Projects My Dale Velzy/Sam Conrad Roadster Build Thread

Well how about that, the real deal! Very cool. I wish I was a picture taking kid back then. In those days the only Brownie I knew of was the one Mom put in my lunch bag.
Where did those pictures come from?

 

Bob... Many years ago, pal Tom McMullen rebuilt the '32 roadster he had bought, using the 'coffin-shaped' frame brackets for hairpins. I didn't like the app, as they sat not flush, but 'fulcrummed' over the reveal.
Yours have a different fit, (perfect for the era) and I like the lower gusset that attaches to lower flange.
Well... My '27 Highboy is now getting its lower brackets cleaned off, and a shameless copy of your 'coffins' is already on paper.
This build (and its reason!) certainly inspired, Great Thread! Thanks.

 

Years ago I picked up a bunch of goodies that down the line originated from Dick Scritchfield.

Those pictures are from ‘68 when Bob Gorby owned the car.

 

Always nice to see different pictures, thanks. I try to keep my eyes open for more pictures but I have the ones I need that show the details I need.

Mike, I put a beautiful all chrome tube axle and hairpins on my ‘33 5W many years ago. The brackets just bolted flat onto the outside of the frame. The spring perches were the bolt-to-the-batwing adjustable type. On the maiden voyage, I had to panic stop at the end of my street. The front of the car rose up, the axle rotated, the hairpins wrapped up and two of the three bolts holding the brackets to the frame sheared off. What an embarrassing mess. My Dad explained the various failures and how I could have prevented them. Lesson well learned!

 

I had some 'trick' (at the time) chrome shackles with the pressed & suaged bolts, real pretty. Put them on my '37 tube-axled Model A cabriolet (channeled over Deuce rails)
Second time out, the right front shackle came 'un-pinned, and my spring slid on top of my beautiful chrome tube!
Pretty well 'captive', but a rude awakening. Back to Henry's stuff!
You had mentioned a shearing-off on your '33 a few pages back. Now I see why the brackets to the bottom of the frame. Good thinking.
That bracket 'coffin shape' is Real 'George'! Thanks for explaining.

 

Sheesh, repeating myself in a thread for all of the world to see? I am getting old!

 

Been a little while since the last update. I did get a few things done. I finished the brake lines across the rear axle housing and the flex line. I didn’t like the round hole that I made in the frame for the line so I turned it into a teardrop to follow the taper of the frame.

I couldn’t resist and installed the rear wheels and tires. I don’t want to put it on the ground until the upper rear four bars are installed. The chrome shop just called to say they are ready. I’ll pick them up tomorrow.

I needed a change of scenery….

 

So I got the engine out so I can put it together. I gave it a fresh coat of paint. Then got out the new Ross Racing cam, washed it, inspected it and slid it in. The crank and key needed a little deburr to get the timing gear to slide on.


I degreed it in. It’s about 1.5 degrees retarded from the timing tag but that’s fine.


Here’s my rendition of an extended cam follower. Ordinarily I would have turned something on the lathe but the lathe isn’t working right now. Hey, whatever works.

 

While I was messing around with TDC, I decided to check the mark on my rebuilt damper. It was off just a little but now I have an accurate TDC mark. That notch is what passed for timing marks in 1956. I’ll probably put a piece of timing tape on, at least temporarily.

With the timing cover on it, I figured out what length bolts I needed and bought some new stainless hex bolts and washers. (That isn’t one of them). I can’t decide whether to polish them or just leave them as is. The exposed head bolts are all chrome so….
I’ve got a new water pump ordered. I got out the oil pump, I’m going to open it up and inspect it before installing it. I want to give it and the pickup a good final cleaning.

 

The oil pump looked great inside so I installed it and the oil pan.

 

beautiful

 

I got my water pump in the mail yesterday so I cleaned it and painted it. I rounded up some bolts and installed it. Like I did with the timing cover bolts, I’ll polish some and swap them out one at a time if they aren’t hidden by the pulley. So for now, the Olds short block is done.

