1956 Red Goddess - No socks for this birthday!

[Frankenhealey]

2 speed back axle?? I know it will negate the 4wd unless you are lucky with the ratio

Deffo want to keep the 4wd as there is no greater pleasure than helping fellow retro enthusiasts by pulling them out of the mud at events and then charging them for it ;D Also another 12000lb winch is planned for the front to turn it into an even bigger boys toy

there's a guy in Lincolnshire who has fitted a Rolls Royce Meteor engine in a Rover SD1, he used a step up gear system from a bus to overcome the low revs from the RR lump.

It's Charlie Broomfield and I've been all over it but it's extra complication and transmission losses

[darrenh]

i suppose technically the turbo doesnt really increase compression ratio, only the compressible content of the cylinder. you are just fitting more in there, before compressing it 6 into 1, i mean

if you left the cylinder head as is, my fag packet maths (i.e questionable) says youd have to take the engine capacity up to 1520cc per cyl (i.e 9.1 L) to get 11:1 CR normally aspriated. thats not far off doubling the capacity, which would be the theory of running 1 bar of turbo boost (ignoring losses) on your current engine capacity

regards LPG, you don't really "need" high compression, its just thermal efficiency suffers if you don't (less torque, higher fuel consumption). it has much lower calorific value that unleaded, but much much higher octane rating, so you have to squash it harder to see gains (or indeed maintain current performance)

[optimusprime]

Jan 1, 2013 22:49:39 GMT darrenh said:

I imagine being 60+ year old design, utilitarian origins it wouldve been deliberately low compression ratio to reduce cylinder pressures, and to run on any quality fuel.

thinking out loud, methods of increasing CR on 60 year old engine with flat top pistons. it would be ++ expensive to make/buy pistons that are domed or wedged to intrude. skimming the head you are limited by the casting thickness of the cylinder head. I had to take 1mm off to get my landy head from 8:1 to 9:1 for example. so when you start skimming, allot, other than risking literally machining into coolant galleries you end up with inclement push rod/rocker angles, or getting shorter ones made bespoke. whilst interesting it must just be prhobitively expensive to tune the current engine.

Also worth pointing out, the Green Goddess was a military fire appliance,designed to spend time sat on base awaiting the 'call', and not primarily to spend all day driving around the countryside.
The motor was also the driving force behind the pump system,so was also expected to be able to sit at a set RPM pumping water for however long it took. Hence why its (by todays standards at least) an under stressed lazy engine.
Its a bit like those who try and fit Perkins diesels from large gensets into old landies and wonder why they are rubbish in a car .....

[4ft]

Evening

I´ve a (ex) pal with a goddess with an early 6pot turbo iveco truck engine in. We rolled around together for a while and his fuel consumption and speed was a impressive

He was able to cruise at 60 mph, cant remember the rev´s for this, but giving a bit of gas up hills you would hear the turbo start to kick in. MPG was 24. But to do this he had new CROWN and pinions made up for both front and rear dif. Oh, and bigger tires i think as well. He never did sort out the speedo though..... And whilst I remember I think a chassis cross member got moved and his drivers seat was offset to the steering wheel but thats another story and nothing too tax to you I suspect

I was in a zil131 with a 6BTA and eaton box. there are different final gear ratios for these eaton box´s I have the low one and i have to drive at quite high revs to get anywhere and I burn a lot of fuel. The donor truck for my engine was a tipper, my pal has a furniture removal Daf and his is the higher ratio box. There are some detailed posts on this subject in russianmilitarytrucks.com somewhere...

Great build, all the best,
4Ft

[Frankenhealey]

With the Goddess team back together for the New Year we've got a few more things done such as the bumper irons and front chassis legs straightened. To do this we needed to turn the Goddess round and once we'd fannied around with the battery and fuel it was comically disccovered that the clutch plate was stuck to the flywheel . Luckily with a low speed tickover and crawler ratios a clutch is not always necessary

Danger Darren (with boots) and the Gas Axe Kid applying heat and then more heat and then even more heat



Much offering up of the good bumper and then adding more heat and hammering and twisting we've got a pretty good fit.

Wiring the alternator was completed and the connection to this big boy accomplished





We're registering 13.2 volts charging at the battery so probably job done.

