sloppy sunday

Got to drag the Ventura weekend a bit longer here!
Here's part III...

chief - 1929 ford roadster pickup hot rod

After the show,

Sloppy babied his chopper back to the Motel 6.

Remember he had no brakes on his '69 sportster.

It was really sketchy watching him ride.

shop

The chopper was parked in the room,
and we headed off to KiwiKev's bbq,
of which I've got no pictures...

normal

We could have spent all night boozing it up downtown,
throwing away our last dimes,
but instead decided to drink the last of the cooler beers,
and tear into the chopper.
Better to get an early start and have a parts list,
then get stuck and wish we had started earlier.

wrenching

An old partner in crime Conrad had sniffed me out,
and we ripped into Sloppy's chopper.
I've known him for almost 20 years,
and we've had countless mechanical adventures.
After moving to SD I hadn't seen him in 5 years.
It was like time hadn't passed.
Comedy night with the three stooges.

wrenching

By 2 AM the little front drum brake was rebuilt,

and the rear disc brake was in pieces.

Years of sludge had seized up the little pucks.

the three stooges

By 2:45 the beers were depleted,
and likewise any forward progress.
We also were in need of some 0-rings and sandpaper.

chopper caliper

In the morning the project was reassessed.
A dirt track racer family had the room next door,
and they had one of the crucial pieces we needed,
a small strip of emory cloth to hone out the caliper.
I was a little concerned that after our late night wrenching spree,
they wouldn't be able to look us in the eye.
No problem...
Good thing Motel 6 has super loud air conditioners!

parking lot repair

With the rotor hand-honed,
Sloppy and I had the similar just put it back together mentality.
Conrad had a slow hangover start,
and rallied all the way out to his shop to bring a couple 0-ring kits.
4 minutes before the noon checkout,
we rolled the bike out of the room.

1969 harley sportster

The rear brake was mounted up with no luck.
This wasn't a big surprise,
as there was very little pressure when bleeding the brakes earlier.
Time to rip out the master cylinder...

shadetree mechanics

Fortunately Conrad is one of those guys that drives around
with a mobile repair shop in his car.
He tried to trick us into a 7 mile brakeless ride to his shop,
but we had to show him what magic could be done in a parking lot,
Shankers-style!
What the heck all we needed was the vice he happened to have!
(okay and hex keys and socket set...)

travis - conrad - sophorn

In no time the chopper was back together with working brakes.
We headed out to the Noble Fabrication party,
and guess what...

noble fabrication

Yeah Sloppy couldn't leave well enough alone.
He spent the whole time dialing in the front brake!

holly - travis - sophorn (sloppy)

more later!

TP

braking news

Time for a little interruption in the Ventura chronicles,
for an important gearhead update.

jakob - master brake pumper

I've been s-l-o-w-l-y fiddling with the brakes on the green 40,
and yesterday the mission was completed.

spaghetti

The remaining rear lines weren't terribly difficult,
as NAPA had a series of brake line adapters that had the different nuts needed.
Only the two long rear lines needed reflaring.

1936 ford rear wishbone setup

With everything hopefully tightened up,
it was finally time to add some brake fluid.
This was a monumental step,
as the disc brake kit was bought in April of last year.

juiced

(Still need to finish up the floor...)
I had scrounged a really cool MITYVAC brake bleeder kit,
and wow this made it so much easier to suck out the bubbles.
At the end I had Jakob pump the brakes the traditional way,
and it was amazing there were no bubbles.

mityvac II brake bleeder

The only serious leak issue was in this brass splitter.
Cranking it down didn't seal it up,
so tight I thought the brass threads would strip.
I ended up cheating and using some Loctite 567,
it's got a 10K psi rating,
and so far it's sealed up without over-cranking.
Good chit.
Next time I'll dab this on all the threads,
as it also works as a lubricant.
Super cool to finally have brakes!

loctite 567

Now time to button up all the little things.
This was a weird one,
the speedway disc brake had a series of adapters,
and the spindle nut was about 1/16" too far out.
A cotter pin wouldn't slide in.

nut mods

I checked to make sure everything was seated correctly,
and the only fix was to file out the castellated nut groove.

nutty

The exhaust magnified a couple issues with the engine.
With open pipes it sounded great.
With the dual pipes there was an obvious miss.
There ended up being a cracked spark plug,
but more importantly I noticed a fat gap.

























