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For the record, Roy’s recollection is right: TDs (and TFs and TCs, etc.) had plywood floors. The chassis was steel—it looked like C channel but was actually a rectangular tube that was relieved on its inboard sides. The body panels were framed internally with ash wood—that’s the “wood frame” people talk about and it is hard to repair if it rots, because you have to peel off the sheet metal, then build the framing to very precise tolerances, then replace the sheet metal without using any serious heat (which could burn the wood). So its cold-hammer, by hand, slowly and carefully. Just a joy if that’s the kind of thing that brings you joy. Not so much if you like actually driving the car….
Fiberglass work SUCKS!!
Well, I recently learned where my talents DO NOT lie — I HATE FIBERGLASS WORK!!!!!
…But it was finally time to get the firewall sealed up so that I could get on with putting the rest of the car together and also get the wiring finished and the dash installed. But what a royal pain in the butt…..
And even though Roy came over to provide a Tech Assist and moral support, it was still some of the worst, sloppiest, hardest stuff I have ever done on the car…..or in my life, for that matter…….
Luckily the sound dampening mat that I ordered form Amazon will cover up the dregs and overspill of fiberglass so only you all will know what lies under the shiny mat under the carpet!!
…But then again, it may not be as bad as I am making it out to be. It certainly is well sealed and seems pretty strong — just not pretty to look at.
So now it just needs to have a couple of thin spots re-glassed, some caulking to be added under the battery box, and then I’ll call this part of the project “done and good riddance.”
Ed, I’m REALLY envious of the work you did on your fender widening fiberglass project…Lots of Kudos to you for that work….
Now on to getting the rest of the car put together
“Happy to NOT be doing fiberglass work ever again once this car is finished being glassed” Jack
Jack, now would be the time to consider opening up the horizontal portion of your cowl above the pedal assembly. If you would ever need to get to your stop light switch or pedal bushings, whatever, it will beat laying on your back through the door opening working blind by feel. (Can you tell I’ve been there?)
Looking good though. Keep it up.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"Hi Folks,
Well it has been 2 months since the last update — this car has provided lots of opportunities to test my resolve and help me learn to curb my bad habit of cussin’ like a sailor when things go awry.
So for the bad: Doors don’t fit flat against the body; inside of the doors were cut out by one of the previous owners so now the door latch assembly lacks a back hole mounting place; hood was mis-cut and had to be jimmied to fit the car body; sides were mis-cut and had to be re-trimmed to fit; front fenders were mis-trimmed and had to be adjusted; top bow mounts interfere with the seat back; engine won’t idle below 2500 RPM; fuel gauge does not work; fog lights light up the bumper instead of the road; windshield “mysteriously” cracked one night when no one was watching; shifter slams against the driver’s seat bottom — needs to be bent a bit to clear the seat when going into reverse; radiator had to be mounted at an angle to clear the side panels; firewall panel was mis-cut and had to be patched to close up big holes left after mounting the firewall panel; engine location interfered with heater assembly making running the heater hoses a problem….
Fixing/dealing with these issues and whatever else I forgot to mention kind of filled up the past few months. But except for the idle problem (maybe a vacuum leak is what Royal suggested??) and getting the car titled, registered and insured, and fiddling with getting the doors to latch, I’m ready for an around the block test drive…..
Hopefully any “driving” issues that crop up will be minor.
Lessons learned: Buying a 40 year old unassembled and un-inventoried kit car seemed like a good idea at the time — maybe was a good idea but I sure underestimated time, effort and $$ needed to get Manypenny on the road!!
Here’s some progress pictures:
So it’s on to more fun today, and tomorrow, and…..Monday I’ll go to DMV and start the titling process…..then we have to figure out the fast idle problem…..
What Fun!!
Happy Jack
Are those dolphins below the electrical panel?
1986 British Coach Works Type 52 (Sammy)
Chevy 2.8 V6, 5 speedSure are — needed something to fill up the space — not to mention that I’m prod to have been qualified in Submarines when I served aboard the USS George C. Marshall SSB(N) 654 Gold Crew as a Navigation Electronics Technician– waaay baaaack in 1970 – 1975. I served a total of 10 years in the Navy — six patrols on the Marshall and 3 years teaching Advanced Sub School in New London, CT…..WOW!! that was 40-some years ago — time seems to move faster as I’m getting’ more “mature.”
