Thread: For Don Shilady

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Attachment 57459Attachment 57460In 2011 the main project was to place a metal reproduction 1929 hood over the engine and some alighnment problems were encountered along with the need to add shelves for the hold down springs. At present the hood alighnmet is a compromise that you don't notice from ten feet away. Don't look too close! I know what the problem is, it is that the cowl/body is slightly shifted, not the radiator. You can't hardly go wrong with the bolt holes in the frame for the radiator on the narrow front part of the frame. However a slight offset of the main body bolts puts the cowl slightly off to one side or the other. Maybe someday I can loosen all the body bolts and shift the cowl a little bit but for now I just want to drive the car this summer. At the time I took these pictures I did not fully appreciate the flexibility offered by adjustment of the two rods between the radiator and the cowl. Since this picture was taken some improvement has been gained by adjusting the two rods between the cowl and the radiator.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder

Attachment 57461Attachment 57462Along the way I splurged for the expensive stainless steel bumpers and then faced the problem that hanging a license plate from the headlight bar would block the radiator and it also turned out that I need all the cooling I can get as it is. Thus I noted that 1934 Fords have the plate bracket on the right part of the front bumper. Thus I made an adapter out of aluminum plate to attach a 1934 plate bracket to the right front bumper bolt and now the radiator is not shielded by the license plate. The 34 plate bracket is available from Speedway and Bratton's.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Attachment 57463Attachment 57464Attachment 57465Attachment 57466Attachment 57467After I received the Virginia Title plate on the firewall of my roadster my State Farm underwriter requested photos to explain what a "Bebops Roadster" is. Thus I referred him to the Bebops Glassworks site and provided more pictures shown here. The front axel is a 5" drop with TWO added 1/4" plates over the front spring to bring the bumper up to the 9" minimum height of the front bumper as required for a Virginia Street Rod. The bumper height is now 9 1/8". Then under the car there is a photo of the 2.25" diameter exhaust system with catalytic convertors in front of the turbo mufflers. According to what I have read these "cats" cost about 5 HP in restriction but the engine is a 1976 Corvette block which had a large catalytic convertor in 1976 and folks in this area owning Cobra kit cars with engines later than 1970 are required to have catalytic convertors. So for the sake of a few HP and to avoid non-compliance hassels I put the "cats" in the exhaust system. Next is a picture of the turbo mufflers which are too loud in the opinion of my wife and not shown are racket buster tubes on the end of the exhaust pipes. Then there is a photo of the Derale transmission pan on the transmission which holds two extra quarts and is steel which will dent but not crack as would an aluminum pan. Finally there is a picture of the rear universal joint on the 8" Maverick rear. It is tricky to get the pictures to load in the same order as this text but you can figure it out easily. At present the front I-beam is the lowest part of the car but is comparable by actual measurement to a modern Corvette so going slowly over a speed bump I should hear the axel scrape before any damage is done to the engine pan or the Derale trans pan. In the first picture you can see the power brake cannister next to the trans pan. Phil Hahn installed the "cats" and the spring spacers for me and these pictures are on a lift in his Mr. Transmission shop. This is important because Phil tweaked just about everything on the car so as to reach the level of Virginia State Inspection.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder

Attachment 57468Attachment 57469Attachment 57470Now for the most important picture of my present state of the engine. There is a LOT of frustration here. In September of 2012 my neighbor, Chester Houghtaling of Progressive Performance Racing Engines and machining stopped by to put 8 degrees static timing in my distributor which is a rebuilt (Advanced Auto) 327 small cap with a Pertronix electronic kit in it. I bought a new electronic distributor but it just would not fit due to the lip on the fiberglass firewall and so I used the Pertronix kit in the small cap points distributor and even then it only slipped in by about 1/32"! Anyway Chester got me to put the car up on jacks and take off the hood while he messed with the timing and we started the motor some seven years after it was rebuilt by Joe's Machine shop! On Shell 93 octane it roared to life and we ran it at 2000 rpm for 20 minutes to break in the cam. So far there are no cam worries using Joe Gibbs break-in oil. Chester is just up the road from my house and has a large luxurious machine shop back in the woods complete with a dynometer! Who knew? Well three houses in the other direction is a Model A restorer/Guru Mr. Dick Ivey who is famous in these parts for excellent restoration and general Model A repair. He has a perfect Mustang II, a 1953 flathead Ford convertible and a beautiful Model A Sedan. He once owned a 1929 Model A Sport Coupe that held a tag with "First in Class, Hershey" on it which he sold for a more spacious sedan. Anyway I include his picture because he introduced me to Chester so I have two auto experts on my street! Anyway once we got the engine running I took the car to Mr. Transmission nearby where I knew Mr. Phil Hahn had a sedan with a Corvette motor and a 700R4 transmission and he tweaked many things on the roadster and brought it up to roadable condition with a Virgina State Inspection sticker. I do not have a photo of Phil but Dick Ivey is the older gentleman in the Model A shop. So these expert friends helped me a lot:

