1928 Schumacher Special (early hot rod)

Here is a picture of the restored booster unit.

 

outstand save!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We are starting to crank things up with the hope of completing the car for next August. With any luck I will be able to post some progress in the coming months. Yesterday we spent the day on this issue. When the front axle was mounted last winter the tie-rod could not be put on between the wheels because it hit the top edge of the springs. This was kind of odd as in theory we re***embled it the way it was taken apart. All parts were stamped prior to dis***embly. It made pushing the car around a pain in the rear end because the wheels would want to go off in different directions. So, last week I was sitting their staring at it when I noticed that the axle does not sit 100% square in the spring. It looks to be about 1 1/2 off center. That was interesting. Measuring the wheelbase revealed 142 inches which was 3 short of the 145 it was supposed to be. So yeah, the springs were mounted backwards. The short end is supposed to be in the front.

The other thing I've been working on is finding someone to restore the wheel. It is not a stock Stutz wheel. It has an aluminum hub with a detachable steel rim that was covered in a hard rubber. I was thinking a professional restoration of it would be around 1k. The first quote came back at 5 to 7k (this was a complete new mold job) from a reputable wheel restorer so I'm working on a new plan. Suggestions are welcome.

 

Squint a bit, and imagine a crisp winters morning....



Yes, it is a quiet day at work.

 

build it up with plasticine, and wrap in fine cord? (learn some nice maritime stuff). then shellac it till it is all sealed up.

 

If a custom made wood rim would be OK I know a fellow in New ****ord that can make a great looking one. When I find his flyer I picked up last month I'll PM you the info. Is there a special event in August that you plan to debut the car at?

 

Thanks for the suggestion but I'm not sure about the plasticine. It is not really reparable as is since the inner steel ring is badly rusted. Most of the rubber is separating from it. My dad has suggested wood and we are looking into that. Bob, if you have somebody you could recommend that would be appreciated. I've had some people PM me with some ideas that I've got to follow up on.

As for August, this is the Stutz Centennial and there will be a special cl***. I'm getting lots of friendly pressure to get the car done. My 85 year old dad is really fired up so we'll do the best we can. The good thing is he does 1/2 the work and I get a great hourly rate .

 

Today is the steering ***embly and the emergency brake system.

 

Drag link is now mounted. All the chrome is as it was originally. There was an amazing amount of parts chromed on the car including all the steering components.

 

Can't believe I just now stumbled on this build. I have plenty of experience with New England winters and I think that car was in pretty doggone good shape considering the 1951-2005 "storage".
I LOVE the way the original headers were done with the aluminum wrap from your photos on page 3. I sure hope it proves feasible to duplicate it like you hope.
Thank you so much for sharing you and your dads' joy with the rest of the world!!!
Eddy in Dallas

 

post #107 now that's a head

lots of progress since my last visit, very cool car

 

We visited the engine builder today, John Cislak who is out in Springfield M***. I found a NOS distributor cap and rotor at Hershey so my dad and I were delivering that. I wish I took a picture of the cap as it has 16 plug wires, 2 per cylinder. Progress has been slow lately but John promised us the engine for early next year. Here is a nice picture of the pop ups.

 

Nice.

Brake booster loooks good.

I see the engine is coming along nice. There is quite a dome to those pistons.

Did Mr. Cislak find many performance modifications to your Stutz motor?

It looks like he also works on Packard motors too.

Vintageride

 

For the performance modifications I had a few different sources to figure out what to do. I have a single picture of the engine compartment (which unfortunately I can't publish) which shows an intake setup with 4 carbs. It also nicely illustrates the tach drive going into the back of the cam which otherwise would have been a bit of a mystery. I have some blueprints given to me graciously by the builders son. One is for a set of pop up pistons very similar to what we used. He also told me that the original carbs were winfields and not the Carters shown in the picture. Close examination of the picture confirmed the square Winfield flange with the carters adapted on top. George Holman is a guy with that owns a bunch of early Stutz and races them hard. He was invaluable with his help. John has a ton of experience with both modern race engines as well as vintage ones. He specializes in Pierce Arrow. Put it all together and I've been very lucky. Of the top of my head:

1. Increased compression from about 5-1 to close to 8-1.
2. Ported the valves.
3. Had a custom ground "hairy" cam made
4. Replaced the factory aluminum rods with steel rods from 41 packard.
5. Of course everything was balanced.
6. The 4 winfields & a big one piece header.

