What are you working on right now?

[alsancle]

52 minutes ago, John Bloom said:

AJ, tell us the story behind the picture.  Is the dashing couple your parents?

 

 

Yes John, my parents on their wedding day in 1963.

[auburnseeker]

Quite the get away car.   

[John Bloom]

I’m reflecting on the Ford Pinto my wife and I drove away in from our wedding (her car).  Your dad set the tone right out of the gate.

 

 

 

[auburnseeker]

I had a few old cars I could have used but since the wife and I got married in Hawaii,  all we had was the rental car.  Atleast it was a convertible.  We got married on Kawai and put 1000 miles on a rental car in two weeks.  Pretty good considering the size of the island.  

[alsancle]

So a very smart guy once told me that 90% of all fuel problems are ignition.  Which is usually true except when I'm the guy tearing my ignition system apart.   Ed has been talking me through this and we think we have a weak fuel pump compounding a clogged jet problem.   I've got to the point where I can get  the car to start with the electric pump running and nurse it along until it gets warm and smoothes out.  After about 6 or 7 minutes it will just abruptly die and nothing I can do to keep it running.    Will not restart unless I let it sit for 15 minutes and then run the electric for 5.   Then hold the pedal to the floor.   I've been repeating this cycle most of the day while it absolutely pours outside.   Good news is that time it ran for 20 minutes without dying.

 

 

[alsancle]

2 hours ago, John Bloom said:

I’m reflecting on the Ford Pinto my wife and I drove away in from our wedding (her car).  Your dad set the tone right out of the gate.

 

 

 

 

 

Based on where this is heading I'm not saying what we used. 

[alsancle]

Been working with a buddy on this RR for the last 2 weeks.   Phantom II RR are awesome 472 cubic inch overly engineered works of art.   They also take a long time to figure out when you are a boob.  Not allowed to show you the whole car,  but we are trying to figure out why it will only run on the starting caburator.  Video shows it starting fine and running at 12:00,  still running at 9:30 and dying at 6:00 which is the normal post warm up running position.  Cleaned the jets,  air intake,  has lots of non-ethenol fuel in it.  You might think massive vacuum leak somewhere but not sure where that would be.

 

 

[John Bloom]

11 hours ago, alsancle said:

Been working with a buddy on this RR for the last 2 weeks.   Phantom II RR are awesome 472 cubic inch overly engineered works of art.   They also take a long time to figure out when you are a boob.  Not allowed to show you the whole car,  but we are trying to figure out why it will only run on the starting caburator.  Video shows it starting fine and running at 12:00,  still running at 9:30 and dying at 6:00 which is the normal post warm up running position.  Cleaned the jets,  air intake,  has lots of non-ethenol fuel in it.  You might think massive vacuum leak somewhere but not sure where that would be.

 

 

AJ, can you educate me (and maybe others).  On the Phantom 11, when you say it will only run on the starting carb, can you explain the setup for us?  I'm not familiar with these so I looked up some engine shots to see what the carburetor setup looks like.  I guess I'd never looked closely at them.  All the images I saw had what looked like a single updraft carburetor, but it looks different than others I've seen from that era.  What is the "starting" carburetor, and were those made in house by RR?

 

 

[edinmass]

As far as the PII, I’m happy to diagnose it for you. That’s a twenty dollar service charge.

 

It’s broken.

 

For a more accurate diagnosis, it will cost additional funds.

 

 

[alsancle]

8 hours ago, John Bloom said:

AJ, can you educate me (and maybe others).  On the Phantom 11, when you say it will only run on the starting carb, can you explain the setup for us?  I'm not familiar with these so I looked up some engine shots to see what the carburetor setup looks like.  I guess I'd never looked closely at them.  All the images I saw had what looked like a single updraft carburetor, but it looks different than others I've seen from that era.  What is the "starting" carburetor, and were those made in house by RR?

 

 

John,

 

The "starting carb" on a RR is basically a vacuum line that goes directly from the bowl of the carburetor into the intake manifold.    There is a valve at the intake controlled from the dash.  With the throttle closed and the starting carb "on" all the vacuum from the engine directly sucks the gas in to the intake.  As soon as the engine fires you move the valve to a second "extra oil" position while it warms up and then off.  Post war XK Jaguar has a similar but automatic system.

 

You can see the control on the lower left corner of the dash.

Edited July 19, 2023 by alsancle (see edit history)

[alsancle]

8 hours ago, edinmass said:

As far as the PII, I’m happy to diagnose it for you. That’s a twenty dollar service charge.

 

It’s broken.

 

For a more accurate diagnosis, it will cost additional funds.

