Projects 53 COOP (Studebaker) gets a major makeover

Good progress

 

Taking another detour....

So when I was carefully mixing up a 500ml batch of Feather Fill, which required 10ml of MEK, I hastily and accidently started to add the MEK to the wrong container....THE OPEN AND 3/4 FULL GALLON FEATHER FILL! I poured only about 5ml and caught myself in the mistake, and thought I should stir it in thoroughly so it would be such a slight concentration it would still be okay. NOT!

So I did the roll-on painting of Post #298, which worked okay. Then, last Sunday, I decided to do the driver-side rear fender. Before I mixed up the epoxy primer, I thought I ought to check out the condition of the Feather Fill. WELL, THE 5ml OF MEK HAD TOTALLY CATALYZED THE REMAINING FEATHER FILL INTO A SOLID MASS.....a very expensive chunk of plastic!

So I ordered a couple of quarts of Slick Sand and am awaiting its delivery.

Which brings me back to the detour...

I've decided I'm not gonna use the electric fan and instead go back to my original plan to use a mechanical fan and build a fan shroud. The 17" fan I had long ago purchased, so first I mounted it with a 1-1/2" fan spacer and then took a lot of careful measurements. Next, I drew the shroud up in CAD. Note that the radiator is 1.5 degrees out of parallel with the fan:



Today, I made a wood buck, using various scrap wood:

I am going to clamp an 18" I.D. band around the discs with the proper 1.5 degree taper, which I fabricated out of two almost-discs and spacer blocks. This is the setup on my bandsaw to cut the discs perfectly circular. It's got a pin at the center to rotate it asa a unit and cut the 9" radius:



This is after the rotation:



And here it is with the tapered disc mounted to a plywood piece that simulates the actual size of the radiator frame to which I will mount it with #10 screws and nutserts:



Well that's where I am now. When the Slick Sand arrives, I will get back on the fender, but, until then, I will start attaching sheet metal to the buck. I'm gonna mount the hoop and then build all round it with the corner pieces, etc., tack weld it together, and cut the inside part of the hoop off and finish weld. We'll se how that goes..

Later.....

 

Well as much as that sucks I’m looking forward to seeing the fan shroud project

 

This video might help you save some time and material... and a bunch of welded seams by making it in one piece.

My brother ran a local sheet metal shop for 20 years and during that time he built fan shrouds for about every dirt track car in town. He did the layout, but didn't fold the curves and leave all those ugly creases. He would fold the mounting flanges, then just bend the circle over his knee, or an acetylene cylinder, or about anything that was handy.

I went with him one time to a friends shop on Saturday morning while they were changing heads and rear gears on a Camero. They didn't have time to take the car to his shop. The car was 20 miles from his shop, so he just worked in their shop. I watched him build them a shroud. All they had for metal was the skins off an old refrigerator., but tin is tin, haha. He did the layout, then cut it out with an old rusty pair of snips. He folded the straight flanges on a step bumper with a piece of angle iron clamped on, then bent the circle around am old wheel. A few pop rivets to join the seam at the bottom and screwed the flanges to the radiator supports and it was done. Took about a half hour.

They finished second in the 30 lap main that night at 180 degrees. First time that car ever finished a race when it wasn't in the center of a big cloud of steam, haha.

 

WOW! Thanks, Fabber. While I am probably going to use measurements right off the buck, It gives me an idea to lay pieces of flashing material, which can be cut with a good pair of scissors, right over the buck to make patterns. That will be better than paper patterns. Then I can tape the segments together and make a seamless piece for each side or quadrant.

Thanks a bunch for the posting.

 

Just screw your four templates together and make the shroud in one piece.

 

I did something similar, but used foam & muslin, then glassed it. Wanted metal, but the thin depth & shape made metal near-impossible for me to do. Made a form, stretched & tacked the muslin, dampened & dried it w/a hairdryer(to shrink & tighten it up), & glassed over it. Foam was for the tight corners. Worked well. What I did find later, was I needed more opening for airflow at hiway speed, so made holes in the "dead-flow-zones"(corners) & put thin rubber flaps that opened at hiway speeds. I was using a pr of electric fans(truck had a/c added to a flattie-v8), & w/the holes, the a/c off, & at hiway speed, didn't need to run.
Edit: Forgot to mention, due to the rad size & 2 fan sizes, a small portion of the blade path overhung the rad edges. I just used a cupped filler piece to block off the fan overhang, so it didn't suck air outside the rad, everything went thru the core. Worked well.
Marcus...

 

It's not that simple. The fan top is above the radiator tank, so there is a flat and steep-sloped part above the top of the core that has to be accommodated. It is definitely not as simple as on the video you posted. I will head the way I originally drew it up and see how the flashing works for making templates.

