Back to Work

Got back to my day job today; not too rough a return, and my presence was "appreciated." Was too wiped to update last night, and had to take care of a little biz tonight, so no car work, and just a brief update.

Got the flathead hooked up like some MASH patient on Sunday under a borrowed canopy to keep the beating sun off me and the motor. Wires, cables, fuel line, stuff everywhere. She spun like crazy on the 12 volt battery; nominal (7-9 pounds?) oil pressure while spinning.

Despite having a (what I characterize as weak; my uncle thought it was OK) spark at the plugs, and gravity feeding and dumping fuel down the carb, I couldn't even get her to spark, pop, or cough. She only gave up vaporized gas from the carb.

I ran out of steam before I ran out of gas, so I'm going to wait on this until I get my rebuilt carb, some good plug wires, and new plugs. I may even have my own rebuilt carb(s) by then, too. I think I'll return to the brakes in the meantime.

More tomorrow, if only pics of the wired flathead.

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Christmastime is Here!

While it's not Christmas in July (nor December, for that matter), it's still Christmastime at my house. Or, at least a little of the Christmas spirit arrived last weekend (forgot to post this with my birthday presents post).

I hit two estate sales last weekend (a weakness of mine; oh, the lure of mid-century goodies!) and picked up a couple things: a cool deco 30-hook tie rack (two bucks!!) and the following:

The gal I bought them from was so cool. Not only had she tested each set and replaced all the burnt-out bulbs, but she split up the third set that was in a decaying box and tossed the working bulbs in these boxes. After hearing that, I was afraid to ask the price. You ready? A buck a box! Less than their original price back in 1958 (based on the copyright on the boxes). Dig the Charlie Brown Christmas trees on the box! Vintage Christmas stuff is also a weakness of mine (along with collecting Christmas music).

-30-

Beat the Heat

I'm glad yesterday was so productive, 'cause today sure wasn't. The oppressive heat didn't help: 103 from midday until nearly dark. I got a few things done, but mostly prep work for (maybe?) tomorrow. Mostly got parts today to start the motor:

Uncle
- Coil adaptor to run use modern coil with "diving bell" (pre-'42) distributor
- Carburetor from his '50 Ford (the one we pulled the motor from)
- Small accessory gravity-feed gas tank
Hot rod parts pusher friend
- Advice (stuck lifters, distributors, coils, temp gauges, fan pulleys)
- Double sheave '42-48 truck crank pulley
Local parts place
- 12 volt coil (internal resistor)
- Starter solenoid
- Battery and starter cables

Accomplished today:
- Cleaned up and mounted my rebuilt '40 distributor (my uncle and I rebuilt this the night we rebuilt his '42 distributor)

- Cleaned up and used the distributor caps and plug wiring that came with the motor (sorry for the terrible midday lighting)

- After struggles with too-long mounting studs and other hassles, mounted my uncle's carb
- Mounted gas tank
- Got gas (an accomplishment considering I forgot my wallet! Ashtray cash doesn't go far at the gas station)
- Wired up the solenoid and starter

While it was broiling this afternoon, I took a break and headed to my parents' house to get a muffler display I'd forgotten I'd stored up in their garage rafters, complete with a pair of NOS (I think) 30" glasspacks. No pics here of the mufflers, but check out the display:

CO Kills!

Considering I look like the guy above, I'm gonna call it a night.

-30-

Progress and Photos a-Plenty!

Got a lot done today, or it seemed like it after 8 hours in the excruciating heat; got to 103 on the patio where I was working.

Spinning? How About the Fan?
Initially pulled the battery from the Scout to get the flathead spinning, to test it. Not enough juice; not even after rapid charging it for a while. Tried the battery charger itself, in "start" mode (55 amps). Enough juice to spin the starter off the motor, but apparently not enough to turn the motor when installed. Futzed around for a while, and just got hot tired and frustrated, so took a break and mocked up fan arrangements. First photo below shows one arrangement with bungee cords serving as fan belts. Some funny alignment issues going on, perhaps more apparent in the second photo, sans cords. The double crank pulley in the first picture is the '49-'53 truck pulley I got yesterday, to check dimensions between the front and rear pulleys, relative to my generator, water pump, and fan locations. Savvy Ford folks may recognize in the second photo that I've turned the fan carrier around, to see if it would pull the fan closer to the block, to work with the late double pulley. It did, but only kinda.

Fan Mock-up with Bungee "Belts"

Fan Mock-up Less "Belts"

As I was doing this, however, I realized (duh) that the radiator location on my test frame is closer to the block than it will be on Twice Lucky's frame, and that I should relocate the radiator back on Lucky, meaning that most of the work I'd just done was relatively in vain, BUT it made me realize I have a lot more room in Lucky's frame, which made me think of this part that I'd photo-documented in my friend's junk pile yesterday: a '42-'48 passenger crank pulley.

Passenger Double Pulley

This pulley has what appears to be about 2-7/8" between pulleys, which I can accommodate in Lucky's frame, AND it puts the fan very (but not dangerously) close to the radiator, which should give me good draw, considering I won't be running a hood. Here's me mocking up the fan assembly, with the approximate spacing shown in the previous picture.
This means I'll basically be running the fan as it would've been stock on the '42-'48 Ford passenger vehicles. We'll see how this goes once I get the actual engine in Lucky, since this is just the bare block I'm using to mock things up.

