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Post by Jeff Troy on Sept 14, 2011 7:58:49 GMT -5
Hi, willy,
I know Lima well. Elliott Randall and I had a band called The Climax with a couple of regional hit records in that area back in the 1960s. We taught music in a private studio (Custom Percussion) on S. Union St. and played all the area clubs. My daughter and I were among the headliners at Square Fair in 2008.
My son and grandkids are still there, and his parents (long story) own Lombardo's. I usually visit with him once every year or two, or whenever I'm close enough to get there. I'll often drive my own Bradley when I make the trip.
The sundowner option is the short, removable rear window, which Bradley officially called the Sundowner "Convertible" Window.
Later, maybe 1977 or '78, the Sundowner option "set" included the convertible window, four rubber tail light bezels that put the tail lights in a more vertical position, red and amber side marker reflectors, and a clear reflector on each side of the license plate well.
Anyway, you have a very nice looking, original GT.
Good luck with the car,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Sept 14, 2011 7:51:00 GMT -5
Hi, Donnie,
Sent you a PM.
Warmest,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Sept 13, 2011 20:37:21 GMT -5
Thanks, Dawg. That's appreciated.
Yes, KCG, it's a Fiberfab kit, but Bradley Automotive also sold this and a few other Fiberfab kits under the Bradley name for a short time when they were about to go belly up. They even had a special Bradley emblem made for these kits. One of the brochures on my CD shows the line.
The day the TD is finished is the day my GT comes apart again. I used to do a full teardown and reassembly every five years or so. The last one was in 2000, so it's really long overdue.
Nothing much is wrong, but I'd like to spruce it all up a bit, almost like the proverbial spring cleaning. It's "just time."
Warmest regards,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Sept 13, 2011 18:35:27 GMT -5
Hi, Guys, The TD is coming along nicely. Bought a new-in-box kit in 2003, and am finally into it full tilt. Spent three years on the 1641 engine, IRS chassis and Freeway Flyer transmission, and everything is better than new. POR-15 on the chassis and engine case, Jet-Hot on the heat exchangers and muffler assembly. Polished stainless fasteners are everywhere -- chassis, tranny, engine and every nut, bolt and washer in the body. Finally started putting the body together a couple of months ago, and here's where I am right now. Completed engine before mounting Clamped and drilled for left rear fender Left side view Right side view Splash apron and engine cover Custom teak dash with fabricated instrument bezel -- took awhile to find a working push-button AM radio. That's my purple plastic racer on the parking pad next to my van More as it happens. Warmest regards,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Sept 12, 2011 21:42:20 GMT -5
Hey, Captain!
Sorry I missed it. Thanks to mpm for the heads up.
Hope you and yours have/had a great day.
always the best for you, my friend...
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Post by Jeff Troy on Sept 10, 2011 20:01:31 GMT -5
It isn't ranting, it's having some fun - and while we're doing it, I think you got the help you needed.
Saying thank you might be nicer than getting annoyed at people who give you their time and experience in an effort to help you succeed.
If you're gonna own a Bradley, you'd better make sure your sense of humor is in good working order. You're gonna need it -- a lot!
Warmest,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Sept 9, 2011 21:57:45 GMT -5
Hi, SBG,
If the difference really bothers anyone, they should just drive the Bug in reverse and park it backward.
I'd call them the hood or luggage lid (front) and the engine lid (rear). "Hood" works for either because a hood covers nothing specific, only whatever is under it, whether it's an engine, luggage or a gangsta.
How about what everyone calls the "firewall" on a Bradley? The part up front should really be called the kick panel, because the car's fire is in the rear.
Funniest thing about GT1 thing is that I actually went to Carlisle in 1996 with a front vanity plate that read, "BRADLEY GT-1." Wonder what part of my anatomy I pulled that one from!
Warmest...
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Post by Jeff Troy on Sept 9, 2011 17:52:47 GMT -5
Don't assume that the car is built and wired to factory instruction. Lots of things change from owner to owner, and most of it is never documented. Look at everything. If you feel even the slightest resistance when you start to lift the body, stop, then find and remove the cause.
