Great news! Keep up the good work Charlie...

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Thanks, Daniel.

We were ready for the October Bonneville, but it rained out.  That's racing.....  This winter has seen a few changes as I wasn't very happy with a lot of the engine and transmission configuration.  I pulled the engine and decided to go back to the T-5 transmission.  I had lost faith and blamed it for losing the 258 motor in 2018.  After sending it to a local trans builder, he said it was in great shape and only had to change one syncro, an O ring and the tailshaft bushing.  Ahead of that, I changed the aluminum flywheel to a new light weight steel unit from John Mummert.  He also sent a new clutch and pressure plate earlier and now the drive line is all changed.

After finding out the transmission wasn't at fault for the instant rev and valve float that crushed the number 4 piston, I turned my attention to the flywheel.  I bounced my theory off of those with more experience (like John Mummert) and all believed it had merit.  The face of the flywheel was very burnt and had some loss of it's steel face inert.  The clutch face of the pressure plate had the same burnt markiings.  After facing the flywheel, it mounted true, but now it was thinner than ever and it gave me concern.  My theory is that the cast aluminum flywheel (now at least 50 years old) may have flexed just enough at the pressure plate mounting points with the clutch fully engaged, to allow the full contact with the clutch disk to diminish.  The instant high rev came at the end of second gear when the engine was at full power and starting to push the wind somewhat.  The clutch disk most likely didn't have enough pressure and contact to keep it from slipping and just freewheeled on it's own.  The old clutch plate did have a significant amount of glazing, but no damage.

the following pictures show how to shoehorn something big into a small opening.  Lifting the rear of the car and lowering the front helped a great deal.  The rear bellhousing mount crossmember is detachable and helped in the process.  The engine is back in and now ready for other changes, especially the turbo headers.  I have had more than one failure with the expansion joints and I will show that change as well as others soon.













Charlie Burns Laton, Ca (South of Fresno)







BurnsRacing981@gmail.com

Charlie I was concerned when I read your reference to a cast flywheel. They have not been allowed for at least 25 by the SCTA rule book. I have witnessed cars running them and the damage done when they let go. They too were very old. I’m glad you are using a steel one now. Good luck and I love your truck.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

Now working to repair the turbo header at the exhaust flex.




Charlie Burns Laton, Ca (South of Fresno)







BurnsRacing981@gmail.com

Hey Charlie. I thought you were going to look at alternatives to those flex joints after have several failures in the past. 

Hello, Ian,
I hope you and your family are safe down under.  We are doing our best here and pray for everyone's health as we try to get through this pandemic. 
You are correct, I did plan to make changes to the turbo system.  I fired the old engineer (me) and hired a new engineer (me).  It's no excuse that this was my first attempt to build a custom turbo system from scratch, but I made a fatal error "while" placing the flexible exhaust section just ahead of the driver's side header.  It was a simple error and yet it caused me many headaches.  Everything is so tight under the hood and the distance from the header collector to the merge area was shorter than the smallest flexible exhaust section I could find.  My cure (old engineer) was to shorten the flanges on the ends of the flex pipe.  This shortened machine pressed collar did  weld fine to the merge pipe flange, and it welded ok at the header end.  The exhaust flow exiting the merge end gave no problem with the narrowed collar, however, the exhaust entering the flex pipe did considerable damage to the interior pressed collar on the header collector side.  When that interior collar started to tare away, it eliminated the clamping pressure for the exterior ring and the flex pipe started to disintegrate.

As of now, my solution (new engineer) was to shorten the collection of individual exhaust pipes to make a new collection area and use a new flex pipe without shortening the flanges.  I'll post more as the system makes progress.

 


Charlie Burns Laton, Ca (South of Fresno)







BurnsRacing981@gmail.com

I  may be way off base here but, I have never seen a turbo using a flex joint to attach the header to the turbo. Most I have seen used a solid exhaust connection with the turbo mounted as to be able to flex ie rubber mounts. Wouldn't that be a better fix?

Again, I'm not a tubo guy just what I have noticed on several different cars.

Dave

Thanks for the comment Dave.  In my case, the turbo is actually mounted to the front roll cage support and to the top of the timing cover.  It is a very solid mounting system and it adds to keeping the engine still as well.  The engine is also mounted solid to the cross member and frame.  There is more movement than just from the engine itself.  There is also movement in the headers and crossover pipe from heat expansion and ultimately contractions when it cools down.  I like your thinking about a cushion mounted turbo, and perhaps a complete engine mounting on the timing cover would work very well.
I'm kinda stuck with this system and it really has served me well (except for my mistake).  I've had no pipe or welding failures in the headers themselves.  There are two flex pipes in this system and the other one is in the crossover pipe that connects the passenger side exhaust to the merge with the driver's side.  It has never given me a problem and most likely that's because I didn't have to narrow the pressed collars on each end.




Charlie Burns Laton, Ca (South of Fresno)







BurnsRacing981@gmail.com

Good to know.. Thanks..

Dave

Next is a hand made collector.





Too bad I won't use much of it.





Charlie Burns Laton, Ca (South of Fresno)







BurnsRacing981@gmail.com