 

 

I believe your diagnosis was correct, but unfortunately your easy fix did not work.

[John Bloom]

8 minutes ago, alsancle said:

John,

 

The "starting carb" on a RR is basically a vacuum line that goes directly from the bowl of the carburetor into the intake manifold.    There is a valve at the intake controlled from the dash.  With the throttle closed and the starting carb "on" all the vacuum from the engine directly sucks the gas in to the intake.  As soon as the engine fires you move the valve to a second "extra oil" position while it warms up and then off.  Post war XK Jaguar has a similar but automatic system.

 

You can see the control on the lower left corner of the dash.

AJ, Thanks, that makes sense, I did watch that video last night and saw how it instantly bogs down and dies when you transitioned to the running carb position.  I've had multiple British cars with more than one carb (MG's, Jaguars), but they are "run all the time" carbs.  I assumed the "starting carb" was a plumbing route for it.   Hope it is something simple........... Who made that carburetor?

 

 

[alsancle]

18 minutes ago, John Bloom said:

AJ, Thanks, that makes sense, I did watch that video last night and saw how it instantly bogs down and dies when you transitioned to the running carb position.  I've had multiple British cars with more than one carb (MG's, Jaguars), but they are "run all the time" carbs.  I assumed the "starting carb" was a plumbing route for it.   Hope it is something simple........... Who made that carburetor?

 

 

Just about everything on a Rolls-Royce is made by Rolls Royce.

[EmTee]

On 6/1/2023 at 4:27 PM, alsancle said:

So, I have a new plan.   I'm 90% sure the coolant was coming from the upper radiator hoses.   I'm going to replace them,  put the factory hose clamps in a box in the trunk and replace with modern ones and fill it with anti-freeze and try again.    I can get the hoses and clamps directly from NAPA.

Is the Cord back in shape?  Was it just bad hoses?

[alsancle]

1 hour ago, EmTee said:

Is the Cord back in shape?  Was it just bad hoses?

I was hoping everyone forgot about that. It’s a little more complicated than the hoses. Although I’ve got nice new hoses on there now. When I dig into it, I will post an update.

[EmTee]

8 hours ago, alsancle said:

was hoping everyone forgot about that.

Ha - I know that feeling... 

[keiser31]

On 6/18/2023 at 2:12 PM, Saari said:

Wash it and take a little cruise.

My newest ride.

Feel free to help how to put pictures right way.

 

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[John Byrd]

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow I am working on a 32 Ford Phaeton with a bad distributor and a leaky carb.  Nope, not a stock one, but one that came from Australia as a pile of parts and got turned into a street rod by 1966, and the build was covered in Car Craft and his own specific magazine published by Peterson Publishing Company. . My pal Scritch ( Dick Scritchfield ) still owns it all this time, but being 93, he seems glad to get a bit of help from this 75 year old smart alec punk kid, lol.  Working with and on automotive history is so cool ! Here's a pic of it, but not while we are working on it. Lovely old car.

[TexRiv_63]

13 hours ago, John Byrd said:

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow I am working on a 32 Ford Phaeton with a bad distributor and a leaky carb.  Nope, not a stock one, but one that came from Australia as a pile of parts and got turned into a street rod by 1966, and the build was covered in Car Craft and his own specific magazine published by Peterson Publishing Company. . My pal Scritch ( Dick Scritchfield ) still owns it all this time, but being 93, he seems glad to get a bit of help from this 75 year old smart alec punk kid, lol.  Working with and on automotive history is so cool ! Here's a pic of it, but not while we are working on it. Lovely old car.

I remember reading the articles about this build back in 66, they called it the tub or something like that. I loved the car, please post more photos if you can.

[John Byrd]

I'll see if he cares if I take a pic or two with him in them too TexRiv, but I'll take a couple of the car anyway !  I have the book(s) you reference, might try to get him to duplicate a pose, lol. 

[Steve_Mack_CT]

1 minute ago, John Byrd said:

I'll see if he cares if I take a pic or two with him in them too TexRiv, but I'll take a couple of the car anyway !  I have the book(s) you reference, might try to get him to duplicate a pose, lol. 

Please do.  Seems to me this is an "important" car, I have seen it, as well.  What the ... happenned to Street rods after around 1980???

