Humber Speedster Project - Update # 7 (and other stuff)

Well it’s May 9^th, I can’t believe we are nearly half way through 2015 !!!  Where did the time go?  My last update was back in November and because of the really hot and humid weather I haven’t spent much time in the shed since then.  There was also the buyout of a Studebaker parts dealer in Melbourne, (by Studebaker of Australia), so getting the 20 tonnes of parts – (yes two shipping containers with 12 tonnes in one and 8 tonnes in the other), shipped to Brisbane, unpacked and sorted was a monumental job.   Actually Chris Skinner, (my Studebaker partner in crime and fellow whiskey fiend), still have to sort out a lot more, and the National Studebaker Rally in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales over the Easter long weekend was another delay on the Humber. All for a good cause though.  We had a great time at the Stude National, with reputations made and destroyed ;-)

Setting up the 'Studebaker of Aust' stall at the National Rally

The M5 loaded for the trip to Wagga Wagga

On show at the National Rally

Callum & Liam meeting their Great Grand Parents at Warwick on the way back from the Stude Rally 

During this time I also decided to get my motor bike back on the road, which wasn't without its trials and tribulations. After sitting for two years with a dud fuel pump it had accumulated quite a bit of rust and sludge in the fuel tank, which I didn't see until it had blocked up the new fuel pump on my home from a ride. So off  came the tank AGAIN, to remove dismantle and clean the pump, and tank. After scouring the intent for a tank cleaning procedure I was very dubious of what I found, to say the least. One guy recommended adding methylated spirits and sand!

Inside the fuel tank after 2.5 years.

Inside the fuel tank  after soaking in De-Rust Plus for 48 hrs.

The idea was sloshing around the sand would scour the tank clean. It sounds practical in theory, but how could you be sure you got all the sand out, and if you didn't I'm sure the fuel pump would not like it one bit! It then occurred to me we have a product my company makes to clean heat exchangers Violia !  I filled the tank with the appropriate 7:1 (water to De Rust Plus mix) and left for 48 hours. This wonder product (shameless self plug), not only removes the rust but also pasivates the metal to stop more rust forming. The tank now clean and pasivated, that’s a funny word isn't it, say it slowly with me PAS-i-VATED  ;-) I reassembled the bike, filled with fuel and was on my way, wind my hair and bugs in my teeth ;-)

The float after a soak in De Rust Plus.

The Fuel float after 2.5 years

The National Humber Rally is planned for March 18^th 2016, so I've decided to stop procrastinating and get the Humber Speedster finished in time for it's debute. Well, at least to be able to be driven off a trailer under its own power.  As there are a 1001 jobs to do before it’s finished I turned my attention to the supercharger manifolds – yes I am fitting a Rootes type supercharger to Huber` (as he is known affectionately in our house, Huber` the Humber). I only just realised when writing this that the supercharger is of the Rootes design, fitting as Humber was bought by the ‘Rootes Group’ in 1932 the year Huber` was built - interesting coincidence. As with the other jobs building Huber` making the S/C manifolds required a lot of head scratching.
The following photos are of the build process, the next job is fabricating the manifold from the S/C to the cylinder head.
PS. In my last Blog entry I showed the process of rebuilding one of the Luvax rotary stabilators (shock absorbers). On finishing and testing the rebuilt unit I decided they just weren't up to the duty I will put them to at highway speeds, so for safety I am going to fit new modern shocks front and rear.

A rough set up of the supercharger on the Humber engine 

The manifold flanges laser cut by Kilner Engineering., Bulimba.

The 100mm x 50 mm (4"x2") RHS used for the intake manifold

Sectioning the RHS for the 1st bend.

Positioning the carburettor

Cutting out for the bottom flange.

Setting the bottom bend.

Setting up the carb flange section.

Fabrication complete, now the dressing up.

The final finish will be put on during the engine assembly.

Meet Beau the 1941 Buick Sedanette

Being a glutton for punishment I usually have at least three projects on the go at  the same time. This Blog entry is about one of my other projects, Beau the 1941 Buick Sedanette, a true survivor with only 46,000 miles on him.

