Projects 1957 Hillman Husky 392 hemi build thread

Real cool project, the Hemi looks great....

 

Thanks. Progress has been slow the last week or so.

Drive shaft is done as should be shipped today.

Waiting on space to open in a friends shop so we can work on the core support for the radiator.

Had to return the brake master to exchange it for one with ports on the opposite side. The one I got had the fittings on what will be the frame side.

Started looking in to a small battery. After reading on the HAMB looks like Odyssey is the way to go.

Fuel cell should be on the way.

I've been researching a bracket for a Chevy 1 wire alternator. I've got Hot Heads pulleys so I need to make sure whatever I do lines up with these. For now I've ordered their upper and lower bracket. I don't think a lower bracket will fit since the frame rail is close but I'll give it a try.

Also ordered a Hot Heads water cross over and thermostat housing.

 

Drive shaft arrived today. I hope to test fit it soon and then I can throw some paint on it.

Looks like quality work from Curt Hamilton as always.

 

here's a shot of the drive shaft. Did a test fit and it looked perfect. It's a little close on one side but still has more than 3/4" of clearance.

 

Here's a shot of it getting some paint.

 

Sure looks like a tigth fit...

 

I've got more than 3/4" clearance. That's just from eyeballing it. the picture makes it look closer than it is. This rear end won't move so it won't be a problem.

 

Looks good. As long as it goes round, up and down and doesn't hit anything then your laughing.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

All the pictures work just fine, for me that is...

 

I see them now. Thanks for clarifying.

 

Ok, still going slow but made a little progress in the last couple of days. Got a shipment of parts in so I was able to try fitting an alternator. I ordered a Hot Heads upper and lower alt bracket. The lower wasn't even close to fitting. The upper looked like it wouldn't fit either as it would interfere with the hood.

I called Bob at Hot Heads and asked him if I could mount the alt bracket upside down and he said that I could. He used to run it the same way on his car. This bracket mounts under the water cross over. Since I'm using the cast cross over I'll need a spacer on the other side too. I ordered an air conditioning bracket to be the spacer on the other side and I'll trim away whatever excess there is.

 

Alt. bracket looks good. surprised that the hood will close with the alt over the valve cover.

 

I was too. The center of the hood has tons of room but not as much on the sloping sides. If you look at that rusty piece over the radiator core support it shows the line of where the hood goes. It originally had a rubber piece to seal it against the hood and direct air through the radiator. The hood does have a side brace that comes within a couple of inches of the alt but luckily is just behind where the side brace is.

To check all this I put the hood on and closed it then reached my hand up there to check what the clearance was. Nothing was too close except the alt as adjusted is about 1/2" away from the valve cover. I have enough room that I can adjust it up a little away from the valve cover if necessary.

Here's a profile picture taken from the front. You can see the alternator peeking up a bit. You can also just see a bit of the styrofoam radiator template. The radiator core support upper piece can also be seen. You can see how much the hood line slopes up in the middle.

 

Here's another shot of the radiator core header piece that seals against the hood. I had originally tossed this piece out with the Husky I gave to the salvage yard. I didn't know what it was. It wasn't until I saw a piture of another Husky with it installed that I learned it was a useful piece. 20 bucks later it was mine again. I've got another friend with a Husky that is sending me a better piece. The one on there now is mangled and appears to be missing some sheet metal.

The benefit of having this is I can now also mock up a radiator. The styrofoam one in there now is one I used for my 59 husky and it seems to be a pretty good fit for this car too. It's 24" wide x 19" high. You can also see just how much the nose of the hood has to dive down to that hood latch area.

The plan is to trailer the car to a local radiator shop so we can determine the best way to fit a radiator.

 

Got a few things done on the car today. Need to get the hood on the car so I can size a radiator for it. First step was to put the hood hold back on the car.




Next step was to put the hinges back on. The hinges originally came off so we could trim the pockets they recess in to. This was necessary because of moving the firewall back.

 

I'm going to need to figure out the alt bracket I got from Hot Heads. A bolt is supposed to go through the dog bone and then continue through the water cross over and then in to the head. Looks like I'll need to get a spacer made. I asked Bob if I could do without the dog bone and he said no. I'll call him tomorrow to see what's going on.