Here’s a “newer” shot of the wiring panel — I added a baffle above the panel to hide the terminal blocks and wire bundles.
The panel has the heater blower switch, the heater valve knob, a 12 volt outlet, and a dual USB outlet — plus the Dolphins, of course!!
But I have to fess up and tell the truth — the “Dolphins on the Dash” was not original. Royal — my friend and fellow TDr owner down the road about 5 miles has GOLD Dolphins on his MIGI dash — He also served aboard submarines doing his career — small world!!
As always, you do neat work, Jack. I wish you were closer so I could somehow rope you into wiring my Spyder.
Thanks Ed — I learned about making the wiring neat and traceable after screwing up on the Bug Eye — after all the wiring was finished, I decided to remove the ammeter and install a vacuum gauge. The space under the dash was so tight and the wiring so mixed up that it took forever to figure out which wire went where and did what…
On this car — not so much of a problem. sSo now that I have to troubleshoot the fuel gauge not working, I can actually follow a wiring diagram and have labeled, color-coded wires to follow in pursuit of the culprit!!
But talk about hard work and detail above and beyond — you are Da Man!! Da Spyder Man!!
Can’t wait to see your Spyder in the flesh. Hmm — maybe we can all meet in Va Beach this October. Maybe one of our former military people (like Royal, for instance) could arrange a tour of Oceana Naval Air Station and maybe even arrange for parking on a parade field or in front of the Navy Exchange where we can show off our fine cars……who needs the Porsche club this year!!
Happy Jack
I was in sub school in 1968. Served on diesel/electric for 4 years active. Stationed 2 years in Key West and 2 years in Groton (1970 and 1971). Supply Officer and Weapons Officer.
1986 British Coach Works Type 52 (Sammy)
Chevy 2.8 V6, 5 speedI first “qualified” in submarines in 1963 aboard WWII’s USS Croaker SS246. (Silver Dolphins.) Was lucky to be accepted into a college program and in ’67, after graduating University on North Carolina (by this time as an E6), attended submarine school as an officer. (Gold Dolphins.) Spent my 24 years up and down the east coast on Nuclear Submarines in many positions and at lots of different duty stations. I miss submarines, but not the Nuclear Navy (24 years was enough).
Hey Folks,
Almost there– only 48 items left on my to do list……not to mention getting this “untitled kit Car” titled in North Carolina.
What a process…..I had the DMV State Police Officer come out and inspect the car and tell me what I needed to do to get the car titled. Seems I need a Surety Bond for 1 1/2 times the value of the car, two statements of value from dealers, affidavits of why there is no existing title, bill of sale for the engine and transmission, etc, etc, etc….and a unique North Carolina VIN number attached to the car by the DMV Officer.
So on to getting these steps accomplished. So far, I’ve requested the NC VIN, asked the Seller for a Bill of Sale on the engine and transmission, and found a Surety Bond company. It seems that the rest will just have to percolate through the system and just needs time and patience.
In the mean time, I get to finish the door panels, find the vacuum leak, and dream about driving the car.
What Fun!!
Happy Jack
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IT’S ALIVE!!!
I finally got the North Carolina VIN attached to the car, Hagerty Insurance, and registration done — I timed it just as the forecast calls for 2 weeks of rain.
By the way, the “won’t idle below 2500 RPM turned out to be a problem with the progressive Weber carb on the car. The throttle plate would not close completely, even when the linkage was loosened. We (actually Royal did most of the troubleshooting) took the carb off of the car and discovered that someone had been into the carb in the past — they put the throttle linkage plate back on but forgot a spacer bushing/washer which caused slop in the linkage and binding of the main throttle plate return spring This kept the throttle plate from closing completely or in real life, “set” the idle at 2500 RPM. One washer out of the junk box later and idle was able to be set at 900 rpm….on to the next issue
Between the rain showers I was able to get the car out and found that I had a serious oil leak — turns out that the mechanical oil pressure gauge line had split right where it goes into the block — I got lazy and used an old piece of line because it already had the caps and ferrules installed….my bad!! I cut off the old end, re-applied teflon tape to the various adaptors and fittings coming out of the block and voila!! no more oil leak.
