1927 Buick Speedster project

[Motorpirate]

My son and I are working on making a Speedster from the leftovers of a local shop's Street Rod project.

Basically it's the complete running gear/radiator shell and hood.

The car came to Ky in the early 90's as a Touring car, with rotten wood and 

a "supposedly" rebuilt engine.

After the body was sold the frame/complete running gear went into storage in the basement of a friends house where it was disassembled more and then became the victim of "Project Creep".

It has sat in that garage under a protective pile of car parts for over 35 years. Thankfully on a concrete floor!

The first thing we did was re install the radiator, hung my old "temporary" fuel tank on it and added some very simplified wiring (harness is totally missing, along with the vacuum tank fuel system).

We spun it over until the cheap oil pressure guage we added to plug the port left empty by the exit of the dash when the body was removed and when it had pressure ( 25 Lbs cranking) we turned on the fuel/spark and generator field and it started!!

 

It came with a pair of speedster seats and a copper speedster gas tank,

and 4 newish firestone wide whites.

We spent more time mounting the tires than we did getting it running!

 

It has the "Dreaded" potmetal distributor, that is oddly NOT frozen in the generator yet and we only have half the number of lug nuts and wedges we need, so for now it only has 3 per wheel.

 

Anyway here are some pics and i will add a few YouTube video links shortly.

[Motorpirate]

https://youtu.be/CIIPoLsPsk0?si=KJIbFwpE5H2GXbsE

[Motorpirate]

https://youtu.be/DHKgMZ3ljgg?si=PigClHjxqcgW2YJY

[Motorpirate]

https://youtube.com/shorts/D2jv3Ooc2m0?si=jYxMDH3ocPQ7er7g

[Motorpirate]

https://youtube.com/shorts/OEifRAxHV5w?si=Aci-T5s-AldqitnZ

[Motorpirate]

https://youtu.be/Dxf4N3NcpwQ?si=d6EdS3mHb-PpFUkV

 

prototype fuel system, 12 volt Carter pump, running on 6 volts (for half volume and half pressure) 

With a 80's Jeep Wagoneer fuel filter with a return, and a pressure regulator and gauge.

Seemed stable at 3 Lbs. and needle and seat seemed ok with it.

[r1lark]

Engine sounds great! Y'all are more than halfway there! 

[motoringicons]

Looks like a great car! Have fun!!

[Motorpirate]

So we are starting to fab up a firewall using scrap plywood (final version will be oak) and I have noticed the engine is longer than the hood!!

I guess the length is left over from the 4 cyl days?

We are planning on leaving the rear as open as possible for air flow, but how close can I get the wood to the exhaust manifold before fire is an issue? 

[a sell]

One solution would be to find the remains of a 40s to 50s Chevrolet car, or truck cowl. It is recessed about 2-1/2" so as to give more foot room while compensating for the length of the engine.