Humber Speedster Project - Update # 10

I signed off my last blog update saying that this one may include a video of Hubert waking up after some 40+ years asleep. I am very happy to confirm Hubert did wake up and the video below shows the exciting event. The initial start-up took several days to happen after getting the timing right and sorting out some other small electrical issues, then with some coaxing he roared to life, (a wheeze really). The glass ignition coil that I wanted to use wouldn’t play nice on the day, although it tested out OK ?? So I replaced it with a modern type I had on the shelf to keep the start-up on track, (I’ll look in to that other coil later as I’d still like to use it for the look). My concerns about the oil pressure were unfounded as it ran at a respectable 30 psi.

     

    

I ran the engine several times to try and bed everything in after the rebuild, albeit some 14 years after! But as you can see from the second video he ran well. The engine now proven I put it back to bed and started on the body skeleton, after being side tracked by relining the brake, clutch and accelerator pedals with sections form an old tyre I had lying about. (I figured I’d do this before I refitted the floor to allow more working space).










After the floor and toe board were refitted I sat on a stool beside Hubert for quite while forming a plan of attack, (I’ve mentioned in previous blog updates that building this body from scratch was a daunting task and took me well out of my comfort zone), I couldn’t put it off any longer so with sketches in hand I took a deep breath and dived right in.

Floor & toe board refitted.

Relined control pedals

The body frame start point    

Scuttle bow template.

The starting point was obvious – the fire wall, so a template was made and the hammering began. My roller was too small to handle the ½” diameter round bar so it was bent into shape the old fashioned way with a hammer and vice jaws open about 150 mm (6”). The process works by striking the material being bent in the middle between the jaws, this causes a slight or heavy kink (depending on how hard you hit it), in the metal creating a bend. It is a tedious job especially if you are bending it to a set curve, sometimes having to flatten out a kink which an over-zealous hammer strike caused. (not that I ever did that….well maybe a couple of times… ;-)  After a few thousand hits you get pretty good at judging the force of the blow you need, and it does form a curve quite efficiently.

Cold bending

The part of the body from the firewall back to the dashboard or under the windscreen is called the ‘scuttle’. From my research it’s called this as it resembles a coal scuttle, or from a part of the ship called a scuttle, anyway I think you know the part I mean.  I formed this by making another bow with the same curve as on the firewall but 50 mm (2”) higher, this gives the rake from the windscreen down towards the bonnet (hood). To get the correct rake I enlisted a few of my work mates and Svenja to look at some drawings and we all agreed that 50 mm was just right. The firewall bow and scuttle bow (for want of a better name), were joined together with straight lengths of ½” bar welded in place, it was finally starting to take shape.                                                                       

Scuttle completed.

Next was what you would call the body 'tub' - the sides and curved pieces that went behind the seat. The curve for the entry openings, (remember Hubert has no doors), was needed so I called on the resident artist, Svenja to give me a curve to work to. I enticed her up to the shed with a promise of a beer and explained what I wanted, she asked me to put a piece of card board across the gap between the seat edge and the scuttle, then with a flick of the wrist drew the ideal curve. (I would have tried to plot it out with reference points, and taken hours!) It was a case of Artist Vs Engineer, and the artist had the goods on the day ;-) I thanked her for her lovely curve, rewarded her with the aforesaid beer then set about to hammer out the curve. The second one was way harder even using the same template getting it as close to the original as possible, but in the end it turned out pretty close.  With the seat frame four curved pieces were needed, two upper and two on the floor. Because these all had to follow the same curve around the back of the seat I decided to make it a bit easier by cutting out a wooden template and using heat to shape them. This certainly saved a lot of time and made reproducing the curves more accurate.

With the bottoms ones finished and in place the seat was reinstalled, (I’d removed it while welding close by on the scuttle to protect it from sparks), Cold bending the top frame to follow the contours of the seat was difficult – sort of a 3D jigsaw puzzle, without a picture to go by! But after considerable perseverance it took shape, assembling the pieces began and it all came together surprising well - another test with the seat in place proved it was all within tolerances, so the support bars were added. 

