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

…and I’m whining about making door panels — Great work, Bill — you are my “if it don’t fit, re-engineer it” hero!!

I 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…[Read more]

…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…[Read more]

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’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 w…[Read more]

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,…[Read more]

Great post Ed — You have become the de facto expert on all things Spyder……..

Sorry to hear about your (out of warranty) lift piston.  But in true Ed fashion, you took the lemons and made lemonade — or was it Por 15? and made a slurry?

I bet the garage will crumble 100 years from now but the lift will still be lifting.

Keep working and…[Read more]

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 c…[Read more]

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…[Read more]

Sure 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 te…[Read more]

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 do…[Read more]