October's 4 Banger Meeting,...now in session!

Thought I'd start this off since I've been working third shift and even though I had a day off I'm still keeping my same insane schedule!!

Well, as some of you know, I have revived an old car club that dates back to the mid 1930s that ran at the dry lakes of California, the Hot Irons car club. (see for more info - http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=207183&highlight=hot+irons )
Along with a few friends and an original member its pretty wild,...history is where its at!!

I'm pretty pshyched about the fact that I was able to track down some family members to past Hot Iron club members. One actually found ME on Ancestry.com....it was pretty cool. After talking with her brother, I found that he kept a TON of his father's photos, trophys, etc. I'm trying to work it out to head out and visit him next month, but that will all depend on work, etc. Club support T-Shirts have been printed up to help support the ongoings of the club, research, etc. $12 bucks each. Anyone interested, feel free to contact me.
Always looking for info, pics, etc of the club and its members. In addition I'm still gathering history,etc. to compile in book form,...doing written transcripts out of my conversations with member's family members and our one original member who is now once again a Hot Iron member at age 90! Truely a kindred spirit, wonderful gentleman! Keepin busy,...even doing it on break at work,..guys call it my "homework",..ha!
For now the Hot Iron Club have a simple myspace webpage, but I took it out of my own pocket to register a web domain which I'll be working on to put together a simple website. For now though www.myspace.com/hotironscc there you can see few pics (though its slow to get pics of rides and other member's, etc. with everyone's schedules!)

On the hot rod front,...got my new Bill Stipe 340 cam,...an H&H pressure plate, and next week ging to my friend's to pick up an old Winfield carb on a Winfield single carb intake with an extra parts carb that will go with it. Found a Columbia II speed rear axle,...need to know some info on any differences on those between the years if they differ and if so, how, etc.?? So I'm considering running the Columbia rear for travelling.
Still looking for info on running a "B" transmission with '39 gears in it,..so if anyone has any,..pics, etc. post them or send them to me! I'm also looking for a good solid "B" trans case or complete tranmission for a reasonable price,...let me know if ya have something and can help, it will be much appreciated! Engine is in its build process now,..oh yes, and we're stroking her out with an offset to the "C" crank also,...she outta purr something beautiful when she's done and dropped in!!

In addition, I've been making some really good friends with restorers who have been able to appreciate what I'm doing with my '27 T roadster modified,...went to Herb Kephart's place, great guy, damn sharp too!,...and hung out for a few hours.

Looking forward to meeting up with Zach and some of you other guys at Hershey this year,...looking forward to it!!

God bless and GOD SPEED!!

 

Managed to get my speedster ready for the drags....

...and did a new best of 17.7 seconds, but was losing fuel pressure at the top end and was slowing to 67mph over the line. Reckon I could've maybe got a few tenths off that ET with a better fuel pump. My previous best with the '31 coupe body on and with exactly the same engine set-up and rear end gears - 4.11's - was 18.8 @ 70mph, so I was very happy with it.
Unfortunately, my front pulley broke at some point during the race meet causing loads of oil to pour past the front seal....

...so I only got the one run in. Totally my own fault for trying to run a stock pulley with a fairly well tuned banger. They just ain't up to the job. But I ran a 17 and I'm dead chuffed.
Next year will see a second Stromberg and possibly a few other little changes to try and chase those 16's, and certainly a new Riley pulley!

 

As Brian said to Cannonball in Hot Rod, "One more time"!

Heres the start of the fun...



...Oh, the funs over.



The block had to be sleeved on no.1 but as soon as one is done all the others start moving so all the bores ended up being resleeved.
Amazingly after a 4" bore and being bored again for the sleeves it never broke through any of the cylinder walls. Must have been bloody thin though!



I didn't want all the fun and games of stripped locking bolt hole in the head and risk have the mag move again so I drilled it out and helicoiled it. I done this mod on the other Winfield head on the other engine but I repaired it a week too late and the damage had already been done.



Heres a vid from yesterday of it being fired for the first time!



Had the chance of fitting this while it was all apart. Who wants to have a guess of what it is?
Certain Brits need not apply!

 

Rev counter?

 

clark,
the motor sounds real good!...

I've been having all sorts of problems with mine lately
broke a starter bendix last monday, still have quite a water leak, and now it seems as though my carbs are causing problems with balance...the rear just isnt pulling even close to the front
i really dont have time or a place to fool with it right now. So I parked it.
heres a couple videos from after i fixed the starter but before the other gremlins started to pop up

hill climb? ....didnt make it to the top...or home
something sounded funny so i pulled off....then it wouldnt restart!!!

and a 4 port riley that made me jealous!

 

Its the back of the sensor mount for my SW tach that has been converted to electronic operation.
It now reads from the teeth on the flywheel. Time will tell if it actually works!

Heres some poor pictures from the otherside.

Thanks.

Ouch, that doesn't sound good. Any idea whats gone wrong?

 

This is the tach, its BIG!

 

Cooool! Damn...that thing's big!

