Hot Rods How well to bangers really go?

A Boned, that is a stunning car. You lucky b*stard.

 

That A is "spot on". Nice!

 

awsum car and will go well wecum to bangers just remember though its lick a very fit 80 year old grandmother thrash her to hard and she may get a bit tardy with you [and expensive]

 

Thanks Jimmy,

Hopefully some time soon we can cruize together when your deuce 3 window is finished.

 

Should be good for 85-90 mph... tops.

Sam

 

1932 Ford trans is synchronized.

 

nope.

 

IMHO, the worst thing about a 4 banger is the transmission.
Change out the original tranny for something with an O/D and a few more gears in between and it will make a big difference to performance of even a rock stock engine.

 

"Good for 85-90 MPH"... Oh hell, let's drive to the salt and get right in the "Two Club". Not real.
65 MPH and you will feel like the flywheel is gyroscopically on its way into your lap.
Rods will be singing the Babbit Quartet, and oil pressure will be somewhere on the extreme left hand side of the gauge. The ride will be rough, you'll feel it from the toe board to the steering wheel. But keep your foot in it. You'll know where the weak link was...it will tell you with a resounding "Thump!" I've heard it. And fixed it.
That '4-Barrel is like a tough guy from the 'thirties. Challenge it and find out.

That 'banger is excellent in its own window. It is a window of the past, rice burners will be passing you on the Australian Causeway like a freight train passing a tramp. (U.S. Folklore of the '30s, '40s, and '50s; in the late '60s, the railroad cut most interstate, so...)
This car/engine is a stoplight hero. Zero to 50, then it's dead. Don't lead it to an early death just to prove something. This ain't the '40s, and the competition is no longer Babbit Bearing stovebolts and 21-stud flathead V8s.
Remember your A-B-Cs. 'Always Be Conservative.' Your engine will last that way.

"This 4-Banger can do 85, I'll betcha"
Bet high, cuz if it does the fix won't be cheap.

 

I concur. Like you were reading my mind as I read this thread.-Weeks

 

x2 i gotta agree

 

Im surer A BOND won't mind me saying - but this is very good advice.

Rest assured he "gets it" and the car will be driven according to it limited capabilties. It was built as a time machine and will be driven /maintained that way.

Rat

 

There is a guy out in Banning CA with a pretty stock model A RPU 4 banger and runs an O/D 5 speed tranny, he is always running the I10 at 70mph.
He does runs down to San Diego with it.
If you keep the rpm's down with correct gears, good top speeds are still achievable.

 

Hey, that is a really nice car, saw it at the LA Roadster show this year '11 Sounds like some mild speed tricks were done. You could push it a little harder with insert bearings. Should run fine, and it looked like a quality build.

Check into F.A.S.T. - FORD "A" SPEED TECHNOLOGY for more banger info.
Start a Hill Climb in Australia
Jim Brierley's Speedster in Lincoln, Nebraska

 

There was a speedster club that passed through my town this last summer. They stayed completely off the freeway and perferred to run the backroads... Seems that some really had to keep their foot in it to maintain the 55 mph speed limit on the two lane. Shave the head and bolt on a manifold with two pots, and they'll scoot right along...

 

Oh man! That thing is perfect! Congrats!

 

Quote:
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1932 ford trans is synchronized.
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nope.
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Joe


Joe,

I hate to disagree with you but the '32 is syncronized. The syncros got better as time passed, the best being in 1939 and forward. Of course the 4 speed trucks were not syncronized and the syncros would not let you go back into first gear. I bought my first '32 in 1969 and restored it in the seventies.

Charlie Stephens

 

Thanks guys for your input. It seems that the mighty banger goes well enough but don't over rev them. That's cool I'm not expecting to run a 140MPH pass at lake Gairdner. If it goes well enough that it can keep up with traffic then I'll be happy.
21stud that made the initial comment above about the 32 box being syncronized is the HAMBer I bought the roadster from. He built this little Rod from the ground up and would be familiar with every nut and bolt.

 

I doubt you would want to go over 50 MPH in a topless roadster for long anyway.

 

very cool roadster

 

We generally (when referring to the venerable banger motor) don't like to say "haul's ass" or "really gets gone". We just say what the oldtimers use to say about a hotted-up four cylinder- "Goes like stink".


You should probably talk to this guy...I can personally verify that he definitley "goes like stink" with his banger.

 

So you guys don't think it'll do 85mph??

I didn't say he could CRUISE that fast... just that it looks like it'll GO that fast.

Sam

 

I've ridden in a T that will do 70 with a T engine and hopped up.

 

I am not disagreeing with you Sam, I know the bangers you build and run can go 85+ but a semi modified engine not built to withstand the RPMs will not for long. I had a buddy tell me I was doing 75mph one night and I called bullshit maybe 65mph. It was an all out sprint downhill for about 2 minutes. I got to the gas station and my banger was pissing oil out the rear main it was so thin and hot. Touched the radiator and it was full of a bucket o' steam. Enjoy how fast I go slow was my thoughts after that jolt.

Granted I have read Winfield used to do 100mph sustained on his way to the lakes back in the 30's . This one will probably be more then capable of 85 for awhile.-Weeks

 

Weeks46...You are right on the money....would drive mine for three quarters of and hour to a cruise night and always had a old piece of carpet to catch the oil from the rear main...the rod end babbitt bearings wont last long if you over rev it especially if you have lifted the compression...great era hot rod ..but wont take to much abuse if you thrash it... Doug

 

It might not be a high speed ride, but the "Smiles Per Miles" will be over the top! You'll never have so much fun going slow. Here's my nephew's banger, it zips along pretty well.

 

The green speedster posted by 64crump (mine) is all babbitt, dipper rods, C crank. I rarely turn it over 4,000 but do the Antique Nationals, hill climbs, etc. regularly with it, no problems. I ran Bonneville and many drags with my Cook, all babbitt but full pressure oiling. I turned it 6,000-6200 at the drags, 116 mph. What finally failed? The Buick pistons! I'm running the same block, crank and babbitt mains but now with Eubanks rods on the salt now, 165 in August. In my book these things are very reliable!

 

i had one in my '31 coupe not what i expected. now i have a flathead now i got what i expected. it had a weber set-up, centrifigal electronic ignition,040 over,reds 2" two out-let dual exhaust with two smitty glas paks it did sound like a small block but didn't have any R.P.M.'S 3,000 tops not for me. looked great.

 

Thanks again fellas for your input. I guess it is what it is regarding hopped up bangers.

They go okay for what they are, don't over rev them, and try and cruize under 65MPH for any length of time.

For me it's important to have a Rod that represents as close as can be what the young fellas just before the war were able to build and run on the dry lakes and on the street. If I was after speed I'd make some changes but I want to experience for myself what it was like to drive a stripped down, nasty banger powered roadster.

It's been a full week since the roadster landed in Melbourne, haven't got clearance from Customs yet, any day now I guess I'll get my hands on it.

 

Thanks Jim, the banger in your speedster sounds like a fantastic mill. Did I read that right....165MPH!
What's involved with going from original babbit type bearings to conventional insert type? Also what involved with going to full pressure oil?

Chris.