September 2006
| This is a big month. I hope to get the engine started and the 37 moving under it's own power. As I write this, I am unsure if it has in fact started. I will update this on the 4th of September, after the big event. Complete with a video..I hope! |
| OK, the time has come and past. How did it
go? It went fantastically well, I couldn't be happier. I have captured the
event on video, but I haven't worked out how to get it on my web site just
yet, so until then, here are some still pics and some words. UPDATE
UPDATE!!! Here is the video of the first start Right click and save
HERE After everyone had left and the driveway was clear, Marg jumped into the passenger seat and we went for our first drive around the block. Here is a small video of the event. I must first warn you, my mate's women can be heard over the sound of the engine some times...It is warts and all! Click Right click and save HERE to see the video. The first pic, some of the rodders that were present to celebrate the event with me. Most are from my club ( OZeRodders ) and some prospective recruits as well. All up, there were over 25 there to witness the first start. |
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| Here is the car of the moment, patiently waiting for her performance. The engine is fully primed and ready to start. |
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| OK...I know, how did it go?...she fired just
about on the first turn, then stopped. I quick couple of pumps on the go
pedal and I hit the key again and she bust into life right away. After a
minute there was plenty of smoke coming off the parts that by now, are getting
hot. Oil pressure was over 70Lbs, charge was just under 15 volts, and I had
a quarter of tank of fuel. I just need to make sure the temperature gauge
and thermo fan worked. The temperature climbed up to 195, then the thermo
fan cut in and it slowly dropped to somewhere around 180. I ran it for a few minutes until the choke got stuck and she stalled. That was a good time to check for leaks. Many eyes looking, but not a drop of anything could be seen. The only issue is a pin hole exhaust leak on the drivers side header. I must have missed that when I made them. The good thing is the leak is accessible from above and I won't need to remove them. Just a small area needs to have the ceramic coating removed, then I should be able to get at it with the mig. After everyone left later in the day, I filled up the transmission with all its fluid, started the engine and checked to see if I had gears. It seemed to, so Marg jumped into the passenger seat and went for our first cruise around the block. All went fine until we came back into the drive way. The choke jammed on again and she flooded and died. We pushed it back into the garage, where I made a wire to hold the choke permanently off. So that is a huge mile stone in the build and the light is very bright at the end of the tunnel. Marg is planning the rod runs now;-)
I had a mini 8 ball, so I stuck it on. The last pic is the in line coolant filter I fitted on the top hose. This just shows what comes out of a new engine. Paint and crud that would have ended up in the radiator, potentially blocking the cores. This was just after a half an hour of running! A very good, cheap investment. |
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| Here is where it sits. Function out weighs
looks in this case. Last pic is the radiator. Notice the top tank is "V"ed to slide further forward. I have mentioned it before, but it's a Commodore 5 core unit and is turned on its side. It seems to cope quite well with the Cleveland. I have an overflow tank to fit next week. |
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| I had an indication from the engineer that
he was concerned that the seat belts would be to low. A common problem in
open cars. I had Marg take a picture of me sitting in the car with the belt
on. As you can see, it is lower than my shoulder. That is not going to
impress the engineer. It is also not to functional in an accident. It is
also not comfortable on a long trip, as the belt would keep retracting as
the car went over bumps. The seats are rather springy so I would end up with
my shoulder being dragged down. The only option is to raise the belt
mounting point. Here is a bracket I made to extend the mount. It is 6mm plate that I formed to clip under the top brace and bolt into the original hole. It is stepped slightly to clear the top of the panel. |
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| Here it is mounted and next pic with the belt attached. It is hard to hide, but once I paint it black, and another plastic cover on the outside to hide the bolt, it should OK..( this is the passenger side in the pictures ) |
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| Time to fit the windscreens. I bought new
rubber seals, but I had to cut them down to match the smaller glass. I used
the piece I cut out of the windscreen frame a while back as a guide and a
trimming knife to cut the rubber on each side. I then carefully glued the
ends together using Super Glue. As I have mentioned before, Super Glue loves
rubber. If all goes well, you will have a great bonded seal that is hardly
detectable. I am showing the pieces I cut out and the trimming knife is
pointing to the area where it is joined. The big test was when I had to
stretch the seal over the glass. It worked out just fine. No sign of
breaking apart. The last pic is the overflow tank installed. I made use of the stiffening bar I made to support the guards. I drilled a hole in the tank mounting tab, installed a grommet and slid it over. On the bottom, I made a bracket that is bolted to the lower tab. The bracket is riveted to the radiator frame lip. I had to mount the tank on that side as there was no room on the other side because the alternator is in the way. No real problem, just a longer hose from the cap to the tank. |
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| First pic is the windscreens now fitted.
They have a slight grey tint. I tipped water on them after to check for
leaks. So far, its all dry inside. I used the original stainless steel trim
but cut to size. You can just see the joins if you look hard. I also fitted
the mini wiper and tried it out. That is where it is at rest and the sweep
area is just right. I need to finish off the driver's wiper then that's it
for the wipers apart from the washers. Next pic is the rear seat installed with the seat belts. I have lined up a trimmer for the end of October. Between now and then I will have to get the engineer back to do another inspection as he wants to inspect it before it gets trimmed. . |
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| I originally had an MP3 CD tuner to fit into
the 37, but I put it into the family hack with intentions of taking it back
out when the time came. Now, I want to fit a 4 channel amp, and the original
MP3 player didn't have enough RCA outputs, so I bought another Pioneer unit.
It fits in the same location and clears everything like the original one. I
wired it in and ran most of the cables back under the rear seat. I also
wired in the drop down solenoid and fitted a release button. You may be able
to just see it under the right hand knob. It works fine as well. OK, the front guards are now fitted. I painted up the hood hinges and some other brackets that I forgot about when the car was sprayed. That now clears the path to fit everything else on the front. It's coming together fairly well. |
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| Here is a pic of not just the glove box but
my new banjo steering wheel I bought through Jegs. It's a Grant product and
as soon as I seen the picture of it, I knew it had 37 Ford roadster written
all over it. I like the idea that it has incorporated both silver and gold,
which matches the dash perfectly, especially the gauges. I had to heat bend
the gear lever slightly to make some room. It is slightly larger than the
steering wheel I had before as well, but it has a lot better feel and
slightly less effort to turn. That is great for Marg. I took a gamble on
what boss to order that would fit the XY column. Looks like I got lucky and
it fits perfectly. Even the horn works. With all the positives happening, I knew there would be a negative or two. Well the first one was that I had wired the speedo wrong. Not in a way that would harm it. I just wired it to a source that had a permanent voltage. Of course, you don't notice that when it's stopped. I just happened to notice the odometer had 50Kms on it. I knew I hadn't been that far, so I investigated, and found the problem. In the battery's dying stages, it must have gone a bit crazy. Over the week it drained the battery dead flat. I was told that you shouldn't drain a jelly battery flat as it won't recover. I put the battery charger on it and the little charger cut out after a few seconds. I then got hold of an old coil and placed that in series with the positive lead. That was enough to put a trickle charge back in and after a few hours, I removed the coil and put it back on full charge. I left it over night and it had full capacity by the morning. That was a relief, I had visions of buying a new battery...and they aint cheap! The next negative was after I had returned for a shake down cruise, my son pointed out that I had a cracked wind screen on the driver's side. I must have tightened the retaining fame a bit too tight. It seems to have stressed the glass. Looks like another trip to the glaziers...and another 100 bucks or so!. |
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