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Has anyone with a full fendered model A ever done this to the front bumper brackets? I know that it has always been a favourite customizing trick for the lead-sled crowd, but I've never heard of it being done on a model A. There is about 6 1/2" of clearance between the bumper and the front tires----I think it would look better if I moved the bumper towards the body about 3". This is about the maximum that the brackets could be shortened due to their profile. The way it is right now, the bumper sets out 18" from the leading edge of the 32 grill shell. I am running a stock length hood.

And where do I go to buy a reamer like that? Thats not really as dumb a question as it sounds-----just never bought a reamer before.

I gotta quit answering my own posts. After doing some more research and internet crawling, I have found that a standard model A closed car hinge pin is 0.233 to 0.236" diameter. The nice stainless steel ones which I have (they came in a bag with the project) are 0.244" diameter. Snyders Antique Auto Parts   www.snydersantiqueautoparts.com sell oversize pins which are 0.247" to 0.250" diameter. They also sell a nifty looking tool to assist with removing or replacing hinge pins. I still haven't found information on the reamer, but I know more now than I did 3 hours ago.

Does anyone have knowledge of reaming door hinges for oversize pins to correct door sag. A stock model A hinge pin is 0.25" diameter.  1932 and later hinge pins are 0.275" diameter. The doors on my roadster pickup have enough play that I can actually grab the rear of the door and lift it freely about 5/16" The wear appears to be on both the part of the hinge that attaches to the door and the part which attaches to the door frame.  I have a set of 1932 stainless hinge pins that would probably work, the only sticker being that the hinges are welded to the doors and to the doorframes. It seems to me that I should be able to shim the doors into the correct position at the rear, put a reamer in my electric variable speed drill and ream the hinges in place to take the 1932 pins, thus correcting the "slop".  Has anyone done this. ---It would probably be wise to ream the hinges half a thou undersized to keep the pins from working their way out of the hinge.---any insight is much appreciated.

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That only works for firewall mounted master cylinders. My master cylinder is under the floor. Fluid doesn't run uphill very good here.

It's a pain having to type in my name and password everytime I want to post on this site. Even when I check the "remember my password" box, it don't. It seems to me I read about someone else on this forum complain about the same problem, but I can't find the post.

O.K., I think the leaks are healed up. Bought some good box end brakeline wrenches today, and was able to put some man size grunt on the leaking fittings. I bled the brakes, and got the missus to do the pedal pumping honours while I climbed around underneath fighting with bleed-screws. Momma makes a good wife, but a * grumpy mechanics helper. I go thru this every time I build a car---plumb the lines, fix the leaks, p___ off the wife by getting her to help pump the pedal.  Bleeding brakes is  one of the few things that you absolutely cannot do without a helper. There was so much mess on the floor that I sprinkled everything with floor-dry and quit for the night. Tomorrow night I will sweep up the floor dry, and watch for fresh drips on the concrete floor---not very scientific, but it does it for me. I will probably bleed the brakes a couple of more times between now and road time. The pedal is still spongy, but Momma's ugly quotient is directly related to how long I keep her out in the garage. I know that pumping the brakes supposedly aerates the fluid, but when you have the luxury of not immediately having to drive the car, any bubbles created will "settle out" in a week or so, and can be gotten rid of with the next bleed. I know that Summit has some neat check valve bleed screws, but when you only build one car every 10 or 12 years, its not a justifiable expense.

Finally made it out to the garage tonite to bleed the brakes on the roadster pickup---even got a reluctant O.K. from Momma to help, as chief pedal pumper.--So, allright, figured I might as well get everything set up in the garage before I get her to tear herself away from "Jeopardy". --Filled the master cylinder with new fluid, bench bled the master cylinder as per instructions, put the lid back on, and started to pump pedal by hand to see if I can get some resistance.---Wait---whats that splashing I hear---look under car---Oh my Gawd---Looks like Niagara under there!!!!!
  Tomorrow I will go down to tool store and buy some box end brakeline wrenches, the kind with the slot in the box end to fit around the brakeline. I'm afraid to tighten things any more with my open end wrenches in case I screw up the fittings.--I used a double flare style flaring tool as per "standard operating procedure for brakeline fittings"---Hope I haven't forgotten how to do that properly. Ah well, three steps foreward and two steps back.

