1923 touring - truck conversion

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Finally got the vehicle ready for the road. Having to go through the VCC process [ photographs and forms ] to get the car registered as I have no proof it was ever on the road in NZ. Have owned it for 35 years and it had been off the road for a long time before I bought it.

What's been done.

Full engine recondition

New solid exhaust flange made up, and small flex added to the front exhaust pipe.

Properly designed rubber mounted exhaust system

New gearbox bearings

Full steering box rebuild with newly made eccentric bush.

Full recondition of the running gear, made new spring eye bushes and new shackle pins all round, re-bushed the shackles. [ that lot was completely flogged out.]

Sorted out the brakes. Ended up have several goes at this. The right rear was dragging on both foot and hand brake. Removed the wheel and drum and added a few extra washers under the return springs on the inner shoe. Fixed that part of the problem.  Found the brake levers would not return easily so got rid of the existing springs, ,made adaptors and fitted heavier springs. Still were not returning fully so put heavier springs in again. Had the co-pilot push the brake on and off while I worked out how to best set up the brakes. Ended up with a better pedal feel. After doing about 9 miles up and down my neighbours driveway, I still wasn't happy with the dragging so with the help of my daughter, had another go at those adjustments. The levers at the back still did not seem to go right back but that turned out to be the brake rod from the front , coming back and hitting the diff.. Might have another go to see if I can do something about allowing the bisector to ride a little higher. 

 

I have been doing a lot of work sorting out running lights. I bought new LED tail lights and mounted them under my rear deck in such a way as they could be rotated up and hidden when the vehicle is displayed. Tail lights, stop lights, reverse lights and indicators.  In for a penny, in for a pound. Fitted a micro switch to the gearbox for the reverse lights. Still waiting on a LED suitable flasher unit to arrive and suitable front indicator lights which I will mount to the front bolts holding the guards. A previous owner had drilled quite a few holes in the dash but I have now used them to fit and indicator switch [ regular on-off-on job, and an indicator warning bulb. I have also made up mountings to fit H4 semi sealed beams in behind the DB lenses, but will have to get LED bulbs for these as the halogen 60-55 bulbs draw 10 amps when it up. Charging can really only cope with 7 amps I understand.

 Some people may think I am going overboard here but safety is my main aim. The H4's can easily be change over for the originals as the wiring has been set up especially for it.  I have run earth wires back from all lights to the battery and I have fitted power and earth multi terminals under the dash so it is easy the plug in lights etc. 

 

After running the car regularly, I have now discovered I have a clutch dragging problem. This wasn't an issue for the first 5 miles or so. Last Time I drove the car, I left the second foot board out and the cover off the bell housing so I can watch what happens. There is heaps of disengagement [ probably 1/4 inch, but still dragging when the engine is running ]. Plates are loose when foot on clutch.  When I examine the clutch plates prior to assembly to  the car, they looked good Gave all surfaces a rub with emery cloth ], but I suspect now that in the past, some sort of contamination has got into them. I will attempt drowning the linings with brake clean before I condemn them.

[Mark Gregush]

[AussieBuick]

Good to see another vehicle on the road ... Could you post a side and rear view photo .. Many Thanks Norm

P.S. Great background !!

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AussieBuick. Will do, but a bit later.

[AussieBuick]

Thanks Norm

 

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Here they are A B. As you can see. The rear guards are not fitted yet. Still some titivating to be done and proper mountings made for them. Those rear lights all work (stop, tail, indicators and reverse ) and They can be turned up out of sight when purists are around. I still have to locate a rear light, an inner and outer door handle and 2 spare rims [ genuine 24 inch and the 21 inch that has been fitted to the rear.] Apologies for the load on the back. We don't have much room in our garage. As possibly mentioned before, the starter does not have enough grunt to turn the engine over, nor do I when cranking her. Having the co-pilot kick the starter button as I crack the engine works a treat. She starts first time every time when a little of the enrichment is engaged..