Remember when I was doing that electronic ignition trick?
Well that was tossed out temporarily for the stock points.
The plugs need a wide 060 gap for the electronic ignition,
but only an 035 or so gap for the points.
With the proper gap and replacement plug,
the engine ran so much better.
Gonna pick up the driveshaft later today,
so may be driveable really soon!

TP

a slice of ventura nationals 2013

Okay where were we.

ventura nationals - 2013

Oh yeah...
Chief and I had wrapped up the 200 mile drive up to ventura from san diego.
A little bumpy and slow at times,
and a little too fast at others.

sloppy and his chopper

In a stroke of great planning,
Sloppy (sophorn) had scrounged up a hotel room.
No hunting around for a bedroll spot tonight.
Waking up in a comfortable bed made for a late start.

chief

By the time we rallied to the store for our meal and drink ticket,
it was already past the 9AM entry cutoff.
Yeah that's how we roll...

ventura nationals - power parking

A good friend Monty was manning the gates,
and let us slide in around the short line.
I really didn't know what to expect as the show had been on a decline,
and our friend Holly had taken the reigns.
The place was packed!
We got lucky and eeked past the security gates,
and power parked right up front.
Did the steaming radiator help?

I've got to say that there's a phenomenon about a car show,
that is almost as important as the actual cars themselves.
It's being able to see friends and gearhead people you can relate too,
and a good show like this brings a bunch of us together.
Many I hadn't seen in years.
Writing this I'm kinda bummed to not take people pictures,
it's kinda awkward to do but next time I'm gonna try.

I am okay at taking the 3/4 view at non-moving objects,
so here's a little slice of what was out there.

1955 slammed chevy truck

This one's for you Ken!
Spending so much time on the hurtlocker truck,
I can appreciate a slammed 50's GM pickup.
We noticed that this one had some trick wheel covers,
toning down some way past trendy donk rims.
Should have taken a better look at the suspension setup.

1940 ford deluxe coupe

Out of all the cars in the lot,
I'll gravitate to the ones I can relate too.
This 1940 deluxe reminded me of our coupe,
the radials didn't even bother me.
There was the perfect blend of driver and shine.
I'll do a separate post on this later on when ideas dry up.

1940 ford deluxe coupe

This hot rod caught my eye.
A simple clean model A roadster.

1929 model a roadster with 32 frame

I've never had a hot rod without a flathead engine.
Some day...
This guy wedged in an early cadillac.
I'm surprised how some can keep their cars so clean.

model A roadster

Talk about clean.
This coupe had the shiniest black paint,
and the chromiest nailhead.

chris casny's model a coupe

On the other side of the show was this smoky coupe.
This had a quickchange and a flathead.
Reminded me of one of our earlier hot rods.

1930 model A coupe

Here's a non-ford roadster that caught my eye.
I still don't know exactly what it was,
it looked like an extra large 33 ford.
There was a bunch of metalwork done to make it look like this.
I bet it flies down the freeway.

non-ford roadster

Years ago I watched this sedan delivery progress.
The owner's uncle created the Hilborn Injectors.
Mike's had this thing since the 60's,
and it ran one of the first modified B&M hydramatic transmissions.

Mike Hilborn's 1930 ford sedan delivery

Ojai Rick brought down his swap meet special ford f600.
I remember when he got this it was all stock.
He's upgraded it with newer 4x4 axles and running gear.
Way better than having a new truck!

1953 ford f600

This power wagon was bitchin.
Someone had wedged in a little turbo diesel engine.
Another truck I'll post more pictures later.

dodge dual axle power wagon

I've always like the roundness of thes 50's studebaker trucks.
This guy really slammed his.

