My 54 is on its way, (updated 10.24)

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Re: My 54 is on its way to being a daily driver, (07-07)

Postby Mike » 2014 Jul 07 Mon 12:06 pm

Well...the intake manifold is done and on the engine.
It took about the equivelant to about 9 or 10 tubes of JB Weld to smooth all of the runners and have them make a nice transition into the heads.
I'm basically pretty happy with the way it all turned out.

I plugged all of the holes in the engine, manifold and carburetor that won't be used. I'm trying something that "may" help the cooling. I've put a tube from the back of each cyl. head to the top water manifold passage. This works well on the Big Three engines, so it should help here too. This bascially just makes sure the water keeps moving, instead of backing up at the back of the head. we'll see...

I put a new Edelbrock 500cfm AVS carburetor with a phenolic spacer for some heat disapation.

Other than still waiting for the aluminum rocker arms from Harland Sharp, the engine's ready to go between the fenders...

A little more brake work and that'll be done. Gotta make a master cylinder mount and finish the line to the rear flex hose.

Getting hot out...difficult to get motivated to go work in 95+ degree heat with 75+% humidity... I just keep telling myself...no one else is going to do it..!

Mike
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Re: My 54 is on its way to being a daily driver, (08-16)

Postby Mike » 2014 Aug 16 Sat 6:51 pm

Well...got my rocker arms from Harland Sharp...not too impressed, but I guess the price reflects what I received.

The adjuster cup diameter doesn't fit the Stude push rods, 5/16" adjuster cup vs. 3/8" push rod ball...! So...off looking for 3/8" cup adjusters. Seems there's not much out there in that diameter. T&D has adjusters that will work, but they are 10 bucks apiece.
I called Smith Brothers Push Rods, they will make me exactly what I need in a push rod for...9 bucks each..! So...I sent off a Stude pushrod (today) as a sample to make me a set of pushrods with 3/8" ball on one end and 5/16" ball on the other end, OEM length . Actually I asked for a touch longer. So HOPEFULLY, in a coupla weeks, the engine WILL be sorted out and finally ready to put between the fenders...!

I think I've figured out how the main wiring will be layed out and have ordered a length of #8 wire as the main power source. It will come from the battery (under the back seat) thru the shifter box, thru a false trans. tunnel to the firewall.
Yea, since there will be a few wires going from the firewall to the back of the car interior, I decided to build a false transmission tunnel from the shifter to the firewall. I just took a piece of sheet steel, spent a "while" forming it into a big cone of sorts. My next task will be to weld it to the existing trans. tunnel. So now I'll have a nice clean smooth shape for the Dynamat and or carpet (if I get that far..!) to go over. So now I'll have room for about any size or quantity of wiring that needs to go from front to rear. And it looks better than the stock tunnel too. It's about 1" higher than the highest part of the stock tunnel at both front and rear of the tunnel.

Since I don't want a bunch of screws sticking thru the firewall from mounting the fuse box and ignition box, I found a REALLY sticky double-backed tape to "tape two boxes to the interior firewall. I think it's actually just Butyl tape, just like the Dynamat is.. And once stuck down...it ISN'T comming off. So I'd better have it right first time. The fuse box is mounted currently, and I'll stick the MSD box on tomorrow after I put some black paint on the existing Dynamat. got to paint the firewall first then stick the box down on a nonpainted spot so the tape is stuck to the clean Dynamat...not paint.

I found some rust comming thru the engine compartment paint. So I wire brushed it to clean off all the rust from the bare metel and maybe get it recoated tomorrow.

Spent some time woring on the Lark today. It had a nasty sqeak that popped up in the drivers door a few weeks ago. It kept getting worse, so today I took the door panel off and oiled/WD-40'd everything in the door. Around the block I went....quiet as a proverbial church mouse.

All for now.

