Well, been able to work on the '34 the last few weekends. Of course is pissing down rain today, so lying on my back whilst I try to fit more stuff is extra fun. But it's about 95% done, so thought I'd share. Built a M/C mount that uses the original mechanical gang-lever assembly to actuate the M/C instead of directly off the pedal. This is for several reasons - the primary of which is packaging. There's not a lot of room under a '34 & the crossmember doesn't lend itself well to a more typical conversion. The Early V8 Garage sells a kit similar to what I ended up making, but at $360 + shipping, I figured I'd take a shot at it. To be honest, I had already thought of this idea when I found out about the kit, so I don't feel like I'm "stealing" someone's idea - I'm quite certain it's not an original idea. For those of you unfamiliar with the gang-lever, here's what it looks like. The top arms are for the rear & the bottom arms are for the fronts. I was originally going to use the lower/front arms to directly acutate the M/C, but ended up needing a lever for the ratio, so used the upper/rears I began by making the actual M/C mount using 3/16" plate. I drilled the appropriate holes, tapped for studs, & welded them in for good measure. I then used some heavey guage 1x2 box tubing to serve as the primary crossmember and cut some 2" x 3/16" angle for mounts. It isn't pretty, but it gets the job done. Then, after much measuring & figuring, I mounted the M/C plate to the crossmember. I used some low-profile channel cut to provide the heavy part as primary gusset. I needed to change the pedal ratio (see this post: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91850&highlight=pedal+ratio ), so I used some of that low-profile channel to built the pivot point & a piece of 1/4" bar to serve as the lever. I ended up filling & re-drilling the holes and shaping the lever a bit later. I made all the push/pull rods using clevises stolen from the original mechanical setup. I re-did the lever & cleaned it all up, put a little paint on it, and it looked like this this morning: Got it in the car & here's what it looks like hooked up to the linkage: Didn't get as much done today as I'd have liked because of the rain. Got all the rest ready to go - only bits I'm waiting on are some small fittings for the M/C and I can get this thing stopping! It will have F100 fronts & '42-48 rears. I'll be swapping out an entire front end keeping only my spring (will probably use a Mart-O-Matic type device to reverse the main leaf) & wishbone. Got an old filled & drilled 4" drop axle, new perches, shackles, steering arms, & SSBC Royal Kingpin needle bearing king pins for the front. After that, pop some new heads on to see about eliminating this very minor head gasket leak & I'm off!
Just had the Royal Kingpins opened up & a good look. Seems a competent machinist could probably whittle up the unique king pin - the bearings should be available at a decent bearing supply house. Will post pics later...
Looks good. Thanks for the info. Did you cut the rod that comes out of the M/C and weld that clevis on?
It looks like some nice fabrication and a stout bracket, but I'm a little confused. Do you have the M/C push Rod going to the mechanical brake lever. How are you planning to actuate the M/C?? Where do the Hydraulic lines go?
I used the original 67-68 Mustang drum/drum non-power pushrod, cut off the eye that originally mounted to the Mustang pedal, threaded the pushrod, & modified the clevis to fit. Yeah - it's a bit of overkill in most places... In the last pic with the mount installed, there is no M/C - the gang-lever goes to the fabricated short double-clevis pull-rod to the ratio-changing lever, which in turn goes to the M/C pushrod. By stepping on the brake pedal! The stock pedal actuates stock mechanical linkage at the gang-lever assy. The gang-lever then actuates my fabricated lever that changes the direction & the ratio & pushes on the M/C. From the master cylinder to the wheel cylinders! Seriously, it's not finished & the last pic does not show the M/C installed. The bracket is done, it works, & I'm waiting on some dry weather & a couple of the odd fittings to plumb the system...
Hydraulic brakes are good. Nice work! But what I want to know is, where can I get this big spark plug?!!?
I get it now, the picture still shows the arms going fore and aft, those are going away. You are just using the gang lever to go from the pedal to the master. The picture fooled me
My wife had this in her attic when we got married - she's pretty sure it belonged to her brother. It's an AM radio! I cleaned it up a bit & put a new battery in it & it works pretty well. I sent Champion an email asking them how old it was & if they had any record of it & believe it or not, they answered! They said it was a promo item for dealers & parts stores and dated to the early '70s - probably no newer than '74. So it's not particularly old, but it's kinda neat.
Good job Ernie.......i'll feel alot happier now when you follow me! I seem to remember you driving real close for miles a while back! Kev.
Yeah thats it........& what are you doing up this late.....its almost 2am!! i just reminded myself to go get some sleep.....hahaha duh! Kev.
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