1953 studebaker truck

Can't not take a picture of the world's most photogaphed 60's econoline.
I saw this at the GNRS a couple years ago,
and somehow he's kept it as perfect as it was back then.

church's econoline

While standing in line for an overpriced burrito,
this gold 40 pickup was screaming for a picture.
I wonder if this was the same truck featured in the Rodder's Journal.
Super clean and straight.
Thanks Greg for the comida!

gold 1940 ford pickup

There were so many customs with crazy lowrider style paint,
and I only took a picture of this truck.
One of the problems was there were so many people walking around,
my patience for waiting for a clear shot wore out.

beatniks truck

Earlier this summer was Born Free,
and they had a raffle featuring dozens of custom motorcycles.
There were tons of choppers and bobbers,
but this one I am glad to have seen in person.

kiyo's radical cb750 motorcycle

This was built by Kiyo out of a honda cb750.
A work of art disguised as a race/show bike.

Jawa Speedway motorcycle

You'd think I'd take a picture of some more motorcycles,
but there were too many people around.
I escaped over to the Funky Junk Farms trailer area,
and found this early Jawa Speedway motorcycle.
What was I thinking when I gave up my Weslake/Godden.

shankers - chief & chopper

The show was great and bordered on overwhelming,
not in a Goodguys street rod way,
but in a traditional rod and custom way that brought everyone out of there cages,
including me.
It was great to meet up with old friends and acquaintances.
Way to go Holly!
Little did I know this was just the start of the epic Sloppy Sunday...

TP

chief prep

Kinda backed up here so let's do this chronologically.
Techie stuff first...

chief - 1929 ford roadster pickup with hallock windshield

The Ventura Nationals was over Labor Day weekend,
and Chief was in need of some attention before the 400 mile (RT) drive.
Last week I had started on a little project that was kicked around
the old shop and yard for the past 2 years.

big

When the RPU was updated,
the placement of the grille and body had changed.
The temporary 6-year  hood was a bit too long.
Here's a "how to - fit a hood".

under taped

The easiest way to measure up the hood is to not use a tape measure,
or any numerical measuring device.
Get some tape and cover up to the edge of the lip.
If you think this is to protect the nickel-plating or paint you're half-right.

precision

The next step is the actual measurement part.
With the hood clamped in place,
the same tape is layed out on top of the hood excess,
about 1/16 past that bottom layer.
Then sharpie out a line and cut away.

work bench

This hood had some fancy dingleberries on the end.
These were whittled out many years ago.
I decided maybe this was a good time to clean them up.

not shiny

Yeah they're old road sign scrap...
This took too long and when nightfall came I lost interest.

scrap

A couple days passed by,
and I realized it was time to go on the road trip to Ventura.
Better finish things up...

oily

It's hard to admit but I'd been neglecting simple mechanical stuff.
First was checking all the oils.
The overdrive half of the tranny was really low.
A good opportunity to clean stuff up.

catch can

Next up was the rearend.
I knew this was going to be low.
This banjo has a "hot rod works" open shaft kit installed,
and included was a vent that blows all the oil out.
The JD catch can had disappeared during the rebuild,
and the perfect replacement appeared on the kids model shelf,
a Testors paint thinner bottle.

banjo rear end vent

Instead of spewing the oil all over the rear of the car,
now there is a little overflow bottle.

child labor - jakob - 2013

That friday was a hot one,
even so Jakob had pitched in his sweat equity,
by wiping down the entire car.
Chief hadn't been this clean in a long time.

machine

Meanwhile it was back to the hood.
I had stalled out as there was no way to attach it easily.
The hood had blown half-off once on the freeway,
so instead of a fancy quick release mechanism,
some simple 1/4-20 bolts and a couple tabs were whipped up.
Crude but effective.

prototype

The most important thing we did was whip out a cushion.
I always wish there was some foam about 15 minutes into a long drive.
Fortunately there was a roll of thick foam lying around.

cushy

A light check and the hot rod was ready to go.
Instead of leaving,
the wife tempted me with a couple margaritas,
and after a much needed nap,
I took off a little after midnight.

spider

The drive up was great.
The sweet spot to drive through LA is from 1-4 AM,
no traffic only big rigs.
The cushion was super comfortable,
for the first couple hours anyway.
The hood didn't fly off!

chief - midnight run

Strange to leave at 1:30 AM wearing shorts and a t-shirt.
Next stop - Ventura Nationals car show...

TP

ventura or bust!

on way north to the ventura nationals.

1929 ford roadster pickup RPU

200 miles to go!

TP