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1930s Era Champ Car - new project

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER, Nov 20, 2007.

?

Another question: Posi or non-posi?

Poll closed Aug 18, 2021.
  1. Posi for two-wheel traction

    100.0%
  2. No Posi for better handling in the corners.

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. 41 Dave
    Joined: May 23, 2005
    Posts: 2,594

    41 Dave
    Member

    Go Speedracer !, Yes it is coming along ! Looking forward to any or all updates ! Keep working on it. I hear some power slides on dirt in your future ! Rum, Rum, RRROOOAAARR !

    Dave
     
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2011
  2. Dakota
    Joined: Jan 21, 2004
    Posts: 1,535

    Dakota
    Member
    from Beulah, ND

    I see your dodging the questions about the Crossflow head, Is it an aussie piece? I know ford made some interesting things down there that never made it up here.
     
  3. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    Ford Australia does indeed have several itterations of crossflow cylinder heads - but none of them will fit the big 300 six. They are for the smaller 144 - 250 six (about 3 inches shorter) and are not good for the 300. Mine is a rare cast iron factory experimental prototype.

    I am a retired Ford engineer - I worked in the Engine Performance Development Group - and as such I was able to convince the SVO guys to let me have one of these heads, which were originally developed for improved emissions and efficiency, to try it out as a candidate for the SVO Performance Catalog. The reason I am rather tight-lipped about the head is every time I mention it I am deluged with requests to "get me one".

    Not gonna happen.
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2011
    ratrodrodder, Carter and kiwijeff like this.
  4. Dakota
    Joined: Jan 21, 2004
    Posts: 1,535

    Dakota
    Member
    from Beulah, ND

    That is perfectly Understandable, it is a way cool piece. I knew the aussies had them but was not familiar with that series of engines they fit. that is a WAY cool piece. the fact that its Iron makes it even cooler to me.
     
  5. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    Here's a typical Aussie head - an aluminum, canted valve, crossflow two-valver:

    aussie01_1.jpg

    and here's the 300 iron head. Note how high the ports are raised vis-a-vis the stock head and the crossflow design vs U-flow:

    xflo01.jpg

    stock sectioned head:

    head_fixture_02.jpg
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2017
    55willys and mgtstumpy like this.
  6. Bruce Sizemore , drag racer from back in the 70's produced a hybrid head for his Ford 300 cyl powered race car.

    The head was made up of 6 sections of Cleveland head furnace brazed together. Very effective head. Below is the article published in Popular Hot Rodding April 1976.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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  7. Dakota
    Joined: Jan 21, 2004
    Posts: 1,535

    Dakota
    Member
    from Beulah, ND

    yea, thats alot of work he did, with the Chevy you can use 2 SBC chevy heads and achieve basically the same thing. A guy i know used to race an anglia with a chevy 6 in it, and had built a head out of 2 chevy aluminum heads in the 60's. His name is Wes Rydell, you might know him as he owns that car that foose built, The Grandmaster.
     
  8. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    I ended up with some of Bruce's parts, a forged crank, a Moroso damper, the Racer Brown roller cam, his weber tri-power intake, and his ignition systems.

    I remember the Rydell/Hope/Lang Anglia gasser too. Sweet
     
  9. 64 DODGE 440
    Joined: Sep 2, 2006
    Posts: 4,421

    64 DODGE 440
    Member
    from so cal

    Don't know how I have missed this build...love what you are doing...subscribed.
     
  10. derbydad276
    Joined: May 29, 2011
    Posts: 1,336

    derbydad276
    Member

    just found this today where is thei build at????
     
  11. ChefMike
    Joined: Dec 16, 2011
    Posts: 647

    ChefMike
    Member

    Very cool project
     
  12. Third DodgeBrother
    Joined: Apr 18, 2009
    Posts: 196

    Third DodgeBrother
    Member

    Nice work. Great concept. But... seems like you'll need a bunch more steering angle if you plan to back it in hard!
     
  13. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN


    By "steering angle" do you mean caster? How much steering angle do you recommend? I built my Willys with ten degrees of caster +/- and it was way too much for the street. I backed out the adjusters as far as they would go to lower it to seven degrees and it is much better. It could use less. I plan to drive this racer mostly on the street with, hopefully, the occasional hot lap on a circle track. I plan to use "a few degrees +/- a few degrees" of caster. Is that enough?

    By the way, I plan to move the tie rod behind the front axle and reshape the steering arms appropriately.

    Thanks
     
  14. 64 DODGE 440
    Joined: Sep 2, 2006
    Posts: 4,421

    64 DODGE 440
    Member
    from so cal

    Any progress on this beast?
     
  15. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    No progress of late - I'm trying to get my drag car rebuilt for this year's drag racing season first. By the way, my altered was one of the cars featured on the Speed Channel's show Pass Times last week. What fun!

