Projects Track Roadster 16 yrs in the making

Just found this, great job!

 

Dave,

Thanks for your imput; it looks like the vote is strongly in favor of HealyRick's suggestion to render the text on the diagonal. I PROMISE that John and I will hook up with you sometime in the late winter or spring.

I called the water pump company and they are now, and have been, out of stock for weeks and weeks...but when I ordered the part the sales person did not inform me of that little fact.

We are now back to the drawing board. By far the most demanding requirements are the size and shape of the remote pump, as the assembly has to fit in the same relative position as the failed pump.

Stay tuned.

charlie

Hot Turkey,

I just perused your build. I will send you a message from your Project thread. Briefly, two words — outstanding and inspiring.

Charlie

 

Charlie, I say don't give up. I assume the water pump is an electric water pump ? If so check with guys like Rich Venza or anyone who runs El Mirage or Bonneville.
I have the same issue in my Model "A" with the Marine Y-Block. I actually want to use a stock (belt driven pump) in a manfactured housing off of the front of the motor.

Dave

 

Dave and other HAMBers,

Good news. Sometimes miracles do occur. The folks at EMP Stewart Components must have felt sorry for me [or wanted to shut me up] after I called their production manager Mark. Despite the fact that the Stewart folks said delivery would not happen for three weeks at the soonest... there was a [SIZE=-1][SIZE=-1]EMP Stewart Components Electric Water Pump - E389A[/SIZE][/SIZE] at the UPS store this past Sat. THANK YOU Stewart Components.

I heard from Jack yesterday [Sunday] and he had roughed in the pump and tested it with a new standard 180 degree thermostat. The motor warmed right up and the electric fan kicked on at the right temperature.

So at the first approximation the cooling systems works as planned; only time will tell how well the system will cool on a scorching hot day sitting in traffic; but for now things are back on track.

The next step is to hook up the fuel injection system. Jack has tested the O2 sensor and it is working fine. So now all the ducks are lined up for the final hurdle. Who knows? the roadster may be delivered to me sometime in Feb...we'll see. Delivery will hinge mostly on the weather in Western Montana.

Jack has also been working on the frame for the rag top, In a day or so I will post a photo of a top similar to the type I want for the roadster.

I am breathing easier....

Trakrodstr

 

HAMBers,

OK…here we go with new photos. I just got them from Jack and once again he has outdone himself.

As recently as last month Jack and I had decided to let a hot rod top shop make the frame and stitch the canvas for the soft top. However, due to several teething problems and weather it was clear that the track roadster was not going to leave Montana anytime soon. Accordingly, Jack began to shape and sand the oak bows and oak windshield header and to fabricate the metal frame.

This effort turned out to be a classic case of the ‘smite-as-wells; as in “if I going to do X, I might as well do Y”. For example, as long as Jack was going to sand the bows he decided “I ‘smite as well make the stainless steel folding scissors mechanisms”…and “as long as I am going to fabricate the folding metal parts — “I ‘smite as well make the stretchers and brackets”…and so forth. The end result of which is that the top, minus the canvas, is largely complete. Once again I’m really pleased by Jack’s outstanding craftsmanship.

In the first four photos you see the oak bows after Jack has shaped and fitted them; also you see curved brackets he fabricated from flat stainless bar stock. Obviously, the bows are in the collapsed or folded-back position.

In the next two photos you see the bows in the erect position [no jokes please] with a pretty good view of the fasteners and pivots, from both inside and outside vantage points. The little flange with the small hole (YELLOW ARROW) will capture a bump stop so that the bows don’t mar the paint where they contact on the sheet metal when collapsed. In the “interior” shot you can also see part of the stretcher (RED ARROW) that connects the windshield header, at the front of the top, with the folding mechanism/bows at the rear.

The next photo shows the front end of the stretcher where it attaches to the windshield header. You can see the ceiling of Jack’s shop “through” the open “roof”. The bracket is cockeyed because it is just hanging there and is not properly attached. The blue cord is wrapped around the locating pin for the stretcher. The next photo shows a wider view of the stretcher (ARROW) reaching back to the folding bow.

The final three photos show mock-ups of the ragtop using brown wrapping paper. I really like the profile; Jack and I both agree it gives the car the appearance of a “touring roadster’ instead of a “track roadster (dirt). In any case, when the canvas top is eventually sewn, it will largely resemble the look of the brown paper. I may even keep the 90 degree dogleg where the fabric attaches to the oak bows. In the close up photo you can see a good view of the oak windshield header.

