Somebody was smiling

     My wife went with me yesterday to a car show at Klackle's Orchards in Greenville, Mi.  As we were riding along, I told her how much I enjoyed driving the 41 and how much better it handles and stops than it did last year.  She agreed and said, "Somewhere up above, the old guy that owned this car is looking down and smiling because this car is being driven by someone that enjoys it."  "Yes," I added, "and other people get to see it too!"
     So, we get to the show and while we were sitting in the shade of our canopy, chatting with friends, Cathie went to the car to retrieve something from the glove box.  She was sitting in the passenger seat with the door propped open when two guys and a young boy walked up to the car.  One of the guys said to Cathie, "Did you buy this car from a guy on Leonard Street?"  "Yes, we did,"  she said.  Whereupon the guy said, "From Dennis K?"  "Yes, from Dennis," she responded.  "My father-in-law used to own this car!", was his response.  Cathie then called me to the car and I had a great chat with Tom and his brother Larry about how the transaction came about and how we ended up with the 41.  Tom then informed me that his wife, the daughter of the former owner, was coming to the show later in the day.  Tom & Larry both had cars entered in the show and she was coming to join them.
     Tom also confirmed my suspicions on the origins of my 41.  His father-in-law, Barry Tate, had bought the car in 1990 from the then manager of the Mr. Steak/Shelde's Restaurants in Grand Rapids.  That fella had purchased the car from a restored car dealer in Hudsonville, Mi in 1988 and drove it for a couple years.  The dealer had acquired the car through an auction in Missouri in 1988.  I believe the auction was in Branson, Mo.  Tom confirmed that Barry had always said this was a Missouri car. 

     When Tom's wife Bonnie arrived, we had a chance to learn more about the car and she sat in the driver's seat for a bit.  Both Bonnie and Tom agreed that Barry, her dad, would not have liked the improvements I have made because he was a "purist".  Barry liked his cars all original.  But they both added that they really liked the changes and thought the car looked great.  I took a picture of Bonnie and Tom in front of the 41.



    Bonnie used some of her inheritance money to buy Tom a car just like he had owned previously but had to sell in order to buy a house.  She surprised him for his 50th birthday with a 1969 Camaro SS.  That's the car Tom had at the show and he won a Top 60 award. 
     The 41 garnered enough votes for a Top 60 as did the other Road Rodz in attendance.

     Was it coincidence that Cathie and I had earlier talked about the previous owner looking down and then his daughter shows up?  Maybe ol' Barry Tate was looking down and smiling after all.  He may have preferred to keep his cars in original condition but I think he let us know he approved of what we have accomplished with the 41.   Keep watching over us, Barry.  ;)

