Projects The Hardscrabble Hop-Up; A 1940's Style 'T' RPU build

How's about those updates?

 

K, stovebolter 46, just have to be a turkey and ask; Does that falcon have a '46 Chebbie motor?

 

No Jim, its got a stock ford 144. Interesting thought though. My name came from one of the first old cars that I bought, a 46 chev. I was fascinated by them actually.

 

where'd he go?

 

Yeah.....I was wondering the same thing Larry. Haven't heard from Gary in a while....



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Still here...got wayyyyyy too busy with work & family. Starting to work on her again. Updates coming soon.

 

Good! ....you had us all a little worried there for a bit

I hear ya.....been crazy around here too. Thank goodness the Holiday "tri-athalon" is over now. I love Christmas, don't get me wrong.....just had enough for the year

Standing by and awating updates patiantly.

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Subscribed

 

Drove over to College Station on Friday to see my pal Ross Lilleker and check out the progress on the motor. The motor ended up needing .060" over to clean up the cylinders and .010" off the deck. Right now, the pistons are standing proud of the deck by .050", which just happens to be the compressed thickness of Best's copper head gasket, so my piston-to-head clearance (quench) will be set by the flycuts in the cylinder head.

My Winfield head has been milled .020" so the flycuts are now .035" deep, which, I understand is pretty much the ideal (albeit minimal) safe quench on a moderate RPM motor (at least that's the 'standard' on most modern V8s).

Any thoughts on a quench of .035" for an A motor?

My assumption is the 7 1/2" rod length of the A (less piston side-loading), smaller bore than a typical V8, and relatively tall piston (I'll be using a solid skirt cast piston - .004" piston to bore clearance) should keep piston rock to a minimum. That, combined with the low RPMs of the engine and tighter rod bearing clearances (oil clearance) associated with babbitt bearings - all point to .035" piston-to-head clearance being safe.

We're going to torque down the head and clay the pistons to double check our measurements...will take & post pics soon!

 

We are holding our breath.

 

Hoping I'll be able to get back to the motor work in the next couple weeks...in the meantime, I've been scavenging bits & pieces to complete the period 'feel' of this build. Admittedly, I'm probably just about the only person in the world that gives a crap about this, but to me - the devil's in the details.

First up is some pre-war spark plug porn;

Found a complete box of 10 Edison 45 spark plugs...a 1940 vintage spark plug cross-reference sheet I found lists the 45 as an interchange with the Champion 7 (which Winfield recommended for use with the 6:1 'Yellow Head'). Edison advertising shows this style of plug was produced from around 1938-1947.





Also came across 6 Champion 6M plugs; Champion literature from the period shows these as sharing the same heat range as the 6-Com (slightly colder than the 7, but recommended as a 'severe service' replacement). They differ from the 7 and the 6-Com in that they feature a side-gap. Champion advertising shows these plugs were produced between 1935 and 1941;

 

That's so freakin AWESOME!!!

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^^x2^^

 

You said it...the devil's in the details. Great find and I'm subscribed to this one for sure!


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Rad. Makes me a bit embarrassed of my 'modern' champions on my otherwise period perfect banger.

Like you said, the devil's in the details...


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Sweet!
Subscribed

 

those champions look great. The shape of the insulator and the brass really appeals to me.

 

Where did you find those?
Its in the details indeed! Well done.

 

Very nice, Gary. You know I feel the same way you do about details like that.

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Good find on the plugs!
I found a whole bunch of NOS Bowes Seal Fast racing plugs recently and have them in my car now!

 

Wow, where do you find this kind of stuff? I'd be torn between running it and displaying it on a shelf in the man cave.

 

Bitchin.

 

Dude......I LOVE those!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I love the plug collection too! I have a few, but need more for the T.

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Love the plugs! I ran some 1940's champions in my built 46 flathead and they ran great until I melted one. I was bummed. Your pickup is perfect.


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WOW, such a great job and I love the old plugs. Great stuff.

Cliff Ramsdell

 

Thanks guys! I got the set of Champion 6-Coms I posted earlier in the thread off Ebay and found another set at Chickasha.

The Edisons and (I think) the 6M's (and a handful of Blue Crown, AC, and AutoLites) came from an elderly gentleman I met at a swap meet. He had a small pile of A & flathead parts and every time I picked something up he began telling me about where he got it, how he got it, or what car he pulled it off of; every part had a memory and a story.

As we visited, I noticed an old Western Auto catalog sitting on the table behind him. He told me he had some others & pointed to a plastic milk crate in his trailer that held a few dozen more 1940's-80's Wards, Western Auto, & JC Whitney catalogs. At the bottom of the crate were 6 or 7 spark plug 'cases' in various stages of completion.

Ended up taking home 25 or so plugs and a couple old parts catalogs. Moral of the story - practice hospitality; you never know when you may be entertaining angels (or old-timers with great stories and vintage parts) unawares.

 

Those plugs were way cool before the story,

 

are those 14mm? or larger?

 

Should be 18mm

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