Speedster

[cdan delivery]

Well, I blame it on my own curiosity. I was on the "other" site and had asked anyone about Tim Boyd's articles about older engines, specifically if there were any speed parts other than the DOHC Frontenac(in the '27 touring)and the Riley-type stuff in Revell kits for 4 bangers. Then I saw someone mention nwvs.org so I had to look.

What i saw ther made me decide to make a homemade speedster of a late 30's or so vintage. After all, what do you do with the stock T parts left over in the double T kits that were recently released? How much touble could it possibly be to do it?

The kit engine was chopped up and now has a scratchbuilt Frontenac R head, valve cover, front drive, water pump and Scintilla magneto from the 1923 Frontenac catalog. You can also see the scratched friction shocks in process. More to come............

[Ira]

Great Progress Pat!

Fun Project...

[cdan delivery]

Here is the rough vibe I'm shooting for. Excuse the tape in all the pics. I don't glue until I am kinda happy about stuff.

Then I got stupid and said "This needs to steer". I should leave well enough alone sometimes..........

Plywood floor

whaddaya think???

[cdan delivery]

Bare frame

Engine before bolt detail.

Mockup with floor.

[charlie8575]

Looking very nice, Pat.

Charlie Larkin

[Modlbldr]

That is going to be cool! I will be watching this build.

Later-

[Ace-Garageguy]

Just beautiful, beautiful work. Nice lines too.

[Pro Wrench]

I'm a street rod and drag/muscle car guy at heart but there's just something about these old speedsters that I like. Cool project.

[sjordan2]

Looking terrific, and very accurate.

[slusher]

Great looking project, very nice work..

[Shardik]

This is looking quite nice. I'm looking forward, not only to watching your progress, but also to seeing the end result.

And thank you for answering that nagging question..

[Jordan 191]

You scratch built the body? I was just playing with my "leftover" stock Model T pieces thinking about what to do...

[cdan delivery]

Gentlemen, thank you all.

After seeing the work you all do it means a lot.

Bill, I have to do some hero worship here as I think you are fearless in your work and make wonderful things happen from absolute lumps of coal. Your comment is much appreciated and I hope I can keep you looking.

So, I figured it was time to do some primer and bought a new can of Krylon platinum - which has been a staple of mine at work ( I build large custom machinery for wire and cable) and at home for everything. The can I had got frozen and was not coming back to life. After shooting it I let it sit much longer than I usually do then started to sand............New Krylon is not - at all - like the old flavor I rapidly found out. Needless to say after throwing away sandpaper and sticks the body went for a swim in the Purple Lagoon.

I found out that you can still get the old "5 Ball Industrial" Version, but it's either an expensive single can or a case............so a case it was and it works just like it used to. Whew!

[cdan delivery]

Here was the body in primer before I decided to throw in the towel. It never dried - gummy as all get out.

Adam, I did scratch build the body using a lot of leftover pieces from a '40 sedan delivery for the tail section much like a young man would have scrounged from a boneyard back when and welded together. It makes it feel more "right" to me to do it that way.

Here is what it looks like today:

I shot it with Testors enamel cut with cheap lacquer thinner ala Donn Yost and sent it into my new dehydrator. It came out hard and shiny and I did not polish it very much as I do not want a glassy new car look.

Time to get the glue out.

[charlie8575]

Pat, because Krylon seems to have changed its paint as much as most people change undergarments in the last couple of years, could you please post a picture of the primer can you prefer and the one to avoid if you still have it?

Is this the stuff that's available at Wal-Mart or should I plan on going to one of the Ace/True Value stores or an industrial supplier?

Charlie Larkin

[cdan delivery]

Charlie, I got mine online at Global Industrial by the case (6 cans). The swill at the Big Box stores is just that - NFG. Make sure The ad copy says 5 ball, industrial and the label is exactly like this:

I decided I needed to make a few more parts for this so I got busy and made a gas cap........but after I did I thought "You dope, this isn't a Cobra", so I did a small, plain knurled one from solder - much more apropos. The one on the right is the one. It will fit a 1:25 fist much better and not look it happened because of a time warp.

Then I made a handbrake.....actually I made 4 of them and broke the first 3, then almost lost the fourth to the carpet monster. Then I looked.....and looked... and decided to make one more from brass, Success!! I think it is much nicer. Give me your opinion.

A damascened dash was next and after many failed attempts I saw a Bentley that John Teresi did one on and thought it should work for me too. It's hard to make out in the picture but in person it looks kinda okay. I used a pointed stone in the Dremel and, at slow speed, let the stone touch and kinda let the tool guide me across the piece sideways. It jumped a bit and surged ahead, but the result is what I was looking for. Now I have to figure out how to do a couple of gauges??

I'll start putting it together eventually. I want to get as many of the small things done first.

Thanks much for looking and your comments are always welcome and appreciated.

[cdan delivery]

The last pic is the floor with a coat of spar varnish and the next to last one is a nice comfy leather (real) seat so the driver won't hate me. I had all this typed in and it disappeare dwhen I posted it ??? Still trying to figure all this out

[Art Laski]

Good stuff! I'm enjoying this one.

[cdan delivery]

Okay, I really have been working on this even though I don't post often. I build verrry slooow and this one seems to be taking forever to make progress.

Anyway, here are a few of the engine mocked up. It is different than I first thought, but that seems to be my common theme.

It's supposed to be similar to what a guy could purchase out of the Frontenac Catalog way back when. The only big difference is the Winfield model V carb instead of a Zenith model L-6.

The pictures are not the best, but they give an idea of what's going on.

Frontenac head, front drive,oil pump, water pump, enlarged oil pan, Scintilla magneto, oil lines, water lines, home brew spark plugs, bolt detail, etc.etc.

One thing I had to do was use (horror!) thread for the wiring......because this is supposed to be from the late 1930's and they used.........woven cloth covered wiring then.

So take a look and please let me know what you think.

Thanks for looking!

[crazyrichard]

very cool Q!!!!!!!!!!!!

[southpier]

always have a place for speedsters in the garage.

the engine photos show a wire loom. it jumps out the same way the cobra gas cap would have - too contemporary. but i'm no authority on the subject.

which '40 ford parts did you use for the body? i have a bunch of amt dragster streamline parts i can see massaged into something similar.

thanks; looking good.

[cdan delivery]

Here are a couple more while I'm letting epoxy cure.

She's mocked up on 4 wheels and there's a shot of the body with the leather bolster, gauges made from old decals with craft wire rings and filled with epoxy lenses, a toggle switch for mag/kill and a choke knob.

More to come.

Joe, actually I made the loom to look like linen phenolic, just like one I saw on a Frontenac engine at the nwvs.org site, otherwise I would have agreed with you. I'm sure there will be other things that aren't quite right, but I am having fun.

Comments are always welcome and thanks for lookin'

[cdan delivery]

Oops, I hit post too quickly. The sedan delivery sacrificed the top rear and sides and parts of the doors for the cause, the rest was Evergreen. I had actually been thinking of the Double Dragster streamliner parts too, but the sedan was already partly sacrificed and was calling me.

[cdan delivery]

Here are a couple more from today. I took the day off (to use vaca time up) and be productive. Why is it that the actual assembly seems to take as long as all the other steps (and mis-steps) combined??

Murphy's law of engineering: The first 90% of the job takes the first 90% of the time, the second 10% of the job takes the second 90% of the time.

Anyway, here they are. Let me know if I'm boring you.

All comments are welcome and thanks for looking................

[Jordan 191]

Very cool!