1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

[std]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

I haven't even read this whole thread, but it is great. What do you do for a living...something with words?

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Funny you should say that! My GF and I were talking about just that tonight... I wonder if I could get
paid to write? I do enjoy it immensely. Reckon how to go about doing that? Maybe a magazine or blog?
If only! Currently I work offshore in Gulf of Mexico on a drilling rig as a subsea engineer. Pretty much
just doing maintenance because it pays more than I can make as a design engineer! Go figure... I love
designing car parts and working on hot rods and would like to do more of that someday.
Thanks again. I've almost got y'all up to date...

Dwayne

[std]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Do you know John MacDanial?

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Seriously, that's cool! Are they open under the lid? I'd be interested to see what would happen with a bit of ducting, ramps, or dividers in the plenum, that kind of volume would make it a bit lazy I would think.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Seriously, that's cool! Are they open under the lid? I'd be interested to see what would happen with a bit of ducting, ramps, or dividers in the plenum, that kind of volume would make it a bit lazy I would think.

Wet flow maybe, but I'd think the dry flow would be fine.

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Well what is the volume of the plenum in relation to the engine size? The bigger the plenum the slower the engine will know there is more throttle open. Also with no fuel to puddle out it means you won't loose the mixture but choatic flow inside of a box costs power fuel or not.

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Sorry I don't know John MacDanial and haven't found anything in internet searches so far...

I realized early in the engine design that my intake was not gonna be a plus for horsepower.
There are a couple single plane intakes available now, including an really awesome one from
Potter, that would probably make more power. But I figured I would be close and certainly
have more than enough power to be fun and dangerous! Now the streetability is still very
questionable. Let me explain...

A couple years ago I made a trip to TN to witness a friend's engine on Potter's dyno. It was
much simpler than what I was planning but I wanted to hear one of these bad Cadillacs run.
The engine was an iron headed pump gas roller engine and made 600hp and 600 ft lbs. I was
impressed. At the time I was planning 10:1 compression with the new heads and a little larger
camshaft. Potter predicted 650/650 for my build. Fast forward a couple years and my engine
now had 11.5:1 compression with a really large solid roller camshaft along with almost every
other expensive part they could add including 400 cfm heads. Myself and others felt 700 pump
gas horsepower and 700 ft lbs from the normally aspirated monster might be possible.

When dyno day came we made a few runs with the EFI and reached 640 hp. I had designed
the linkage to only open the front 4 throttle blades until 30% throttle then progressively open
the rear 4 till all 8 were fully opened at WOT. We felt with the open plenum the engine would
be able to get air to all cylinders much like other modern EFI cars get their air from one end of
the intake. But my throttle bodies were just too large. At 2" who knows but we estimated we
had about 3200 cfm available! The engine was bellowing like gangbusters until the rear throttle
bodies were opened and it would just kinda bog. We unhooked the rear 4 and ran only on the
front 4 and were still just over 640 horsepower.

The tuner we were using was having some difficulties also. The EGTs were getting high but the
O2 sensor was showing rich. He had maxed out my 50 lb/hr injectors. We had some issues
that are still being debated even today.

On about the 4th or 5th pull things went sour. We increased the fuel pressure to make the
injectors act bigger and fired her up again. I quickly noticed there was no oil pressure and got
Matt to shut it down! The Cadillac oil pumps are famous for having the relief valve stick so we
assumed that was the case even though mine had already been carefully deburred. The oil
pump was removed to work on that issue and we noticed what looked like gold metal flake
paint in the drain pan! Something was terribly wrong...

This was my first really all out build where I had paid to get an engine built and don't and I was
a mess. The engine was torn apart questions were flying. The crankshaft was bent .006 and
it seemed all the metal had come from the center main and a couple rod bearings. The rest
of the engine looked fine. Not sure how it happened but I feel the crank was bent prior to
assembly. But supposedly it turned over fine after the mains were tightened. Jerry Potter
blamed my EFI and detonation for the carnage. Either way she had to be put back together
and made better. The crank was turned to straighten and one rod had to be re-sized. New
bearing and it was ready to be reassembled. But because of their attitude with the EFI I
borrowed a single plane and Dominator carb from a friend for the second round of dyno runs.
This time there were no issues and the power improved to 652hp at 6000 rpm and 667 ft lbs
of torque at around 4800 rpm. But engine was still pretty fat and timing conservative. EGT's
were around 1250 when it made max power but even colder than that for most of the pull.
I think 524 ft lbs was lowest value at 2400 rpm.

Some time has passed now and things are looking a little clearer. I went ahead and brought
the engine home to be installed into the Studillac. Since my engine was ran there have been
a couple others built and ran and lessons learned. It seems that there are some issues with
the initial heads with the valve jobs. Two other early headed engines have had un-concentrically
cut valve seats that didn't seal fully. It was also discovered that larger valve springs and push
rods were needed to stabilize the valve train at higher rpms. These issues allow for some
explanation in EGT vs A/F readings, maxed out fuel injectors, and power falling off just past
6000 when it should have climbed to 6500. With these issues in mind there will be some
more engine work performed soon. On the intake I spent some time with carb expert and
head designer Stan Justice to figure out what to try. At first we thought the runners needed
to be extended and throttle bores made smaller. My shortening of the intake to gain hood
clearance made for an abrupt air direction change to get into the runners. Jerry had a cast
top for the manifold lying around that raised the throttle bodies 1 5/8" straightening out the
flow paths somewhat but increased the plenum volume. We debated on forming some internal
runners to build more torque and power. But decided there was plenty of both already and
we just needed to make it drivable. Stan told me how to make some bushings that were
pressed into the new intake top to reduce the throttle bores to 1.5" each. The throttle
linkage was also changed to only run on the front pair up to the 30% throttle. We did this
to boost the vacuum signal to the MAP sensor and hopefully allow the MAP to control the
fueling farther into the rps before the computer resorts to the fuel tables when the signal
degrades. This should work fine provided there is still enough air available for normal driving
and the tip in from the other 6 throttle bodies isn't so violent that the car cant be controlled.

