Thread: New to the site - Questions about my '31 Model A

Tweet

You have no idea how badly I feel for you and I don't even know where to send you for help. If I were in your shoes, I'd be KILL-MAD.

OOPS, just saw Jerry's post offering help....

.

Jerry,

Thanks for the offer I am near Princeton IL 61356 are you in Barlett Illinois?

Jerry,

I see that you are in Bartlett, IL would you like to fix my car? Please say yes as I am out of trustable options. I have invested so much money in this beautiful car but at the end of the day it might as well be a painting on the wall!

Tech, have you any experience with anti-squeal spray?

(Really, it's a product)

Anyway, I've tried hi temp grease on the back of brakepads once, it would stop the squeak for the first three times, then it went back to squealing.

Anyway, the anti-squeak spray is like a spray glue which doesn't quite set. It's a sticky mess. I always use it, but only on pads, not shoes.

Yes, I have used that and you're correct, it works well. Not sure why you had squealing with Wheel Bearing Grease, I never have.

.

It was a BMW. Maybe German cars are special.

I'm studying the build pics -I would like to come out and see it, is it in a warm spot? and can it be lifted up?

Been studing the build pics of the frame and finding that it doesn't have any bracing or triangulation for torsional flex was baffling me-then I discovered the site of the frame builder and that explained it-He really is a builder of v8 chopper bikes-also of course with a single front wheel there aren't any steering geometry issues as in a four wheel vehicle ( caster, camber, toe in, bump steer)

Jerry,

The car is in a 12' x 32' garage and no I have no way to lift it. Mac builds hotrods and has for quite a while. I did a lot of reserch on him before hiring him. THere are so many guys out there with this chasis as he honestly builds rollers and just recently he started to build trikes. I am beside myself upset about this whole thing. If you want to call my house # I messaged you last night with it and maybe we start by talking on the phone. Let me know if you did not get it

Rob

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Been studing the build pics of the frame and finding that it doesn't have any bracing or triangulation for torsional flex was baffling me-then I discovered the site of the frame builder and that explained it-He really is a builder of v8 chopper bikes-also of course with a single front wheel there aren't any steering geometry issues as in a four wheel vehicle ( caster, camber, toe in, bump steer)

No steering issues? Motorcycle and bicycle steering geometry is fairly complicated. You do have caster (called rake by motorcycle builders and head tube angle by bicycle frame builders). In addition, you have fork offset on both bicycles and motorcycles. Motorcycles can also have raked trees, to increase offset and reduce excessive trail from a large rake. In the end, the builder is striving for a particular TRAIL. Trail is the horizontal distance between a line through the steering axis, intersecting the ground and the actual contact point of the tire, with the ground. Unless the caster angle is zero, there is always some amount of trail. Cars have a trail value, and it's simple to calculate. All it involves is caster and tire diameter. Trail = tire radius/tanC, where C is 90 minus the caster angle. A lot of car builders only think of caster and not the affect of tire diameter on the trail. The larger the tire, the more trail and the more caster angle, the larger the trail (for a given tire diameter). A google search on rake and trail will bring up a lot of articles.

rake and trail

mate - looked at your whole photo thread an your car would not be allowed on the road in New Zealand. at the very minimum - it needs a k- member for the centre x-member and they are adamant that it has to have that but prefer us to put a double k - i.e. braces running forwards and backwards of the centre cross-member and as mentioned the rear 4-bars are in single shear which would need grade-8 bolts min but once again double -shear ( the rod-ends inside two steel plates) is strongly recommended. I would suspect your chassis is flexing around a lot. the rear x-member doesn't look that strong either!
its a seriously cool looking little hotrod but I suspect you've got a lemon that will take a lot more money to sort out.
sorry!

Originally Posted by sharpmark

mate - looked at your whole photo thread an your car would not be allowed on the road in New Zealand. at the very minimum - it needs a k- member for the centre x-member and they are adamant that it has to have that but prefer us to put a double k - i.e. braces running forwards and backwards of the centre cross-member and as mentioned the rear 4-bars are in single shear which would need grade-8 bolts min but once again double -shear ( the rod-ends inside two steel plates) is strongly recommended. I would suspect your chassis is flexing around a lot. the rear x-member doesn't look that strong either!
its a seriously cool looking little hotrod but I suspect you've got a lemon that will take a lot more money to sort out.
sorry!

What he said!
Also:
Your rear 4-bars look a tad short as does the panhard rod (If you want good handling.
I didn't notice an emergency (hand) brake.
The frame looks too flimsy and lacking X members so I suspect a lot of flaxing.

But yeah, a cool car and good proportions!

Originally Posted by sharpmark

mate - looked at your whole photo thread an your car would not be allowed on the road in New Zealand. at the very minimum - it needs a k- member for the centre x-member and they are adamant that it has to have that but prefer us to put a double k - i.e. braces running forwards and backwards of the centre cross-member and as mentioned the rear 4-bars are in single shear which would need grade-8 bolts min but once again double -shear ( the rod-ends inside two steel plates) is strongly recommended. I would suspect your chassis is flexing around a lot. the rear x-member doesn't look that strong either!
its a seriously cool looking little hotrod but I suspect you've got a lemon that will take a lot more money to sort out.
sorry!

Originally Posted by Kiwi37

What he said!
Also:
Your rear 4-bars look a tad short as does the panhard rod (If you want good handling.
I didn't notice an emergency (hand) brake.
The frame looks too flimsy and lacking X members so I suspect a lot of flaxing.

But yeah, a cool car and good proportions!

I had not taken time to look through your photos on FaceBook, but after reading Mark's post I was curious. I'd say that Mark nailed it, to fix your problems you're going to be pulling the body off and doing some major re-construction work on your chassis. There's nothing that cannot be fixed, but it's always a bit more difficult to fix someone else's mistakes than it is to do it right from the start. The car has a great stance, and like Kiwi37 says the proportions are nice, but it's like a fancy new beach house built without pilings. Since a person's got to be a FB user to see your photos, here's one of the chassis so that everyone can see what Mark & Kiwi were pointing out:

bad frame.jpg

Sorry for your problems. It sounds like you've already been through the wringer picking shops to build your car, but IMO you're not anywhere nearly done yet.

While the commentary on the questionable frame center reinforcement is spot on it's likely your "death wobble" is caused by loose steering/front suspension components. For example, if the steering box is just a little loose on it's mounts you'll get what you described. Also, if the king pins are loose in their bushings. Things along those lines, meaning ALL of the steering components. If you don't have the knowledge to examine and remediate you'll need to find reliable, experienced help. As for the throttle issues, those are Rochester 2GC carbs, very common for tri power, even were what GM used in the '50s-60s. My guess would be that the linkage is set up wrong and is binding then going a bit over center to lock when you go full throttle. The quick "fix" would be to disconnect the linkage to the two outboard carbs and see if that solves the problem. If not then it's probably the linkage from the pedal to the center carb (if it's installed anywhere close to correctly).

Sadly, your experience with "professional" builders is not uncommon..............not much comfort to know you're not alone though.

Rob------I'm pretty tied up for at least the next couple of weeks-maybe around the first of Feb I can make a jaunt out there. Hopefully you won't get more depeased with comments on here as it is sad to see such an outstanding looking car be built on a styroform plastic frame package.

I've been studying all the pics and at this point thinking different frame stragy from firewall back and also some changes to steering - cross link, better angle between king pins/ground contact patch, ( are your tires radial both front and rear?) correct steering geometry and adjustment settings, shock/spring settings, etc Looking forward to seeing it and meeting you---

Jerry