Restoration of Victory Six sports roadster.

[Sasha39]

G'day Matt, 

I know it's early days but when you get a chance I'd really would like to know how those breathers are going on the shocks, thinking to do the same on my Chrysler, any suggestions would be welcomed.

By the way, fantastic job!

 

[Mattml430]

48 minutes ago, Sasha39 said:

G'day Matt, 

I know it's early days but when you get a chance I'd really would like to know how those breathers are going on the shocks, thinking to do the same on my Chrysler, any suggestions would be welcomed.

By the way, fantastic job!

 

Thanks Sasha 

Come to think about it there was no fluid what so ever coming out of them so I would say they have been pretty successful. I would of noticed when I gave it a wash on Sunday. I’ll keep an eye on how they go for you. 

[Ian_Greenlaw]

Absolutely stunning Matt. I need to get my act together. It’s going to be a long year !

[nearchoclatetown]

Matt, since no one else has asked I will, how did the alternator work out?

[Mattml430]

6 hours ago, Ian_Greenlaw said:

Absolutely stunning Matt. I need to get my act together. It’s going to be a long year !

 

2 hours ago, nearchoclatetown said:

Matt, since no one else has asked I will, how did the alternator work out?

Thanks Ian can’t wait to see yours finished. 
I haven’t finished putting it together yet Doug I need to paint the body of it. Which will happen today and then I’ll assemble it and try it out. 
ive been working on laminating my hood bows over the last couple of days. 

[jari12]

Hi Matt,

Is that two bows on either side of a steel form?  I'm looking forward to watching your top as it progresses.

 

Thanks

[Mattml430]

4 hours ago, jari12 said:

Hi Matt,

Is that two bows on either side of a steel form?  I'm looking forward to watching your top as it progresses.

 

Thanks

Yes it is, the front bow is 52” across and the second and rear bows are 54” so it works well building it either side of the form. 
this is the centre bow ready to do a test fit before I seal it. 

[Mattml430]

Got the front and mid bow test fitted and all seems to fold and sit ok. My mid bow had ended up about 3/4 of an inch higher than Ted’s roof but I’m not to concerned about that. Going to make the back bow with a slightly larger corner radius to try match the rear curve of the seat a little. 

[Ron Lawson]

1 hour ago, Mattml430 said:

Got the front and mid bow test fitted and all seems to fold and sit ok. My mid bow had ended up about 3/4 of an inch higher than Ted’s roof but I’m not to concerned about that. Going to make the back bow with a slightly larger corner radius to try match the rear curve of the seat a little. 

Do I see Philips head screws in the brackets 

[nearchoclatetown]

I'm with you Ron, I saw that too.

[Mattml430]

Haha yes you two you did 🙄

They will be coming on and off probably another half a dozen times so 👍That thumbs up is an up yours thumbs up hahaha

[nearchoclatetown]

Reground race cam, cut manifold, 12 volt alternator, Phillips screws. Where does it end?

[Mattml430]

1 hour ago, nearchoclatetown said:

Reground race cam, cut manifold, 12 volt alternator, Phillips screws. Where does it end?

Borderline hot rodding isn’t it. 😂

Edited May 5, 2021 by Mattml430
Can’t spell (see edit history)

[nearchoclatetown]

It's called blasphemy in the US. 

[Ron Lawson]

Hey mate didn't mean to be picky but remember you picked up on the screws in my indercators  Love the work that you are doing 

 

[Mattml430]

7 hours ago, Ron Lawson said:

Hey mate didn't mean to be picky but remember you picked up on the screws in my indercators  Love the work that you are doing 

 

I wouldn’t expect anything less from you Ronny. Every time I use a Phillips head screw I think, bloody Ron is gonna pick me on this. 😂

[Ron Lawson]

I will just have to turn a bling eye mate 

 

[Sasha39]

Your work on the Hood bows has inspired me to have a crack at emulating your great work and make my own set of Hood Bows for the (Chrysler) tourer I'm working on , if you don't mind what type and thickness ply did you use and in bending did you soak or steam the ply beforehand and if so how long for soaking/steaming the ply. Love your work!

 

[Mattml430]

8 hours ago, Sasha39 said:

Your work on the Hood bows has inspired me to have a crack at emulating your great work and make my own set of Hood Bows for the (Chrysler) tourer I'm working on , if you don't mind what type and thickness ply did you use and in bending did you soak or steam the ply beforehand and if so how long for soaking/steaming the ply. Love your work!

