Projects My GN Cycle Car tribute build

Yes. Why don’t some US vendors ship to Canada? I got my Shell/Fram sticker in the mail from AZ. Easy peasy. Other vendors did not ship to Canada, including the UK vendor I purchased the exhaust splitter from. Sticker will stay there until border opens, but I’ll have no choice but to have it shipped from Odgensburg. She (manager) did state that they were extending the 1 yr time limit they would keep your stuff.

 

I'm just saying, I have been mailing packages to Canada (from Texas) all the time this year.
Doing it the way I have, "no ships are harmed in the making of the shipment".

 

My air filter assy snd breather cap finally arrived yesterday from Speedway. I think they took over a month to get here. If I keep them, I likely see if I can refinish them in a copper colour. I recently saw a pic of of a carb with just a copper mesh over the carb which I thought would be cool.



While working on my carb, I noticed I’m missing one of gaskets that goes between the centre and upper sections. I have one, but it is not for my carb. I just hope I didn’t through tbe correct one out. D’oh.

 

Well, the carb rebuild started off poorly yesterday, and just went down hill. After taking forever trying to install the very tiny 6-32 screws for the throttle plates, and after watching a vid describing which way they should be installed (there is a bevelled edge on one side), I later learned that vid was incorrect, so I had to rinse and repeat. Later on in the day, I discovered the plates are still loose, so I need to rinse and repeat to see what the issue is. I also discovered that the accelerator pump circuit needle valve was actually still stuck in the body. I had to drill a hole on the top of it and use my smallest extractor to get it out. Luckily, it came out easily, but the bad news is that aside from now needing a new valve, there is a lot of crud still stuck down in the well and surrounding circuit. Also, there were a few passages on the nozzle bars that were plugged from walnut dust when I threw them in my vibratory grinder. Had to use my welding tip cleaning tool and 0.025” welding wire to get them clean. That took a couple of hrs, so what I thought would take an hr, took the better part if a day, and I basically have to start over. The good news us that the throttle shaft moves freely now and has no play after I smeared on some moly grease onto the contact surfaces.

Throttle plates. I think I may have installed the screws the wtong way. D’oh!

Throttle plates with bevelled edge.


Nozzle bars with new idle tubes.


Offending passage (one on top) that was plugged on both nozzle bars. Had to resort to using the welding wire, but it was still very tough to punch through.

 

Freed accelerator pump needle valve. I have another carb body with the same issue. I’ll see if I can get it out by heating the body up in my oven, and shaking it out.



I installed new 0.051” jets. Hope they’ll be the correct size. Motor is stock except for my upgraded cam, so should be good.



My impromptu working area. My late wife would not have approved!

 

After heating the body up in my oven at 400F for 30 minutes it came out after a few smacks. I’ll polish it up a bit with my Dremel, and pop it in. Also discovered I’m missing one of tbe acclerator piston springs. Damn...

 

Were you satisfied with your blueing parts?
Been thinking of doing some parts of my own

 

I have to say yes. I think the key is getting everything into the oil immediately after heating it up (450F). Initially I was picking bits and pieces up with a tong , but with the number I had it was taking too long, and I could see a difference in the finish. The proof will be whether they start to corrode. I have a bunch more hardware to do, and I may do it on tbe exhaust flange from Hellsgate. They advertise it as being “pickled and oiled”.

 

Thanks.

 

@Ziggster what gasket do you need is it the top to bowl?...I think I bought kits for 6 and only used 2 so the other 4 won't be in action for who knows how long so take a pic of where it goes and I'll have a looksy I might have a spring too...cost to you...sharing a social distanced coffee at a Tim's near you......I think I know where they are...Think...

 

Thanks @Stogy. I just checked again, and the gasket I have is the correct one! D’oh! Maybe I had it flipped!



I may not need a spring as well after all. I was looking at some old pics I took that I still have when I took apart one of the three carbs I have, and there is no spring where I could have sworn there was one. I was positive there was a long spring that surrounded the accelertor pump shaft, but I don’t even see it on the carb exploded view. I wonder if I’m losing my mind. Lol!
In any event, it still would be nice to see you over a coffee. PM if your interested.