Now I need to clean and paint the Hydro. I also need to order a new front seal, pan gaskets, and torus cover gasket from Fatsco. I’ll be taking off the torus assembly and the Buick adapter. It has a Chevy torus cover on it now. I need to install the Olds cover so now would be the time to install a new seal.
I’m still trying to decide whether to try running the smaller Chevy torus wheels or just install the stock Olds wheels. I figure that the smaller Chevy wheels may give it just a little more stall rpm. IDK.
I guess I could also install the flywheel now. Anyone have any suggestions for a good sealer for the flywheel-to-crank flange and the flywheel bolts? They are flooded with ATF when in operation.

 

Looks great Bob!

 

I haven't updated lately, mainly because I shifted my attention to the Studie for a bit. I have done a little on the roadster.
With the Olds short block assembled, it was time to address the old B&M Hydro that I plan to use. It's been sitting for a few years, so it needs a good washing and a fresh paint job.
First, I had to remove the adapter that was installed to put it onto the 401 Buick it came with, it won't be needed for the Olds. Oddly, B&M didn't provide any access in the adapter casting for the torus cover bolts. For storage, I had bolted the flywheel to the torus cover with four out of the 18 bolts. I had made a special wrench to access the torus cover bolts through the starter hole in the adapter, I just had to find it.
The torus wheels, torus cover and the adapter are off.

I'm going to mask off the torus cover and reinstall it to keep stuff out of the transmission when I give it the Dawn detergent/pressure washer treatment. The weather has been pretty cold so I'm procrastinating the watery cleaning process, but I'll get it done.
I did order new front and rear seals, pan gaskets and several torus cover gaskets from Fatsco, they should be here any day now.

 

I had a plan to take the hydro out to my cleaning spot and give it a good cleaning, but it's been raining unpredictably here lately and everything's muddy, so I had to come up with another plan. During a break in the rain, I got my cherry picker out and put the trans onto my engine stand. That way, I could do it inside the shop while it rains. I could sit in a chair next to it and scrape and wire brush to my heart's content. So, I did.


I made a point of not turning it upside down in case there was some ugly stuff in the pan, but I was able to get it pretty clean with scraping, wire brushing and wiping with rags and carb cleaner. I scraped off all of the old black paint that was kinda "tar like", thick and sticky. Like old radiator paint.
A final wipe with wax and grease remover and it should be ready for paint. I'm going to paint the case and tailshaft housing mostly. Then I'll pull off the side and bottom pans and re-clean and paint them separately, so when it's done, the new gaskets and bolts will contrast with the clean black case.


And look what I found under some paint and grease....
I.D. numbers from B&M that correspond to the numbers on the side tag that was damaged. R54L6 UC4889.
Looks like it's an Unblown Competition model.


Now I need to somehow contact the guy on Garage Journal who makes this type of tag and get a new one.


I'm hoping for a day with no rain and at least a few hours of sun so I can get some paint on the case. I hate to paint in my shop, overspray somehow always seems to get on stuff I don't want it on. But I will if I have to.

 

Wow, a UC unit! How cool is that. I can see lots of fun times coming driving that around.

 

Very cool trans!

 

I actually rode in the van that it was in, behind the Buick engine, it shifted just like my old C&O hydro from the '60s, snappy and solid. Yeah, a '65 Chevy van with a 401 Nailhead, B&M Hydro and custom headers. Strange combo. ??

 

Still raining cats and dogs here in sunny California. The wife’s rain gauge said 8”at 4:30 this afternoon and it’s still raining.
I got the old Hydro washed and painted, just the case. It came out a little glossier than I wanted but it should look good. It’s good old Rustoleum.

When I’m finished with removing, painting and reinstalling the pans, I’ll put the trans on the bench and pull off the torus cover and the sub bellhousing. I need to clean it better inside and out before paint.

