The "Whatever" Project

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Yes Sir .......
Its like giving a Operator a can of Starting Fluid in Sub Freezing Temps to start his dozer.......
A little bit is Good......
A half a Can Has To Be Better !!

Did you ever...

No, never!

Then why's your eyebrows missing?

You remember snowmobiles where the engine was between your legs? And if it was something like a Skidoo Blizzard with a 292 or 340 single with the Tillotson HD carburetor pointing right at the family jewels? And did you race it on methanol with some Castrol Nitroblend? And did you have the head machined for ridiculously high compression? And did you ever hole a piston? And laugh all the way home because you won on your stock class machine about $200? And did you think about what it was going to cost to replace all of the broken stuff in that Blizzard engine? And when you got to the local tavern drink 2 or 3 beers? And then, and only then, realized that you had a great time even if it ended up costing $600-700?

Yup same idea...

[Captain]

Yes I DO Remember Snow Machine Racing !!
I still have my First Snow Machine....
A1972 Massey Ferguson SkiWhiz 440 twin !

And By the the way,......
Those Single Big Tillotson Carbs were Nick Named...
"Sack Suckers".....

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Yes I DO Remember Snow Machine Racing !!
I still have my First Snow Machine....
A1972 Massey Ferguson SkiWhiz 440 twin !

And By the the way,......
Those Single Big Tillotson Carbs were Nick Named...
"Sack Suckers".....

Around here, it was nut busters, but essentially the same...
My first sled, a 68 Skidoo 320 SS, had a nd cast aluminum ram horn. Ouch! By January 69 it was replaced by the rubber horns that became available.

The most fun sled was my 71 Blizzard Elan with a 292 Rotax free air Blizzard engine. That little beast was fast for its era, in a straight line. Oh shit for stopping or turning. The best sled was the last one, a 73 Skidoo TNT Free Air 340 twin. Good for about 85 mph, which was fast in those days. It wouldn't even be able to keep up with the mildest of today's trail sleds. I won't get on one, they scare me, and I know I'd want to see how fast whatever I was on would go. I doubt if I would survive it...

Stopped riding when I started racing dirt cars. Couldn't afford both! And a street vehicle. It also curtailed my mass consumption of libations, well until I allowed entry into the race car barn based on 6-packs.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Hoo boy did I spend a lot last night. Billet flywheel (SFI rated), extended pilot bushing because of the engine plate/firewall sandwich assembly, new ARP flywheel bolts, and 2 different types of header kits. Middle of next week delivery so I've got a few days to put the front suspension back on. Then it's on to finishing up on the fabrication of engine stuff. Good thing small blocks are essentially the same from 55 thru today's crate engines.

1 thing I haven't checked out yet is if the 283 has the bolt holes for a block mounted starter. If not, no big deal. I'll just have to make a drilling fixture copied from the 327 block and drill and tap 2 holes. I'm going to use a Tilton mini starter because I have a couple essentially new ones. So maybe 1 of these days I'll do something picture worthy again and have some real news...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Ooo, I love it when it's Christmas in August! 2 of the 3boxes of goodies arrived today. A flywheel and bolts, an extended pilot bushing, and 1 of the 2 header kits. Now I have to get out in the garage and do something...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Hoo boy, messed with the 1st header kit. 1st put the sparkplug wires back on. Kind of important to allow clearance for them to the wires. Need to get exhaust pipe for the tailpipes as well. I want them equal and parallel to the frame. So 3-D Tetris time.

And of course I had to go down another rabbit hole as well. I wanted to verify the provenance of the 283. The casting numbers on the back of the block are correct for a 58 283. So next was to checkout the stamped numbers up front.
Here's a picture of the number, T6IOD. TONAWANDA, the date and it had a Poweglide. All checks out with the car it came out of. And now I know everything I need to know about it. And relatively clean to boot. Should be able to start it up soon

[cstmwgn]

Is there a chunk missing on the left hand side of that water port?

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Is there a chunk missing on the left hand side of that water port?

No! Thank god! You scared me and I had to run out to the garage and check! Just a bad picture. That's on me...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Woo hoo! A BIG BOX showed up today! Header time...

