1930s Era Champ Car - new project

Thanks Mike. Those lights look similar and would be an acceptable option if I needed to replace both of mine. The shape is a little more rounded [may I use the analogy of an "E" cup vs a "D" cup?] and are lacking the parking light feature which would necessitate hanging additional turn signals.

I'll post dimensions of mine today.

 

I got out the old HEADLITE-O-METER and measured the lights.
Lenses: 5.5"
OD: 7"
Depth: 8"

 

Regarding the oil in the carb dampers, I worked at a Datsun dealership back in the day and atf was used on the carbs. But you can change the weight of the oil as a tuning aid. Thicker oil, piston roses slower when the throttle is opened, thinner rises faster. You can use this to act like an accelerator pump and to adjust the mixture when you hit the gas.

 

Thanks bigdog, that is useful information. I will probably start with thin Dexron ATF since the carbs are generally undersized and if my reasoning is correct a smaller carb on a bigger engine will need less of a "pump shot" to get flow moving. That also agrees with some YouTube videos I've watched.

Cool avatar truck BTW. Is that a Stude? It would look good pushing off my avatar car.

 

Thanks, avatar is a '48 Nash wrecker. Nash made approximately 300 of them for their dealers. I got it at an auction when an old junkyard in Spencer, Ia closed.

 

I kope this sheds soome light on the subject.

I have been searching a little and came across this:

The Hot Rod Disorder™: GUIDE to BLC Headlights

GUIDE to BLC Headlights

 

A little more work was done on the headlight stanchions. I had to weld a piece of round stock on to the shorter extension to bring it up to the height of the taller one. Then I had to make a pair of offset brackets to center up the headlights between the front tires and the cowl. A temporary spacer tab was welded to the top until final welding - to be capped off by a prettier top plate. I can't weld the offset brackets to the stalks until I plug them into the frame to align them correctly.
The stalks look kinda dorky, not very asthetic. Later on I plan to fair them into the base with sheet metal fairings. I'll add that job to my "I'LL GET TO THAT LATER" list as it is not critical to getting the car completed and on the track.

 

I capped the tops of the stanchions. It looks like the headlights will fit nicely.
I still need to make stanchion fairings, weld in the frame anchor plates, find some electrical bulkhead connectors to make removal of the lights easy, and set the steering limit stops.

 

I cleaned and rebuilt the carburetors. Except for adding oil (Dexron) to the slide dampeners and rigging up cold start enrichment mechanism cables they are ready to put back on the engine. There were several things not right inside them - bent needle, float levels off, enrichment pieces missing - so hopefully they will be close to the proper tune with the initial adjustments and settings I made.


before rebuild:


after rebuild:

 

One thing to check. Those SU carbs lower the jet away from the needle for starting enrichment. If things are a little worn it's not uncommon for the jet to stick and not go back up when the choke is released.

 

Thanks for the heads-up bigdog. The 240Zs had a knob on the dash that connected to two long cables, one that ran to each carb. I read elsewhere of that problem. I also read it was important to get them adjusted properly. But I also heard from owners that said they never used the enrichment circuits to start the vehicle.

I decided on a simple fix. Instead of running two cables into the cockpit I made a simple draw bar with short rods attached. Pull to start - push to run. I figure the choke cables will need activating maybe only one time in the morning and then the car will start without enrichment. It did on the engine test stand when we broke in the engine - with screwed up carbs too.

 

I had hoped to make further progress this week. Another delay. My bride and I went to a car show in our HOT TUB phaeton. It was hot. While I was out wandering the grounds an onlooker pointed out to my wife that the front tire has a split in the tread where it attaches to the sidewall. So we nursed it home slowly with my neighbor following us in his Model A. By the time we made it home the small small split had propagated all the way around the casing and we were slinging "gators" into the air.
I'm putting on new front tires tomorrow...

 

That's the kind of drive that increases the pucker factor! Glad you made it home ok

 

Today I started to blow the car apart for final chassis welding. After welding I will prime the chassis. I think then would be a good time to massage all the body panels to further refine their shapes to keep the amount of filler to an absolute minimum. I'll get some help from my buds to pull the block and trans and lift it up on the rotisserie.

 

The frame and all the sub assemblies are finish welded. Next up is to prep it for prime and paint. I think I will be priming it this fall, but waiting until next year to do the final color. I have not yet decided on the final color... think sumthin' (scallops?) over corinthian white for the body and argent or grey for the chassis. Wire wheels TBD.

 

I took a week off of working on the HAMB projects to get two cars ready for the Milan Nostalgia Drag Race.
I drove my '23 T Advanced Chassis car (not the Logghe car) and my neighbor drove The Frenchtown Family Truckster. In the Friday Gamblers race we both got down to the final three cars and we agreed to split the purse three ways equally, so we went home with the bulk of the prize money even though I lost in the semis and George lost in the final. On Saturday I fouled in Round One. Hero-to-0-in-nuttin'-flat. George went out in Round Three, out of the money.
BTW, this year's race was a blast. I hope somebody posts pics. Great turnout. Great weather. Good times. Memories.

