The instruction sheet for this unique little kit really needs to be augmented by a good search of the Interweb for photos and, most critically, blueprints.
Sadly, period photos are all black and white, so colour is anyone's guess. The Smithsonian has this car, restored in a particularly vivid shade of purple; HRM feels that the true colour may not have been quite so bold, and also states that the chassis, yellow on the car in the Smithsonian, should be metal coloured.
Separately the Interweb has been priceless for things like magneto layout. The item provided being too small to take any wires, I fabricated a unit by shoehorning 8 lengths of 0.022" wire into a piece of 3/32 aluminum tube, with a 5/64" drill used to open up the tube sufficiently to take all 8 wires. The kit comes with 8 spark plugs, and I used black tube from one of the aftermarket distributor kits to make boots. The result looks OK even if the plugs are too tall.
Next is identifying which of the remaining little gubbinses is the carburetor. Then I'll need to fix a minor, self-inflicted paint problem. I don't intend to polish this one to an inch of its life as I suspect the original paint was pretty crude; but I will try to eliminate the fingerprint. Stay tuned!
EDIT 2023-12-01: In response to a keen reader, here are some pics of the rear axle. Looks like a rod slid inside a tube? To be honest it is dead simple compared to the de Dion tube on quarter-elliptic springs with inboard brakes up front. But make sure the tube on which the two hubs are mounted are pointing the same way!
Hello, are you able to post additional pictures of the rear suspension? It seems harder to decipher than the front. I still have zero idea how you were able to complete this gem other then you are a wizard.
ReplyDeleteToo kind! I'm not a wizard, just perseverent. I'll see what pics I took and edit this post to include what seems relevant.
ReplyDelete