In stock configuration, it's nine bolts each side along the pan. Disconnect the steering shaft from the rubber biscuit at the steering box. Disconnect and plug the fuel line. Remove front bumper tubes. Remove or disconnect the brake reservoir if it's in the wheel well. Disconnect the two hoses at the heat exchangers. Disconnect the wires on the steering box. Check the engine wires at the rear (coil, voltage regulator, generator/alternator, starter and anything you see that might be connected to the wire harness in the body - watch for numerous possible ground wires. Disconnect transmission reverse wire. Check the locations of battery terminals, then disconnect the + hot (and possibly ground - depending upon how the car is wired). If you have AC, remove the compressor and all related wiring, or drain the system and disconnect the hoses.
If you have the Bradley GT Assembly and Wiring Manuals, just follow them in reverse. If you don't have them, I'd suggest getting a set because your love/hate relationship with this very unusual car will be a lot easier to live with.
By the way, "GT1" is one of my peeve things, just like "front windshield."
Front Windshield: There is no such thing as a side or rear windshield. Windshields are only in the front, and the location isn't in the name. Do you say front headlight and does your girlfriend have front breasts?
GT1: Even though Bradley actually once (once and never again that I've ever seen) listed it that way in a later piece of literature, there's really no such thing as a GT1. The Mustang didn't become Mustang 1 when the Mustang II came out. The "1" is just a Bradley GT, and didn't change (except once, and that ad guy probably got fired) when the GT II came out. Same example applies to movies (First Blood, Home Alone, etc.), record albums (Led Zeppelin, Chicago, Van Halen, etc.) and anything else that ever had a sequel.
In each case, it was the first one, but its name didn't change because a follow-up came out.
And yes, I am a pain in the arse (because being annoying can be fun).
Good luck with your car, and warmest regards,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Sept 8, 2011 9:07:40 GMT -5
Hi, Buds,
Be very careful when buying used Plexiglas for the GT. You might be getting a "deal" with a dead end attached.
New Plexiglas gulls and rears require trimming to fit each car. Once the trimming is done, the outlines of the parts you buy will be fitted to the previous owner's car, and may not match yours as closely as you'd like.
Worse, it's extremely unlikely that the holes drilled in the Plexiglas for the hinges, window clips and driver's door lock will be anywhere close to where they need to be to accept your hinges, clips and lock so they engage properly. Same goes for the handle holes, in case you're using them.
Drilling new holes in the Plexiglas leaves the unused holes visible, ugly and a definite problem for weather entry and heater/air-co sealing in the cabin. Filling the holes with clear sealant is a partial solution, but if you're a perfectionist, not an entirely acceptable one; you'll still see the holes.
The alternative to drilling new holes in the Plexiglas is to relocate the hinges on the T-top, and the spring-clips and lock striker in the cabin interior. Obviously, doing that will also leave visible holes in your T-top and upholstery panels where the hinges, clips and striker plate were originally mounted.
I wouldn't tell anyone not to buy good parts, but when it comes to Plexiglas parts for the GT, it's a good idea to see the parts in person and check them for fit against your own car before buying them "blind" and paying to have them packaged and shipped.
It's possible that asking the seller to make a paper template of each Plexiglas part could be a somewhat reassuring solution. You could check the template against your car to see how good/poorly the new parts will fit. It's doubtful that the fit of so many variables in three different pieces will be exactly the same, but they may be close enough for the mounting flanges of the metal parts to conceal the old holes -- or reasonable elongations of the holes if they're really close.
Buying blind with used Plexiglas gulls and rear windows is touchy. You could end up either very happy or very disappointed, but you won't know which it is until you've already spent your time and money.
Warmest regards,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Aug 29, 2011 10:08:58 GMT -5
Hi Callahan,
The GT CD has the complete assembly manual, wiring manual all the official updates, and roughly 30 years worth of useful information.
