keithb7

I have that set @Tom_S I Did a valve grind with them. Worked for me. Both hardened seats and non hardened. Took a lot of elbow grease but got the job done.

My ‘38’s were only 33 years old when I was born. Man that really makes me feel old. A ‘38 car seems quite old to me. A pre-war car. I still feel 25! Not so apparently.

My '38 Chrysler coupe has 3.90 rear gears and overdrive. On modern hi-ways I am pretty comfortable up to 60 mph. It feels rock solid at 55. Over 60 it gets a little light feeling and "float-y". I am however used to driving modern cars too. With better handling, suspension, steering and safety features. So I am biased towards safety. I know what "better" feels like. In 1938 did the average driver know better? I am doubtful. Maybe at 65 or 70 they were like, this is great! Wow.

It will slide back a little more when bolted down. Enough clearance to change a fan belt. I have replaced one on this engine in this car before the rebuild.

Latest posts here remind me of another related topic that I want to comment on. Engine HP, torque and freeway travel. I keep reading about folks wanting to change the old car axle gearing. Wheel size too so they can travel at higher speeds. It seems so short-sited to me. Who here likes travelling 70+ mph in any pre-war typical mass production car? No safety engineering. Skinny tires. Brakes & steering that are designed to work at typical road conditions and speeds typical of 1937? Can an average mid-30’s. Coupe or Sedan, with a swapped-in crown & pinion overcome wind resistance at 70 mph? I am doubtful. Pretty considerable load to push through all that wind. How can an under 100 HP flathead make enough power? If you did manage to get it to 70 steering, handling and stopping are frightening. Let alone you will not survive any abrupt stop, impact or roll over. To each their own I guess. I suppose once you repair & understand leaf springs, worm gear steering, single reservoir master, and more, you loose the urge to hit modern interstate speeds.

Great conversation points here folks I am really enjoying the reading. The details about Ricardo and testing engines is intriguing. I will try and seek out the book mentioned. Thanks!

Today its a frozen busted water pipe in the garage! Yay. Its -30C outside. Good times that someday we’ll laugh about. Just not right now.

-8F ambient temp here today. Colder tonight. Colder yet factoring in the wind chill. Our daily drivers need work and routine maintenance. Sorry girl, you’re spending a few days out of the garage. I need a warm garage this week! No engine in it so block anti-freeze is not a concern at this time! 😀

That’s a great point. Some much was going on at the time. So many influences that are easy to overlook today.

I am interested in learning more technical details on engine output. HP & torque, how internal combustion engines evolved from say 1900 on. I saw the recent thread on T-Head engines. Pretty large bore and stroke engines with fairly low HP output. The topic got me thinking about engine efficiency and output progression. I'll guess at a few of the few topics, I'd love to hear more about them.. Materials: higher quality steel and aluminum maybe allowed for tighter tolerances? Able to withstand higher combustion forces? Fuel: Improved over time. Creating more violent & efficient combustion. Creating more HP and heat? More efficient transfer to BTUs. Then cooling systems had to become more effective at absorbing and shedding heat from this improved combustion? Improved fuels meant higher compression ratios were achievable. Again, more engine power and heat from higher combustion pressure. From T-head to Flat head, to overhead valves, air intake and exhaust gases flowed quicker and more efficiently. Valve timing was experimented with to get optimal power. Getting more of the spent gases out. Getting the most fresh A/F mixture back into the cylinders. Perhaps the next weakest link to overcome was carburetors? Tested and tweaked to allow as best A/F mixture ratio as possible. To again, squeeze out more power, and more efficient use of every drop of gasoline. Internal combustion got hotter, more pressures in the cylinders. Piston rings and bearings had to improve. Heavy big reciprocating parts must have become lighter. Now engines could rev quicker. Delco-Remy mastered the breaker type ignition system. In time, sparks got hotter and stronger. Ignition timing could be dial'd in with more accuracy? Cylinder head design played a large part. Richardo, Hemi, poly, wedge, and more. Doing what exactly? Hotter more efficient combustion I assume. Shorter stroke engines evolved from the big long stroke engines. Engine RPM's increased. Shorter strokes meant less torque, but high HP and RPMs. Overhead cams were needed to be able keep up? Preventing valve train whip and floating valves? I suspect as engines evolved, coils has less and less time to recharge and deliver a consistent hot spark. 12V electrical systems likely helped maintain that hot spark in higher RPM& higher compression engines. 12V having a larger voltage differential in the electrical system. Higher compression likely meant the 12V could crank over a higher performance engine much faster for quicker easier starts. Oils improved. Less drag. Less friction. Longer wearing parts. Allowing for tighter tolerances. Able to extract heat better. Less wasted HP from combustion to the crank output. Perhaps one of the most important items invented to allow for engine improvements was the prony brake, leading to the dynamometer. Engineers could experiment, test and prove their lab experiments. Witnessing and documenting gains. Thinking further, every single part in the engine was constantly evolving. Quickly too!. Manifolds. Valves. Pistons. Blocks. Exhaust. Filters. Every year, the weakest part or system in the engine had to be improved. What a race it was every year to be cutting edge and sell more and more cars.

Thanks for sharing this interesting information. I've had little exposure to T-Head engines. It's interesting to see the large bore and stroke engines with relatively small HP numbers compared to what we are used to today. I quite enjoyed seeing the Stutz in Jay Leno's video. Seemed like it made great torque at a low RPM.

Baby steps every day....Getting closer.

Warmish is relative to what one climatizes to. -10C or above is a warm-ish day around here in winter. I will not attempt to install this engine until we hit those temps. Fingers and toes don't handle the cold very well any more. They ache like someone smashed them with a hammer.

She's staged and ready. Just need to bolt on the bell housing, flywheel and clutch. Then pick a good warm-ish day to set her back in the car.

Doing a garage shuffle today. Getting ready for the engine install. Its sure good to see back her out from under the car cover. Its been a while.

Been a slow week for engine progress. I’’ve been hand sanding. Media blasting too. Painting. It looks good but not entirely brain stimulating. Lol. Continuing to make progress.

I check my generator output in this video:

The word telephone is becoming rare in the modern world.

Lack of respect, courtesy, or compassion for others. In the protection of their cars and trucks they are brave. Feel secure. If you treat people aggressively and ignorant in person, you may get your up-cummins. a lot quicker. Many people are indeed aggressive in their cars. I have little desire to travel on hi-ways in my pre-war 1938 cars. Local city roads are preferred. I do imagine it must be pretty sweet to drive and cruise, in some places in the USA and Canada. Wide open flatlands with many roads. Staying off the Interstate a guy probably could drive clear across the mid-west. I live in BC Canada. Mountains are everywhere. A large portion of our hi-ways follow valleys and rivers. Most of the roads between towns here when I am, are major hi-ways. So I get up very early if I can, and beat the rush. The Trans-Canada hi-way goes right through my town. It's busy. We have 1 hi-way across Canada. A lot of that hi-way here in BC is still single lane traffic. Not that fun in an under 60 mph car. You literally are risking your life if you are hitting the hi-way on a long weekend in a vintage car. Between the endless 600 HP+ loaded semi-trucks, and the aggressive drivers speeding, passing you on dangerous turns, I'll just stay in town. In the summer I can often be found cruising at 25 mph and enjoy my early morning coffee at 5 am on a Sunday. I am at the point where I don't care much about the decreased popularity of pre-war cars. Nor the soft sell prices. I love my pre-war cars. I cruise and enjoy them very much. Safely. Within their limits.