 

Thought I was done with the carb rebuild yesterday, but then rediscovered that my accelerator pump operating link had been damaged during disassembly (part of the pin had broken off in the accelerator pump rod). Also discovered, that I’m not crazy, and that some models did in fact have a spring on the accelerator pump rod. Instead, it seems you can add a spring under the accelerator pump piston/seal. I had actually purchased this spring! The other thing is the felt seal that goes on the pump rod. I have the seal and have seen rebuild vids that show the seal and some that don’t. I don’t believe mine can accept a seal as there is no room for it in the body. The exploded view also shows a washer that goes with the seal. Again, I don’t recall seeing either during disassembly.
The bigger problem though is tbat the accelerator pump circuit is not working. I added some paint thinner to the fuel bowl, and nothing came out of the discharge nozzle. I removed the nozzle, and still didn’t see any liquid coming out. Added some shop air from the nozzle passage and started getting bubbles in the pump well, and then in the fuel bowl. Now I have some sediment/debris in the fuel bowl. Will still keep trying to get it cleaned out, but may just get a ultrasonic cleaner.

Exploded view (came with kit) showing “extra” spring (Item 26) on accelerator rod.


“Optional” spring that goes under the pistion/seal. My exploded view does not show this spring, or any others I could find.


Sediment in fuel bowl after applying shop air to discharge nozzle passage.


Discoloured liquid in accelerator pump well. This thing must still be filthy in these passages.

 

Busted link.


Tightened up a couple if the brass screws that attached the centre body section to the base as there was some paint thinner leaking from the base, and I stripped the threads. D’oh! I guess the brass screws are out, but I don’t think the gasket was leaking.

 

After almost giving up, I finally managed to clear the passage of debris using alternating pulses of my shop air cranked up to 150 psi on each end of the passage. Yes! I can finally move onto something else!

 

Also picked up two larger belts (B54 & B55). I think the B54 might just barely fit with the generator adjusted all the way down. Got some engine assembly lube as well. I’m bit worried that my machinist didn’t use any on the cam gears. Can’t remember if he said he put some on the cam, but can’t imagine he didn’t.





Just found this nice brass velocity stack. Wish I knew about it before I bought the helmet style cleaner which is said to be too restrictive.

 

“Finished” carb.


Tried to repair the accelerator pump rod link with a new shaft, but couldn’t quite get the hole ligned up, and it is just enough out of alignment to cause a bit of binding, so I’ll just order some new ones. Also cut down the bolt that was used to close up the “ported” vacuum opening. Will order a proper brass plug next week when I order all the brass 45 degree flare fittings for the remote oil filter. My machinist said to run it without initially to see what the “normal” oil pressure is, as with the remote filter hsg, you require a restrictor which I think was 0.051”, but folks use a “standard” off-the-shelf one which I think is 0.062”. Might be enough of a difference resulting in too low a flow/pressure to the engine. Something more to think about.



Ordered these last week to compliant the other stickers I ordered.



There was an issue with the freight forwarded, and they never “pushed north” my exhaust splitter from the UK, but got it sorted out this morning. Also had an issue with the metal supplier for the 4” exh pipe. They could only get it in SS. Luckily, CarQuest will get me a 10’ length (14Ga!) from Walker on Monday. Finished up the last round (hopefully) of blued hardware for the engine.


Still looking for a crank pulley. Machinist says the owner of the one at the shop wants to keep it. One NOS on eBay, but too spendy. Checked with a vendor in the US and they have no used ones now for my engine.

 

Forgot to also mention I decided to go with the solder type terminals for the distributor cap ends on my spark plug wire leads as the “push and pinch” ones (on the left) just seem a little weak.



I also ordered some M4 knurled nuts for the sparkplugs/loop terminals.

 

After spending way too much time looking for a vintage tach, I finally decided to go with this odd ball. Kinda fits the character of the build or builder. Lol!
Absolutely no info tbat I could find on the interweebs (Chicago Marine Motor Company), but price was right (US$45). We’ll see...



Awesome summary of how to build your own electric tach drive board.

http://www.nonlintec.com/sprite/Sprite_Electronic_Tach.pdf

 

Picked up the 4” exh pipe. The guys at CarQuest thought I was crazy when I told them what I wanted it for. Lol!

 

...six into one...that's gonna sound pretty harmonic...

 

Picked up my Hellsgate exh flanges this morning at the local convenience store (Purolator won’t delivery to our house). Don’t seem to be “pickled & oiled” as there is some slight surface rust. Backside profiles for the round cuts are slightly distorted, but that is kinda normal for plasma cuts. Was hoping the holes for the flange bolts would be sized accordingly (bolts are 3/8” for the ports up front and 7/16” for the others), but they are all the same size. The 3/8” bolts actually are slightly too big! Haha! No big deal, I’ll clean everything up with my stepped drill. Overall still a very nice product.

