Projects Belly Tank Build, NZ.

Had Todd turn me up two radiator hose adaptors, worked a treat. JW

 

Sealing the radiator to the firewall shroud bits, i think it worked... more on that soon. JW

 

Took it to a local show and was swamped with interest all day. JW

 

After the test run, feeling pissed about the death wobble but happy in general. JW

 

The brackets for the steering damper. JW

 

Finished the rear section latches the night before we left. JW

 

Camera mounts, the front one folded back just after the start, rear facing one was ok. JW

 

In the pits in front of our camp. JW

 

The all important tech inspection p*** sticker. JW

 

And the official event sticker. JW

 

Right oh that will do for now. So race day dawned cold but fine, had the drivers meeting then get suited up and get in line to head out in the second group (B). As i had no starter i used the RPU as push/tow car. The tune i had was rather good and the car accelerated well through the gears until it jumped out of top..put it back in and it did it again so i had to hold it in top and steer with only one hand with a ****erfly wheel, still didn't make me comfortable of going as fast as the car was wanting to go so i settled on 85mph as a safe speed under the cir***stances and by the time i got through the timed section the water temp. was up to 85*c so the cooling ducting seemed to be working somewhat although it got up to 95*c by the end of the long slow down area and didn't cool down enough for a safe return run. I only did the one run due to the gear box issue and the temp. but was very happy with the car in general and really enjoyed the run.

So the to do list for it before next years event.
Fit a starter (no more push car)
Install a small alternator.
Get rid of the small driveshaft ( i believe this is the top gear issue)
Make up a Greek coupler.
Fit a fan and a water tank for 2-3 gallons of extra water.
Fit the windshield and hope to get some color on it.

 

The push bit i made for the front of the RPU. JW

 

Very, very cool

Cheers,
Harv

 

Way to go. As they say Rome wasn't built in a day, you will get it sorted.

 

So JW how was the dampered front end with this 85mph run. Congrats regardless as it's well warranted...✌

 

Congratulation to the first run.

 

Congratulations on a successful first run, great job!

Glen.

 

Thanks guys. It was a great feeling of achievement after so long in the shop and the perfect test ground. The steering was great except for having to use one hand and hold the gear lever as well and as for the damper i will most likely never know as there were no bumps. I would have liked to do another run but not enough time for it to cool down for the return, so i have that list to work through. The alternator will allow self starting with a starter motor, the fan will help make the ducting work better and an extra few gallons of coolant in an axillary tank will help keep it cooler longer and also thinking about fitting an electric water pump i can turn on when i shut the engine down to keep it cooling down. Also need to work out why it started jumping out of top, it never did it before when the gear box was in my 37 Willys and also didn't do it on my test run but that was only at 50 mph.
The build continues.... don't they all!! JW

 

Congratulations on the successful test! I'm fascinated by belly tanks; they're so rare here that I was thrilled to finally see one in person at the last hot rod meet.


I'll keep following you. Regards, Harald

 

That's cool and they are rare in New Zealand too, i think (and i could be wrong) that mine is the second one here, at least built. They are not the most practical car to build but that doe's not take away any of the cool factor! JW

 

Re: Death wobble. I built my '33 Willys coupe with 10 degrees of caster. It gave me death wobble. I reduced caster to seven degrees and added a Fiero damper just for insurance. Problem went away.
On my altered roadster I added a VW damper to cure a similar issue. It is almost entirely gone, but I think I will add a larger diameter 4130 tie rod in the future. Sometimes traditional has to take a back seat to safety.

 

Tire pressure can also encourage or discourage it...wheel balance too...

My DW happened at 20 to 30 mph...the damper really helped...I did also find a tie rod end gone as well...but it eluded me and other trained eyes for quite some time...it took 4 hands to find the slack in it...the

 

The front tire pressures were 30 psi and not a lot of weight on them, all tie rod ends are new as are the king pins and the perch bolts are a good fit in the axle, i would really like to find what it was but don't want to go through it again to maybe find it but one thing is the friction shocks were loose so had no resistance so it may be that, the damper is there to stay now so i will call that done. JW

 

Got few more pics that i copied from prints.
Fitting it out. JW

 

Wiring gauges ang making plug wires with my helper. JW

 

Early race day just after i took the engine cover off, there were people around it all day.
The guy in the fluro vest did a video of the day and can be found on you tube under '' Bryce Brown Car Stories'' . I'm at 33 minutes, worth a look. JW

 

Waiting in line for our group to head out, didn't want to miss goings on so my RPU (tow car) let me see over the other cars, was getting a little warm. JW

 

Ordering the parts to make the Greek coupler to replace the drive shaft tomorrow. JW

 

Need pic of roadster pushing to start - both cars in silhouette. Please

 

I don't have one sorry, JW