1932 Studebaker Indy car build

[Studemax]

Anymore to report, Gary?

Edited August 15, 2021 by Studemax (see edit history)

[Gary_Ash]

All the body parts are sitting at the paint shop, as they have been for the past 3 weeks.  They PROMISED me that work would start this coming Monday, i.e. tomorrow.  The boss gets back from his vacation this weekend, so I'm hoping it will happen.  Frustration!

[Gary_Ash]

While all the sheet metal is off, I got to work re-painting the chassis.  The previous paint job had come out too green for some reason, so I got a new can of Ford tractor Light Gray at Tractor Supply co. and some hardener.  I practiced painting it on some old sheet metal, seemed OK.  First, I vacuumed the garage floor as best I could.  After wiping down the chassis with Formula 409 and paint thinner, I wet sanded it with 220 grit paper, washed it off with water, then lacquer thinner, and masked off the parts that didn't want paint.  Following suggestions I received in this thread, I wetted the floor to keep down dust.  Paint was mixed with hardener at 16:1, then brushed on with a high-quality white bristle brush while I wore a mask with charcoal filter to avoid the cyanide fumes.  Prep took three days, painting took three hours.  It should be dry by morning, but I may let it go two days before touching anything.  

 

I'm happy enough with the results.  The color is right and it's glossy.  There are a few sags and runs that will need to be color sanded, but overall it's pretty good. It's tough to capture true colors with digital photos, but here is before and after.  Note that I did paint the heads of yellow-tinted Grade 8 bolts.  They didn't look right for 1932 and they would have been tough to mask, anyway.  I left the yellow spring eye bolts with their grease fittings.

 

 

Before:  chassis with greenish paint.

 

After: chassis with new gray paint.

 

[edinmass]

Looks nice. How is the body coming? I’ll try and give you a ring tomorrow.......Ed

[Gary_Ash]

Some joy, at last, with the painting.  The shop did the two side panels for the engine compartment, as they were the easiest to prep as a test.  The color is right, has the right amount of sparkle to suit me.  We used the formula for the 1963 Studebaker Hawk "Silver Mist" color in DuPont Chromabase urethane but changed from the fine aluminum flake to a coarser flake.  Just keeping things "all Studebaker".  Original Chromabase formula courtesy of Ray Fitchthorn's web pages.  It may not look all that different from unpainted aluminum, but I assure you it IS different.  Now, five more panels to go, hope to be done by the end of the coming week - assuming Hurricane Henri doesn't screw things up.  All panels will be painted only on the outside.

 

1963 Studebaker GT Hawk in Silver Mist paint.

 

Engine compartment side panels after paint.  The aluminum flakes don't really pop out in photos, but it's supposed to be subtle.

 

[Autofil]

This looks very promising. Curved panels will certainly give more flavor to the metallic when sun are present. I assume you will have the clear coat wet sanded and buffed smooth to minimize typical dust or imperfections. Anyway, a perfect color selection for a perfect build and a truely great acheivement Gary!! Wish I had one in my garage too!

[Gary_Ash]

Yes, the paint shop is wet sanding and buffing.  They know how to do this and I don't.  Plus, if they sand through, they can just repaint right there.

 

Having given the new paint on the chassis about 5-6 days to dry hard, I applied the first of the graphics on the side rails.  The Studebaker Spl script is cut vinyl, wasn't too difficult to apply as long as I went slowly, then rubbed it down well.  I looked into having a shop that does sign painting by hand paint the graphics on, but the quote came back at over $3000 and they wanted the car for a week or two.  With $100 worth of vinyl graphics, which included the 24" high numbers and the Studebaker Wheel logo, I know what it will look like -exactly - and I can think of other things to do with $2900.  There are some things that modern technology does extremely well.

 

I also mounted the two painted side panels for the engine compartment.  They look like what I wanted.  Five more pieces of the body to go.  I spent a few hours putting back the shock absorbers, taillights, headlights, and hood straps that had been removed to paint the chassis.

 

Right side.

 

Left side.