 

Very similar to what I did on 33 COOP. I made a smooth buck on which I planned to tig weld aluminum sheet. The plug was wood, and the first attempt at tig welding the aluminum was not gonna happen because of the wood smoke interfering with the welding. So I used the buck as a plug and made a fiberglass shroud,,,back in '01:

 

Put a sheet metal band around the plug and build it as I designed it (hopefully)....

So, plug in hand, I began the fan (shrouded in secrecy)

I decided to build it out of #20 Ga. (easy to form, so-so on welding. I cut a 3" x 48 strip and wrapped it around the plug.....then I wrapped around a propane tank to pull it into a smaller radius that sprang back to about the right radius to wrap smoothly around the plug. Of course it took an additional 8.5" strip to reach all around.





Now for a challenge: laying out the sloped "notch" at the top.

I tried something that didn't require 3D CAD or descriptive geometry layout....LASER!

By clamping a board in my woodworking bench vice at a specific angle and clamping a laser level to that board, I was able to cast a line on the hoop to mark on the outside at several increments:





Then I marked at each of the increments, traced the pattern onto a mylar drafting film, folded it along the enter line and made a symmetrical template:





Next, just cut along the dotted line and voila!:


Then I used the scissors and the flashing material to make a cover pattern.



Then I made the cover out of 20 GA,, including a doubled over edge to reinforce it, and tack welded it in place:







Next day, I metal finished that seam (the tab is tacked on to connect the ground):



'Nuff for now...later

 

Continuing......

Fabber McGee's video was an inspiration for the laying out of the transitions, but I did it a little different. First, I built the three triangular side pieces and bent flanges at the inside edges to keep them rigid along the bend lines. I then tack welded them to the hoop and screwed the two vertical sides to the plywood in holes in the flanges which will be where I bolt them to the radiator frame.





Then the geometry at the corners begins. First, I cut a strip of mylar that wraps on the hoop from point to point of the triangles. That strip I folded and flattened the at the folds to make 8 sections of equal width. I taped it in place and marked the segments along the weld line on the hoop.



Then I used a trammel point set to measure from the corner to each of the segments, along with another scribing compass (digital caliper) to make a template on a pieces of flashing.





After I trimmed that template for a decent fit, I traced it onto a piece of 20 GA., formed the sheet metal over a aerosol paint can, and tacked it into place:



The two bottom corners are the same (opposite hand), so the same template will work for both sides. Then I repeat the process for the two upper corners. Gettin' close....

Oh, by the way, once I remove the plug, I will be cutting inside to remove excess hoop and (probably) the stiffening flanges.

To be continued......

 

Gettin' closer.....

Today, I made the upper corner transitions and tacked them and the other lower corner transition in place:





So, now I can remove metal from the plug:





Then I cut most of the excess inside hoop away. After mounting it back on the plywood radiator simulation board, I will be concentrating on the outside welding and metal finishing. After that, I will cut away the rest of the excess metal inside, make it pretty, and paint it.



Bye for now......

 

Looking good

 

Almost ready to make pretty.....

So now I thought I would mount it to the radiator and see if everything fits. NOT!

The lower hose doesn't clear the transition piece in the passenger side corner. I knew it would be close, but it wasn't even close to fitting. So I pulled the radiator along with the hose, drilled and tapped a bunch of holes in the radiator frame, and cut away the transition just enough to clear:









Well, the metal finishing skills were my usual not-so-good (except for the laser indicated seam at the top), so tomorrow I am going to do the Bondo thing to make it look pretty.

Later, good buddies

 

Brief, but apropos change of pace.....

My wife does crossword puzzles and the like every day. Here's what she found in today's Washington Post:





How about that......

So today I did a fit check on the shroud and found a good mounting for the burp can:



All is well.

 

That’s a lot to package ! Good progress

 

Talk about 10 lbs of crap in a 5 lb bag! And I thought my C3 Vette lower hose was tight, holy cow.
Looking good! Keep at it!

 

Along with the 10 lbs.in a 5 lb. sack, I theorize that engineering is painting yourself into a corner and then trying to figure a way to get out of it (at least that's been my experience)!

Most of this has been caused by my need to raise the radiator higher than the thermostat with the extremely low hood on the '53-'54 Studebakers.



The Hawks had a different solution to get the radiator higher.......

 

I just started a design job at a place that makes square to rounds for dust collection systems. We even use software that you just punch in the numbers and it kicks out a laser program and bend iformation.

 

I started my engineering education at General Motors Institute in Flint in 1962. I remember in a drafting class I had to develop the shape of a car hood using descriptive geometry. No computer systems then. I was sponsored by Chevrolet Engineering Center (my co-op), in Warren, MI. The drafting tables there were large and horizontal with the layouts being done full scale and guys laying across the tables with french curves and triangles with weights. BOY! I am so old school!!!

