'56 Oval

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T-34
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Post by T-34 »

I concur - the thing that sticks up the most on my engine is the cooling - there's no carbs etc - don't need none of that junk on a turbo EFI lump ;)

Interestingly, the standard cooling for this engine actually attaches to the end of the crank - so the top of the engine case is more or less the highest point - it was designed to fit under the rear luggage area of a kombi! Not that I could actually use stock cooling without a fair bit of modification as it would foul the 3 stage oil pump that now sits where the fan would have originally been. Maybe I could gain some clearance by dropping back to a 2 stage and lose the scavenge for the turbo (3 stage is probably a bit of an overkill anyhows.)

Ahhh schemes and plans - lol.
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

How's the car coming Mick?

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Rob
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T-34
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Post by T-34 »

I went and looked at it yesterday - lol

Haven't touched it since getting back from Speedweek as I've been flat out busy with other stuff. But funny you should ask as I planned to go do some work on it yesterday, unfortunately didn't get to do anything as I ran out of light whilst doing other chores (one of which was putting a light up - go figure - lol)

Would be good to get the bug inside so I can get to work on it a bit later into the evening, but the garage is chokka with other projects, and I still haven't finished the extension.

Ahh well...

Planning to get back into it next weekend.

Will keep you posted.

Mick.
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

All good mate,

I'll keep an eye out.

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Rob
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T-34
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Post by T-34 »

Actually did something on the car last weekend - painted up and refitted the brake backing plates. Admittedly, it's not much, but every little helps. Looking to get the car rolling again within the next few weeks so that I can get the body back on.

On a related note, got some quotes in for the slab on the garage extension, should be going ahead with this within the next month.

Will be great to be able to work on the car on some hard ground instead of my gravel driveway. Will hopefully be a bit more productive.

Mick.
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T-34
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Re: '56 Oval

Post by T-34 »

Mnnn, been some time since I posted here, thought I'd posted something a short time back, but guess I couldn't have.

Progress on the car has been minimal, partly as I've been flat out busy with other stuff, but mostly as I will not be attending 2011's event. This is due to the birth of our second sprog, which unfortunately is due the week of the event. Other things have been progressing tho - the garage extension is now practically finished, just need to finish off the electrics, and my new work bench. This means that the oval (and a few other cars) are now under cover. :)

Actually did some work on the oval at the weekend - even if it was only propping up the bucket seat on some bricks in the car to try out the driver position (and try to imagine what it would be like to drive the thing).

Hoping to do more over the xmas break. Would be good to get the body back on and go for another tech inspection in January. I'm sure the scrutineers would have lots to say about it - lol.

Anyhows, will keep you posted.

MIck.
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Re: '56 Oval

Post by T-34 »

Hehee last post December - tsk. Been neglecting my salt duties a little :oops:

Well it's about that time of year to look at getting ready for next years endeavours. I'm definitely going to try my hardest to make 2012 the debut for the oval. There's been no progress on it since last post as I've been busy finishing some other projects. One of them is my '65 Type 34 Karmann Ghia - a long term project of mine (coming up to 20 years :roll: ) I'm working like crazy on getting it finished by September. If you're into such things you can read on the progress over at my blog on vdubber - http://www.vdubber.com/blogs/posts/T-34

Once this is out of the way it's full steam ahead with the oval. Although I've not done anything since last year (or was it the year before??), It's mostly a case of simply assembling things. I've got a few things to fabricate but the hard work is mostly done. Whilst I haven't done any real work on it, I have managed to source some more bit's and bobs. One of the things I was having a lot of trouble sourcing was a set of mangels. These are steel Porsche 356 rims that have the correct 'wide-5' VW bolt pattern, but also have the required safety beads around the rims to stop the tyres from rolling off. In the end I succumbed and bought 6 new repro's (a couple spare to run some taller tyres on) so that at least is one major headache taken care of.

One other major project that I've (mostly) finished is the garage extension. Looking back at the previous posts I think I alluded to getting quotes for a slab. Well, lets say, things are pretty good in the shed department :shock: :lol:

I bought an off the shelf Olympic garage and got a slab put in to suit. Then with a little ingenuity and a home made block and tackle I managed to actually erect the thing by myself (I love a challenge :| :lol: ). I then knocked through the back wall of the existing garage to form one large workspace. The new garage abuts the rear of the old brick built garage, so I can drive thorough the old garage to get into the new one - there's also no windows or doors in the new part of the garage so the existing garage forms the only access.

