|
I'm kind of dead set on driving it to at least Houston. I'll be honest I don't have much desire to drive from Austin to Los Angeles. At a bare minimum I would like to drive down canal Street in New Orleans. I plan on putting new pistons, rings and cylinders in it when I get to California. The cylinders apparently drop right in, they're an off the shelf part and between that and the pistons you get a compression bump (6.5 to 7.X the Australians claim it will run on kerosene at 6.5) and a tiny HP boost over factory new. I think Might as well push it as hard as I can before then. So apparently I forgot to talk about the time I drove onto the beach highly illegally and got yelled at by some Karen about how that wasn't allowed. There's a single photo I posted back on April 16 but I've got some pretty good video and a bunch of photos from when 20 people all ignored the Karen and helped push me through loose sand back to the street. I'll have to dig those out Looks like almost 6 months since I pickled the car. Ugh. Here's 
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2023 09:05
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 17:42 |
|
|
Hey man, how's your French nipplemobile? Please tell me it's not still in a shed somewhere.
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2023 15:10
|
|
|
The nipplemobile is in a storage unit somewhere in coastal NC. Under a dust cover still. Unfortunately.Hadlock posted:Car is officially officially pickled now I just paid the storage fees through January maybe a week ago. I started a new, big job mid November, and with the holidays etc. I was just thinking about this. It'll probably be late february. If I can find a warm dry weather window. The car does not (nor was it offered as an option) have a heater core in the cabin so not super psyched about driving it during the daylight hours below about 55F. There's a heater tube that runs from the back of the radiator into the cabin which helps but only just barely. It's pretty tolerable when outside temps are in the 50s once the block comes up to temp as it sits just a few inches from the firewall and warms up the floor pan pretty good. Current plan (subject to change) is to fly out third week of February and drive it using off-interstate routes and an average of 45mph (proven with the drive from DC to NC): NC - ATL: ~400 miles ~11 hours ATL - NOLA: ~470 miles ~ 13 hours* NOLA - HOU: ~360 miles ~8 hours *Alternately ATL - Mobile AL ~328 miles / 7 hours, then the next day 145 miles/3.2 hours to New Orleans Probably what I'll do is buy a one way ticket to NC and then... decide on a plan after I get there, probably heading in the general direction of Atlanta and then see what sort of bad decisions I can make from there. Hadlock posted:So apparently I forgot to talk about the time I drove onto the beach highly illegally and got yelled at by some Karen about how that wasn't allowed. There's a single photo I posted back on April 16 but I've got some pretty good video and a bunch of photos from when 20 people all ignored the Karen and helped push me through loose sand back to the street. I'll have to dig those out Oh right this part. Shown roughly in the order they were taken     I think of this last image often  I miss my car. There is about a ~6% grade (wild guess) between the wet surfy beachy area and where the, ahem, car-sized pedestrian entrance to the beach with an elevation of probably 20 ft and it was pretty powder dry, not super fine grain but definitely stuff I ought not be driving on. The car would stall trying to get up this hill through the deep sand and so, basically the entire beach, about 25 people gathered around (you can see them taking photos of the car in the reflection) and about 15 of them were highly amused at this old car driving up and down the beach and decided to help push the car the last ~10 ft or so up the hill, and cheered as I drove off like the end of some cheesy 80s movie. The video got saved to the wrong place I'll have to dig it out not on a work night.