Svenja's curve.

Perfect fit!

Rear of tub secured to floor.

Current status of body skeleton.

The next job is fitting the sheet metal skin – Yikes!

Humber Speedster Project - Update #9

Since the last update on June 7th the alternator mounting/adjusting carriage has been completed, which once again turned out to be more involved that I first thought. – this whole project seems to be an exercise of two steps forward and ½ a step back ;-) Due to the close proximity of the alternator pulley to the crankshaft pulley I had to use a ‘link’ type Vee belt to get it short enough. This then presented another problem of how to get enough adjustment as link belts stretch more than conventional one piece Vee belts. This was accomplished by making the alternator carriage in a saddle shape that slides along the old radiator cross member that is now unused after relocating the radiator 150 mm (6”) forward. So with the carriage having 40 mm travel, (which is secured via a bolt through the cross member), and a curved slotted arm with another 40 mm the alternator has ample adjustment. I realised just as I was ready to install it was now that the pulley would be running anti-clockwise it should have some type if locking device to stop the nut unscrewing itself.

Alternator Carriage Assembly

Alternator in situ with link belt

  

Alternator pulley with nut lock tabs in place

I want to ensure the engine runs so I've put off work on the body until I can test it. While I was completing the supercharger manifold I decided to do the initial start-up with a standard carburettor and manifold, which I knew would work so not create any more possible problems. This also meant I had to fabricate a manifold and find a suitable carburettor. I had several old Studebaker carburettors lying around so that was the easy part, the manifold was another story - fairly straight forward but another job to add to the list. When I did finished it I noticed that with the intake tubes on and upward angle they fouled on the side of the carburettor – damn! I must have strong words with the design department ;-) Packer plates, which we’ll call thermal barriers and were intended all along, will fix that ;-)

The unfinished non-supercharged intake manifold.

The next job on the list was to stabilise the starter motor. When I first got the Humber I noticed a crack on the alloy bell housing where the starter motor fits into. There was evidence of previous welding repairs where this had cracked before. It truly surprised me that with the usual engineering overkill Mr. Humber had used everywhere else this looked like an obvious design fault. The starter motor weighs approximately 14 kg (30 lbs), and is secured to the engine by sliding 100 mm (4”) of its 470 mm (15"), length into a hole, then locked in with a tapered bolt. This overhang combined with its weight puts a lot of stress on the alloy bell housing, even at rest, let alone if it hit a sizable pot hole while driving. I had the crack welded, and decided to fabricate a support bracket off the gearbox to be on the safe side.

Starter motor with support bracket in place.

Hubert The Humber totally naked!

 

To get better access to the gearbox and starter motor I removed the firewall and floor, the poor old Humber looked like it did when I first got it, pretty sad, but you have break eggs to make omelettes. While I had access to all sides of the engine I gave it a repaint as I couldn’t get the same shade of blue it was originally painted and adding the bits I was making in a lighter shade looked a bit odd. For some reason I had it in my head that the gearbox had been rebuilt like the engine and differential, but when I noticed a lot of old grease on the bottom I thought I’d better drain it and check it out. What came out when I unscrewed the drain plug horrified me, firstly about half a cup of water, then toffee coloured sludge…   I removed the oil pan to find an inch of oily sludge I guess this is what you get when water and oil mix for 40+ years. I flushed the box out with diesel and have since sealed it back up and filled with fresh oil.

A lovely 40 year old sludge

The gears were in pretty good shape despite the sludge buildup.

 Because the engine has been sitting for 14 years since being rebuilt I was concerned that there would be little if any lubrication left on the metal to metal surfaces, especially the crankshaft and camshaft bearings. With the modern V8 engines I have previously worked on you can pre-lube the system by spinning the engine oil pump with a long shaft and a drill. Unfortunately the oil pump on the Humber is inaccessible in the sump so I thought I’d try and draw oil up through the external fitting that feeds the valve rocker shaft, oil pressure gauge and filter. I was using a peristaltic pump that I use to empty differentials and gear boxes that don’t have drain plugs – peri' pumps are normally used in water treatment to dose chemicals into cooling towers.