    I see from your Rapid Rabbit post that you also plan to use 1 3/4 SU carbs. Do you have any expreience using these carbs? I don't but I hear they work well.
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2012
  16. 64 DODGE 440
    Joined: Sep 2, 2006
    Posts: 4,421

    64 DODGE 440
    Member
    from so cal

    Tinkered with SUs back in the late '60s early'70s in my "Sports Car" days. They are relatively easy to tune and I had access to the pair so they seemed like a good match for the 218.

    There is some good information in these.
    http://www.1978mgmidget.com/Tuning_SU_Carbs.pdf
    http://www.mgexperience.net/article/su-tune.html

    Parts available through these.
    http://www.joecurto.com/
     
  17. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    dist cap 01.jpg distmount 01.jpg dist cap 01.jpg I found a nice crab-style distributor cap last weekend. I plan to mount it on a dummy distributor off the end of one of the cam towers. It is a six cylinder cap of unknown make. Anybody have a clue as to what it originally fit? I made a simple base for it and will run a cloth covered wire to it and maybe an external brass capacitor a la Mallory.

    Originally I was going to use a flattie cap, but this one works better (Thanks Jacin, I'll get your flattie cap back to you at the Thopmson Gasser Reunion). I may have to blister the hood to fit it in there. Or just mount it on the rear of one of the cam towers. We'll see.
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2018
    mgtstumpy likes this.
  18. Roger53
    Joined: Aug 8, 2010
    Posts: 383

    Roger53
    Member

    Damn man we need some more up dates came to the last page way to fast . Really like were ya goin. This site is just to damn good !It's making me late on getting out in the shop. Keep it a comin. Roger
     
  19. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    Roger,
    Thank you for your interest and support. I've turned my attention back to this car and will allocate more of my time to it. Yesterday I disassembled the front axle assembly and cut up the spindle steering arms and lengthened them so they will clear the hairpins and leave me enough room to add a panard bar in the front. I also want to make my own lever-arm shocks - I added a weld nut inside the ends of the front crossmember so I have a place to bolt on the lever arms.

    I have a few car builds going on at once but something about this one makes me giddy with excitement every time I turn to it. Maybe it is the uniqueness of it. Dunno. But I'm likin' it.
     
  20. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    Here are shots of the modified steering arms and shock mount hole:

    Front Steering01.jpg Front Steering02.jpg
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2017
    mgtstumpy and tb33anda3rd like this.
  21. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    I fitted up the spindles, made a new tie rod and mounted the "distributor" off the cam cover:

    Front Steering04.jpg

    Now I can mount the steering box, make a drag link, a front panard bar, and lever shocks.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Dec 8, 2017
    mgtstumpy likes this.
  22. Very cool! I'll enjoy watching this.
     
  23. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    Today I made an outboard steering shaft support pillow block. It will get welded to the hoop that holds the steering box. Some key design elements of note on this piece:

    It will get split along the shaft centerline, then a shim will be inserted before the final ream-to-size. That way, as the block wears, the shim can be removed to take up any slack.

    All holes are finish reamed to size to insure good cap alignment with no shaft bind.

    I also added a grease fitting and cut an internal groove on the bearing for lubrication.

    SteeringMount03.jpg SteeringMount04.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2020
    mgtstumpy and kiwijeff like this.
  24. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,006

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Beautiful work. You engineers kill me, very entertaining.
     
    kiwijeff likes this.
  25. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    Today I installed the steering hoop assembly:

    SteeringMount06.jpg
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2017
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  26. the shadow
    Joined: Mar 5, 2005
    Posts: 1,105

    the shadow
    Member

    nice work! when do you think you will have it complete?
    Paul
     
  27. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    Good question Shadow.
    I always have several projects going at once - usually a couple/three auto related projects and a couple/three art projects (see my "Attic Anglia" threads and "Last Logghe" threads for example) - and I frequently work on other guy's stuff too. So progress on any one project is usually a drawn out affair. I actually believe that is an advantage of sorts. It gives me a chance to think about what step comes next and to mull over the process(es) to accomplish them. For me its more about the journey than the destination.

    Stay tuned...
     
  28. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,367

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    Another silly little detail job - a stone/mud guard to go in front of the front axle. Most stone guards were crude "chicken wire" affairs. I made this one and ran it through the beader to offset flange the edge, then powdercoated it black and put a brushed aluminum framework around it. I'll stencil the car number on it later.

    Stone guard 01.jpg
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2017
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  29. Flipper
    Joined: May 10, 2003
    Posts: 3,395

    Flipper
    Member
    from Kentucky

    That is pretty much the same approach I have with my speedster.

    Glad to see you are gaining on it.
     
  30. kennkat
    Joined: Aug 25, 2011
    Posts: 1,385

    kennkat
    Member

    VERY Nice Work!! I can already feel the wind...
     

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