Friday, September 24, 2010

It Fits!!!

When Dick explained to me what he could do with the Bridgeport CNC vertical mill, I was amazed. Basically he mounts the pulley, then locates the center hole and the existing bolt pattern and then tells the mill what he wants done and it does the functions as instructed. I'm sure there is 40 years of knowledge that goes along with this, but I WANT ONE SANTA!!
I expected minor adjustments but the pulley simply bolted on. Remember the center hole is enlarged to .980" diameter and the new 2.25" four bolt pattern is offset 45 degrees and drilled to .259". With the 1/8" spacer, the new pulley fits over the existing cast iron pulley on the pump (1" grade 8 bolts required-original fan blade). This moves the fan forward 3/8".
We are now at 1.14 times the crankshaft speed instead of 1.59 times using the original 4.25" water pump pulley. Big difference!
This would offer a 1.01 pulley ratio if the stock damper was used.

Now if I wing'er up a wee bit in the garage, my organs don't cramp from terror and the spectators and my hood are safer on launch (kinda sporty looking too).
The speed and efficiency of the water pump are a factor here and I will report if any problems crop up.
I received the invoice from Rich Tool but there was evidently an Inkjet cartridge malfunction. I penciled the corrected amounts in prior to submitting it to Corporate. 
Thanks once again Dick!!!!!

Took the 34' for a 10 mile ride this morning, no cooling problems indicated and so nice and quiet. Previous fan noise was terrible, even at normal driving RPM.
This modification is a big plus in my situation. 

Friday, September 17, 2010

The Pulley

Back from Dick's shop, the pulley is perfect!!

BBFL1WP
The pulley with internal spacer should mount on the existing water pump pulley and slow the the fan to a reasonable speed that will prevent damage should I have to wind'er up a little. This is a  CVF Racing part
# BBFL1WP pulley that has the center hole bored to .980" and the 54' bolt pattern (2.25") added to the mounting flange. The spacer is installed internally between the new pulley and the existing pressed on 54' water pump pulley.
This is going to require a little time to install, and I will report back on the operation.

Thanks again, Dick.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Dick n' Tom

These two were probably my closest friends during my teen years and the renewal of that friendship after 45 years has been great. All of us went our separate ways during that time and ended up a little beat up but still kickin'.

Dick is the tall good looking stud and Tom is the Italian weight lifter to the right.
Now the hard part.......

Both are standing in front of Dick's VERY NICE '57 Chevy. 
The '57 has a recent paint upgrade, wheels, Discs, and it looks like new pinstriping!
I always felt that the '57 was Chevy's best 50's year and Dick's has all the goodies and upgrades. The dash has an absolute mirror finish in black that is hard to believe. he's got a beautiful early Mustang that sits in the garage next to the '57.

I shouldn't post Tom's '32 'cause it probably needs work....

1932 Chevrolet four door 350/350 and
a magnificent vintage lacquer candy apple red paint job on a flawless body. This car has more chrome underneath that mine has in total. To
give you an idea of this car, there is no dust on the lug nuts under the hubcaps.

As you can see, it's probably a good thing that I live 300 miles away from these two. I would not be allowed to park in the same lot for morning coffee.

Beautiful cars. Just click on the pictures for enlarged view. 

Monday, September 13, 2010

Fan Blades

At the age of 16 years, I learned the hard way (twice) about fan blades. Coming home from work one night, I wound up Dad's '51 Henry J six in the middle of Coyote pass leaving East L.A. One of the four blades of the fan broke off and came through the hood......started shaking like hell. Back to Ford Blvd. on the way to work for a hood and another fan. Cost me a weeks pay and he was more than upset.
THEN, maybe eight months later, in the same place, I was copilot in Dad's other chopped and channeled '51 Henry J when HE wound that little hot rod flathead four up and did the same thing except this time it sliced a hole in the top tank of the radiator. He detonated on me even though I tactfully pointed out that HE was driving, not me. I still had to remove the HOT blade right there in the dark while he stomped around looking at his custom Henry J hood with the '50 Merc nose leaded in. Lessons.........