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2023 09:42
|
|
|
I think I've told at least two of my neighbors in the last month that I'm going to try and drive it back. So I'll probably pick a weather window and at least shoot for atlanta. I feel like I can probably make NOLA if the stars align. Hadlock fucked around with this message at 12:22 on Jan 9, 2024 |
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2024 09:24
|
|
|
If you're into French pre war cars and live within a 8 hour drive of socal, the Mullin Museum is closing forever on Feb 10 https://maps.app.goo.gl/hAnEPBkYPzc1GLaz5 They're only open from 10-3 Fridays and Saturdays so good luck This link might take you to their collection directory https://mullinautomotivemuseum.com/collection/ Also apparently have a pretty good section of post war Citroen Hadlock fucked around with this message at 09:31 on Jan 20, 2024 |
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2024 09:25
|
|
|
Currently targeting Easter Sunday to drive the Citroen to Atlanta, weather permitting My other project finally arrived, last March another goon picked this up for me in socal. It is a 1948 Chrysler Straight-Eight out of a New Yorker, flat head, that supposedly was running (seller sent me a video of it running before they pulled it to put... I think a 1000hp hellcat in the New Yorker. The block is ~30 inches long, solid cast iron, and weighs about 850 lbs according to several different sources on the internet. The cast iron bell housing is another 60 lbs and the transmission is reportedly 200 lbs. But it makes ~260 ft lbs of torque at 1000rpm so it's great for toodling around town. This wasn't dirt dirt cheap but pretty close since there's no market for them and there's no parts availability, as they don't share any parts with the much more common chrysler straight 6 (same overall design though)       There's a C39 stamping on the block which indicates it went into a C39 vehicle which were available 46-48 so it's likely the original engine. The engine dates back to 1938 with few changes over the years. It was also produced as an industrial and marine engine in to the 1950s The last image is what it could look like if I go at it with degreaser and a toothbrush Huge thanks to rowebot44 for both picking it up & storing it, and later driving it up to the bay area, you rock sir.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2024 00:26
|
|
|
So what are you planning to do with it? Also have to admit I'm kinda cringing at pulling the original engine in a 80 year old car to drop something else in it. Glad you got a cheap engine, though.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2024 17:37
|
|
|
Cyrano4747 posted:So what are you planning to do with it? You, of all people... He's going to stretch the nose of the TA a couple feet, drop in the 8, and create the Traction Avant 'Cyrano.'
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2024 19:40
|
|
|
True Citroen spirit would be to attach it to a transaxle and stick it in the trunk, ala 2CV Safari style  https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/classic-cars/a32475950/the-citroen-2cv-sahara-4x4-was-just-crazy-enough-to-work/ Ideally I'd like to build a 20s/30s style speedster around the engine, I don't have any experience doing anything like that besides the cyclekart I'm building, but a running flathead engine designed in that period seems like an ok place to start. There are a surprising number of "usable" prewar chassis just sitting around for pretty reasonable prices.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2024 20:50
|
|
|
joat mon posted:You, of all people... He's going to stretch the nose of the TA a couple feet, drop in the 8, and create the Traction Avant 'Cyrano.' lmao. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2024 21:49
|
|
|
I paid off the Citroen last week and today the wife, unprompted, unconditionally approved transfer of the Citroen to California, which changes the marital calculus quite a bit. Going to drive the car to Atlanta Easter weekend and arrange covered transport to California.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2024 01:13
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:True Citroen spirit would be to attach it to a transaxle and stick it in the trunk, ala 2CV Safari style if it's connected to a rear transaxle, but sticks forward through the entire passenger compartment and into the hood area, maybe it will stop before it gets to the grille?
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2024 09:12
|
|
|
Not to burst your bubble, but the Safari actually has the engine/transaxle swapped backwards like a Porsche, making it possibly the ultimate AWD wheelie machine in this configuration with 1000lbs hanging 3' off the back axle, unsupported I haven't pulled the bell housing off the I8 yet but I went to the garage to measure it just now and from the back of the block to the crank pulley it's 38", to the 2CV's 94" wheelbase, leaving you a staggering 4' 8" between the front of the engine and the front axle (minus the ~18" the forward transaxle points rear towards the cabin). In this second configuration, on the plus side you'd have close to "perfect" 50/50 weight distribution simply due to the fact that the block weighs nearly as much as the rest of the car combined.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2024 09:57
|
|
|
My oversized sockets arrived; was able to turn over the I8 engine. Turned it over three times for good measure.
