crunch time - sharp engineering's 30 sedan

Ventura Nationals 2015 is coming up next weekend, 

a perfect deadline for a hot rod builder.

It's fun watching another's methods,

how they prioritize each part of the project.

Which is more important,

getting it running,

or making it look like the picture in your head?

In hot rodding that's a 50-50.

Working on a cool looking car is the perfect catalyst,

other than a fat wad of cash.

Jason spent a weekend chopping his model A sedan.

And another couple days 

shoehorning in this 1940 chevy dash.

And another day smoothing out the chop lines,

than adding some color.

Now it's crunch time.

Only a few days left.

Wiring, brakes, steering, engine running...

Ya think,

Dang, what why didn't I do this last week?

Let's see if he makes it!

Anyone want to make a bet?

TP

Introducing the Cradle Robber

Big changes happened over the weekend.

The wife and kids took advantage of the 4-day weekend,

And I took advantage of the solitude.

In a weird chain of events,

the 30 coupe returned to how it came.

The original plan was to take it to the Big 3 swap meet next week.

To try to make it easier I listed it on the hamb.

A couple bites but no go.

This is when Tim made me realize how rare and quality the running gear was.

I decided to try ditching the body only.

About 1.5 hours after posting on craigslist, 

it was gone.

Needless to say,

I was a little stunned.

Was it a mistake?

My Sunday chore of cleaning the yard backfired.

However there was a master plan.

For 10 years I've been dragging around this old tin.

An old friend Nick had blown the engine coming back from the roadster show,

and I finagled the project out of him.

The Cradle Robber was always fendered & banger powered.

Now 10 years later,

time to come full circle.

The original frame was torn up.

Legend has it the truck was used on tractor pull races in LA somewhere.

Can you imagine that?

Underneath the chipped layers of red and grey primer,

an ivory white color is peeking out.

It may return to that.

Lucky that my cousin married a strong guy,

as Brandon helped slug the body around the yard.

The next day I scrubbed the body,

and sprayed a quick color coat of primer.

So here's the can of worms.

The intent was to declutter the yard,

and I forgot how much time it takes.

When will the kids be back?

The unrealistic goal is to get it running,

maybe take it to the Big 3 full of spare parts.

More to come...

TP

A close call

For weeks now I've been slowly trying to get that model a engine started.

 Reaffirming the reasons I enjoy metal fabbing more than mechanicals,

as big changes happen with short bursts of time,

instead of the same thing looking the same.

Over the weekend a 4-banger enthusiast finally came by to see the old jalopy.

After a couple visual checks he was amazed at what looked like a rebuilt engine.

He had suggested pulling the pan,

but implied there was a possibility to clean the inside,

simply by changing the oil with diesel,

and giving it a good couple spins with the starter.

The important thing was cleaning the oil dip pans,

as this was the oiling system in the unpressurized block.

Unfortunately draining the oil opened up this nightmare scenario.

There was at least an inch of pure water,

followed by a mountain of white sludge.

Holey chit.

There was no way to not drop the pan.

These depression era cars were obviously built for the common man,

out in the dirt with limited tools.

The pan slid out easily within minutes.

No need to remove exhaust and raise the engine like newer Fords.

There was way more sludge then expected,

however the rods and crankshaft were above the white line.

The bummer was 40+ years of daily heat and cold,

evaporating and condensing the water inside the block,

churning up that oily gunk,

while rusting up any bare metal.

After a solid hour of tedious scrubbing with a diesel soaked scouring pad,

the insides were debris free.

The new babbitt bearings conveniently lubed with the oily diesel,

and the rope seal surface on the crankshaft pulley shined up.

Now the engine spun like it was meant to.

Meanwhile the nasty sludge had drained,

and the oil pan and oil pump scoured clean.

I'll give it a good wire-wheeling before install.

I had informed 4-banger Tim of the pan drop,

and he was relieved to hear the engine was cleaned correctly.

How many engines are ruined by either sitting or neglect?

He even came over again to inspect the open case,

and donated an era correct gasket kit.

Thanks Tim!

I almost cut one out of gasket material!

By this time you'd expect the engine to be buttoned up.

Nope.

Instead I cut out this patch of rust,

Adding a couple hours of low-priority work to the STD list.

What did you expect?

More later...