[John Byrd]

 Still working on a 1932 Phaeton: (reference my post from yesterday) .... Well, Scritch said I could take a couple of snaps of him, but he didn't like "blocking the car" by standing in front of it at all, lol. He's quite a character. We got the new distributor put in yesterday, new gaskets and needle/seat assemblies in the Holley today, got the seat put back in (have to remove it because the battery is under the passenger side), and got everything all set, timed, adjusted, etc. He's happy and as usual, we had a ball working on a simple old car !!!! He uses it as an anytime he wants to, sometimes daily, driver since 1966 !  The paint is lacquer that he put on in 66 and the well used and loved interior is from then too !  The pics of him and my wife and him and me at a show is from the 2012 Cruise Paradise event. 

[alsancle]

The RR is now running great.   The issue was the last time the car was tuned the screw on the low speed jet arm that is controlled from the steering wheel was not quite tighten enough.  So every time the lever on the steering wheel was moved the jet closed a bit more until it was completely closed.    See the picture below.    One of those things that once you know it the car will be fixed in 30 minutes but we spent 2 days on it.

 

 

[West Peterson]

Against my better judgement, I dragged home this partially restored (taken apart, painted, then nothing... for 10 years) 1955 Caribbean. Owned by my uncle in Atlanta, I told him I'd oversee its re-assembly in a shop north of Dayton. That was 2-1/2 years ago. First thing to do was correct the wrong color applied to the lower portion.

[West Peterson]

Finally on the home stretch. Completely assembled, new top, new carpet and cleaned-up. I drove the car 300 miles to Auburn and back last week for the AACA Nationals. It performed pretty much flawlessly, although with some help, its timing was adjusted in Auburn, and it ran even better on the way home. I also removed the radial tires, installed new bias-ply, and couldn't hardly tell the difference in the way the car handled... other than when I try to take corners a little too fast. 

[West Peterson]

Upon arriving home, the fuel pump began pumping out gasoline like an open fire hydrant. I removed the pump, inspected it, and all seemed good... other than a lot of sediment that was blocking the screen (causing the seal to be sucked in). After sanding the mating surfaces flat, I put it back together, added a fuel filter, and took it for another 150-mile trip yesterday. Really works well now. Time to take it back to Georgia.

 

[West Peterson]

While the engine compartment is clean and looks relatively nice, it was not restored under the hood. Thus, when one parks next to a perfectly restored 1954 Cadillac Eldorado, a Second Junior trophy was expected and received.

[alsancle]

2 hours ago, West Peterson said:

While the engine compartment is clean and looks relatively nice, it was not restored under the hood. Thus, when one parks next to a perfectly restored 1954 Cadillac Eldorado, a Second Junior trophy was expected and received.

You know I've always preferred the 53/54 but I really like that!

[John Bloom]

3 hours ago, West Peterson said:

Finally on the home stretch. Completely assembled, new top, new carpet and cleaned-up. I drove the car 300 miles to Auburn and back last week for the AACA Nationals. It performed pretty much flawlessly, although with some help, its timing was adjusted in Auburn, and it ran even better on the way home. I also removed the radial tires, installed new bias-ply, and couldn't hardly tell the difference in the way the car handled... other than when I try to take corners a little too fast. 

Very nice West. I just love the dash on those. 

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

Nicest color combination available in 1955….I love it 😍 

[auburnseeker]

Unfortunately not much in the car realm even with the Auburn Speedster in the garage.  For all the rainy weather in the North east,  we have yet to have a rainy day.  Just an hour of showers here or there, so I keep working outside waiting for the rainy day to get back in the garage. 

 

Right now I'm building a lean to on my new pond I dug last fall and finished up most of the dirt work this spring.  Now I came up with the brilliant idea to build a fully coped lean to out of cedar.   No Chinking. 

 

It will look great when finished but alot of detailed work(which means slow going) 

 

I peeled the logs last month and now because of so much rain they are molding so they all have to be bleached clean first, then hauled over to the site once they dry by hand. 

 

It's a one man show so everything takes a little longer. 

 

This is my progress after about 3-4 days,  which included getting everything squared and leveled up.  Hard to do when all the logs are shaped like carrots. 

 

It's a nice spot for it though and should look great with a stone fireplace in front of it, which you can see the foot print of in the photos. 

 

I gave up on waiting out the humidity to build it as almost every day is high humidity.  It's a mostly shaded spot so a good place to work on sunny days.

 

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Not nearly as ambitious as Auburnseeker's projects but fun with trees this week, including clearing for another outbuilding.  Between zoning and the rocky (boulders not typical rocks in the ground)hilly terrain the idea of another garage won't be happening but at least I can get all yard equipment and lawn furniture out of the garage and existing shed the A lives in.  There is truth to the thought that even a small extra step like moving a tractor to get a car out dissuades one from using it.