Chester Houghtaling, Progressive Performance Racing Engines, Ashland Va
Dick Ivey, Model A restorer, Ashland Va
Phil Hahn, Mr. Transmission, Hanover Air Park, Va
John York, John York Sports Cars, Hanover Air Park, Va

Now to the engine. Soon after Chester got the engine running for me I seemed to have an overheating problem. After changing the fan four times. using three different thermostats and using up at least four gallons of Prestone, Phil Hahn found I had left a packing plug in the lower outlet of the Walker radiator which allowed flow but with restriction. Now I am running a 180 degree thermostat and Phil Hahn rigged up a double pully fan belt setup on my Zips water pump. I am using a 20% overdrive pump pully compared to the crank pully and so far it runs without overheating in the cold weather, warm weather operation remains to be seen. You would not believe the range of discussions among mechanics and engineers regarding the proper thermostat but 180 degrees seems to work now. Some of you on this Forum may know Chester Houghtaling for building drag car engines in his shop and while he was a nice guy he did not think much of my short duration cam. He said anytime I want to pull out my engine he would dyno it for me but after a ten year project I am not inclined to pull the engine as long is it runs OK with the low gear in the 700R4.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder

Attachment 57471Attachment 57472Last but not least I have two pictures of the recent addition of a top with side curtains sewn by "Corky's Upholstory" on Hull Street west of Richmond. He used no pattern, just measured the stainless steel top irons. I requested side windows with 5/16" rods bent and shaped to have the windows extend behind the back of the door for greater visibility. I bent the rods and the shop added Lexan windows. I think I am going back before next winter to get zippers in the front of the side curtains to allow my hand to adjust the side mirroes and maybe we will have to use a flexible clear plastic because the Lexan is too rigid. In the back of the top I liked the large window Dick Ivey had in his award winning 1929 Sport Coupe so I ordered the frame from Bratton's for a Sport Coupe to get a larger rear window with a light weight Lexan window. I stilll need to add the four little rubber feet on the back deck to prevent scratching the paint when the top is down. For now the visibility is good, better than a stock Model A and enclosed enough so that the Vintage Air heater really warms up the cab! I regard the interior as unfinished and if/when I get a summer job I will be able to afford a professional job on the interior.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen rodder

Thanks again Don. I hadn't seen a lot of these photos so I am enjoying your bringing us up to speed. I know your "up to date" but maybe you could scrounge up a couple more?? LOL..

Attachment 57485Attachment 57486Attachment 5748434-40 you may be the only one interested in my project but I can add two lesser problems. In the case of runningboards I got tired of working while sitting on the painted runningboards trying to avoid scratches. What I came up with is sheets of aluminum diamond plate which is flashy but maybe also trashy? I usually ask folks what they think of the running boards and they usually like them so I am not going to try and put rubber covers on the runningboards in the forseeable future. A more complicated problem is the pulse generator for the digital speedometer. In the transmission pan photo you can see two narrow black plates fore and aft. That is the transmission mount hanging from the first crossmember. There is a gap between the hanging trans mount and the side of the transmission where the speedometer cable comes out the side of the transmission. When you add the pulse generator it will not fit in that space! After looking around I found a unit which has a right-angle gear which allows the pulse generator to just barely fit in that space as "bent around the corner". Then the pulse generator needs a small bracket to hold it steady in its orientation and you can see that the space is really cramped in that area! The right-angle pulse generator is visible at the top of the transmission pan photo. The unit on the left of the board is the plastic speedometer cable port which broke easily when I over tightened it. On the right is an optional metal unit which you have to hunt for in a junk yard or try to purchase from a transmission shop. The center unit is what I used.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder

Great pics Don!!!! Hope you have them in an album to take along to the car shows this summer, people love to look through pics of the build process!!!!

BTW, came up with a great idea for you for the summer----How's about you just cruize around the countryside and stop by to give us all a ride in the roadster????

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Great pics Don!!!! BTW, came up with a great idea for you for the summer----How's about you just cruize around the countryside and stop by to give us all a ride in the roadster????

I'll second Dave's idea! I'm closer so you gotta come here first! To sweeten the deal, you can take the 34 for a spin!


I doubt I'm the only one looking. The count goes up by more than just me. Not everyone is as chatty as me I guess!

As an aside, I just bought a new set of Classic gauges and instead of using the pulse generator I picked up their GPS transmitter that supplies the speedo / odometer with a signal. Tucks right under the dash!

