12/09

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12/09

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Summers over so it's back to work on the Speedster. Been making some progress. On November 28th it moved under it's own power for the first time since the late '50s, mid '60s (last plated Ohio '59).
Just around the block but the (re-built) steering, brakes, engine and trans all worked as expected and a dry rotted "square" tire and my fear of the (temporary) hardwood lowering blocks kept the speed down.
Going to debut it at the February Detroit Auotrama in the basement (rat rod territory) in whatever state of completion it's in when the show starts. Hopefully it will be pretty much done to "mock up" standards by then. Sometime after Autorama we will blow it apart and paint, detail and upholster it, and hopefully use it next summer for what I built it for, DRIVING!!!
I have attached some new photos of the progress so far.
Merry Christmas,
Ron

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John,
I would think the 9" third member would require quite an adapter to fit to the Packard housing. How about machining a Ford ring and pinion to fit the Packard pieces?
Ron

Hey 9 inch Ford guy!
Don't know what I did but I somehow eliminated your e-mail and name. Sorry, I'm better with cars than I am with computers.
I did read it before it disappeared, and it sound interesting.
The Packard does look somewhat like a 9 inch, just a HUGE 9 inch. I thought I saw somewhere(?) a Packard 3.78 ring and pinion which I think somewhere around there would be ideal for the speedster with the new 4 speed (creeper 1st gear I'm thinking?). Anyhow I want to keep the Packard all Packard as much as possible and the 9 inch would be a last resort.
However, thank you very much for your generous offer, I really appreciate it.
Ron

1/2009 photo

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1/2009 photo

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1/2009 photo

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Eric,
I moved the steering box back in the frame and located it's exact position after I located the exact position of the seats. I will modify or make a new drag link to hook it up to the front spindel.
Ron

1/21/2009
January 2009. Replaced the original 6 w/3speed the the newly aquired 1930 8 w/4speed. The parts look great. They will need to be restored but they were as described and look like they were running yesterday. Switching engines required building new front engine mounts, the rears stayed the same. There was no problem with space as we had left room for this swap when we relocated the 6 in the chassis. The trans is also slightly longer but it will not cause a problem. We also located the steering box (using the one from the '30) and the seating position. We are finalizing the body bucks and starting to experiment with the sheet metal and bracing. It's hard to tell from the photos but the body will have almost no flat panels, everything being suttley curved. Photo pac 13 seems to show the teardrop shape best.
On the 16th my car buddies again converged on the shop and we fooled around with the new engine and got it fired up! It ran a little rough but no strange noises, leaks, or smoke so it looks like we will be starting the rebuild with good basic engine.
Thanks for inviting me to show my project on your site. It has become required daily reading.
Will keep you posted on the speedsters progress.

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