Lifter change

     Ever since I built this 235 engine for the 41, the valve train has been noisy.  I had chosen to use hydraulic lifters on the Comp Cams camshaft thinking they would be more trouble free and not require periodic adjustments.  However, I did some research AFTER the engine was in the car and discovered some comments  by some very knowledgeable people that the hydraulic lifters available today are inferior and allow the oil to "bleed out" when the engine sits for any length of time.  These same folks would only recommend or sell solid lifter camshafts. 
     Last week Tuesday was the last straw for me.  I left Fricano's Pizza and accelerated hard to merge with traffic.  When I got up to speed and backed off, the valve train was clattering like crazy!  It took quite a while for the lifters to refill with oil and quiet down.  So, my theory is this:  the lifters not only bleed down when the engine is off, they also can't maintain enough oil to offset the valve spring pressure when running at a higher rpm.  One article I read talked of air getting into the lifters and the need to grind a release slot in each lifter.  That type of modification is too inexact for my tastes.   Back in the late 70's I had built an engine out of used parts I had laying around and had decided to try running solid lifters on a used hydraulic cam.  That engine was a small block Chevy and I just set the valve lash to about .002" - .005".  Not only did it work, the car ran great!  Both the owner of the car and I managed a couple of bracket wins at the local drag strip. 
     A quick call to Comp Cams tech support confirmed the idea of running solid lifters on the hydraulic cam.  "Set the valve lash to .008"-.010" and you should be good" was the response.  So, this past Monday, I removed the clattering hydraulic lifters and replaced them with a set of new solid lifters.  I also had to change the push rods since the hydraulic lifters are shorter than the solids.  Luckily, the 1954 engine I have in storage was a solid lifter motor and had the push rods I needed. 
     The swap was very straight forward.  I removed the valve cover, side (lifter) cover, spark plugs, distributor, battery and vacuum advance line.  Next, the rocker assembly was removed taking care to not move the shims under the stands.  Out came the pushrods and lifters with the lifters kept in the order they were removed so they can be stored for reuse if necessary (NOT likely!).  I had rotated the engine by turning the cooling fan prior to removing the distributor in order to locate the timing mark at TDC for #1 cylinder on compression.  Once all the old lifters were removed and the old gasket material was removed from the side cover and valve cover areas, I poured some engine assembly lube/cam lube in each lifter hole to get some break-in lube on the cam.  Then I rotated the engine 180° and poured more lube down the lifter bores to coat the opposite side of the cam.  Another rotation brought the engine back to TDC for #1.  Each lifter was given a liberal coating of assembly lube just before it was inserted in the bore.  A small amount of assembly lube was then added to the cup on the top of each lifter to prevent galling the lifter or pushrod as they came together.  Assembly lube was also added to the top of each pushrod where the adjuster contacted the push rod.  The valves were adjusted to the recommended .008-.010" and everything was sealed up. 
     I finished the lifter swap on Monday but the weather was so hot and humid by the end of the day, I waited until Wednesday for better conditions before starting the engine and breaking in the new lifters on the old camshaft.  The car fired right up on Wednesday and I immediately adjusted the carb to keep the engine up around 2000 rpm.  Periodic varying of the engine speed was done by hand at the carb.  The oil pressure and water temps were good but I opted to only run like this for about 10 minutes.  I let the engine (and the garage) cool for a few hours before repeating the same procedure.  Once the engine was back up to temperature for a bit, I shut it down and quickly removed the valve cover and spark plugs to recheck the valve lash.  All was good and I brought all of the valves to a tight .008" clearance before putting all back together again. 
     I also discovered the cause of a small oil leak that had plagued the 235 since I'd originally put it together.  I kept seeing oil along the passenger side of the block just above the oil pan flange.  This oil would make its way back to the starter and make a mess of that side of the engine.  The cause was the lower screw that goes through the side of the block just below the road tube hole.  This screw is one of two used to retain a metal baffle in place under the road tube hole.  The screw is a coarse threaded metal screw and the oil followed the threads along the screw and outside the block.  Adding a little silicone to the screw once it was cleaned should stop the leak.
     I have a theory of how the hydraulic lifters may have adversely affected the hp on the dyno run but I'll save that for another day's babbling.
  

Some sadness

Not much has been happening on the car scene.  The weather the end of June and the first week of July made driving without a/c an impossibility.  We had several consecutive days of temps over 100° and the 41 stayed sheltered in the garage.  The wife and I did manage to attend a show on July 4th despite the high temps primarily because it was only 15 minutes from our house.  72 other car nuts made it out too.

Back in 2011 when I started this blog, I mentioned good friends, Butch and Jan.  They were the folks that persuaded my wife and I to attend the 28th St. Metro Cruise back in 2010.  Well, Butch had a stroke last Thursday morning and he passed away late Sunday night.  He was 63 and a great friend.  I'm gonna miss that guy. 

Four local shows in three days!

Had a busy weekend with car shows.  Friday evening was a show in Caledonia to cap off their Western Week celebration.  Saturday was the Dutton Days show and a quick trip to Dorr for a Veterans' Benefit show.  The Dorr show was nearing conclusion when we arrived but Road Rodz member Ken still managed to garner the Best in Show trophy.  Sunday's weather started out with a little sprinkle at the West Michigan Wheels show in Muskegon but Steve and I got through it and dried off the cars.  The sun came out and made for a great show of about 180 cars.  Steve's 34 Ford coupe won the Best in Show trophy and it is the biggest I've ever seen!  The trophy is taller than his car.  I had to bring it back to town in the back seat of the 41 because it wouldn't fit in the 34!  Here's a few pics from the various shows.