 

That's what I wanted to do after high school, but I had a hard enough time in high school, and no real way to get my foot in that big door.

 

Hello again guys and gals...

We all know that life is a journey.....and so is building a car. So I built the fan shroud as a departure from body work and prep for painting at the rear. The journey has been up front, in the engine bay, and now I will depart on a journey back to the tail end (not the tale's end).

After the shroud, I decided to mount the A/C drier and do all the hoses:



I also tack welded in a hole filler in the firewall so I could permanently mount the fuel filter and transmission dipstick. Then, after also running the transmission cooler lines (a real PITA), I went back to the exhaust. Quite a while ago, I had built most of the exhaust to the rear of the mufflers. I was planning to have an equalizer crossover, but as of now, I have eliminated some joints and decided to let it be a sound with a little lumpier character.



I also connected the emergency brake cables and other than changing the distributor (I had originally planned on fuel injection which uses a distributor with no mechanical or vacuum advance), I am woring to starting the engine and ultimately, removing it to finish and paint the engine compartment.

But back on the journey.... do you sense where this journey is going?

Well, a '53 Studebaker is designed to not provide a lot of room for dual exhaust. The gas tank is offset to the driver side and the single exhaust was on the passenger side, and the stock tailpipe hung pretty low below the bumper. This is not part of my making the customized car look KOOL!

So I made a fixture to mount a piece of 2" exhaust where it could tuck up close to the bumper. I welded a flat bar to each of two 2" muffler clamps and clamped them to the bottom pf the frame, with the centerline of the pipe even with the bottom of the frame:


This will allow the pipe to be firmly mounted while I build the connecting pipes from the back of the mufflers. I'm going to pass the pipe from the inside of the frame to the outside just above the spring just in front of rear shackles.

Hey! How'd I get back here to the rear of the car again? Oh, yeah, it's part of the journey.

Well, guys, I have been thinking of the next issue for a long time...

Studebaker's cheapness about some things drives me a little bit crazy, as I'm sure it did to Raymond Loewy and Bob Bourke when they were designing it. One thing is the area below the rear bumper. They put a piece of black sheet metal to cover up the back of the frame and they abruptly ended the bottom of the fender below the bumper.





THE CAR NEEDS A ROLLED PAN!

So today, I figured a way to do it and am making good progress. I got a piece of 3" O.D. x 36" long exhaust pipe ( I believe it is about 1mm thick wall) and slit it along the length with enough to make a 1" flat flange and about 1-3/4" flat above the 90 degree roll. Then I clamped a straight bar to align the 1" flange portion with the top of the vice jaws and flattened the full length. Then I did the same on the 1-3/4" edge and flattened it in two passages thru the jaws of the vice. My arms are tired!





I installed some nutserts, so that it bolts in place where the black sheet metal piece bolted.





Now I need to begin the shaping of the end pieces....

But that's left for another story about the journey.

See ya....

 

Car is looking good. Why is this the only thread that comes up when I search for custom car revival 2024?

 

Other than I referred to not being able to complete 53 COOP in time to make it to the CCR , I'm not sure. I have decided to take my 40 COOP, instead, since I already had made reservations.

 

Because the hamb search feature is pretty crummy. Go to Google and put “custom car revival 2024” hamb and it’ll pull more up if there’s more to be found

 

I know about the show Tim. I’m making plans to go. Just thought there should be a discussion here somewhere.

 

I know I just figured that may find the discussion you’re looking for. You can use Google to search the hamb.

also I havnt really seen much mention of it. Normally I might see something very close to the date pop up or a thread of photos after the fact. Custom stuff on the hamb has always been thin it seems

 

If you can't find a thread, why don't you start thread yourself?

 

Sorry for being behind in my posting. Need to get 40 COOP up to snuff to drive it to the CCR. Snuff only means that it's 'nough to get it there and back, safely. It's been sitting idle for a while. Oh, I forgot to tell you how I hit my wife's Solara's back fender with my back fender. Hers has been fixed for awhile, but mine has been body worked, but not painted. I took it to a body shop in Annapolis, this afternoon....should be back in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, I did work on the completion of the exhaust on the passenger side. First I roughed in the end of the rolled pan to fit around the tailpipe:



Next, I worked on an exhaust hanger that would hold the pipe rigidly in position relative to the cutaway on the rolled pan. So I went to the CAD machine and designed this bracket:



Then I made it with some stainless rods and bracket and the hot wrench, bolted it in place and welded the rod to the top of the tailpipe:





Finally, I trimmed the end of the pipe at the same angle as the leading edge of the bumper:



Now onto the driver side exhaust and finish up the rolled pan.......

Let's keep in touch!

 

OOOhh, nice! . I like the dbl-rubber hanger idea.
Marcus...