Porter Bicycles- Made in New Mexico, USA

I’m going to attempt to semi- document the restoration of an old Jag.

Click once or twice on photos for close ups. Use back arrow to return to text.

My customer bought it in 2006 thinking it would be a pretty easy job, well, no. Here’s a picture or two of the original condition.

Engine compartment

Multi layer rotted top-dried out leather interior

Body on the way to media blaster

Engine and gearbox out

Restored chassis

Rebuilt head

Previous brass welding repairs

The rear half of the car had sustained a lot of damage and was poorly repaired and heat distorted from all the welding, so the entire body was cut in half behind the driver’s seat.

New rear clip

The new rear was fabricated down in Chula Vista, CA by new found friend Jorge. More on Jorge later. The fenders are still missing as one was a terrible fit. The original rear end en toto was shipped to Jorge so he had a good “pattern” to work with. Apparently there were differences with the FHC, the Roadster, and the Drophead.

Underpinnings

A shot of the dirty, from the body shop dust and wet sanding, of the new dual exhaust and the missing automatic transmission, which was replaced with a Jag manual and Laycock Overdrive.

Before

After

Engine compartment

As you can see the car is now black..  I installed the engine and running gear after painting the engine compartment beforehand. Some of the new harness was also installed, so the painter could easily move the car under it’s own power. The compartment was also pre-painted so the painter could simply mask off the entire area and not over spray everything in sight. I’m currently working in the corner installing more harness and fuse block bits.

OK the corner or correctly the fuse block, wiring strip connector, voltage regulator, and cover (sans the hold down stud and nut) are installed. For some reason the fuse block won’t sit flush on the one rear/right corner. I looked at the original (before dismantling) pictures and there was no fastener there then either.  Odd..I think. I’ll spend some time there when I get back to doing the “details”, right now I’ll push on with the front half of the cars electricals.

In this next shot the headlight buckets and adjusters and all are installed. The re-chromer’s shop still has the bezels and a whole pile of other stuff.

Lighting almost done in front..

Backside of the instrument panel

Well, this should be fun… There are still about 9 pieces of the full wiring harness to install.

Got it whittled down a bit today. Only 5 sub harness bits left to go.. here’s with a flash and without a flash..

dash wired and functional

in the dark...

It’s been about a week and as the chrome parts are trickling back from the plater  (Triple Plate in WA.) I’m getting the lights all installed and wired and functional.

The rear boot lid was a real problem to both fit and make the latch and lock work again.

boot lid and chrome bits

and here’s the front. In both photos the bumpers are not fully attached, if you’re curious about the angle…

front end, chrome and lamps

Rear end of the 150 all done…except for the interior of the boot..

finished rear end chrome and lights

The steering wheel was a mess. They, I believe, were originally enameled completely. the hub, the spokes and the rim. I don’t mean paint enamel either, its the hard baked ceramic like finish. Well, this one was totally devoid of the original enamel. After soda blasting the paint off there was nothing but the most porous metallic surface I’ve ever seen. I tried to paint it with straight black Imron, but the thousands of tiny holes just caused an air bubble mess. So, it was blasted clean again and sent to a powder coater, who after two coats made a nice job of it. The old rim wrap is back on to protect it while the car is at the upholstery shop. The Bakelite  ring around the horn ring really looks better than the camera flash makes it appear.

Adjustable steering wheel assembly

This next one was a bit of a challenge. The grille originally had a lip of some sort cast into the bottom inside edge that acted as a safety catch should the main latch fail. No one wants a bonnet bent over the windshield.  Anyway, there was no easy way to weld anything to the newly chromed grill.. note (do this stuff before sending to re-chromer) so I had to fab a catch. Using 5/16” tubing I cut and brazed together a hanging loop from about the grill’s midpoint, where it had a drill-able spot on the bonnet. Then it drops down in a smooth V like  shape and catches the latch on the pan behind the grill… Pretty neat and it barely shows..

Safety catch

The next day or two will be used to install some noise deadening blanket material. Then the customer has a remote located radio, requiring an inverter for the positive ground nature of the car and lastly the speakers which also need to be hidden some where in the vicinity of the two rear jump seats..

The side glass and vent wings and chrome is in. New fuzzy velcro in the guide channel. The amp and inverter for the hidden “Secret Radio” is installed.  See it?

interior shot

Set back…

Cracked glass.... Not acceptable

The project leaves tomorrow for the upholstery shop. I’m planning on driving it the several miles there. Need some cushions to sit on and someone to run interference as the seat belts aren’t exactly installed yet..

Well the car has been at the upholstery shop for a couple months now. Mostly it’s been a fight to rebend and fit the wood pieces that were badly warped.. the new stuff fits worse in many cases… here where it is today..

dash is done

more required on the top..