The peri pump in place oiling the system.

Anyway after the hose to the rocker shaft blew off I figured there was a blockage ;-)  Actually there was a series of blockages; the gallery from the external fitting to the rocker shaft riser with old congealed oil & whoever reassembled the rockers and shaft had no idea what there were doing!! The rocker shaft is hollow with small holes drilled in regular intervals to align with holes in the rockers, this allows the pressurised oil out to the lubricate metal to metal surfaces. None of the holes aligned.  So if the oil flow hadn't been tested the rocker shaft and rockers would have seized and been destroyed in quite a short time. Trying the save the crank bearings had other unforseen benefits.

Wire failed, so I hydraulically forced it out using a bolt and acetone.

Got it third go, then flushed it with oil

The inlet valve rocker assembly

With the new spark plug leads having a plastic covering over the cotton braid I was concerned about it melting or discolouring being so close to the exhaust manifold. My initial idea was to wrap the manifold in woven insulation tape to keep the heat away from the plug leads, bit it was just too difficult because of the shape of the manifold. I ended up just wrapping the engine pipe that bolts onto the manifold, and making up a sheet metal shield to deflect the heat from the manifold itself.

The relatively simple job of refitting the side cover and rocker cover was delayed when I decided they needed to be re-polished and coated in a clear sealer. I never cease to amaze myself in finding new jobs to do, even though I'm on a deadline ;-)

The heat shield and insulation wrapping in place.

Well that's all for now, hopefully the next update will include a video of Hubert waking up from his extended slumber.

Humber Speedster Project - Update # 8

I had intended to put up more regular updates, but each time I went to take some photos I thought I’ll just finish this bit first, resulting in nearly a month going past since the last one. As I said in my last update I'm trying to really push along to get Huber` finished for the National Humber Rally next March, so have been hard at it every weekend and have been taking some time off work to get ahead. I had lamented to Svenja that I just don’t seem to be getting stuff done as quickly as I had wanted, but after looking at the photos from the last blog entry a fair bit has been done. As usually with this type of project things get put on then taken off again, changed and refitted. Because I'm building this without a design, except in my head, I tend to do a lot of sketches as I go, tackling each component knowing it has to work as a whole. But it’s very easy to get immersed in the engineering of a particular item and forget! I’ll list what has been done, as shown in the photos.

SUPERCHARGER MANIFOLDS: The last blog showed the inlet manifold completed. The manifold between the S/c and the cylinder head, (which I thought was going to easier!), proved a big headache. It had to be constructed to allow for clearance between the firewall and the S/c, and in the correct position for the chain drive to align, and to allow the bonnet to close over the carby and air filter. All in all a 3D puzzle. I got all the measurements as best I could using my cardboard S/c on strings, held my breath and ordered the plates cut. The day I picked them up I tack welded them together and did a test fitting, my initial measurements were pretty close, but a bit too high, the carby wouldn't fit under the bonnet (hood) – bugger! I knew the space between the steering box and the intake manifold was pretty tight – too tight. I had to cut my completed beautiful manifold ;-(  Oh well them’s the breaks.

Cutting the inlet manifold - it was painful ;-)

Explosion Door  - inside view

External view of the explosion door.

The cardboard & string Supercharger

 Another item I had to incorporate into the discharge manifold design was an ‘explosion door’. My research on ‘draw through’ or ‘induction’ type S/c set ups lead me to an interesting sentence in an article I had read – the supercharger case and manifold now contains a highly flammable gas mixture with a very serious risk of explosion and fire should the engine back-fire, drop a valve etc. Because of this the plenum (manifold) isn't safe as it’s a potential bomb’.  Oh Goodie !  To rectify this situation the article mentioned a ‘positive pressure safety valve’, or bursting disk. From my experience with steam boilers I knew they were fitted with “explosion doors’ in the case of an over fuel situation and possible EXPLOSION!!!!  So by my reckoning if these little suckers stop a boiler from having a bad day they’ll stop Huber from self destruction – which would be nice for all.

