A FEW CHANGES DURING THE WINTER OF 2015/16

There were five changes made over last year. 

1. ENGINE SIDE COVERS

2. RADIATOR REPAIR

3.DIFFERENTIAL GEAR PAC REPLACE

4. BRAKES IMPROVED

5.EXHAUST MOD

2016 started with a little modification to the front of the Speed 33. I decided to put some engine side covers on the 33. Totally flat panel, I know this will drastically change the appearance of this car but let's give it a go.

The first thing was to prep the opening so there wouldn't be any damage to the paint.

Once the paint on the car was protected from scratches I placed this heavy paper in the opening and ultimately cut around it in the shape of the opening. Then I placed the paper on some 16 gauge steel and scribed a line on the steel.

My next step was to place a thin strip of tape right next to the scribe line so I could see it while cutting the rough shape with a plasma torch.

Once the general shape has been completed with he torch, the task of grinding to the scribe line has begun.

Now the general shape has been completed.

Next, the leading edge has to be strengthened. So I welded a steel rod to the back side of the sheet metal.

The driver side edge gap is almost finished

Passenger side

The leading edge gap still needs to be straightened slightly.

A little more has to be ground off the lower corner for the correct gap.

Ok, after all of this I'm not too sure I like the look of the flat panels. I could place some sort of air intake like so many others have done, but what's so special about that.

I've always liked the look of NACA air ducts on the side of airplanes and thought it would go well as the engine air intake but after drawing them on the steel panels it didn't look that great.

So, I made these paper templates from the flat panels and sent them to Rootleib for some of their louvered 33 side panels. This time, unlike the ones I bought in 2012, they will be manufactured to size. I also found, the hard way, that it's impossible to install the engine side panels while still installing the fenders, hood, inter fenders, and grill. What happens is that every time an adjustment is made to the grill, fenders etc it changes the size of the opening for the engine side panel and ruins the 3/32 panel gap. So if you know anyone building a similar car try to encourage them to hold off on cutting the side covers, until the car is assembled.

This time the side panels I received from Rootleib were almost exact and very little additional trimming was necessary. 

Next, came the smoothing and painting. Thanks to my friend Dennis K we were able to paint the side covers without too many problems.

Installed they fit well and look good.

The blue LED's on the exhaust manifolds really look great at night.


The next project involved removing the radiator

In doing some general maintenance, I happened to notice a single green drop of liquid on the floor. Had to be antifreeze. Looking everything over I finally noticed a very small leak in the lower left side of the radiator. Therefore, it was necessary to get the radiator out and see if it could be fixed.

The radiator replace was not really expected. Something so minor, but none the less not correct. After initially pressuring the radiator with 15psi, 24 hrs later there was still 5psi of pressure. Really not too bad but still, it bugged me knowing there was a very small leak.

By pressuring the radiator and spraying a little water with a 10% mixture of Houghton FS 172, I could see some foam forming in the area I suspected.

The problem with aluminum radiators is that in the core area they are almost impossible to repair, because the core material is so thin. Copper in the old copper/brass radiators can usually be repaired and copper also offers a better metal heat transfer. But the design of the aluminum radiators is far superior to copper, with it's superior air flow, between the tubes. To overcome this air flow issue some copper radiators are now offering 4 cores, instead of the traditional 3 cores. But the thicker the core stack of the radiator the harder it is to get air through. Bottom line is that there are pluses and minus to both. One issue I see on a lot of hotrods, both copper and aluminum, is that the radiators are solid mounted to the frame. In reality there is some flex and vibration in the frame and this will be transmitted through the radiator which can eventually cause cracks in the radiator housing. At first I thought flexing might be why my radiator was leaking but I rubber mounted the radiator and after looking at the leak it was obvious that it was a defect in the core, itself.

The new radiator was made and sent to me. I thought I would polish it prior to installing.

After a little sanding and buffing it started to shine.

Here is the top after finishing the buffing and polishing.

