kilokub
Diary

Page 2 - 7/2/ 05 to 1/6/06
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7/2/05

Went to Bob's Big Boy again and spoke with Marino, a long-time fabricator and staunchly proud Hispanic builder. He had a completely hand-built Triumph bike that kicked everyone's butt 50 years ago. He is an innovator, and is anxious to see the project. I'll have him over soon to look at it. I have landed the rear wheels and tires on ebay, and should have the front wheels in about 10 hours, also on ebay. Once here, I'll need to get some rubber on the front wheels, and then get the struck up to Scott's for the front end. To the degree possible, I will set the wheels and tires in the fenders and see what gives. Obviously the rears can't fit, I need to narrow the rear end dramatically. But the fronts might slip in enough to view. I can set the wheels outside the rear fenders for a sense of ride height and what might be necessary for clearance. The floor of the bed will need massive cutting, first for the tubs, and secondly for the engines. Likely the entire floor will come out.

I am fairly set on adding a radiator to the tailgate. That should look interesting.

I spoke with Rob Anderson, and inquired about a couple of Y-trim Vortechs. It might make a more interesting setup with some carb boxes and huge Y-trims than the usual 8-71 blower on a BBC.

7/3/05

Just returned from Norco (Riverside, CA), about an 80-mile drive each way, and have the rear MONSTER convo pros and MT tires. New, sweet, and huge. Devon, who sold them, had been screwed by a Pomona-area fabricator for about $6000 on his 56 Chevy, and these wheels/tires were for that project. I urged him to file a small claims against the guy. I also won the 15 x 8 Convo pros from someone else on ebay, and those are being shipped this week from back east in Pennsylvania.

I will research this week some tires for the front to match the rears as possible, and talk to Scott's Hot Rods on Tuesday regarding doing the front end. I will also discuss with Justin there getting my own Wilwood brakes, and perhaps having him do a 4-link or ladder bar on the rear.

I want to REALLY get this puppy moving.

7/5/05

I spoke with Justin at Scott's today, and he quoted $1500 labor to mount his front end and box the frame from the firewall forward, and asked that I please remove the sheet metal.

Ditto for the rear. He makes a 4-link, and will narrow the frame for the $1500 to install the rear.

So for $3K, I can haul it up there, and roll it back, plus the parts, of course. That's another $6K or so, more if I go to the 6-piston calipers.

The good news about this would be that I have to think of nothing really, other than ride height.

I need to have Scottie get me his buddy's pricing on the Wilwood's before I talk with Justin again. I will also ask Justin to quote the Fab 9, which he said he can obviously get.

He said parts will take 3 weeks to fabricate (and do pay in advance, thank you), and the waiting time to get in the shop is 8 weeks right now.

So I'll await the 8" front rims, which I noted for him, and he said he didn't even need to see the truck, that he had the measurements and could make the front end without it there, and that it was not a problem to fit the turning radius, fender clearance, etc.

I keep wondering about just running a driveshaft to the front and going 4-wheel-drive. Would make it yet more unusual, and would allow it to launch way hard. Man, that would be some serious g's! This would be sort of a Syclone on nuclear roids.

I better switch hands here......

7/23/05

Randy has advised against a 4-wheel drive approach, citing too high a stance, more money, more complexity, more things to break, etc. No need to twist my arm. So two-wheel drive it will be. I have paid Justin at Scott's Hot Rods for the front and rear end materials, and a chromed Iditit tilt column, stainless steel drop bracket, steering knuckles, and a shaft to connect to the rack. Justin will install the column for $300, and the front and rear ends for $3000. The parts alone are about $6500. This does not include the brakes for the rear, the Fab 9 housing with floater hubs, nor the axles. Randy and I talked about determining track width, and I will pull the bed off this week and work on some measurements. Justin wants it without sheet metal front and rear. Once track width is fixed for the rear, I can order the Fab 9 and the axles. I am still working on which brakes to use. Justin uses Wilwood, and I'll research Aerospace for pricing and parts. Key to all of this is getting rid of 5 cars, of course, else no money honey.