Mike

UPDATE -
Managed to get the false transmission tunnel welded in before it got too hot out. Even getting an early start, I was welding inbetween sweat drops into my eyes..!
It''s interesting on just how NON-symetric the trans. tunnel actually is. While it looks a "little" off, a piece of tubing (my false cover), doesn't lie about the shape of the cars tunnel.
One other thing...there's no place to set a drink anymore..! The flat on the stock tunnel is buried under a new piece of sheet steel.

Mike
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Re: My 54 is on its way to being a daily driver, (08-27)

Postby Mike » 2014 Aug 27 Wed 7:16 pm

For those of you that may have or want roller rocker arms...here's the way to make the Harland Sharp rocker arm work properly.

Got my Smith Brothers pushrods today.
The balls are as you might imagine are machined, have a nice solid shoulder to seat on the tubing. The balls even have the small flat on the end like the Stude balls do. I noticed no signs of a crooked cut on the tubes at the tube/ball interface, a nice tight joint. The balls are of the full round type. I think they call them the 270 degree ball. The tube isn't tapered, the 5/16" ball's shoulder/plug is made for the larger tube.

I had 17 made, measured them all, all are within .003" in length. They "are" .008" longer than stock..! No concern here.

I may have mentioned that I spaced the rockers to sit inline with the valves. This puts the pushrods REALLY close to the hole in the heads add to that these are 1.6 ratio rockers...so they are CLOSE. When I was doing the porting, I deburred the crap out of them...and luckilly it looks like I took enough off of the pushrod tubes to clear...NOT by much but at least one head is good. I rotated the crank to put the rockers at full lift and with everything static, all is well. Yes, I'll check them after a few miles..
One head is finally torqued...!

Note - I also deburred "all" of the holes in the adjusters, even the little side oil hole, they were sharp as razors...where they told me that they had breakage problems..!

So there you have it, two ways to properly utilize your Harland Sharp rockers, new adjusters from T&D Machine with the 3/8" cup or new pushrods with a 5/16" ball on one end.

A hand full of money I/we shouldn't have had to spend, but it's now done and ready to run.

Mike
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Re: My 54 is on its way to being a daily driver, (09-07)

Postby Mike » 2014 Sep 07 Sun 6:30 pm

Well......I was hoping to have the engine in the car by now. But with the shims to center the rocker arms over the valves and the 1.6 ratio rockers, it moved the pushrods WAY too close to the opening in the heads.
I took the heads off (wasted an expensive set of gaskets !) and ground in the pushrod tubes for clearance. Finally got that completed, cleaned the heads and put them back in place, including the pushrods and rocker assemblies...fully torqued...finally.

Unfortunatly, I've found some rust peaking thru my new grey engine bay paint on the inner fenders and a spot on the firewall. I got the whole left side sanded, primered and repainted today. A better coat of the rust blocker material is also in place.

I'm hoping to get the engine in the car next weekend...unless I find something...else to redo/fix..!
I do have to bolt on the trans. adapter plate (Stude to GM). I haven't even opened the box it came in yet..!?!

Mike
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Re: My 54 is on its way to being a daily driver, (09-21)

Postby Mike » 2014 Sep 21 Sun 2:39 pm

I just can't freaken win...
I'm about three minutes from putting the engine and trans. into my wagon, and I decide to adjust the valves. I think, easier now thAn to lean over the fenders later.

So...I roll up No. 1 and adjust the valves. Then I look closely at the adjuster to the lock nut to see the relationship so I can get the rest of the valves close so the crank will turn. I get to No.7 and the exh. (?) is fully open...I crank and crank the adjuster leaving about a thread for safety.
THEN...I notice the pushrod seems a tad close to the rocker body... Sure enough, I can't even get a piece of paper (about .004") between the pushrod and rocker...! Just F'n great.

This thing is just kicken my ass. One "simple" change that should have been no big deal............

While yes, H.S. did clearance the rocker body for the pushrod...it obviously wasn't nearly enough. Done for today. I'll pull it all back apart during the week, do a little grinding and HOPEFULLY...put the engine in next weekend.

I even had to use a torch to pull the engine crossmember off yesterday. The rust had rounded off the head of the bolt on the right side body mount.

