does work great. Checking the fluid level and topping off can be a little tough because the master cylinder is way up under the dash, but it isn't like you need to do that all the time. They make a remote setup to make that easier, but it needs to be higher than the master cylinder, and in something like a Model A, there isn't that room to do that.

I woke up this morning thinking about my next steps. I sort of am at a quandary here. I want to get the radiator an grille shell mounted for the last time, but I have to run the wiring for the headlights through the shell, and that means the headlights need to be painted and done........which means I need to pick the color NOW. [S

I had been thinking about a KIA color I saw on a car lot near me, it is called Burnished Copper, a really cool color. However, I have some constraints that would make that choice tough. One is time, I only have about 3 months before Turkey Run, not a lot of time, and there is so much more to do......body, wiring, plumbing, gauges, interior, etc, etc. To paint it this color would require a lot more bodywork to make it look right.........and a lot more time.

Another is money. I have been bleeding money for the past year, ever since my heart surgery, and I have not been able to work as many hours as I always worked.......it has cut into my savings A LOT !

Third constraint is, I can not keep taking Dan's time to do my welding and other things for me. It is taking him away from his own VW project, and I feel bad about that. He is being very gracious and giving, but I know he wants to work on his own car.

So..........I am leaning toward painting this car the same SEM Hot Rod Black that I used on my 27 and on other projects. It is cheap, durable, and hides a lot of sins on the bodywork. Plus, I think if I patina the paint a little, it will actually fit the look of this car pretty well.

I don't know, I am on the fence, but I think that would be the smartest, fastest solution to getting this thing on the road. We'll see.

So it looks like you ran your brake lines under the front tube of your frame. Ever concerned rocks etc might bounce up and crush that line? [S

Toad

Toad said:

So it looks like you ran your brake lines under the front tube of your frame. Ever concerned rocks etc might bounce up and crush that line? [S

Toad

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No, my 27 has been on the road for over 30 years setup the same way pretty much, never been an issue. It is pretty protected up in there, behind the suspension, and we don't have many rocks here in Florida.

donsrods said:

Checking the fluid level and topping off can be a little tough because the master cylinder is way up under the dash, but it isn't like you need to do that all the time.

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My dad has an under-dash setup on his A. It was custom-built, and they lined up the reservoirs with the original fuel cap so that you can easily fill it from above using a hose. Getting the cap off is the only tricky part.

05snopro440 said:

My dad has an under-dash setup on his A. It was custom-built, and they lined up the reservoirs with the original fuel cap so that you can easily fill it from above using a hose. Getting the cap off is the only tricky part.

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Yeah, those springs on the lid of the master cylinder are tough sometimes.

Mine lined up better before we moved it to the left, I could have filled it through the old gas filler in the cowl. But I sure picked up a lot of under dash room now that it is shrunk down.

I am going to make this one easier to service wiring and gauges on than my 27. I literally have to lay upside down with my head under the dash on that one to do anything. I think I am going to make the whole dash on this one pop out with just a few bolts.

My 2 cents......
Paint it "Hot rod black" and be done with it for now. You can always repaint it later when you have.
A.More time.
B.More money.
C. Or both......
These roadster pickups lend them selves well to that style of paint.
And It will not take away from the high quality of your build in any way. Shape or form. Plus people will think you planned for it to look like a "Old timey hot rod." [ddd
Go one step farther and throw in the Mexican blanket upholstery.
Sometimes the simplest way IS the best way...
JHMO.
[P[P[P
Torchie

Henry Ford

Like Henry Ford said, any color you want as long as it's black. I think RPU's look good no matter what the finish is. But black looks good with white hair.

donsrods said:

Yeah, those springs on the lid of the master cylinder are tough sometimes.

Mine lined up better before we moved it to the left, I could have filled it through the old gas filler in the cowl. But I sure picked up a lot of under dash room now that it is shrunk down.

I am going to make this one easier to service wiring and gauges on than my 27. I literally have to lay upside down with my head under the dash on that one to do anything. I think I am going to make the whole dash on this one pop out with just a few bolts.

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Great idea. [cl

I really agree with the logic you guys are saying. This project has drug on for something like 8 years or more already, time to put it on the road. Plus, I HATE bodywork (did I mention I HATE bodywork !) and I am not looking for a show car here, just a sort of old timey hot rod.

I think I will just pull the trigger, order some Hot Rod Black to get started, and move on. Dan is saying do I really want another satin black hot rod, but that wouldn't bother me at all.

donsrods said:

I am going to make this one easier to service wiring and gauges on than my 27. I literally have to lay upside down with my head under the dash on that one to do anything. I think I am going to make the whole dash on this one pop out with just a few bolts.

Click to expand...

donsrods said:

I think I will just pull the trigger, order some Hot Rod Black to get started, and move on. Dan is saying do I really want another satin black hot rod, but that wouldn't bother me at all.

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I've been looking at the Hot Rod Flatz colours from TCP Global. They've got tons of options and they're supposed to be easy to paint and hold up well, if you wanted something in a satin finish other than black. Either way, whatever you do as long as you're happy with it, that's all that matters.

I have a similar plan to yours for the dash on my Model A (when I get to it). weather-sealed quick connector on the gauge wiring and a couple bolts to remove everything and a nice tidy wiring harness for the whole dash.

Do you do anything special to weatherproof the wiring and under the dash on your roadsters? I've been thinking of burying all switches and ignition, etc., under the dash so that it's weather protected and out of sight as well.