 

Original car 18 with graphics.  Mike at the wheel, strange guy as passenger.

Edited August 23, 2021 by Gary_Ash (see edit history)

[edinmass]

The sign painting trade sure has changed from 40 years ago........back when hand lettering and striping were all done by hand for cash out of the back of an old Chevy van. Just be sure you are using HP vinyl or it will fade fast..........

[Terry Harper]

Looks very nice! Since I have benign tremors I couldn't sign paint if my life depended on it. However, I have used vinyl for stencils which works well. They have a less sticky material that works well for that. I usually brush the paint rather than spray so it looks hand painted to a certain degree.

 

 

[Gary_Ash]

The tail and the two top hood panels got their basecoat today.  Cowl and belly pan next.  The car has to go in the trailer on Thursday night for our trip to the Studebaker International Meet in Indianapolis, will be close!

 

Tail and hood panels in the paint booth.

 

[edinmass]

Nothing like putting on parts on car at the Pebble Beach parking lot Saturday night at 11 PM……. Been there done that  

[Gary_Ash]

I got the tail and the two top panels for the hood today, mounted them on the car.  The paint shop has done great work filling and sanding the surfaces before painting.  The carburetor bulge in the hood especially needed a lot of work but came out wonderfully.  My fingers are crossed that I get the cowl and belly pan on Tuesday because we need to leave for Indianapolis and the Studebaker meet on Thursday.  That won't leave time for any engine tuning, so things had better be right enough as they are.  

 

 

 

Hood panels and tail mounted on the chassis after paint.  The back axle is raised in preparation to put the belly pan back.

 

Hood and carb bulge.

 

Carb bulge closeup.

 

The tail looks straight and smooth after a little bodywork and paint.  Larkina, my shop manager mannequin, seems to approve the work.

[Studemax]

Looking good, Gary.... Time to letter the car or paint a number on it?

[Mike Macartney]

Wow Gary, a work of of art, just beautiful. You should be very proud of what you have achieved. Mike 

[Gary_Ash]

I have the vinyl graphics for the 24" high numbers and for the 12" diameter wheel logo.  I'll wait a bit to apply them, as the paint really needs to harden some more - some people would say wait a full month.  I also want to wait until I get all the registration papers and state inspection done, so I can pretend it's not really a race car...

 

Computer rendering  of car with graphics.

[Gary_Ash]

We're getting down to the wire now.  The paint shop was finally able to get paint on the belly pan and cowl today.  I'll pick up the parts tomorrow morning, will have to mount them while the paint is softer than I would like, but the car has to go in the trailer tomorrow afternoon for our trip to Indianapolis and the Studebaker International Meet.  I'm just hoping I can get it in the trailer before the wind and rains from Hurricane Ida get here.  It will be close.

 

 

 

[54Coupe]

Fantastic!!! I hope all goes well for you.

 

Dany

[Gary_Ash]

We have lift-off!

 

I got the cowl and belly pan from the paint shop.  The parts were outside in the rain when I got there, but the guy who had done the work said the paint was fine getting wet, better than being in the shop getting covered with grinding and buffing dust.  It took a couple of hours working slowly and carefully to get the parts in place without scratching anything.  Putting the belly pan on and off is a real pain, hope I don't have to take it off again any time soon.  The graphics will go on when the paint is hard in a couple of weeks.

 

The rain from Hurricane Ida paused briefly, so I drove the car onto the driveway and took some pictures.  Tomorrow, we hit the road!

 

Studebaker Indy car left front.

 

Studebaker Indy car right front.

 

Studebaker Indy car left rear.

 

Cockpit and upholstery.

 

Front end and instrument panel.

 

 

 

[Terry Harper]

Absolutely stunning! Love the colors. Just amazing!

[edinmass]

Just add gasoline & track! Looks great. Enjoy you meet.

[Studemax]

Have fun, great job!

[Autofil]

Fantastic job, from start to final panel assembly (you have some experience with that now) and the color suits the race car very well. A real eye catcher! Drive carefully to the meeting and harvest some nice feedback. Faboulus!

