Well, after about three months of fighting with myself over engine choices and chassis designs, I'm off to a start. I just scored a clean 36 Dodge front axle out of a gold mine in the southern Idaho mountains....good king pins, and the wheel bearings look like new! Free, but it took eight hours of my life and $27 worth of gas to retrieve it! I've secured a running rebuilt Chevy 194 and heavy duty truck 3 speed out of an old Step Van, along with it's rear end. I bought 20 feet of 2X3 .120 wall tubing, and a stick of 1&3/4 .120 wall, and a stick of 1&3/4 .095 wall round tubing, as well as assorted scrap 1/4 and 3/8 plate for gussets and brackets. I've been fighting myself trying to decide between a front engine or mid engine layout, and decided to go with the KISS theory. Keep it simple....so front engine it will be! As soon as I get the garage organized (well sorta organized), I'll post the pics of the parts pile, and the first of the construction pics. As far as I know, this is the first car to be built here in the Boise valley. Esfoder, (the Eastern Oregon Desert Devil) is only 250 miles to my west, so maybe we will be able to pair up our cars in the not too distant future! I have a couple friends localy who are VERY enamored with the idea of building these cars, so perhaps the ground swell of activity is in motion here in the northwest. To say that I'm absolutely stoked would be an understatement!
Hey FourBanger.. Them lil' 194s are screamers..Most Chev 283 parts fit..Have a blast with your build..BTW. I run a 194 also..But I have a 4 speed....
Yeah, I've messed with these little Chevy sixes on the oval track some years ago. The Canadian 194s had steel cranks, and if you want to go to the trouble and expense of sleeving them, you can bore them over 300 thousanths and put 283 fuel injection pistons in them, and end up with about 12.5 compression. I'm not headed off in that radical a direction (again), just a mild cam and a couple Rochester Monojets to start off. I think I'll build my own intake manifold with some long runners and a plenum chamber....I always wanted to try that, but our oval track rules were too restrictive to allow it! I have to say that the biggest thing I like about the Hamb Gas Rail concept, is the fact that a guy can use some imagination and enginuity and march to his own drum. That, and being able to go back to the grass roots level of racing. It's not all about the speed, it's the fun of getting as much as you can out of what you have. I can't wait to pedal this thing down the track!
The Jalopy Journal
