I am glad this thread has popped up again. I have been following it since it's start. I wanted to give a heads up to everyone on here that I am going to be selling a huge stash of mostly 1928 Chevrolet stuff. I had hoped to someday build a speedster and had been accumulating stuff for the last 7-10 yrs. Unfortunately I have been diagnosed with advanced metastatic prostate cancer. I do not have the time or energy to piece stuff out. I have a 1927 rolling chassis.....five 1928 era engines transmissions etc. ......spare front and rear axles......radiators and grilles.......completely re-done head with valves......lots and lots of NOS engine stuff.....pistons.....gaskets.....water pumps....oversize rings.....etc. etc. I could use advice on how to sell......hopefully get some word of mouth out there from the HAMB.......any other ideas. All the stuff is located in E. Iowa in the town of Cascade. We do have pallets.....forklift and loading dock. Thanks
Very sorry to hear about your diagnoses. I would much rather watch a video of you running around in your new chevy speedster! Our prayers are with you.
Sorry to hear your sad news. You are in my prayers. I'm a lot better at gathering parts I'll never use than getting rid of it. It would be easier to sell it all in one lot. It sounds like a very good start for someone looking to build one of these. Make a list and post pictures here and hope the right guy sees it.
Sorry to hear tractorguy- will be praying for you!!! Saw this in another thread and I think it's the Spurgin-Giovanine car, but have not seen this pic before-
Mac Your right. It is the Spurgin Giovanne car. I have seen one other shot with that setup on it. It must not have worked as well as you would think because you never see it again. But still interesting that they were experimenting with stuff like this back then!
That photo of the Spurgin/Giovanine Chev roadster is from the only meet they ran in 1949 due to Chuck and Bob having young families and retiring from racing after this meet. The Ram-Tubes were extremely successful, they turned a speed of 135mph which was a good 12mph over their 123mph record from 1948. On their return run it is said they were approaching 150mph but engine dropped a piston and so aborted the run, never to run the car again. Duane Steele purchased the engine and ran it for a number of years in his T roadster with varying success, article below. ALKY GUZZLING HYBRID. DUANE STEELE'S T ROADSTER
@Jimmy B., I just read the article, Wow! that much difference! Did other cars start showing up after that with ram air, or did the info not get around much with Spurgin and Giovanine retiring at that time? Duane Steele is the person that got me interested in hopping up the C4. I had ordered some parts for the restoration of my 26 Chev from him. He made it very convincing that the C4 had potential.
Tractorguy Sorry to hear about your condition. Im not good at selling stuff either. Jimmy B, Duke Hallock made the fuel injectors in your article didn't he also make carbs for the Bob Rufi car? And didn't he also make the veed windshield? What else did he make and why haven't we heard more about him? Or did I just miss some stuff? Kustomrooster
On another note my 1923-1925 engine has been running good. But I have a lifter that's been getting shorter! And I keep having to adjust the valves. Not good! I replaced it and another with old used ones. Turns out the lifters in the 23 to 27 are the same(I think). 1928 are hollow like the later 6 cylinders. So I called around and so far nobody makes them! I called Jim Briley about regrinding a Chevy cam he said he could if the rockers were the 1928 1.5 to 1. I have a 28 head on it. Im also going to call Dema Elgin any other recomdations? Kustomrooster
I am after ideas, thoughts, opinions, theories, pictures on exhaust headers for the Oldsmobile 3 port head. . I am going to be running an olds head on my Chev 4 project. I fear I am overthinking the science of 4 into three heads. Should the central pipe be twice as long as the outer pipes before merging like MGB headers or should I just go with a Spurgin Jimmy B set up although I wont be piping it through the firewall. Any thoughts greatly appreciated.
David Vizard did a lot of exhaust testing in magazine alticles and his tuning books on the BMC 'A' series motor, which also uses a 3 port exhaust setup. IIRC, the so called 'Long Centre Branch' (LCB) manifolds gave the best spread of power, but a conventional three branch gave slightly more top end power at the expense of the midrange. Personally, I would always trade midrange for top end, as decent mid range will get you to whatever top end you have sooner.
I always liked this one partly because it is in a roadster like I'm building .It looks like they may have shortened the door to clear the pipe. I may just be the angle.
