1930s Era Champ Car - new project

Maybe PAD? Politically Aided Design?

 

@THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER, what do you use for the brake lever? Is that a stock piece, or something you machined up, or...? I'm looking for something similar, although I think I'd like to have the extra safety release lever-thing up on the top, kinda like an early Model A handle.

 

Back on posts 655 and 656 I first showed it. HJ Maniac identified it as a '41 - '46 Chevy truck emergency brake. I stripped it and cut it down to suit my needs. I did not want the ratcheting lock for use on rear wheel stopping.

 

Perfect, thanks!!

 

I started to plumb in the hydraulic brake system, beginning at the rear axle. You may notice that I have 2 psi residual pressure valves in the lines. I have a drum / drum system that calls for 10 psi residual pressure valves. I did not have any 10 psi valves so I am using the disc valves as placeholders until I get the right ones and can replace the 2 psi with 10 psi valves.

 

I have moved up to the front brakes. They are in need of a rebuild. A HAMB member will be supplying the parts for rehab.
Today the nitrogen filled shocks for the rear arrived so I can finish the mounting brackets for them. Some brake line clamps also arrived. All these recent purchases bring to mind what my son likes to remind me, "The first 90% of the project takes 90 % of the budget and the remaining 10% of the project takes the other 90%."

 

QUESTION:
How far should the shocks be extended when the car is at ride height w/ driver? So if the shocks have 5" of travel and if totally closed is 0% and totally open is 100% how much extension is desired?
50%?
40%?
60%?
Other?

I will make the mounting brackets accordingly. In the photo the shocks are totally extended by the latent nitrogen pressure within.

 

It depends on the available travel of the rear suspension. If you have 4 inches between the lower flange of the frame and the top of the axle you would need to plan for close to that for compression travel. You should add a rubber bump stop between the axle and frame to keep from bottoming out the shocks and prevent metal to metal contact. Consider the bump stops as progressive springs that raises the spring rate near the end of the suspension travel. Also typically use 60% compression, 40 % extension as a reasonable starting point.

Further, you need to prevent the shocks from bottoming out and also topping out on up travel. Crashing the shocks at either end of the travel usually hurts stuff inside of the shocks, destroying them. The coilovers on the Whatever project have bump cushions built in each to prevent bottoming, and I will be adding adjustable bump stops before it's finished. And I haven't checked yet if the shocks top out before the chassis hits the axles on extension. If so, I'll add check straps like early Corvettes had.

Hope this helps you set the shocks up...

 

Good answer, Dave. About the shortest & simplest version.
Marcus...

 

Thanks Dave, That is good advice coming from a man with experience.
I'll have no more than +/- 2" of travel. The TT springs on the back are stiff for such a light car.

 

This, from the "Two Things Cannot Occupy The Same Space At The Same Time" Department:
I started to get all the fittings and plumbing together for the front brakes and realized I did not have sufficient clearance between the steering arm and the flexible brake cylinder hose. I considered setting the arm up in a mill and milling a channel with a ball nosed end mill, but in the end it was easier and quicker to grind a V-notch in with a cutoff wheel and file it and finish it off with a tootsie roll. Now the hose can be installed / removed without removing the steering arm.
A drawback to using that steering arm is there is no access to the top kingpin Zerk fitting. I'll shoot it full of lube and plug the fitting hole before final assembly and call it done.

 

Drill your own hole in straight between top and bottom of the boss, and put a 90 degree zerc in. You can make a new grease groove from your new hole to the existing groove and viola you got grease!

Oh and as it's not the compression side of the spindle, the grease should be able to get in there.

 

Thanks Dave. I'll be changing out the spindle bearings and will do it then.

 

That would be perfect. You can line up the grease passages at the same time, no modifications to the bushings necessary.

 

I took a few weeks off to deal with the effects of Hurricane Ian in Florida. Now I am going to tackle the front brakes. The brakes will get rebuilt with new wheel cylinders. I will also be rebuilding the spindles with new kingpin bushings and bearings and related hardware. I think I will also braze up the wear pads on the backing plates. They are not worn badly but I want to put them back in as-new shape. The brake lines will also have to be routed up to the front with line clamps added to the inner side of the frame rails.

 

Today I tackled the front backing plates,
Wire brushed the rust
Sand blasted key points
Brazed up the wear pads and ground flat
De-burred all the sharp edges
Metal prepped
Primed
Painted aluminum

My new cylinders arrived today too, so all I am waiting for is my spindle rebuild kit and I can reassemble. I may just reassemble everything to be sure everything is compatible and dis-assemble when the spindle kit arrives. At that point I'll grind the spindle forgings to a smooth finish.

 

Looking good! Hadn't noticed the length of the spindles steering arms before. Interesting!

 

I rigged up a return spring to the hand brake. The spring is anchored to an adjustable lug so I can increase the spring tension on the handle if necessary.

 

One idea I had was to take a socket and cut the square drive off, imbed it in the top of the frame, and make plug-in headlight stalks with square extensions on the bottom that will plug into the square recesses on the frame. The detent ball should keep them secure. To prevent them from jiggling too much I may weld additional material on so that the square has a taper that locks down in place when plugged in.

 

This weekend I made the rear shock mounts for the rear tube shocks. I am not real thrilled with the way they look aesthetically, but all the webbing was needed to insure they don't flex too much. I fixtured everything using wooden fixtures so both sides end up the same.

 

Not bad looking! I like your quick release upper shock mount attachment.

 

LOL vintage wing nut.

 

You laugh, but that used to be Dave's nickname! Still is, but used to be, too!

 

But I wasn't vintage! And there's a story of a CJ5 and 4 engines in about 3 months time.

But I'm much better now...

 

Did you do a build thread on the CJ5 with the four engines? That must have been a torque monster.

 

I assembled the front brakes. They seemed to work well on compressed air.


I pulled out my headlights on the chance that a HAMBer can identify them. Notable features include two bulbs, a hi/lo beam bulb and a parking light bulb.

 

No. I kept swapping engines because I kept blowing them up. 1st was the f head 4. Didn't like going 50 mph! 2nd 3rd and 4th were 327s, one out of my first dirt car, the 3rd and 4th were decent salvage yard scores. Finally stuffed a salvage yard refugee 283 in it. It lasted 13 months. It seems that 5.38 gearing and engines that were used to say 3 to 1 passenger car gearing don't really get along too long. I was 18 years old and i knew better!

 

So how far back to read about the steering arms? I'm intrigued by the length.

 

I don't think I ever mentioned the steering arm mods specifically. In terms of steering the front wheels it matters little how long they are. They could been a foot long as long as the tie rod pivot points are on the Ackerman line intersecting the center of the rear axle. The original shorter steering arms were going cause the tie rod to hit stuff.
In past builds I've had real estate issues with the tie rod interfering with the bat wings or the Panard bar when the wheel is turned to full lock. So I wanted to be sure the tie rod does not hit the bat wings, etc. I will see if they can be shortened when the build is completed; I can always shorten them so the tie rod just barely clears everything. I made them extra wide to be sure they are strong. I probably grind the edges down to blend in better with the vestiges of the original steering arms, and then re-TIG the edges.
I usually try to err on the side of safety vs beauty.

 

Thanks. Like I said I was just curious. Just a thought: with those bolt on arms, a lathe and a mill, and some billets of steel, you could whittle out a pair of new arms in one piece without any welds.

There I go again, committing your time and effort for you. Hard work never bothered me; I could stand there and watch you working all day!