What's your plan for the gear linkage? I have an idea for mine, may have to draw a plan of it. I plan on having no cables in my build. JW
Plan is to use a 1947 Mercury column change assembly converted to a floor shifter, this was my mate Steve's idea and he kindly gave me the column assembly and an artical form a 60's hotrodding magazine about how to modify it. This is a pic of one converted to clamp onto gear box tail, so mine will be a diffrent mount, on to the chassis, but same principle. Here's a link to the artical https://www.undiscoveredclassics.co...rting-column-shift-floor-shift-vintage-style/ Gear linkage will be rods so long as I can make it work, otherwise cables, but preferably rods.
That was very commonplace in the late 50's , early 60's here. Kids would do the modifications in metal shop at school. The first Mercury's in the states were built in 1939.
That's cool info, I had not seen this done before so nice to know it was done back in the day. My mistake with the year should have read 1947 not 1937 have edited
Started work on the shifter this evening, not sure if this is going to work or not but going to give it a go se how it turns out. Started with this 46 Merc shifter shaft. This was well and truly seized, took quite a bit of persuasion to come apart. Well hopefully this little lot can be turned into a shifter.
Not done a great deal to the tank for a week or so, been getting the coupe ready for the hill climb at Prescott this weekend, had a great time racing up the hill. Have made a bit of progress with the shifter, just got to finish the mount for it. Also made a pair of wheel spacers for the front hubs as the wheels dont sit right without a brake drum on the hub, so spacer will be in place of a drum (only running rear brakes).
Quick vid of me, driving, and my friend JC going up the hill at Prescott this weekend, please excuse any bad language, poor driving technique and other childish behaviour!
Great little clip that, Jamie. I really enjoyed that. Dodgy bit of clamping there, but you got 'er done. The flatty sounded strong.
Very cool, it reminds me of the road in the Hot Rod Hill Climb in Georgetown Co, i drove that road on my last visit over there. Your car ran quick and strong and your smile said it all. JW
Great film Jamie, your car looked great, saw it at Pendine and at the weekend. I particularly like your front cycle guards/ mounts, really neat work as always, I took a few photos at Prescott with the idea of trying to replicate them for an A roadster that I am slowly tinkering with but looking at how well thought out and executed they are mine will be a poor facsimile!
Looks like that start line is actually a drivers test for standard shift drivers.... and see how far you roll back when starting.
Cycle guards are the usual 36 ford tyre cover, with the mounts made from a a couple of pairs of vintage Raleigh push bike front forks, got the bike fork idea off a guy here on the Hamb. There a bit Marmite, I love the look when there on the right car but there not to everybodys taste.
Really enjoying your thread. The construction of these is something I’ve never known much about but have always been curious. Keep up the good work.
Do you mind if I ask why you are apparently running your spindles so that the steering arms are reversed? Maybe I missed something earlier in the associated text I can understand not wanting to deal with punching holes through the body for tie rod clearance but it seems to me that you are making your potential high speed vehicle unstable by discarding the built in Ackerman engineering fundamentals Don’t misunderstand, I like your car and appreciate your abilities but don’t understand this approach
If you put the tie rod behind the axle there is no room for your feet and pedals and going in a straight line Ackerman doesn't come into it. You can go several degrees either way before it starts to matter and if you turn the wheel much more at speed you will be in trouble. My Tank's steering is very similar. JW
With all of the engineering going into this build I find it difficult to believe that a person couldn’t get creative with heating and bending the steering arms down along with making a tie rod configuration that would clear the body without creating a clearance problem with the ground. If I remember correctly the steering box is 60 to 80 years old. Assuming that it is rebuilt it doesn’t take much slop even if you’re only turning a few degrees to get in trouble. Building using the Ackerman principles is insurance. I am sure that I will get beat up for my handle but just the same when I build I take advantage of wisdom of the engineers with my builds. I don’t want to put myself or anyone else in harms way...
As Tman has already answered everything is a compromise on a belly tank build, in this case its so you have room for feet and pedals in the car. Your concern would be very relevant to a non LSR race car, but these vehicle are designed with one purpose and that is straight line speed, no high speed cornering involved....if there is something is going very wrong. When deciding to reverse the front spindles Ackerman was a concern but after researching the subject decided that this had little significance for this application. Two fine examples of this set up are the So-cal speed shop and the Tom Beatty belly tank both very successful cars with steering arms out front and no correction for Ackerman. As you have suggested the steering arms could be heated and bent out to improve alignment, and may well be if this is consider an issue during testing. Not trying to shoot you down here Ratreo just giving you some answers to your question.
The HA/GR in my avatar has 7 degree kingpin inclination with reversed spindles and bugger all Ackerman principle. I only want it to go in a straight line, not worried about self centering steering. It's a bitch to turn at the end of a run but you can let go of the steering wheel at 100 m.p.h. and it runs true.
Not trying to shoot you down here Ratreo just giving you some answers to your question.[/QUOTE] Asked and answered. Good luck with it
Progress has been slow on the tank the last couple of weeks due to the weather being nice so been enjoying getting out and about, but did get the engine out and striped down and spent most of yesterday scrubbing, degreasing and jet washing the block, came out fairly clean. Visual inspection looks good, some pitting in the cylinders where water has sat in it but planing to bore it out so shouldnt be a problem. Next step is to Magnaflux and pressure test, make sure its all as good as it looks.
Great video Jamie! Looks like a lot of fun! I think it would be a good video for you to share on the road through my windshield thread here on the HAMB. I am enjoying watching your build thread. Belly tankers have always been a favorite of mine.
Well the engine inspection on the first block didnt go so well here's a photo the worst crack, It aint pretty. This is the Mercury block So change of plan and on to my second block an 8BA which so far is looking a lot more promising, one tiny crack in the valve bowl which should be easy to stitch, otherwise looking good. Next I'm getting the 8BA ready to pressure test, if that go well then its full steam ahead with the engine build...
Got an email last night with entry forms for next years Pendine event, so I've filled them in with the belly tanks details, so now I've got a deadline of next May, so I'm gonna have to start finding more hours in the day..drink more coffee, give up sleeping... With the deadline in mind i spent the day in the workshop, pressure tested the block, no leaks 100% water tight also did some sonic testing to check cylinder wall thickness before I decide what size to bore out to. Measurements are in millimeters and are the thinest measurement on each quarter of the bores, thinest sections is 4.2mm in a coulple of bores. Also fabbed up a dash panel.
Yep I know where your coming from, there will be a six point harness holding me in my seat and away from hazards, the angle of the photo makes it all look a lot more imposing than it is when your sat in there.
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