Projects Kent Fuller Top Fueler Recreated

After fighting the North Pole cold in my garage I got the weedburner header flanges done.
I started with 3/8 x 4 x 17'' hot rolled steel bar stock and some SCE 2 1/4'' round hole copper gasket. Pat Foster told me to use the round hole gaskets. I didn't use them on the Brissette zoomies and the pipes were a bitch to form and have the correct sweep angle.
I laid out the pattern over blue dychem, center punched the bolt holes with a tracer punch and used a 2 1/4'' cobalt hole saw to cut the pipe holes. This was all done on my Drill Press from Hell, a $10 garage sell item with a broken table locking bolt. I drilled 3/16 center line hole first, checked the pattern and was good.
The table was dead nuts square and parallel with square tube stock under it for support. Using lots of cutting oil I still toasted one holesaw what I thought was taking my time with with light pressure and keeping the holesaw cool.
After I got all 8 holes done, I drilled the mounting bolt holes to match the gaskets with a .407 colbalt drill and chamfered all the holes. You have to allow for some expansion since the heat will be high with running Nitro.
I made a small table for my Milwakee portable bandsaw and clamped it into my 5'' vise to finish cutting the final shape like the copper gaskets. 14 tooth blade worked good though the 3/8 hot roll bar stock. I have cut 3/4'' aluminum with this same blade with no problem.
I deburred all the holes and edges. The weedburner pipes are 2 1/4'' x 90 degree on a 12'' radius electricial conduwit. That is what was used back in that era.
Merry Christmas to you all !

 

I am just doing trial fitting. After I get the chassis back, I'll put in the mockup block and tack up the Weedburners .

 

How Bitchin is that???? Killer Pipes Dr. Lee....

Cheers,
~Grasshopper

 

Thanks for the Weedburner building tech. It will come in handy for the future.

 

Lookin good riceman! Cool burners!!... ( is that what you call an oxymoron?)
Trial fitting looks right on target; can't wait for you to get the chassis back.
Its exciting to watch your progress. Thanks!

 

I cut 2 1/2'' off the tubes at the flange end. Looks better. Until the motor gets in the chassis, I won't know if I have to cut some pipe off at the ends. I talked with Lefty Hay who made the weedburners and he said he put a 2 x 4 under the pipes with the 4'' end up and stick welded up the pipes.
I added the water drain plugs at the front of the heads. They are just 1/8-27 plugs with washers welder on the ends. Even though there will be no water in this motor when running, all these little details are needed, just like the over flow hoses at the rear water outlets on the heads to the rear weedburner tubes. It has to look right ! LOL

 

If you use Galvinized coated pipe, the galvinizing has to be completely removed outside, inside and emits toxic smoke when welded. Muractic acid bath will remove the coating and is dangerous to do. Look it up on line for more information.
I did some surfing on the web and found Global Technology and Engineering (http://www.globaltecheng.com) that sells 2.25 od x .065 wall x 12'' centerline radius x 90 degree carbon steel tubing, mandel bends. $13.10 each and no galvinizing to mess with.

 

Riceman; As B&S said,
kind of like sculptures or works of art . . . but with a purpose to crank out HP and chase dreams.
And not like ordanery "dead" sculptures in concrete or bronze, this Thing
will come to LIVE!

Have a happy new year.

.............................
Taildragger&fenderless

 