Original hp was around 110 and they are telling me to expect anywhere from 160 to 180. We were planning on a dyno test so hopefully we will know how we did.

 

..........Really enjoyed the thread.........

 

Any plans to have the car at the Fall Festival at Lime RocK, Ct. on Labor Day weekend 2011? I got a ride in a MERCER Raceabout last year.

 

I have a buddy who is all fired up to go for a 100 mph ride. I guess I'm getting wussy in my old age because the thought of going that fast on bias ply tires while basically sitting on the rear axle in a seat with about 5 inches of aluminum keeping you in the car is terrifying to me. If you want to putt around the track at moderate pace then maybe that can be arranged .

 

Thanks for the offer, I wouldn't mind accepting it.

 

AJ..... You gotta drive it like you stole it....... Ed AKA Fast Eddie Jr.

 

Speaking of the guy that wants to go 100mph .

 

I talked to a friend of mine in the business.

He thought the mold job as original was about right and the best long term option.

We talked about other options.

What about stabilizing the substrate by filling, sealing and wrapping? then cover it all with a nice leather. You could complete the stabilization by your self and then have it covered with leather.

Vintageride

 

Did you friend think that 5-7k was about right for a mold job? When I talked to the guy on the phone (who is supposedly "the wheel guy"), I was getting the "my name is going to be on that wheel forever" jibe meaning he wanted to do it perfect for future references. I want to do it right and I don't think I've cheaped out on anything but 7k for a steering wheel????

There is no way to use the existing rim for anything other than a pattern as the steel inner reinforcement is in bad shape. I do have a couple of recommendations for other guys that can re-mold it I just need to follow up and make some calls.

 

Car is coming along great. By the way, there are a few posts I've seen on casting steering wheels on here, some of those came out really nice. Take a look in the tech archives.

 

Oh, I don't disagree. $7K is over the top and not to be considered. That would pay for allot of chrome, polishing, and even upholstery items.

I should have framed it better. I was talking to a steering wheel engineer. He was basically looking at it as a path that would basically follow a prototyping process like the OEMs. He talked about a number of issues. The shape is one thing, the other includes the hardness of the wheel after molding. I am sure the guy that quoted was following the a similar path as one would for an OEM prototype. He may be good to talk to for parameters to consider when making your ultimate choice.

Who knows maybe even a stainless ring that bolts to the existing aluminum casting. Maybe then that could be upholstered in leather.

Vintageride

 

How does this plan sound? I have a very nice original Stutz wheel. It happens to be very similar to the wheel on the car with the exception of the polished aluminum spokes. We've removed the rim from the wheel and had the spokes polished and the threads repaired on the screw holes. The rims on the two wheels are identical. What if we cut the spokes out of the Stutz wheel and mount the rim on the aluminum hub?

I hadn't considered this before because I'm loathe to cut up such a nice wheel, but that was before I started getting estimates for remolding the rim.

 

What's the ID of the wheel? I have three early thirties wheels in the shop..... They might work. Let me know.... Ed

 

I won't go to sleep tonight until I find the info on the guy in New Fairfield, Ct. that will make you a wood rim that will be close to perfect.I've seen wheels he has made, so nice you want to build a car around one.

 

Ed, the inside diameter is 16 1/4. The stutz wheel I have is a good match and the pattern is very similar so if I go that route I think it would work well.

Bob, my dad has been pushing the wood idea for a while. My only concern is that you can fabricate one of the same size and shape. Most of the ones I've seen were thicker. If you come up with that name I would love to call the guy.

 

I have been thinking about your idea since you proposed it. I think it may be possible as long as the final ***embled wheel is still strong enough.

I looked at your photo of the end of the casting. It looks like it requires a large fastener. That connection to the wheel perimeter would need to be compatible with the donor wheel's structural steel beneath the rubber.

Since they are similar, I wonder if that is actually a Stutz part or accessory that could be sourced.

Vintageride

 

This is definitely the number one issue with what I'm proposing. The rim that I want to use has to have a wide enough band inside of it to make the whole ***embly strong enough. Still not sure what we are going to do.

On the progress front, working on re***embling the brake setup to make sure it works the way it's supposed to. The master cylinder is froze and that will need to be sent out for a rebuild. We think we figured out how all the pedal mechanism is supposed to work. Note the little ****on that attaches to the booster. Once we know it will work it all has to be dis***embled again and sent out for chrome.

I'm continually impressed with the level of workmanship that went into the original construction. It's easy to see why it took 3-4 years to complete. We are going to spend 6 or 7 restoring it.