Front side.


Backside.

 

As I recall the flatties originally had 3/8" on all the exhaust studs. I'm thinking someone must have stripped a few and re-tapped the holes 7/16".

 

Nope. The front four bolts are larger than all the rest.

 

My vintage Holley stickers arrived from Winnipeg today, but more importantly, the exh splitters arrived. Such beautiful workmanship. Too bad I will have to make them shorter and blast them for paint. Couldn’t find anything like them in USA. Can’t wait to get started on the exh, but first I need to find some 1 5/8” OD exh pipe as I’ve decided not to bore out the exh flanges to 1.75”. The smaller pipe “should” fit inside the larger pipe (with some sanding and persuasion).

 

Found some 1 5/8” OD exhaust “couplers” at CrappyTire yesterday. They fit both the flange and ID of the 1 3/4” OD pipe. Will need to complete a quick layout to scale if the GN JAP exhaust before any cutting begins. I also will likely buy a 45 degree section of mandrel bent oval exhaust for the tip. Making the transition from the 4” pipe to the oval will be tricky in a sharp 90 degree bend. Looking back at pics of the GN JAP, it seems the exhaust went through stages of evolution from short straight individual sections to a collector exiting straight through the rear to the current collector with oval exit at 90 degrees. The first two systems just don’t do the car justice IMHO, and the current exhaust (10 yrs old now?) really brings out the character of the car. The exhaust can really influence the way the car is percieved. Hoping I can get it “right”.
Also got a crank pulley from VanPelt. Although it is not the scarce single groove, it will have to do. I’ll need to get the snout flange machined off somewhere.





Thought this was an interesting interpretation.

 

A bit of progress on the exh today. My cut-off saw is giving me problems and isn’t cutting square which creates a lot of extra work. I made the straight sections the same length as required for the splitter to have minimum straight area to attach the clamps. Still have to cut off about 1.75” from the splitter straight sections. I wish I could make tbe flex section a bit longer, but I think this mock-up is going to be pretty close to the real thing. This means the flex pipe will likely only be 12”-14” long.
I did some calcs for optinum header size, and it worked out to something ridiculously small compared to the existing exh port openings on the block. The 1.75” OD is too big, and 1.625” OD would have been better in theory, but this engine is so low rpm limited, and low hp, I doubt I have made things any worse. With peak torque at around 2,000 rpm, and peak hp at around 3,500 rpm, this is no performance engine.



I just cut the half section of the 4” collector in half again to manage, so it is now 30” long. It is a bit longer than the one on the GN JAP at the moment, but I might just leave if like that. For the oval section, I’m going to try to make some from the 4” pipe by pressing it down in my press. Seems some have done that successfully, but not sure with the 14Ga I have.

 

Getting this exhaust sorted out is going to be harder than I imagined. Flex tubes are 18”, but no way to install them along the same centreline on the 4” pipe. Will either have to stagger the two middle flex tubes where they enter or change their lengths. Hmmm....
A bunch of stuff was waiting in our mailbox, including the M4 nuts for the sparkplugs.

 

Decided to try to cut a piece to connect the flex pipe to the collector. Used the metalgeek coping software. Printed templates for 20, 25, and 30 degrees. Went with the 25 degree one. Cut it using a cutting disc in my grinder with a little touch up with my die grinder. I’m really surprised at how well it fit. Now I just need to cut another 7. Lol!

Link to metalgeek site.

https://metalgeek.com/static/cope.pcgi

 

Progress has been slower than I would have liked. Getter colder out as well. Was -20C this morning, so you tend to just want to sit around the house.

My brass velocity stacks and mesh filters arrived today.




Trying to wrap my head around tbe exhaust collector and the oval exit. Usually I’m pretty good with these things but this has me a bit stumped. I created this crude cardboard model which helped a bit, but it would be nice to model it in 3D.





Finished making the flex pipe connectors for one side and was hoping to tack things up for a mock-up, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

 

Got things tacked up this morning, but will need further adjustment. All flex pipe is cut same length, but number 3 barely reaches the connector to the collector. Centre to centre distance between numbers 1 & 4 are the same as port distances, but again the flex pipe is a little short. Will move number 3 & 4 connectors a little further forward to see what happens. I’m sure there will be many iterations. Lol!