Projects Giant speedster project

It is not only expensive, it will be damned heavy too.

I looked at this a few years back for use as a water to air intercooler, it is just not practical.

If you are trying to get a different "look" how about a fin and round tube heat exchanger as used for heating refrigeration and airconditioning.
That will designed to do the job of liquid to air heat transfer, and some of them have several parallel water flow circuits through the core for a high water flow volume.
Something like that could be made to look "old" and "primitive" but still be highly efficient if it was sized reasonably.
http://www.heatexchangersonline.com/airtowater.htm

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Miscellaneous

My exhaust pipes are waiting to be welded--Saturday if all goes well--so I worked on cleaning up the copper sealing rings that go under the plugs over the valves. I also bead blasted a slew of bolts and nuts that hold the front cover and oil pan in place. I bondoed some pieces in prep for painting--hopefully tomorrow. I took pictures of the cam shifter so you could see how it works. The stumper today is what to do about the corks that seal the oil supply pipes to the main bearings. These are spring loaded conical corks that wedge into a hole in the bottom of each main bearing (7.) I looked at some new corks at the hardware store but they were of terrible quality. I thought about rubber but oil can affect some rubber adversely. I might have to collect some wine corks and fashion some new seals myself.

Jerry


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I love the different mechanical means they had in these days for the Compression Release: "let's just make it so you can slide the cam out of the way and release all the valves" great engineering!

Beautiful work as well! I have been following this thread closely as I would love to build something like this someday using a 1916-23 American LaFrance Type 75 truck.

Keep up the good work and can't wait to hear it "roar" again soon!

 

Some of the older Cummins 855's that I occasionally work on use rubber compression gaskets around the external oil scavenging lines. They hold up pretty well.

If you end up with that many wine corks you won't be in any shape to work on the car for a day or two.

 

Spring loaded conical corks, eh ?

How about some nice shiny spring loaded aluminium cones with "O" ring grooves.
Suitable "O" ring material to stand up to hot oil should not be a problem.

 

Awesome build, can't wait to hear this beast run!

 

Or replicate the cones in Teflon? High melting point and "beds" nicely to its mating surface.

Great project

 

Misc.

Okay, I know this is boring stuff but it's necessary if I'm going to start this brute by next Friday. My buddy welded the exhaust pipes. They're not as pretty as Bass' welds but they still look pretty damned good. The pipes are bolted on. I installed the big plugs over top of the valves with plenty of anti-seize in case I ever have to remove them. I also fashioned a test oil seal out of silicone engine gasket compound. You can see it in the picture next to the old seals. It looks pretty good and is nicely compressible. But while I was at the hardware store I found some plumbing seals that are almost a straight replacement. I'm going to soak them in lacquer thinner over night. If they don't swell up I figure oil won't effect them.

Jerry
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nothing boring about this build its my favorite project to follow so far

 

Me too !!!!!!

 

If those seals are made of Nitrile they should be good to 180 F in lube oil or gas.
(Per my engineering books) If you want to go higher, Florocarbon based material is good to 400 F.

Great project.

Jeff

 

Truly awesome!

I'm sure everyone here is aware of the Blastoleon Brothers work (including the Jay Leno ride posted earlier). But if not, click the following link, and check out BIG BERTHA. (I thought it deserves mention here, given the thread title.)

http://www.blastolene.com/Bertha/index.htm

 

Oil pan

Yesterday was stay home and watch the kids day. Today, I put my new hardware store seals on the oil tubes in the oil pan. Then I positioned the oil pan under the engine with a creeper. I used dowels through the bolt holes to align the pan. I smeared Permatex Ultra Gray on the sealing surfaces then jacked up the pan and bolted it into place. As I checked the fit I noticed a gap on the left side. A feeler gauge went in without resistance. Great! The pan was warped. Who'd a thunk it--an aluminum pan. Tomorrow I clean off all the sealant and start again, taking the high spots off the pan with a file. I'm still shooting for a next Friday startup.

Jerry
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im craving an update anything new on this awesome build ?

 

Your mechanical skills are impressive...what a beast, and a load of interesting details. Cool build. Here's pics from the Hunnert Car Pile Up of another Seagrave in a rod.

 

More inspiration -

 

Yoyodyne, that looks like a Great Chadwick which is an awesome car. here's the only picture I could find.


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Mtrhd, I looked for a V12 Seagrave but found the big six first. You think that radiator cools that thing?
Jerry
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Intake

Okay, after Memorial day and a bunch of other family stuff I finally found the right combo of oils seals in the plumbing department, filled in the low spot on the oil pan and got the the thing bolted on. After that I started on the intake. It was oxidized real bad and needed to be polished. But more than that it needed something extra to give the engine a little pizazz. First I had to get rid of the big ugly core plug in the middle of beautiful casting. Grinding and welding (my buddy again) got rid of it. Then I sanded the area flat. Next I had adhesive lettering cut and stuck it to the manifold.<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">

 

Intake 2

Then I used wax from a toilet bowl ring to isolate the area with the lettering. This wax is awesome stuff! And no, it wasn't used. After that I built a box which I filled with water to put the manifold in. I had to keep the whole thing cool or the wax might melt and ruin everything. when everything is set up I add the secret ingredient, muratic acid, which eats out the aluminum everywhere but on the letters. The bad thing is the weld was more susceptible to the acid and so was eaten away at a faster rate. Still, I think I can patch it up to be acceptable. You can see the almost finished product in the last picture. I still have to clean the piece up and add some black paint. And of course, there will be the final polishing to do. Final note, since I missed my start up deadline, I'm shooting for this coming Friday.

Jerry
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Gonna have to make a concerted effort to visit you when I get back to GA Jerry- beautiful work!!!

 

I have to say that looks incredibly good. Almost as if it rolled out of the factory that way

 

On target for startup.

Finished up the intake manifold. Turned out good I thought. I cut out the gaskets but I can't install it until the SS nuts come tomorrow. I hooked up the distributor and the plugs and primer cups. Tomorrow I rebuild the carb and make up the wire set. Now I need to find a fire wire cable to upload the startup video.

Jerry
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Looking good.

 

Awsome!

 

I have never seen the muratic acid used to etch aluminum before. Great tech!

What type of lettering did you use? I would have thought that the acid would eat through the lettering as well.

 

Lovin the intake........thats a nice touch, waiting for start up !


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Carb

Well, I thought the carb would go together quickly. What was I thinking? The original carb was missing when I got the vehicle but I found a Bendix on ebay. It's a big old thing with a 2 inch bore. Most cars this old don't have accelerator pumps but this one does. It's vacuum operated instead of mechanically. Getting the brass pistons free from their bores was about as much fun as making the gasket. Anyway I finally got it together and mounted although I forgot to take a picture of it attached to the manifold. Tomorrow I've got to make up the ignition wires--every one has to be soldered--and wire up a battery and temporary ignition system. Hope for crank up about 1PM. Something to think about. Should I frame the body in wood and skin it like an original? Or frame the body in metal before I skin it? See pictures for examples.

Jerry
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Metal is easier, probably faster and less expensive.

 

Ditto on this. Every semi-truck driver shifts his truck w/o ever touching the clutch.

The friction bits are to stop the input shaft so you can put it in first, otherwise you might never be able to get it moving.

Cosmo