I'm sure that anyone who has it - and most owners do - will tell you that it's extremely helpful.
$35 PayPal to jefftroy@aol.com or send a check or money order to my home:
Jeff Troy 759 New Holland Ave. Lancaster PA 17602
If you own a Bradley and don't have the manuals - or don't want to gunk up an original manual's pages in your garage - the CD is the best money you can spend on your car.
Thanks and warmest regards,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Aug 27, 2011 14:06:30 GMT -5
Hi, Willy,
Looks great from just a single shot. Appears to be a very clean, all-original GT, and judging by the windshield, Sundowner and other weather seals, it also appears to have been carefully built.
Best of luck with it.
Warmest regards,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Aug 27, 2011 14:04:04 GMT -5
No personal experience with the Bug Pack shifter, but I've been using an original Hurst trigger since the 1994-96 restoration. That's roughly 310-325 thousand miles without a single hitch - ever.
Glad to see that someone else is also having a good time with a Bradley on the road.
Warmest...
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Post by Jeff Troy on Aug 27, 2011 14:01:48 GMT -5
Wow!
That one looks almost as bad as my GT before the 1994-96 ground-up restoration. At that point, it had 17 years and 340K miles behind it.
Best of luck. I truly admire your energy and enthusiasm. If you get through this, that car will be piece of you, and you'll never give it up.
Stay with it.
Good luck and warmest regards,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Aug 27, 2011 13:57:32 GMT -5
Hey, MJ,
Congratulations (I think). I retired in 2009, but still busy with a quarterly RC airplane magazine. All the extra time I thought I'd have seems to have gotten away from me; I'm just as busy as ever.
I have the exhaust pop problem, too, but I traced it down to a damaged stud seat in one of the heads. Exhaust backfire is usually caused by a bad gasket or some other kind of leak between the head and collector or heat exchanger.
I'm sure you're more of an engine guy than I am -- I hate them and they hate me -- but give it a look if you feel like making one last dive under the car.
Hope everything works out well for you.
Warmest...
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Post by Jeff Troy on Aug 26, 2011 17:39:12 GMT -5
Ft. Wayne? My fabricator buddy is there, and I visit once or twice a year, often driving the Bradley. We're airplane guys, too (RC, although Randal has also built a couple of ultralights). Was your trainer an RC model or a full-scale aircraft?
The following comments aren't mean. They're here to help you and prevent you facing a lot of aggravation for nothing. Please take them that way.
These are quirky cars that will cause you to rewrite all the rules you think are cast in stone. When it comes to a Bradley, most rules go out the window rather quickly.
Get your car back to driving condition -- stock -- then drive it until you come to understand it - which will take longer than you think. At 1550 pounds and steering that feels more like a kart than a car, you'll find that the little VW motor has plenty of snot. Shouting big horsepower numbers to impress your friends won't make a Bradley safe at high speed. These cars begin to lift their front ends at 80-85 miles per hour.
Also, try to remember that most street tires are only rated to 90MPH. A blowout in one of these cars can get you killed.
After you've driven your car for a year or two and are capable of correctly evaluating what you have, you can make the proper decisions about what to modify and how these modifications will need to be made. "Improving" something you don't already know rarely improves anything.
If nothing else, you'll certainly figure out very quickly that 150HP in a GT can be dangerous and is completely unnecessary.
I've said this maybe 100 times or more, but here it comes again. If you want a race car, why start with a antiquated sedan that was intended to be the most economical family transportation on the planet? Would you even consider modifying a Cessna 150 Commuter for supersonic performance? Same deal here.
You can make a Bradley go really fast if you want to, but doing so will take a lot more time and money than the end result is worth. As a rule, big cc VW engines don't last very long, especially at the hands of drivers who don't understand them.
Good luck with the car, and positively - KISS!
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Post by Jeff Troy on Aug 21, 2011 9:28:38 GMT -5
Buying a completed Bradley cheats the owner out of the car's most rewarding gift.