Nothing special to waterproof the stuff under there. It really never gets wet because of the protection of the cowl over top, but I also use marine grade wiring for all my wiring jobs, and since boats get wet.......... There is a definite difference between the wire you get at an auto parts store and marine grade wiring. Each individual strand is tinned to protect it from corrosion, so that is why I use it exclusively.

As for the color, I have put that on the back burner for a little bit. I woke up this morning, thinking I would run to the paint store and make my final decision, but, now that I think about it, I do not have to mount the headlights quite yet. I can run the wiring and just let it hang there, and then butt connect the wiring inside the headlight shell when I do paint them.

Sooooo, Dan and I are heading to the shop right now, he is going to wrap up the brake pedal assembly, and I am going to mount the radiator for (hopefully) the last time.

Well, it is after 4 am and we just got in from a 16 hour day at the shop. Dan worked on getting the steering mount and the brake assembly finished, and I worked on getting the radiator and shell finally mounted for the last time !

We made major progress today, and I even got the headlight wiring run as well as the electric fan wiring.

So, at this point the steering is 100% done, and the only thing left on the brake setup is cutting the pedal arm about 2 inches shorter, and then that is done too. Dan cut out the old steering column support and made a new one that lines up better with where the steering column is now.

I also got the front brakes plumbed, the coolant bottle mounted, and the radiator support rods done for the final time.


I'm going to bed !!!! Here are some pictures from today's work.

While Dan and I were working out butts off, one member of the team was not pulling her own weight !

donsrods said:

While Dan and I were working out butts off, one member of the team was not pulling her own weight !

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Sure she was, she was keeping the chair warm for you went you, when take your next break to rest your Knee

donsrods said:

While Dan and I were working out butts off, one member of the team was not pulling her own weight !

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Probably gonna have to dock her pay! [ddd

BoB

DozerII said:

Sure she was, she was keeping the chair warm for you went you, when take your next break to rest your Knee

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Yeah, that was probably it. While Dan ran out last night to get us some late night fast food, she and I took a little nap. She did do a good job of keeping the chair warm.

Tripper said:

Probably gonna have to dock her pay! [ddd

BoB

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No catnip for her for a week ! Mama Kitty is our little feral cat that we fed for about 6 years, and then we trapped her 3 years ago, had her spayed, and then we moved her into our shop office, where she is at least safe and has all the food and water she wants. I would bring her home, but we already have two there, so this is at least a better solution than her living in the wild, where she would probably be dead by now. Just a wonderful, loving little cat.

Well, I didn't fall asleep until about 6 am, couldn't sleep. And Don called me this morning and asked me to help him go pickup his boat from the boat repair shop, so, with about 3 hours sleep, and a couple of cups of coffee, I will be on my way pretty soon.

But I am coming home after that and not getting out of bed until this afternoon. I do feel pretty good about the progress Dan and I made yesterday, though. This thing might actually make it for November ! [cl

I just looked up the definition of the word determination. Yep this is it.

earthman said:

I just looked up the definition of the word determination. Yep this is it.

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I think it might be right next to the definition of "stupidity".........at least that is how I am feeling right now ! Man, I slept until 3:30, after helping Don this morning. Dan looks like a truck ran over him. This stuff was easier when we were younger.

If I get some energy, I might get ready and go to the shop and just start working on the gas pedal assembly...........maybe. Right now, it is hard to get out of this chair.

Golf is looking better as a hobby to me all the time, maybe ping pong.

We were going to take it easy today and relax, but somehow got wrapped up in making a new gas pedal assembly. As I mentioned earlier, the one I bought didn't fit quite right, and we needed to build one that fit the confines of the firewall better.

We have an excellent Ace Hardware near us, where the fastener section is two complete aisles, and they even have one section devoted to chrome bolts, nuts, etc. So, we went over an picked up some fasteners and some bronze bushings so we could make our own gas pedal setup.

The one I had did have some components I could reuse, it just wasn't wide enough. So, we took it apart and decided that what we needed to do was cut the shaft in half and put a 1 and 3/8 piece in the middle of it to make it wider, and then put bushings on it and fit it into a steel tube with mounts on it.

Since we do not have a lathe, we used our bandsaw and cut the shaft in half, because we needed the splined part on one half (for the gas pedal) and the slotted shaft on the other end ( for the arm that controls the cable to the carbs) After we cut it in half, we cut a 1 3/8 section out of a grade 8 5/8 diameter bolt and put that between the two halves to make the shaft wider.

The problem was, the 2 old pieces were metric, and since we don't have a lathe, we chucked it into the drill press and held a file against the side to turn it down to a standard American 5/8 size. That only took about an hour ! Then we cut it up, bevel ground the edges, and Dan Tig welded the 3 pieces together.

After more grinding to get the welds smoothed down to 5/8 inches, we were ready to make the outside tube, and cut a piece of 1 inch DOM tubing to fit between the two bronze bushings. Now, all that is left is to weld on some tabs to mount the whole thing to the firewall. We will do that later this week.

Another late night, and it took forever to make up this simple little gas pedal, but it is one more thing out of the way. I have my master cylinder coming Tuesday, and when I mount that I will see how much room I have below it so I can move this gas pedal higher to fit my foot better.

Here are a bunch of pictures from tonight.

Nice job on the barrel mod!!!!!!!!!!!!!