Stay tuned..much more to come……

The project car recently returned from the “top shop” a couple weeks ago. They have completed most of the work, but the trunk (boot) is still unfinished and two side kick panels in the cockpit are needing panels to be made. We are unhappy with the fit of the top at the windshield header, but I’ve come up with a simple solution I hope.

Here are pictures of the interior so far.

Leather and Wilton wool

nearly done

Click on this one!!!

The new wheels and tires are on and the front end aligned and new rear springs have it going down the road indescribably well.

As soon as the remaining upholstery work is complete, it will go back to the paint shop for flaw and incidental flaw repair and final buff out. Then, my friends, I’m afraid I will have to turn it over to the rightful owner. A dark day indeed..for me…

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If you are checking out my web entries as a result of this Local IQ magazine article “hecho en Nuevo Mexico”  and if you are a NM cyclist would you please go here and take the survey and hopefully support this effort to get a velodrome in NM.

Many thanks!

Dave

PS if you missed the IQ magazine article it is here

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A surprising number of folks have asked me about the round adobe house I call home after seeing the couple snippets over on the Picasa gallery. So, OK here’s a bit more about it.

First, Arno. Arno was the name of one of early Albuquerque developer Franz Huning’s sons.  His two other children, Edith and Walter also have streets in their names. The general location is near downtown on the edge of the so called North valley. Officially it is the Stronghurst neighborhood, reported to be the 1st such association in the city’s history. I have not researched all of this but I’m fairly confident someone will quickly point out any errors…

This property is 3/4 of an acre and the neighborhood was re-platted into really odd shapes and sizes in the 50′s and 60′s. It has a SU or special use zoning. This one being part of an old veterinary clinic belonging to the parents of the 1st owner of the hovel, err, house.

The first owner was one Stanley “Ivor” Williams. Williams was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright at the Taliesin West school of architecture. I think this was Ivor’s first house he built, along with a couple friends on a shoe string budget. It was about 1964.

Wright was a fan of plain, simple, low ceiling structures leaving the details to the contractor to figure out on their own. Stanley was in complete agreement and when my wife and I purchased the house it could best be described as a dark, poorly finished cave. She loved it, I hated it. My fate was sealed.

Click on pix to enlarge. Use “Back Arrow” to return to text.

Snow day

This is the picture most have seen. The roof is shaped like a floppy Mexican sombrero, the tallest center structure is the central column from which everything cantilevers from and which houses the heater for cold days like this one..

Early Fall I think

This is roughly the same shot, inside the gate. The floor joists for the main living area are just visible poking through the left side, under the rectangular window. Ivor used wood protrusions through the walls in all his subsequent buildings. These pictured lend themselves to a simple out door table top.

The front door is pretty unique. It pivots inwards on two offset bearings. Note that the threshold is sloped!

To the right of the door is a second addition that the second owner added as a home office or guest room with a bathroom. Good thing too, as I spent the first two years remodeling the round portion!

Image of New Mexico Architecture

This is the south side. Floor joists pretty obvious here. Also note that the swimming pool has a pass through into the interior of the house. More on that later. In the background are the garages and workshop which I added and where I spend most of my days. This pool is a PITA, as the walls at either end make it very problematic to cover, but after a hot summer bike ride, the pool is the best. A true conundrum.

Looking West from the street-see Google maps ;~)

And here is from the North side looking West

..another Google maps view-nice summer day

OK, enough of the outside..

front door and Kachinas

I’m shooting down from the upper lever (that of the joists) and the steps in the left corner ramp gently to the below ground level master bedroom. The shape of the adobe bricks is pretty easy to see.

The Column

With my back to the door, this is the heart of the structure. It was 33 bare 2 x10”s  before I covered it with chicken wire and plastered it. The heater sounded like a C130 taking off when it started and just blew hot air randomly about the open spaces. The low wall to the left was added to keep people from falling onto the entrance level small sitting area, which was previously dirt with a small “pond”. I removed about 1100 wheelbarrow loads of dirt and rock from the inside, which are now large berms used in the landscaping..

Column too

Another shot of the column from the upper level looking back towards the door.

Very NM like space

This shot shows the entrance level, the upper level with the living room in the back left, the kitchen back right and the opening into the master bedroom. The roof joists are visible pretty clearly and why I like the place. It’s like a huge spoked bicycle wheel on it’s side. Nothing much is either level or plumb.

North wall

This is the dogs domain, they are old, this is ground level, no steps to navigate. The door in the background is the bathroom entrance. This was a half height wall originally. Winter bathing was quite cold and pretty exposed, so walls were added, as were the exposed vigas and the Bas relief Kokapelli .

