Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,948
|
|
|
Those are Buick Riviera wheels, I have a set of those in my shed waiting for a project to fit them on. As for the roundals, off white...painted. P.
|
|
Last Edit: Aug 4, 2015 20:33:40 GMT by Paul Y
|
|
|
Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,948
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
you are not a try hard, it IS a race car! Roundels... Yes or no If yes... Black or white? I personally like black as they have a 60's British feel to them. I would put 60 on in white or leave blank. Additional quandry... Should I go with the vinyl roundels I bought, or would it be better to paint them on with OneShot and then gently polish them back so they look aged and worn down? It's a quandary. Painted and aged, the originals suited the look of the car well in my opinion if that's any help, I would leave them blank rather than adding a number Colours wise what would be appropriate for the class(es) the car was raced in? The sun strip at the top of the windscreen looks a bit too modern to my mind though?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Not sure on the colour but painted definitely - vinyl will look too modern and perfect. Love this car btw.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cheers for that link to the write up on the Humber Paul. I agree with the one reader's comment underneath that it's a bit like a Checker Marathon. I always thought the Checker was a modification of a Chevy but apparently not, they were an automotive maker in their own right and more frequently used Ford parts than Chevy. Checkers and 55 Chevy's are my favourite American Cars.
Dodgerover, I agree with you about the sunstrip but I think it would change the car's look significantly if I took it off. I'm not sure what I would replace it with. Colour matching to either paint colour would be weird and difficult to achieve (this is also an issue with off-white roundels... The light green roof borders on being an off-white colour so it would be odd to add another tone).
I think I'll leave the sunstrip as is for now and I think I'll go with black painted roundels polished back so they're 50% worn away in patches.
|
|
|
|
Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,948
|
|
|
Tim, Partial to a 55 but a 56 is by far and away the superior of the tri chevy model years (obviously I am biased...) Seeing an acquaintance of a friend over the weekend that races the A35 at the Revival, will be having a chat with him about your Humber. Carry on. P.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
56, yes.... *slaps head*... I always get 55 and 56 mixed up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Your friend of a friend probably races in the Julius Thorogood (?) / HRDC a35 series I would guess. The previous owner/racer of my car, who was more of a hobbyist than the race team owners before him, had competed in some HRDC events around 2012 when he was rebuilding the car, but the car had fallen below the visual standards for the series, apparently. They're sticklers for a nicely turned out vehicle by all accounts. Aesthetics and originality are crucial to the series, and my car fell short on both. Edit: In fact, my car appears in the picture, bottom right, of the 'Touring Greats' page on the HRDC website. I just noticed it. The former owner made a reference to the car being 'used in promotional material for the series', but I had no idea he was referring to such a tiny little detail in the background of an image, showing my car flailing at the back of the pack, haha. hrdc.eu/touring_greats.htmlAdmittedly it was on a completely standard engine at that point.
|
|
Last Edit: Aug 6, 2015 8:17:06 GMT by Deleted
|
|
Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,948
|
|
|
Tim, The Two Lane Blacktop and American Graffiti Chevys are the same car, a 55 Chevy. The picture you put up earlier is/was owned by a chap that lives about 20 miles from me and is one of the best 'tribute' cars in existence. The daisy mags are even from one of the Two lane cars. <<<<<<My old bus is a 56, hence the tongue in cheek reference above. Anyway, look forward to seeing updated pictures of your Humber with the roundels. P.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi, I think an external sun visor would be a period replacement for the sunstrip on the screen.
Colin
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I thought about an external sun visor but they're too much of a 1950's 'cruisin' / hayride style statement that would detract from the stripped down track look.
If I could get some kind of external metal visor fabricated that was essentially the same as the stick-on one... ie following the form of the glass but about an inch away from it, as opposed to the 'peak' style ones, that might be interesting, especially with some hand painted lettering across it, but I wouldn't have time to get something like that done to a decent standard.
|
|
Last Edit: Aug 7, 2015 23:15:15 GMT by Deleted
|
|
|
|
|
Haven't been here for a while. Been busy with life's distractions. I've also been collecting everything (not quite everything) I need for a bottom end replace/rebuild. So far, I have:
1. 6 new pistons/shafts/bearings (new, but need new piston rings as one is missing) 2. Crankshaft 3. block, already decked 4. Assorted odds and sods. 5. Other stuff, I can't remember right now.
All the stuff I've collected is the 'proper' engine that was being prepared for racing the car. The pistons are good, the block is decked and ready to go. the reason for doing it is that the bottom end in my car was only ever a temporary make-up and the pistons are too high in the block at top. With a ridiculously skimmed head I have no clearance so I'm currently limited to 4500rpm with double stacked gaskets. Also I think the pistons currently in the block were manually pocketed with a grinder in a vice, so not great. I haven't seen them myself so I don't know exactly how bad they might be. The guy who works on my car expressed his contempt at the state of them though, but I have to balance this out with the fact that he's a pro, and he has very high standards.
The rest of the kit is to be carried over from my existing set up which includes a freshly rebuilt cylinder head with new valves and whatnot, piper cam, newly rebuilt SUs.
I've always planned to have the work done at a pwopper place, but lately I've started wondering what would happen if I put the money into renting a lock-up, buying up some old equipment, and attempting to do the work myself. It's a ridiculous pipe dream, especially as I have very limited mechanical experience, however, I see people on here doing crazy impossible things and winning, and the internet is awash with all the information anyone could ever need.
I don't know whether it's a recipe for disaster to attempt this, and I also don't know if it would ultimately save me any money to do it myself or cost more and leave me with a car in pieces until I get old and die.