Removed the old hand throttle that was used while the Goddess was pumping. I had considered keeping it as a sort of cruise control but in the end junked it because of the mechanical complexity.

Measured up for the aluminium for the roof and for those side panels that that either need making from new or as repacements.

Next week the new wheels go for shotblasting along with the good bumper and the engine cover and grille. I've got to pump the pig food out of the radiator because we'll be fitting that next weekend along with the electric fan.

Busy busy busy ;D

It's good to be back.

[darrenh]

solid work.

I was pondering, with a bit of thought and a little more exposure, we could get danger darren up to the same heady internet phenomenon hights as "dave the lamp" of german bunker in my back garden fame.

[Frankenhealey]

Have a few pictures of my inspirations while I struggle to get todays work off my phone

Abarth Transporter



Brabham Bedford VAL14 Transporter



BMC Training Unit



Bowmaker Lola Transporters



B.R.M. Transporter



Chevy COE Transporter (in these colours possibly for Noddy's racing team)



Ecurie Ecosse Transporter



Essex Lotus Transporter



FIAT Bartoletti TRansporter



A Thames Trader Ferrari Transporter



Scuderia Lancia Satau Transporter



Mercedes Benz Renntransport



The Standard Vanguard version of the above





Kieft Transporter



Pegaso Transpoter



Scuderia Centro Sud Transporter

[Frankenhealey]

So having wrestled the phone and Photobucket into submission the tale of today can now be recounted.

It was bl00dy cold in the workshop but we had our list of jobs to do and she provisionally goes to a mate's for paint in March so we must pull our fingers out.

First job was to construct a new gasket for the thermostat housing. These are not now available so we turned to Mr. Tesco's finest Wheat Biscuits for the solution.



Having tapped out a gasket we used some of Darren's carefully hoarded old-fashioned Hermatite and offered up the thermostat housing.



Having done this we turned to my Alternator bodge and rather than waiting for me to design and mill an elegant aluminium cradle we fitted nylocs and thread sealant to keep everything together for a few thousand miles.



Next was the nasty exhaust blow from the manifold to exhaust pipe junction. There was some confusion that the new gasket would not fit but then we worked out that the old one hadn't come out. DOH!

New and old



We then fitted the new electric fan to the radiator and then we cursed and struggled the radiator (30 kilos) back on to its supporting framework.



All the hoses tightened



And then the gremlins struck fro a totally unanticipated direction. We need the engine hot to set the tappets so we need to test the rad and hose connections and the bl00dy water has been cut off. Ah well there's always next week.

[eurogranada]

Great to see progress! March is coming fast and I can't wait!

[grifterkid]

Epic, epic and just a tad more EPIC...!!!

[dodgerover]

What about doing a basic porting job on the head and then running it for a bit to see what its like, The AA + RAC used to do cross fuel pump outs, I used to get quite a bit of 50/50 mix from the local guys when I lived up North, be worth asking them, never really got anything higher % mix as it all seemed to accidentally get poured into their own vehicles!

[trimtechniques]

Hi
I have spent many happy hours reading this thread and think it is wonderful. You should consider writing a book about this build, I am sure it would sell and perhaps help pay for some of the build costs.
Just been reading about your engine choice.
I am no expert but I have run several diesel engined cars on veg oil. At around 39 p a litre it is a very enticing route to go down. You could then either keep your old engine or go for a newer design and get perhaps a better performing unit.
The cost of conversion is not that bad, in fact I was able to run a 2.5 Tdi Pajero on new veg oil without any mods at all, at the time the new stuff worked out at 32 p per litre from Tesco and perversely was cheaper to buy it in 3 ltr bottles from them than 25 ltr cans from a wholesaler.
Why not get some technical advice from a firm in Wolverhampton called Dieselveg? They have a web site diesleveg.com and are very helpful people. And they have loads of experiance in veg oil conversions and what they suit and don't suit.
If you decide to go down this route you could then decide if you want to get used oil from chip shops or take the easy route and buy it new.
Just a thought.
All the best and can’t wait to see the beast when she is done.