The '54 vintage Chevy six has a stock water pump/fan ratio of 1.41. The fan runs faster than the crankshaft. 4000 rpm crank = 5640 fan rpm.
On my 235, I needed a later Chevy Harmonic balancer (6.75" instead of the 6.0" original) to bolt the serpentine drive pulley onto. Now the ratio changes to 1.59. 4000 crank rpm = 6352 fan rpm (Scary!!)
The answer is a larger water pump pulley, but which one? Evidently the dimensions of the multitude of water pump pulleys is classified space shuttle technology. No one wants to share this information, nor is it listed anywhere that I could find.
I finally got a response from a very courteous gentleman at CVF Racing who took the time to sell me a pulley that is close enough to modify and mount on the original '54 Chevy water pump pulley (part # BBFL1WP).
Three modifications are required, bore the center hole to .980, redrill the bolt pattern to 4 on 2.25" bolt circle, and add a 1/8" spacer between the water pump pulley and the new aluminum pulley. This pulley moves the fan forward 3/8" which I need to clear the serpentine idler.
This new pulley is 5.9" in diameter and will result in a pulley ratio of 1.14.
4000 rpm crank = 4560 fan rpm. Much improvement!
As soon as the pulley is back from Dick's machine shop I will summarize the results.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Got Boost ???

There are several references on supercharger design and all contain various formulae and discussions on the superchargers and related design criteria....read'em, done that.
Of particular interest is your individual application (engine size and type, supercharger size and type, and intended use) in order to correctly determine the speed (flow/boost) of the unit. The MagnaCharger is a roots design and boost is closely related to RPM. A number of variables come in to play and all must be considered regardless of the formulae.
I sized the drive components according to the references for the 90 cubic inch 4th generation MP90 by Magnuson at a pulley diameter of 4.1" for 1.5 lb. of boost. The calculations did not factor in the volumetric efficiency of the MP90 (.74) in the 6000 rpm range and the calculated and measured boost at .74%  is actually 0.0 lbs.
Changed the supercharger pulley to 3.8 in. from 4.1 in. (1.513 pulley ratio) and observed an increased boost to 1.0 lb. This is fine for a street vehicle used only for crusin'.

At my age, it's not the launch from the stoplight that's important........
It's how cool you THINK you look when the light turns green!!

 Now the supercharger is turning
almost as fast as the fan blade which is
turning way too fast..... 6352 rpm at 4000 rpm engine speed. Imagine a Star Wars light saber, thats my fan.
The answer is on its way to Dicks Tool and Die shop for slight machining (new fan pulley) and will post the results as soon as I get it installed.

This is the new 3.8" pulley, I found a 3.4" pulley on Ebay last night..... 
2.9 lbs. of boost. I'm thinking .........

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Early Days

I traded a guy 3 blocks away my clean, 2 owner, Hiawatha motor scooter and $10.00 cash money for this Model A in a thousand pieces all over his dirt back yard (including the title). I was 13 years old. I knew when I got enough courage to tell my dad that life as I knew it would cease.
Surprise!!! We went to look at it and he smiled and said "I'll bring home the trailer tomorrow" (I'll be damned and I was).
Three of the trailer loads were taken to dad's shop and distributed to the members of 4Ever Four in East L.A., the body and frame came home to me.
You have to remember that I had very recently been sentenced (saved my life) to six 10's at the shop at the rate of $2.00 per day and lunch. 

Four years later, I paid off the Bank Of Dad and saved the $400.00 it took to have it professionally painted at a shop on Eastern in E.L.A. What you see is four years of learning and work. I was the coolest of the cool driving into the school parking lot in September. Life was so simple then........

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Escape!