 

I pulled the side cover off. Interesting to note that the five screws in the lower row had copper washers while the rest had external star washers. B&M was thorough.
Everything looks great, clean, no burned ATF smell at all, clean red fluid. It has the patented B&M valve that Willys36 showed us in the other Hydro thread. If I understand correctly, it allows you to hold it in first gear until you want to shift.
I cleaned and painted the side cover separately and reinstalled it..

 

I next pulled off the bottom pan. It was a bitch to get off. They glued it on with Permatex hardening sealer, probably 45 years ago. I never did invert the trans. Once the pan was off I rolled it over. Nothing dirty or damaged. The pan was clean, with no debris or metallic flakes, just a few little pieces of gasket from pushing my tool through during removal. I’ll pull the filter screen out and rinse it anyway. No burnt smell, just clean red fluid.

The pock markings on the filter are areas where the gray plating/coating is missing.

It’s very encouraging. I wholeheartedly expected to find significant metal shavings and particles in the pan. The only thing I still have reservations about is the clutch and band material after all these years. Will it work and for how long?
It’s going to be slow going, scraping off the old gasket material, I certainly don’t want any debris to get inside. So I’ll do most of it with the bottom facing kinda downward. Awkward but it’s survived a lot of years without contamination, I don’t want to be the one who screws it up now. I’ll inspect it thoroughly with lights and magnifiers before I put the pan back on.

 

I've never seen the insides of one of those... Wild looking contraption!

 

Great build, great skills! Thanks for sharing

 

Bob, why is this witness mark showing here? Looks like interference with the shift lever.

 

Can’t believe I somehow missed this thread until now. Love the direction you are taking the roadster and your attention to detail! I am caught up now and will be following along from here on.

 

Eagle Eye Walt! I wondered the same thing. It looks like the end of the inward bent tang on the shift detent cam rubbed on it at some point. Right now, there’s about .005 clearance between them. IDK, but it moves through it’s shifting motion without any problems. I didn’t want to disturb any of it at this point.
I fully expect a transmission this old to have some issues but I’m going to give it a chance. I have a running, stock spare that I can install if I have to rebuild this one. (Also a complete Muncie 4 spd setup, but no clutch pedal). It’s the old “ran when parked” deal. What surprises me is that it’s got to be, what, 50 plus years old but it’s clean as a whistle inside with no evidence that it’s been apart. About 1996-7 I rode in the van that it was in before I bought it, seemed fine. We’ll see.

 

It certainly does look pretty clean. Wonder if the valve body is all gummed up? Guess you will know soon enough when you drive it.

 

I cleaned the bottom pan and flattened the deformed areas around the bolt holes. Shot some paint on it (we actually had some sunshine today). While the paint was drying, I scraped off the old gasket on the trans, cleaned the bolts and cleaned the filter. Again, nothing nasty came out. I did a thorough inspection with a bright light from all directions and put the pan on.
The next step is to take it off of the engine stand and put it on my bench so that I can pull the bellhousing, clean and paint behind it and replace the front seal.

 

I have to admit, while I had the pans off for cleaning I considered taking them to the chrome shop. After all it is kind of a show/ street car. But, I decided to just make it look like it just came from B&M in 1964. It’s a 6-8 week hit to have them plated and the bottom pan was sorta too beat up to be chromed. Not to mention the approximately $500 cost. I will look for some nicer pans and if I find some, I’ll have them chromed and swap them out later.

 

I moved the transmission to my rolling welding/work bench and removed the bellhousing. There was an area under the bellhousing that I couldn’t clean so I got that cleaned up as well as doing a more thorough job of cleaning the bellhousing itself. I cleaned and deburred the mating surfaces of the trans and bellhousing.


Bellhousing back on and a new front seal in place….

And that’s it for now. It’s ready to install but I need to do something about a pilot bearing. So far I haven’t found one. I’ll make some calls tomorrow and if I still don’t find one I’m going to take the dimensions to my buddy’s machine shop and see what he can do.