The dog bone shown is a not the one I'll be using. I've got a longer one where the bolt holes line up.

 

I bolted up the starter. It's very close to the frame. Might only have about 1/8" or less between it and the frame. Will have to clearance an area for it so it doesn't break something when the motor moves. This is exactly why I'm assembling everything before final metal finishing in the engine compartment. I wouldn't want to figure this stuff out after the engine compartment was painted.

 

Put the dash panel in. I re-keyed the ignition switch with an original Rootes key. The switch, key, and black headlight knob are all new. The ignition switch is also the headlight switch. The black knob turns on the lights and the key only has an off and on position. To start the car you turn the key and then pull the starter cable that is below the ignition switch.





Tomorrow I'll try and order a combination oil pressure/water temp gauge to fill that last hole.

 

coming along nicely. A lot of adjustment needed when you build hot rods but that is part of the fun.

 

I agree. Finding the solution is the fun part.

Ordered my combo water temp/oil pressure gauge today and tomorrow I'm taking the car to a radiator shop to see if they have some good ideas for cooling this beast.

 

So yesterday I took the Husky to my radiator guy and he devised plans for a cross flow radiator that will be 23" wide x 17" high and 3" thick. This will fit nicely. After I got home I ran to the auto parts store and looked through their lower hose selection. I think I found one that will work. I trimmed down the styrofoam mock-up radiator and put it in there to see what the orientation of the lower hose will need to be. The upper A-arm is close so I needed a good angle to miss that.

Here it is after trimming the part of the hose that connects to the water pump. There is more than half an inch between it and the A-arm. I can move if further away but will wait get the radiator to do final trimming.




Here I'm trying to figure out the angle the inlet needs to be at.




Another way to figure out the angle after plotting it on a piece of paper. Looks like the inlet pipe will be about 68 degrees. There is room for variation if necessary.



Another shot. Plenty of room between the fan and the hose. That's the original 18" 392 fan. Not sure if I'll use that but I might.




I've also trimmed the lower part of the hose in this picture. Final trimming will be done after the core support is modified to fit the radiator. I'll have to start thinking about a shroud now.

 

Radiator was delivered to me today. It looks great. I had them leave it bare just in case we need to make any changes. It's going to sit in a channel in the bottom and will be held up top by two brackets.

The place I had this done was Beko Radiators on Concord California. Towed my car up to him mid day Tuesday and it was done the next day. They had a driver bring it down to me in San Jose and that really helped. I don't know how he radiator will perform but I was very impressed with the service I got from Jonny at Beko.

 

I had to test fit it. Here it is just sitting in there. Need to cut a lower support brace out and then add the channel it will sit in.



The hose is a little close. Might have to tweak something to get it to fit a little better.

 

^^^^^ That's nice!

 

Thanks. I hope to get some things accomplished on the car this weekend. Have some new parts I can put on and also have some old parts that need to go on too.

 

I had two very good people be part of my life, they're both gone now. A Father and his Son, and they worked on a Husky. Dad had Big Dreams about a custom drive train for they're project. That phase never happened. But the wagon/panel did get restored by Dad with it's original drive train still is in it to this day. However, it's in lock up for now because the Wife & Mother will not allow the Garage to ever be opened so long as she live's.

 

Got a few things done on the Husky today. I installed the water cross over and the alternator bracket.




Now I can see that the water neck is too close to the fan. It's only an inch away. I'll have to see if I can get a neck that goes straight up....if not it's back to the drawing board.

 

I also installed the lower pulley. There was noting to center it on the balancer so I'm going to need to do something to get it in the center.



There is a washer behind that bolt but it's not as big as the opening in the pulley. Might need to get a washer that is a better fit.

 

I also installed the water temp/oil pressure gauge. Looks pretty good.




This is a mechanical water temp gauge.





This also shows the wiper switch and choke knob.




Here's the combo headlight/ignition switch. The S knob is the pull start for the car. That will be how the car starts.

 

That is a cool gauge, UK even