By now I was getting pretty artistic with the plaster so I went for full  effect in the bathroom…

Sun-Moon rain storm..

Master bedroom entrance

Here’s the base of the column. The ramping brick floor curves up to the next level. The squarish base was added, as there was nothing but a small concrete pad supporting the column (read house!) The storage area doors on the left are about the only thing of Ivor’s that remain. He really liked railroad ties and rough cut lumber. The “circular” is repeated a lot, as in the floor, the master shower, kitchen work surfaces, even the master bed originally.

bedroom details

Floor detail, very big fireplace, adobe banco seating, dirty laundry…

Bedroom

Background is Imelda’s walk-in. The glass blocks face back to the dogs sitting area. The bedroom has an Asian feel, which surprisingly is very similar to Native American design.

Kitchen looking at the West wall

Only one of the living room ...

This was a gathering at “the party house” looking from the kitchen entrance south towards the big, what else, round window in the living room.

About the pool in the house, I can’t find a good picture, so I’ll tell you I didn’t like it. No security and an air gap, so I fit a 1” thick piece of Plexiglas, had a guy add rock sides to the gunite and turned it into the new fishpond/water feature.

Well, that’s the basics. Now that I’ve started a story, it should be easy to add additional pictures and text as I can.

Thanks for taking the tour.

Dave

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Previous appearance

I decided, due to scratches and just needing a change, that I’d repaint my personal ride.

So last Saturday after returning home from a ride I removed all the components and started to coat the frame with aircraft grade stripper. It took two heavy coats to soften the old polyurethane (Imron) and another coat for the primer. Then after a thorough washing I used a heavy grit sand paper to remove any remaining traces of paint.

I then surface prepped the Columbus Niobium Spirit  tubes with a DuPont cleaner. I had been using a DuPont acid etch primer but after what I thought were mixed results decided to go with a primer designed for color adhesion rather than adhesion to the substrate.

After the primer was dry I just touched it with 1200-1400 sandpaper and then wiped it down with a tack rag.

I decided some years ago that I really liked this green shade from DuPont, and had enough on hand to do a frame for myself.

The frame is 3 coats of color, light coat, wet coat and a wetter coat. After that stage I mixed about 5cc of the color with DuPont clear and a drizzle of blue pearlescent.  This clear coat goes on as a very wet coat.

These steps started at 1PM and the frame was hanging in the heated booth by 8PM. During the slack times I was busy cleaning the component parts and what not.

After an overnight cure (probably not long enough, but I’m really careful) I removed all the masking from the silver work that I use more and more of now. Then added new decals, still need to get a new Spirit decal from my supply house.

And after another 3 hours had the bike reassembled and ready for a ride by noon on Sun. See if you can find a turn around time like that from some other shops… ;~)

So, here’s the new look. I really like it. People now look at the bike instead of me when we pass on the streets. I even had a guy pull up along side and tell how beautiful it was, now that was a first! Also the last few rides I’ve increased my average speed 1-1 1/2MPH  just because of the brighter color.

Here’s the pictures…

Signal Green Imron

click on to enlarge-arrow back to return to text

double click for super-size

Turquoise and silver

"Mudhead" Kachina

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Native American Kachina lore here is a link http://kachina.us/

I had to laugh, I thought I should explain Kachina’s and while looking for the link above, I found the very same picture above in a site with Mudhead images.. computer age!!!

brake bridge silver details

too much coffee-sorry

Now that this has been up for a week, I thought I’d mention how many of you think that it looks way better than the previous color. I agree and thank you all.

Note to self: do not change saddle after repaint and ride an aggressive 200 mile week with a new style. DP you are old and the prostate is not what it used to be…you knew this.. The choice looked really good in theory, but did not perform as advertised for me, but (see below)

Note to others with minor to severe to preventative prostate health measures: I highly recommend the newish Sella Royal “Respiro” saddle. It has a center groove that is actually wide enough to protect the perineum and narrow enough nose to not cause rubbing and is ventilated to reduce chamois degradation. The draw back is it is rather heavy compared to other saddles but, a small concession for comfort and protection. The gel padding is quite tall and the trough created is deep so changes in angle (more nose up) and lowered seat post are required.  The last positive is they sell for about a third of the competitors, so if the gel only makes it a half season, you’ll still be ahead.

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Just in case you readers have been asleep at the wheel, I’ve been adding some sort of Native American style silver and turquoise adornments to my frames.

