Carlisle in the spring followed by Va Beach in the fall — who could ask for more….????

…And I’ll finally get to see Ed’s new ride in the flesh…..

….hmmm — I wonder which car Ed will bring to each show — maybe he can rent a driver for the spare car and thus bring both to each…[Read more]

The car looks OUTSTANDING!!!!  DO NOT SELL IT…. You need to keep it until you can buy another fine kit.  That way you have an in-place reference to use in building the “new” kit….

THEN you can sell this beautiful blue “better than an original” “tribute” Porsche 550 RS Spyder……

THEN you can  buy another and build it and then sell it…[Read more]

WOW!!!!!!!

Maybe Va Beach this year????

BTW, I just cast my vote for the best ever really blue DIY car on the Pelican site…..

Looking forward to sitting in the driver’s seat  —  just to see what a Mega DIY project feels like from the seat of the pants.

Cheers,

Happy Jack

My co…[Read more]

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A while back (summer, I think) Bill posted his praise of both the cockpit heater and heated seats in his Ford-based Tdr.  He made a good argument for my spending the $$ for the cockpit heater as well as  the seat heaters (easy to install while I was completing the upholstery).

Well, I finally got the wiring done and I no…[Read more]

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the fit looks really clean and tight.  Getting the grill to line up with the hood on my Ford based TDr was a real challenge…glad to see you are making great progress in “un-oops’ing”  your Tdr

“Happy i’m Not having to mess with my grill and hood alignment” Jack

Is it the new engine or the increased skill of the driver?

How do your current times compare to your times with the old engine?

Most importantly, how do your current times compare to the Sharpie’s times.?

By the way, I got your little round “thingie” via Roy but have n…[Read more]

Should we be thinking Pound Sterling or Deutsche Mark?

—Happy Jack

I tok another route re: the spare on the Fiber Fab car I sold a few years ago:  I found a spare that would fit under the hood —

I got the tire from ONLINETIRES.COM and mounted it on a standard VW 4-hole rim.  Here’s the info:

176K5AFE FORMOZA FD1 – 165/45-15 FEDERAL FORMOZA FD1 68V – FEDERAL FORMOZA FD1 1 $50.53 $50.53

The s…[Read more]

Lookin’ good!!  I would definitely put in the floor and the seat and sit in the car for at least an hour while you make “VROOM VROOM” sounds and pretend to be driving the car around one of the world’s most challenging race tracks!!

Great work!!  Can’t wait to see the finished product at Carlisle next year!

Cheers

Happy Jack

New Bern, NC is still in the “clean up” mode —  Here’s a great video showing what our storm-ravaged town is dealing with — thanks to Royal for finding and forwarding this link —

Happy Jack

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gkFHH4tyKuQ

I got back to New Bern yesterday afternoon — all is well, except for the two “portable garages” that are REAL portable now.

BCW TDr Emma came out unscathed except for a rip in the car cover.  The Bugeye Merlin lost its car cover but the tonneau cover kept out most of the rain.  A drying in the sun and Merlin should be back in the p…[Read more]

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https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=krvN9eH3pr0

By the way, Roy suggested that the problem may be that the ignition is to far advanced.  He said to 1st pull the center distributor wire going to the coil and try to turn over the engine.  If the hesitation goes away, it is probably timing set too f…[Read more]

I have a pull switch instead of the “start” position on the ignition key switch — (too much time around Ed — I had to make it act like a “real” TD or like my Bugeye — just a mechanical 2 contact pull switch that applies 12v to the starter solenoid ….

My key has just 2 positions on/off for the ignition — overkill?  — yea…[Read more]

I’m having starting issues with ManyPenny — it starts but only in certain positions of the crankshaft (I think)

Here’s the rest of the story:  When I pull the start knob, the engine may turn over a bit and then come to a halt.  When I release t…[Read more]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-seats-install-Universal-2-dial-5-level-seat-heater-kit-heated-seat-kit-/151119425748?hash=item232f6b70d4

Mine came with 2 each  5-level controls (left and right).  This one on the eBay link has a single switch body with 2 sections (…[Read more]

My Ford-based TDr seems to have room in front of the shifter for fire extinguisher, cup holder, heated seat switches, and this AMP — I hope.  So your post about this little amp is timely.

By the way,  thanks Billnparts for s…[Read more]

You may want to remove that “Race it == Break It == Fix It == Repeat” sticker from the side of your car…. or just keep the part that says “Race It == Repeat”  and skip the Break it == Fix it steps………..

As Royal says, — and I paraphrase — “now you have a winter project”

But it drives and no chassis damage — and you know…[Read more]

It looks like you went to the Spaghetti Factory and got a take out order of wiring!!  At least our cars are without CPU, ECU, PEU and other stink’in electronic modules to have to sort out….

When do we get to see the finished product?  It would be worth an autumn trip up to the VA mountains to get an early look at your creation (…[Read more]

…and it’s a bonnet and not a hood & it’s packing and not gaskets/”thin rubber thingies.”  I’m starting to get it.

I guess that means Ed needs to  add some German vocabulary to his daily chats about his fine new Porsche Spyder kit a…[Read more]

I need to go find it, the English Bone China cups & saucers, sugar tweezers and drive-in tray so I can put them in the back of Manypenny  for my next drive around the block!!

Happy Jack

It sounds like the fender bender was REALLY a fender bender!!

As to the wipers, I could talk about the special wiper motor I installed, or I could talk about the neat way I changed the auto park circuit to make them park on the right —

— or I could admit that I did not hook up the auto park feature and I decided to park the wipers…[Read more]

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…or I can just take a set of wiper arms from a 1971 VW, pull off the bottom mount sections, attach them to a set of TRICO o…[Read more]

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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

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]

The PO pulled the throttle body injection off and installed…[Read more]

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….????

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]

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The Ford TDr (aka Many Penny) came without overriders for the bumpers  (they were optional on this CMC kit WAY back in the 70’s/80’s)

Anyone have a few spares laying around that they would like to sell???

(The one you see on the car I borrowed from the BCW TDr.  It looks and feels like a “real” overrider off of an original ’52 T…[Read more]

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