Much like a Heathkit organ, a model kit or any DIY project, driving the car is just the final piece of the puzzle. The real fun, pride and accomplishment of building any kit car is the project itself.
If you built or ground-up restored your Bradley, you know what I mean. If you just bought it because it looks cool and you wanted one, you missed the whole point of the car - and the best part of ownership.
Warmest...
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Post by Jeff Troy on Aug 21, 2011 8:30:37 GMT -5
Pretty hard to question the road worthiness of a Volkswagen Beetle when so many thousands are still on the road. If you doubt that, just check out some of the hundreds of VW shows around the U.S. and the rest of the world.
A newly completed Bradley was never really a new car. A Bradley is just a Beetle with a plastic body, and most of us know that gel-coated 1/4-3/8-inch-thick fiberglass can handle time and weather a lot better than today's car metal.
Take good care of the VW components, replace the cheezy Bradley fasteners with stainless fasteners, keep spare Plexiglas gulls and rear windows on hand, don't crash, and the car should last a very long time.
It's just a prettier, lighter and more aerodynamic Bug -- all improvements to an already near-perfect design.
I don't think that very many Bradley cars are still driving, but not because of any failure on Bradley's part. Many kits were either never started or completed, and of those that were, many were poorly assembled, poorly maintained or simply sold from one owner to the next and the next with no personal commitment beyond big dreams.
"Dream" Bradleys are the result of big ideas that are not backed by talent, cash, time and commitment. They often start out as decent cars, but are then disassembled, modified beyond their capacity, left unfiinished and sold when the dreamer's money or interest is gone.
Dream Bradleys that are successfully completed and driving are not what I'm telling you about here. Those cars are no longer dreams; they have become reality. Also, there are and have been many excellent projects completed by Bradley owners, and they represent most of those that are still bopping around like any good VW should.
Unfortunately, there are most likely many times more GTs rotting in fields, barns and garages than correctly assembled, properly maintained and scooting their owners across the neighborhood or even the country. Find one, back it with enough time and money to do it justice, and you can be rewarded with a lifelong, mechanical member of your family.
My 1976 original-owner/builder GT has been titled and registered in Pennsylvania twice, as well as Georgia, Virginia, Florida and New Jersey. It's East-Coasted the country from north to south at least a few dozen times, and as far west as Kansas City. Most trips were nonstop at 70+ on turnpikes and interstate highways.
More recently than in my old rock & roll touring days, I did a 3000-mile+ trip through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois a few years ago, and several even more recent trips to Ohio and Indiana, all starting from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, between Harrisburg and Philadelphia,
Bradley cars are fine. Their owners are the ones who should cause you a little concern.
Warmest...
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Post by Jeff Troy on Jul 26, 2011 20:56:49 GMT -5
Hi, again, Ricki,
No way of telling the exact year since the serial numbers have no relation to anything, and the cars are most often retitled as whatever year the project was completed (reconstructed title).
The only thing I can help you with is 1976 or later, and 1975 or earlier.
Look at your engine lid. If the license plate light is mounted on a rib below the plate and aiming up, your car is 1975 or earlier.
If the license plate is mounted inside the same recess as the plate, and positioned above the plate and aiming down, your car is 1976 or newer.
Of course, if the original owner replaced the engine lid at some point, all bets are off.
That should help. There are other little bits, but all for 1975 or earlier, and 1976 or later. The license light is the easiest identifier.
Warmest regards,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Jul 26, 2011 20:50:50 GMT -5
Hi, Riki,
Can't tell you how to post photos (too may ways), but wanted to give you a warm welcome.
Generator replacement is a pain, but not that difficult. The book I use for all my engine work is "How to Rebuild Your Air-Cooled Volkswagen Engine" by Tom Wilson. It's available through J.C. Whitney and almost every VW retailer, online, mail order or storefront.
GREAT book, with every laid out for you step by step.