TP

super bowl sunday

Super bowl Sunday.
A day when millions of Americans drop everything to watch their TV.
This is usually the best time to go outside and have fun,
beat the crowds at their own game.

perich super bowl sunday - 2014

If it's a charger game we'll usually listen to part of it on the radio,
then see if it's a close enough game to watch the last quarter.
Fortunately this super bowl took out that desire really early.

stool time

The kids and I ended up getting caught up in our own individual projects.
Besides some yardwork,
this was the perfect time to put that model A carburetor together.
*****************************************************
oldies month #2


bobby comstock - just a piece of paper
*****************************************************

zenith 2 carburetor - model a ford

I got lucky not needing a carb kit.
The brass pieces cleaned up quick and easy.
The only issue was the gasket.
Fortunately I had saved the perfect scrap of gasket material.
Usually a cereal box, playing card or milk carton comes in handy at this point.

crude but effective - carburetor gasket

Another scrap found its way on the water pump.
If you think this isn't normal,
try finding these gaskets at your car parts store!

holey chit

I'm actually running a homemade oil pan gasket on the RPU's flathead!
One night it was faster to buy a cork gasket roll and a sharp razor!

TP 

tinker time

I thought over the last weekend
I'd get the banger engine in the A running.
Everything boiled down to rebuilding the distributor and carb,
which to me aren't valid ways to spend a day.
Sure it's important,
but that is work tailor made for the 34 watt light bulb.

model a carb rebuilding shelf

I'm glad my naturally conscious procrastination tendencies won over,
as I've been tinkering for the past couple evenings on these things.
This would have added up to a full day really quick,
and I'm not even done yet.

model a distributor rebuild

After a ton of cleaning,
the carb pieces all look reusable.
Amazing after all these years.
All I'll need to dig up or cut out is a gasket.

I found an ancient set of points on ebay.
The box is in the center of the picture,
and is one of those things I'll have to stash in a junk pile.
I'm unable to throw stuff like that away until it is accidentally destroyed.
Anyway the distributor has been totally disassembled and oiled up.
A couple more evening hours and we'll be ready for a weekend startup!

TP

WALL-E or the pears

I've come to the realization that there are two kinds of people
Those that follow in the footsteps of that robot WALL-E,
who is happy recycling parts to make and have cool stuff,
or the future pear-shaped humans who are too busy buying generic junk,
wasting the majority of their lives in front of the boob tube and an unhappy job,
salting the earth.

1940 ford coupe chopped and channeled

If you're a parent then you remember that the movie was set way in the future,
and that is the point that I'm thinking about now.
It is a realization of which way my kids,
and your kids if you have any or are planning to,
will progress.

hood work

As parents we are the main role models.

Whether we like it or not,

the kids watch and learn,

and our lifestyle becomes their normal.

WALL-E & eva

So who is to say which is better.

For me I love to build, create and modify.

It is something I'll do whether or not I can afford it,

and it really is the best form of therapy,

as out of negative energy some of the best things are born.

34 watt bulb!

Sure I may be a little extreme in liking dirty old cars and bikes,

but everyone that I know and respect has some kind of hobby.

It could be anything - woodwork, electronics, fishing, sports, crocheting...

the main thing is not becoming stagnant and unproductive.

I am amazed at how creative our kids are.

They'd rather build, skate or read then watch TV.

Funny how this was brought on by a kids movie then huh!

Hey, we may not want cable,

but we're not cavemen over here!

1931 ford model a coupe

The Doctor is in...

TP

bumpin

Here's a quick progress update...

1931 ford model a coupe

Over the weekend spent way time than I had planned on the old girl.
Got the bumper on basically,
and the window regulators.

san diego union - december 29, 1974

It's been fun reading about life in 1974.
Anything shiny is wrapped up in old newspaper!

starter and beer

Best news is the engine finally turned over.
Using the pry-bar score from Uncle Steve,
the flywheel turned over for the first time in 40 years.
I also ended up going through the starter,
which was in amazing condition after cleaning the crustiness.

banger

After some scuffing and cleaning,
the head was plopped on and then it was time to call it a night...

TP

the barn find coupe v.2

If you've been paying attention,
you may have noticed a small addition to our quiver of projects.
Here's the down and dirty backstory,
in typical PB&S detail...

























Back in September,
a firefighter friend, Mario, was working,
which means saving people from bloody car wrecks,
or sifting through craigslist and garage sale websites for deals.

basketcase ford model A coupe

He texted me a picture and a link to this coupe body,
like there's any money to spare for another project.
By the time of the estate sale,
I had totally forgotten about the deal,
until Mario called and said,"hey get down there it's today!"

chula vista estate sale

During this time a friend Aaron had hit me up about finding a car.
Nothing to keep,
but a project to fix up and flip.
When Mario passed on this one,
Aaron was the first guy to call.