 I bought Beau out of Savannah Georgia, USA about four years ago, parking him in the shed and didn’t do anything with him until a few months ago. His 6 volt battery had died and as I didn’t have any other 6v batteries he just stayed under cover.  I’m sure I heard him pleading with me to get him back on the road each time I visited the shed, so decided I’d at least start him. It was about this time I received a phone call from the guy in Savannah who I bought him from, asking how I was enjoying driving him! I was a tad embarrassed to tell him I hadn’t done anything since he arrived in Australia. So the universe had spoken – ‘Get Beau Back On The Road’!  After I sourced a new battery, no mean feat as it is a long and skinny type used in that era, and poured a little motion lotion down his throat Beau fired up pretty easily, he really must want to get back on the road!

I ran him for about 20 minutes to make sure all his internals were well lubricated, and drive off any condensation by bring the engine up to running temperature.  Tested the lights and horn – indicators weren’t working when he arrived, but now the head lights didn’t work either, nor the horn - old cars do not like being neglected and not driven. I thought it was indeed good timing to get Beau on the road before anything else stopped working. I shut the engine down and head a drip, drip, drip coming from under the engine, I knew Beau had a leaking water pump seal and assumed it was that, but on inspection the leak was coming from the rear left hand side of the engine…… one of the welch plugs, (called Freeze or Core plugs in the US), had corroded through and the other two weren’t too far off either. Bugger!  Oh well, it was infinitely better, and less expensive to have happened in the shed than out on the highway somewhere. After working out what had to be removed from the engine to give access for their replacement, namely the inlet / exhaust manifold, I decided that if I was going to order the welch plugs and the various replacement manifold gaskets I may as well buy overhaul kits for both carburettors, fuel pump, leaking water pump, new thermostat, radiator hoses and ignition tune up kit -  points, condenser, rotor and distributor cap. There is a supplier in California – ‘Bob’s Automobilia’ who specialises in early and classic Buick parts, great range and prices.

I’ve been working on Beau on and off for a few weeks now, removing the various bits and pieces for overhaul of just to gain access to other bits. I brought the fuel pump, carbs and water pump to my home workshop as I have more tools at my disposal. The ‘Stude Gotto’ as we call the leased shed where my cars a housed has only primitive workshop facilities. The weekend I had planned to get stuck into the rebuilds had turned hot, damned hot!  43 Degrees C ,(about 110 F in the old money), way too hot to sit dripping sweat over a carb rebuild.

 If only I had an air conditioned workshop….hang on, the house is air conditioned and has a great work bench, AKA the dining table.. Eureka! So over the past week I have rebuilt the carbs and fuel pump, as the water pump is a bit more bulky and dining table is not the place to rebuild that. 

The Buick fuel pump also contains a vacuum pump
to run the windscreen wipers. Originally the factor used what looked like coiled horse hair or similar as an air filter. Not have any horses in the back yard, or any in the neighbourhood for that matter I had to find a substitute. 'Svenja'! have you got anything I can use as an air filter. We trotted down to her studio where she pulled out a handful of Dacron fibre, (the stuffing used in Teddy bears and other soft toys). It looked a bit 'plasticy' to me and I wondered if it would stand up the engine heat without melting, some 110 degrees C or 250 F. Only one way to find out so into the oven it went at 150 degrees C for an hour - No problems.

Above at the finished carbs and fuel/vacuum pump. With inlet/exhaust manifold to clean up, paint and refit.

The hot weather has also slowed work on the Humber too, it just too damn hot to work in there. I must be getting old and soft ;-)

Humber Speedster Project - Update # 6

I haven’t managed to get too much further since my last update in early September, other ‘life’ stuff getting in the way, and although I want to finish the Humber as soon as possible I don’t want it to become a chore. That’s a really good way to ‘lose the love’ and never finish it, I’ve seen many and bought some unfinished project cars over the years where the owner has just lost interest, and usually a lot of money also! Anyway on with the show;

Bonnet top frame with side hinge. 

