1926 ford model t hotrod project

[langy]

Thanks for the thumbs up

Thank God your posting again......I've had nothing to read the last 6 months

 

[langy]

I didn't think i had taken any pics of the heads but found these on my I phone so excuse the quality.



What I started with, pretty crusty !!!

After blending & fettling

With a coat of rattle can primer to see how they look

The heads have had a lot of work comprising of a full port and polish of the ports, chambers & valve throats, Also the pushrod holes have been opened up to 5/8" for the thicker pushrods and bigger valves fitted with uprated valve springs and teflon stem seals.

The AIR ports have been drilled and blocked off with NPT pipe plugs to avoid tubelence.

 

[RedOrZed]

Always brilliant stuff

 

[langy]

Cheers mate.

Always brilliant stuff

 

[vdubz]

Only just seen this thread, all i can say is WOW. What are you using to sand the engine smooth? and can basecoat/clearcoat be used on engines?

 

[langy]

Only just seen this thread, all i can say is WOW. What are you using to sand the engine smooth? and can basecoat/clearcoat be used on engines?

Thanks, First off I will begin by saying this is how I do it, others will have different approaches so not wrong just different ways of achieving the same thing.

Yes you can use COB, Heres one i did in basecoat, metalflake & lacquer

For the castings such as blocks, heads, water pumps etc etc I start off by using a angle grinder with a 60/80 grit flap disc in it, this is good for removing the big unwanted lumps and smoothing off the large areas and any corners, basically get in where you can with this.

Next I go around all the curved corners and awkward bits with a Tungsten burr in a Die grinder, I use burrs of different diameters and shapes depending on the raduis.

Then for the small areas between the corners and large areas i use an electric finger sander and 90 degree die grinder with Rolok discs.

Thats about it really, just get it all reasonably smooth, you don't need it perfect as the primer will do the smoothing job for you. This head was done this way and only has 1 coat of aerosol primer on it to see how it would look.

Ports and combustion chambers need to be a lot smoother and the same tools are used in the same steps but the metal surface needs extra work to get slippery smooth but not too smooth, a 320 grit finish is about right.

First job is to put on a gasket and draw around the opening, this is what you will open it up to, you then do the same with the inlet, To ensure it all lines up when refitted in the same place each time alignment dowels are fitted in 2 places.

Just a quick note that if you don't know about port & chamber shaping DO NOT remove large amounts of material, just blend any sharp edges and generally smooth out the surface.

After the above steps are done I go in with various grades of Cartrige/spiral abrasive rolls, these go down to 320 grit so the surface will be very smooth and can be left at this stage, If the surface is polished any more it can be counter productive.

Hope this helps.

 

[malcolm]

Just a quick thought - have you tried a ceramic disc on the angle grinder - they last longer and stay sharper. Much less hassle.

I can't imagine the time needed to prepare parts to that standard. I'll do a little work to stop things from rusting too much again and then keep the bonnet shut, but your photos are in another world. Big respect for that - would drive me mad.

 

[vdubz]

Thanks for your reply, very helpful. Keep up the great work

 

[Tupers]

Where do you buy your sanding rolls from like the ones in the last picture. I've been looking for a set for some stuff I want to do on my Mini head but all the kits I've found are over £60.

 

[pedrobedro]

I use something similar in smaller amounts for shaping, look for drum sander rolls. They are intended for woodworking but work on metal as well just for polishing. Like the smaller ones in this kit. You can buy the abrasive sleeves separately.

 

[langy]

Malcolm i like the flap discs because they get less aggressive when broken in, they also give a nice radius when worn.
Cheers for the kind comments, I'm not really mad

As for time each head took only 4 hours to do the outside, The porting takes a little longer.

Just a quick thought - have you tried a ceramic disc on the angle grinder - they last longer and stay sharper. Much less hassle.

I can't imagine the time needed to prepare parts to that standard. I'll do a little work to stop things from rusting too much again and then keep the bonnet shut, but your photos are in another world. Big respect for that - would drive me mad.

 

[langy]

I get them from America Tupers, they are much cheaper there at £30, If you want one let me know as i place an order every 2 weeks, pic below
RS Components wanted £60 for the same thing !!!

Where do you buy your sanding rolls from like the ones in the last picture. I've been looking for a set for some stuff I want to do on my Mini head but all the kits I've found are over £60.

 

[langy]

I've tried them Pedro and they are not bad but don't last as long as the Cartridge rolls, the nice thing about the cartridge roll is that when you go through the first layer you get another layer. I only used 2 on each head so they last very well.

I use something similar in smaller amounts for shaping, look for drum sander rolls. They are intended for woodworking but work on metal as well just for polishing. Like the smaller ones in this kit. You can buy the abrasive sleeves separately.

 

[langy]

Rockit asked about photos of the porting, I took these but its difficult to photo.

I dummied the heads & intake in place to check stuff and came across a couple of small problems to solve, firstly when the intake bolts are tightened down the washers bite into the paint This obviously don't look very nice so i made up some stepped washers in stainless, they still bite into the paint but now you can't see it

Next thing to address was the vacuum can on the dizzy, Its just zinc plated and will discolour quickly, beats me why MSD don't finish it better as the dizzy is nicely finished. I had a aluminium cover from Dickster but for some reason the MSD can is a bigger diameter so it didn't fit, sparked the lathe up and made one and blacked out the other bits.

I also spun up a back finishing ring to finish it off.

The rear heater connection on a Cadillac comes out the rear of the head (quicker warm up) only problem was that its straight and would foul my firewall, The easy fix was to tap the hole deeper with a 1" NPT tap (luckily i had one as I wouldn't want to buy one these days) and add a 90 degree hose fitting, I gave it a little polish t remove the blue anodising.

Next little problem was the head bolts, I like to usually cover the heads with flathead chrome acorn nut covers but the Cadillac bolts are much bigger, the solution was easy 5/8" stainless acorn nuts bored out with a 55/64" drill gave them a snug tap fit over the heads, a bit of silicone will make sure they stay put.

Next job is to paint the heads & the adaptor plates, probabley gonna be white like the block etc but i'm wondering about flaking them ??? We will see.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Robotstar5]

Top quality work do these projects ever get "really" finished? it seems like you keep spotting something that could be improved, modified or polished

 

[langy]

Top quality work do these projects ever get "really" finished? it seems like you keep spotting something that could be improved, modified or polished

Thanks Robot, yes they do get finished eventually, then i rag the ar$e of them

 

[EngineeringTatty]

Well thats all 30 pages read, some pictures downloaded to my archive - Class thread Langy!

Good stuff....

 

[langy]

Cheers for looking mate. Glad you enjoyed the ride so far

Well thats all 30 pages read, some pictures downloaded to my archive - Class thread Langy!

Good stuff....

 

[whahoo69er]

A riveting 30 pages. flawless work.

More pictures please

 

[langy]

A riveting 30 pages. flawless work.

More pictures please

Sorry for the lack of progress but I've had to come off this project for a short while as i've been building the car below as the racing bug has returned , Normal service will be resumed very soon.