[Frankenhealey]

Not much of an update as these temperatures turn my fingers blue so we knocked it on the head. I reckon spending the day in the warm sourcing aluminium sheet and mouldings was far more productive than not being able to hold a spanner

The big problem is that both the roof and the cab back are too big for a single sheet and that means either a vertical or horizontal seam. Now being paranoid about rot and water ingress so what's the best solution? If I'm going to put a window in the back of the cab then it has to be horizontal there but the roof can be either along the vehicle axis or across it unless I can find 2mm x 2000mm x 2500mm sheet.

Slight decision to make on the cab mouldings. The original mouldings could be cleaned up but I can't match them for the extra I need for the new ally panels. The suggestions for making my own from flat bar were welcome but tests have shown that filing, in my hands, is not viable for a consistent finish and I tried a spindle moulder with the lightest of cuts but one section can be OK then the cutter 'picks up' and the strip becomes a high speed missile across the workshop.

The originals are 1 inch wide by 1/8 inch thick with a 1/16 inch feather-edge on both sides. The back of the moulding is inwardly curved to take out of alignment panels on each side.

My choices are



Non-original 1 inch wide by 3/16 thick but with a curved back

or



Close to the original 1 inch wide by 1/8 inch with a flat back

Choices, choices

Thanks for the engine and fuel advice chaps but I've got to stick with the original motor this season and unless I can get a regular source of decent petrol/diesel mix then I'll have to suck up the cost of Tesco's best cooking fuel.

[poppa cherry]

One of the stockholders I use, RAA Alloys, has 2mm in a 2000mm x 3000mm, Though the closest branch to you is Avonmouth. There is an Aalco in Southampton, could be worth a try

[Frankenhealey]

Jan 23, 2013 19:00:46 GMT poppa cherry said:

One of the stockholders I use, RAA Alloys, has 2mm in a 2000mm x 3000mm, Though the closest branch to you is Avonmouth. There is an Aalco in Southampton, could be worth a try

Bit sad now as I ordered the 2500 x 1250 sheets and the double feather-edged mouldings earlier today but thanks for the info.

Cheers,

Ian

[flyingphil]

Hi Ian
So this is what you've been getting up to! Impressive work and a great read - thank you. Looking forward to seeing this rig pull up to "The Healey Drag Group Nationals" in 2013?

[aar0sc]

Well, having spent a truly epic amount of time reading it I have to say it's amazing and now I want both a Healey and a Green Goddess!!!

Keep up the good work Sir!

Aa

[CFmania]

SPARE BITS or not.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bedford-RL-for-spares-or-restoration-/271147481683?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f21a63a53

[Frankenhealey]

Another day, another wallet emptying experience as the majority of the aluminium sheet and mouldings arrived.

4 sheets 2mm x 8ft x 4ft



32 metres of featheredge mouldings



Now the water is back on I filled the rad (officially 3 watering cans capacity ) and checked for leaks. All good so we warmed the engine for a pressure test and so we could set the tappets hot. No water leaks hot but beggar me we discover that No. 1 son has not refitted the timing chest cover bolts and they've gone AWOL and the carb is doing a fair Eyjafjallajökull impression if the engine is run without a reasonable level of choke. Further fiddling on the mixture front leads us to believe that a carb refurb kit would be a good idea and that it shouldn't be run without the rerstriction of an air cleaner. This means my plan of a racing K&N has to be put on hold and the MOD oil-bath had to go back on. Luckily I kept all the parts





Interesting noise from front of engine turns out to be that the alternator belt is a shade too wide for the modified pulley so I shall have it off and shave the width.



Danger Darren and the Gas Axe Kid partnered up to check the static timing and I started to sort the old rear lights for the journey to the painters in April. Only though after we've gone through the REME wiring 'moderrnisation'





We're just going to screw them onto a piece of wood that will be ziptied to the bed for the journey and bodge some mudguards for legality.



So with the cut sheet sizes measured and listed for the guillotine next week we decided to crack on with the front brake cylinders.

Wheel off





...and the distaster strikes. The fronts are prone to the shoes sticking on due to damp/rust so the solution is to keep the drain holes clear but the PO (obviously stands for 'poxed orifice') decided to seal the brake drum with silicone sealant . Try tapping the drum off and it just bounces back.



We'll try some heat next week

Thanks for the RL on Ebay cfmania but it's got no parts that I need.

Cheers,

Ian

[Implandy]

saw this today on the A34 Tothill Services, immediate thoughts converted it would be great car transporter, let Tesco's have the horses!