I was up early today and headed to the “Office” to follow Bob over to the transmission shop in his roadster. Â Don is 80 years old and still drives a Deuce hiboy every day. Â He installed a 200r in place of the 350 and has had a lot of trouble with the transmission not shifting through the gears. Â The expert said he would take a look and advise him what is wrong with the transmission. Â I am sticking with the 350 in my cars as they work just find around town which is the only place I go. Â Now that gas is over $4.00 a gallon I still could not justify the $2500 it cost for the conversion. Â Don and I had a great breakfast at the Cactus Patch and then I headed home to work on my sprinkler system. Â It is always something at Pewsplace.
I was late to Toppers and very full from a late breakfast so I only stayed for the BS and to look at Dave’s roadster. Â Dave doesn’t drive the roadster much but it is a real cool ride. Â He has a super neat heater in his ride which was installed way before they became popular. Â I also have some heater photo pictures from Gary to show you today. Â I have not tried to upload pictures but I hope everything is working correctly today. Â Vintage heaters are just plain cool looking in a hot rod.
I spent yesterday at Bob O’s helping him convert the coupe to a 12 volt system. Â We spent about 2 hours and completed everything under the hood except adding the battery and polarizing the regulator. Â He will start on the gauges today using the Vintique voltage resistors on the fuel, oil and temperature gauges. Â Laying under a dash is not something I can do anymore but Bob O can still handle the twisting and laying on the hump in the floor. Â The whole conversion runs about $500 in parts and a days labor. Â I think the money and effort required is worth every penny to have a modern 12 volt system.
I will be working on the sprinkler timer rather than Lucy so…
Stay Tooned!
Lynn
Gary took some really great photos of how the heater mounting bracket and radiator come apart. Â It is simple unless you have never done one. Â You can shorten the tubes and reroute them so they do not go through the firewall behind the engine.
Here is what the squirrel cage assembly should look like. Â Do not take the rivets out to paint as this is a balanced assembly and must be perfect to work properly.
Here is the completed assembly with cage shroud installed. Â Pits are from back east.
Dave has this cool heater in his Deuce hiboy roadster and yes, it does work. Â I have no idea what brand it is but I like the looks.
You know I like 40 Ford dashes and this is a full view of the heater with the dash. Â I love the look.
Here is the car as originally built back east in the 80’s. Â It sure has the look and is a magnet at car shows.
The first thing you need to do on the 6-12 volt conversion is add a new regulator. Â Note the center (field) is not connected as the unit still needs to be polarized. Â This is a NAPA unit that costs about $33.
Bob replaced the stock coil with a 12 volt model which is another parts store item and runs about $30. Â This is the coil block off plate for the original distributor.
A new 12 volt solenoid was installed with the started button on the bottom.
The 12 volt generator is the most expensive item ($175 exchange) that is required. Â The unit has three wires to connect as shown in the photo. Â Note coil has been bolted to a home made bracket under the water hose.
Mike’s sedan is on the cover of SRM this month and is one of my favorites. Â Home built with style. Â Great job Mike.
Today’s Deuce sedan with fenders for Gary….dreaming.
BRG is one of my favorite colors on a Deuce sedan. Â This one has been done a long time and it still is one of my favorites full fendered sedans. Â I even like the Real Wheels.