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Quandary time. The 2nd set of header kit is so well made, that with very little fettling they will go together. And look like a set of sprintcar headers, just like every other t hot rod on the road. Or I can cut, weld, hammer, swear, alter, and otherwise work on them to try to create something like that pictured above, tri-Ys.

So what is the general consensus on headers? Majority rules, or I just do it however...

[Captain]

Bend to fit.....

Hammer to Clearance!

[cstmwgn]

I'm not smart enough to figure out exact figures but your an engineer so it should be in your wheel house. I DOUBT that tri-ys are going to give you noticeably more torque than a well designed set of equal length tubes. Remember they can be tuned to the powerband you want. But hey, don't let me stop you from building some extra kool one-off headers.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

I'm not smart enough to figure out exact figures but your an engineer so it should be in your wheel house. I DOUBT that tri-ys are going to give you noticeably more torque than a well designed set of equal length tubes. Remember they can be tuned to the powerband you want. But hey, don't let me stop you from building some extra kool one-off headers.

Been there, done that. Dan and I worked on a research engine years ago that only made 8 hp. During an overhaul, brought about due to overfuelling and underigniting (bent both connecting rods), I decided to rework both the intake and exhaust systems, using Helmholtz Resonance Theory. 10 dollar word to say supposedly properly tuned for the rpm range it operated in. Oh, and timed the cam slightly different from the way the research firm that supplied it had done.

Bottom line, it made a little over 12 hp after all that. The replacement rods? Well I took them fro the cutaway display engine in the lobby when the bosses weren't in the building. That display engine had cost 3.5-4 grand, on top of whatever we paid for the contract to get 3 engines and 3 ridiculously expensive computer control systems.

So I don't think I'll go thru that exercise for the Whatever project. In general, tri-Ys are good for enhancing low to mid range scavenging, at a slight loss of top end. 4 tube headers need to be tuned for the rpm range it will be operating in. So they can work for low end, mid range or top end, but there are always compromises with each design.

However, I don't care! 1500-1600 pound car, quick change rear so gearing can be adjusted to suit, and 4 or 5 speed transmission. And it's not going to be a daily driver. I'll live with the compromises.

So it comes down to style. And that's the question. Which look do you think is better? I'm open to suggestions and opinions...

[hauen]

180* headers. Sounds cool and makes people scratch their heads as to why you'd do something like that. Tri-Ys are a close second.

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

180* headers. Sounds cool and makes people scratch their heads as to why you'd do something like that. Tri-Ys are a close second.

Well, I don't think I have the skill to pull off 180 degree headers in this small car. Read on and see why.

Today I got the 283 in the engine bay. Here's a couple of pictures of the progress today.

Now I was thinking about running the exhaust inside of the hood and side panels. That's out! Look at the 1st picture. Draw a line in your mind's eye from the cowl to either one of those little tiny tabs on the crossmember in front of the engine. That's approximately how wide the nose is, and where the front of the side panels and hood would come to. And also there's a steering shaft down there halfway between the frame rail and the engine. Fortunately I also have a backup plan, plan b. That's just assemble the 2nd header kit as it was intended, sprint car style. And a quick look at the clearance this afternoon showed me that the tubes will be a couple of inches clear of the suspension components outside of the frame up front. And the collectors appear to line up with the lower frame tubes. So I can run 3 inch tubes alongside the frame to behind the body. And insert mufflers into the tubes.


Looking at these last 2 pictures, you can see that the clearance needed for a fan and the distributor worked out rather nicely. And there's no problem with the tight clearance at the distributor as that firewall/engine plate assembly is overkill and it will not allow the engine to move at all. And the fan can get closer to the crossmember in front of it, same thing. It'll never hit it. And the radiator is on the other side of the crossmember, so no chance of the fan meeting up with the radiator, unless it's REALLY bad! And I probably won't care if that were to happen. Well, at least if it was me driving...

So headers have been decided on. Engine mounting worked out. I'm going to make a set of front motor mounts that look better than the current setup, but won't change any clearance or engine orientation. Nuf said for now...