My plan is to build a Chevy speedster. This project really started about 30 years ago when a friend gave me a 28 head with the idea to put it on a model T. Working and raising kids took priority. I read a lot about it and asked others ... Came to the conclusion that I needed the Chevy crank too and some Chevy wheels would be great. Then about 10 years ago someone advertised the running gear from a 27 sport coupe, he was building a rod. Broke my heart to see a solid car being made into a rod (so many are never finished) but I bought the front end, rear end, and wheels very cheap. I really wanted the wheels. He had given the stuck engine to a neighbor who thought it was worth a fortune. Then a few years ago I stumbled into a disassembled engine very cheap, but the person I got it from got it from an estate and he didn't get all the pieces, but I got a good crank, a cracked but repairable block and a nice 28 head. I was talking to my buddy I got the head from 30 years ago and he said the head came off of a homemade tractor and the rest of it was still sitting on the farm in the fence row. So he brought it to me. Now I had half a truck frame, and a rusty transmission, bellhousing, starter etc. But the engine has been taken apart years ago, still missing a lot of parts and had been in the weather a long time. A few weeks ago I found some Model A stuff I needed on marketplace (different project), when I went to pick it up, the 28 engine was sitting there, so I made a deal on it. I had no idea what was inside. I am still missing a lot to build a speedster and it may end up with some Ford parts, but I am getting closer. A few years ago I was offered a complete unrestored 26 sedan at a very good price but I refuse to waste a restorable car to build a speedster. Interesting that I was planning on Model A rods, taller pistons, and a later oil pump for my build ... And this engine has those mods.
Very interesting. It is funny how one gifted piece can lead to decades of gathering the rest of the parts. I was given a 1919 Essex engine that has become a much larger pile of speedster pieces. I agree with you about rodding really nice/complete old cars. I guess that is why we build a collection around a component. also think there will be nearly enough left over from my '26 roadster project for a Chevy speedster. We have a great Inliners International club in Northern Nevada. One of our members has a couple of performance built early Chevy Fours.
Dan, that engine looks pretty clean inside. Do you think that you can use the block, crank, and pistons as they are? How much distance from top of piston to top of block? Do you think that you have a good cam in it? I can ask all kinds of questions!!! Where abouts are you located? You have six balls attention, mine, 282door has looked in, by the end of the week we will have a whole party!
I haven't got it unstuck yet but I carefully put a hone in the worst cylinder and in just a minute or so it cleaned up. There is no ridge down in the cylinders where the top of the pistons would come. The crank appears to be stock Chevy. The lifters are pitted some. Won't know about the cam till I get it out and work on it but it doesn't look so good, will probably have to be ground. Two of the pistons appear to be at or close to the top of the stroke. The distance from the top of the piston to the deck is about 11/16". I did some calculations and came up with around a 6 to 1 compression ratio, maybe a little higher. The pistons appear to be cast and are not split skirt. The pins are full floating. Rods look like model A but I will need to pull one to be sure. They are not Chevy four rods. You can see an S marked on the tops of the pistons. With a caliper the bore measured stock. There are shims under all the bearings and everything looks very clean. The head gasket looked new, the head was not torqued down. The oil pump is teed and one side of the tee is piped directly to the mains. I haven't pulled any caps yet. It is stored where I don't have heat and it was too cold today. There is an extra hole on each side of the crankcase. One is blocked, the other has a hose connnection. I am wondering if it had a catch can. The valves in the head don't look like the valves in my other Chevy head. I am going to disassemble it, clean everything, check the ring gaps and bearings etc. I plan on reusing as much as possible. I have three 28 blocks now and only two sets of lifters. Both sets are pitted and the push rod sockets have been exposed to the weather. Not sure what I am going to do there. From looking at the engine specs sheet, 28 lifters are unique in diameter and configuration as are the push rods. With this engine I have a set of push rods but again they have been exposed to the weather. But at least I now know the length and configuration. I don't think this engine has ran since some of the work was done. It is too clean. As you can probably tell, finding this engine has fired some enthusiasm.
