One of the most famous
and certainly the most recognizable Chevrolet powered dragsters
of all time was the Shubert/Herbert 1965 car pictured above at
"The Beach", it's home track. The car ran for only
one year and was the last in a series of cars jointly run by
Chet Herbert, the famous drag racing innovator, and Zane "The
Beard" Shubert.
Forrest Bond Photo
After the 1965 season the car sat idle for a year and then was
sold as a rolling chassis.
Here Big Yohns documents
his project not only in photos, but with great commentary to
go with them.
In 2003 I had a chance
to take a car out of the NHRA Museum to the CHRR Cacklefest.
It was the Ted Cyr "Lincoln" from the early 60's and
we had a great time. Afterwards I decided that I would like to
have a Cackle Car myself. I wanted to have a car that I had a
connection with, when it was active. This made the list fairly
short. I had three Top Fuel cars in the mid 60's and wanted to
have one of them.
The reason I chose to recreate the Shubert &
Herbert car was that we had ran it in Minnesota in 1967 with
a BBC on Nitro. That's me standing behind the car. Keith Peabody
bought it from Chet without a motor at the end of 1966 and I
had no car after the accident at the end of 1966 where Vern Anderson
crashed in my RCS car. But, I was able to put a motor together
so Peabody and I raced together for what was my last year of
racing.
Peabody kept the car and ran it with "Rocket Man" Ky
Michaelsons small block in A/GD class through 1970. In 1971 the
car was sold again and the new owner took it to be modified to
use a Chrysler engine. The chassis was deemed too light to be
certified and the useable components were salvaged and used to
build a new car. The chassis was cut up and scrapped.
By sheer luck, since
the car was going to be run with other than a Chevy engine when
sold, Peabody had kept the clutch can, so I was able to get that
one original part.
Big Yohns
Here's the "Blueprint"
with all the measurements and tubing bends figured. I was also
able to provide Meyer (Bob) with a number of pictures I took
in 1967, with the body off. Also, the car had been the subject
of a feature article in a 1967 magazine and Zane (Shubert) had
some additional pics, including the wheelie at Long Beach on
the home page.
With the narrative from the magazine article and all of these
pictures Bob was able to not only calculate what the frame measurements
were but also could see what various mechanical details were.
Zane's recollections were very helpful as well.
Here's the "race car kit" that
I delivered to Meyer last fall after about two-three months of
gathering parts. Here are the two components that form the foundation
for the car, the original clutch can which Peabody had saved,
and the rear end from Chet Herbert. Because of the unusual way
the car was built, these really were the car's foundation.
Bob (Meyer) started
by building the front axle and here he had it and the torsion
tube on the jig.
Bob setup the rear axle location using the correct
center section but we did not have the actual rear axle yet,
so Bob hacked the ends off a sprint car axle I had gotten and
put it in the center section along with the incorrect side bells.
The front and rear axles are the correct 142 inches apart and
at the correct relative height.
A side note, I got the complete Halibrand champ rear axle assembly
from hub to hub, from Chet Herbert. He said he had Halibrand
make it for him, way back then, for a Bonneville project which
was never completed due to a rules change. The pinion and axle
were frozen and I thought perhaps there were problems inside.
As it turns out, it was brand new, even down to the original
assembly grease and the pinion crush sleeve was just tight. The
axle, one piece carved from an 8" diameter chrome moly billet,
was only about 26 inches long and we need 36 inches from hub
face to hub face, so Jamie Frankland had Winters make a new axle
for the car.
I am attaching a picture of the axle as I got it and now, temporarily
assembled in the jig.
The clutch can is the original one from the car and It is attached
to one of those lightweight composite engine block/head deals.
Engine and clutch can are in correct relationship to the rear
axle.
In this photo, there's a large tube resting on the
driveline. This is the tube that will become the torque tube
which goes between axle assembly and clutch can. It is larger
in diameter than the original because with Shubert/Herbert upcoming
duties (Cacklefest), we want to be able to disconnect the driveline
quickly. Gary Sumek at Lenco is making a coupler deal which we
will be able to disengage when we want to start the car with
the starter, for a show and tell. Then we can also engage it
for when we want to push start the car.
Before the axle brackets were made, everything
was fitted in place. The spindles are not Anglia, but they have
been machined so Anglia hubs fit. I got these spindles on a axle
assembly from Dave Tuttle.