On my way home from getting a haircut about a month ago, the thermometer in the truck said it was 116 degrees, It was!! I'm outa here.
Hooked on to the trailer and headed for the coast of California.
I wanted to see the coast of California and Oregon....have never had the time.
Highway 1 from Morro Bay to Frisco is not the way to see the coast! Basically you get an occasional quick glance at the ocean while negotiating a 32' trailer by the cliffs, bicyles, and areas where the road fell off into the ocean.
That was the extent of Highway 1 but ended up at the Klamath River and never saw the sun through the fog.
I contacted  Ben Banson, a young guide from Gold Hill on the Rogue River and spent an outstanding day drift fishing 10 miles of the Rogue with him. Excellent equipment, drift boat, and skill. It was great! One of the fish was a 7 lb. steelhead as you see. 
More fishing in Oregon, then back home where it had cooled down to 98 degrees.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Shiftin' n Huffin'

Tom had a 4 speed in his Chevelle, I had a 3 speed.....*#!+%$ and then Ron drives into the school parking lot grinning from ear to ear with a 471 blower on his fine 39' Ford coupe........Awww*&$*^#. I only had one four barrel. Dick had a blonde. I think Dick and I were chasing girls while the others got ahead of us!
Now after 45 years, I have a four speed, Yes!! I do not want to discuss what Tom and Dick have now.......NO!
However, I recently completed this hand carved accessory in a belated attempt at catch-up. Dick's tool and die skills and his equipment were seriously needed assistance, thank you. 
This is a Magnuson MP90 supercharger (magnificent engineering) operating in draw-through wet mode with an Edelbrock #1403 500 cfm carburetor. My drawings and Aaron's fab skills on the carburetor plenum.
I set this up for low boost and so far everything is running well. Have about 20 miles on the system now and so far no significant problems.
All fits within the 34' Master hood.

We Be Drivin'

All the details were taken care of with the 54' core motor but it had internal problems. Exchanged that for a 55' 235 that runs quiet and sweet. This engine uses the high water pump adapter plate that is neccessary with the # 838277 Chevrolet fan in placing the fan nicely in the lower center of the radiator.
Cools very well in the 108 degree desert traffic with the stock radiator. The fan runs faster than the crank and has the ability to kill flies at 24".
The car runs and drives very well for a 34' with this many changes.
There were some things that my buddies (Tom, Dick, and Ron) had when I was a teenager that I could not afford. Lets proceed with that..............

Measure-Measure-Measure Again!

This is an original 1934 Master with a professionally rebuilt DuBonnet front suspension and mechanical brakes...ugh. Some very knowledgeable guys on the VCCA site stated that if the brakes are in excellent condition and serviced "by the book" that they will function well. Lots of work but they do function better than I expected (new cables and clean/polish every moving part from the pedal bushings to the shoes).
Since the rear axle was very good, I adapted the saginaw 4 speed to the torque tube with a very nice kit from Patrick's in Arizona GREAT PEOPLE! The secret to this kit is using a 37/39 1/2 ton trunion joint and the drive and driven speedo gears from the 49/54 chevy PU. The trunion joint has the same rear half that a 34 Master has and a 10 spline front half that is close enough to the adapter shaft splines that careful hand work will make it fit.
My biggest fear in this was that the saginaw was too long (13 5/8" vs. 12" for the synchromesh '34). That is not the case, I cut 1/2" off the torque tube and propeller shaft and all is perfect.
The actual problem is the length of the engine. Using the '54 high short water pump engine, the fan is in the correct location but the back of the head is 1/2" forward of the firewall (file the lump off the passenger side rear of the head!).
 I used the center front mounting and built two side mounts off of the front bellhousing face to the existing frame xmember mounts.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Decision Time

I knew the transmission was in bad shape, but the "freshened" 207 six was junk. Cracked head (block?), Standard pistons in a .020 over block with only 2 of 3 rings on each piston and a bad cam. The engine leaked oil from every orifice a great deal more than it burned....and it burned a LOT!
$10K to build a fresh 207 and a transmission which didn't shift all that well when new (with me obtaining a new head and useable block as well as doing the assembly), I don't think so!
This one was going to have a later inline Chevy six and a smooth shifting saginaw four speed.
Three weeks later the engine and transmission were given away and the project begins.

History

About a year and a half ago, I decided it was time for a new project.... a vintage car. I was raised by a craftsman father and a bunch of great guys that were both street rodders and members of Forever4 in L.A. I had a 30' Model A in my teens and a 33 Plymouth about 35 years ago.
This 1934 Chevrolet is what I ended up with. I cannot explain this mistake! Too much for too little. I wanted a project but........