Now if I could get sponsorship from Hot Rod magazine and/or Rides, etc., that might REALLY be sweet.

7/30/05

Had two fellows come by to look at the 64 El Camino, but not buy it. One, James, returned asking to do the bodywork and paint on the Stude in trade for the Elco ($2500 asking price on the Elco). I have no clue as to his expertise. I am allowing him to do a fender as a test, and if good, we'll go forward. If not, he donated some fender time. There is a little more to this story, but for now that will do.

I have determined that the rotor-to-rotor width on the rear needs to be about 43”, which leaves about 1” clearance for the tires. This is not enough to get the rear tires off. I intend to put a tilt mechanism on the bed, like the front-tilting units for pickups, etc. There are some challenges to this, and some obvious benefits. Pictures will abound soon to document these ideas and steps.

8/31/05

Some good news, some very bad news. The bad news is my mom died last Sunday morning. All week has been devoted to taking care of things related to that. The good news is that the 64 El Camino sold for $1500, and to the guy who bought the Corvette!

I have been in touch with Strange Engineering, Mark Williams, Currie, and Nebraska Chassisworks regarding the rear end fabrication. Upon Randy's recommendation, I am going with a Mark Williams unit, beautiful, NOT cheap, with exactly what I need. This is about $6500 with a Detroit Locker differential, wheelie bar and 4-link brackets, 35-spline axles, not including the AeroSpace Components brakes.

Randy also has found some brakes for about $400 per two wheels. I also measured the Convo Pro wheels and they are 5/8” lugs (BIG) with 5 on 4-1/2” bolt pattern. The backset with the spacers screwed to the wheels is 4-1/2”, about 4-5/8” without. Removing them will therefore make only about a 1/4” difference overall. I'll leave them for now. I'll call Centerline and inquire about these spacers, just to get an understanding of why they are there, are they good, etc.

I will feel MUCH more comfortable buying that 5K rear end once I sell another car.

A VERY long time friend, Dick Graf, has a friend with an identical 46 Stude pickup, who wants a mere $36K for his bone stock, albeit nearly perfect truck. I'll have WAY more than that in mine, and about 1400 more HP than his.

So I need to Ebay/Buy it Now on the brakes, and get on the phone or get over to Scott's for more specifics.

9/5/05

The ebay route may be expensive, as the STREET version of the brakes is $275 MORE money. We'[ll hold for a few days there. I am researching fixture widths on the Mark Williams 96400 rear system, as it appears the 4-link and wheelie bar brackets will be VERY close together, like 19” apart or so. I DO like the MW system, It just may not work. Nebraska Chassisworks may be the ticket on their Fab 90. Nothing setTled as yet.

What is settled is that I will be going with Fresno-built 509 motors, and NOT the 454 Mercruisers as yet undelivered by Derek Dawson. This is becoming a nasty scenario, and I may be taking a trip to rural Missouri soon to confront this head on, literally.

11/8/05

It has only gotten worse with the slime from Missouri. I did file a complaint with the Attorney General's Office (AGO), but they are backlogged about a month. I found some additional info on this guy, but they don't want it as yet. I have contacted a private investigator local to this guy, and he will be digging up some info for about $250. I ALSO got taken by an Internet fraud bunch posing as some other car-posting/sale site for $250 on the Stude coupe. So the screwings continue.

I met with Mark Williams at Pomona, and have decided on a pricier rear end setup. The overall width is limited to 42”. Which is close enough. I can put 1/2” spacers if needed to move the tires out. I will contact Scott's tomorrow to confirm dimensions, and Bret from MW will call tomorrow to confirm his details. I am going with MW brakes, and will substitute same for the Wilwood's Scott normally uses on the front IRS setup. I will get some refund there.