Lesson learned after getting quotes, sometimes best price comes from bigger guy with right equipment.  He beat the closest other guy by 30%, they brought in this crane and basically took huge oaks out 1/4 of the tree at a time.  They fed entire hemlocks into a big chipper, all gone! Fun to watch!

[John Bloom]

13 minutes ago, Steve_Mack_CT said:

Not nearly as ambitious as Auburnseeker's projects but fun with trees this week, including clearing for another outbuilding.  Between zoning and the rocky (boulders not typical rocks in the ground)hilly terrain the idea of another garage won't be happening but at least I can get all yard equipment and lawn furniture out of the garage and existing shed the A lives in.  There is truth to the thought that even a small extra step like moving a tractor to get a car out dissuades one from using it.

Lesson learned after getting quotes, sometimes best price comes from bigger guy with right equipment.  He beat the closest other guy by 30%, they brought in this crane and basically took huge oaks out 1/4 of the tree at a time.  They fed entire hemlocks into a big chipper, all gone! Fun to watch!

That is a dream of mine Steve, to get all the yard, equipment, snowblowers, tractor, lawn mowers, etc out of the garage and into a “yard shed”.   I have no excuses.  It looks like you have some challenges, but it also looks like you have a beautiful setting for your home !

 

 

[alsancle]

29 minutes ago, Steve_Mack_CT said:

Not nearly as ambitious as Auburnseeker's projects but fun with trees this week, including clearing for another outbuilding.  Between zoning and the rocky (boulders not typical rocks in the ground)hilly terrain the idea of another garage won't be happening but at least I can get all yard equipment and lawn furniture out of the garage and existing shed the A lives in.  There is truth to the thought that even a small extra step like moving a tractor to get a car out dissuades one from using it.

Lesson learned after getting quotes, sometimes best price comes from bigger guy with right equipment.  He beat the closest other guy by 30%, they brought in this crane and basically took huge oaks out 1/4 of the tree at a time.  They fed entire hemlocks into a big chipper, all gone! Fun to watch!

 

How big of an "outbuilding" Steve?  I noticed you didn't say the magic word "garage".

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

I would love to see a video of that chipper gobbling up those trees!

Good Luck with your project!

[Steve_Mack_CT]

11 minutes ago, alsancle said:

 

How big of an "outbuilding" Steve?  I noticed you didn't say the magic word "garage".

No, 12x16 for yard stuff.  Right now it's crowding the cars!! The shed in the pics now is 12x20 and houses the A and a ton of other junk..

.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

30 minutes ago, John Bloom said:

That is a dream of mine Steve, to get all the yard, equipment, snowblowers, tractor, lawn mowers, etc out of the garage and into a “yard shed”.   I have no excuses.  It looks like you have some challenges, but it also looks like you have a beautiful setting for your home !

 

 

Thanks John.  I have on oddish lot, big swath of land behind other neighbors good for privacy but tough to do much else with.  Semi rural, we do love the area!  

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

OK, what did I work on yesterday……

 

WARNING: Cute Grandchild story alert…….

For several years now (since age 5) Grandson Rosco has always shown a fascination for riding in our various Model T Fords. He is more interested in watching the driver than the scenery. Well, when he showed up yesterday for a one week stay with us he boldly announced he was tall enough to operate the pedals on the T and was ready to take his first drive. OK! We found a dead end quiet road an commenced a lesson in pedal operation. With typical childhood impatience he told me he knew what all the controls did and in what sequence was appropriate to drive. Let’s go!  Sooooo…..here we go. I did take a video but I am keeping it private as I want to avoid prosecution by the authorities……..😂

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by Jeff Perkins / Mn (see edit history)

[John Bloom]

28 minutes ago, Jeff Perkins / Mn said:

OK, what did I work on yesterday……

 

WARNING: Cute Grandchild story alert…….

For several years now (since age 5) Grandson Rosco has always shown a fascination for riding in our various Model T Fords. He is more interested in watching the driver than the scenery. Well, when he showed up yesterday for a one week stay with us he boldly announced he was tall enough to operate the pedals on the T and was ready to take his first drive. OK! We found a dead end quiet road an commenced a lesson in pedal operation. With typical childhood impatience he told me he knew what all the controls did and in what sequence was appropriate to drive. Let’s go!  Sooooo…..here we go. I did take a video but I am keeping it private as I want to avoid prosecution by the authorities……..😂

 

That is awesome.  Pretty soon he can do all the driving and you can just relax shotgun and take in all the scenery!

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

@John Bloom 5+ years…….he is 10. Same age I first drove…

Edited July 30, 2023 by Jeff Perkins / Mn (see edit history)