Aaron Vandemark - 1930 ford coupe

We got there thinking it was going to be a $500 coupe body.
Well someone had opened up the little side barn,
okay it's a shed but it goes better with the title...
and it was chock full of all the missing parts.
Holey Chit...

barn find model a coupe

The bummer was the price reflected this new found gold mine.
They estate sellers had a high out-the-door price,
but were willing to take a not-so-silent bid,
giving us the last highest amount offered.
The funny thing was they were waiting for Mario to call.
I guess he had contacted them enough times they figured he was game.

vannin'

That night we were notified that the coupe was ours,
or really Aaron's.
Now we had to figure out how to get it northbound.
The parts were easy,
the van is a workhorse without the passenger seats.

holey chit

The solution to the roller was a decrepit Craigslist car hauler.
Such a cool coincidence that a cheap single axle trailer was available,
even if it looked like a broken-backed glue-horse.
At least it made it the 20 miles home!

priorities

The coupe and trailer sat for a couple weeks in our alley,
totally pissing off our uptight neighbors,
who afterward called code enforcement on us for numerous imaginary infractions.
This was about the time of that black truck engine rebuild.
Finally the spot was open at the yard,
and instead of busting butt on the coupe,
the trailer was totally refurbished instead.

model A 4-banger

A couple important things were done,
like cracking open the 4-banger.
I thought the cylinders were going to look like new cans of ground coffee,
but instead we were lucky to see a low mileage rebuild,
with 10 over pistons and virtually no wear.
The engine was still stuck but this gave us a little hope.

good nite

I had an inkling the transmission was the culprit.
Nope.
The insides were like a well oiled watch.
Must be something in the flywheel/bellhousing area.

model a transmission

Finally the trailer work was finished.
The only other thing I had done was swap on the old wheels from the green 40,
oh yeah and bolted on the doors.

model a coupe project

This is when I realized this project wasn't high on the priority list.
Aaron had a trip planned,
and my open time was very restricted.
The rusty 40 (tres huevos) seemed much more important to spend any free time on.
This is when the 40 and 30 traded places...

ford

I haven't written about this,
but Aaron has a major disease - cystic fibrosis.
It's so serious he's on the lung transplant list.
Well to top off his woes,
he was forced to move to the San Francisco transplant list,
which meant relocating to the Sacramento area.
Dang.
This is when friends are valued more than things,
especially on a life or death matter like this.
I figured we would sell the coupe,
and maybe I could come up with enough scratch to keep the trailer.

Travis and Macey Perich, Aaron Vandemark

Well I was blown away when we made a deal to keep the coupe.
Aaron needed the trailer to tow up our old BMW 2002,
and he figured the coupe would be in good hands with me.
Cool!
The Beemer fit the trailer perfectly.
Thanks Aaron and Rachel!!

Aaron Vandemark - Travis Perich 2013

With this change of events,
I started to drag all the model A parts home.
No reason to clutter up TR's shop/yard.
To keep our yard cleaner,
the parts were stashed in the garage,
which meant parking the green 40 (june bug) outside.

wet 1940 ford coupe

Holey Heck.
I couldn't stand seeing the coupe drenched with the wet fog water every morning.
Something had to be done to get the 40 back in the garage.

Macey Perich sorting fasteners - 2013

This is when the original plans backfired.
Instead of making the tranny hump on the green 40,
or finishing the hood on the chopped 40,
I had team Perich Brothers and Sister get to work on the 30.

Jaxon Perich - 2013

Over the course of two weekends,
or really just the sundays,
the kids have helped reassemble the major parts of the model A.

Jaxon Perich - 2013 - grease monkey

The previous owner had dismantled every nut and bolt,
but had also kept every nut and bolt.
Once the parts and fasteners were roughly separated,
it was fun to reassemble the car with most of the original hardware.
Like a giant model or puzzle.

1930 ford model a coupe

After one sunday,
the 40 returned to it's spot in the garage.
After the second sunday,
the coupe is looking less and less like a basketcase project.

34 watt bulb

We're really lucky with the overall condition.
Many of the pieces were wrapped in newspaper dating from 1975!
And the newest reproduction ID was from 1986!
Basically this thing has been sitting for close to 40 years.
Amazing that "barn finds" are still out there not too far from home.

1930 ford model a coupe

As of tonight this is what the coupe looks like.
I still haven't figured out the engine,
maybe next weekend.
I'm on the fence on what to do with the car.
I'd love to chop it but then there's the gla$$ work.
It's almost too complete to hot rod,
but too rough to restore.
I guess that's a good problem to have!

TP