******************************************************* Is it save to have my block hot tanked? I found some 1.7 valves but I think I can make them cheeper if I could find a good valve to start with. my wife works late tonight I can wash the block in the tub my 2 boys can take a bath and wash dads engine it to big for the dish washer later Bill
Picked this up this morning from Mel ( Dirtiest Devil ). Fresh rebuild! Just gotta clean it up and in she goes!! Somebody has the same taste as me! Different yellow though.
Did you guys see the Dodge Brothers banger? I just finished a biography on the Dodge Brothers and it sounds like aside from the lack of speed parts, a Dodge 4-cyl would blow your average Flivver engine out of the water. Of course, they all came in larger, heavier cars, but we know what to do about that... -Dave
And it will be yellow when it's done. I am trying to pry an OHV conversion away from the guy who gave me the Dodge. In the 20s they were a pretty popular motor to convert to a race motor.
What kind of head did they use for the OHV conversion? If it is not to hard to find might be easy to do, like the one's on bangers
There was a Roof 16 valve head made for the Dodge engine as well as at least two eight valve heads made by other manufactures. I do know of a guy with some of these haeds, but it wasn't easy for him to find them and he may not want to part with them. I checked the Summit catolog and didn't find anything.
Pulling apart the banger from my Tudor, which I bought last year from Continental John via the HAMB cl***ifieds, just to check a few things out and install a 1R cam. I was told that this engine had had some work done on it, so was looking forward to seeing what is in there. Yup...full pressure! ...plus a counterweighted crank, hi-po oil pump and inserted bearings. Nice! There's also a lightened flywheel in there, but that still has a stock A clutch riding on it. A V8 clutch will soon get mounted on there instead. Oddly, after obviously having a fair old chunk of green spent on it, it is still using the stock fibrous timing gear and what I think is 'B' grind cam.
My boss let me use his GPS today. On the way home got the old model A up to 58.9mph. on a nice flat spot. I think I need to put some spacers under the valve springs. I cant what to put a new engine in later Bill
Heres a mildy off-topic Model A uestion some of you may be able to help me with. My gas tank on my roadster leaks gas around the column drop. Not much, but any leak is not good in my opinion. I pulled the tank yesterday and figured I could JB weld around the drop, seal the tank and run an aftermarket drop that comes off the dash rail. I don't want to try welding it, ****er really reaks of gas. If this sounds like an OK fix, what can I use to get all the gas off of the area that I want to JB weld? The gas is evaporated, but left an oily residue. Thanks Y'all
I'd try acetone or brake cleaner to clean the area. It dries clean and doesn't leave a residue. Both are compatible with fuel. When you say "seal the tank" do you mean that your also using a sealer inside the tank that will coat the whole thing? .
daddyo is right...acetone or brake cleaner are about the best for not leaving residue...they're even better than laq. thinner. I have tried the jb weld thing without success. you may get it to work for you and it's worth a try. you can use a late 31 style column drop and still look original. i found that gas is just too viscous to stop from the outside. are you sealing inside?
I have repaired a few tanks with soft solder and a big electric soldering iron, no flame just heat, worked well for me. I would also buy a tank sealing kit then you will be sure it won't leak. Remember it is leaking in your lap, I hope you don't smoke, or you might finish up smoking more than you intended. Regards Brendan
I did one that way too wire brushed all round the area to clean it and filled tank with co2 to stop any fire hazard worked very good and seemed to be soldered from the factory. Used to be able to take tanks to machine shop n run them thru the washer for blocks that cleans all residue out n you can weld on them after that hope it works out for you Ken
Hey Bill, that sounds great. My coupe, back when it was stock and until it blew a head gasket, used up have a 'sweet spot' around 55-58 mph. Never overheated in hot Texas summers, until it finally blew the gasket between 3 and 4. Keep after it! Fearless
I got mine to 54.4 mph the other day. Still breaking her in though. That was in 4th gear at just over 2000 rpm. I had 5th left and another 1500 rpm. I'm thinking a comfortable 70 mph. Maybe top around 80-85? Maybe I should calculate the top speed and compare to actual... Found a speed calculator: top speed at 3500 rpm = 105 mph top speed at 4000 rpm = 120 mph This is with rpm, 5th gear at 0.76:1, 3.78 rear and 29" tall tires. I may need a helmet for this! (and about 5 miles to run her up).
I've had 77mph out of one of mine on the quarter, doing a 17.3 second p***. That was with 4.11's in the quick-change.
Cool, but this weekend i am traveling across the bay to pick up a Morton & Brett OHV conversion from the guy who gave me the block. He is loaning me the head to run in my roadster. He aso has a 16 valve Roof so we have to decide which one to use. I am of the opinion that the Roof is just to rare to bolt to a race car. Pictures to follow.
The Laurel-Roof (Ford) heads had notoriously spindly rocker shaft mounts, do the DB heads have the same issue? A few years ago I was down at Bruce Crowers house and he showed me a DOHC conversion he made for a Roof head. That was his way around dealing with the towers. I know where there is a complete set up for T, but I never persued it. Good Luck with the new head. Look forward to your updates and times.
Thanks everyone regarding my gas tank. Yes, I am going to seal the insode with a tank sealing kit. I may try the solder idea. Oh and Thanks Crazy- I tried the brake clean and it worked well!! I'll let everyon know how it goes. Oh, and I don't smoke, but gas dribbling down by your feet (and battery) scares the **** outta me!
Is there anyway to clean out the inside of my gas tank without taking the whole car apart and having it boiled? It doesn't seem like much gas was left in my A when it was parked some 30-odd years ago. When I got it out there were a few little pebbles of what I'm ***uming to be a mix of rust and lead. I hooked up an electric fuel pump and cycled gas thru those cheapo filters until it ran clean. I even hooked up an air hose to a long line to s**** the bottom and get it all out. I did that when I first got it going last fall and it worked, no more clogs coming out of the tank. Fast forward to this past Monday. I have been driving the car since last fall with no problems, as recently as the night before. Drove the car about 30 miles Sunday night over lots of hills and curves, gave me NO problems what so ever. Get in it Monday to drive to work and the little pebbles of lead and rust reappear in the filter, clogging the line. It gets to be a pain to unhook everything and clean it out with a coat hanger. This winter I'll boil the tank but is there anything I can do for now to try to clean it out besides my fuel pump and filter routine again? Thanks guys!
I've not done it yet personally, but a friend has soaked some rusty brake cyls in this stuff and they came out looking like they had been remanufactured. If you filled your tank with this stuff or had the ability to let it sit in the bottom for a day, and then flipped the tank over and let it sit at the top for a day, and then drained the tank out, it could probably do a pretty good job. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=96431
I used one of those tube type screens that installs into the top of the fuel shutoff, Snyders has them. No more clogs for me, I just left all that rust and crud in there.
Hmmm...that's what I was thinking, if I could put a little screen up there somehow. I'll have to jump over to Snyder's site and check it out. They are nice and close, I can have things in a day (that is if I don't just cruise over ). EDIT: This little jobbie? http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/2140
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