I am not sure if this is new info but I see Neal Jern's successor is listing billet rocker arms for 28 heads plus rebuild kits. http://jernthunderbolt.com/Model T Parts .html
Messing with rusty objects (junk is such a plebeian word) is NOT a hobby sir- it is an incurable disease. Herb
There is an interesting thread on the Model T forum about using a Chev 490 / superior gearbox as an overdrive on a model T. I remember Clayton (Mr Model T) talking about this some time ago.
Got the block back this afternoon! After 3 rehearsals tonight, I was still feelin' kinda punchy, so I painted the block (will share pics tomorrow)- used Krylon John Deere Green Tractor Paint and it came out GREAT! Will start tracking down rings and freeze plugs this week (have marching band rehearsal tomorrow afternoon and then a Title One Parent's Night) and start getting the block buttoned back up Dumb question- will Model A pistons fit on Chevrolet wrist pins?
I've seen this done and yes, talked about it in the past. If you are putting the 490 Trans in the correct direction....it wouldn't serve as an Overdrive, just a split-shift box for hills (3rd is still 1:1). To use it as an Overdrive, you would have to flip it around and run it backwards. 3rd would be low (direct), 2nd would be Overdrive Low and 1st would be Overdrive High. Seen this trick done with A trannys too. With ratios like that....I doubt you would ever get it up fast enough to use "1st"....or have the power to pull it.
But it says "Unlimited power with a Chevrolet gearshift..." So Clayton, how can you say it will never reach the 1st if it gives you superpowers...? The advert promises... We discussed few years ago about this flip-around transmission option with Herb, and he had some good points about not to go with it. Noise would be one downside with straight cut gears. Herb is right with the diacnosis. Uncurable and terminal disease. But luckily the sustenance medication is available, albeit expensive.
p.s. Those repro alloy rockers above are just too blingbling... They would be hidden under the cover but still...
Sorry for the fuzzy pics, but here we go- I know that it should be "Buttugly, Washedout, Chevrolet Gray", but I really like the later green. It's a little brighter than stock, but didn't feel like spending $20+ per can...
Thanks for the replies. Mac, that pic was what I was thinking about. & the NZ speedster pics. Marcus...
Bill No, A wrist pins are larger--and I would strongly advise NOT to try to rebore the top of the C4 wimpy rods. Use the whole A rod (1/8'' longer, otherwise OK) or bush the pin holes in the piston. As to turning transmissions around to make an O/D. You end up with two things that make it impractical. 1 Too much of a good thing in that there is too great a step between direct and O/D 2 Deaf as a tree stump from the noise. Too many other ways to get an O/D The biggest improvement that you can make in a pre '35 or so car is to put a modern transmission in. Even if you do nothing to the engine, you will have better acceleration because of the ratios being closer, and the shifts being quicker. I said that to Bill Long, one time of Shafer & Long Restorations and he stopped for a moment and said ''Yeah, you're right--just no one will believe you. Try to convince a Mercer owner of that.'' Herb
Lol! Well, if that Chevy engine is anything like a built up T motor.....it will be out of top end LONG before you run out of gears... The "Unlimited Power" bit is in reference to the low end torque...which it would have for days like an old dump truck with the Trans run the correct direction. It would certainly have legs if you ran it backwards. I suspect 75+ would be simple.
If you mounted one frontwards and one backwards you'd have it all especially the noise. You might not have enough power to turn all those gears. Yankee, that's looking good!
Lol! That is too many gears! I think that might also cancel itself out... ..plus, not enough hands to shift them all! Mac, that engine looks great!
I've been lookin for a Volvo M41 over here without success. I am actually been looking just for the overdrive unit, but really the long stick M41 transmission would suit well into Chevy and hardly anybody would notice that it is not "period perfect"
Yes Sir, Kume! That's the block from the '22 490 speedster that I'm trying to get ready for TRoG- if it doesn't get on the road by then, we'll try to get to Scary Larry's in May and hit the beach next October!
sorry Bill - am getting confused. here are some picks of a magneto set up on a late cone clutch motor. I think it is a 23 or 24. There is a long list of additional parts for magneto fitment to export cars in the 1925 Combined parts List (covers 490 and early superior) and I think two alternative generators were used - delco and the square autolite. Unfortunately the parts book I have doesn't have illustrations of these parts. Early 490s may have run just a magneto and no gen directly off the backing plate. The motor in the pick is ex saw bench fodder and looks pretty rough but believe it or not it still turns over with compression.
Sorry for the delay in response- these past two weeks (rehearsals, meetings, cub scouts, or football games every night and through the weekends... and one waste of a trip last Saturday to Myrtle Beach to look at a possible daily driver)) have been kickin' my butt!!! Kume, thank you for those pics- I wonder if that's how Gerber ran his magneto in his early sprinter Herb, thank you for the offer- I think I'm good at the moment, but will let you know if that changes
So far as I know, they were as reliable as any other of the era, Some years had the distributer as part of the rear casting of the generator and it was made from ''pot metal''--zamac, which was all inadvertently contaminated with lead--so now nearly all are crumbling--so in that sense, the weren't reliable. The thing that will kill ANY three brush generator in a few minutes is running disconnected from any load. If the wire leading from the generator to the battery brakes, or becomes disconnected the generator is toast. What happens is that the internal voltage keeps rising until the windings fry. Believe it or not, but running with the generator completely shorted out won't hurt the generator a bit. That style generator actually tries to control amperage--shorted out it can only make the amps that the third brush is set for (at practically zero volts) so it behaves. Sounds like BS, I know, but it's fact. Herb
Been a while and have had NO time to work on the 490, so we'll be shooting for next year's TRoG and possibly Scarry Larry's dirt track event in May... but on a happier note, fall break is next week, so I should have a day or two to dive a little deeper into the drive train Saw a thread on MTFCA about using Hercules connecting rods to bump compression, but NO info on the specifics. Does anyone know which Hercules to look for, or what truck/vehicle to look for?
The Jalopy Journal