Is it crazy to attempt this???
|
|
|
|
Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,948
|
|
|
Tim, My view has always been try it yourself. With the plethora of information available on youtube, forums and the willingness of people to advise and help you might just surprise yourself`! The good thing about old cars is they are very simple, and if you can build a lego model you can put an engine together, find a likeminded enthusiast locally and ask them to be your mentor, or just somebody to sanity check what you are doing is correct. As for having the car in pieces, from personal experience make sure you have all the bits you need before taking it apart (or at least the ones you know you will need!) Projects tend to drag when you don't have all the parts, or the money, to finish it in a timely manner. Set yourself a target date to have the car back on the road and stick to it. Not sure what help I can be but always willing to help out if I can. P.
|
|
|
|
glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,107
Club RR Member Number: 64
|
1960 Humber Super Snipeglenanderson
@glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member 64
|
|
Welcome back!
It's not crazy, but it is a big step.
I look at it this way; I have had disappointing service from "professionals" in the past, despite spending proper money. I figure if I'm not paying someone else's wages I can either afford to do the job twice if I muck up, or I can afford to do it to a better standard. Also, I like the idea of my project saying "look what I can do", not "look what I can afford". Do you look at what you've paid for and think "I could have done that" or "I could have done that better", or do you think "never in a million years would I have the patience"?
At the end of the day, old motors aren't rocket science. You do need the affinity though, even if you need to teach yourself the skills. I can just about manage "chopsticks" on the piano, but I'll never be able to master Rachmaninov.
|
|
My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
|
|
|
|
|
Cheers Paul,
One of the sure things I can guarantee if I was to embark on this is that I would probably end up leaning heavily on people here for advice, tips and tricks etc.
In terms of having everything I will need before I start... this might be hopelessly naive but the way I see it... the car runs right now, and essentially I'd merely be replacing the bottom end block and pistons, so everything would carry over from my current set up, and if I have a running car now, in theory I ought to end up with a running car at the end of the process.
I will need to buy seals, gasket sets and lots of little doo-dads, but in terms of the big bits, I 'think' have everything. There's so much I don't know though. I'm bound to be blind-sided somewhere along the way by my own ignorance.
To be honest, when I look at the potential investment either in money or time, I also end up wondering if I should just buy a Chevy small block crate engine and drop that in. Even a modest Chevy small block would yield a lot more power than I can ever hope to pull out of my 60 year old iron six pot. My only reservation there is in terms of the uncertain future of modified vehicles and whether I would end up with a car that falls foul of future legislation.
Dilemmas dilemmas.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi Glen,
Thanks for your thoughts. My entire history of atypical vehicles has lead to endless disappointments when paying for work from professionals (the most disappointing experience being the time I commissioned a freshly built Essex V6 to be dropped into my old Bedford CF, and I ended up having to break into the guy's abandoned workshop to retrieve the van 2 months later, with the Essex engine never seen again), and whilst I don't ever think 'I could have done that myself' I do constantly think 'I wish I had had the balls to work out how to do that myself'. I'd love to cut my teeth a bit on serious stuff beyond simply replacing ancillaries and dabbling with the easy stuff. I'd get a huge amount of satisfaction from knowing I did the work myself.
The people I use for my car right now are the best people I've ever worked with. They are decent people and they do things well. They are however what I would deem to be high end and specialised in classic racing cars. So from my point of view I think they are poised to provide a level of excellence that I simply can't afford. In discussing the bottom end replacement for example, they talk about getting a new cam shaft ground, rebuilding my spare cylinder head all over again when I've just had a cylinder head rebuilt. My response is 'why do I need to have a new cam shaft made and a new head rebuilt again when I have those things already on my (identical) engine?
That's where my ignorance is potentially dangerous... there's probably very good reasons for not carrying over the cam shaft and not using the cylinder head already on the car (which was re-skimmed and completely rebuilt at considerable cost less than six months ago).
To my mind, a second cylinder head rebuild and a new custom ground camshaft will probably add close to a thou on the build cost.
|
|
Last Edit: Dec 1, 2015 10:41:54 GMT by Deleted
|
|
Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,948
|
|
|
I suppose Tim it comes down to if you want to compete again in a race series or just have a good fun car to tool around in. If you go small block you will need a gearbox as well (probably) which, if you go manual, is going to cost the same amount again as the engine - or near as damn it once you have all the required bits. As you seem to have what you need why not just give it a go? If you really do cock it up then go for a small block but at least the next time you will have experience and know what you did wrong. An engine swap will not mean you run foul of the legislation by the way. I agree with Glen. Slightly off topic but the reason I taught myself plumbing, tiling and general building 'stuff' was because the tradesman I used never did it too my standard and charged the earth. I mean, just how difficult can it be? Go on, what else are you going to do over Christmas but get fat and watch curse word telly? P.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've always had a pipe dream of getting the old beast back on the race track, but that dream fades with every passing day, and the idea of just having a decent road car with a bit of grunt for smiling purposes is as far as my ambition goes for now.
I've spent all year getting fat and watching curse word telly, so maybe it's time for a change.
= )
|
|
Last Edit: Dec 1, 2015 10:51:54 GMT by Deleted
|
|
|
Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,948
|
|
|
I was going to suggest buying a cheap fox body mustang and use the drive train from that but I am seriously out of the loop with regards to pricing. Thought you could get a MOT failure with with a T5 for around £1500-2K. How wrong was I! However, thinking about it again, why not contact Ray at Rays classics and get him to ship you over a car? Would be cheaper and easier than buying an engine and all the bits? sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/5320676121.htmlThis would probably be £2K landed. ( I love spending other peoples money...) P.
|
|
|
|
|