Projects 1957 Hillman Husky 392 hemi build thread

Sure is a BIG motor for a small wagon (car). Very nice build looks like you done this before. Should be a very good performer and easy to drive.

Jim

 

Thanks. My 59 Husky with a 302/C4 has the original hubcaps on it. I did widen the wheels a bit though. Also rolled the rear fender lips just a bit to get a wider tire. People never pay much attention to it until I start it up....or if the hood is open. If the hood is closed they walk right by it. The exhaust exits just in front of the rear wheels so it is loud.

 

I'm hoping it will be a good driver. It should handle ok with the suspension set-up I have. The motor is set back a little so the balance should be good. I'm a little concerned with the manual steering. I think with that big elephant motor up front steering may be difficult.

 

I am surprised there are 5 huskys or cobs in the US. Its amazing how many small British cars made it over there in the 50s and 60s.

 

There are a bunch of them around....you just have to know where to look. Here are a couple more I've owned. Just in California alone there are lots of them. The most popular model is probably 1959. That seems to be when they imported the most. The green one was too rusty to fix so it became wall art.

 

I've got a 59 minx. That one is all stock though. If I'm ever tempted it has basically the same floor pan as a Sunbeam Tiger so most parts bolt right up.

 

"I'm a little concerned with the manual steering. I think with that big elephant motor up front steering may be difficult."
Unisteer makes a sweet electric power steering unit that I installed on a 392 powered Imperial. No power steering pump, pulleys, belts, hoses, brackets to deal with.

 

So far everything is within reach including the 4 bolts that hold the IRS to the cradle. I did open up the inner fender wells to make room for the exhust manifolds. I tried Sanderson block huggers and PAW headers but nothing fit in as tight as stock 354 manifolds. If necessary I'll do panels to get to stuff.

It's surprising how well the 392 fits in there. It's going to be less crowded than the 302 in my other Husky.

 

I am too. It seems like with no weight on the front end it is difficult to steer already. I'll take some photos tomorrow of what I have so far for steering. I have one of those offset steering boxes made by Posies that will allow me to use the original column.

Thanks for the pointer on the Unisteer. I'll look in to that.

 

The next step is to trial fit the real 392 and transmission. before I can do that I've got to get the pedals out. Not having much luck so far. Right now the PB Blaster is soaking in. I hope to get them off this weekend. I'll try using some heat to get them out. once that is done I can get the motor in and see what kind of trimming (if any) needs to be done on the firewall and transmission tunnel.

 

You are a crazy man. I like it!

 

Looking good! Keep us posted.

.

 

Thank you. Will do. It's too windy to get the garage door open....hopefully it will die down soon so I can get to work.

 

I like it.

 

nice... you've got an army of those huskys I see. I'm keeping a close eye as I'm swapping a 354 w a t56 Into an ODD vehicle myself.

Planning on using TR Waters adapter to Quicktme bellhousing made for the T56.

 

I took some pictures today of the steering. I don't like that there is a u-joint right where it goes through the firewall. I'll have to think of a way to seal that. The u-joint connects directly to the posies offset steering box so my options are limited. The Posies gearbox is wrapped in blue tape to protect it while it was getting mounted. I need to take that off now that it's in place.

In the last four pictures you can see the bearing at the end of the steering column. It's the original column in there it's just been shortened. I got the bearing from Classic Performance Products and it looks like it's going to work just fine. They call it a Column Saver Kit. The last photo shows what it looks like.

Once the motor is in I'll take final measurements and see what needs to be modified, moved or revised. I know with the plastic 392 in there one of the u-joint set screws was just barely touching the exhaust manifold. The manifolds didn't have gaskets in place so I'll have to see how that changes things. I'm assuming it may make it a little worse. Hard to tell though because the plastic motor also didn't have head gaskets so the real 392 may be a little taller there too. I'll know soon enough when I install the motor.

 

I spent half the day trying to get the floor mounted pedals out of the car. They've been in there nearly 60 years so they didn't want to come out. I used lots of PB Blaster to loosen things up and also a torch. I was just about to call it a day when I decided to try one more time. That did the trick. The pedals finally came out.

