Projects Fireball 8, how much is too much...?

Nieko...as you already know the rear end has to come out to do the clutch. Or so I've read and been told. Another reason why I may pull my engine. I too need a clutch. Figured it would be about as much hassle to pull the engine as the rear end and at least I can do what I need to the engine and compartment while doing the clutch. BTW the black cherry looks good. I like your idea of the exhaust out the portholes and was thinking of something similar but not sure how to go from 8 to 3 or 4 to 3 gracefully. Wonder what it would sound like too? Sucking exhaust thru the vent window might cause a headache... I was thinking of a header that goes up thru the hood. Thanks for watching my video. You have a good ear. Minor exhaust leak is being kind though. Never heard of chopping the flywheel. What kind of gains can be made from the weight loss? Any downsides or other modifications that are needed?

 

Chopping the flywheel will give the car less rotating inertia. Consequently, any change in road grade will be accentuated, requiring a little more driver involvement with the gas pedal (less momentum), especially in a heavy car.
At the same time, it allows the motor to rev more quickly, making it more pedal-responsive, both accelerating and de-accelerating. This is especially advantageous in cars with hotter camshafts than stock, as it allows the motor to achieve their elevated power band more quickly.

Whereas aluminum flywheels are so light (7 to 10 lbs.) as to adversely effect drive-ability, a chopped flywheel, at two to three times that weight, is still heavy enough to keep the car moving smoothly, even in city traffic.

Most cars have internally balanced motors (as N-V-P noted) so as long as the cut wheel is balanced there will be no issues. (Notable exceptions would be small-block Ford motors, and 400 and 454 Chevys, which are externally balanced due to limited space for crank counter-weights. Consequently, any flywheel change would entail re-balance of the entire engine, not just the flywheel.)

 

If you're going to the effort and expense of changing the clutch, have the flywheel resurfaced. When I was very young, I tried to save a few bucks, figuring the flywheel was OK, and ended up doing everything twice. They can look OK at first glance, but at least have it inspected by a qualified shop. As to "chopping the flywheel", I would advise against it since your car is relatively heavy. It will probably have a much more adverse effect on drivability than any responsiveness you might gain.

 

Nieko.. earlier you mentioned supercharging......I am curious about the idea. I have read a little about it and it seems various units old and new (age) are available that can be adapted. If I ever get my 263 running well enough and rebuilt I would love to try it. If you do yours are you trying to keep your car "period correct"? The reason I ask is it seems the less expensive units out there are newer. If I go this route someday I would like to keep the feel of "period correct". Is it possible to get a newer unit that appears to be period correct that will not break the bank? I like the look of the vs57 Paxtons. Anybody else out there have knowledge on this topic?

 

Yeah, I've seen this. AND heard it. Awesomely cool! And i appreciate it for what it is. Thing is I'm planning on driving mine regularly without breaking speed records. Just want some extra pep. Is this thing considered "period correct" or "traditional"? I want to keep things authentic so to speak. You know.... what you would have seen " back then".

Sent from my XT1056 using Tapatalk

 

I think you might find this big-inch motor interesting.
Of course, it's not for street. Note that it is a record breaker (137 MPH), and that it is in a 1936 Cord (Originally a Front Wheel Drive)!



Don Montgomery was mentioned in California Bill's Speed Manual, when his Buick 8 resided in a four-door Hudson, also a record holder. At that time, it had 4 97's.
I read elsewhere that when young, Don had bought a Model A, and his dad gave him his own Hudson instead, to keep Don from becoming a hot rodder!

 

GMC blowers are pretty traditional. But not on giant Buick four door cars. I am 72 years old now. I don't remember seeing any hot rod Buick eights except at Bonneville and a very few at the drags. I ran a blown GMC years ago. No Buicks.

 

That clutch job will make you want to think: Why did I get a Buick? Gotta love them torque tube drive lines!

 

If you had money to burn, you can buy a new SCoT blower. They still sell Paxton blowers.

 

Used Paxton blowers turn up regularly for a few hundred bucks. Lots of Mustangs had them and got wrecked. The owner always saves the blower and eventually it goes onEbay Craigslist or Kijiji. Keep checking the ads, one will turn up in a few weeks.

 

If you are into nostalgia the Paxton is nearly identical to the SN60 introduced in 1960, and only slightly different to the VS57 first seen in 1953.

Paint it red and tell people it is a rare factory option. A slight distortion of the truth as McCulloch (Paxton) superchargers were a factory option on Kaiser,Packard, Studebaker and Ford cars in the fifties.

 

MR Fox,didn't Pete Shadringer run a straight buick in a rail dragster when we were kids?I think I remember seeing it.

 

That would be Pete Shadinger, a National record holder, and multiple Nationals Eliminator Titlist.

 

Member straight8 at TeamBuick.com had this to say about the Buick 8.

"I've got a '41 Roadmaster W/some fairly easy mods that runs really good. It wil turn 4800 easily and it will still pull from 3 or 400 in high gear.Head has been cut1/8".cam with stock duration but almost 1/2" lift,MSD distributor(8 degrees advance@idle,28 degrees total w/full advance by 2400), carbs off a 56 or 57(these are 4 bolt but you can make them fit the dual carb Buick manifold easily)No progressive linkage. A set of headers helps but cleaning uo the split manifold system probably works 80% as well. Run both pipes down the drivers side so you don't have to cut the frame. Any port work you do will pay you back if you want to rev the engine over 3200 or so. If you do the work for a driver don't hesitate to make it pull a tall gear, I'm running a 3.6w/tall tires and am going to go to a 3.4. If you have to build the engine bore it 3/16" (yep .01875),big block Chevy or 501 Cadillac valves are agood fit."