It’s now just a matter of going for a little drive, identifying things to fix, fixing them, and going for another little drive and…you get the picture.
But the good news is that I have a nice list of things to fix as I await blue skies and bright sun — sometime in the next few weeks, I hope.
Happy Jack
Great news. I’m glad to see it up and running.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"Thanks Bill —
A quick question: think back to when you had that SMALL, OLD, FORD 2.3L engine in your car — what was the red line RPM? What RPM did you typically shift/run the car?
I’ve been a VW-kit person and don’t know “kit” about this Ford engine….????
It was fine at 3-4 grand. Flog it at 6. It was the sustained 7 that did it in.
Keep in mind it was cammed and ran a 4 barrel carb. The cam came on at about 2,500.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"…and I thought I was being risky in running the RPMs up to 3500 — but this is an unknown engine that has about 30 miles put on it by me — prior to that it was sitting for a year in the PO’s shed and prior to that, it was in a 1988 Mustang prior to being swapped out for a 5.0L V8….
The PO pulled the throttle body injection off and installed a Progressive Weber carb — I pulled off the Ford electronic ignition and converted to a GM-style ignition module, a Flame Thrower style ignition coil and the stock Ford pointless distributor…works great and was pretty easy to convert…
So I think I’ll baby it a while longer while I work the kinks out of it.
I guess I’m dreaming of a 5-speed transmission and a 4:11 rear and a quad carb and a cam…….
…but then again there are no hill climbs in coastal North Carolina, unless you consider driving down River Road and going from -118 ft elevation up to around +20 ft elevation…..
…I guess my nice, peppy 2.3L Ford will do for now.
Sun today and no rain, so I think I’ll go out and drive a few more kinks out of Many Penney.
Happy Jack
Nice to see that you have the car on the road. Once you get the kinks worked out, I would be glad to help you with a V6 and 5 speed conversion.
1986 British Coach Works Type 52 (Sammy)
Chevy 2.8 V6, 5 speedI think I’ll leave the “V’s” to you and Bill and the rest of the adventurous souls out there in TDr land
— My “other” TDr Emma is a BCW kit that the PO juiced up by replacing the 1600cc single port engine with a 2332cc monster ( which I found out too late was set up for mud racing — could pull stumps but not so great on the highway).
Emma now has a rebuilt 1641 engine with center mount IDF Weber, and gives reasonable (if not seat-pinning) performance on the road.
And amazingly, setting the float level on Many Penny’s 2.3L Ford made a huge difference in the car’s performance. So far, I’m pleased with the handling and drivability of this “little” 4 cyl engine.
More sun today — more kink workout with Many Penny today.
“Happy to be able to get the car above 3000 RPM now that the carb is actually getting enough gas in the float bowl” Jack
It’s my guess that ManyPenny feels better balanced on the road, than does Emma. Now that you have both configurations, what are your feelings?
Congratulation on finishing this stage of your build. (They’re never done)
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"I need to do a”1st drive one than the other” run and then report how they compare.
So far, ManyPenny feels more like driving a more refined vehicle meant for current roads…Emma feels more “1952 car-like.”
I’ll be able to find better words once I drive both cars a bit more.
Happy Jack
While I was supposed to be working on figuring out how to mount the wind wings on Manypenny, I got side-tracked with coming up with a way of mounting my “signature” pocket watch/stopwatch panel on the car. By the way, as a nod to modern technology and keeping from having to wind the pocket watch, I found a quartz battery powered one that looks good and keeps good time — Way to go Ebay and China……
Here’s what I started with:
Here’s the 1st iteration — may be the last iteration since it seems to be working out well…
Then again, the “map light to illuminate the watches” may be overkill and may look too busy on the already busy dash.
Sometimes I have a hard time with “simplify, Simplify, Simplify,” according to Roy…who is never too busy to let me know if something I add looks out of place.
Now on to figuring out how to remount the side mirrors so that the side curtains can be mounted when winter gets here….
Happy Jack
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