One of the earlier inside views (Figure 7), shows the channel (ARROW) where the windshield glass inserts into the header; thus, the header “rest” upon the windshield. The “extra” glass that fit into the groove is the free upper border, which reaches upward about an inch higher than the windshield posts.

More soon.

 

Next

 

HUMMM... this photo didn't make it with the second batch??

 

The Maserodi T/R is coming along great I see. Jack has done a fine job with the top! Logo looks good both ways. How ever the logo Applied to the gauges would
be nice.

 

Charlie, TR is coming right along. Jack must be part Superman when it comes to fabrication. Top looks real clean and very professional. Progress is being made ! Looking forward to seeing TR in March.

41 Dave

 

Thanks LB+1, and 41 Dave,

I am really pleased with the top.

Jack has begun to swap out the 4bbl and manifold for the fuel injection setup. Today there was a bit of a problem when he tested the fuel system hoses, rails and fittings with the electric fuel pump under full pressure. There was a pretty serious leak in the area of the rear valley cover. It seems that the road vent tube [located at the rear of the valley] was interfering with the fuel rail. HAMBers who have been following this tread from the beginning will remember that there is a "false" valley cover that hides the Bosch fuel injector nozzles. While the original Hilborn fuel bosses are in fact deliver a vacuum signal to a fake fuel block. In any case, the fake valley cover was riding on the road draft tube which caused the nozzles to sit cockeyed and leak...

The leak made a mess but the fix won't be difficult. Once the fuel delivery circuit tests OK, Jack will hook up the engine management system that controls the EFI, the unit is made by Simple Digital Systems in Calgary,
Alberta Canada. It is programmable but does not require a "Prince of Darkness" Windows laptop [I'm a Mac guy].

Jack has tested the O2 sensor and it works fine, the rest is pretty straightforward, air temp, water temp, throttle position, crank position, and manifold absolute pressure.

Keep your fingers crossed. Jack needs an easy task with no gremlins for a change.

Trakrodstr

 

Charlie, Great update. Looking forward to TR running on this EFI system. I really like this in that it has the old looks but the modern technology. Looking forward to further progress.

41 Dave

 

Here are some new details I haven't yet posted; the "outboard" armrests are finished. The photo shows the passenger side armrest, which is mounted at an angle of about 45 degrees to the horizontal (or vertical for that matter). In the background the seat belt is visible, it's the light tan stuff.

The next two photos show the Lucite wind wings on the passenger side. The bracket uses three of the titanium aircraft fasteners to mount the plastic window pane. The other view shows how the wind wing bracket attaches to the windshield post.

All the above assemblies were fabricated by Jack Presse.

Pray for good Montana weather in Feb.

 

Charlie, Good detail shots. The TR is getting close to the day it will be on the road ! Keep the updates a coming !

41 Dave

 

Just found this, amazing, incredible build. The thought that has gone into this has made all the difference.

The one question I have is about the wind wings - unless you can do wind tunnel testing it's hard to tell, but won't the gap between the door top and wind wing bottom defeat part of its purpose, and push an area of pressurized air at the passengers? Seems like cutting a taller piece of plastic for the wind wings would be an easy fix? Mind you I'm just guessing on all this.

Keep the updates coming!

 

Tom,

Right you are. My understanding is that there are two general purposes for the wind wings. One is to reduce the road spray from the front wheels during wet weather. The other is to reduce buffeting by the airstream at highway speeds. The gap you refer to will certainly allow airflow, we'll see how much.

With the top down there will be far more buffeting generated by turbulence spilling over the windshield. So in this case I guess it's more about just deflecting some of the buffeting. Modern convertibles have a removable panel just behind the driver/passenger's head, which directs windshield turbulence "over" the panel and creates a relatively calm zone in the open cabin area. I may eventually try to fabricate such a panel and attach it to the roll bar with velcro or snaps.

As with all these decisions there are compromises and appearance is a biggie for hot rodders. Using a smaller wind wing kind of hides the fairly tall windshield.

As Jack points out Lexan isn't too expensive so if I want differently shaped or larger wind wings, all I need do is make some.

Thanks for your question. I'll bounce it off Jack and get his insights.

trakrodstr

 

Charlie:

How'd you like a couple of Montana shop dogs to go cruisin' with you in the roadster...

Seriously, that is one of the most perrrrfect examples of hot rod art ever. Thanks for sharing.

Russ V.

 

Russ V

Thanks for the compliment.

Your thumbnail photo is spooky, because Jack Presse and his wife Isabel, are involved in the local animal shelter and they have three big Rhodesian ridgeback "shop" dogs they rescued; I'm not kidding. The dogs are about the color of the dogs in your photo. I think one of the photos of the car taken in Jack's yard shows one of the ridgebacks. Last time I visited they had a kitten from the shelter too.