Here is what it looks like after polishing and installation.

For the next project

Another project over the winter was the differential. At about 65 mph a howl had developed. I talked to Currie, who made the rearend and they asked me to send the center section back to them. There was some additional wear due to improper cleaning prior to leaving their plant. Not too good for them, but they were good about standing behind their stuff.

On to project #4

Braking in hotrods has often, over the years, been over looked. But lately things have changed with very modern high performance drum and disk brakes. I have disks in the front and drum brakes in the rear. The dilemma I have starts with the 15" Dayton spoke wheels that are on my car and trailer. To change to larger brakes such as 12, 13 or 14" disks would require changing my wheels to a larger diameter so the disks and calipers would fit inside the wheel. This would completely change the look of my 33, which I'm not quite ready for, at this time.

My braking was just ok.  I feared that in a panic stop with my trailer I might have a problem.

Mike G of Gipson Motorworks recently installed a hydroboost brake system in Ed R. 48 Buick. After driving this car, and testing the brakes, I decided that this would really help the braking of my 33. My brakes worked ok but as I said, in a panic stop with my trailer I've always thought I might be eating the back bumper of the car in front of me. The requirements for braking today are much more severe than years ago. Just try driving on I-5 between Seattle and Portland.
In the above picture the gold unit is the 7" vacuum boost that I had in my car. One step above pure manual brakes.  With my LS3 engine and the vacuum accumulator, I had plenty of vacuum to activate the booster but it was just operating at it's limit. I had a choice of going to a 7" double diaphragm which would move my master cylinder back about 2" requiring some brake line alterations, or going with the hydroboost which required moving the master cylinder back 2.7" and the same brake line alterations. The test drive in the 48 Buick sold me on going with the hydroboost.

The black unit above is the hydroboost unit I installed. The stainless steel hoses are hydraulic lines that will run from the power steering pump, to the hydroboost, then to the power steering rack and pinion and back to the power steering pump reservoir. The center line is simply an overflow line that will "T" into the rack and pinion return line to the power steering reservoir.What could possibly go wrong? BTW, if you are reading this in the Northwest and need any type of work done on race cars, hotrods, race boats, I'd give Mike at Gipson Motorsports a call. I'm here to tell you that you will be very pleased with their knowledge and work, even if your not going 200+mph, which these guys are defiantly capable of doing.

Here is the vacuum accumulator (black tank) and the vacuum boost unit that I removed.

This change was well worth the time. The brakes are unbelievably good now. I would encourage anyone who is having any brake issues to investigate using one of these units. Definitely not very easy to install when using an under floor master cylinder but still worth the effort, IMO. 

Here is the hydroboost installed within the frame, under the floorboard, with the brake  master cylinder attached. The hydroboost happens to be 2.75" longer than the removed vacuum booster, therefore it was necessary to lengthen the brake lines to the master cylinder. The "S" shaped tube is the extension of 2.7" for the brake lines.

Another picture showing the unit from under the car.

The final change over last winter was to install exhaust tips on the side of the car and to connect the exhaust cut outs to the tips.

Here is a picture of the exhaust tip under the running boards. 

Here you can see the mufflers along with the side pipe for the cut outs and the exhaust tip.

 

 

 

What a great sound when pulling into a car show with these wide open. Just to the right of the stainless steel pipe and just above the yellow lift is the actual electric valve that opens and closes and allows the exhaust to bypass the mufflers and go directly out thru the side tips. These are operated by a switch inside the car.

For my next project, who knows at this time. I don't think it will be another complete build car. I just can't see anything that is currently being offered that compares to the Speed 33. I think I might do a rebuild of something.

 

 

 

 

Here is a car I bought and owned for about 3 days. I couldn't find the room for a LS9 so it had to go. 

 

 

Now this is a car I almost bought, but just couldn't pull the trigger, for some reason. Big mistake. This car, a 62 Olds Starfire was in excellent condition. Almost no rust, running, great chrome. These are big but when lowered look great.