Bonnet with skin template.

As I mentioned in the last update I chose to build the bonnet, (hood for the American readers), before the body as I thought it would be easier and give me some good practice. Boy was I wrong! With the various shapes, curves and hinged sections it really tested me out. Luckily I have an old 1929 Willys Overland that I can get ideas from, to see how the professional cars builders did it.

As usual there were some hold ups out of left field. The side sections need to be stiffened; this was done in the old days by rolling a ‘bead’ into the edges of the metal. This adds two right angles, (per bead), to the metal therefore reinforcing it. I had bought a bead roller a while back for this purpose but it needed a stand, and for me to learn how to use it. The fabrication of the stand was pretty straight forward. However it did lead to my wife having concussion and a broken Hamate bone in her wrist. I won’t go into details but just say the fulcrum action in trying to straighten a steel arm resulting in Svenja being catapulted up, and we all know what goes up must come down – in this case with a crash. I am really sorry sweetheart ;-(

The bead roller ready for use.

With the bead roller now usable I practiced, and practiced, learning a lot, the main thing was that I was pretty shit at it. Oh well practice makes perfect!

Aluminium practice piece

The Luvax dampers rebuild was still ongoing, but as of this today I have one finished. 
The bees wax impregnated jute string seems to be working at sealing the oil reservoir around the worn shaft. From what I’ve read, worn shafts where a common problem causing oil leaks and damper failure. 

Soaking the jute string in melted bees wax.

As I mentioned before, they were a complete mystery to me until I stripped one down, cleaning the congealed oil out of the small passages was a pain I soaked them in diesel for a week and tried to blow them clean with compressed air, this was repeated several times before ready for re-assembly. Luvax Damper oil is no longer available, (no surprise there), so I used Studebaker steering box oil which should be a good alternative. I had a devil of a job getting the oil into the vane chamber, in the end I found I had to work the vane back and forth until all the air had been expelled, which took about 150 million times back and forth ;-) and it had to be slow, if you did it too quick oil became aerated and you had to leave it until the micro bubbles escaped out the filler hole. All in all a very time consuming process.

Coiling the string around the shaft ready for the gland nut.

Humber Speedster Project - Update # 5

With the '47 Studebaker truck back on the road, and out of the workshop I was able to get back to working on the Humber. I had been tinkering with the front Luvax, (dampers), shock absorbers in the evenings but not much progress had been made. These were a mystery to me until I did some research and pulled them apart. The principle is quite simple with a vane fixed to a shaft that attaches to the front axle via an arm and link. When the up and down motion of the axle is transferred to the shaft, the movement of the vane is restricted or slowed by a heavy grade oil forced through small holes in the inner casing. The photos below show the various parts, also the rust holes I had to braze up in the outer oil reservoirs.

The pic above left shows the dampers complete with the arm before dismantling. The pic above right shows the rust holes in the outer oil reservoir.

This pic on the left shows the dampers components; the base plate that bolts onto a chassis bracket, the rotary vane housing, the vane shaft, the outer housing/oil reservoir, with holes repaired, and the sealing gland nut. (The shaft is made oil tight like steam valves with a stuffing box and gland nut). I intended to make my own stuffing from jute string, plaited to the right thickness, impregnated with bees wax and copper coat anti-seize.

The pic below shows the assembly sequence. The two recesses in the base plate allow the dampers to be assembled for left and right application, (I think!) I guess I'll find out when I start assembling them.

The pic on the left shows the vane in place. The amount of travel is approximately 35 mm












With the workshop now clear I could set up my combination Roller / Folder / Guillotine in preparation to start work on the Humber body panels. But of course nothing goes exactly to plan. The roller needed a stand to bring it up to a comfortable working height, and I had also acquired a bead roller that needed at stand as well. I've made up the roller stand but have left the bead roller stand for now as it won't be required until the later stages of the body is in progress. I'm contemplating fabricating some heavy duty castor's that can be fitted to the stand when not in use so it can be moved. I had to use the engine crane to shift it for now as it weighs about 500 kg.