So I've had, through Jack, Montana Shop Dogs all along....spooky.

Pray for good weather so the Maserodi can escape the Big Sky Country.

Cheers
trakrodstr

 

Charlie, When will TR be leaving Big Sky Country ? Will it be on it's way to Missouri or to SoCal for the March Meet ?

41 Dave

 

Dave,

My hope is that the Maserodi will go West in Feb. This will require that three people and the weather converge. If that doesn't happen the "delivery" of the car will probably have to wait until mid-April. I have quite a bit of work related travel and I'm teaching this semester. There is a small possibility that we might all hook up in March.

Baring death or serous injury, my bottom line goal is to attend the LA Roadster Show in June. This works pretty well for me because I have a 9 day stint in SoCal at the end of April.

I can hardly wait to find out myself what's going to happen.

trakrodster

 

I forgot about the DB gauge logo you made!

 

I just spent over an hour reading this and I loved it... Thanks man.. Love your ride..

 

Jeff,

Thanks Man, the HAMB community has been great; especially in the last few weeks, when Jack and I seemed to really be up against gremlins.

My pleasure. Really. It lifts my spirits when I get such positive responses. I make sure I pass along the praise to the guy who did the real work.

***********************************

A quick update. I spoke with Jack yesterday and he has found and eliminated all the fuel injection leaks, at least at 45psi; today he said he was going to test the system at 60psi. I could tell he is tired of horsing around with fuel rails, fittings, O-rings, nozzles, spacers, gasoline....

Who knows, pretty soon, he may actually get to hook up the EFI management computer; I'll keep you folks posted.

trakrodstr

 

Charlie, Don't know if you saw the post Booby Green did for me on my buddy Moe's Modified. It is the front half of a narrowed (teens to early 20's T touring). Powered by a Model B engine. The pictures tell the story. In his retirement Moe has brcome quite the machinist. Hope you can find it using the searchfunction.

TR sounds like progress is still being made.

41 Dave

 

Any up dates?

 

Is it here yet?

 

Sorry about the long absence of info.

Early in this thread I said if I have to start making excuse I’ll do as Admiral Rickover demanded of the early nuclear US Navy personnel…I’ll use a number system. Well I think in need about 3 or 4 excuses so I hereby report excuses #3, 4 and 5.

Assuming you have enough interest to listen to me whine here is the short version:

#3. It’s the other guy’s fault.
Explanation: While the Hilborn throttle plates and throttle rod move smoothly when sitting on the bench; the same was not true for the assemblies when bolted to the head. It seems that the guy who did the work, made sure that the throttle assembly was free after he got through welding the new bungs for the EFI; however the welding heat induced a bow and slight twist to the base flange. Thus, when mounted and thightened to specs the throttle shafts were pretty badly bond up. Not only that but at operating temp the flanges leaked water.

#4. They didn’t tell me I had to adjust the setting.
Explanation: The fuel pressure regulator was shipped adjusted to deliver maximum pressure. Until discovered, this lead to two major consequences; one, a fuel leak in an o-ring sprayed gas all over the engine and front of the roadster; two, the pressure was too much for the OEM style Bosch injectors and to say the last the engine did not run well.

#5. The other guy didn’t know what he was doing.
Explanation: The system was designed to provide a vacuum signal to the EFI computer. This was accomplished by using the original Hilborn mechanical injector bosses and running hoses to a fake fuel block, which in fact is a vacuum plenum. It turns out that there is very little vacuum being created by direct port throttle barrels such as a Hilborn. This has two unfortunate consequences. One, the vacuum is not sufficient to actuate the heater valve, which is a trivial problem; the other is a big deal. It is not clear that the small vacuum signal is going to be sufficient to provide a meaningful impulse to the EFI computer.

There are some other issues but not worth mentioning. One good piece of news is that the cement company who tore the shit out of Jack’s road has now graded and graveled his road; it is now possible that a trailer could be towed to the paved roads at the bottom of Jack’s hill. So when, and if, the EFI problems are solved the roadster can be tested on blacktop.

Enough for now, next time I’ll write about some solutions to the difficulties.

 

Charlie, Sorry to hear of the problems with TR. I know Jack will get them worked out for you. Soon TR will be humming a song as you take it for that inaugral cruise !

Talk to you soon.

 

Hang in there Charlie!

 

Use a vacuum pump then build a vacuum log. Then go to Radio Shack tell one of the kid's working or hanging around, what you are up to. They will have going in no time.
Oh, being Jack is up on that hill - he may not be aware of these kids and there fart cars that go fast. lol