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2024 05:38
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:My oversized sockets arrived; was able to turn over the I8 engine. Turned it over three times for good measure. So you made sure to score those cylinder walls up real good?
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2024 07:48
|
|
|
Advice from several goons in the  from everything I've read that's standard procedure to validate a "ran when parked" engine has not seized in the interm. What would you have done differently
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2024 08:25
|
|
|
Sorry should have been more clear that I was joking. 😅
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2024 09:11
|
|
|
Nah, you're good. Nice mill, btw.
|
|
#
?
Feb 21, 2024 15:35
|
|
|
Not citroen related, more straight-eight. I have been busy with work and family so not much has happened. Motronic in the home repair thread suggested a $20 endoscope/boroscope for non-automotive use so I went ahead and ordered it for automotive use. It seems to be fine Blew off the (now fully dry) engine, and hit it with the shop vac to avoid too much accumulated crud from falling in to the cylinder. Assistant helping with disassembly today, and slightly cleaner shot of the engine   I am intrigued by the silver, stamped metal, uh, spark plug cable router thing on top of the engine. I am half tempted to get it sandblasted and chromed. It does say ~SPITFIRE~ on it with lightning bolts and all that. Spark plugs were... fine, Autolite 306 spark plugs, just about the cheapest you can buy. Appear to be stamped 2009 so it's probable some work was done in the 2008-2010 era, or, maybe someone just had a box of these sitting around and tossed them in on Jan 1 2023 which is shortly before I bought it. Or at any point in between. Or maybe that's just a batch number   Now, in addition to having 2 extra cylinders, the other thing that makes this engine unusual in this era is that it's a flathead, which really is why the term "overhead valve" (or in small engines, OHV) exists. For whatever reason it was cheaper/easier to cast the valves in the block so that's just what they did up until about 1945 (except on airplanes, which were often aluminum overhead cam designs). Anyways they look like this when you open them up (not my photo, this is a chrysler inline 6 for sale on ebay from the same era)  There are three immediate things to note 1. The valves are two colors, white and black; the white is the intake valve and gets washed with gas so generally stays cleaner if everything is working correctly 2. In the head, there's a hole positioned above the dark valve, this is the sparkplug (going somewhere with this) 3. Despite this being a 6 cylinder engine with 2 valves per head, there are... 9 ports? We're missing three. This is because the exhaust ports are "siamesed". This saved the manufactuer a bit of material and shortened the block a considerable amount. You'll also see this on "flathead ford" v8 engines for the same reason. Engines back then rarely revved past 4200rpm, especially the big ones so they were designed with high torque, low RPM use; you get a ~4 7/8 (!) inch stroke and ~3.25" bore (or 666ml/cyl) whereas on a modern gas engine you would see the ratio much closer to 1:1 If this looks familiar it's because it's the same fundemental design of every briggs and straton engine built in the 20th century  So anyways here is a shot from my $20 endoscope  This is cylinder 1 at the back of the engine nearest the flywheel. Cylinder 1 and 2 often had the most problems because at the front of the block is the water pump, and it has to push water into the head and into the block, so cylinder 7 and 8 always had the best "freshest" coldest water coming out of the radiator, and 1 and 2 got what little flow was left over. The solution to this was to insert a piece of metal with smaller openings at cyl 7 and 8, and the largest openings at the back near 1&2. This piece of sheet metal apparently rusts to gently caress and is impossible to get out, and nobody sells replacements so I'm looking forward to extracting a 30" long piece of 20 ga steel that's lived in water it's whole life. Also due to the heating characteristics, the