Driving #782 Street Roadster

[DanEC]

I've now ventured out on the road two times in the last week - not venturing too far yet but fortunately, always making it back home - a good sign. I'm very impressed with how it drives, very smooth and comfortable. This is the first open roadster I've owned so that is a new experience. So far I'm impressed with my motor and transmission (well - after I got 3rd and 4th gear in the right quadrant of the shift pattern). I've made a couple accidental starts in 3rd gear and it just motors off and away - I probably wouldn't even notice except that the revs increase slower. My clutch is a little heavy but it's liveable. I have plenty of room for travel so I could go from my 7/8 inch master cylinder back to a 3/4 inch if I want to lighten it up a little. The wide ratio toploader and 3.31 rear seem just about ideal for the driving that I have in mind. If I were planning to put a lot of highway miles on it an overdrive would be nice then. The undercar exhaust is working real well, the car is actually pretty quiet. And that's OK because I have a sidepipe Corvette that is about as loud as I can stand. I probably should have put a radio in it as I actually would be able to hear it. The thing is so heavy insulated that I don't think heat from the engine or exhaust is going to be a problem at all. The body and suspension are tight. The ride actually reminds me a lot of my 66 Corvette which is a compliment since it has a complete body off frame restoration. The seats are comfortable. I sit down nice and low and actually look through the windshield. My garage alignment seems to be fine so far as it tracks arrow straight down the road. Steering is reasonably light and the brakes have a pretty firm pedal although stopping power seems a little low - probably just need for the pads to bed in and use a little more pedal pressure.

There are a few things I still need to deal with. I need to finish up fitting the top and it's getting warm enough to do so now. I need to jack the rear up about 1/4 inch as it has settled a little. I'm going to change out the 10w-30 Joe Gibbs oil and go with 15w-50 only because I don't like 15 psi at hot idle. I plan to re-set the camber on the front to neg 1/8 inch and re-set the toe. Although these generic Holley carbs seem to be working OK I plan to get a more correct set of reproduction carbs for the motor. And then Mickmate says he is still working on his original style single pusher fan kit and he will send me the first one.

The ERA is a great car. There's nothing in the above that will be news to other ERA owners. It amazes me how well everything fits and works and how great it looks. It took me 4 years to build this thing from this:



to this:



I'm happy, happy, happy.