Projects Giant speedster project

Guys are posting the step by step of their projects so I thought maybe you'd like to see the progress on mine. Count Zborowski's Chitty cars, as well as Gary Wales creations, inspired me to build something huge. Last fall I had the chance to buy a 1923 Seagrave firetruck. The engine really grabbed me. 17 liters (1000cid) Unfortunately when the truck arrived it was in really bad shape.
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Looks like you have your work cut out for you. Good luck, I think you'll need it

 

I later learned the truck had been through a fire. Ironic. The first task was taking the engine apart. The pistons were frozen in the cylinders so I resolved to take the rods loose and pulled the piston, rod and cylinder off. But then how to get the pistons out? Remember the engine has no head to remove. Being a T head the valves are on either side of the piston. A DUHC--double underhead cam. Yes I know there's no head so to speak. After heating and great effort I removed the threaded plugs over the valves
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After I got all the cylinders and rods out I needed a way to removed the pistons without harming them. I used the pump from my Chinese port a power for the first one but I had to refill it five times and my arm got tired. So for the next one I used an old liftgate hydraulic unit to power out the pistons. This meant grinding the valve seats in each cylinder to make a good seal. It took about 1000psi to get out the pistons.
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The pistons all came out intact. Even the rings were good. The bores were not so good, but that's another story. Thankfully the crank and bearings were perfect. I also had a few cracked water jackets from the years spent in icy Syracuse NY winters.<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">

 

nice build

 

My buddy welded up the crack cylinders and I pressure tested them. Next I cleaned up the bores. Resleeving is out of the budget so they'll have to do. A little smoke will add to the show. After a paint job they look good. 6 valves were pretty badly rusted so we welded them up too. Remember this is a 4 to 1 compression slow turning 1500RPM redline engine. If the valves don't hold up I'll tackle that when it happens.<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">

 

Then I took a break from engine building and decided to work on the chassis. The truck was a tractor that pulled a ladder rig. It was short already but I took out more giving it a wheelbase of 135 inches. It had a massive rear end which probably gave it a top end of 35mph. Through Einsteinian calculations I determined I needed a 2. something diff which I got from a buddy. 2.71 I think it was from a Dodge. I also got rid of about 300 lbs of extra springs. After some machine work involving a BMW axle shaft and a hunk of aluminum I fitted the diff in truck.<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">

 

With a Dodge rear end I needed to make up some wheels that matched the front. I took the original wheels--duallys- to a friends and cut them down on his giant pattern makers mill. Then a local plasma cutting business made me some disc wheels and another buddy welded them together. It's good to have buddies.<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">

 

wow ive always wanted to build something like this but it will only be a dream you are doing a great job so far and im glad your using the old engine. to cool i will be following this thread for sure

 

Looks like a fun start! If you ever need an extra hand, let me know (only an hour or so away) and when you hone the jugs, be careful- we had a set of Simplex jugs get ruined because the "pro" honed them too fast (they need to be honed at a lower speed setting). the result was an egg-shaped bore- no compression in the middle!

 

That woud be a really wild engine to have running through a sea of SBC's at a cruise in. Looks like an interesting project, good luck.

 

This is impressive.

 

I forgot to say I moved the engine back about a foot to get a better looking radiator to front end look. That involved shortening a driveshaft that went between the clutch and transmission. Anyway, so now I had a rolling chassis-- a rusty chassis that needed sandblasting. Rather than take the everything apart--look, I'm getting old. these projects can't take forever.--I decided to shrink wrap the engine and trans etc and send the whole thing to the sandblaster. It came back a nice red oxide. I cleaned up the engine block and painted it to get ready for re assembling the engine.
Jerry
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Wicked cool!

 

What are you planning for the body ?

 

Good question. The only thing for sure is that I want a Vee radiator and aluminum disc wheels. So help me out. Post some pictures. Here's some idea cars I've been tossing around.
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Very cool!! I like it

 

Wow! Keep it up dude!!

 

I like the idea of setting the engine back- have you thought about running the axles on top of the springs to lower the chassis a bit?

Even if you need to remove a little material from the side frames, I don't think you'll have to worry about anything buckling !

 

Dose any one have info on the polished aluminum Packard bodied car that might be the body I help build when I was at Lazze's in 2006 I have quite a few pictures of the boat tail build.

 

Wow, you are a bold individual. Keep up the good work.

 

great effort! Taking something that almost no parts available for it and resurecting it. you are a very patient man.

 

Very cool project!!

 

Great project!

I anxiously wait for the next update.

 

This is crazy! But I like it.

 

Looking forward to this build













or you could clone this......










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In 2001, Rodney Rucker ran a 1916 LaFrance speedster in the Great Race. Every day he had to change flags because of the oil flung by the chain drives. Here's a picture of the car (?) parked by my '32 Plymouth. It made my car look like a toy.

I can't wait to see your build when it's completed. These are awesome machines.

 

Cool project.

1000 cubic inches, in six cylinders.

What's the bore and stroke?

Rich

 

The engine has a 5.75 inch bore and a 6.5 inch stroke. It develops 150 HP at 1700RPM with a 4.6 compression ratio. Remarkably it has seven main bearings. You can see one run here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHXUTTWcrl8 I've already lowered the chassis as far as I think you can without major work. If I put the axles on top of the springs I'd only have an inch of travel before they hit the frame.
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