Projects Gasser on Maui..... but it's just another '55

Finished up the mods to the clutch Z-bar, angling it back closer to the firewall 2", and extending it another 1/2". Had to do this mod, as it was hitting the #7 header tube when I push in the clutch pedal. Also had to shorten the clutch pedal rod, so cut 2.5" out of it and threaded it with an adjusting piece. That part will be hidden up under the dash.



LINK to more pix....

While I was in the welding shop, decided to add some stops on the front door side bars. When running around on the street without the pins in (a common situation....), if there were a side door collision those bars could be pushed into the driver/passenger. Installing these stops on the bars limits how far they can go when the pins are not in.



LINK to that page and more pix....

More later, when I can, am pretty busy at home right now with some family health issues (not me, others in the family....)
Aloha,
Willy

 

Did about a 5 mile test run yesterday on some windy, steep roads, no problem. The modified Z-bar worked fine for the clutch. Still no 1st gear, not sure what's going on there. May have to pull the tranny and break it down to see what that problem is. Driving with only second is ok, but I do wish the first was there!

Temp stayed at 180 with both fans on, the auto fan switch is not working for some reason, but I had wired in an alternate bypass on my switches so I could run the fans direct, glad I did that. The carbs will need some fine tuning, still slightly rough in spots, will be working on that too.

The suspension is not stiff or hard riding at all. Too soft if anything. Will address that in the future. Right now need to install mufflers and finish up the wiring to I can get it licensed and legal. As is though, it will be a comfortable cruiser, even with the blower belt noise and the fuel pump, which is pretty loud. We'll see how it is once the exhaust system is on.
Aloha,
Willy

 

Ran it a bit yesterday to check out the tranny, still not good...

Got a couple of Vids, my buddy was not familiar with my camera (and I barely am...) and accidentally shut it off in the middle, but figured it out and finally got it turned back on, so he caught the start and end of my run down the driveway and through a pasture yesterday:
LINK to movie #1
LINK to movie #2

It's NOT hard riding in the slightest, too soft if anything, will just wait and see how it does out on the street in "real world" driving...

Still can't get it into 1st gear, will be tackling that problem today (again!)...
Seems to be bound up in the Hurst linkage somehow, as I was able to shift it into first with the Hurst disconnected!

Still have to finish up the wiring, and a bunch of other little jobs that have to be done, the list seems endless!!!
Aloha,
Willy

 

One problem with the video. It was way too short. I could have kept watching it. Motor sounds great!

 

My "old" digital camera took that movie(s), and it will only handle the older 2 gig SD mem cards, bought a couple of the newer 8 gig HCSD cards, and my camera wont handle it. So I am limited to how much movie I can take with that camera. And I don't know yet how to splice two movies together, or I would have done that with these two! Unfortunately my buddy did not know how to use my camera, and accidentally stopped the movie right in the middle, so he completely missed the 180 I was doing in the middle of a grassy pasture....
Will try again later....
Willy

 

Also discovered that when I rebuilt the 60's era Saginaw steering box (manual), I hadn't adjusted the slop out of the ball bearing engagement, that box was really sloppy when driving it around these first couple of times! So I finally took the time to adjust the slop out of it, as it is newly rebuilt, will have to keep playing with that adjustment as it "wears" itself in, those balls have to take a bit of a "set" into their carriage when new, so I usually adjust 'em just slightly tight, back off slightly after a few miles, keep playing with that adjustment until I get it "just right" according to my own sense of feel. Jack the front wheels off the ground when doing that, run the steering from left to right and back, getting a feel for how the adjustment is both in the middle where it is supposed to be tighter, and out on the "ends" where it is supposed to be looser.

There is also discussion on whether it's better to run those boxes with grease or oil. I prefer 90 weight as long as the seals are tight and it doesn't leak out. Grease to me is just a "cure-all" for bad seals....
Aloha,
Willy

 

Been driving it a bit, here and there, a couple of 8-10 mile jaunts, warming the motor up to operating temp and I keep finding things:

Thermostat for the cooling fans doesn't work, have to manually switch on the fans when it warms up, but I put in double throw toggles for that, so just flipped em over to full time when I found out the thermo switch wasn't kicking in....

Checked the toe-in, had about 1", backed it off to about 1/16", steers much better now...

Had the QA1's set on full "soft", cranked up the settings to full "firm" and it rides much, much better. Still not a harsh ride.....

