Hot Rods Spalding Bros Repro, for "Too Tall" Ganahl.

Marshall, Did you make it down to Toutle ? It was the first one I missed in a few years, just couldn't make it. You Six cylinder guys are a special breed ! The first cars that Pat and I owned, were both 48 Chevy, 4 doors, he kept his for years, doing many modifications. I sold mine after about 6 months and started collecting Flathead stuff, that was 1962.

 

That seat is pure eye candy. I know Dennis used Jack Underwood's original seat to make the patters for his seats. Unlike the goofy seats that are made with a ton of rivets and belled holes all over this one is dead on from the rivet count to the correct rolled edge around the back.

 

Hey Marshall, I think I posted in error that that was the tach drive Pat needs. I'm sure that's the crank driven version that can be seen in this pic. Cool piece though, is it yours?

 

Wow, good eye Gofannon, I would certainly say that's it. By the way what type of steering box is that? I know the Hot Rod article said Schroeder, but I never seen a Schroeder or Halibrand box that looks like that.

 

It might be an early Schroeder. It looks different to modern Schroeders but I'd say that it's the same as the one in the Doane Spencer roadster.

 

You guys are amazing. I was going to mention that Dennis used a real B-17 seat out of Jack Underwood's car to make his patterns, but figured that was more info than needed. But you already knew it!
The tach drive I need is like the one Marhsall showed. The pictures showing the front tach drive are the injected engine. I'm building the one with three BXOV carbs, mainly because that's what I have, and also so that I can drive it around. The tach drive I need would have the Chevy drive gear on the bottom, but accept the big Nash 12-plug distributor, which has two tangs on the bottom. Derek Bower gave me a usable stock Nash distributor, which I may convert, one way or another. I not only need a mechanical tach drive, but also a mechanical tach, as well as all those other big S-W gauges.
As for steering, I'm going to use a current Schroeder box because (1) it's readily available and in new condition, (2) it's perfectly good for what I'm doing, and (3) Gary and Karen are good friends and that makes the car neater for me. I'll also use Schroeder torsion bars.

Pat G.

 

Pat, here's how I adapted mine. I went this route because mine had the wrong rotation, and the SW tach drive is near impossible to find down this end of the earth. The cap and rotor are the same whichever rotation it has. The distributor shaft and advance are from a SBC Delco points distributor, the Nash cam drops straight on but is machined to take the lugs for the advance springs which came off the Chevy cam. The distributor shaft fits right into the Nash housing and sits at the correct height. The drive gear has to be relocated up the shaft the same as the original Chevy 6 distributor, using the correct gear for your cam. At that stage you can measure up for the adapter. The adapter is bushed in the lower end. I'm considering an electronic conversion for it.

 

This is what I'm working on in the shop right now ,

 

so cool ! love the sound of 6 on alki , and maybe more on NITRO !

 

Oh Man...

 

Looking forward to this build....

 

Gofannon (Mike?): Thanks for sharing your expertise on the Nash distributor. That looks like beautiful work, but also a lot of work. I think you were the one who also showed an example of the early Spalding dual coil setup that adapted the Nash top to an early Chevy distributor body. I have about 6 of the early Roger Huntington, Calif. Bill, McGurk, etc. "How to Hop Up Your Chev/GMC Six" handbooks that show and/or outline both of these conversions. Wish I had kept the good Spalding unit I had (or knew what it was). But at the moment I'm more concerned with getting the over-clearanced bottom end of the engine squared away, and getting the short block built, so I can put the whole engine together. I have a good early Mallory "Double Life" dual point (like I ran in my '48 for years) as a back-up, but I'll wait to see what I come across in the meantime.
Again, thanks to everybody for all your tips, suggestions, and great photos.

Pat Ganahl

 

Marshall - I hope you're going to post some more on that car. It must have some history??

Pat - I'd love to dissect a Spalding ignition to see how they did it. I'm sure it has something to do with the interchangeability of the Nash cam and rotor onto the Delco shaft, which I rediscovered. Then it's a matter of an adaptor plate for the cap, and a twin point conversion. Nash caps and rotors are still available ($). I see there was a Fisher version as well. The extra work of my conversion doesn't bother me. Our hot rod pioneers would've spent countless hours fiddling and adapting back in the day, these days it's too easy to buy stuff off the shelf.

Mike

 

@Marty Strode & @pgan - I've thoroughly enjoyed following this thread! ... Please keep us updated on your progress!

 

Dear gawd' man .... more pictures please.

 

This is a adapted Spalding distributor

 

That's more like it. I don't suppose you have a shot of it with the cap off? And where the hell do you get those big ol' condensers these days?

 

Thanks!

 

Pat and Marty, this is a great build. Thanks for taking time to let us all follow along. It's great to see this car recreated by people who will go the extra mile to get it right.

Pat, have you thinned the fleet? That garage us long term readers have seen forever ought to be beyond full.

 

Pat, Marty, I just found this thread. Wonderful, I cant wait to see how it comes together.
Yes, T-33 has the same early Wayne WMD 225 head on a 1949 235 block with Spalding cam.
These motors are UNREAL!

I'm watching!

 

Pat
Let me know it you need that tach drive,I'll trade you for something .
Marshall

 

May I ask a stupid question here? I'm trying to figure out the purpose of using the Nash distributor, or least the top of it. It has 12 leads, but the engine being used only has 6 plugs? Is it just to get the dual point capability? In the article posted by gofannon it talks about grinding off every other lobe which means no spark would be generated at that point in "time". Sorry for the novice question but this build really fascinates me. I love the history of it and the struggle to use the period and correct parts in the build. Keep up the great work! - David

 

Hivolt, the Nash distributor allows for dual coils. By grinding off 3 lobes you end up with two 3 cylinder ignitions, one set of points operates one coil only. This creates a massive dwell angle which means that the coils can generate a really good spark at high RPM, comparable to the magneto ignitions of the time.

 

I have some of the large condensors..........

 

Marty, the Culver City side plates are on their way - should see them by the end of the week.

Steve

 

Thanks Steve, Pat will be coming by to take a look in a couple of weeks, that should give me enough time to get the rear axle mocked up.

 

Well, I get it that on an historic replica build like this, one would want to duplicate as closely as possible the original setup.

But from a pragmatic standpoint doesn't any single coil ignition system give your six as much dwell time at 8000 RPM as a V8 would have at 6000 RPM?