Good luck with your car, and warmest regards,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Jul 25, 2011 16:36:53 GMT -5
Here is the muffler I used on the dual-port 1641 for my 1952 MG-TD project. Not the most efficient muffler system available, but didn't want a noise box and I needed the single outlet so it would look right for the car. The coating is true Jet-Hot Metallic-Ceramic, not the Whitney single--coat junk. This is the Gene Berg Dual Quiet Pack on my GT. Been on the car since 1994. Also original Jet Hot MC. Reasonably quiet, but a great tone. Warmest...
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Post by Jeff Troy on Jul 25, 2011 16:30:25 GMT -5
Outstanding work as always. Don't sweat the side panels. They look factory great!
Warmest...
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Post by Jeff Troy on Jul 25, 2011 16:26:43 GMT -5
Here's are three shots of my 1976 GT at Carlisle, complete with a custom-stainless hitch, a polished-aluminum T-trailer and one of my eight vintage race karts. One kart is fine, but I wouldn't try pulling 1800-pound, full-size kart trailer. Warmest...
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Post by Jeff Troy on Jul 24, 2011 7:57:48 GMT -5
Hey, Chris,
Nice to hear from you again.
Sure, I'm still here. Who else would have me?
Warmest regards,
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wipers
Jul 23, 2011 20:19:09 GMT -5
Post by Jeff Troy on Jul 23, 2011 20:19:09 GMT -5
Yes. Exactly like that.
Warmest...
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Post by Jeff Troy on Jul 22, 2011 10:01:32 GMT -5
The earliest version(s) of the GT manual show cars with that rear overhang arrangement.
I agree wholeheartedly with Brian -- couldn't be any uglier, but on the other hand, it's so ugly that it's unique -- and very close to cool.
Warmest...
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wipers
Jul 21, 2011 22:21:38 GMT -5
Post by Jeff Troy on Jul 21, 2011 22:21:38 GMT -5
Hi, Jeffrey and T,
I use 11-inch ANCO blades in what I think are ANCO arms. The arms fit over the ribbed fittings on the ends of the wiper barrels.
I found that anything longer than 11 inches just lifts off the windshield and serves no purpose other to look a little stupid.
Hope you guys are doing well. Nice to see you active again.
xx
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HELP!
Jul 19, 2011 15:25:25 GMT -5
Post by Jeff Troy on Jul 19, 2011 15:25:25 GMT -5
My GTII CD has the full assembly manual, wiring section and more, including all updates from Bradley Automotive.
Also available for GT. PayPal $35 each to jefftroy@aol.com. Shipping to the USA and Canada is included.
Anyone on the board will tell you how useful these CDs are.
717-917-3670
Good luck with your car, and warmest regards,
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Post by Jeff Troy on Jul 1, 2011 12:13:31 GMT -5
Hi, Leonard,
Outside and alongside the tunnel, not the pan. All one thought, no comma. Sorry if it was vague, but "where it belongs" should have made that clear - inside the car, next to the tunnel, just like the original.
Sorry I missed the line about Sharon. Please give her my best for a much quicker fix than your brake troubles!
Warmest...
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Post by Jeff Troy on Jul 1, 2011 0:12:11 GMT -5
Hi, Leonard,
Gary's got talent and he's a good guy. Take him up for sure.
I just had my dual master cylinder replaced and it cost less than $150, parts and labor. My local ACVW guy is awesome.
As for your tunnel line, the easiest solution would be to ignore the tunnel option and just run a new line -- outside and alongside the tunnel on the driver side -- where it belongs. End of problem.
I'm not a mechanic and I don't want to be one. I love building anything I can get my hands on and I do everything on my Bradley myself, except tie-rod, spindle, steering box and brake issues.
A stuck engine gets you coasting to a stop. Failed steering or brakes gets you hurt - or worse.
Sorry you're having such a sh*tty time with your car.
Warmest...
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Post by Jeff Troy on Jun 19, 2011 22:12:17 GMT -5
Hi, Gary,
Happy Fathers Day. Hope you have many more. Watching these guys grow up is amazing.
Love those pony cars you build - probably the only Mustangs that run without any problems!
Warmest...
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