EDIT: Here is a YouTube video of the drags.


A shot of my six-banger Comp Roadster at 55:58

 

Guess I jinxed you on Saturday with all the talk about Quickchanges.
It was great show. I got so engrossed at looking at cars, I didn't take one picture

 

The SU is the best carburetor made. I have been running one on my 46 Harley for 50 years and I have a pair on my avatar. One thing I like about them is no need for a choke. My Harley will start first kick after sitting for a month. No choke on my avatar either. They have the parts for a choke but I have never used them. They are easy to tune.

 

It was so nice to see you Bruce and chat about QCs. If I or some of my buds need QCs I'll steer them your way. The Milan Nostalgia drags seems to get little photo coverage on the HAMB, yet I think it appears to be one of the best attended shows in the country. I never even had time to make it over to the show cars on the other side of the track.
I hope you have links to your latest HAMB projects; if so post a link so I can read up on them. See you next year.

Yup.
Others have told me the same - unless you are in a cold climate, enrichment is rarely needed. I look forward to tinkering with them. Are yours HS-6s or something smaller? I hope the rods and jets with them are close for an engine with 50 cubic inches per cylinder.

 

Back on the racer -
Some places on the chassis had lightening holes. It has bothered me that my rear spring perch, which few will see, had lightening holes. But my front spring perch, which is readily visible, didn't. Also, the motor mounts were looking kinda klunky without lightening holes.
So I rectified those things by drilling them with lightening holes.

 

Work has begun on prepping the frame for paint by sanding all the scale and rust.
I did make one additional detour to fab brackets to hold the stone shield. I decided to use the same frame socket receptacles that hold the headlight stanchions to hold the stone shield. I do not know if this state has bumper laws but I suppose these brackets could pass for a front bumper too, if laws dictate.
It was necessary to make a wooden buck to properly position the shield bracketry for welding, as the mounting sockets require the shield inserts to be precisely located. Still need a couple escutcheon plates to complete the brackets.





I guess the car number is gonna be #6.
appropriate

 

The frame is primered. I hope I didn't miss any spot. I used a HF HVLP jamb gun, the pruple one. I understand they are on sale right now for less than ten bucks.
The front and rear axles are next to be primed. The rear axle needs some work before it can be painted. The front axle needs spindle bearings and leaf spring slider pads before priming.

 

Looking good. BTW, how far back from here do I have to go to see the frame fabrication? I'm old and lazy, and don't want to scroll thru the pages again... I know, just do it!

 

Oh, just start at Page 1 and relive the whole thing!

 

Ummm... I guess I never showed the frame being fabbed. I made the sides from 2 x 4 x .120" rectangular tubing. I pie-cut the tubing from just ahead of the hairpin mounting point and pinched it down to 3" where I added a 3" round front crossmember
Then I made the rear kickup from plasma cut plate. This enabled me to weld nuts to the inside of the kickup where I thought attachment points would be needed, for shocks, roll bar, and the like. Its probably overkill. If I had to do it again I may have tapered the front more. I intentionally did not curve the rear kickup inward to follow the body. I left it rectangular so I could add a center steered '27 T Altered Roadster body at some point.
Or not.
Not all frames were contoured to follow the body tail.

 

Thanks... piece of pie! Ratrodder's future project might just get a kickup like that. I know a place around here that has a cnc abrasive water jet, that should be able to make a few plates like that.

 

The beautiful warm Fall weather offered a good chance to disassemble the front spring and drill out the leaves for nylon slider pads. I had done another car spring and learned a couple of things about drilling on spring steel.

TECH TIPS: To drill spring leaves for slider pads use a slow speed. Use drilling fluid and/or spray the area with water to keep the metal cool and prevent the spring steel from work hardening. Center punch the location of each hole and use a center drill for the initial hole. I limited the drill press speed to 680 RPM - the slowest speed on my Craftsman drill press.

I started the de-rusting process on some of the small parts prior to painting the front spring assembly. I need to buy new spring bushings and shackle bolts.

 

Oof! Tough drilling! And solid carbide drill bits is what I use. And not very often...

 

WooHoo! look what showed up.
A NIB Schneider hydraulic performance cam and lifters. I plan to install it in the champ car motor at some point - maybe before initial installation of the engine.
Thanks brettdaniel117 for taking my project closer to the finish.

 

In the course of getting the front axle finished I got out the spindle thrust load bearings. I cleaned them and they rolled freely so I plan to use them.
To improve my chances of these bearings working well I wanted to fully pack them with grease so I turned a wooden plug that had a Zerk fitting on it so I could pump the bearings full of grease. Worked like a charm - shouldn't need further lube for years.