The Patty Foster 10,000 Things To Do List has a few more 5 minute jobs ( HOURS) checked off.
The Littlefield Polished Nitro Blower, changed the front & rear bearing ends with polished end plate & drive cover, made the valley cover out of 1/4'' 6061 T-6 aluminum plate with the correct hardware and gave it a polishing.
The back bearing & seal cover was coated with Beeswax on the rotor side. This was an old trick used back in the era before teflon strips.
The top blower pulley is flanged on both ends. The front flange is 1/4'' 6061 T6 aluminum. I punched a center mark, scribed the O.D., measured the bolt diameter, indexing hole diameter and scribed those lines. I then clamped the blower pulley matching the scribed lines and Tracer Punched the 6 mounting holes.
Using the Hack Bros. Bandsaw, I cut out the disc and finished the diameter on my beltsander. I got the diameter within +/-.002''. Over to the Drill Press from Hell and drilled out the 6 mounting bolt holes at .390'' and cut out the indexing hole with a holesaw. Deburred all the edges and holes. A test fit was next and the fit was good to go. Off to the polishing wheel. Now if I had a Lathe, this would have been too easy. LOL !
I had to narrow the 3'' flanged Cragar Idler pulley, removing the flanges and making it to match a 2'' vintage Idler. I was cleaning up my mess and I was about to throw away the cutoff part of the Idler.
I was going to have a rear flange made, but by accident or luck ( Chinaman's luck) I place the the rear part of the Idler with a 1/2'' lip next to the Top Pulley & front flange I just made on the bench. I kept looking at it and measure both diameters. They were almost the same diameter. I flipped the top pulley over and measured the I.D. of the top pulley and the lip O.D. of the Idler leftover flange. The I. D. of the pulley was .003'' smaller.
I deburred & cleaned both parts, put the leftover flange in the freezer for an hour to shrink it, took it out and coated it with Loctite Bearing Lock. I heated up the back of the pulley to expand it and using my vise, I pressed the two parts together with little effort and with .003'' press fit, it was pretty solid.
The Valley Cover was next made out of 1/4'' aluminum plate. I made 8 Tracer Punch screw in insert that went into the mounting holes. 1'' long x 5/16-18 NC Grade 7
Oil Harden all thread rod with 60 degree points the were formed on my beltsander and spun with my hand drill. The plate was cut to 8 1/2 x 19 1/4''. I used posterboard to make a tracing of the rear edge of the valley gasket lip, scribed that pattern on the plate and cut that out.
A test fit was next. I measured the location of the center front hole and center punched it. I screwed in all the screw-in tracer punches and set them at .500 height. The front center one was set at .560''. I placed the plate on to the valley locating the front center punch stud and the position was good. I then drilled a .125 center hole and raised the front center tracer stud up high enough so the plate sat flat on all the screw-in Tracers. I grabbed my sand mallet and hit the rear of the plate where the center rear bolt hole would be.
Back over to the Drill press fom Hell, drilled a .125 center hole and checked the location on the two center tracer studs. Looking good, I drilled out the two holed at .328''. I got two 1.250 x 5/16-18 bolts and screwed the plate down on top of the side tracer studs. I hit the plate with the mallet again, removed it and drilled 1/8'' center hole and back on the block for another test fit. Good and drilled out the rest of the mounting holes and chamfered the edges.
I test mounted the plate on to the block and it was a perfect fit. Being that I used my bandsaw, the long edged of the plate weren't flat and smooth like if you had a Mill to do a finish cut.
To get the edges smooth and somewhat flat, I coated the edges with blue dychem and used a bastard fill to knock down the high spots. I got it pretty close and to finish off the long edges, I scrapped the plate back and forth on my cement driveway. Aren't driveways pretty flat ? Worked for me !
Some sanding with a sander on all surfaces, 600,1200,2000 grit paper and some polish it was a finished part. I finally get to bolt it on.
Untill next time, clean up your mess !

 

Keep it coming Riceman!!!

Drill Press from Hell!!! I want one of those. Mine is more like Drill press from childrens novel.

 

$10.00 garage sell and a 3'' blower belt & Drive

 

I admire your fortitude and resourcefulness in getting the surface finish that you wanted without the help of an end mill. You show us yet another example of how hotrodders are among the most resourceful people on the planet! Whats important is that your work piece not only looks good but that it fit perfectly! Its always a gas to check in on your progress, Riceman! This is one very cool project...thanks!

 

Wow Riceman. What a deal. Wish I could come out to the CHHR this year to see it, but can't make it again this year. Second year in a row I missed the CHHR and it's gonna kill me. We will make it to Bowling Green though. The old Lincoln still hits hard and sounds good after three years and about a million cackles. Funny how not racing these things makes them last a lot longer than they did back in the day.

Keep at it my man. See ya

 

I made the throttle linkage bell crank today. I used a Geri Tarvin dimpling tool for Dzus fasters she made. 1) I first cut the ball out of a 1/4 heim joint.
2) Cut 2 disc of .062 aluminum at 2 1/8'' with a 2 1/4'' hole saw. Drilled the center guide hole out to 3/8'' and deburred all edges.
3) Using the Dzus fastener flaring tool, I flared both disc and checked the ball fit, a little tight. I placed the flared center over a piece of tubing and flared it alittle with a 45 degree tube flaring cone. Reassembled for a test fit for ball rotation and BINGO.
4) I cut out two different length 1/16 steel arms with the longer one going through the firewall to pull down the link to the injector arm.
5) I have to wait till I get the motor in the chassis to make the pivot mount off the fire wall and the link to the pedal to the short arm in a pushing motion.

 

Here is the first and hopefully the last revision for the throttle linkage firewall bellcrank. I made the 2 disc smaller at 1.800'' and made the arms at a 2 to 1 ratio in length with a wider body.
Now I want to have adjustabilty to set the arm angle to the progressive throttle linkage. After finishing the disc outter edges, I scribed a line .200'' from the outter edge. So now you have a 1.400'' circle multiplied by 3.1416(Pi) gives you the circumference at 4.398'', divided by 12 is .367 for the hole centers.
I center punch the first hole and scribed lines at .367'' along the 1.400 circle scribed line, center punch the centers and drill them out with a 3/16'' drill. I wanted 12 holes and came out with 11. Opps, but this worked out good for the 1/2 height Nyloc nut clearence, to secure the arms.
One for the stash pile and one for the M & R car.

