Finals week

I have finals this week at college, so my stress meter is pegged. I have been taking a couple of the toughest classes in my major concurrently, since that's the only time they are available, and that has been limiting my time lately, including time for blogging. I knew you would understand.
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The Rhinebeck show was mediocre, and true to form, it eventually rained on us. It's too bad, I have so many good memories of my younger days there, but it has rained on that weekend for probably the last 10 years, so now I almost dread it. Amazingly I did not buy any parts I do not need for a project I do not have. It's a good place to get supplies, like grinding wheels, and sanding discs, etc, pretty cheaply, so that's what I got. I have really been getting the bug lately to get back to my EV project. If you remember, about a year ago I kicked off this blog to document the construction of a battery powered electric vehicle. For various reasons, the project has been temporarily shelved, but the fire still burns within to do this project. Lately I have been convinced that my original idea, a classic truck converted to EV, is still the coolest way to go (better than the buggy). I have had a lot of time to think about this, and the one major thing I would do differently is to start with only a solid cab and doors for a 53-55 Ford pickup. Buying a whole truck in good condition seemed like the way to go last year, but so many body parts for these are available in lightweight fiberglass, that I would rather use them then the heavier original steel parts. By the time I decided on a full frame swap, there was not much of the original truck I really needed. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no funding in place for this, and no prospect of any, anytime soon. Perhaps if someone wanted to offer a no-interest loan, or better yet a grant, that would be great.

I have also want to build a new dragster, based upon this 1963 Tony Nancy car. I would do the complete fabrication on this one. I've been hot on this idea for about 6 months now. Again, no funding or reason, it's just a desire.

I hope to get to the '58 Biscayne soon. I plan to spend the last of my car fund on a new brake system for it, since there's no reason to get it driving if I can't get it stopped. I already have this leaky brake master cylinder out of there, just waiting for something better. Unfortunately, that is the lasty-last of my car money, so I hope nothing else big needs replaced.

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So I've been pretty busy, but not making money, so not much is getting done. At least dreaming about car projects is still free.

Rhinebeck car show this weekend

The Rhinebeck spring car show and swap meet is this weekend, Friday thru Sunday. This show and swap is the first one I attended on a regular basis, and I still try to attend every year. I vended there for a couple of years, and entered a car in the show one time. I have many fond memories of times I have spent there.

The temperature is supposed to be in the mid-60's, and after some possible light rain Saturday morning, I am sure it will be nice for the rest of the weekend. It's a local show, so there's really no excuse not to attend.

There is a huge car show on Saturday and Sunday, a fantastic swap meet, and don't miss the car corral; a designated area with a wide variety of different whole cars for sale. This is way out back behind the oval track. Insider's tip: if you think a car is priced too high, take down the phone number and call it a week later. I once scored a car at a more reasonable price this way because nobody bought it during the show weekend.

I'll be there Sunday, see you there!

photo: unknown. (People, can we stop putting wacky spacers in our intake systems to make them comically-tall like this? Seriously.)

A glimse of my insanity.

Here's an example of the kind of insanity I do. Kind of a long one, so get comfortable.
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I have been using a mechanical fuel injection system with methanol alcohol fuel on my dragster. For a couple of reasons, I have decided to change over (or back, really) to a carburetor and gasoline. Basically, the injector and the alcohol fuel system need a lot more maintenance, so I'm switching. This is the top part of the fuel injector. You can see the injector nozzles and lines near the bottom, these spray the fuel directly into the intake ports. The top part is the air metering scoop, or "hat", and the red butterfly valve plates tilt open and let the air in. The red plates and the openings are very carefully machined and fitted. They, and the rest of the system, are much more sophisticated than they look.
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This injector is made by a company called Enderle, and this style and look of injector has been in use for probably 40 years. For what it's worth, it has a serious appearance. When a car shows up with one of these, it means business. Yeah, it's part of the allure.
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Here (below) is the gas carburetor, and a high flow air filter. I love using an air filter. I like the security of knowing no pebbles or debris can get in my engine. Even dust is bad. The only problem, really, is the comparitively pedestrian appearance of this setup. Doesn't exactly scream formidable, does it?
What to do? What to do, indeed?

I made this air filter cover/ air scoop out of .030 aluminum sheet. All it really does is cover the filter, and direct incoming air onto the filter. Kind of crude, but the rounded bends are supposed to soften the boxy look. It's supposed to emulate an injector hat made by Crower, but it's kind of big. That's as small as I could make it and still cover the filter. Notice the word emulate, that will be important later. I still really like this, but it still looked boxy to me, so I tried a couple of more ideas.

Here is a more faceted design model, made of cardboard. The middle shelf would not be in the final design, it's only there for support. I thought the facets, and bent sides would help hide the tall height of the scoop; the filter is 5" tall. I decided this was too complicated, and did not make it in metal.

Here's a half-scale model I made out of file folder material. I really liked this design, and this material and size made the model more accurate, and easier and faster to build. Doesn't photograph well. And yeah, it kind of looks like a McDonalds large french fry box.

I did build this one. I modified some of the angles and dimensions to soften it up a little, make it less radical. One nice feature of these aluminum scoops is that the top surface functions as the top filter covering, they sit right on the top of the filter top edge. This keeps the overall height down.

Here's a rear 3/4 view of the last one. I have this little bench top sheet metal brake (bender). Works good enough for these little projects, I think. Overall, I was pretty happy with this one. It has nice faceting, it tapers towards the rear, it has the nice strengthening bends across the top and bottom of the front opening, and the angled front side openings give it some agressiveness. On the downside, it might be too busy, and I think the overall look is too Star Wars. Not simple enough to fit in with the late '60's early '70's vibe I'm going for.