The chain drive on the S/c whilst a cool idea was proving a little tricky, apart from it having to be correctly aligned to stop chain wear and possible chain ‘jump off’, it had to be continuously under tension to allow for stretch, (which is common with new chains). Therefore I had to design and fabricate a tensioner device – done. Then I realised the chain came very close, I mean VERY CLOSE to the oil filler cap, so another sprocket is required to give this more clearance – this is yet to be made.

Machining the idler sprocket for the tensioner arm.

The completed chain tensioner

SPARK PLUG LEAD TUBE: To fit in with the pre 1920’s look I wanted the plug leads to go through a copper tube from near the distributor in front of the head then past each plug. The photo describes this better. Of course I had under ordered the high tension lead by 6” (150 mm). Grrrrrrr so that job couldn't be completed until the extra wire comes in. Did I say Grrrrrrrrr.

THE COOLING SYSTEM:  I mentioned in a previous update that I am using a Davies Craig electric water pump and fan, with their very clever controller which runs the pump and fan individually or in combination to suit what engine running temp you want. When starting cold the controller pulses the pump to allow the engine to warm gradually, then brings in the fan when required – very cool ;-) The reason I'm using this is because the original Humber pump was completely shot, being made from early aluminium alloy and now 83 years old, it crumbles in your hand. I had to fabricate the radiator hose spigots at the cylinder head and block end, fitting the new water pump directly in front of the block. The reason for this location was the configuration for the pump inlet and outlets, this was the least worst look for the installation! The only problem was the back of the pump, being modern and all that, was you could see the wiring, and it just looked plain out of place in a pre 1920’s era car so a copper cover plate fixed that.  Both top and bottom radiator hoses are now fitted and the cooling system is fairly complete. The bottom radiator hose is of Studebaker origin, and was a battle to fit. Who’d of thought Studebaker and Humber radiator hoses weren't interchangeable ;-)

The ugly back of the water pump.

A good view of the right hand side of the engine.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention I wasn't happy with the internal condition of the engine water ways, especially as I was fitting a brand new (plastic) bodied water pump. I could see some old scale and rust particles through the spigot openings and decided to chemically clean the water galleries – well I do own a water treatment company where one of our services is chemically cleaning heat exchangers, so why not. I'm a lot more confident the new pump and the new radiator core will not have to deal with ‘rocks’ now.

Engine getting an acid clean

IGNITION COIL: Quite a few years ago I bought an unusual ignition coil with a glass bowl, for a curio really, I guessed it was off some unusual orphan car that had long since been forgotten. I’d had it bolted up on my workshop wall but when the Speedster project came along I got it down and started to do some investigation – What was is off? Could I use it on the Humber? After a quick electrical test I found it was still in working order! Another check of the resistance confirmed it was a 6 volt coil. I had read somewhere you could use 6 volt coils on 12 volt systems if you increased the resistance. So after some more research I ordered a 1.5 ohm ballast resister to add to the existing internal 1.5 ohms which will allow it to be used on a 12 volt system (12 volt coils has 3 ohms resistance). Another piece if information I found was it was from a 1950’s Citroen tractor!

The weird coil

I've just started to install the alternator, this will be located between the engine and the radiator on the left hand side – it was either there or driven off the drive shaft under the car. It has to be mounted backwards, with the pulley facing the engine turning anti-clock wise. Which by all accounts is no problem for charging but the fan must be altered to work in that direction and as anti-clock wise fans don’t grow on trees I decided to reposition the blades and see how that goes.

I swear the beer was for cooling the metal !

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.