I got half of the $11K I was owed on a job, and that will just go to paying bills. I have some $ stashed, and will put that toward the rear end. I can not move forward, as I have said repeatedly, until I have the rear end here with tires mounted. Speaking of tires, I met with Rick at MT Tires. I got some as-matching-as-possible Sportsman tires for the front, no tax, no delivery, and they are here three days later. I'll go to Flip's and have them mounted tomorrow, for one more thing out of the way.

11/12/05

Had Jalisco mount them, all done. Also happened to be working on the Impala license plate mounting and picked up a box of 1/4 x 20 nylock nuts, and there was Jim Kirkwood's phone #!!! Jim is the transfer case guru for whose # I have been searching for 2 months. He is coming tomorrow to look over my case, so to speak. I believe he will recommend yet another unit, so I will have the Thoroughbred v-drive to sell as well as the 203 xfer case I now have.

I have settled on a Mark Williams 96000 series rear end with NO exposed axle tubes. Rather, it uses machined aluminum collars at the ends, totally great looking. It is also WAY more expensive, at around $6500 plus shipping. I need to settle on a final gear ratio. It will be either 4/10 or 4.30, which with the overdrive trans will yield a final drive ratio around 2.70-2.90. plenty good for cruising. Randy is adamant that I get a low enough gear to get the engines up on the cams. He cautions that it will be a turdy response and horrible mileage (like it won't already be horrible). He feels I will want a pretty nasty sounding cam profile for idling into Bob's etc., and I'll just have to work on that.

No real progress on getting the $8500 out of the slimy Derek Dawson in Missouri. I have a case # (not yet found it, though) with the Attorney general's Office there, and I have commissioned a private investigator to do some research on him. I also have a collector, Eddie, who will be going back there shortly and will look him up.

I have confirmed some details with Scott's Hot Rods, and am awaiting a final confirmation on some things. It appears I'll have a rear end at Justin's place in about 3-4 weeks, and will take the truck in then for the suspension and frame work.

12/22/05

The MW rear was billed and apparently about to ship as of last Tuesday, notwithstanding my instructions to Brett there NOT to bill me until I had confirmed a good account balance. The $4886 final balance left me with $584 in the bank. Scramble time!

I have some dough coming from two jobs, so that should work out.

What is NOT worked out as yet is the exact wheelbase of the vehicle. As I don't have the three engines here as yet, and do not have an exact dimensions on the coupler lengths or engine sizes, I'm a little stymied. I am definitely going with three in a row.

12/30/05

Went to Scott's the other day and opened to MW rear box. Whew!!  One of the employees said, “Dude, it's a shame to put this under a car. You should mount it on a stand and display it a art in your living room.” Absolutely true. Randy has suggested two side-by-side motors near the cab and one behind. Such an arrangement will be more costly. While it would certainly provide better weight distribution, it is VERY costly. I'm of a mind to do three in a row or one up front and two in back. I need to investigate transmission mountings, torque converter, and other nuances of a remote trans setup. I COULD jackshaft the front engine all the way to the rear of the car and tie it into the rearmost engine, saving a remote trans location, and affording a more “conventional” mounting. NOTHING about this truck will be conventional. Then again I could just do FOUR in the back and be totally gonzo. Nah, three is enough…

1/3/06

Nils arrived with 4 motors this afternoon, 3 for me and on for Jorge. We got them out of his pickup in short order. Man, four sure looked good! So returning what just WHAT to do about hooking these all up: I talked again with Mike at SCS Transmissions. He is a strange fellow. Obviously VERY experienced at handling HUGE power requirement, as in tractor-pullers. But he just does not offer any suggestions, and seems almost annoyed at my not knowing already just what I need. I have NO idea what he CAN do, so it sets up a weird dynamic. That said, it turns out he can build just about ANYTHING I need, for a corresponding price. His transfer case is about $4000. His Y-trans to put two side-by-side motors into a single output is about $20,000, and his 5-motor deal is about $40,000. I am obviously NOT looking to spend the most money I can, and the $20K for a Y-box seems WAY excessive. Maybe not to him, but for me, certainly. I'm thinking there has to be a more cost-effective way to do side-by-side.  I'll give Tommy Ivo and call and see if he has any thoughts on that, having done it himself.