Installed a Hurst line lock, and it kept losing the lock when I tried to set it, turned out I had tied the power feed into an empty terminal on the aftermarket board I had installed that looked like a good fused power source, but it actually was the output from the turn signal relay, so it started pulsing when it saw a load, resulting in the line lock clicking on and off uncontrollably, when I switched the power over to a good source, no problem!!!

Still running rich, but I'm not good enough to know if I need to change the power valve, the jets, the boosters, whatever, am reading up on these Demon carbs and trying to learn what to look for and how to tune. Never done dual 4bbls or worked on a blower before, so am in new territory....

Aloha,
Willy

 

Damn...That car is bitchin! I relly like this build, this is a great use of a 4 door! I have always said if I was gonna build a gasser it would be a 4 door! It just makes sense you can get a little more solid car for the money and it saves a coupe for the "purist" out there to restore! I really need to take a vacation Hawaii would be awesome, but now that I know about the race tracke maybe I'll let the wife think she won and we will come out to visit cha! Keep it up!

 

Sorry if I missed, but any drag strips on Maui?

 

The oldest drag strip in the USA

 

In '67 it was unofficial but I raced a '63 vette there, it was an old navy training airstrip, but was a cow pasture in the middle of a cane field back then, we had to chase the cows off it in the middle of the night to go out and with flashlights do some racing. Also raced a hopped up 64 BSA 650 Lightning that year. That bike is till running around Maui some where. My split window coupe ended up on the big island last I heard of it, and was a full blown drag racer....

 

A bunch of buddies, last nite, lots of beer and BBQ, conflicting ideas, none of them running a roots blower with dual quads, but fun to throw ideas around and see what comes to rest...

Today disconnected the vacuum lines to the power valves, plugged the lines and the carbs, disconnected the secondaries, and attempted to tune the primaries after running it around a bit and bringing it up to temp. Am mystified as the Demons seem to keep bring up the idle rpm as it warms, and I am turning down the throttle idle setting screws on the primaries, and adjusting the idle jet screws inward, leaning them I think, and not getting anywhere....

Adjusted the 8 idle jet settings in and out around 1/2 to 1-1/2 turns, in quarter turn adjustments after all warmed up, not seeing any real differences. At about 1/2 to 3/4 turn out it seems to idle best but fast, 1300 to 1400 with the throttle idle screw down all the way! Want to slow it down but it doesn't seem to respond.

Got to get out the Mighty Demon book and read some more....

Meanwhile the road tests show that the front end is indeed moving side to side on those leaf springs more than I like. So I will be putting in a panhard bar to parallel the cross steer drag link. Crawled under today and took measurements. Will order one from Speedway (part # 916-4551, $36) and adjust the length to suit me. As close as the length of the drag link as I can match it to is the goal, and parallel to it. Will post pix.
Aloha,
Willy

 

Gonna try a spray can of diesel starter, check for any vacuum leaks. If I find one, that could be the reason it won't adjust down to a slower idle.

 

Lotsa rain, so stayed inside and worked on a vent hose for the fuel cell, a boot for the shifter, and installing the four sets of 5 point safety harnesses (2 in front, 2 in back....)

LINK TO MORE PIX
Aloha,
Willy

BTW, turned up the "stiffness" setting on the QA1's on the front axle, and it does ride a lot better now, not mushy at all like it was initially....
But it does need a panhard bar, that front axle does move side to side on those leaf springs a bit more than I like, so will be installing one soon...

 

Check to see if the secondary's are open too much at idle. Maybe need to back em' off some if they are cracked open.

 

A buddy of mine walked by the shop yesterday as I was putting in the safety harnesses and tranny boot and the line lock control on the shifter, and reached over and pushed down on the secondary butterfly arms saying, "Willy, these were not closed all the way, ya better check em the next time you start it up......"
So, Yeah, guess I better....

We're thinking they are hanging up somewhere and need adjustment internally.
Willy

 

Looks like " 4 Doors Of Fun "

 

Cool! I haven't been to Hawaii since I backpacked 4 of it's islands in 1978!
I was there for a month and loved it! I also love Gassers, 55 & 57 Chevys and pre- 63' Vette Gassers. Good luck on your build, make sure the brakes are good because you'll run out of road quicker....it ain't the mainland!

 

The body's so full of holes, am thinking of calling it the "Holey Terror".....

