1927 chevy speedster build

looking into building a speedster out of a chassis I have, it was a 1927 Chevy coupe iv been told by the person I bought it from but sadly the rest of the body was takin long ago. but what is left is nice and solid. I would like to make a nice period looking racecar with period parts. the only thing I was thinking about changing was the transmission and rear, maybe a t5 trans with overdrive and a Nissan truck rear (same hub built pattern as original) axel with a custom driveshaft, but with the original 4 cylinder engine. So it sound the same but drives easer. I'm just looking for more ideas and some input on my current ones. thanks, I like the idea of a boatail racer but any input would be greatly appreciated

Looks like a great truck project to me.

If you are looking for design ideas, there are a lot of great pics at the Northwest Vintage Speedster's Assoc. website...

http://www.nwvs.org/CarPhotos/CarPhotos.shtml

Welcome to the renegade area of the AACA website!

Thanks for the web site that should help alot.

Looks like a great truck project to me.

I did think about another truck but I think a vintage speedster would be much more unique, but I dont know iv never seen a speedster in my area. The wood truck in the back behind the one on the trailer is a work in progress my grandfather and I put together.

Experience is a good thing, and if you've already got a truck, I think a speedster is an excellent choice. Are you planning to use the disc wheels as well? Noticed you were trying to keep the same bolt pattern in the rear....

I do believe im going to use the disc wheels, id like to keep it as original to the period as possible. The only reason I want the t5, and rear axle is to make it more fun to drive. I would try to find a gear splitter, but I think the new trans and rear would be almost the same thing and alot cheeper and easer to find

Yes, vintage parts do draw a premium and I've noticed a few speedster owners talking about going to more modern transmissions for driveability. Wondering what the final gearing is going to end up like though with the taller tires? I guess a worst case scenario is that you don't end up using that overdrive 5th gear much.

well the other day I got a bug to rebuild the motor, but I wanted to do something different so I found a turboed model A engine on youtube and nobody has a documented vintage chevy motor that was turboed so I gave it a go. I fabricated a new exhaust manifold and had a flange made for the turbo manifold. I sent that out to a local metal shop and had the flange nickel welded to the cast manifold and viola. next I had to find all the good parts to build a reliable head so I found valves and spings ect in great shape from the three heads I had laying around. pistons and rings were next and that was a job and a half because everything just broke so I had to find all new rings and clean up my pistons after that I just cleaned everything lubricated it and put it back together. distributer was shot so had to find another one of those found I had one laying on an old motor in my collection it looked brand new so on it went! planning on fireing it tomorrow, everything in the motor will be balanced once I find out if it spools the tubro

additional info: TD04 turbo, cleaning took 3 days.....

Sweet! Whole new meaning to small block Chevy! That thing is going to scream... if you can keep it together. Hope they didn't go overboard on the turbo. I'd be hesitant to use a lot of boost on a street engine, but I'd sure love to hear you fire it up.

You be very carfull with that set up. Set up your wastegate to dump well below 5 pounds of boost. And if you play around with it.... Stand in another room.

Make sure your you head bolts are new, or not streached. If you are not carefull, you will blow the motor and yourself to bits.

Looks very fun and with a stait pipe, you will turn some heads. Get prepared for some flack.

A quick search around the web reveals that there are several models of the TD04 ranging from 5 lbs of boost to 15 or higher if modified. Some have waste gates, and some don't. There are also different seals in the turbos based on whether they were built for wet (draw through) or dry (blow through) applications. I question how many of these old head gaskets (or other parts for that matter) will withstand much boost. If you're not sure what you have, you better find out before you put the old girl in orbit. I don't want to discourage you though, cause I really do want to hear that thing run!

Right now I have the wastegate cracked open so it leaks, I'm just trying to get the engine to run and see if it will even spool I believe it should it small. After putting the engine back together it seems I'm have some minor timing issues. And the service manual isn't very helpful for the timing. The spark advance and retard don't seem to be moving as far as my other ones.

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I'm not sure what that distributor has for advances, but I've seen the weights for centrifugal advance get jammed up and malfunction on later engines. Cost me a blown head once.

Its a mechanical advance but its not moving as much as my other engine. I hooked the distributor to a drill and it seems to be working the way it should. I think I have to rotate it more to get the points to open in an earlier spot

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When the one I had malfunctioned, the engine seemed to run ok, and the cooling system kept the temp down, but the manifold was running red hot. Eventually the heating and cooling broke a valve, which stuck in the piston and came back up through the head, scoring the cylinder wall on the way. Somewhere I've still got the head off the valve that I was going to make a key chain out of. You may be able to fudge it to run with a defective distributor, but that can have consequences down the road if it isn't working right.

I believe the linkage that connects to the bottom of the distributor to the advance is broken. But everything else seems to be working on the inside. And I'll definitely consider replacing it if I like the motor.

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The one I was referring to was actually in an older combine, so it was under a lot stress and hard use under hot conditions as well. Very different story from just firing up an engine to see how it works. Still making headway?

New to this forum but not new to motors, im his cousin and am helping him build this crazy contraption. Yes we are making headway still, having trouble starting it we think due to timing because it was backfireing alot through the carb. We burned up a starter too trying to fire it but heres a pic hopefully to keep you guys pondering!

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Could the timing chain be stretched enough to skip a cog (not sure, but it looks like it has one)? Try rocking it back and forth and looking at the distributor with the cap off. Should give you an idea of how much slack is there.

There is no timing chain its just the cam an crank gears. I thought there was one too at first?

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I'd still do the same test... could be the center going out of one gear and it's jammed in a new position.

When we put the crank back in we had to line them back up. I think its the distributor

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