1/4/06

Tom was very gracious and spent nearly an hour going over nuances of his single, side-by-side, twin in-line, and 4-motor combinations. He was adamant that he felt the 3-in line in the rear (V-24) was the best way to go for many reasons. He did not feel my wheelstanding concerns were justified, noting his tiny 88” wheelbase twin-side-by-side Buick dragster did not lift the front end, even with him hanging out the back. So I feel reassured in my original concept. He also suggested a simple dual-chain connection between motors. NHRA does not permit, to my knowledge, this kind of connection in competition. I do not intend to “compete” with this car. So perhaps proclaiming it only an exhibition vehicle might do, or constructing some shield around the chains might do. I'll call NHRA tomorrow and get a read on that. But using FC couplings would be no more daunting, although not quite as simple. This tandem arrangement is also going to save me HUGE money and engineering time. I measured the three motors with some reasonable spacing between them:

 

and they come in about 90” overall. The bed of the truck is 77” so I need a minimum of 13” additional, and that leaves NO margin whatsoever.

If I add 19”, that would accommodate a standard 8' pickup bed (96”. Whatever bed I use, be it the original Stude or some late model dually or whatever, there will be serious mods required for tilting, engine access, exhaust routing, cooling, etc. So I think I'm just going to go with stretching it the 24” I noted some time back, and handle customizing the bed down the road. Moving the rear wheels back 2 feet will also dramatically help diminish the wheelstanding proclivity. I will very likely run wheelie bars, if just for looks.

I am not clear on just how the MW rear will permit that mounting, and I need to speak with Justin and perhaps Bret at MW to discern that. I will be emailing Scott's HotRods in a few moments to confirm a date in a few weeks.

Here is a shot of the 3-engine pack from the side:

It was noted by Nils that the intake manifold is reversible! Now that's precision design and engineering! As you can see, the engines were shipped with the exhaust manifolds strapped to the top. In looking at them, I wondered if they, too, could be reversed. Remember, these motors are facing rearward, and the exhaust is intended to go out the back, so the normal orientation of the exhaust manifolds routes the exhaust forward. Bingo! They fit backwards:

The stock manifolds have pretty nice design, and I'm going to keep them. In fact, I will probably forego the Vortechs until after the entire car is done and run. If I feel it is too anemic at about 1100 HP, then I'll step it up. For now, I can use that money and get it done. Now, where can I put the two monster mufflers I'll need for 12 cylinders each? At this point I'm thinking BEHIND the rear, using a pair of crossflow mufflers much like the original Buick Turbo location. It appears I'll need something like 3”-4” pipes down each side to handle 12 cylinders each, and some VERY interesting muffler design. I'm guessing a Flowmaster or something like it, and I imagine it will be VERY nasty-sounding, even with the extremely mild stock cams. After all, there will be a LOT of cylinders firing.

Check the view of the pack from the back:

Yes, you see a fourth motor in the garage, but that one is going to a buddy of mine, Jorge. I MAY be getting a fourth one for myself to replace the Condor (Tbird) motor (NOPE), but that is an entirely different saga, available elsewhere on the dickwagner.com website.

The worked-on rear fenders have, of course, rusted from being exposed by the little tweaker's work. As soon as I can get confirmation on the Scott's date, I'll schedule the body to come off and get it over to the bead-blaster near Hamrick's Auto Body. I can then literally dolly it up the street to Nick's and have him DT/epoxy prime it to put it in suspended inanimation. Nick just noted that he would recommend have it electro-primed, essentially powder-coated. He has someone who does it, and is going to set that up. Fascinating.

I'm going to shoot some more pix tomorrow and really buff up this diary.

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