 

I have seen this mentioned a few times on the HAMB. Not sure where it started but I am running an aluminum flywheel in an admittedly light car (A coupe) and know that @GOATROPER02 's Dad has one in his much heavier '49 Olds which drives just fine and made the 3500 mile journey from OH to TX and back.

I am guessing it more about the person setting it up as opposed to whether an aluminum flywheel has drive-ability.

ALL of the cars in this photo are running aluminum flywheels and each car made the trip mentioned above...

 

As we know this is correct. Also at Half Moon Bay there was a '32 Roadster with a Buick eight in it. That I was very impressed by. As you remember 320 cid was a large engine at the time. Plus OHV. Had to be better than a Flathead Ford in my mind. Dave Dozier was running a Chrysler straight eight. Won D Dragster at the Winternationals in '60 I think. But all I ever had was 6 cylinder GMC powered race cars. Never got into the big eights myself.

 

Don't sell you self short a straigth eight is cool, but so are a straigth six Jimmy!

32 roadster with an eight? Do we talk like an Ak Miller straigth eight in a deuce roadster? That would be awesome

 

The eight I saw at Half Moon Bay was in a stretched '32 Ford roadster. There is one (Eight the hard way) that runs at El Mirage that looks normal from the outside. And it's fast. As are the Salt Cat cars and Jeff Brock. But Dave Dozier went 250 in his streamliner with a '39 Chrysler flathead eight. A less likely choice for a race motor would be hard to find But Dave raced them for years and did well. I miss Dave.

 

This Buick Eight went over 170 in a Datson or Toyota or something like that

 

Coincidentally, Don Montgomery is apparently a HAMB'er (user name Rockerhead),
as this post recently turned up on the Spalding Bros/Pat Ganhal thread!
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...pro-for-too-tall-ganahl.983332/#post-11071570

" Attached also is a picture of the Buick engine in the Cord that day.
I had just built the Cord in March of 1952. I ran it at Saugus 3 times in March and once in April. In May the Cord was lettered for the Lakes with my Russetta number. So this dates the ex-Spalding roadster photo as either March or April of 1952.
I am looking forward to see your progress on the re-creation of the Spalding roadster."

Trivia note: Tom Spalding ground a cam for my Hudson in 1948. Hudson engines were different because they used a radius tappet. However in 1949 the Hudson engine expired and the Hudson sedan received a big Buick transplant.
Don

 

I never knew the Cord was such a small car. In this photo it looks about a foot shorter than an Olds 88 which would make it about the same size as a Chev. When new, a Cord cost more than a Cadillac.

 

Does anyone know the exact intake GMC manifold Mr. Montgomery used? In one picture it looks as though there are 4 carbs and in another 6 carbs. I'd love to know the set-up in both and if any modifications were made to the manifold. I noticed different carbs were utilized as well.

 

Why not shoot Rockerhead (Mr. Montgomery) a PM ?
(And if you link him to this page, maybe he'll answer here and we all can see!)

 

PM'D Mr. Montgomery this morning. Hope I did it right. I feel like a little kid on Christmas Eve..Keeping my fingers crossed!

 

May I ask what you fabricated the intakes from for both the 4 carb and six carb set ups you used?

 

A FAMOUS BUICK POWERED RACE CAR FROM 1952(POCATELLO,IDAHO)

 

Regarding my Buick straight 8 intake manifold history.
My Buick experience started in 1949 when I put a Buick Century engine in my '41 Hudson sedan in the effort to get better performance. The only readily performance manifold available then was the 1941 factory Buick dual carburetor (iron) manifold. I ran 2 Stromberg AAV carburetors on one of the stock dual manifolds . The carbs had larger throats than the popular 97s or 48s. The next progression was to build a 4 carb manifold. I used the legs off of the iron stock manifolds to make an elbow for each of the 4 intake ports, with a balance tube between them. This 4 carb setup used 4 Stromberg AAV carbs and/or 48s, when I tried to run alcohol. The photo in California Bill's book shows this manifold in my Hudson. The AAV carbs came on large cars like the Cadillac. The next progress was to a log type manifold. Howard Johansen had designed an aluminum 5 carb. for the GMC engine. He gave me the parts of 2 GMC manifolds which I cut and welded together to made a log manifold for the Buick engine. The log manifold was first run with 4 of the AAV carburetors, as seen in the Saugus drags photo. The final version used the same manifold with 6 Stromberg 48s (picture)
The Buick was retired at the end of the 1952 season because the Lakes rules changed moving the large engine out of the class. I switched to a 6 cylinder GMC engine for the next season.
Today there are carburetors with flow ability that mean you do not need 6 carburetors (think how much fun it was changing jets in 6 carbs). But today Buick enthusiast's still must build your own or find factory dual or an Edmunds manifold somewhere.
I have fond memories of my Buick experience. The engine was heavy but it was strong.

Don www .montgomeryhotrodbooks.com

 

Don,
Your books must overflow with fascinating information. Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us here.