I picked up the 1mm zinc annealed sheet steel a week or so ago ready to start rolling the bonnet, but then realised the bonnet was longer than I could fit in the roller, bugger ! After a bit of head scratching and beard tugging I came up with the idea of making up a frame to weld the sheet to, therefore giving it the right shape and added rigidity. I chose 5mm x 32 mm flat mild steel to make the bonnet 'ribs' from, and then another realisation - my roller is for sheet metal only up to 2mm thick, (bugger again), and I thought the bonnet was going to be the easy part! Well there was nothing else to do but bend them the old fashioned way using the open jaws of a vice and a cross pein hammer, tedious but effective.

The pic below is of the rear rib following the contour of the firewall bonnet ledge.

The pic below shows the string lines I had to run from the radiator to the firewall to give the curvature of the bonnet half way so I had something to go on when bending the middle rib.

     The middle rib curved to the string lines - now this was tedious to do! I swear I walked back and       forth from the Humber to the vice 100 times.

When the ribs were finished I stuck some news paper over the strings to give me a look at a mocked up shape of the bonnet, then stuck the cardboard side templates on to give an overall look. Apart from the sides not having the door openings cut in I was very please with the shape. I should have sat the mudguards on, but didn't think about that until after I had taken off the paper.

So as of today the 9/9/14 that is where I'm up to. Next Saturday I'm busy at the 'Studebaker of Australia' shop with the open house for International drive Your Studebaker Day. Sunday I'll be welding together the bonnet ribs and cross braces and hopefully skinning it with sheet metal - whoot!

When fans get out of control !

On a bright and clear Sunday morning I was coming home from a swap meet in 'Fred' my 1947 Studebaker M5 pick up, all seemd OK until I got to within sight of my house - BANG !!  'That sounds expensive", I thought. I rolled to in front of my house and got out to see steam coming up from the bonnet, and green coolant pouring out from under the truck. I was right, it was expensive. One of the fan blades decided to catch on the edge of the upper radiator tank, bending, then slicing through thirteen radiator tubes. In disgust I just walked away, I wasn't going near that radiator hissing steam and spitting boiling water. Below is what I found the next day, and when I pulled the radiator out. I ened up having to cut the fan blade with a grinder to get it out !

Removal of a radiator from an older car is generally not a big issue, there is usually plenty of room to get at bolts and manouver it up and out. However, when an M5 pickup is fitted with a Cadillac engine, space is at a premium, especially with an aircondiioning compressor mounted on the top of the engine. After much weeping and gnashing of teeth I managed, with help, to remove the radiator and fan assembley. The realised it would have been much easier to have removed the front grilles first - arrr the blessing of hindsight!

I decided to change the original installation by replacing the viscous fan drive with a direct pulley drive, adding a fan shroud and not reinstalling the back up electric fan on the front of the radiator. My decidion to got his way was after much research and finding this sight on the net;   http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/engine/cooling_system_tech/   check it out, a lot of really interesting stuff about engine cooling, not as simple as sticking an electric fan onto the fron of the radiator.

Anyway, building fan shroud shouldn't be too difficult, should it ! It was definitely a two pipe problem. (this was a saying an old boilermaker I worked with used to use when I was an apprentice, (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth ;-)
Based on another one of his sayings, 'a pipe gives a wise man time to think, and an idiot something to stick in his mouth'.

Measureing up.

Taking shape.

Nearly finished.

The sealing tape in place just before installation.

It fits !!!!  Now just to hook up the hoses and test run the engine.

Before I did test a road test I chained down the left hand side of the engine by bolting a shackle through the engine mount conneting it to a fairly solid steel chain then welding the chain to the chassis. The large Caddy engine has a huge amount of torque and tends to lift up on the left hand side under load which had me concerned as there is only 20 mm, (3/4") clearence between the fan blade tips and the shroud opening edge - so far so good. The cooling of the engine seems to be working well - with an infra red thermometer it read 80 degrees C after a run.