Thanks Stueeee Yes mid range is preferable as I will be using it for short circuits and hill climbs. I will check out David Vizard's research. I bought header for an Austin Healey Sprite I had many years ago with a long centre branch but didn't really understand the science back then. Ken
Thanks Six Ball. Yes I have always loved that chev roadster pic. I like the simplicity of the exhaust. I wonder why he didn't lose the valence panel to drop it lower. Guess it was all part of his 'Oklahoma' aesthetic.
Do you know anything about that car? Are there other pictures? It looks like the the top is a fringed carpet. Getting Chevys low is not easy without Fordication.
It was an early Gow Job no real info other than it being a '26 Chev roadster from the early 30s So-Cal.
Jimmy are you sure that all three pics. are of the same car? I had always figured two different cars. By the way post all you want, we'll never get tired of your stuff! Glad to here that you are starting to improve!
There are a lot of differences and a lot of similarities. Very different exhaust, front bumper, Gas cap on cowl? Guards on radiator, Radiator cap? Running boards, Hood strap looks the same, It looks like both are '26s. Can't tell about headlights. Two similar cars or one in transition? Thanks for the pictures Jimmy! So much for "nobody ran those big lights"
Finally found a 25-27 frame within driving distance. Went and got it today along with some repairable fenders, hood, cowl, front apron, and steering gear. Now all I need to do is find all the bits to put it together. I have two old trailers that I believe have the correct springs and shackles. Need to check the specs and measure them. This project is starting to get traction. I have the service manual. Does anyone know of a resource like a restoration manual that shows how things were originally put together? .... For example the front motor mount, radiator mounting how the body was fit to the chassis etc.
Dan I do not know of any manual. If you find that there is one please let the rest of us know. I can help you out on quite a few things like the front engine mount, radiator mount, and body to frame mount (each model/year are some different). Question! Is the break rod pivot on your frame in front of the cross member or behind it? That will tell me whether you have a 26 or a 27 frame. Your frame does have the transmission mount stirrups so is mid 26 or later.
Came across an 1926 Chevy engine, trans and suspension at a garage sale locally here in Washington. Have the guys number if anyone can use it.
On the frame I just got, the brake rod "bell crank" is behind the cross member. The fuel tank is there, it does not have a fuel gauge or provision for a sender. I got the frame and a load of parts from a gentleman in Illinois that is restoring a 26 two door. He is doing a beautiful job on it and is in the process of rebuilding the wood. He bought a second incomplete car for parts as some of his sheet metal was pretty rusty. I purchased some of the parts he didn't need. He told me it was a 1926. The first parts I bought (10 years ago?) were disc wheels, front end, and rear end from a fella building a rod out of an original 27 sport coupe. It was a very clean original car right out of the barn. I don't know if he ever finished it. My problem assembling things is I haven't taken a Chevy four apart and I don't have an example to look at. When I first thought about building a Chevy speedster, someone offered to sell me a complete 26 4 door that needed wood. He wanted about $2000 for it but the price was negotiable. I passed on it because I didn't want to destroy a restorable car to build a speedster. It had been in his family since new. I should have bought it. I don't have a lot of money invested yet but I have a lot of time invested chasing parts and still don't have a complete chassis, and I would have seen how it all goes together.
Thanks Dan for the reply! The reason I was asking, is because I am thinking about getting the parts that 31Apickup found. Unfortunately I will have almost a 600 mile round trip and if it was the same car that you got parts for after 31Apuckup saw them, then it would be harder to justify the mileage. This one of the reasons why a lot of us like people to show a location (even if it is only a region) I try not to step on others toes and also keep my costs in check. I am either getting very old, and not keeping up with prices, or very tight! But when I was buying parts cars they were only worth 500 or less. (Like I said I'm old!) They are fairly simple cars and with marked up pics I can show you how it will go. Building a speedster can use various years parts depending on what YOU are wanting to end up with. One of the easiest ways for me to do this is for you to take pictures of the different parts and I (and the other c4 people) can mark them up and post back. If they are different year parts, we can also give you some ideas as to what has to change to fit. I will get dimensions of the springs and pics. 25 through 28 can be used. Different models had different number of leaves.
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