The economy is still very sluggish and not a lot of folks beating down my door for car or bicycle work so, I have been slowly teaching myself to make some selected bits of jewelry like items. Here are a few belt buckles I recently finished. All are of overlay design and both use the paste silver to both join the layers and to add a pleasing texture to the exposed surfaces

Bear Claw and turquoise

Oso-Bear fetish

Turtles emerging from the underworld Stabilized Kingman turquoise and white Buffalo stone on Sterling silver.

The turtle motif is the latest. These are selling off the shelf as fast as I can make them. Who knew..??

Silver wolf-howling at a silver moon

..and here’s a variation on the howling wolf..

Winter lament

More to come, I reckon.

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Click pictures to enlarge
Here is a project that I have been seriously dragging my feet on. It’s a pretty loosely done replica of a Bugatti Type 35 Grand Prix car. The radiator, steering wheel and gas tank are authentic. As are the Marchal headlights (not shown). It was done with a Triumph Spitfire front suspension.

In this picture the coil over shocks, double A-arms and rack and pinion steering and the disc brakes have been removed. It was pretty hideous and the 13 inch wheels really looked out of place. I will say that it did work pretty well, though in typical Spitfire tradition it turned too far at full lock and just pushed down the road.

The owner asked “can you make it look a bit more like the original car?”

Well, silly me, how hard can that be? As it turns out, a lot!

I’ll jump ahead about 12 months and here it is as of now.

Here I’ve installed a 6 inch drop Ford axle. The hubs are also Ford, but they are upside down so I ended up with a manageable 4 degrees of positive camber. The originals had a ton more, but this at least looks right and won’t tear up the tires too fast (I hope) The parallel leafs are 26 inch hot rod springs with nearly all the arch removed. I added rear shackles from a MK 7 Jaguar. Originally the longest leaf just slid through a slotted receiver. I think there was less than a 1/2″ of spring flex. I think the only suspension was tire pressure!

The brakes are from an Austin Healey 100. That took a bit of machining! The wheels are MG TC wires and the tires are replicas from Coker Tire. This was the first screw up. I never considered the lack of offset in the wheels to accept the drum brakes. So track is wider than the rear axle. We can get some correct wheels made at a later date.

Here is some more hot rod stuff. Friction shocks. I’ll do some final shaping of the axle cap and other rough stage installations after it looks like it will all work.

This has been the most frustrating part. The steering gearbox. It must exit the engine cowling on the right side and connect to the steering arm at hub with a drag link off a Pittman arm. After scouring the world via Internet (as some of you know) I found a Volkswagen box that when rotated 90 degrees seems to fit the bill. A custom Pittman arm will have to be made. The connection from the steering column to the gear box was done with a couple bicycle cogs and some chain! The column now floats since it doesn’t terminate at the rack anymore. So I need to address that so it doesn’t derail the chain. Engineering at it’s finest…

I’ll measure up some numbers for the tie rod and drag link next week.

here’s the look I’m trying to achieve within reason and cost constraints..

Well, I got a bit side tracked with the track tandem bicycle project, sorry.

I have progressed a bit more towards making this project steer. I’m waiting for my machinist to produce a collar for the VW steering box to which I’ll attach the custom Pittman arm (also in the machinists hands).

I’ve got the tie rod arms and the steering arms attached to the hubs and the faux hand crank installed.

Here I have fabricated a chain guide between the column gear and the steering gear box input. I’ve also made retaining collars with roll pins through the column at the distal support. Would not want that chain to fall off at speed!

need more sheet metal

Now just need to make some more sheet metal panels  to cover the bare chassis and connect new brake lines.

Finally getting pretty close. The brakes and brake lines are installed and functional. The original like spring clamps are installed. Only thing lacking now is the Pittman arm and the two connecting rods to make it all work.  Should know next week if the work was successful.

Hooray!  The car made it’s debut on the mean streets of Albuquerque yesterday. I must say that I’m pleased with the overall results. As expected, there isn’t much compliance in the suspension, but it goes straight and turns on demand. Seems to be about the right amount of caster to give the very light front end some “feel”.

The fenders are mounted such that they now turn with the wheels. Need some new leather straps for the hood and still have to mount the Marscal headlamps somehow. The rear fenders also need to be moved so they fit the new 19 inch wheels. The brake master is bleeding by and makes for a very nervous test driver.  I’ll rebuild it tomorrow and venture a little farther away from home base.

I came across this picture, in the bowels of my computer, of the original configuration of the car. I must say the new version is a lot  more original in appearance.

The good news is that the owner was by today and was thoroughly pleased with the results to date. I’ll try to post a last photo or two after the lights are installed and the final dressing up is finished.

Here are the last pictures of the “Buggatti”  It still needs the leather hood straps, but the owner will take care of that. Hope you enjoyed following along.

Time for a drive!

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