The grooves around bushings are for o-rings used to seal throttle bodies to intake top.
Its too tall for the cowl hood now unless I remove the velocity stacks, gonna go this way
for the time being! Another possible issue was the distributor. None of us really understood
what FAST wanted us to do and still not positive if we had it right. Once the valve job is
verified, springs and pushrods changed and perhaps a couple other tweaks I will take the
car to Memphis and a FAST expert for proper tuning. I've learned so much with this project
but it has cost dearly!

Hoping for 600 hp at rear wheels after the tranny is broken-in...

Dwayne

[DanStokes]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

I admire your tenacity. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day - in fact recent research indicates that it might have taken as long as twice that.

Dan

[fast Ed]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Just read through this thread for the first time ... WOW!! Killer buildup, great work. Love the Salt Flat wheels on the car, and stay at it with the EFI, it looks amazing.


cheers
Ed N.

[Darren N.]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

I absolutely dig all the pics and write-ups. I am simply amazed by the amount of detail work and custom touches you have put into your Stude, it's way awesome man! 8)

I admire your tenacity. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day - in fact recent research indicates that it might have taken as long as twice that.

Dan

lmao - Dan, you never fail to crack me up with these posts :D

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Thanks guys, tenacious? I'm proud to have that moniker! And yes I am a detail freak. I've dreamed
of being able to build a car like this for years and am trying to do it all in one ride! I think it is truly a
Dare to be Different ride... Studebaker, Cadillac, custom efi, manual tranny, 3 link rear, etc, etc. I just
hope the final product completes the dream...


I think I mentioned earlier that in hindsite I should have moved the firewall back a bit. The front of the
engine is very crowded, but not like it once was. The belt arrangement was horrendous on the Cadillac
engine when I bought the car. And the radiator was so close that the electric engine cooling fan's motor
was literally in the crank hub to fit!

At that same time many companies were introducing compact serpentine drive systems that really
dressed up some engines, but of course none were available for the Cadillac. When I decided to stay
with the odd engine combo I knew I would have to find some room at the front of the engine. I had
recently finished the design work on a serpentine belt drive for an 8.1 GM engine for a forklift that
needed an engine driven air compressor and was confident I could make it happen. So after several
months maybe even years, I have a pretty neat and compact serpentine belt system for the Cadillac
that uses a compact ac compressor and remote reservoir power steering pump with one idler and one
tensioner. I went thru several sets of brackets and even changed accessories a couple times but
considering no reverse rotation water pump, it's unreal how simple and clean it turned out! One of
the Cadillac vendors, MTS, is going to sell the system as a kit. We added some detailed pulleys and
used a different PS pump for their kit and hopefully will be available soon.

After lowering the engine the oil filter would no longer clear the steering rack. Using a Canton Racing
rotatable remote filter adapter I moved the filter out behind the passenger front tire along with a small
oil cooler to help shed some more heat. It was very tight getting the hoses past everything and I ran
then under the fender along with the ac and heater hoses. I hope I don't regret mounting the filter and
cooler there but I think it will work and it will be easy to service! Just gotta dodge road debris...

Dwayne

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

I have simular space issues and plumbing routing. I'm going to armour mine, I don't want to oil down my tires due to a rock. Most of the stuff will have a sheet metal fairing over it but some of the freestanding hardline will be inside of some old -10 AN line that I scavenged off of a Craftsman truck that I don't want to mess with the ultralight crimp fittings.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

wow.... love learning with the having to invest in the learning..... excellent work on that monster motor

[Morgan]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Currently I work offshore in Gulf of Mexico on a drilling rig as a subsea engineer. Pretty much
just doing maintenance because it pays more than I can make as a design engineer! Go figure... I love
designing car parts and working on hot rods and would like to do more of that someday.
Thanks again. I've almost got y'all up to date...

Dwayne

I used to work off shore in the Gulf of Mexico for a drilling company. I was on a drilling platform on top of an Exxon Production platform. I flew out of Intercoastal Louisiana.

Cool project, love the write up and the engineering behind it.

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Hey Morgan, watching the Mustang build! Gonna be sweet... I work for Transocean under contract
with Chevron on an ultra-deep water rig. Its kinda neat! We fly out of Leeville, LA. This well is in
4900 feet of water and next on is 6550 or so. But we are supposed to be capable of 12k feet!
This ship is just out of the shipyard and on its first job... Not a bad profession if you don't mind
being gone from home... Time off sure is nice!



For what its worth here is some dyno video footage! This was early on first day with the EFI
so it was lazy but the cam sounds mean to me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYHQXRHiof4

Dwayne

These dyno results are a later session after rebuild with a borrowed carb...