Green Hornet is back!
Returned yesterday. Much improved!
Looking forward to driving it . . . but off to Colorado on business this weekend so it will have to wait until next weekend for more serious driving.
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Green Hornet is back!
Returned yesterday. Much improved!
Looking forward to driving it . . . but off to Colorado on business this weekend so it will have to wait until next weekend for more serious driving.
Returned yesterday. Much improved!
Looking forward to driving it . . . but off to Colorado on business this weekend so it will have to wait until next weekend for more serious driving.
Are the problems all sorted out etc?
so far they look to be. I have only driven it home and back to work once -so too soon to know. Want to drive it much more. Have not had it in the rain yet to see if the leaks are taken care of. My long list has looks like it was addressed as promised.
OK, gumba, next week-end then. Are we still looking at possible rendezvous for a thorough checking-out?? Thee and me plus whomever else? Believe Cory said he would be available, but since that little blue-eyed pick-up truck driver and sleeping later than planned, he may have other ideas. We should decide if go, then which day: Sat or Sun. Pls advise.
Tom can you give me the model number off your a/c compressor? That looks like a Sanden 508, if there are some other numbers can you include them?
thanks
thanks
Tom,
Glad to see your back on track. Who makes your mirrors? Did JPS provide?
Marty
Glad to see your back on track. Who makes your mirrors? Did JPS provide?
Marty
Tom -- congrats on the return of your car to the Right Coast.
Kelly, I will be working the weekend of the 27-28th. Navy stuff. Unavoidable.
Kelly, I will be working the weekend of the 27-28th. Navy stuff. Unavoidable.
I have been following this thread and the others concerning the green coup
Lars,
I took delivery of coupe #3 after Tom, I had it for 2 weeks, and then I brought it back to JPS for finishing as I am local and he wants me to drive it and give him feedback.
Besides a few minor things that he needed to finish, he adjusted the transmission, now it shift very smoothly while before I was always worried when I stopped at a red light that I won't find 1st gear when the light changes to green. He also leaned out the carburetor a little bit, although it backfires still a little bit, it is much better than before. I will get it tune better after the 1000-1500 miles break in period. He also adjusted the front suspension as I will be using it both for surface street and freeway driving so I don't want it to be too stiff. I like stiff chassis, but I don't need too stiff suspension. He further insulate the engine and transmission, now the "noise" is a good engine, induction and exhaust noise.
I have about 400 miles already, so far it has no oil leaks, so I am happy. I have not tried it driving in the rain as there is no rain in So Cal, so I can't attest to how waterproof it is, but there is no air coming through the door, although now that is a bit cold, I can feel some air coming in from the footwell area.
There are still a lot I need to learn about the car, and a lot of little adjustments need to be done to fit how I want it to be, however, that is part of the fun owning this type of car.
Last time I visited JPS, car #5 is almost done, and he has about a few coupe more going, and I believe as he builds more, he will learn more and more how to do it better
I took delivery of coupe #3 after Tom, I had it for 2 weeks, and then I brought it back to JPS for finishing as I am local and he wants me to drive it and give him feedback.
Besides a few minor things that he needed to finish, he adjusted the transmission, now it shift very smoothly while before I was always worried when I stopped at a red light that I won't find 1st gear when the light changes to green. He also leaned out the carburetor a little bit, although it backfires still a little bit, it is much better than before. I will get it tune better after the 1000-1500 miles break in period. He also adjusted the front suspension as I will be using it both for surface street and freeway driving so I don't want it to be too stiff. I like stiff chassis, but I don't need too stiff suspension. He further insulate the engine and transmission, now the "noise" is a good engine, induction and exhaust noise.
I have about 400 miles already, so far it has no oil leaks, so I am happy. I have not tried it driving in the rain as there is no rain in So Cal, so I can't attest to how waterproof it is, but there is no air coming through the door, although now that is a bit cold, I can feel some air coming in from the footwell area.
There are still a lot I need to learn about the car, and a lot of little adjustments need to be done to fit how I want it to be, however, that is part of the fun owning this type of car.
Last time I visited JPS, car #5 is almost done, and he has about a few coupe more going, and I believe as he builds more, he will learn more and more how to do it better
Eddy,
Glad to hear you are satisfied. I am based in Europe but I plan to give John a visit soon and put in my order...
Lars
Glad to hear you are satisfied. I am based in Europe but I plan to give John a visit soon and put in my order...
Lars
Sorry to be so out of pocket - work has me been consuming my life lately. I am still working on some issues. Most stem from leaks in the rain. Engine is great - no more oil leaks. Car is very fun to drive, but falls short as a reasonable daily driver in wet weather or cold climes. Working on a way to improve defog capabilities and considering a aux heater. Want more details? PM me at tomdewaltATmac.com
Tom:
Glad to hear things are slowly improving.
Go for a gas or diesel heater - either will make a BIG difference.
Several folks on here have done the aux heater install, so do a search on BN-2 or BN-4 and see what turns up, or contact Stan about his install.
gn
Glad to hear things are slowly improving.
Go for a gas or diesel heater - either will make a BIG difference.
Several folks on here have done the aux heater install, so do a search on BN-2 or BN-4 and see what turns up, or contact Stan about his install.
gn
Hey Tom, with all the hub-bub about the coupe I'd forgotten that your Speedster was damaged. Is it back on the road?
I'd be happy to talk with anybody about my Espar gas heater, but I don't think it's going to get at the root of what's eating Tom. I'm pretty sure the major problems he's experiencing are related to air and water leaks, although we have never spoken.
