Art & Inspiration Interesting ideas that didn't pan out

Ham & Lima Beans on a Jeep exhaust manifold worked great in VN! The alternative was a little ball of C4 in a pound cake can! P.S. With a match!

 

I believe Mopar last offered it on the 1978 full-size models. I had one out of a '76 New Yorker.

And GM also offered on Oldsmobiles, Buicks and Cadillacs in the 1950's. Maybe Blaupunkt did as well for European cars?

Craig

 

Horch 930S Streamline also offered a washbasin: One of the most admired cars at the Automobile Show is the streamlined Horch V930. It is equipped with a fold-out wash basin on the side. - NYPL Digital Collections

Craig

 

Volkswagen

 

Someone told him to go truck a goat

 

I remember when all of the car magazines had ads and articles about water injection being the hot new technology.

 

Around WW2 when it was used in the planes? It's been around a long time. Still in use here and there in racing and such, but probably not on most street cars.

 

When you got older you moved to the partial shelf under the back window…

 

Oldsmobile Turbo Rocket Fluid anyone? Now that was cool.

Cheers,
Harv

 

^^^^^
https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/under-this-hood/

 

Largely superseded by electronic timing shenanigans. I've been considering a very simple water injection setup for my microchip-free daily.

 

Methanol/Alcohol injected was used ,
& its still works good on high compression & boosted /Nos application in street use when their only 93-94 on the pump[

 

Yes, indeed, with the temperatures at altitude they would have had to go with alcohol to prevent it freezing. The basic function is the same, inject a suitable liquid that cools down the air/fuel mix as it vaporizes, effectively making the fuel behave as if it has a higher octane rating.

Yes, the electronic ignition timing/boost controls have simplicity and reliability going for them, in offtopic daily drivers for average people who know nothing about engines and don't want yet another tank to keep topped up with fluid. Unfortunately they can only work around the properties of the fuel, i.e. sense detonation and back off boost/timing until it stops so the engine doesn't blow up so you can run the engine on the limit of what the fuel can handle, it can't make the fuel perform better at the water/methanol injection does when properly used.

As far as I know the simple systems generally have the downside of being hard to adjust to the right amount of water/methanol. Easy enough to inject enough to make the engine stop detonating, but harder to avoid injecting so much so the engine starts losing power instead of gaining. But then again, if the goal is just to make a high compression engine survive street use monday-friday on cheap pump gas so it can be used with proper expensive race fuel on the track on saturdays that may be absolutely fine.

 

What's old is new again
http://www.nateshotrodgarage.com/shop/product/independent-suspension-package/

 

I owned. a nice old New Yorker that had it

 

Here is yet another 'bright idea'.....
In the 1960s, the Wrist Twist steering system emerged as a radical departure from traditional steering methods. Developed by a missile engineer, it featured two ring controls mounted on a vertical yoke, which could be operated either together or independently.

 

Had to keep warm in your VW somehow

 

Harvey Crane was working on a 6 cycle engine that had a steam stroke. He had been working on it most of his life and especially after he sold Crane cams.

 

I recall Bruce Crower was doing something similar with a SBC some years ago; made pretty good power, but I don't think it got beyond the experimental stage.

 

Studebaker offered mechanical power steering in 1953. Invented by Bendix, it had clutches driven by a belt off the engine, actuated by turning the steering wheel. Simpler and lighter than hydraulics and consumed less power. But they were noisy and troublesome, all were recalled and next year they had a regular hydraulic system.

 

My old '66 VW would absolutely cook your left foot! HRP

 

Hello,

When my brother got his first car, a 1951 Oldsmobile, it was a very cool sedan. Plenty of room for his teenage friends and for me when I needed some sort of transportation to places I could not ride my bike, take the bus or walk a long distance. If I did some maintenance on the then, Pale Yellow 51 Oldsmobile,
it got me to where I needed to be, including basketball practice. So, I was the learning “go-fer” and for that I am thankful. It was a learn and pay as I go, so it was well worth it at the time.

On his 1951 two door Oldsmobile sedan, my brother had put on some long side Lakes Pipes. They looked cool and were actually hooked up to the down tube from the exhaust pipes. So, there were times when the cap was taken off and the sound was like a drag strip. Since they were capped up, the alternate route was through the other pipe leading to the mufflers and out of the back.

But, they did not last long. When our neighborhood muffler guy altered the exhaust pipes route to include these side pipe connections, it was one cool addition. Uncap the end and now, it was the starting line of Lion’s Dragstrip, nearby our house. On the streets, we learned what rpms were needed to make the uncapped sound mellow out as if it was coming through the mufflers.