Fitting it out, I made a workbench out of the old garden shade house (sounds more shonky than it actually is :lol: ), bought some nice commercial shelving from Bunnings to store all of the bits for the cars, and inherited a lathe and a mill from the father in law, which incidentally used to belong to HIS father. The lathe is a 1948 Hercus and the mill is 50% home made, 50% building steel and 12% something else. They both work great and have already been put to good use. To finish things off I added some lighting and then set about putting the new workspace to good use (Yeah I skipped adding power outlets - still need to do that LOL). At the moment I've managed to get all of the projects in there, and even have a decent amount of room left to work in. It's been over 7 years since I left my old workshop back in the UK and it's great to have a functional space again. I still need to finish off a couple of things such as the power outlets, compressed air outlets, compressor 'house', put in an 'I' beam for my hoist, and, and, and... (and a little brick work), but now that it's functional I will probably forget about that other stuff. :lol:

Some pics...

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So with everything set up, I've been ploughing into the Ghia, getting things done. It's great to have everything at hand and makes working much easier than trying to crawl around in the gravel driveway. Finishing the oval should be a breeze compared to the conditions I was working in before. I have no excuse for not making it next year.

So when the Ghia is finished, first up on the oval is to reassemble the rear axle and get it rolling again. Then I need to patch up some tinwork on the body before lifting it back onto the pan. With the body back on I can trim back the engine bay as It needs to be clearanced for the engine to fit. Then it's a simple case of bolting everything in place, fabricating the headers, adding some fuel, and programming the ECU and bob's yer uncle. :D

Heh - sounds real easy when you say it fast :D

Will keep you posted...

Mick.
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David Leikvold
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Re: '56 Oval

Post by David Leikvold »

G'day Mick,

Nice shed. Good luck with the projects, it won't be long before you forget what the house looks like! Speaking of lathes, I was recently given a Hercus lathe too. Mine is a 9" Model A (wish it was a Ford!) and is probably as old as yours. It's in a million pieces but looks to be complete, except for the drive belts and a motor. I love the belt guards, obviously having an arm ripped off wasn't such a big deal in those days :shock:

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Dave
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T-34
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Re: '56 Oval

Post by T-34 »

David Leikvold wrote:G'day Mick,

Nice shed. Good luck with the projects, it won't be long before you forget what the house looks like! Speaking of lathes, I was recently given a Hercus lathe too. Mine is a 9" Model A (wish it was a Ford!) and is probably as old as yours. It's in a million pieces but looks to be complete, except for the drive belts and a motor. I love the belt guards, obviously having an arm ripped off wasn't such a big deal in those days :shock:

Cheers
Dave
Ha yes, not an issue if you lose an arm - you still got another one :D

(Always use the machine with your left hand in your pocket :wink: )

I remember going to an auction with my dad for a machine shop that had closed down. it still ran the old central line shaft drive system where each machine had a flat belt hooked up to the line shaft that continuously ran. On the line shaft, for each machine, there was a take off wheel, and an idler wheel. To start and stop the machine you had to flick the belt between the two using a long stick, an acquired skill me thinks. No guards, no emergency stop, and originally driven by steam - enough torque to rip your arm (or whatever :shock: ) clean off :twisted:

If you haven't stumbled across them already there's a couple of good sources for Hercus stuff. Firstly the Aussie woodworking forums have a dedicated Hercus section (go figure - lol) http://www.woodworkforums.com/f189/ and there is also a useful site that always seems to have plenty of Hercus stuff for sale - http://www.australianmetalworkinghobbyi ... 12&page=4. you can probably pick a motor up from there.

Somewhere in the first site you will find a table where you can look up the serial number (its on the top of the bed at the tailstock end) and it will tell you how old the lathe is - mine is 1948 from memory.