 

Got the dash instruments final wired, all working ok and have lights so I can see em at nite now, and got the front seat harness sets all bolted in....

A buddy took some cell phone pix and forwarded em to me, so I posted em, not a lot, but you get the idea...

I was trying to warm it up for some carb tuning and to see if my new fan thermo would work to turn on the fans, it didn't so I am looking elsewhere now for that problem....



LINK to more pix....

Aloha,
Willy

 

Posted some pix (more on my web page) of the latest efforts. My two fan control thermostats tested ok, so there is some other problem going on. Will relocate a thermostat to the radiator hose neck per photo in post above:



With all the inside stuff almost all done, it is really starting to look pretty good....



Started working on the front panhard bar. The front end moves side to side more than I like, so will "tie it down"....

It needed to be lengthened 8" to 35" overall, to match the cross steer drag link, and will be mounted parallel to it.....



LINK to more pix.....

Aloha,
Willy

 

cool car bro! i really dig it, you do great work!

 

Killer! I'll be in Maui in a month, hurry up so you can take me for a ride!
Awesome car.

 

Rolled it out into the open air and fired it up for some fine tuning. Let it warm up and the thermostat kicked the fans on when it hit 190, the new location works!!!!

And they shut down again at about 170, so it's a done deal!

While it was warming up, with the vacuum gage and timing lite attached, I did a short vid, you guys can see hit here:

LINK to video of today's event....

You can see where that fan thermostat is located now in that radiator hose neck on the intake manifold.

Aloha,
Willy

 

Our March drag strip event is on the 17th, will you be here then?
Willy

 

I am going to be in Maui March 20(Tuesday) to the March 27 (Tuesday) any racing or cruise night that would be good to see.We are staying at the Maui Kamaole condos in South Kihei.I will look for cars and ask if you are on the H.A.M.B. Darrell

 

Here's a good online source for cruise nites, shows, on Maui:
http://www.mauicarshows.com/Maui_Car_Show_Schedule.php

This is the only listing for the week you are here:
March 24th (Saturday) - Teddy's Bigger Burgers
Meet @ 5:30 pm - Carl's Jr. Have dinner and talk story @ Lahaina Gateway.

Carl's Jr is at Maalaea, near the aquarium, on the way from Kihei to Lahaina. Start of the cruise.

I might be there with my 58 Chevy truck, haven't decided yet....

And there is often any number of rigs cruising through the "Peggy Sue's" Location at Azeka Marketplace (Kihei) in the evenings.
Willy

 

Played with the idle settings a little bit more, downsized the primary jets from 75 to 73 as the plugs still seemed rich (black), but not as bad as before when the power valves (7.5's) were in there. PV's are plugged now, so only main jets and double pump squirters. Also downsized the secondaries from 76 to 74, and haven't run it yet since I did that. Want to get some fresh spark plugs so I can get "virgin" readings on them. Don't have a glass bead blaster I can clean the plugs with, wish I had one....
Drove it a bit with the 75/76 combo earlier today, it drove pretty well, just was blacking up the plugs....
Got some steep uphill pulls in 2nd and 3rd. Need to get to the track (25th) to get more gear at wot, then shut down and read the plugs....
More testing tomorrow...
Willy

 

Been working on the wiring, the under dash wiring is done, except for the stock instrument panel, which has not been re-installed yet. Want to rework it to good condition first.

Got the back end wiring all done and working, except the backup lights, will do those later. Hawaii DMV safety inspections (required for licensing) do not require a backup light. Have the turn, hazard, brake and taillights all working now.

Spent today wiring in a 6 wire weathertek plug to the front so I can disconnect it when lifting the front clip off. 3 bolts on each side and it lifts off. Wires were: high beam, low beam, left turn, right turn, parking lights, and ground. Had to rebuild the turn/park lights, no sockets left, enlarged the hole and was able to twist fit in plastic sockets from Napa, had a separate ground wire, good thing!

Oh, and hooked up the horns, had a pair from a 70 Toronado, man are they "manly"....
(from one of my buddies when I first "honked" em.....)
The 10 amp fuse in the horn circuit blew after lots of time when my two nieces, 5 and 3, were "driving uncle's race car and honking the horn....", time for a 15 amp fuse in that socket!!!

Gettin' closer to street legal!
Aloha,
Willy

 

Looks like your getting real close to being out "driving the wheels off it". Keep up the good work.
Baron