Now I can make a cardboard template of the floorboard/firewall so I can see where the pedals need to be modified. Right now the brake pedal hits the firewall where we modified it to make room for the hemi heads. You can see the pedal interference in the last two photos. I think I can either cut the pedal pad down or go to a smaller pedal pad.

 

Here's the cardboard template that should show me the layout of the pedals in relation to the floor and firewall. This will allow us to modify the pedals outside of the car. When setting up the clutch and hydraulic throw out bearing we hooked up a pedal assembly and were able to test the clutch. It worked great with not too much pedal pressure. We'll now try to match the geometry with the pedals from the car. They will be modified to give the same feel. The ratio we are going for is 6:1.

 

So with the pedals out there was nothing stopping me from trying to test fit the real 392. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the rain was threatening. Not usually a problem but I'd have to move the Husky and another car out of the garage to do it. I decided to give it a try. I was also by myself....usually like someone to be there with me to keep an eye out for clearance issues or to call 911 if the engine falls on me. Everybody was gone so it was just me and Leo the dog.

I hooked it up to the hoist and started lining things up. I've got one of those engine pivot things I wanted to try and today was a good day to do it. With not too much effort it was going in. The pivot thingee was a big help....especially if you're working alone. It looked like everything was lining up so I continued on.....

 

This first picture you see here is the real 392 sitting on its mounts...bolted in. This was at about 5 pm today (3/1/14). What a huge moment. It went in there without any trouble at all. I left the exhaust manifolds off to try and stay away from clearance issues. I'm hoping I can get them on while the motor is in. The steering linkage may get in the way.

One of the first things I noticed was how the tire looked a little flat with all that new weight in the front of the car.

It's hard to tell from the photo but my sidekick Leo is a 110 lb German Shepherd.












Leo wants to know when it will be Frisbee time.



Not sure how much air was in the tire for this shot but I pumped it up after this photo.

 

I don't think I showed any good shots of the rear transmission/radius rod
mounts so here are a few.








The last two photos are the biscuit motor mounts. I'll need to find bigger washers for the top or they might pull right through.

 

Looks great. I dare you to put the hand crank bolt on the front of the hemi, lol.

 

Just a dare or a double dog dare? I have a crank bolt and a crank. Looks like I'll need to modify the crank hole just a bit to get it to line up. it's off by about an inch. Hillmans are notorious for the crank bolt loosening up and then ruining the key way for the pulley when it starts to wobble. Many were made out of aluminum but I put the steel ones on my car. The steel ones don't seem to loosen up.

 

One of the fears with this build was how difficult it was going to be to steer this beast with all that weight up front. When I was done with everything it was time to push it back in the garage. It was like I hadn't even added any weight up there. It was easy to steer.....so easy I could do it with two fingers.

If you look at the first two pictures you can see the motor mounts are on the steering cross member. Most of the weight is behind the axle center line. This seems to have really worked in making the steering light. Now I haven't driven it so I can't say for sure what it will be like. From just turning it a little in the driveway it seemed like it is going to be ok. I'll know more when I get it all together and can weigh all four corners.





The last two pictures show how the steering snakes around the hemi. It will be a little more crowded when I get the exhaust manifold in there.

 

Love it, This thing is going to be crazy!

 

If I had it to over again I'd use a Quality Engineered Components adapter. Gary was very helpful in trying to solve a couple of the hemi/Husky clutch problems I ran in too and I didn't even buy anything from him.

 

Great build, and a very cool car/engine combo! I think the solution for the universal at the firewall for steering is simply a cup shaped rubber boot reversed to fit into the hole. Something like the '67-'69 Camaro and Nova used for the clutch rod penetration. Just need to cut the hole larger to allow for the 3/4" shaft.

 

This looks like a good idea. I'll try it out. Thanks for the info.

 

engine looks good in the car , Leo looks kind of bored though

 

The guy that did that rendering picture is over on the Bangshift Forum, using the name of Malc.

Here is a link to the page: http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum/bangshift/swap-meet/check-this-out/4485-1954-hillman-minx

Maybe you can contact him.