The problem with this good looking set up it that on a normal height car, the pipes make the low spot on the car, almost even with the rims. We found out that when those side pipes got hooked up and were the nice shiny accessory under the doors, it was one cool looking teenage sedan. My brother found out that after we went through our cut coil springs experiments, it made the car look like the custom cars we saw at the local car shows. Low, lean, and with the added chrome side pipes, very cool.

He also found out that when he tried to enter the steep driveway of the local drive-in restaurant parking lot, he could not just go in straight. He had to angle, very slowly until the bumper or other things, including the side pipes barely cleared the concrete sidewalk slope. Even when driving down various streets, when approaching the intersection with fairly deep cross drainage to a major street, he also had to slow down and crawl over the angles to get to the other side.

One final hinderance was at the local drive-in theater parking areas created another odd situation. Those places had the steepest slopes built in every row, so as to get the angle of the windshields facing the big screen in front. My brother could not get to the area where his friends parked due to the steep slopes. He had to park in the closest spot to the pathway and sometimes, outside of the last pole on the row to get to a level spot.

Jnaki

If one wants a lowered rake look, then something has to go, as it gets scraped every time a bump or rise in someone’s driveway is approaching.
lowered rake

As far as a long side pipe made of chrome plating or stainless steel, remember, it is the lowest to the ground and meets all sorts of water everywhere. But, as we found out in a very salt air environment during our sailing days, there are grades of stainless steel and the lower the quality, the faster it rusts. Yes, stainless steel rusts if not treated or continually wiped with a protective solution. So, does the chrome plating on those low slung pipes.

Note:

The first thing I noticed is the lowered stance of this custom Buick Sedan on the side of the road. The question is, how low can one go without scraping and stay within the CHP lowered laws?

Caution is the key!

A before and after photo…still with lowered stance and Lakes Side Pipes. For a daily driver, extra caution works... Good on you!


Note 2:

The lowest point on this cool 1958 Impala was the rim+ Dodge Lancer Hubcap. We tried those on the 58 Impala, too and they were ok, but expensive. But, you notice the side exit “lakes pipes” coming from the motor to run under the door to the back. Now, that is the lowest point of the Impala. So, technically, illegal and is a “remove/fix-it” ticket in the making.

When we were cruising around in the 58 Impala with 4 people, two couples or 4 guys, and it was tempting for the local police or CHP to pull us over for illegal stance. With stock springs and shocks, the car was now below safety standards and would have been a “ticket,” for sure.

But, if we had been pulled over, it would have been fine during the measurement, as the stock 58 Impala “rose” to the curbside measurements. All above legal limits. YRMV

 

1959 rolling stand made from scrap angle iron and old steel roller skates


Hello,

The stand for the engine can be made from just about anything. We welded 2 inch angle iron into a rectangular design. The angle iron gave the sides strength for any size motor or heavy part. We also welded steel roller skates to the bottom for movement. We used rope and then when nylon straps came available, that held the motor down to move it in place for the pulley crane.

There were no commercial engine bolt on stands at the time. the ones that were shown in the top speed shops were custom made and out of our range. we made due with what we had in our little backyard shop and the local scrap metal company down the street. (that small metal processing company is still in business and these days, is the largest one in the whole area for all sorts of metal supplies for the industries all over the Harbor area. )

After completely building this bare SBC 292 c.i. bored block to the complete blower spec motor, it was loaded onto the roller skate storage stand. The stand was used for its trek to the bigger garage pulley crane set up for installation into the 1940 Willys Coupe.
angle iron
It was a 4 sided, rectangle shape wide/long enough to accommodate a 283/292 c.i. SBC motor. For us, it was sturdy and did not bend with the weight of the motor. After we welded it together, we found out it had some things we did not plan on having. At the time, there were no swiveling wheels available for consumers and the commercial racks for the large companies around the harbor area were too large for our uses.

The bad thing was it was only forward and back movement, as there were no rotating wheels available at the time. The good thing was the installation place was all smooth concrete and it was easy to slide the front of the cart/strapped motor sideways to get it lined up for the overhead garage pulley crane.
wood blocks for leveling and ropes, then nylon straps to secure side to side and forward to back stability.

Jnaki

2x4 wood is durable and can be designed and used in the bed of a pickup or like when we had the El Camino. The time we used the El Camino bed, we moved a long block and as long as the motorcycle tie down brackets were available, the aircraft nylon straps held the motor in place around corners and over bumps.

There is no stand that will not need straps to tie it down securely. These days, you can use a large table saw rolling wheel cart as it is strong enough to withstand the weight, but has lockable wheels to keep it from rolling. But, straps are still necessary in any case. At least with rolling wheels strapped down, when you arrive at your destination, you can take the straps off and now have a rolling engine on a stand.

Unless, of course, you have a modern, balanced, rolling engine stand...YRMV