Originally Posted by 34_40

I'll second Dave's idea! I'm closer so you gotta come here first! To sweeten the deal, you can take the 34 for a spin!


I doubt I'm the only one looking. The count goes up by more than just me. Not everyone is as chatty as me I guess!

As an aside, I just bought a new set of Classic gauges and instead of using the pulse generator I picked up their GPS transmitter that supplies the speedo / odometer with a signal. Tucks right under the dash!

Don, if you come visit me first, I'll buy you a nice slice of apple pie with ice cream and a cup of coffee!!!! Then I'll let ya make a pass in the drag car!!!! That should be more fine then riding in some old coupe, right??????

PS---That would be hot apple pie with cinnamon ice cream!!!!!

HMmmmmm.. I'll give ya a full tank a gas! Now that surely beats a quarter mile sprint and some pie w\ ice cream!

Wow, either jaunt would be a long trip for me but I appreciate the offers. First I need to get some short runs in for road tests. Dave that is a good idea about an album. I recently discovered that Target has a print service where each picture is only $0.10 and you can get them in a few minutes so I could/can print out enough for a show album. For the time being I will start with a local Friday night meet at Chic Fila and then work up to Culpeper Va for a July 4 meet.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder

It has been a while since I was here last. Time has passed because of problems with my transmission. Due to my GM700R4 only having low gear and third gear a series of tests at a local Transmission shop determined that I had left the trans dry for about five years during my build and the main valves in the transmission had rusted shut. Phil of a local Mr. Transmission shop first rebuilt the existing transmission and then talked me into scrapping my Zip Riser water pump set up for an electric water pump. He also talked me into purchasing a higher grade Monster 700R4 in case other parts of my previous low level street grade Monster had accumulated additional rust (even though he put it through a complete strip down wash and added new clutches). Phil is locally regarded as an innovative mechanic and he improved my car several ways but the car was in the shop over a five month period first checking the 700R4, rebuilding the rusty trans and then replacing the transmission with a new higher level Monster 700R4 along with a complicated modification of the water pump and installation of two cooling fans. I was not keen on going to an electric water pump (Meziere 35 Gallons/min) and I am still worried that the new 90 amp alternator will be able to supply the water pump, headlights and TWO 8" 1600 CFM fans but in recent tests in 95 F July traffic jam idling heat the car has not overheated. One fan comes on when the ignition key is on while the second fan is controlled by a thermostat set to 185 F. The combined 3200 CFM of the two fans is greater than any single electric fan we could find and the nose of the Meziere pump is too long for a single fan as well. I still want further summer heat tests before I plan any trips longer than a quick jaunt through areas with plenty of back up stopping points for cooling but it looks like Phil and his crew did solve the heating problem. I still like the Zip set up and can sell my unit to any interested party but I note some of the other successful installations were on small motors like a 283 SBC and others run without a hood or hood sides. So far I am able to keep the full hood look that my wife wants for a "cute" Model A and cross my fingers regarding an electric water pump. At present most of my summer time is spent working/teaching to pay for the new replacement Monster transmission. I will say that 700R4 low gear is a lot of fun even with my rather high ratio 3.55 rear and the sudden shift to second is a real kick in the pants. I picked the 3.55 rear gear so that even if I am not running in OD I may get reasonable mpg. So far I have to restrain myself at a light since that low gear is a real Jack Rabbit! Now can anyone tell me how to insulate the alternator wire from the front of the SBC left head? The wire fits in a narrow space that can't be more than a 1/4" wide between the back of the alternator and the front of the 882 head. I am thinking of trying a piece of electronic circuit board between the head and the back of the alternator but have not completely figured it out yet. Does anyone make a small fiberglass sleeve for this situation?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/Teen Rodder

Don,
I'll offer a comment on your fan control. I would not want one fan running all the time, as when you're running down the open road you shouldn't need any electric fan help. The velocity pressure through the radiator is more than enough. I would trigger the first fan to come on at ten degrees above your thermostat setting, and the second fan about fifteen to twenty degrees higher than the first. My single fan runs two speeds, and with a 180F stat I start low speed at 195, and high speed at 210. Running down the road I run about 185F, and no fan runs.

I don't think I'd worry too much about that alternator wire. There's not way for you to get any movement of the alternator apart from the head, so your 1/4" should be just fine.

Hi Don. Good to see your updates and glad your making trips with the car. Although it was expensive playing with those trannies I bet!!!

Like RSpears, I don't run any fans until the motor hits 190 degrees. And that only happens sitting in traffic, once underway, the forward motion feeds enough air through the radiator and the fans shut off.

I also don't think you need to worry about that wire. As long as it has clearance (1/4" is fine) and isn't allowed to rub against anything, you should be fine.