There is also a serial number on the back of the tail stock which should match the one on the bed. Not quite sure, but there may also be a number on the headstock too. If they match - all good, but if they do not you may have to shim the tailstock to get it centered, otherwise you will drill tapered holes :D

Also - when you get it running - go invest in a Zues book (decimal equivalents book) it's full of lookup tables to easily and quickly convert imperial values to metric (and vice versa). Prob not an issue if you're making stuff for an American car, but sucks donkey balls when you work on a Volkswagen. :D I'm lucky enough to have grown up in an imperial machine shop (my dads) but for someone not used to working in thousands of an inch it can be a bit of a headache. Another tip is using digital calipers that you can change between metric and imperial, conversion as the press of a button. :D

If you're really lucky you might have a later metric hercus, but I think most of the Type A's were imperial.

A great machine, well worth getting up and running. I've used mine heaps already. Used the mill a little too, until I fried the motor machining my steering arm this weekend :(

Ahh well, what do I expect for nothing. :roll:
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Re: '56 Oval

Post by David Leikvold »

Mick,
The tailstock number matches the ID plate on the bed but I can't find any numbers on the headstock. That'll do me, I'll assume they're all a set. I'll check it for taper when I get it running. There's no hurry, the mate who gave it to me also has two other lathes, one huge and the other, my personal favourite, has a 6ft bed and is perfect for anything I might need. The Hercus will mean I don't have to go to his workshop everytime I need to make something small. It is imperial, which is fine by me as I still think in thou. I couldn't find the year/ID number chart on that website, from what I found on the register A's seem to have been mostly made throughout the 50's.

Keep going with the project, it'll be nice to hear that engine at the lake.

Cheers
Dave
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T-34
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Re: '56 Oval

Post by T-34 »

Yeah I might be wrong with there being a number on the headstock.

Made a little more progress towards getting to the salt next year. I splashed out and bought an enclosed trailer. Noticed it on ebay and decided that it was cheap enough to warrant a trip to Sydney to pick it up. I've been looking for quite a while and never managed to find anything reasonably priced. This was a complete steal.

So with the stuff I bought for 2010 I'm now pretty well set up and just need to get the car together and running. :D
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Re: '56 Oval

Post by momec3 »

Mate you seem to have got this all wrong...

The common way to do it in this club is thrash like hell to build a race vehicle then 2 nights before you leave for the Lake, (thats after running 3 days behind schedule) you think "shit how are we going to get it there".
You then end up begging borrowing or stealing a busted arse trailer with torn out wiring and 2 axles pointing different directions, 4 different size tyres but you got lucky cause 1 has tread. No spare of coarse but we can pick one up when we need it!
Then after rewiring in the yard in the rain and dark at 1am because it can't fit in the shed because its a bomb site from the thrash, then you can only fit 1/4 the stuff you need to take. You wake the missus and say we are ready, and you get a less than warm response.

This is the correct way to do it. :D :?
Chris
Chris
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Re: '56 Oval

Post by David Leikvold »

Nice trailer too, looks like it would be long enough to carry a VW powered streamliner;) Don't forget to make absolutely sure it is thoroughly sealed against red dust. Someone (Street Machine magazine?) took a show quality black Mustang one year and when they opened the trailer it was a red Mustang :shock: ! I always said to anyone who would listen that a little positive air pressure inside the trailer would keep dust out, don't know if anyone ever went to the trouble of rigging up a compressor that inflated their trailer ever so slightly! Did it come with a side awning and external lights?

Chris is right, you're making the rest of us look very disorganised. Keep it up.

Cheers
Dave :D
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outbacktrev
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Re: '56 Oval

Post by outbacktrev »

Yes Dave is correct + pressure works a treat. :D Mal Hewitt (of Vincent Racing Fame :lol: ) used a Donaldson pre cleaner and cab pressurisation fan from a Bobcat :idea: and pressurised the bike trailer and worked a treat. You still need to seal the trailer as best you can thought! :idea:
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Trevor :mrgreen:
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Re: '56 Oval

Post by AuotonomousRX »

OOOHHH YEAHHH!!!!! My first trip to Lake G in 2010 I built an enclosed trailer for my Bike. I thought it was pretty flash.

Stopped at Nonning for a drink and check how the trailer was going. I had more dust inside the trailer than on the outside. :shock: LOL

I was given a bit of advice and this year I put extra bracing in and resealed the trailer and I fitted a Canopy Vent that can be open or closed on the roof of the trailer. I got it from ARB the 4WD mob about $44.

We went into the lake on the thursday when the road was dry and dusty. Not one bit of dust anywhere inside :D

As Dave says seal it and pressurise it.

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