[Gary_Ash]

Today, Sept. 8, 2021, we accomplished what I had hoped to do:  we took the car to the Indy Speedway Museum and parked it next to one of the original five Studebaker Indy cars, #22.  A big hand goes out to the Museum staff who made this event possible.  A large group of Antique Studebaker Club and Studebaker Drivers Club members was there to share in the occasion.  The #22 car had not been outside the Museum building in many, many years.

 

 

[Studemax]

Outstanding, Gary - Bet you were proud and pleased!

[edinmass]

Looks great. Congratulations on a great build.

[Gary_Ash]

While we were in Indianapolis, I gave a talk about building the car at the SDC meet at the Marion County Fairgrounds.  We were in the Coliseum building, so I drove the car inside and parked it there while I gave the talk.  One of the guys in the audience made a video and later integrated the PowerPoint slides.  Here is the 45 minutes of video and audio now on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/S_R6Xmqd8xw

 

Sit back, relax, and enjoy!  Click the "full screen" button on the video to best see everything.  At the end, there is a good walk-around video of the car.

 

 

[Mike Macartney]

Hi Gary, 

After following this amazing build from the start. It was great to view the video, which I really enjoyed. At the end of the video I was surprised that 48 minutes had passed, it felt more like 15 minutes. From now on I will never look at aluminium bodied cars the same way as I have in the past. I now appreciate the amount of work that goes into the fabrication of the bodies. Thank you for taking the time and trouble in sharing your excellent work with us.

Best regards

Mike

[Gary_Ash]

As the car is (mostly) done, not too much to report.  I'm still working on getting a title and registration, going very slowly.  I've got to sort through all the extra parts and material in the garage, figure out what to keep, and unload the rest.  For example, I have a bunch of aluminum castings for the carburetor intakes, extra Stromberg EX-22 and EX-23 carbs, and the linkages to put them on 1929-42 Studebaker 250 cu in blocks. 

 

Symbolically, I took down from my office shelf the papier-maché head of the Daruma doll that I had bought in Japan many years ago.  Daruma is a representation of the Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk who brought Zen to Japan in the 5th or 6th century.  By Japanese tradition, the head is red, black, and gold, but the eyes are left blank.  When you set a goal or make a wish, you buy a Daruma, color in the left eye but leave the right eye empty.  This reminds you that there is a goal yet to be achieved.  I had a couple of goals when I bought the doll, but have accomplished them now, including finishing the car, so I finally got to color in the right eye of my Daruma doll.  See the Wikipedia article on Daruma:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daruma_doll

 

Coloring in the right eye on Daruma.

 

  

Mission accomplished!

[edinmass]

Building a car from nothing, is hell of an accomplishment!  Congratulations! Craftsmanship isn’t dead.

[Gary_Ash]

The car is finished - or is it?  A criticism I have heard a few times is that the 1967 Buick Riviera aluminum drums that I used don't look "period correct".  This is mostly because the 90 fins are crosswise to the drum surface as opposed to being ridges around the circumference.  Like many things, this can be fixed by the proper application of enough cubic dollars.  I contacted Typecast in England (http://brakedrum.co.uk) which makes custom cast aluminum drums with iron liners, the Alfin® design.  As it happens, they have made drums to the Buick dimensions before.  However, they omitted an outer lip that I think helps to keep out water and dust from the brakes due to the way it mates with the backing plates, but their finned drums might still be OK even with less overlap.  It isn't as if I am going to be driving in heavy rain or down muddy roads in an open, fenderless car.  Here are a couple of sketches of the drums from Typecast and a comparison of the original Buick drums with their offering.  The Typecast drums will each weigh about 2 lb less, but it's a minor reduction in unsprung weight.

 

I finally figured out why most drums have cross fins:  the drums can be die cast and require little machining on the outside.  Drums with radial fins need to be heavily machined to make all the fins.

 

The Buick drums don't really show that much but maybe I'm searching for perfection.  This isn't a cheap proposition.  I've 3D printed a one-quarter section of a Typecast drum, will check the fit against the backing plates to see how well it might seal out water, etc.  I'll have to pull off a wheel and brake drum to test this.  Then I'll have to decide if I want to bite the (expensive) bullet.