Well, interesting in that reminiscing to me, my Mom would speak of rough times in the thirties when Grandpop was trying to farm on 22 acres. It happened that she owned '27 and needed to commit a valve job ( compound, hand lapping ) in the drive way. her Dad had a '28, same deal. Later on, he needed a tractor. They took her trans installed it in his frame behind his trans. Cutting the frame and placing one seat on it. Tractor was born
This is the clutch/flywheel on the 28 engine I just got. The flywheel is 9.5"x2". It has an 8 inch disc. Force is applied from a conical spring at the back of the pressure plate which is made in two pieces. It says Borg and Beck type 80 on the pressure plate. The is the word "adjust" with an arrow pointing clockwise. The metal "intemediate plate" fits into three dogs sticking out of the flywheel. I need to remove the three dogs to remove the friction disc and get to the bolts holding the flywheel on. Don't know if they are threaded or just push in and I don't want to mess them up. I think this clutch is an aftermarket replacement for the cone clutch used on earlier cars, but that is just a guess. Looking for info on what it is, how to adjust etc.
Dan, I think that what you are calling dogs are pushed in, and when the clutch is all together there is no place for them to go. I would put a liberal amount of atf on both inside and in the outside holes and let it set. Find the right size punch to go into the holes and give each one of them a rap or two. More atf and let it set again.
On the inside of the "intermediate plate" I found a patent date in 1915. I looked up the patent on Google. While not exactly the same, I now understand how to adjust it. Interesting stuff. The pressure plate bears on the intermediate plate in three places, each one of these areas is an inclined plane shaped in a radius so that if the pressure plate is rotated, it will always bear the same way, but higher or lower. As you rotate the pressure plate clockwise to a new position, it effectively increases the spring pressure against the intermediate plate and driven disk, effectively decreasing the air gap. Cool design. But a pain to adjust unless the bellhousing has an access hole. The Chevy 490 had an open bellhousing, so this would not have been an issue.
Did the patent show anything about how the throw out bearing looked? Maybe used the 490/24 cone throw out bearing. I've got a 1919 in the barn that I better look at.
The patent number is US1131769A. I found it on Google here:. https://patents.google.com/patent/US1131769A/en I am attaching screen shots of the drawings. It isn't an exact match to my clutch but the design tenets are the same.
I am pulling my hair out (what's left of it!) I have been trying to degree the cam in the midget 28. Cannot make much since of things....... Guess I'd better start back upstream a little. When Rich was trying to put the head together, He was not feeling very well. So to get it together, he went back to the 28 rocker arms (as someone called them "automatic rev limiters") I have been building new aluminum rockers and steel stands to bolt under the head bolts. Figured I better see what kind of grind is on the cam before I go to far. Well first off, I could not find my degree wheel... Its' only been 40 some years since I used it to degree the cam that I put in my Corvair!!!!! So ordered another one, got it on and tried to set up my magnetic dial indicator stand up, but no magnetics. Vise Grips to the rescue, but the only place to clap to was not giving good readings. Worked with the magnet and used a push rod to get the dial indicator above the deck, started to get good readings on intake. Moved to the exhaust and where I should be on the base circle, the indicator went from 0 to 020 to 040 and held between 040 and 050 to 120 degrees ATDC. Even though I've forgotten over 40 years, this just isn't right! Took the indicator off, turned the engine over multiple revs., pushed the lifters back on the lobes and tried again. Got some good numbers this time! I could not find my Peterson's cam book either so went on line and finally found a site for unknown cams. So made out a cam card and started filling in the blanks. Still doesn't make since. I am going to let things settle for a few days and start from scratch. Did find My cam book tonight and it had my Corvair card clipped inside, so will be reading for the next couple nights. AARG all these Cobwebs!
I'm glad that Chevrolet got all of the "let's make constant changes to our engine " behavior out of their system before the small block V8 came along.
When you get something someone else has messed with you never know. Is it in this thread or somewhere else where Rich posted about what he was doing to that engine? There may be clues there. I have a set if 2 to 1 custom aluminum rockers that came with my Olds head. Mel said he used to run them but the Ford guys got them outlawed for hill climbs. They couldn't keep up. I think he used them with a stock or near stock cam. Maybe the good truck cam?
