A Very Busy Weekend

Did a bunch o' car things this weekend: drove a Model A coupe, worked on Twice Lucky's flathead, documented my KR Wilson flathead engine stand, and attended the first local circle track event of the season. So here we go:

1. My Uncle bought and sold (flipped, if you will) a local Model A coupe in one day. Before the new owner came to pick it up, I went by to check it out and he offered my the chance to drive it. Never one to turn down another entry for my car-driving "life list" (á la birders), I hopped in and, despite my Uncle saying he didn't bother with double clutching the A's non-synchro transmission, I quickly learned to do so after a couple drives around the neighborhood. Didn't do to badly, either, even if I do say so myself! Here's the coupe; it was to have gone to its new owner today.


2. I got out into the garage, and after photographing the engine stand (for the next blog entry) and some cleaning and futzing in the garage, I pulled the oil pan, flywheel, clutch and pressure plate from the flathead that's going in Twice Lucky. Upon removing the pan, I was astounded to see how clean and sludge-free it is. While I've not opened up many flatheads, the ones I have were pretty thick with sludge inside the motor and pan.


The motor was equally clean inside, as the next picture attests to, despite the outside of the motor looking terrible.


Turns out the block is an 81A, according to the casting mark inside the bellhousing. This, along with the "freeze plugs" probably filled with corroded pennies on mine (in the photo above), indicates the block is 1938 to 1940. Various clues on my engine, combined with what appear to be sleeveless piston bores, leads me to believe mine is one of the 95 or 100 horsepower Mercury 239 cu. in. blocks.
But it has 8BA connecting rods, which means it was rebuilt after 1949.

Now that I have the pan off, I have to braze closed the hole that Pick-n-Pull so unceremoniously punched in it to drain the oil; then scotch-brite the flywheel and pressure plate, install the pilot bushing (that I'm still waiting for from my friend), and bolt everything up. Then (and this is as much a list for me as for the reader) I have to replace the front timing cover (with a two-bolt style for my rebuilt crab distributor) and crankshaft seal. But that will be for another day. Today, after cleaning up, I got ready for the next stop: the speedway!

3. This evening was the inaugural event for our recently reopened local speedway, which closed when the property was to be redeveloped into housing - but (duh) they found the property to be too contaminated from 60 years of racing there - so it's returned to racing again. Tonight were two events I was especially looking forward to: vintage hardtop racers, and the demolition derby! Here are a couple of pics below. The event was great, except for the bitter (for me) temperatures, for five hours on aluminum bleachers. My girlfriend and I only survived by huddling together (like I minded that!). Oh, well, we learned what to bring next time, and met a really nice couple who've been coming to the races for more than 30 years and enjoyed the information they shared with us.




I think that'll do it for me tonight. I'll post tomorrow on the KR Wilson engine stand.

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Get it in Gear

Well, I got my butt out in the garage tonight; the first of my Thursday nights (at least) that I've committed to working on the car. Spent just two hours out there, but still got quite a bit done. Got back on completing the transmission. Here are a couple pics and a brief description:

1. Disassembled and cleaned gasket surfaces, and installed gaskets at the front (input gear) and top (shifter housing)


2. Wire brushed the shifter housing, removing a mix of grease (mostly) and rust (on the left side; must have lain in water for some time - removed some nice, flaky rust).


3. Removed the pre-'37 shift tower "ball" assembly, replaced with a '37-'39 set I wire brushed, scotch brite brushed, oiled and greased for smooth operation


4. Sat in the car with the neon signs glowing and Wayne Hancock's "Thunderstorms and Neon Signs" quietly playing on the iPhone, drinking the rest of my Limon Jarritos left over from my Mexican dinner. Yeah, think what ya want, but it was cool.

Saturday I'll be helping my Uncle on the '49 Frazer, checking compression on the back three cylinders of its straight six, shooting it full of Marvel Mystery Oil to try and free up what appear to be stuck valves.

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Spurred to Check In; Barn Find Kaiser Frazer

Well, I was (properly) goaded by enough people the past couple weeks about the hot rod and this blog that I thought I'd get off my keister and check in. Although this is not on my car (yeah, yeah, I hear ya; I'm gettin' on it this week - honest!) it IS car related. Specifically, my uncle (yeah, you know - that guy with all the cool cars and parts; my mentor) and I recently dragged home a barn (garage) find 1949 (Kaiser) Frazer Manhattan with 28,000 original miles on the odometer. Somewhat ugly, orphan make car, but a cool find nonetheless.

I'll let the pics do the talking, as I get back in the habit of this blog posting thing. And, to complete the thought above about me getting back in the garage: I finally got the flywheel, clutch disc (9-1/2") and pressure plate, just awaiting the pilot bushing (my friend advises me to use that rather than a bearing - no moving parts therefore no running dry, noise, and possible seizing). And, I've picked Thursdays as my Night in the Garage standing appointment. Of course, my Grandma (who knows me well) said, "We'll see how long THAT lasts!" Thanks, Grandma.

Oh, in case you've entirely forgotten what I'm working on, during my long absence from the sub-etha, the picture at the top of this post is the most recent photo of Twice Lucky, my '26 Model T roadster. If you're semi-astute, you'll get the name, but here's a link back to my first post to shed a little more light, if you'd like.











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Pick and Pull Addendum

Meant to post this way back when I took it, but here's a photo from my buddy's place of a raised intake deck flathead. I won't go into the various rumors about these here and now, but this bare block does have the trapezoidal water passages in the head surface, which means something...anyway, enjoy if you've hit this post via Google Images looking for info on your flathead.


Since the block's still there, and my friend keeps threatening the empty the place via several "dump runs" come spring, I should probably help out by taking this off his hands. Really...better off in my garage then the dump.

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Pick and Pull Times Two

Today my car junkie friend came over from the East Bay and we had a car day, visiting two Pick and Pulls: one informal (my buddy's place in Okieville) and the other the one all car guys know and love.

Started off with carnitas and dining al fresco on the east side, then over to Okieville to visit the friend from whom I've gotten many of my hot rod parts (and last visited 4 months ago, according to this post). I last visited it him in search of a double-sheave crank pulley and today came away with the one I need: 1942-48 (as I succinctly identified in this post). So here's the one I got, up on the work bench:
I wasn't certain how we'd get it, since it was still attached to the crank of what turned out to be a complete motor. I was hoping it might be bare save for the crank, since we might not have been able to remove the pulley in situ and have to cart the block back to my secret lab to perform a "pulley-octomy". Turns out all we (my friend) had to do was unbolt it and bonk it off the crank, lickety-split. It was still nice and oily, and basically slid right off!

We then cruised my buddy's place, checking out his projects, and my friend got a 4-barrel Holley carb for his Cougar project. After chatting a while, we headed over to Pick and Pull, which is always fun, checking out the various accident-victim cars, and "burn victims". To whet my International Harvester taste buds, we found a Travellall, Scout II, and 1250(?) pickup, all in really good shape. Also found an older pickup I'll have to revisit for a part or two...

So back to the pulley. Here's a close-up with the measurements. Wish I could find a scan from the Ford Green Bible to show you what this looks like in an exploded diagram, but you'll just have to use your imagination for now. (And the posts linked above are pretty helpful, too, especially the second one).

In other news, my other friend is finishing up my flywheel and 9" clutch and pressure plate. Plus, he's got my distributor and is looking for a '26-'27 windshield frame to accompany the windshield posts I got from him already. Hope to catch up with him this week and settle our respective accounts.

Until then,

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