Edited April 17, 2023 by cutdown (see edit history)

[AussieBuick]

Thanks Cutdown, some ideas for my possible conversion ! Regards Norm

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Hi Norm. If I was doing this from the start, I would stick with 24" wheels at the back [ mine has 21", in order to lower the deck, but creates a small problem lining up the rear guard again. ]. The rear guard needs a decent amount of thought going into it to secure it to the chassis [ which as you can see, does not extend anywhere past the rear wheel.. I have made inner guard pieces to help this, bolting to the existing guard holes and then to the wooden deck beam.

the firs pic is upside down compared to the other two  pictures showing the inner sections added, , but shows where the rear of the guard was originally bolted to the body. [ I have also just realised someone has bastedized it to try to make it fit. [ tended to be hard up against the top 1/4 elliptic part of the spring.] When I bought the car, the rear guards were held on by the front section, and only one wood screw intothe deck frame.

Edited April 24, 2023 by cutdown (see edit history)

[nat]

On 4/9/2023 at 4:05 AM, cutdown said:

 

After running the car regularly, I have now discovered I have a clutch dragging problem.

     A bad transmission input shaft pilot bearing can cause that symptom.  It's not the linings if they release like you say.

 

On 4/17/2023 at 4:53 AM, cutdown said:

As possibly mentioned before, the starter does not have enough grunt to turn the engine over, nor do I when cranking her.

          I have great luck hand starting my 24'.

     When the engine is cold, ignition off I shut the timing to after TDC, enricher about 3/4 full and about 1/2 throttle.  Pull the crank through four compressions.

     Set the enricher to 1/4-1/3 of the way out and throttle at a fast idle.  Ignition on and it should start on the first pull.

     

On 4/23/2023 at 10:32 PM, cutdown said:

the firs pic is upside down compared to the other two 

     I thought that was a Southern/Northern hemisphere thing.

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I think I fixed the clutch problem yesterday. Somehow, I had put the anti-rattle springs on the back plate and not the front plate. The back plate didn't seem to move easily so cut both springs out. Works fine now.  Two days ago, I was reading about the clutch and saw in the manual that the are supposed to be fitted to the front plate. I don't remember seeing that before so If removing them didn't fix the problem, I was going to have to remove the box anyway so just did it. Straight away, I was able to shift gears easily when it was still hot.  Raining at the moment so wont be doing a real test for the moment. Everything has been some sort of learning curve on that vehicle.

The springs were probably causing seven linings to rub, whereas on the front plate, they would have caused only one lining to rub. Without the springs, everything comes free.

[Minibago]

Nothing wrong with learning from experience, reading the past threads can allow you to learn from others experiences, this path is often quicker and cheaper.

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Drove the car yesterday with no problems. Even did silent gear changes from second into top. Another thing I have learned now is the sound of the rattle caused by not having those springs in place. Its quite loud when the floorboards are out. No problem though. [ It only happens at idle  and most auto engines were not designed to idle for long periods. They are meant to be driven.]  Not pulling that bugger out again until its done its job.

Edited April 29, 2023 by cutdown (see edit history)

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Just sorting out the hardware for the soft top. Making sure it will fold back down. It was previously always going to be up prior to me owning it.[ its made from the original Touring irons, with my modification.]  Hard to tell with the second pic but shows the outer door handle I had to make for the car. I also made an inner one to go with it.  They look the part but not quite the perfect match. They will do until I find replacements. You may also notice the H4 light units sitting behind the DB lenses.  I have Paul Goff LED head lamp bulbs in there. They a really bright. Its a modified Touring so why not go all the way. In the first pic you can see the front indicator lamps. Engine has eased up a bit now and I can start it by hand hot or cold [ even without pulling the lever around to give it a faster idle. ] The bike is a Commando. Its done the length of NZ several times..

Edited May 23, 2023 by cutdown (see edit history)

[Minibago]

On 4/29/2023 at 6:45 PM, cutdown said:

Drove the car yesterday with no problems. Even did silent gear changes from second into top. Another thing I have learned now is the sound of the rattle caused by not having those springs in place. Its quite loud when the floorboards are out. No problem though. [ It only happens at idle  and most auto engines were not designed to idle for long periods. They are meant to be driven.]  Not pulling that bugger out again until its done its job.

The rattle is caused by the clutch plates rattling on the pins, this will elongate the holes in the plates and cause wear / indentation marks on the pins.

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Cant do much about it now. The plates already have elongated holes and I'm better spending my time doing all the other jobs. Besides, and as I mentioned earlier, this car is meant to be driven, not idled.

 

Thanks for your comment though.

Edited May 23, 2023 by cutdown (see edit history)