Anyone ever machine an aluminum block to simulate finned aluminum accessories? or source out something different to make a finned aluminum part? Got some ideas, but need a source.
I made a funky 4bbl carb adapter for a finned aluminum straight 6 intake, and milled a few "fins" into it. they got massaged and sandblasted, and came out ok. looking. sorry I don't have any "after" pictures.
I made a fuel block. I used a 3/8" ball end mill for the fins. I used a 5000 marine grade for material.
I made the finned aluminum head and side cover on the flathead engine. Actually I have made several finned things. You can't be cool without finned aluminum stuff.
You could tumble it to not have that so billet look, I started sand casting a few years ago for some of the parts I need so like to do it the old school way
Sand Cast = Traditional Milled Aluminum = Not Traditional It' based on certain Time Frames in Hot Rod History..........Jeff
Absolutely not true. When ever somebody wanted one of something you think he made a mold. Cast it and then machined it. Of course not. This is just another example of someone who was not there getting an idea wrong and running with it.
Some guys had access to machine tools back when, and made some neat stuff. A friend of mine showed me pictures of the 4-71 blower drive he made for the small block in his boat in the early 60s when he was working for the Army in Japan.
Sorry Rich, I am 67 years old and I have been playing with old cars since age 16. In the old days valve covers were sand cast or cast and then polished. Ball milled aluminum parts came into being with the Street Rod Movement. I don't think that milled aluminum parts were readily available in the mid 60's. The cast aluminum parts available over the counter in the mid 60's to 70's were not ball milled aluminum. At best and similar to my vintage Edelbrock and Cal Custom Parts were cast and then polished. Those of us who did not have access to a machine shop, used over the counter aluminum parts.......................... Jeff
I started my first Altered coup in '59. Finished? it in '63 after a fun time wilt the Army. Didn't take long to decide that if I wanted to build cars like I wanted them to be, i was going to have to learn some machining skills. Casting is great for some things. Billet for the sake of billet (Boydsters) sucks. But there are several instances where casting is not a logical way to go.
Nothing a mill won't fix. This wasn't made to look traditional - just wanted it to be light and neat looking. Here's another one - a battery hold down and switch mount for the dragster: Find a friend with a mill and you're only limited to your imagination. With the tumbling ideas you could really make a vintage looking part!
I like your parts. Especially the shut off. I always thought Hot Rodding was making parts. Not buying them. And why would you want to make something look like what it's not?
I know most of you have never touched a piece of "billet" but almost all of it is die cast to rough size and shape. Very little of it is machined (except the real high dollar stuff) This isn't cast aluminum yet, but I'm working on it! Unfortunately I don't have draft where I need it and can't pull the pattern out of the sand. Doh!!!!!!!
Part is parts. Form definitely follows function and we make up words to define what already exists. Time is relative and speed thrills, certainly an unwritten law of Hot Rods. I'm all about knowing what is complimentary and what contrasts the other. Billet is just another method of achieving an end. Cast parts were mass produced. A one-off milled part done well is a work of art. Lil' John didn't start a trend, he built a hot rod. It was the magazines looking for the next 'thing' that exploited one man's solution to a problem, to tickle the interests of others, who followed suit and were supplied thereafter by companies who found a niche, and filled a need. The Traditional Police, of course, are restricted to the use of the Time Machine only to go backwards. This is why most people talk about 'how it was' rather than living in the here and now and building with an eye toward utility. Fashions change, as one great artist commented, Culture remains. If you are building a ride that is supposed to 'look' period correct, even if you make it perfect, it is only an approximation and might well be a prop in a movie. Time moves forward pushing both the detritus and the best examples of human endeavor with equal force. Those who can sift through this morass and recover the gems of ideas that are applicable to current problems are the caretakers of our culture and the ones who manage to create solutions that reflect a deeper understanding of the distance between then and now. This is because Hot Rodding is both religion and art, and we worship the God of Speed first, and determine our place in the hierarchy by making choices about what it is we are making. Some only imitate, others emulate what has gone before; yet none can duplicate. For this reason all that comes from our work is subjective; yet some turn out better than others, and a few are the best for a time. These are the classics by which all we do is measured. Some dry lakes cars, AMBR winners, and so on. And, there are always controversial topics that divide opinions. Yet we all love louvers, bigs and littles, quick changes, Duvall speed-boat type windshields, perfect headers, flames, chrome, primer and certain kinds of paint jobs and the right pin-striping. The list is like a pyramid. And, you begin to wonder about people's judgements as well as your own. I like it but... is the most often comment people make at car shows, and get-togethers with a line of rods and customs. It takes guts to build a hot rod, and grit, a lot of talent, cash and the same spark we all had at a certain age that changed our perception of automobiles as simple transportation into a world of a thousand delights. Tumbling billet is yet another example of someone seeing how to mix genres to announce the existence of another means to an end. Old is new again. And, new is old, if you age it. Damn I love this whole thing. Keep up the good work. I bet we'll see more faux-ball milled cast aluminum mysterious parts pop up than ever; some even aged slightly with a little glass beading and some light sand blasting with one of the air-brush type rigs that gives the user more control. I can't wait to see where this idea ends up. I'm already thinking of making parts that 'might' have been made by an old fudge-fingered model maker for a company in Mobile that did stuff with what was left of their foundry after the Civil War for Post-War South-East Gulf-Coast Hot Rods and marketed by a younger version of Honest Charley prior to his 'Nuff Said' catalog. Wow!