It was this thread, I went back through it last night. Rich said that he set the cam by splitting the overlap. (this cam doesn't quite overlap, but anyway) Now the readings are Intake opens @ 20 degrees ATDC......... Exaust closes @ 15 degrees ATDC. So to my way of thinking, something has moved around 17.5 degrees.?!.
Looking at the valve timing from the Chevy manual for a '28 that I have. Obviously this is for a standard cam, if the base circles have been ground it usually affects (lengthens) the opening/closing slightly as well as increasing the lift. But from a quick look at the diagram I've posted, unless Rich has done something radical, peak inlet lift should still occur @ 124 degrees ATDC if you're not running the cam retarded. Retarding a cam usually increases power at high revs, but often only works well in a really light car as you lose torque at the bottom end.
Thanks Stueeee and Six ball. I went out this morning thinking from the numbers compared to later engine hot cans, that this was retarded. Took another cam gear that was factory marked, the fiber one on the engine is off two teeth. Figured ok 6.9 degrees per tooth, that would bring the cam forward 13.5 degrees. But now Stueeee you have thrown a wrench into my thinking!!!!!! What I am coming up with timing as it is, is very close to your 28 drawing. And get this--- peak intake lift is exactly 124 degrees ATDC! Do you think that the crank being offset from the piston 3/8 inch has anything to do with opening of intake and closing of exhaust after top dead center? I am going to replace the fiber gear with a metal one, because Rich did not like it, but could not find a replacement. Also when I took the cover off to put his crank turner on, I found sawdust in the cover??, and could not turn the engine forward. Backward yes to a point. Come to find out that a bolt that he used to fill an unused hole in the backplate was too long and matched up with tooth circle. Yup, saw dust! I remember doing things like this! I pulled the cam out to replace the gear and noted that the red (sticky raspberry jelly) that he had used was not disturbed on some of each lobe that I had been reading. I checked for burrs but found none. Must need a return spring or weight to keep them in contact with the cam. Or get rid of the sticky raspberry jelly! Does anyone know what this is called? I will have to replace it or make sure that whatever I use is compatible. (I have still been using the old white assembly grease)
I remember using cam break in lube years ago that was that color. If it sat long enough, I suppose it could congeal.
Rich used it for everything. Cam, crank, rods. even used as gasket for the timing cover. I figured it must something pretty good for racing, or it is used on assembling jet engines. Solvent doesn't take it off easily.
Hopefully it's just red grease ("food grade" grease is often dyed red). But that should just be "greasy", not sticky.
There is a lot of red grease out there but why would it be hard/sticky? Why would Rich put it on the gasket surface unless it was for a temporary moisture seal when he set the project aside?
Thanks for the thoughts, Heathen, Beanscoot, and Six ball. I did some more investigation today, and cleaning. Took some pics. This is the intake lobe for number 1. As you can see the lifter did not come down until about 80 degrees after the lobe. I got most of the red stuff off of the backing plat by scraping and acetone. pulled the bolts and scraped the rest off. As you can see, I marked in blue where tooth marks are in the crank and previous side drive areas. Very tight. I would say that these are old marks, but by me turning the engine the crank gear left a complete circle on the backside of the timing cover. I measured the back plate thinking that it was 1/4 inch, it mic'ed. .20 inch. The original back plate was 1/8 inch. The boys put a heaver plate on to support the side drive but then had to mill it some to give clearance. Rich would not have known about the non-standard thickness change. The only reason that I know is because I have opened a lot of these that are stock. (26's have a 3/8 plate, then 27 and 28 went to 1/8) Anyway this plate moved the cam forwards .075 because the cam is based on the front of the plate. With the heavy under cutting on the lobs of the cam I need to check to make sure that the lifters are not riding up on the edge of the under cut. The picture with the greasy left hand was taken just after the cam tried to fall over. What is on the cam is NOT what is on the timing cover. Each one of you found part of the puzzle. Cam lube RED. (still a little sticky) Multiple RED greases and sealants. Rich put RED RTV (or something like it) on the cover to keep out dirt. And I get them all mixed together on my hands when dismantling. This is the modified teeth on the old fiber gear.
I hope the sticky stuff is on the sealing surfaces and grease on the camshaft. I use this stuff at work and we actually call it "raspberry jam":
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