very hot siamesed exhaust ports next to the cooler intake valve, especially in cylinder 1 which was aided by being at the end of the block with extra surface area, you most commonly would see problems or failures in 1 first. Here's the video that cap came from. I think about halfway through I pulled it out to see if the tiny LED at the end were set to full brightness to get the maximum amount of detail since it's so dark. https://i.imgur.com/Rxq6bZL.mp4 I was trying to keep a years worth (and 350+ interstate miles, and a tropical storm worth) of crud from falling into the cylinder, plus juggling a 3yo "wrenching" on the engine but I was wondering why all the cylinders were at the same height, and the cylinder walls seemed awfully covered in black crud for an engine that I had just cranked over a couple days prior. Looking at the "diagram" of that straight-six of the same general design I see now that I was just looking at the top of the exhaust valve, and I have not in fact actually seen the inside of the cylinder yet  only the least interesting part of the combustion chamberThere's not really a good way to view the cylinder without taking off the head. However, to do engine timing, you do need to figure out TDC (top dead center) of piston 1, so there is an... inspection port for cylinder 1, which allows you to put a small rod down there and I guess either eyeball it, or use a dial indicator, I guess. You can see it in one of the early photos there, to the left of the freeze plug it is a "head bolt" that is about half the size of the others. The crank pulley does have some marks about an inch apart and a timing indicator (pointy piece of metal in the vicinity of the pulley) but I think that's merely for coarse adjustment only. Anyways. I was able to inspect Next steps: pick up the manual transfer pump from harbor freight and pull all the oil with water out of the oil pan, replace with "good" oil, get the stand put together, and then see if I can get it to crank over with the starter. Re: stand, I've recently found that 1000+ lb capacity casters are special order, so looking at options there. I can probably go less (I think 366# based on a engine + stand weight of 1100#) but that assumes an evenly loaded stand, and the center of gravity is (currently) pretty close to the flywheel, and my stand will undoubtedly be out-of-square/level... maybe I will go 750. Oh right, and the bolts in the engine mount were... 4.3 inches on my caliper? I guess that's 11mm? Was not expecting metric. Hadlock fucked around with this message at 11:20 on Mar 4, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2024 11:17
|
|
|
that's the first time i have heard of an inline engine with cylinder #1 at the firewall end. what would definitely trip me up, because i wouldn't even think to look it up first.
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2024 11:40
|
|
|
Maybe it's #8 and the inspection hole is on that cylinder because it has the same position as #1. Not sure why they chose the rear most cylinder but that seems to be a common feature of all the interwar chrysler flatheads I've seen. Maybe there's less going on back there and is easier to access
|
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2024 13:31
|
|
|
The smaller-diameter valves are the exhaust valves. They're white due to their inherent higher temps at operation. The intake valves are larger, and are darker due to the cooling effect of the air/gas mixture coming through. Number one cylinder is always at the front/pulley end of the block. A decent thread:P https://forums.aaca.org/topic/390819-what-do-you-know-about-rebuilding-a-chrysler-flathead-straight-8/ PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Mar 4, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 4, 2024 16:42
|
|
|
Well sure, any idiot can tell it's got 8 exhaust ports and only four siamesed intakes. That's why I helpfully posted two photos of the color coded manifolds, blue cold intake with four inlets and angry rusty red exhaust manifold that reaches to both ends of the engine  just making sure you guys are paying attentionIn my next post I'll be pumping out the gas pan and replacing it with fresh gasoline. Really excited to finally put my shop vac to the test
|
|
#
?
