Technical ***May 2022 Banger Meet Thread - May Your Banger Run***

I takes a couple minutes for the header and engine compartment to get up to temp... is it possible that the pump stops working when it gets hot? Your header pipes may get close. Try a simple heat shield, or plumb in a gauge so you can watch fuel pressure when yur driving. Try also shielding yur fuel line if it is close to the header

 

Kevin, those floats look great! You need to look for one of those ancient (20's) soldering irons with the 1"-2" heads- had a buddy who restored early tinplate/lithograph trains who used one instead of a torch to keep from burning up the lithography. He'd run a thin brush with flux between the parts, touch one corner with the solder, then another with the hot iron and ZAP, perfect bead all along the part as beautiful as ever!

 

The other thing to watch is the fuel tank vent, if tank not vented, pump cannot suck the fuel.
Knew a girl, long time ago....J

 

Those that have fiddled with front drives, have you ever seen something like this before?

Trying to figure out how to adapt something that either attaches on the cam via a right hand thread on the face of the cam, or something with the cam nut.

 

@jim1932 -just for reference, I ran two 81's on my '28 pickup for a whole summer and it did fine just gravity fed.
I kept the tank over 1/4, never had any issues but I didn't want to tempt fate...

 

Might be a restriction someplace, something in the tank maybe. If it was mine I'd let it pump into a bucket for a few minutes and see if the flow drops off. Might have to rig a gravity feed can for the carbs. Maybe just run the tank into a bucket or if it's not in cowl a shallow pan.

My 29 Tudor looks pretty clean through the fill hole, but it keeps producing grainy black guck. I made a 3 inch tall pencil screen for the outlet and every now and then drain the tank and flush it with water. Then put some Heet in to absorb the last few drops of water. Seems to be producing less each time.

 

I am no authority when it comes to the A accessories, but the V8’s used a tanged button to drive the front mounted dizzys. T folks machine a tang on the back of the cam to drive a VW oil pump

 

This is where I am in my thinking as it had a similar issue before the header and with the stock carb, but is would act starved for fuel after about 15 miles. With the different materials in the pump, could the top be expanding enough to lose seal on the cork gasket? I know a while back someone was making a rubber gasket out of alcohol resistent stuff. I have two pumps, I noticed on one when I went do check it out that the large brass screw inside wasn't tight. I would prefer to get the stock set up working rather than mess with the electric.

It does have a vented cap on the tank. But maybe the vent tube in the tank is plugged.

 

I appreciate the comment! I checked out the vw pumps for T's, thats wicked! Mine looks like it accepts the tang of a distributor shaft or something similar. Time to get to work...

 

That front plate is clearly home made with its brazed in screws, so anything is possible as to how it was driven. I don’t think there is room for a special cam gear nut that extends beyond the end of cam without cutting back the thrust plunger boss. Probably had something low tech like a 5/16” or 3/8” screw in the nose of the cam, with the tang machined into the head...

 

Here is a cover that I have. This oil pump was tang driven by a grove in the end of the cam.

 

Ok so I have to ask...are there ANY Donovan's out there in hiding? Is this a dream that should be completely forgotten?

And yes, I know a mistress and a solid drug addiction would be less expensive, but I have to ask.

 

That's a perfect idea, thank you!
Do you by any chance have an instagram? Would love to follow along the progress on your carburetors!

Thank you!! Unfortunately mine is the other way around, but still the same concept!

 

I don’t participate in any of that modern social media nonsense... if I post something about Winfields, it’ll be here, or on the Model T forum. There hasn’t been much incremental carb progress to post about lately, only because the float ball was the last component of the Model S to reproduce. I now have 5 entirely new carbs that could be assembled and running in an afternoon!

 

So I built a new engine for Pendine this year.
A GS block - an oddball casting that turns up in the UK.



Fresh white metal and a drilled crank with shells in B rods. The block was ported with bigger inlets and a bit of a grind on the cam. The crank came with some previous rope seal conversion that I had to reuse as the slinger area was too small a diameter for a Burtz B seal. The oiling was modded for full pressure with an EMPI oil filter housing. Fired up straight away. Lovely and quiet and pulled very well indeed. Success!



Unfortunately - said housing developed a pin hole that opened up into this.
Caught it too late and a rod picked up after about 60 miles of running in.
[


So I pulled it back out again, cured the oil leak on last year's engine and put it back in again. Only to have the clutch slip and out it came again.

Yay. All is good. 600 mile round trip down mainly country lanes, used all weekend to tender the timing gear about and tow broken down cars and after all the shenanigans ran an identical 73.8mph through the traps as last year for a class win.



Now to fix the bottom end on the GS engine and try it all again...

 

Yes, the Mighty Donovans do show up every now and then. I have had 3 here over the last few years.
You need to have a grip of cash when they do show up because they appear only when the stars are aligned.

J

 

We made it to Rattletrap, the Aussie beach race, not nearly as serious as Pendine, but a low key fun day. We were on the road for 3 1/2 days & had a ball.

 

New to this. Trying to learn all I can to continue such an amazing piece of American history.

 

It's cruel that they still have it up on their website. No one cautioned me about the emotional toll of bangers.

 

Emotional, you should try to build some....

 

I paid the emotional toll years ago... since then it’s been financial, stress, and time!

 

I have tried trimming the impellers, it is somewhat of trial & error process. Once you get to right, then operate under different driving conditions it can cause a different problem. I live in Colorado, do a lot of mountain driving, lower RPM,, harder pull, sometimes there isn’t enough flow to keep the engine cool, similar problem in low speed traffic. It is a similar problem with restricting the flow or changing pulley sizes. Years ago, I used to put flat washers in the upper hoses on a Flathead V-8, and that worked well to restrict the flow. Don’t mean to be a wise guy, but make sure the timing is set right.

 

@johnneilson that's some nice work. The head sort of reminds me of a Jaguar but with more valves.

 

Funny you mention Jag...

 

First reaction was Type 50 Bugatti with all the machined surfaces.

Bob

 

Bob, I think it was the angle of the pic for me and probably didn't hurt that I just got a couple of old Jaguar heads today among other parts.

 

No one noticed Johns crank ?

 

I noticed the whole bottom end. He did really nice work on it.

 

That 2 up 2 down crank would be wasted under that fancy head... unless it only had 2 intake ports...?

 

Beautiful stuff John.