Compression Testing
Here's a terrible image I shot after I'd removed the radiator and Okie-rigged the water fittings to keep water in the block since the radiator went back on Lucky. You can see how bright (hot) it was out there while I was working. After fooling with the fan in the somewhat cooler garage, I returned to the motor, to do some oil pressure and compression testing. What's not detailed here is my midday escape from the project to 1) get lunch 2) get my uncle's battery charger with more amps to spin the motor, and 3) take a breather and get some well-needed advice from my uncle why I was having trouble getting the motor to turn. The short answer is: not enough juice. Even at 200 amps, his charger is a third of what my battery will deliver - ONCE it's charged up! So I got back to the motor with his charger while my charger tended my battery.

Results: Passenger Bank, 4-3-2-1 (L-R)
Results: Driver Bank, 5-6-7-8 (L-R)

Flatheads aren't numbered like modern cars, hence the numbering you see above. You can also see the results I chalked above each cylinder. It was a trying process. First, it took me a bit to realize I'd popped the house circuit breaker when I changed chargers. Then, the 200 amp charger would only spin the starter on the motor after I'd manually cranked it past the "compression" cycle on the cylinder I was compression testing. Additionally, I never got oil pressure. I tested the gauge (good), blew out the line (clear) and spun the motor without these attached (gusher of oil a la the Clampetts) but apparently wasn't spinning the motor enough to get continuous pressure to the gauge. Oh, well, I know from the oil it gushed that the pump is working.

So, as you can see from the results, compression was high and pretty consistent except for #7, even after adding oil to the cylinder to test the rings. That means a valve may not be closing all the way. No surprise there. This was the cylinder that had rust and crap down the intake port, meaning it probably got water down the carb at some point. But nothing that some Marvel Mystery Oil and some running shouldn't resolve, and if not, it's still pretty good compression. In fact, in checking my results against a tune-up spec sheet, I believe even more firmly that I have a "99T" or '39-'41 truck (100 hp) motor. It's running 59A (post-war) heads that, for all I know, were milled to raise compression, hence my higher readings. I think I already mentioned the adjustable lifters it's got - I think it's a former hot rod motor that later served time in the farm truck; I noticed a little remnant of (hot rod?) red on the intake today. I'd love to know its history, and I think I have enough bits of the story to track it down but, alas, I digress.

So, finally, I feel confident enough about the motor's condition after today's testing to go get the supplies I need tomorrow to start it. I wonder if I can get my uncle to help me and, perhaps more importantly for you, reader: shoot video of it running?

-30-

All Fixed Up

Got a bunch of things back from the repair shops today, including my cat from the cat hospital, who's doing well considering her diminished kidney function. Funny thing is that I spent more on her today than I have in several weeks on the hot rod. But whadda ya gonna do? She's family.

Otherwise, on the car side of my life, I started the day at my friend's place over in Okieville, scrounging through his pile (literally) of old Ford parts, looking for fan and pulley parts. Came away with two parts from '49-'53: truck double-sheave crank pulley, and a Merc intake (takes a 4-bolt carb) with its generator/fan stud in front.

Then off to the rebuilder to pick up my generator (rebuilt for 12 volt) and starter. Starter wasn't ready upon my arrival, but the new-style Bendix drive showed up while I was there, so he began to install it. To make a long story short (to quote my father), the new-style drive wouldn't work on the 12 volt starter innards/shaft, so by the time I returned from lunch, I walked out with my original 6 volt starter, with its original spring-style Bendix, but now pinned AND keyed to the shaft, to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic failure while running on 12 volt.

Rebuilt Generator (note "Rebuilt" stamped on case)

Starter (note "Rebuilt" on Bendix, and gratuitous fluorescent orange Pick-n-Pull number on case)

From there I went out to the spring shop, and picked up my Model A front spring, with its 11/16" eyes now reamed out to 3/4" so I can use '32 and up shackle studs and dump the (clearly) aftermarket Pete & Jake's shackle bolts for original Ford parts.

Finally, at home and avoiding the 99 degree temp, I looked up fan parts in my copy of the Green Bible, aka the "Ford Chassis Parts and Accessories Catalogue." Known as the Green Bible for its green cover (1950 edition; mine is a now-coverless 1949 edition, which was orange) and how it lists all 1928-48 (47-1/2 for trucks) Ford parts by component category, and name and part number, with extremely useful exploded diagrams (example below).
I was surprised to discover that the fan parts I have are '42-'48 passenger, and consequently '49-'53 truck, which is what threw me. I also learned today that the crank pulley I need to use is likely from '42-'48 truck. The passenger pulleys are too widely spaced to work for my application: they'll stick the fan in the radiator.

I almost hate to commit to this next part, but (in theory) not much is holding me back from at least spinning the motor tomorrow, if not starting it. I do need to pick up a coil and starter solenoid, and have on hand a working distributor and carburetor, but I think I can scare those up from my and my uncle's collections. Crossing fingers now for tomorrow!

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