Mar 5, 2024 06:32
|
|
|
Well, if you like throwing money at fun tools, you can get articulating bore scopes now that can twist and turn with a knob back at the screen. Appears to be out of stock at the moment, but https://www.vevor.com/pipe-inspecti...-p_010921210736
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2024 00:49
|
|
|
I'll definitely consider it. Mine came with a 90° adapter thing but I was underwhelmed with the result. Seems like a handy tool to have, I'm gonna rewire our den media center thing probably this summer and drill holes in the walls for wires and such In other news, I pumped about two quarts of disgusting, vile green-brown oil out of the oil pan into my free harbor freight 5 gallon bucket. Google tells me this is probably some amazing blend of oil, green antifreeze, and rainwater from Hurricane Hilary. The crank case vent is just a simple sheet metal tube, uh, press fit is too strong of a term, into the block, with a kind of mushroom cap vent on top and some old timey metal mesh to keep like, I dunno, mice from crawling in there and dying. So pulled that out and there was plenty of room to try and maneuver the hose into the deepest part of the oil pan. There's probably some oil left in there. Internet says 5 quarts + some in the oil filter, so I'm.. 3 quarts low? Better make sure I build the stand so that I can easily drop the oil pan, and order some Honda bond Maybe that's why the previous owner gave me the spare head gasket, or why there was one at all. In other news the Honda B16 engine has an... 81.5mm bore with 90mm bore spacing. Same bore spacing as the b20 but the gasket has more "meat" on it, ordered a B16 head gasket for $20 off eBay; I'm morbidly curious to trace out the 323 head gasket onto some paper.... And then trace two B16 heads over top and see how close they are. For science. 323 has bore size of 82.6mm. but the flathead cylinders are sort of paired together, with kinda uneven bore spacing, especially between 4 and 5 The oil filter housing is still intact, it's a giant apparatus similar in size to a coffee can. Apparently it's a "full flow" filter with no bypass. AACA has a decade old thread on this exact engine and apparently someone was able to secure a replacement filter from... Somewhere. Part number 10-36-3 I'll have to dig for it later. Probably shared with the DeSoto/Chrysler inline 6 from the same era of such parts aren't completely impossible to find Hadlock fucked around with this message at 09:16 on Mar 8, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2024 09:04
|
|
|
So I opened my NOS Mopar head gasket. It is for an I6, not an I8. Based on the gasket it looks like it's for a block that uses ~3.75-3.80"pistons, and the pistons on the I8 are 3.25 so it didn't make much sense to trace it + trace the Honda B16A gasket, but I was able to roughly confirm that the coolant drainage passages mostly line up After thinking about this some more, I think if I wanted to do a high flow, DOHC head, I'd need to start with something like a Honda D series engine. The Chrysler has a ~82.6mm piston and while the D, B and K series both have 90mm spacing, the B has 81mm giving me ~1.6mm wiggle room. The K is right out, it is 86mm the valves probably wouldn't even fit in to the bore. The D series engine has the same convenient 90mm bore spacing, but only a 75mm bore which yields.... 7mm+ of slop, or 3.5mm (0.14") on each side. The way the engine is set up the bore spacing isn't regular. Cylinders 1-2 are close together, then there's a (slightly) larger gap from 2-3, and then 3-4 are the same distance as 1-2. The pattern repeats with 5-6 and 7-8. The gap between 4-5 is the largest, slightly (1/8"?) larger than the next largest gap. It's maybe best to think of this engine as two I4 engines, which are each made of 2 x 2 cyl, glued together in the middle. Welding two K20 together probably would have been a better start all things said. So if I were to modify a head to fit, it needs to be a fairly narrow bore, with wide bore spacing. The D series engine does that. Maybe. https://the-bad-guys.com/2020/04/13/d-series-cylinder-head-shoot-out/ It looks like a ported D series (D16z6 ) will do 200+ cfm (I see 231cfm @ 0.500 lift in one example) which is pretty good because an LS3 will do ~290cfm stock @ 0.500 and GM will pair that with a 6.9L engine so it's kind of in the ball park Why even care about this? L heads (flat heads) flow like poo poo. Chrysler attempted to combat this using a "ricardo combustion chamber" there's actually a reference to this in wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Ricardo#Advances_in_engine_design and Kieth's Garage spends, gosh, six minutes talking about it, as well as references directly a physical text book from the period describing it in detail along with a good diagram of how combustion chamber swirl