Just a rough color mockup. I am kind of liking it. previous post on this project: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=294748
stude-trucks ... looking good ... what's it going in? (EDIT: I see from your profile that you are putting it in your 1950 Studebaker 1 ton 2R15 pickup ... cool!) I realize it's a mockup ... but what are your plans for routing the top radiator hose(s)? ... and how are you gonna fill the crankcase with oil? ... it would be a shame to cut a hole in those valve covers (though maybe some sort of small chrome breather would look okay) ... I've also seen guys use the stock (mechanical) fuel pump location for a pseudo oil filler tube.
From the angle it looks like pulleys will be extended to meet the plane of the bottom pulley..I guess. That should free up the top hose. Breather in those beautiful covers..? Guess so..huh ?
It is going in a Studebaker truck. Matt Seret is helping me with it. Check previous posting: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=294748 I haven't figured out the oil fill problem and been trying to get some ideas: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=310555 Seems like maybe an oil pan fill tube might be a way to avoid having to cut the valve covers. But, I was thinking a nice vintage cast alum. breather for each might be a way make it worth cutting the holes. I know what you mean though. It is going to be hard to drill the first hole in those. I am super tight for room between the front of the motor and the radiator, so need to minimize the fan projection. So, I am going with a simple Hot Heads timing cover to cut an inch or so and then I am going to trim the water pump housing also to snug it back some. I want to use the Chrysler stuff as much as possible to keep it as late 50's-early 60's period appropriate as I can within reason. Not sure about the boost quite yet, but this will be a street driven truck and used as a truck, so going to build for low rpm torque more than high rpm hp. Will need to get the machine shop to help me figure that out and machine different size pulleys I guess if need to crank up the blower rpms to achieve what I need out of it. I am no motor genius, so I sure hope it works. I think this set up was designed for the 354's at least if not the 392 as I think it was available as this setup in the late 50's. By the early 60's I think Cragar had gone to the Gilmer belts and the 6-71's. So, I am thinking if it is good for a theoretical race 354, should maybe be decent for a street 392. That is my potentially flawed logic anyway.
Pulley alignment and water cross over still need to be fine tuned. I will likely need to make a custom water neck because right now it is hitting the idler arm and keeping it from going downwards where it needs to be. I might go with the Hot heads cast alum. cross over as that puts the water outlet over to the right out of the way. Painted out gold like the timing cover and it won't look too much different then the stock. What do you guys think on the finish on the blower parts? I definitely like the aged finish on it, but maybe just a little too aged and dull. Do you think if I carefully scrub it down with a scotch brite pad and not over do it, I can clean it up and slightly buff it out a little to give it just a little sheen, but not too much to remove the patina? I don't want it to look to cleaned and polished up. You know, like on Antique Road Show where they say if you hadn't refinished it, it would be worth 20X the price it now is worth.
Why not just grind down the existing thermostat housing area, fab up a steel plate replacement, and braze it on the right side of the stock piece? Seems pretty doable, if just a wee bit time consuming. Could even reuse the stock upper part, then.
I would put a bigger blower on it. Early hemis just look right with a 6-71 on them. That little 4-71 would have to be seriously overdriven to make boost, but then in abiadiatic efficentcy will be in toilet.
Yeah, I figured I would just alter the hose neck angle and make it work. I want to use as much of the actual original parts as is reasonable to keep it max. vintage looking. However that Holley adaptor by 4tford posted maybe looks like a nice solution too. The one on the right looks like it would work just fine and still have the thermostat too. I actually kind of like the size of the 4-71 blower. the 6-71 are obviously the size of choice and work for pretty cranked up motors, but mine is really going to be pretty mild in comparison. My main goal was to get a v-belt driven vintage blower set up. I didn't want anything too new or too race looking. It is going in an old truck and I wanted it to seem more suited to that than a true hot rod. When povertyflats (thanks!) came across this one, I thought that is the exact ticket I was looking for. I do have a cool old Weiand 6-71 intake I got before and if necessary, I might have the v-belt parts adapted to a 6-71 case and go with that I guess. But, I really want to use as much of the actual Cragar setup as possible as that is the way it was originally designed and intended. When I get to the rebuilding part, I'll verify thoughts with the machine shop for the motor and whoever I get to rehab the blower stuff. Same thought on the cast 4-bolt exhaust manifolds. I could have gone with headers no problem, but I decided I wanted those to be more vintage and more truck looking. More cost, less performance is my motto.
maybe someone has a formula for figureing blower output vs. cubic inches? just a thought. looks super cool!!
Maybe, but I don't watch much tv, so I guess I will unfortunately just have to stick it in the truck and enjoy it for it's intended purpose.
A 4-71 on a basically stock 392 and running 1:1 will make a max of 3psi at 6500rpm and will actually be choking the motor down low. Running the 4-71 at 20% overdrive will make a max of about 5 psi at 6500rpm, but will not make any appreciable boost until 2000rpm.
That will probably work for me as long as it isn't totally killing the low end. If there is no real gain at the low end, just keeping up and then small gains as the rpms increase, that is fine. Again it is going in a street driven truck and using some old parts for what they are and not expecting anything more. If that is what it is, then fine. I would rather have that, then have an overkill 6-71 race motor look. It is old, it is what it is. But, if I can adapt a 6-71 case and still keep it pretty early looking, I might look into that. The more boost, the more power, the more fuel and the more cost to drive it too. So, I am ok with bare min. gains if that is the way it is. It is already a 392, how much more do I really need? Maybe I should trade the 392 for a 331. Anybody got a good 331 to trade?..... Just kidding.
How did I miss this? Wow, that looks great!!! Nothing like a real Cragar setup. Makes my homemade setup look pretty weak. You could do what the digger guys did for filling oil. Pull a spark plug and pour the oil through the open plug hole in the valve cover. You do have some space between the manifold and the water crossover. You could add a filler to the valley pan.
Here's a pic of mine. I added a filler in that location. I took the filler off of a M***ey Harris 27 combine.
Kerry, Thanks. But, truth is, I stole that pic of yours from a posting a while back and have used it as inspiration as one of my several desktop backgrounds before I even got the Cragar stuff. You definitely have a bad *** looking motor there and if you made all the drive stuff, even more power to you. I can't make stuff like that so need to wait until I can find the right things and hope I can afford them. I still have the Weiand intake, no worries on that. I am kind of thinking I might just pop a hole in one of the covers and put in a fill cap. I took a look at some old photos of some FED's and some of the guys did that. Looks cool enough and is what it is - the beauty of pure and simple function. I probably will get a couple of Offy cast breathers to go in each cover as well to vent them. Here is the other post as well with slightly updated photos showing the Hot Heads crossover pipe and a Sellers valley pan - I am probably going to paint those gold to match the block. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=310555
30Dodgeboy, the hose runs against the fuel pump so its there to keep the pump from rubbing a hole in it. Good eye! Thanks for the kind words Stude Trucks... and the piece of mind on the manifold. Did you see the Weiand swing arm I just won on ebay for the digger? I still think the Cragar rules!
Now I remember where I saw those cool old photos with hemis with fillers in the valve covers. It is in Church's latest #5 issue. There are tons of great photos in that one with a lot of great hemi shots as well as others. Shows a lot of different options with a few with just standard fillers just right into the top of the covers. If it was good enough for them back then, good enough for me now I guess. I would do some bad scans of some of them, but don't want to do that with it still hot off the presses. Anybody interested, I have to say, the $10 for it is well worth it. Chock full of really nice old drag racing shots. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=312715&highlight=fremont
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