 

I need to do some routine maintenance on mine. The brakes need nipping up, clutch could do with a pulling up a bit, blown a sidelight and most irritatingly annoyingly it's developed an electrical fault. When I press the brakes the right hand sidelight comes on at the front. Basically it's powering up the lights when I press the brake. This probably means that when I put the lights on it's also powering the brake lights, so at night I think it appears like I don't have any brake lights. It would explain some people's driving over the last few days...

I was going to put the twin carbs on this weekend but unfortunately real life has struck and I will have to put it on hold for a few weeks along with the maintenance. I think to be on the safe side I'll stop using it as the daily until I've had a chance to deal with the brake lights. I'll do the tappets and deal with the sump gasket at the same time I think. Unfortunately that means I'm resigned to my girlfriend's car until then

Oh yeah and Clark, that sounds damn good

 

Thanks jonny.

I had a similar electrical problem on the coupe. When I turned the headlights on they went out and all four indicators came on! Turned out to be a bad earth. Thats what I would check first.

 

nope, not really sure. it actually ran again at home but something seems wrong so i didnt drive around anymore
i think it might be time for a full teardown and check everything to be safe

 

A quite month for me, that's not to say the coupe hasn't been out, it's just that it has behaved itself all month.

I'm off to California for a 17 days at the end of this week so I'll be hoping for a few swap meet finds. Not sure what I'm after but I'll know it when I spot it!

 

my distributor is a mallory YL 11A
it has 22 stamped on it for points and nothing for dwell?
should i just set each gap at .022?
its less then that now...which i am assuming is wrong but i didnt want to mess with it as it always ran fairly well
anyone know anything about this distributor....its an older one

thanks
Zach

 

'Been hearing that the early Mallory dizzys are a pain in the butt, some say junk,...not worth it at all. I'm looking to run an old magneto on mine.

 

My fourbanger 1928 roadster got its "fifteen seconds" of fame recently as it appeared in the latest issue of Hot Rod Magazine in the "Barn Find" feature. Got to drive it quite a bit this past month-mainly local driving etc. and the original old car is running just fine. I'll be taking it to the Hunnert Car Pile Up next weekend. Who else is bringing a Banger to Hunnert????????-GZ

 

I knew I'd seen that car before. Beautiful piece and way to go for preserving it. Congrats on the coverage.

-Dave

 

Do you mean NEW Mallorys?

I thought the only problems given by OLD Mallorys were when they were fitted with NEW parts!

 

Not had a problem with mine....

 

i think it is the "new" mallory's that are the problem
in any case...this is what i have and it seems to have worked pretty well up till this point...and really its probably not a problem...it just seems like the points are a little close
anyone have any insight on the point gap.... .022?

thanks
Zach

 

I think its .022 for the original dual points and .018 (?) for the modern single points.

 

thanks clark
mine are way off!
i'll have to work on it here in the next few days and see what i can figure out

Zach

 

well.....that sure made a difference!!!
set the points both to .022
now it'll fire off like nothing...and runs like a charm with more power too!
still need to figure out whats up with the carbs and get a charging system that charges....plus i noticed a cracked fuel line overtop the exhaust...
but all in all i think im on the road to recovery!!

 

Any one got a quality cam gear they can send me?

 

Two frineds of mine had Wico magnetos, then for some reason switched to the early Mallory dizzy,think it may have been a moisture issue??(never did mention exactly why though)....both had said they wish they kept the magnetos,...that's what I had been basing it on...and of course the NEW Mallory stuff sucks,....I have one,...

Personally, I was under the impression early on that the old mallory units were good stuff,....

 

Cool. Banger tuning in real time!

 

Moisture?

 

I ran a Wico mag on a daily driver in the "50"'s and the "60"'s and never had a problem. As to Mallory, depending on the age, you can buy a Pertronix kit from your local auto parts and this will solve most of the problems as there is more tolerance with the Pertronix unit. It operates with a fixed gap and is not bothered by slight variations in the gap caused by looseness or worn out bearings. I used one on my Winfield flathead and it never missed.
By the way, I still have the Wico on the shelf.
I would time the mag at the point where it just started to kick back. Some guys would get the engine turning over and then turn the ignition on, that way they could have more initial advance and be able to start with the starter.

 

I'm actually looking for something to drop my "banger" in... but it is a DOHC/ Fuel injected 4 cylinder that I am currently building, in... It will have side draft individual Throttle bodies hanging off the side of the head like Webers. Currently the engine is down to the block for cleaning and rebuild.

I'm thinking a Track T or a lakes mod... but I have yet to locate something to start building on...

But this probably doesn't qualify as a real "banger"

 

Stop by and say hello at my Hershey Swap Meet spots C4J-41-42. They are the last on the left of Main Street in the Chocolate Field, the Brookville trailer is right along side me. If you are draging around some heavy stuff and want to park it here for the day that's fine with me. I may have the Henderson 4 Midget project along for display.

 

On Wico mags, I purchased a Wico mag at a swap meet. When I looked closer at it I found the base casting broken in the relief that is covered by the foot or clamp. Just thought I would mention it. I'm sure it is rare but it did happen to me.