 

Your adjustable bell crank looks amazing! When I read your discription, Riceman, it sounds as though everything was hand scribed with a caliper and then center punched and drilled. Is this true? Your hand crafted part looks as if you at least used a vertical mill and indexing head!! Your craftsmanship, and I mean this whole heartedly, is first class!!!

 

1) The Pivot mount that attaches to the firewall. I moved the longer arm decreasing the angle , this way the pivot mount can be mounted lower on the firewall.
2) Rear side view, teflon washers and retainer washers help keep the bolt heads from hitting the 1/2'' aluminum pivot mount.
3) In the early 1960s most top fuelers ran a inline Enderle filter with a casted fuel shutoff valve to it. You can still buy the filter , but there is no fuel shutoff like the old ones. I made adapter fittings to fit one.
4) The fuel shutoff, with the -8 Enderle unit on, I made a Collar mount & 3/16'' Plate to secure the cable housing that clamps to the OUT side of the fuel shutoff housing.
5) The cable attachment to the shutoff arm is aluminum and pivots on a steel tube. The cable is secured with a set screw. The Cable mount pivots on the 3/16'' mounting plate, so there is less friction between the cable and housing when moved.

All done with hand tools, Drillpress from Hell and Hack Bros. Portabandsaw, belt sander and files. Thank Robber.

 

Nicely done...People don't understand about the minimalist machine shop construction. A drill press, broken hand me down band saw, cheap belt sander and hand drills can make a lot of nice parts, (been there, done that). Takes a lot longer sometimes, but it's worth it when folks ask where you bought them or how you made them. You do beautiful work Riceman.

 

Here is for you disbelievers on how I make all this stuff. THE MESS, no lathe, no mill and no big time bandsaw. LMAO ! Thanks 64 Dodge 440

 

And of course "THE DRILL PRESS FROM HELL". I used Irwin Cobalt Drills and they work great.

 

If you look close in the background you can see most of my "machine shop". A Walker Turner cast iron band saw that was given to me with a broken blade tracking bracket, (JB Weld repaired the pot metal piece and it's working great), a cheap HF floor stand drill press, a cheap 1X30 belt sander and a hand me down 6" bench grinder. I will admit to 25 plus years as a machinist, (aircraft tool and die maker) and another 20 years plus in my second career as an aircraft mechanic, (A&P with IA). Been playing with cars since 1960 or so and learned how to make stuff with whatever junk I could scrounge.

It's not the tools, it's the guy using them. You are an artisan Riceman. Love your work!

 

No one told us "It can't Be Done". Basic Hot Rodding at it's best.

 

While Robbie Morris III and I were working on the chassis, we thought the Pitman Arm for the steering was too short to clear the Weedburner headers. We kept looking at my pictures and decided it wasn't going to work.
I picked up some 1/2 x 1'' steel rect bar and a new 14 tooth bandsaw blade on Friday. I cleaned up the MESS , to make another mess.
I installed the new blade into the Hack Bros. favorite tool, vise mounted Portaband and started Hacking. The Portaband was removed from the HBV ( Hack Bros. Vise ).
Clamped the rough shaped rect bar into the HBV and plugged in the HBDG ( Hack Bros. Disc Grinder ) and started forming the final shape in mass quanitity of sparks.
Some filing, sanding, and buffing on the Scotchbrite wheels was next.
I felt like Michanglo after I was done. With the motor in the chassis, the Weedburner headers will be done next, then the new arm will be positioned, bent and welded to the spline ring for the steering.

 

A guy I worked with who was a hot shot with Jr Stockers told me once, "It's not necessarily how much you spend, but rather where you spend it."

I've let that principal carry over into every aspect of my life, and it's never proven wrong yet.
Tom S. in Tn.

 

Don't know how I missed this one! Very cool build. Great craftsmanship!!

 

I did some fine tuning on the fuel shutoff mount. I made a new mounting plate and changed to countersunk bolts, made a spacer plate to raise the mounting plate up higher so the cable is perpendicular to the arm travel. There are 10-32 set screws securing the cable and housing in position. I rounded off the corners of the collar.
With the set screws and countersunk plate bolts installed, this looks much cleaner. I gave the top edge some shaping, got carried away LOL ! The cable housing pivot bolt was also raised up 3/16'' to move the mount to the center of the pivot travel as the arm moves. The arm moves so much easier now with these little changes.
My new weedburner header tubes came in today, so tomorrow is TUBE WARS !

 

I went up to Dave Tuttle's shop near Redding Ca. to look at the progress of the aluminum tail section. Slow progress, but the shape is there. Dave straighten out or should I say massaged some of my body forming too. Lookin Good!

 

Roger, you could have been a very successful jeweler.
Glad your not, though....we wouldn't have you building all of this wonderful stuff...

 

Sweet! Nice view of the Kent Fuller chute pack body design, Riceman!