 

Good stuff that sounds great. 
The ply I use is called Flexi ply and it’s 1/4” thick and made for bending. So there’s no need for wetting or steaming. I put a couple of pieces of 3mm marine grade ply in between the laminations just to give a bit of extra strength. Stiffens the bow up a bit. 
The glue I used was a poly urethane foaming glue. The arrows point to the 3mm ply. 

[Sasha39]

Thanks for that, I reckon I'll try and give it a go and see if I can do a good enough just to 1/2 match your results.

[Mattml430]

23 minutes ago, Sasha39 said:

Thanks for that, I reckon I'll try and give it a go and see if I can do a good enough just to 1/2 match your results.

I’m sure you’ll do a great job. Just let me know if you need anything else. 
I cut my ply at about 60mm and the bows ended up about 42mmx 32mm

I also put a slight bow in the top just to give it a little bit of a curve on the roof top. 

[Mattml430]

Had a practice run on the top today and I think it’s heading in the right direction. Some adjustments to be made. I’m trying to do it with no seams on the top for waterproofing purposes. Making a complete roof out of calico first to practice my sewing  

Also made a profile to waterproof the upper windshield. It seals with a rubber strip inside the channel. 

Edited May 8, 2021 by Mattml430 (see edit history)

[RichBad]

3 hours ago, Mattml430 said:

Had a practice run on the top today and I think it’s heading in the right direction. Some adjustments to be made. I’m trying to do it with no seams on the top for waterproofing purposes. Making a complete roof out of calico first to practice my sewing  

Also made a profile to waterproof the upper windshield. It seals with a rubber strip inside the channel. 

Looks impressive mate!

[stakeside]

4 hours ago, RichBad said:

Looks impressive mate!

True craftsmanship. Great work.

[Kenendcindyc]

1 hour ago, stakeside said:

True craftsmanship. Great work.

I truly agree ,your abilities are amazing. Nicely done. 

[Mattml430]

I called into my auto electrical place today and got him to test my new alternator idea just in case I had damage it welding and turning it down to size. 
He was happy with it and said it worked really well and said there’s 8 more out the back you can do if you want 😂. I passed up on that. I’ll try get it fitted up in the next couple of days and see how it goes. 
 

I’ve drilled some hole in the bottom of the case to get the air flow through it. The alternator has 2 fans in it so hopefully it will pull enough air through it. 

Edited May 11, 2021 by Mattml430 (see edit history)

[Mattml430]

Got the alternator fitted in this afternoon but it sent the amp meter a little crazy so I tried a 12v amp meter and it wasn’t much better. It also wasn’t putting out a lot of charge so I’m wondering if the alternator was on my parts bench for a reason. It may of already been faulty so it’s going back to the auto elec tomorrow for him to check it out. I’ve fitted a pulley to the front of it so he can spin it up properly as he said it was a bit hard to spin it up properly. 
It could have a bit of a faulty reg in it or something maybe. Anyway I’ll persist with it until I get it right. I removed the regulator from it when I welded it together. 

[aunty norm]

That's a bit of a bugger! But it is worth the effort.  Just looking at the photo, it looks the part,and is worth pursuing! Keep up the good work Matt!

[Mattml430]

8 hours ago, aunty norm said:

That's a bit of a bugger! But it is worth the effort.  Just looking at the photo, it looks the part,and is worth pursuing! Keep up the good work Matt!

Thanks Terry I’m sure it will be something simple, I’m just trying to remember why I didn’t use it on the 27 that I bought it for. Could of been something wrong with it originally and I should of chucked it in the scrap bin. Will find out today when I run it back to the auto elec. 

[Ron Lawson]

Hey Matt If I send my side plate over can you put some of that shining silver stuff on it  ha ha

[Mattml430]

54 minutes ago, Ron Lawson said:

Hey Matt If I send my side plate over can you put some of that shining silver stuff on it  ha ha

I can do that mate but you might be accused of hot rodding your ride a little there Ron. 
 

Alternator tested out ok so I’m thinking the painter put to much paint on again and I had a bad earth. Some people will never learn. 🙄

[Mattml430]

Fitted the alternator in again this afternoon and still having the same issue I was before so I’m a bit baffled. I have the identical alternator on the victory sedan so it shouldn’t be a rpm issue. I’m thinking I might replace the inbuilt regulator on it and see what happens. 

[Kevin bc]

Matt

Kevin BC here.

