Hot Rods Spalding Bros Repro, for "Too Tall" Ganahl.

Pat, what do you need for tires?

Steve

 

Steve,
The front wheels and tires are already on the car, at Marty's. For the rear, the original car had Firestone 7.00-16 "Grooved" dirt tires (blockers) on Lincoln rims. So I got a set of Coker's 7.00-16 Firestones and mounted them on Wheelsmith custom rims. What I want to do is groove these tires horizontally, perpendicular to the tread, to make them look as much like the blockers as possible. So far I haven't found anybody with a grooving tool that will work.
Thanks,
Pat

 

Those look similar to Ascot blocks.

 

Pat,
any worthwhile sprint car/midget team that runs on the dirt should have a groover. The only problem that I see is that most of them use a curved blade and would not exactly reproduce the square bottom groove as in the photos. The blades are pretty simple and it should not be too hard to make one with the correct profile. Marty should be able to knock one out in his spare time.

Roo

 

Speedway Motors has a bunch of groovers on offer, both round and square blades. I guess there are other vendors with a similar range.
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Search?query=groover

 

Groover hell use a Skil Saw in the 60's when I was bending nails we had a guy on the crew for about 3 days who did that

Can you believe he really did use a Skil saw on a inflated tire and blew himself across his shop, with running saw in hand

Boy some dudes are really dumb !!!!!!!

DND

 

Didn't have the blade depth set right, huh?

 

That comes right after engaging the brain

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/old-lakes-style-rear-tires.661396/

 

OK. You've seen a lot of the wonderful work done in the well-equipped Marty Strode shop. Well, here's how things are done in the ill-equipped Ganahl garage.
First I did a whole lot of calling to find anyone who had a tire groover. If you need anything for a vintage circle track car, the first person to call is Glenn Necessary (661-714-3854). He's already supplied a few things for this project. Unfortunately the fancy German groover he loaned me didn't work at all, just like the similar one Rich Hart had.
However, long-time midget racer and collector (and former Cyclone Header and Autobooks owner, etc.) Chet Knox said he thought he had a couple old ones, if he could just find them amidst his several garages full of neat old stuff (wanna buy a complete Offy engine in a glass case? He has one for sale). Well we spent a couple hours looking, but finally found them. They look like they were made in the '20s, but one had a few different "snouts" and lots of different size/shape cutting blades. And they worked--much like a very old soldering iron.
Fortunately I had gotten a used tire for testing and practicing. I used that to decide what size and shape cutter to use, and how deep to set it.
Next I had to figure how to measure and mark a pattern. By the second tire I discovered a light blue China marker (grease pencil) worked the best on black rubber, and I stole a wide, pliable ruler from my wife's sewing cabinet.
These groovers don't cut like a hot knife through butter; more like a dull blade through hard rubber. With plenty of sweat. Each tire took more than a day to layout and cut.
Looking at the photos, you might think they look more like snow tires than dirt trackers. But they look pretty good in person. I'm happy with how they turned out. And it's as close as I'm going to get to a usable set of dirt-slinging blockers.

 

Great job Pat ! Did you use baby powder to make the iron slide easily, or didn't you remember my recommendation ?

 

Pat's halfway there! Now, slide the iron circumferentially to get rid of those squiggly telltale Firestone lines!

 

When I used to do a lot of re-grooving, I would resharpen the blades with a very fine cut needle file to keep that good razor sharp edge.

 

I'd buff a smooth ring around the circumference of the "piecrust" as well - the real ones have a thinner one (think pinners vs. wide whites)

Steve

 

Good job Pat. I'm glad you finally found an iron. See, I told you check with the WRA guys.

 

Thanks guys. Marty, yes I knew about talcum powder, but I was afraid it would cover up the lines I was trying to follow (on the first one I used a pencil and Sharpie that were hard to see).
And yes, I seriously considered grooving the "wiggly" treads around the circumference, but that would take a pretty wide and deep groove (to eliminate the "wiggle"). I am more concerned about the integrity of the tire, which I have already weakened significantly by cutting it cross-wise. (I only went about 1/4" deep--less than the treads.) Same reason for not shaving the sidewalls. Remember this car has a solid (i.e. locked) rear axle. And even with my HAMB Alliance discount, these Coker tires ain't cheap. So I want to see how these tires fair on the dirt before I try more creative cutting. I don't want to be throwing any "blocks" in the stands.
And yes, Pumper, you can see each blade has one razor-sharp edge--it has to be installed the right way. And they must wear out, because the groovers came with small packets containing not only different sizes and shapes, but many (new ones) of each. The one I used stayed sharp through this job. Best part is I just convinced Chet to sell me these two old groovers, and all the extra blades and accessories for next time.

 

[QUOTE= As much as I agree with Mike on how good those grooves around the circumference would look, I think you would roll the blocks over, until they break off. Side-bite creates lots of force !

 

Agreed! (I thought of the vulnerability of the rubber when I mentioned it, but Pat is a Machine for fine detail! Better leave them alone, everybody will see the unique pattern)
Really amazing how perfect the cuts are. "Too Tall" has it down 'Pat'...

 

Case in point !

 

How will you affix the roll bar to the frame rail? Receiver tube and bolt(s)? Was there any triangulating struts?

 

Just like the original car.

 

There's a thread on the HAMB where a guy is building an early T-based modified that he used Lester rear tires on, then cut his own sideways grooves into. I just checked Universal Tire's website and they don't have them in a 16", but the 17 and 18" sizes have a nice circumfrenciational groove that's straight, not jagged. And the sidewall blocking looks a little more like those original blocked tires. When you wear these out search for some Lester's.

 

Approximately when did racers switch from 90 degree block to the angled diamond style?

 

I haven't found many pics of track roadsters that don't have square blocks, but here's one. It looks a bit like one of Rosie Rousell's cars but I'm not sure. Marty?? Looks like a banger of some sort though.

 

Yeah, it is!

 

Rosie was a good friend of mine, what a great restoration he did of his old car. I was instrumental in lining up Tom Malloy to purchase Rosie's car, for his museum. I sure do miss those visits with Rosie, at Bakersfield, and on the phone, he was special !

 

Rosie was a fantastic driver, and always up for a chat.



With regards to the block tyres, Pat your mod looks great, but out of curiosity, your earlier photo (as per original fitment), were the firestones 're-capped', with the pattern as part of the capping, or done post fitment, on the capping?

Loving this build, looks great.

Cheers,
Drewfus

 

I can see the word "grooved" on the sidewall in this pic. They were made that way.

 

I'v got a little to report. My friend Jim Lindsay, traveled south to run his Rear Engined Modified Roadster at El Mirage on the 12th. While in LA, he paid Pat a visit and picked up the rear tires and wheels for me, and they look great ! Also, I talked with Pete Brower of PAC Racing Springs, (the company who bought the torsion bar division of Schroeder Steering) and placed the order for the torsion bars, they should arrive this week. I even got a little done on the transporter, mounted a windshield washer / coolant recovery tank, it does rain up here !

 

Wow Pat a great look and will still be streetably.