I didn't know for sure how this whole thing would play out ahead of time, but based on my experience trying to make a JPS speedster more weather tight, I was reasonably sure that this coupe would leak a lot of air and water from places besides the top, and as a result fall well short of the original goal of an all-weather replica.
Contrary to popular thought, the main impediment to using most CA built replicas in cold and wet weather is not the top and side curtains. These can be modified to seal reasonably well with a bit of work (I outlined how in a post about 5 years ago). On my JPS, air leaked around the door frames, in the hood hinge holes, up the tunnel and out the shifter and e-brake, and most importantly: at the pan/body junction just aft of the access panel in the frame horn area.
I worked diligently to seal up these leaks without any real success, and I'm a persistent guy with a strong mechanical background and access to a lot of tools. I pulled up the carpet behind my seats, and shot three full tubes of silicone in "the crack", and John uses spray foam where a lot of builders don't. Maybe some ice and water dam would have helped, but then the carpet wouldn't have fit correctly. The problem is in the design of this area, and the fact that it can't really be fixed after the body has been joined to the pan, and certainly not with the transaxle in the car. There were many (really, MANY) other leaks, large and small. It was like whack-a-mole, only I couldn't really ever get Punksatony Phil back in the hole.
On the surface, a replica coupe seems like a great idea. But the world doesn't need a leaky coupe any more than a submarine needs a screen door. Sacrificing the best of what's good about a speedster replica (the top-down part), for no functional difference as year-round transportation in the rust belt seems to fall pretty far short of what a likely coupe buyer is looking for-- and yet it is what I fully expected from this project.
In my experience, folks from Southern California have no real perspective on what cold weather really is, and as a result make compromises that no midwesterner (or easterner) would ever consider acceptable. It's not malice, it's just ignorance of what is required.
Even an Intermeccanica with an Espar gas heater isn't going to be a 12 month car in the midwest, although it comes worlds closer than both CA built cars I owned before.
As I said here during the conception and incubation of this project: forewarned is forearmed.
I didn't know for sure how this whole thing would play out ahead of time, but based on my experience trying to make a JPS speedster more weather tight, I was reasonably sure that this coupe would leak a lot of air and water from places besides the top, and as a result fall well short of the original goal of an all-weather replica.
Contrary to popular thought, the main impediment to using most CA built replicas in cold and wet weather is not the top and side curtains. These can be modified to seal reasonably well with a bit of work (I outlined how in a post about 5 years ago). On my JPS, air leaked around the door frames, in the hood hinge holes, up the tunnel and out the shifter and e-brake, and most importantly: at the pan/body junction just aft of the access panel in the frame horn area.
I worked diligently to seal up these leaks without any real success, and I'm a persistent guy with a strong mechanical background and access to a lot of tools. I pulled up the carpet behind my seats, and shot three full tubes of silicone in "the crack", and John uses spray foam where a lot of builders don't. Maybe some ice and water dam would have helped, but then the carpet wouldn't have fit correctly. The problem is in the design of this area, and the fact that it can't really be fixed after the body has been joined to the pan, and certainly not with the transaxle in the car. There were many (really, MANY) other leaks, large and small. It was like whack-a-mole, only I couldn't really ever get Punksatony Phil back in the hole.
On the surface, a replica coupe seems like a great idea. But the world doesn't need a leaky coupe any more than a submarine needs a screen door. Sacrificing the best of what's good about a speedster replica (the top-down part), for no functional difference as year-round transportation in the rust belt seems to fall pretty far short of what a likely coupe buyer is looking for-- and yet it is what I fully expected from this project.
In my experience, folks from Southern California have no real perspective on what cold weather really is, and as a result make compromises that no midwesterner (or easterner) would ever consider acceptable. It's not malice, it's just ignorance of what is required.
Even an Intermeccanica with an Espar gas heater isn't going to be a 12 month car in the midwest, although it comes worlds closer than both CA built cars I owned before.
As I said here during the conception and incubation of this project: forewarned is forearmed.
Lane,
My Speedy was only out of action for 2 weeks. I did miss some glorious fall top-down driving weather, but the damage was minor and she is back better than new.
Stan is right
My Speedy was only out of action for 2 weeks. I did miss some glorious fall top-down driving weather, but the damage was minor and she is back better than new.
Stan is right
Tom, there may be a really easy fix for the defogger answer.
I don't know if you remember or not, but there's a '64 B coupe in Annapolis with MY name on it. I started going through the boxes of pieces ('cuz it's a mess) and discovered a piece that looks like a convertible top rib with lawn-sprinkler-sized holes in it which lays right in front of the firewall, below the back window. I don't know where that originates from when it's installed, but I'm guessing the heater boxes.
The holes aim right at the rear window. Might help? Might be particular to that one model, but I'm going to be sure to take the camera with me on my next trip down there.
BTW -- there's a NOSE for the car after all! It was under all the crap piled up inside the car! WOO-HOO!
I don't know if you remember or not, but there's a '64 B coupe in Annapolis with MY name on it. I started going through the boxes of pieces ('cuz it's a mess) and discovered a piece that looks like a convertible top rib with lawn-sprinkler-sized holes in it which lays right in front of the firewall, below the back window. I don't know where that originates from when it's installed, but I'm guessing the heater boxes.
The holes aim right at the rear window. Might help? Might be particular to that one model, but I'm going to be sure to take the camera with me on my next trip down there.
BTW -- there's a NOSE for the car after all! It was under all the crap piled up inside the car! WOO-HOO!
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