 

  

Buick Riviera 90-fin aluminum drum from 1965-67 era with custom Rudge-style hub for wire wheels.

 

Typecast's proposed radial-fin aluminum drum with iron liner.

 

 

Side view of Buick drum and cross sections of Typecast Alfin drum and Buick front backing plate.

 

3D printed quarter-section of Alfin drum for fit-up test. 

[Autofil]

Well, when I first noted the purpose of you posting I thought; safety first, looks second. But the non-cross fin version looks cleaner/nicer and would be a better fit for a 30s racer. The cooling effect award goes to the Buick version, even with the fins oriented as-is. Not sure how hard you will be pushing the silver gem requiring the outmost on the cooling side, after all the car is not that heavy! If the Bank of America grant you the dollars, I would say try out a set. Couldn’t harm the looks, and safety would still be good 😉

[Gary_Ash]

I removed a rear wheel and drum, installed the 3D-printed quarter-section of the Alfin drum.  Without the lip on the drum, I don't think there is enough engagement of the backing plate to keep out water and dust.  Putting the drum section in place immediately answered the questions I had about mating drum and backing plate, was worth the effort to do and near-zero cost to make the print.  So, I've asked Typecast for a price for drums to my drawings. 

 

 

Quarter-section of Alfin drum print installed on rear hub.

 

Top view of hub and quarter-section drum.  Note gap between drum and plate.

 

Rear view of drum mock-up and backing plate.  Standard aluminum drum has a lip that rides in the groove

at the lower half of the backing plate.

 

View of drum mock-up and rear backing plate.  Standard drum overlaps edge of backing plate at top half.

 

Front backing plate and alternate configuration Alfin drum with lip.  Note greater overlap compared to earlier post.

[Gary_Ash]

I'm still waiting for pricing from Typecast on the aluminum drums.  Just out of interest, I ran through some calculations of how much heat is generated by braking, was surprised how large the numbers were - though I shouldn't have been.

 

I looked at slowing down from 90 mph to 30 mph, like going through a tight corner in competition, also looked at 90 down to 60, 60 to 30, and 30 to zero.  The car weighs 2500 lb and the energy in a moving object is calculated from E = mv²/2, where m is the mass = weight/g and g=32.2 ft/sec² .  Mass has the unit "slugs".  I assumed that the deceleration rate is 1/2 g or 16.1 ft/sec², though in principle it could be twice that or a bit more on modern tires.  So, at 90 mph or 132 ft/sec speed, the car travels with 676,398 ft-lbs of energy.  Slowing to 30 mph at 1/2 g means 601,242 ft-lbs of energy gets dissipated in about 5.5 seconds.  Losing 1 ft-lb/sec equals 1.36 watts, so the total energy dissipation is 149.6 kW on average or 37.4 kW per wheel.  No wonder brakes get hot!  I've neglected the contribution to braking that the engine can provide.

 

For drum brakes, maximum safe operating temperatures are about 400 °F or 200 C.  Disks can run hotter.  Each aluminum drum with iron liner weighs about 17 lbs or 7700 grams, and the heat capacity of aluminum is about 0.89 Joules/gram-°C; for iron, about half that.  So, the 37.4 kW dissipated in 5.5 seconds generates 204,400 watt-seconds (or Joules) of heat which raises the temperature of the drum by about 50-55 °F, as some of the heat goes into the brake shoes.  Sounds OK.

 

The drums get cooled as they rotate in the air plus the forward speed of the car adds to the speed of the air over the fins.  I think the forward speed of the car is more beneficial than the wheel rotation, but the actual calculation of cooling rate of surfaces with high-speed air flow is complicated, i.e. I haven't found a good way to do it.  I think the answer is a few kW per drum in the Typecast configuration.  Conclusion: for every hard braking episode, there needs to be 10 or more seconds on average between events to prevent the drums from getting overly hot.  Four or five hard stops close together may take the drums and shoes to their upper useful temperature limit.  A helpful limiting factor, of course, is that it takes time for the car to accelerate to high speed.