Talking of Earths,  does your car have an rear engine mount earth strap, between the chassis ' and the bell housing assembly, this  has been a problem on DC8's, too much paint on everything, and no path for those little electrons to run through, even though the motor is solid mounted at the front. Some people forget to put that braided strap back Us restorers can be over diligent in applying that paint stuff

regards Kevin BC

[Alan Cutler]

Just by the off chance, I see you have a heat sink on the back, assuming that is for your diode trio, knowing they are one way direction, did you hook your wires in correctly...sounds simple but those diodes are like traffic cops, only let amps go in one direction...

[Mattml430]

7 hours ago, Kevin bc said:

Matt

Kevin BC here.

Talking of Earths,  does your car have an rear engine mount earth strap, between the chassis ' and the bell housing assembly, this  has been a problem on DC8's, too much paint on everything, and no path for those little electrons to run through, even though the motor is solid mounted at the front. Some people forget to put that braided strap back Us restorers can be over diligent in applying that paint stuff

regards Kevin BC

Thanks Kevin I don’t have an earth strap from the engine to the chassis but I’m hearing you and I’ll have one by this afternoon. 
 

 

4 hours ago, Surf City '38 said:

Just by the off chance, I see you have a heat sink on the back, assuming that is for your diode trio, knowing they are one way direction, did you hook your wires in correctly...sounds simple but those diodes are like traffic cops, only let amps go in one direction...

I’ll be completely honest I don’t understand how all that stuff works but the only 2 wires are the ign and light/trio. This is where I could be going wrong, I’ve got the ign going to the ign power and then also have the light/trio going to ign with a light in in between the wire. It lights up when ign is on and goes off once it’s running. Have I messed this up?

Edited May 13, 2021 by Mattml430 (see edit history)

[Kevin bc]

Matt

Kevin BC again

99% of alternators are negative ground ie Positive battery(Modern cars since the mid 60's). Our cars are positive earth ie Negative battery. If a alternator is hooked up to our cars with neg battery, they won't work, and the diodes can be damaged I just read. I don't know how they configure the alternators to work on our cars, perhaps the diodes have to be reversed in the alternator. This could be the problem in your case, the alternator would  test ok on the test bench, as the tech person would hook it up correctly,and away it would go, but as soon as you hook it up in the car its the wrong polarity, and no go, if your car is Negative battery. They talk about changing the polarity of the battery to fit an alternator , but that would add confusion as I think all your gauges, petrol tank unit, connections would then have to be their wiring  reversed, and the coil connected  reversed, which would confuse anyone trying to trouble shoot later.

Hope this info is of use regards

Kevin

[Mattml430]

6 hours ago, Kevin bc said:

Matt

Kevin BC again

99% of alternators are negative ground ie Positive battery(Modern cars since the mid 60's). Our cars are positive earth ie Negative battery. If a alternator is hooked up to our cars with neg battery, they won't work, and the diodes can be damaged I just read. I don't know how they configure the alternators to work on our cars, perhaps the diodes have to be reversed in the alternator. This could be the problem in your case, the alternator would  test ok on the test bench, as the tech person would hook it up correctly,and away it would go, but as soon as you hook it up in the car its the wrong polarity, and no go, if your car is Negative battery. They talk about changing the polarity of the battery to fit an alternator , but that would add confusion as I think all your gauges, petrol tank unit, connections would then have to be their wiring  reversed, and the coil connected  reversed, which would confuse anyone trying to trouble shoot later.

Hope this info is of use regards

Kevin

Thanks for the ideas Kevin. I have changed my car to 12v negative ground so the polarity isn’t an issue. I spoke to my auto electrician today and he’s going to pop over and have a look because he’s also at a complete loss why it’s not working. I didn’t manage to get the new earth lead on today had to fix my daughters car. I’ll play with it over the weekend and see what happens. 

[Mattml430]

Made some slash trays during the week for the engine bay. Pete lent me some original ones to copy thankfully. I’ll get them fitted up first to make sure they fit and then paint them. 

I have the original front one that fits under the radiator which I want to make also 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Mattml430 (see edit history)

[Ron Lawson]

That RHS one would have been a tricky little bugger to make mate On mine there is a short piece of tube About half inch long that is spot welded on the holes at the sump side so that the pan clears the rest of the sump bolts does yours have them ?

[nearchoclatetown]

Matt, a buddy has a gismo that checks the whole electrical system, It is handheld and you go through a series of checks on command. It can tell a problem in any part of the system. When he got it he checked my son's car before my son went back to college. It said there was a bad cell in the battery but it had always started and never gave any trouble. I was skeptical but replaced it as college was 5 hours away. Traded it for my tractor battery and sent my son on the way. A week later it took a dump. The gismo cost $1000. Maybe someone there has one? I like your idea of hiding the alternator in a shell.