works in a flat head. If you run it frame by frame you can read most of the write up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQNszFmHJHQ&t=407s Anyways OHV heads flow better. This 1000 lb lump of iron 5.3L makes about 120 hp and 270 ft lbs tq on a good day; a 1.6L D series (just 4 cyl) makes 120 hp and 100ft lbs tq, presumably 2 glued together would be 3.2L making 240 hp / 200 ft lbs. Cam profiles vary but one D series is listed as making 110 ft lbs @ 3400 rpm which is near the top end of my long-stroke inline 8 Will I do a head swap? Probably not, but it's fun to think about Citroen update: Bonus season came and went and the financial hangover from moving cross country last year has finally passed. I ordered a replacement taillight for my Traction Avant, somehow the other one fell off. It should be arriving in the next few days. I am booking some flights and my easter weekend citroen adventure should be formally booked by monday. Current plan is to try and drive the car to Atlanta (400 miles, so 10 hours + stops for lunch and gas) on the first full day, and see how I feel about driving a second 400+ mile day in a 70 year old car Of note, adding an extra 60 miles (1.5 hrs drive time) I could drive through the historic district of Charleston, SC. I've never been, and I'm unlikely to ever visit the carolinas again. Charleston would make for some excellent photos of the car in the historic district, I think. https://www.flattestroute.com/Wilmington-NC-to-Atlanta-via-Charleston-SC Here's the slightly more boring, but ~60 mile more direct route: https://www.flattestroute.com/Wilmington-NC-to-Atlanta  Here's an alternate, maybe slightly shorter route (in red)  The car only does 45mph most days, 55mph downhill so I have no interest in doing the interstate, and "winding" roads where I can go WOT between small towns is pretty ideal and a lot more scenic. I've driven Wilmington to Myrtle Beach and the coast road/highway there is mostly lifted 4wd trucks doing 75-85mph so I'm eager to go inland slightly and see some of the slower paced towns as I drive through. Leaving Charleston, I'd be doing probably a combination of Hwy 61/78 west towards Augusta, GA, ant then... decide if I want to take 278 to Atlanta, or if I'm feeling good about things, head south to Macon via Sandersville. From Macon it's a full day's drive to New Orleans via Colombus GA, MMontomery AL, Mobile and finally NOLA. If the car is having issues I can park it in a storage unit in ATL and come back with parts later, or, if things are good continue to NOLA and park it there, and pick up the adventure later.  At no point in this trip am I exceeding 2.2% grade, which is... not quite dead flat but pretty close. I crossed the 301 bridge in MD/VA over the potomac* river and it peaks at 3.75% for like almost a mile straight, so I should be fine even with poo poo compression Daylight for ATL on April 1 is 7:30am - 8pm, and then nautical twilight (when it gets dark, after the sun has set) is 8:45pm. And I've given myself 3 days to get to Atlanta, with a bucket of spare parts. Failing that, I just renewed my AAA with ~200 miles towing. *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_Harry_W._Nice_Memorial_Bridge Hadlock fucked around with this message at 09:24 on Mar 13, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 09:15
|
|
|
Extended forecast for NC ATL area looking like 70+ and partly sunny for Easter (3 day) weekend. Going to keep an eye on things through tomorrow night and probably but my ticket then. There's rain forecast wed Thurs and id probably fly in Friday night Going to compile a list of parts and order them tonight. I ordered a taillight lens a couple days ago but it hasn't arrived yet Thinking about shipping an optima 6v red top battery to my old neighbor's house, my guess is that 6v batteries are going to be hard to come by. The current 6v was a strong starter a year ago (pretty sure new in fall 2021), and I've got an actual old school crank in the trunk but I've not yet used it
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 02:59
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:Extended forecast for NC ATL area looking like 70+ and partly sunny for Easter (3 day) weekend. Going to keep an eye on things through tomorrow night and probably but my ticket then. Weather report for ILM and ATL looking like low to mid 70s all weekend Spousal unit asked me about my flight plans on the way back from driving her around town all day furniture shopping, so that's probably as much approval I'm going to get for this endeavor I guess this stupid idea is a go 
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2024 06:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 17:42 |
|
|
She's hoping you get out on a plane made by Boeing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2024 18:57
|
|