Caledonia Western Week.

Dutton Days.

Dorr Veterans' Benefit

Wheels of West Michigan, Betten Chevrolet-GMC-Cadillac, Muskegon.

Steve winning best in show.

Beautiful International wrecker.

1941 5 passenger coupe, Special Deluxe.  This is only the third other 41 Chevy I've seen in West Michigan since I've been showing mine.  Mel, the owner, is a really nice guy and we chatted for a bit.

Chopped 39 Chevy sedan.

Nice 55 Chevy hardtop.

     I talked with a local crank grinder last week about the condition of the seal surface on the crankshaft in my 235.  The old rope seal had left some residue and that surface isn't really in perfect condition to run a lip seal like I'm trying to do.  He suggested using a Speedy Sleeve (or comparable) repair kit to provide a new surface and trying the seal modification I'm currently running.  That may be a good option instead of machining the block and rear main cap for a one piece seal.  Either way, the engine will have to come out again in the fall. 

All I can say is WOW!

     After a very busy weekend with car shows, I'm still stunned by the results of the 31st annual Charlton Park Father's Day Show.  The Road Rodz had 5 members present with 6 cars; Jim Banfill had his brother drive one of his cars as Jim was looking to sell the car.  Of those 5 members, 4 of us were voted Top 25 plaques!  This is one of the year's largest shows annually and to received recognition from your peers as a Top car is pretty special.
     Besides the Charlton Park show on Sunday, I attended a gathering of local cars at an Assisted Living Center in Byron Center.  Several patients came out with walkers or assisted in wheel chairs to check out well over 100 cars that turned out.  We were packed in like sardines and the organizing group began turning away cars after 6pm as there was no more room!
     Saturday was another show north of Grand Rapids in Sparta.  The show was sponsored by the Sparta Moose Lodge and was held on the edge of their golf course.  With an all you can eat breakfast and pulled pork bbq for lunch, this was a very nice show.  About 125 cars entered the show and the voting was done on a class basis with plaques being awarded to the top two cars in each class.  The 41 was the only entry in the 41 and later Street Rod class so I got the 1st place plaque. 
     I took too many pictures at all three shows to put on this blog but here's some of the better cars.  First the Friday night show.

   Saturday at the Moose.

Picking up my 1st place plaque from the Budweiser Girl.

    And here are a few select pics from the Father's Day show.  First up, Road Rodz in a row.  Chip's Anglia, Mike 's roadster, the 41, Steve's 34 Ford, Jim's 36 Ford, Jim's 32 Roadster and Rick's 57 pickup.

Show updates

Just stopped by to post some pictures of the shows from the last couple weeks.  There's a big show coming up on the 17th, Father's Day.  The annual Father's Day show at historic Charlton Park near Hastings usually draws over 1000 cars.  Temps are forecast to reach 90 so all the guys in the Road Rodz club are meeting early so we can be in line before the gates open.  That way we can get the shady spots that are not to far from the potties!

Here's some pics from a small show in Kent City that some of us dropped in on before heading to Muskegon for the Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour show on June 3rd.

Next up are pics from the Power Tour.  I didn't spend much time taking pictures but we did walk around a bit and enjoyed all the other cars.

Sunday, June 10th was the Kool Chevrolet All Chevy show.  Auto dealers along Plainfield Ave in Grand Rapids, Mi all had a brand specific show for their cars.  Chevies with Chevy power gathered at Kool. 

3 Road Rodz - Claude's 56 wagon, my 41 and Rick's 57 Chevy pickup with 348 w/tri-power.

This LS-7 Corvette engine is hiding under the hood of the 4 door 51 Chevy in the next picture.  Sure wasn't expecting to see that under the hood!

Another Road Rodz member, Bob.  Had to keep his hood closed cuz his truck is powered by a 500 inch Cadillac.

Yet another Road Rodz member, James Dean.  Nasty sounding 30 Chevy coupe w/blown small block for power.

An old friend's Pro Street 69 Camaro.  Nice car Bruce!

28 Chevy was looking good.

That's all for now.  Got a mechanical change coming up on the 41.  Stay tuned.