It seems I can't win fer loosen.

Mike

UPDATE -
Attitude got the better of me and all now fits...

I just pulled it apart, went to my porting bench and cut some new clearance in all the rockers, cleaned, reassembled and torqued.
It's still not a ton of room but the four rockers I checked, I now have between .009"/.010" clearance between the pushrod and the rocker body.

The engine WILL be going into the car next Friday...

Glad I found this while on the ground/hoist... I might have missed it if I were doing the adjustment in the car...
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Re: My 54 is on its way, (updated 09-26)

Postby Mike » 2014 Sep 26 Fri 6:55 pm

THEY'RE IN............
After a few false starts, the engine (the 259 I've been working on) and trans. (T200-4R) are finally in place.

It "seems" a tad high up. I don't think I'll be running the 4" tall air cleaner element that's on it now, also, the later aluminum breather tube may require some severe shortening.
The R3 exhaust manifolds fit fine. But in trying to lower the engine with shorter rubber donughts (from the stock ones), any crushing of the rubber over time will put the manifold on the steering...so I guess that's out.

Project for the weekend is the trans. crossmember. And find all the peripheral stuff for the trans., that I can't seem to locate right now...!

Mike
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Re: My 54 is on its way, (updated 09-27)

Postby Mike » 2014 Sep 27 Sat 8:00 pm

Looks like a 3" tall filter fits. The hood is "resting" in place and there's no marks from the undercoating on the hood on the air cleaner top. After scraping the hood clean and getting the trans. mounted properly, I'll have to use clay to verify the clearance. Also looks like the tall breather tube will also be ok.

Two more oh crap's today though. One big one...my Ford electric fan woun't come close to working...with or without the stock shroud in place. Just too thick.
And the factory Stude trans. mount (don't know its heritage) I have isn't going to work either. Too wide (easy to fix) much too low, much harder to fix.

Mike

P.s. - A few new photos -
http://public.fotki.com/-Mike-/54-conestoga-ii/
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Re: My 54 is on its way, (updated 09-27)

Postby Half Fast One » 2014 Oct 01 Wed 2:46 am

Hey Mike;

I've got more electric fans than I remember. Everything from at least 2 brand new different size "Billet", a hand full of slightly used plastic and a few metal cased fans. Email me what size you are looking for and I will take a look. Most would cost shipping, except for the Billet,' But for you? I make you a special deal!! HA!

Roger...
Half fast one - Say it fast, says it all ....
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Re: My 54 is on its way, (updated 09-27)

Postby Mike » 2014 Oct 01 Wed 11:13 am

Hey...thanks for the offer.
Gotta do a few things now that I know I have a distance/fan length problem.

Gotta put the radiator in place, then measure the actual distance from the water pump flange to the radiator. Then I can go on a hunt. I may have to resort to two smaller fans...!? Don't want to...but... Then there's always the freaken mechanical fan..!
With the nose on that body, I figured there'd be so much room...I wouldn't know what to do with it all...WRONG...!

I'll get back with you.
Thanks again.

Mike
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Re: My 54 is on its way, (updated 10-06)

Postby Mike » 2014 Oct 06 Mon 5:53 am

Sounds like a small thing, but it took a while to get my Sprint Car gas pedal hooked up, but it's done.
I layed under the car for a while, fitted different things trying to figure out a trans. cross member. Finally done. No thanks to Studebaker for it's wimpy little frame and no place to put anything. With only...almost 4" of frame height, there's just too many things to share the space sometimes. And this is one of them...trying to leave room for the exhaust pipes to come across the crossmember without hanging so low that it'll get crushed at every bump in the road.
Went and bought some plate steel, using the rear driveshaft out of the "blue" car as the main part of the crossmember. So now...all of my Studes are inter-related form parts swapping.
Got all of the pieces cut and formed into shape. Which was NOT a fun task at 98 degree temp. and having to use a torch to bend the steel...! Still have to drill a coupla holes for the mount, fit it all under the car and start welding.

Mike
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