Today I went to the local PPG dealer, to try and work up some kind of comprehensive quote for paint for the roadster pickup. I will be painting it myself, so needed to price out material. Normally, to paint a full size sedan with acrilic enamel, I always used to buy 3 quarts of paint, a gallon of reducer, and a pint of activator. This was enough to give 3 full coats on a full size sedan. If I had to do inside the door jambs as well as the exterior, I would buy a full gallon of paint. This is using conventional paint equipment, not HVLP.  Paint technologies have changed a lot, and this time I am going to use Omni basecoat/clearcoat for the job. I will be painting it "2004 Chev SSR Slingshot Yellow"-----I know from experience that this paint doesn't cover worth a *, (it took an entire quart to do the engine and transmission). When I went in and asked to price out 6 quarts, the salesman asked if I was painting a motor home---he said that at a 1:1 mix ratio, that would give 12 quarts of sprayable paint..  I explained that no, only a small pick-up truck with no roof. But--------I am going to have it apart to spray it in 3 batches. One batch of parts will be the grill shell, hood, tailgate, steering column, front splash apron, and 4 wheels.   The second batch will be the bed, the bed valances, and the body shell. The third batch will be all the fenders, splash aprons, and running boards (Iwill spray them in place on the chassis).  Then, assuming I have enough paint to cover all this adequately, I will probably need at the very least a gallon of clear, along with the appropriate reducer to give everything 2 coats of clear.---I intend to clear the 3 batches about 1/2 an hour after the last color coat on each batch flashes (or whatever time interval the instructions call for), without any additional sanding in between. The number of peices in each batch is dictated by the size of spray booth I have to work with.---All told, for 6 quarts of color along with the equal ammount of reducer, 1-gallon of clear, and the appropriate reducers for it, I am looking at about $500 including taxes. I don't think thats a bad deal. There is a more expensive line than the Omni, but it costs over twice as much.

This weekend, along with firing the engine, I cut the hole in the floor above the under-floor master cylinder. This was no small chore, as the floor is made from 3/16" plate. Thank heavens for metal cutting saber saws and air powered cut off discs. The peice that was cut out was saved, I then took a scrap of 1/4" plate and cut out a "frame" that would fit against the underside of the floor, extending about 1/2" beyond the cut out on all sides, and extending into the cut out hole about 3/16" all around. I left a 3/4" x 45 degree web in each of the 4 corners of the frame. I then drilled 3/8" diameter holes thru the floor in 6 places around the perimeter of the cut out area, and after clamping the frame in place I plug welded it with my mig welder thru the 6 holes, and ground the top surface  of the welds  flush with the floor. Then I set the cut out peice back into place, and drilled thru the 4 corners of the cut out peice and thru the webs left in the corners of the frame underneath. I lifted the "cut out peice" out, took it over to the drill press and countersunk each of the 4 holes for a 1/4" flat head cap screw. I tapped the 4 holes in the inside corners of the frame 1/4-20 unc. It worked perfect---now I have a flush fit bolted cover over the master cylinder access hole.----I then took the remains of my 1/4" scrap plate and burned out a   3 1/2" circle. I finish ground the edges on my vertical belt sander, and drilled a countersunk hole thru the center for a 1/2" flat head cap screw x 1 1/4" long. I dropped the bolt into place, welded all around, ground everything flush, and Voila---instant brake pedal.----them suckers cost $50 to buy from a parts supplier. I will paint it black along with the brake pedal arm, and get a peice of one of those  industrial grade stick-on anti slip pads to cover the "face". (that stuff is like #100 grit emery cloth, with a self adhesive backing, and is almost indistructable.)

There is no vacuum booster---that was in the donor car. I just used that vac port on the carb to power my pcv, which apparently was the wrong thing to do.

Success!!!!!  It seems that the gentleman on another forum who said not to use the power brake vacuum port to my pcv set-up knew what he was talking about.  Today, without changing anything else, I put a pair of vice-grips on the hose and clamped it shut. The car fired right up, and after about 5 minutes warm up, seems to idle much better on its own, without me having to blip the throttle at all. Denny is definately right, in that it needs a gasket and float kit, but it appears that is all it may need.  This is something brand new to me---I never heard of this before, but hey----it worked.  Now all I have to do is figure out what port to use for the pcv. There is a large vacuum port on the front of the carb that used to go to the charcoal canister---I have it plugged right now, but it can easily be unplugged and used----any opinions?

There is no electrical connection on this carb---I took it out of the donor 1985 Pontiac, and there was no electrical connection .

Roadster pickup with stock 85 small block 305 and quadrajet has been fired for first time since massive clean-up and installation from donor car.---All vacuum ports plugged on q-jet except one at rear side which went to power brakes originally-(now is plumbed to pcv valve). starts good, runs well in mid range , but will only run with choke 3/4 on at idle---stupid carburator either doesn't have idle screws, or has them sealed from factory. What do I do now ?  Don't suggest get new carburator---no money for that luxury. There must be something I can do , I just have no idea what.---on an older 4-barrel, I would have monkeyed with the idle screws untill the thing would idle without choke, but on this carb that don't appear possible.--I can put a new needle and seat in, and set the float height, but that appears to be the limit of what I can do----HELP!!!!!