True, but that doesn't mean you can't get 'vintage' results with a ball-milled part. The part will generally look best with color between the fins. For a one-off part, much easier sometimes. Oil cap, master cylinder cover, timing cover are scratch-built. Yeah, I know it's a motorcycle, but the method can apply to anything....
I have some extruded aluminum blanks that I made this air cleaner lid out of. I have some extras. PM me if you need some info, I would sell a couple pieces.
The air cleaner I made by cutting the fins on my table saw, the gauge panel we made on a CNC router table and then finished it with sand cast paint between the fins and then filed and sanded it. I am working on another gauge panel that will be cut on my table saw and the gauge recess ground on my drill press. Traditional ? I guess I never thought about it, to busy working on making parts.
What does it matter how it is made, as long as it looks "right" If I take some machined stuff and work with it to look like traditional cast stuff, I really don't care. I also MIG and TIG weld, so my stuff isn't died in the wool traditional anyway. And I usually use modern urethane paints, though I have been known to gas weld and use lacquer. I'm not fanatic about using only old parts.
I made a finned aluminum guage holder and stearing wheel senter, and I am in the process of making a beehive oil filter from 3 solid blocks of aluminum.
Machining parts your self for your application has nothing what so ever to do with the term "billet"...Billet is stuff that is not one off, is in tons of catalogs, one item fits many different makes and is bought...
Billet is the dictionary term for the material used, as in a block of material, or an ingot, and was co-opted to define something made from it. As we all know, names are made up to incorporate ideas not yet accepted by others who need a catch phrase. Consider 'Xerox' and the variety of uses it has been put to in describing not only the company but uses the copy machine it manufactured were put to. "Make me a Xerox of that," was used almost exclusively for some time to describe the copy itself. What is important is making parts that fit in with the general scheme we predetermine for a build, assuming forethought goes into the making of it. chopolds sums it up best in saying ..."What difference does it make how it is made, as long as it looks 'right' ". I agree with that. And, I am amazed by some of the 'hows' (or methods) that are used. Certainly finned aluminum parts can be created by a variety of means; and, their application and creation is limited only by the imagination of the maker. This said, I am going to predict more fins will show up on parts that under past thinking would have been left plain; because, now, the source is no longer limited to those created by commerce. This is a big leap forward in thinking, even if at first blush it appears to be the old saying of 'necessity being the Mother of Invention'. The parts shown in response to this post will certainly influence others to do similar things. I know it will me, and I want to thank everyone who has shined a light on the possibilities. This is major.
I was there too. I like fins. If they look good ,they are good, if they look dumb they aren't that good, but it's really not that important either way.
Traditional or not every time Rich posts pictures of those 2 engines, I get wood. That been said there has always been a huge difference in the bild done by the average 16 year old and what a competent machinist would build. And to argue about this is silly at best. There are now and always been some incredible builds both from home garages and pro shops. And not everything used came from a J C Whitney catalog or arrived at our doorstep in a brown truck.
You should have been there when Rich pioneered the use of that Y-block head on that converted Plymouth side-valve 4 banger. A nice gentleman, but genius...he explained the procedure, as if it were simple. It was all I could do to comprehend what he was explaining. Imagine being the innovator, instead of the interested student! 1959, CA. Bay Area.
The OHV engine in the picture is not really mine. Speedway built that as a replica of my motor to go with my flathead. In truth I milled the fins off of the valve cover to clear my hood. So it was not a finned aluminum part. The side cover was finned on the real motor which is in SoCal. Sitting.
Cutting holes in parts to make them lighter =faster = traditional. posted via smoke signals made with a Mexican blanket
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