My Street Version Port Injection for the '55

[PlainBrownR2]

I came up with a little idea earlier today, well maybe two little ideas......

The first was, I am always running around the car with my remote starter switch in hand, whether it's to adjust the points, adjust the distributor, or adjust variables on the PC. So I decided to permanently mount one on my home made console . It saves wear and tear on twisting on the ignition switch right next to it .

[PlainBrownR2]

Remember way back about the little exhaust enhancement, or the X-pipe modification I planned on making to the exhaust system??



Well, using the bulk exhaust pipe I picked up at South Bend this weekend, I finally got to a point to putting it on the car......
Don't worry I'll hang up the exhaust, as I still need to complete it out to the front of the rear wheelwells ........



The results seemed to have toned the noise from the exhaust down a bit, and it doesn't fog out the mosquitoes(which aren't around yet, still too early) inside the car since the exhaust has been routed under the car .

[Milaca]

McMaster-Carr of Chicago, a catalog/internet/mail order hardware store (of sorts) has various grades of phenolic materials. Check out www.mcmaster.com
This is a good company to deal with as the company I work for orders from them almost daily and never has any problems (not that I am aware of anyway).

[PlainBrownR2]

McMaster-Carr of Chicago, a catalog/internet/mail order hardware store (of sorts) has various grades of phenolic materials. Check out www.mcmaster.com
This is a good company to deal with as the company I work for orders from them almost daily and never has any problems (not that I am aware of anyway).

I appreciate it, but I'm well aware of McMaster-Carr. If it's necessary and I have the funds, I can also grab one from one of the bulk suppliers from Ebay as well. Anyway, seeing that it runs on what its got, I can say that its fixed at this point in time.

[PlainBrownR2]

I have some Packard resonators for this application, but I thought I'd try this idea out first, so bear with me ......

What to do when you have zoomie headers, but need something to avoid a noise disturbance ticket? Why get some Harley baffles!! Don't wanna spend the 7 dollars for the baffles? Well, grab some pipe that's smaller in diameter and make your own!!

Anyway, I was working on my exhaust system today and thought I would give this idea a whirl from the Jalopy Journal forum. First I cut two pipes into 24 inch segments each:



Then I measured two inches lengthwise down the pipe, and cut slits in the pipe with a die grinder. I alternated the spacing between the slits on all four sides. Afterwards I took a drift punch and a large copper mallet, and punched a hole in the center of the slit. I had to repeat this many times, so it became a little tiring after awhile:



Once I was finished it resembled a perforated pipe with the hole indented into the pipe. Evidently this is to quiet the exhaust noise somewhat, and it works for the rat rodder crowd, so we'll see .



Anyway, once it was finished, it went into the end of the pipe like a mechanical enema, and bolted in place.


Tomorrow I have the other side to do, as well as string up the exhaust and put on the exhaust exits.

[PackardV8]

JMHO, but fabbing one's own mufflers is the hardest money one can ever earn. Have you priced a blank from the muffler shop?

jack vines

[PlainBrownR2]

No, but I have plenty of tubing from the scrap iron pile to play with.......

[PlainBrownR2]

Nearly completed with the exhaust system. I made the baffle for the driver's side pipe. It's the same as the passenger side, where it's 24 inches long and perforated.





I'd say I like how this is coming out. Here's the completed passenger side:



...and the unpainted driver's side:



How does it sound? Well not too bad through the X-pipe, the baffles, and an experimental flap I put in either side of the exhaust pipe:



Truth be known, and despite the turbo whine, I can carry on a conversation by the exhaust pipes. The car will announce its presence though if you get on gas, but when it's idling, it's smooooth, with a little burble.

[PlainBrownR2]

Tonight I managed to get my wipers working. The first wiper motor that came with the car was 6V and had sat out in the elements a little too long so it was spent. The second came from one of the parts trucks, but stripped its nylon gear, rendering the motor good, but needing a replacement gear. The third that I bought from South Bend, is a little slow, but took out a wiper arm in the process. That was replaced with a little longer sedan wiper arm from one of our parts cars, which is a little longer, but does the job. The wipers needed some adjustment on the wiper arm since it would bind halfway through the throw if the tension was too tight. The result was a slow but steady wipe across the windshield. Tomorrow, I can go about reconnecting the wiper electrics to the switch in the console.

[PlainBrownR2]

Starter bit the dust last night, well the Bendix side did. I had to pull it apart today, and found the original Delco V8, 6V starter, chipped a gear, so the Bendix drive will need to be replaced. There's no damage to the flywheel, but I'll have to change this out before the car is running again.

....and just when I got the wipers wiping an hour earlier too, lol.....

[PlainBrownR2]

Made a new switch plate tonight from aluminum, and had to redo the machine turned face again. The other one was done out of plated steel, which was a trial run, but later went into the console. Well, it would have worked had the passenger window been installed, so in the springtime, I opened the passenger door to a rusted machine turned faceplate. So today I went and bought some aluminum sheet, and did it again. The faceplate will overlay the other part, which was spray painted aluminum. I know I can get the veneer, but where's the fun in that <G>??

[PlainBrownR2]

Fixed the starter today. I thought I was going to have to pick up another 6 Volt Delco V8 Bendix nose or wait until the Brand X show Sunday, since it was a common nose for the 50's 6 volts makes that had the Delco starter. None of the above!! I went looking through our parts stash and found 4 others just like it, so in 5-10 minutes I had the starter reassembled with a new Bendix nose!!

[PlainBrownR2]

Fixed!! Put the starter in today, tightened everything up, started the car, and the engagement is nice and smooth. Before the Bendix went bad, it had managed to work itself and the starter loose, so when the car started, it would grind, rattle, and slam the Bendix into the flywheel. Now its back to a smooth engagement like it was before. Back to the brakes and possibly electrical!!

Edit:

I thought Photobucket would say "forget it" to an 80 mb video, nope, it took it on without a problem! Here it is running after the Bendix was replaced.

[PlainBrownR2]

I dunno, I like them better with the headlights in ....

They're 12 volt Wagner bulbs we have. The retaining rings were pitted pretty good, so I sanded down them down and painted them the body color. I think they look rather charming myself ....

[PlainBrownR2]

More lighting work up in the front today. Found out the '55 switches are a center-off sort of deal, so when I label my switch panel, I'll have to remember that to prevent a dead battery from occurring. Painted the lower grill guards body color. I also found out that if you put these in on a restored car, the bumper really needs come off because of the lower lip on the guards. I had to pull the bumper forward, then drop the grill guards into place. I scratched the paint on the car, which wasn't a big deal since it was Rustoleum Gloss Black and it was fixed with said rattle can, but it was something of a wrestling match putting them back in. I kinda like the end result, even if it is a low dollar hotrod, lol.







Also honed out and rebuilt one wheel cylinder, rehoned a master cylinder, and bought some lens tint for the rear for a future project this weekend.