Art Anderson Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 It's been 26 years since I've done a race car of any sort, so this Midget is a trip back in time for me. So far, so good, engine is wired, fuel injection pump was added to the intake cam tower and that's plumbed to the injectors (fuel line will be installed when the firewall is ready). Here's a look at it so far: Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffs396 Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Very nice so far Art! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbowser Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Nice clean work. I like it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Most Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 You HAVE to do an Edelbrock V8-60 to go along with it. Just sayin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOSWELL891 Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Looks good so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Anderson Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 (edited) You HAVE to do an Edelbrock V8-60 to go along with it. Just sayin'. Well, an old acquaintance here in Lafayette does have a Kurtis with a V8-60 up front--planning on visiting him this summer, getting as many reference shots as I can. While I won't do it with this one, the kit as produced has two too many gauges on the instrument panel for a midget as raced back in the 50's--the only gauges that most of them had was a tachometer and an oil pressure gauge. Given that the racing action was fast and furious on short tracks (most tracks were 1/4 mile) a 50-lap feature covered just 12 1/2 miles distance. Most drivers paid attention only to the tach, and then sparingly, oil pressure gauge might have gotten looked at in hot lapping, or if the power seemed to "go off" a bit. Fuel gauge would not have figured into the equation, given the very short duration of heats, consolation, and features. Consider that those old midget drivers had their hands very full: In addition to the traffic on the racetrack (and the quick maneuverability of a midget), coupled with the driver having to frequently work the hand pump on the left side of the body to keep the fuel tank pressurized (even fuel injected Offies needed this, as there was no separate mechanical fuel pump on those cars), grabbing the brake lever to set up for the turns at least twice per lap, they were BUSY indeed! So, I'll be making new instrument panels for future midgets to reflect this. Also, it would be neat if some PE maker would do a St Christopher medal for the instrument panel--an awful lot of racers years ago mounted them on their instrument panels. Art Edited April 7, 2012 by Art Anderson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cranky Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 I like it, Art. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 Looks good, Art. I like the fact that you're addressing the instrument panel. With the gauges on the panel that came with the kit, you may also notice that the bezels do not line up with the body of the gauges on the back of the panel. -Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Anderson Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 Looks good, Art. I like the fact that you're addressing the instrument panel. With the gauges on the panel that came with the kit, you may also notice that the bezels do not line up with the body of the gauges on the back of the panel. -Art Hmm, another ding against Revell! Thanks for the info! Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronr Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Love the Midgets. Will be following this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Laski Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Hmm, another ding against Revell! Thanks for the info! Art Ahh, but it's a great kit! I'm really glad they came out with this one. I only wish I had time to build more of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMc Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 (edited) I want to say water temp, fuel pressure, oil pressure fuel was hand pressurized Edited April 12, 2012 by MikeMc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930fordpickup Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Fine work Art. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DustyMojave Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 What gauges are found in a race car depends greatly on who owns it and who drives it. for instance... V8-60 Kurtis No gauges. Another famous and highly successful Kurtis-Offy (Eddie Meyer) This had: - fuel pressure off the fuel pump at the back of the left cam box - and a fuel shutoff valve on the left upper dash - Water Temp off the back of the top of the block - Oil Pressure off the back of the block - Oil Temp off the right side of the block - Tach off the back of the right cam box - And an ignition kill switch off the magneto And yeah...I know there are a bunch of things about this car that are historically wrong. Like blue anodized machined aluminum plug wire holders and stainless braided lines with pretty anodized aluminum fittings. Although those aren't so bad as much of the plumbing on this car had been aircraft grade stuff. But most of the hoses should have had black rubber cover over the stainless. I'd like to point out that the Offy engine is a little different from many production car engines and this affects correct detailing. - The crankcase is 2-piece cast aluminum, upper and lower split at the crank centerline. The lower half is the oil pan. - The cylinder block is cast iron and includes the cylinder head, so the floor of the valley around the spark plugs is iron. - The cam boxes are aluminum castings with separate covers. - The cam drive gears are housed in a cast aluminum housing on the front of the engine and extending up to the cam covers. - In the Offy of this era, there are no rubber boots on the plug wires. Note that on this engine, the block is painted krinkle black. There are aluminum sleeves around the spark plugs which stand up above the top of the block a little. The cam blocks and covers are polished. This is fairly common, but many had the cam blocks rough as sand cast finish. The crankcase and cam drive housing are also typically as sand cast finish. I have never seen an Offy with the aluminum parts of the engine painted. That doesn't mean that it couldn't have been or never was done. But if it was, it certainly wasn't very often, especially on the West Coast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Wood Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 doesn't look like you skipped a beat Art Looks Great!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DustyMojave Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 In my offroad race car seen in my avatar, I never had nor wanted any gauges. I felt there was no time to be looking at gauges. Huge warning lights let me know if there was something serious. Many 2-seat offroad racers have the guy in the right seat watch gauges, but I also felt they add substantially to complexity of the wiring, which increases the number of things that can go wrong and the likelihood of it happening along with increasing the complexity of diagnosing a problem out in the middle of the desert and difficulty repairing it. In a small circle track car, gauges add a lot to complexity, and many drivers won't ever look at them. When I drove a vintage V8-60 car for testing, the procedure to start the engine was to buckle in, pump up the fuel tank watching the gauge (3 psi) and put it in gear while the push truck lined up. Then as the push truck got it rolling, watch the oil pressure gauge. When the oil pressure jumped up, open the fuel valve and flip the kill switch to run and kick the throttle to give it some fuel. When it started, give it some throttle to pull away from the push truck, give the fuel pump a couple of pumps and go! I never looked at the tach or other gauges while driving. Many cars have a mechanical fuel pump to take over once it's running, but many did not. If no mechanical pump and the engine starts sputtering, you probably forgot to pump up the pressure that lap, so ya better pump fast and furious to keep the engine running. There is no starter or battery to restart the engine if you stall it. So that those who are not familiar with these things can understand, the chrome deal on the left outside of the cockpit is the hand fuel pump. It actually is NOT a fuel pump. It is an air pump. The driver uses it to pump air into the top of the fuel tank to push fuel into the carbs or on later cars, fuel injection. The pump is really just like a short manual tire pump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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