In reply to JoeyM :
Yep, the 0.354" sounds like a good plan.
In reply to JoeyM :
Yep, the 0.354" sounds like a good plan.
The battery restraint is now functional; are you that battery is not going anywhere.
I need to round the corners and paint the thing, but we are at least functional. Not positive I like the design, and may build a different top, but this will work for the time being.
The edges are rounded off, and pieces are getting coated with rattle can paint
And it turns out the top piece will be useless. I'm going to have to design a different one that doesn't rise as high so it doesn't have a corner rubbing on the upholstery of the new seat
The new seats and belts are in
Nothing important to see. I was just playing with the photo/video modification tool that BradLTL was talking about in this thread
Wheel adapter test.
I thought I had the frame horn covers with the logo lenses ready to go, but the one on the passenger side no longer fit. That may or may not be related to putting a rivnut into the frame so I could use a bolt to retain the frame horn cover. Solution?
I cut a slit in the cover and pulled the side away so it would fit, then tried to fill the gap with metal from the access panel of a water heater. (It was made of metal from one of those access panels in the first place, so it seemed like a good match.) Unfortunately, I generated enough heat to melt the mouse trap spring that was supposed to hold the lens in place, so I finished filling with putty. Then I welded the spring back together.
The passenger side parking light and Logo light in the frame horn cover work now, and the cover can be held in place with a bolt. I just need to figure out how to tuck the wire so there aren't so many shadows.
Well, it took a lot longer than I expected after life intervened and upset my apple cart, but the logo lights are now functional. The driver's side light is the round Datsun logo. The passenger side light is the leaping hare Datsun used to use as a hood ornament back in the 1930s
And the headlight is working.
That shouldn't be such a big deal, since they had been working for months. It is a big deal, though, because I just unwired the headlight to pull out the headlight bar bracket, and I'm happy to see that things went back together correctly. I've been putting off doing this for months, because the wiring was so Gastly on the driver's side. This passenger side wiring was much easier.
I've been running without a headlight bar because it was too high, and was interfering with the aiming of the headlights.
I didn't just invert the bracket, I also cut a slit in it that will allow the bracket to be removed in the future without needing to undo the wires. This should make it possible to remove the headlight bar, and thus the grill shell, without needing to mess with the headlights.
Next task: fix the doors so they are easier to open and close. I just cut out the box that holds the latch assembly on the passenger door.
I'm going to weld it back in place about a quarter inch closer to the front of the door to increase clearances at the door jamb.
Okay, I've referenced this Haggerty article on phaetons before. One of the important details - something it would have been nice to have read before making the doors - is a passage talking about how floppy a phaeton chassis can be.
Haggerty article says:
Speaking of structure, most all convertible sedans, phaetons, and tourings tie their bodies to the front stamped-metal seat tub, but they are not known for their rigidity. Rear seat passengers especially should not rest their arms along the top of the body, as they’ll surely get their arm pinched between the body and door going over train tracks or as the frame twists when turning into driveways.
... And that is talking about commercial vehicles. My homemade phaeton might have even more chassis flex than normal.
I wish I had read that article before I decided to build doors for the car while it was jacked up. I had lifted the car near the door jamb, and the whole back end must have been sagging. I think that's why I'm now having to redo the back of the door.
[EDIT: This comment was accidentally overwritten. Here's a quick and dirty reconstruction]
I I was working on the door-side of the door jamb, made a mistake, and messed up the cage nut cover on the body side of the door jamb. That nut holds the bolt that the jaw assembly grabs to hold the door shut, so it must be in worksing order. I have ordered two more (one to use, one as a spare to keep on hand) cage nuts from speedway
https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Search?query=%20Slim%20bear%20jaw%20latch,%20cage%20nut
The caged nuts for the door jamb are not here yet - reasonable, since I don't live near Lincoln, NE - so I did something else; i.e. cut some metal to make the new and improved top to my battery restraint. I will fit and weld that up later in the week.
I have the nuts.....and the door is not working. We'll try again later :(
In reply to JoeyM :
The joys of building a car from scratch.
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to JoeyM :
The joys of building a car from scratch.
Indeed. The most important thing this build has taught me is that I'm not as clever as I think I am. Sometimes the entire car feels like, "Wow, I should have thought of that before..."
FWIW, I think I may have figured out why the latch wasn't working. My hypothesis is that the latch mechanism - and hence the box holding it - needed to be a fraction of an inch further away from the door skin and towards the transmission tunnel. That's what clamping the assembly in place +/- an eighth of an inch has led me to believe, anyway. Right now the box to hold the latch mechanism has been tacked into place and I'm letting stuff cool off before I insert the latch assembly and test it again. If things go well I will weld and grind to make it return to being a permanent piece of the door
I still have a lot of work to do to tie the box holding the door latch into the the door frame. It works, though.
An odd thing happened last night while we were passing out candy to kids. One of the parents accompanying a group of children was the guy who gave me the oven that I used for sheet metal on the back deck of the car.
It was neat to be able to show him how I had reworked the door jamb.
In reply to JoeyM :
That's really cool.
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to JoeyM :
That's really cool.
Yeah, that's the nice thing about a small community. After I got her street legal, I drove by his house and showed him where the oven metal was.
After yesterday's trick or treating encounter, my Mrs. said, "I figured that was someone who gave you part of Rose"
(Yes, the car has a name.)
Okay, I haven't been able to enjoy this car for months.... I have major carburetor issues, and she bogs down anytime I step on the accelerator. It's to the point that she's unsafe on the road.
I've given up on trying to DIY it, and we are taking the car to get help
" . . . we are taking the car to get help.
"That's OK to do ! ! We had carb issues ourselves with the V8 Vega swap, ended up trailering it into a local shop. He found the problem in under an hour and fixed it in a single day. We'd been at it for over a month and no progress at all in solving the dilemma.
Good luck ! ! !
MuSTANK said:That's OK to do ! ! We had carb issues ourselves with the V8 Vega swap, ended up trailering it into a local shop.
Thanks. It feels a lot better to know that.
Almost don't want to admit it, but we also installed two different four barrel carburetors, the most recent a brand new and expensive Holley Brawler 600, trying to fix the "carb problem" before simply bringing the car to a professional . . .
You'll need to log in to post.