Finally, this. (Sigh). This is an air filter housing designed to look like an Enderle injector. Guys buy these and put them on their street cars to give them some of the appeal of a real injection system. But obviously, they're fake. These have all the sophistication of the auto accessory aisle at K-Mart. And I hate fake stuff on cars. I really hate fake stuff on race cars. So, what I did was, I bought this used on ebay, and hollowed out the bottom, and made some sturdy brackets so it would fit over the air filter, and well, there you have it. You can see the air filter poking out at the bottom a little, but I don't care about that. Yes, I made a rod from the carburetor linkage so the butterfly plates open as you push the throttle pedal. Good grief, what have I come to?

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I know this looks the same as the real injector in the photos, but trust me, it's different, and it's fake, and it's junk. But it does get me some of my cool look back, and that was why I did it. Other downsides: It would take longer to get off and on if I have to do any work on the carburetor. It is connected to the throttle linkage, and why connect anything to the throttle linkage if you don't have to? Finally, it is fake. I'm not fooling anyone, least of all myself. Yet people that know me, know I sometimes like to do odd things just to do them. I don't like to take anything too seriously. So maybe it's okay.

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I'm either going with this fakery, or a better version of the first scoop (3rd photo). Perhaps I'll get the courage to just run the air filter alone (2nd photo). I kind of like the simplicity, purity, and honesty of that.

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I also found another cardboard model, and of course there were countless sketches. The insanity of this is that I went through all of this, and all of these permutations, and physically made all of these, in only a week's time. I'd be up all night, making sketches. Do this, no I like that, no, I don't like that, how about this, what if this, no, I'll just do something fake. It was crazy, and yet it seemed ordinary to me. It was like I was compelled to do all of this. I couldn't not do it. It's just how I am.

Five Star show

I went to the show at Five Star Automotive this past Saturday. It worked out pretty well. There was a live band: "Thrown Together", that sounded anything but thrown together. There was free food and drinks; I was happy to have plenty of both.

Cars of all types were displayed on this decent sized site. There were even a couple of full-race dragsters there. The turnout was generous, but not so big that there was congestion and overcrowding. No judging or trophies, just a chance to hang out casually and see some cars. My photos don't do it justice.

Regrettably, I have a bit of a cold, so I was not feeling up to par. Since I had been sick for a couple of days, I didn't have a car there as promised, either. I'm still only running on about 7 cylinders, and I have other committments for today, so I'm signing off early.

First car show event of the season!

A friend of mine is having an open house/ car show / social gathering featuring free food, and a live band. This is at the Five Star Automotive repair shop on Route 9 in Wappingers Falls. The date is Saturday, April 18, 2009, from 12-5 pm. This is next weekend, people, so get your rides together.

The owner of the business is putting this on as an informal thank-you to all of his fine customers and neighbors in the community.

This is the first event he will be hosting so we don't really know how it will go, but if you want the chance to hang out with friends, look at cars, and swap stories, all while enjoying free food and live music, this is the place to be next Sunday.

I will be there with some kind of neat car, and I'll to get the word out to my friends as well. Hopefully there will be nice weather.

Please act respectfully and drive safely. We all know what a fast car is, but the public streets and parking lots are not the place to demonstrate this. Thanks, and see you there!

Wordless Wednesday

Photo: The HAMB

Tech: how to install a motor

I helped my friend install the replacement motor in his Camaro yesterday and today. There are only about 3 tricky parts I had to help him with. No pics today, you will just have to envision this...
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1. Get the motor into the engine bay and positioned properly. While still hanging from the hoist, you want to have the back face of the motor about 1" forward of the front of the transmission case. You need to get the rear of the motor tilted down about 5-10 degrees. Now make sure that the motor mounts are straddling the frame mounts so they will drop down on them. Get under the car and jack the front of the transmission up until it matches the motor's tilt. Now gently wrestle the motor back onto the trans case, inserting the 5/8" dowel pins on the motor into the mating holes in the trans case. Put the 6 trans to motor bolts in and tighten them up. If you have it right, this will be easy. If it's hard, something is wrong. Back it up and start over. Take the jack out from under the trans, and lower the motor onto the front mounts.
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2. Get under and attach the converter to the flywheel. Just sayin', so you don't forget this step. Make sure the converter is sitting on there square and nice.
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3. Install the distributor. Here's how to get the static timing close, so the engine will start. Turn the motor over until cylinder #1 is moving to TDC; top dead center. Turn the motor until the timing mark reaches 12* before TDC, and stop there. This gives us 12* static spark advance. The motor is in firing position. Make a mark on the distributor body where the #1 plug terminal fits onto the body. Remove the distributor cap. Install the distributor so that the rotor comes to point directly at the mark on the distributor when it is fully seated. The motor is now in firing position on the #1 cylinder, and the distributor is in firing position to the #1 cylinder. See how that works?
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Reinstall the other stuff.
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My friend's car fired up immediately and ran smoothly right away. The timing on my distributor install was pretty darn close for that to happen! Thank you, thank you.
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Anyway, he's happy, and I was happy to help. I apologize for no photos, especially since they might have helped my explanations to make more sense. Couldn't find our camera at the time.
Thanks for tuning in. I also have this for you, something I'm selling:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DSelling&item=150334163068&viewitem=

Any guesses of how high this will go?