 

You might ask why I didn't do these calculations before now.  I simply figured if the drums and shoes were good enough to stop a 4500 lb Buick, they were good enough on my 2500 lb Studebaker Special.  

 

More than you ever wanted to know about brake calculations!

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Gary_Ash (see edit history)

[alsfarms]

Nice evaluation.  So if spoken in percentage points, what percentage better will the aluminum over cast iron liner shed generated heat from braking than a solid cast iron drum? 

Al

Edited November 8, 2021 by alsfarms
clarity (see edit history)

[Gary_Ash]

Al, interesting question.  I think the 12" aluminum drums have a liner about 1/8" to 1/4" thick, meaning 3-7 lbs of the 17 lb total weight is iron liner.  Because of the difference in heat capacity, the iron drum will have a temperature rise about 75% higher than the aluminum drum with each hard stop.  So, fewer stops before brake fade sets in.  But, the iron should cool faster for the same reason, if the heat could flow to the outside surface, but the thermal conductivity of iron is only about 30% of aluminum so that will slow the cooling rate.  The iron drums are much heavier, possibly 40-50 lbs each, not good for unsprung weight.  Replacement drums for 1960s Buicks are only available in cast iron as the aluminum drums were expensive to make.  

 

Studebaker Indy cars #18, #34, and #37 have all been retrofitted with cast iron drums, #18 and #34 still race with these drums.  Sadly, #37 is now locked in a private museum in Salt Lake City.  The replica of car #46 races with Buick 90-fin aluminum drums like mine.

 

Studebaker car #18 with Buick iron brake drums. 

 

Studebaker car #46 (replica in Switzerland) with 90-fin Buick aluminum drums.  Note air scoops on backing plates.

[Autofil]

Excellent analysis of the transformation of rolling energy to friction effect required to haul from high speed to cornering speed in given rate. Only one thing about air, beyond air speed cooling the brakes, is the standing air resistance working against the lovely body and chassis, the same the engine are pushing the car up against at 90mph looking away internal friction of rotating parts; the same air resistance will slightly reduce your brake required energy consumption, especially at the upper end. This is true even if you tell me that the beatiful Stude is tunnel tuned and optimized with air drag reducing countermeasures, as it will have an natural impact (if not inspace). How much; probably negliable in the overall aspect of brake temperature. Rotational mass speed reduction at given rate may be an even larger contributor, if not counterbalanced by the engine trottle vaccum effect. And tire rubber deflection and internal resistance losses, how will this affect the calculation. Please bear with me, I am just impressed over your insight and skills, and just want to point out that you have already had these elements in mind. We all need to do assumptions at one point. Even me. Again, thank you for the accomplishment with the Stude build Gary 👍

[alsfarms]

So it appears that cast iron was used to minimize brake fade, where's aluminum would have been the choice for reducing unsprung weight.  Am I seeing this picture correctly?

Al

[Gary_Ash]

53 minutes ago, alsfarms said:

So it appears that cast iron was used to minimize brake fade, where's aluminum would have been the choice for reducing unsprung weight.  Am I seeing this picture correctly?

Al

No, the iron drums fade faster AND weigh more.

[edinmass]

A few weeks ago, I drove our Duesenberg on the "tail of the dragon" while tooling around the back roads of the Smokey Mountains. Had a blast..........car suffered from rather severe brake fade.........and when they cooled down improvement was back to 80 percent of when I started. I have experienced brake fade on mechanical brakes with pressed steel drums in the past.......it is severe and scary. The J was very controllable and predictable. Just caution needed.....but thats 6000 pounds of iron going 65 to 25 mph.........it was a fantastic drive, and a top ten driving experience of my lifetime. Today? I just pulled all the wheels and drums...........it needs a brake job............ the Blue Ridge switchbacks just kept piling on. I expect to see an unusual amount of friction wear..........will know more tomorrow. 

[pjthys]

Fascinating, read your story completely and must say: broeva, haroo

fantastic