I got 16 inch front wheels on another complete front axle assembly
from Todd Gribble of Phoenix who just took the set-up off his
NE 1 car. His axle used Ford spindles, no good for Shubert/Herbert.
Fellow Junior Fueler Evans Neumann had a pair of 32 spoke Anglia
hubs. I took these and the front wheels to a Bike shop in El
Cajon. The owner got me a set of brushed stainless spokes and
is mounting the 16 inch rims on the Anglia spindles.
Here's another shot of the front axle
assembly. The torsion tube came from Frank Fedak, along with
a roll bar hoop, that he and Zane Shubert had made in quantity
back in 1965 when they were building race cars pretty regularly.
So I had two pieces of tubing that were in the same batch that
were used in the original car. Between these, the original clutch
can and the Halibrand axle that was made at the same time as
the one in the original car, you could make a case that it's
a restoration that's being front halved, rear halved and getting
a new body all at the same time.
The engine, clutch can, torque tube, rear end are
a unit, as they were originally. The "butt hoop" and
the shoulder hoop are in place here, as is the complete front
end.
Front
torsion tube and arm is attached to axle. This car had no torsion
bars, the torsion arms were bolted solid to the torsion tube
and there were no radius rods, so the axle was mounted solidly
to the torsion arm and it was mounted solidly to the torsion
tube. Looked legal and was allowed to run.
The engine angle is
as close as we can get it to the original car. Meyer says it
may be 1/4 degree less "tilt". As it is, the shortest
oil pans we can find are deep enough so the pan sits 1/2 inch
below ground level on the jig. We'll trim the pan and shorten
the sump.
Tim beat out the aluminum panel for the seat bottom.
Large hammers, a bag of sand a a 16# bowling ball. Tools of the
trade.
Fuel tank welded together and put in place.
This picture graphically captures the economy of
weight, however the reconstruction of some of this stuff had
Meyer tugging at his follicles! Here is the steering sector and
arm, plus the clutch linkage. The steering shaft to the wheel
contains 2 u-joints.The clutch set-up is complete.
This is the completed 16 inch wheel/tire combo after
being assembled from the Anglia hubs and the 16 inch rim, with
new spokes.
Meyer is working Sundays and everyday to get this
bad boy rolling before he leaves for Indy a week from Thursday.
I picked up the new Hilborn 4-port earlier at McKray's' (he's
working Sunday too!) I took it to Meyer because we (he) had to
make a pattern for the hydraulic throttle cylinder to operate
the butterfly shaft correctly.
Anyhow, the seat was done and the car was secure in the jig,
and my curiosity has been killing me about the extra size Meyer
built into the roll cage so someone bigger than a Hamster could
sit in it. Guess what! It fits great! So, I guess just about
any Standard 1320 member who wants to will be able to climb into
this Cackler, unlike so many of the cars that were built for
Hamster. Even Zane is not a svelte as he was in 1965, so the
extra room should be appreciated instead of scoffed at! I will
have upholstery made to match the Tony Nancy job in the original,
and that'll snug the littler guys right up in there!
Here's a shot of the chassis as of today (08-24-04).
As you can see, the front end is complete, fuel tank, steering
arms, drag link, idler, motor mounts eta. all done. The work
area has shifted to the rear (below).
Kind of hard to see what you're looking at, but here's
the deal. Winters is making a new axle, be here next week. We
have a dummy axle in the car so Bob can keep working. Got to
get it off the jig so Tim can start on the body.
The live axle rides in big bearings which Winters sent, to fit
their axle. Bob machined bearing retainer cups and welded them
to plates he cut out to mount the bearings to the axle upright
plate. Bob is holding the bearing/retainer.plate assembly in
place.
Here's the rub. The bearing is kind of floppy, so
if something isn't done to align it perfectly with the axle while
the mounts are completed, the bearing will be misaligned.
Bob made a jig, which he has now slipped over the axle and clamped
in place. The jig has a flange that lays against the bearing
and aligns it perfectly with the axle. That way. when the bearing
cage is mounted, the bearing alignment is perfect.
Here's the final shot in this sequence. With the
bearing and flange clamped into perfect alignment with the axle.
Bob is now fitting the vertical plate that is welded to the axle
upright and the upper and lower frame rails. It's tricky because
the top rails are wider than the bottom, so the vertical plate
starts at the outside of the bottom frame rail and ends up on
the inside of the top frame rail. Our current race car is also
wider up top than on the bottom so Bob had to do the same thing
with it.
Yesterday, Bob told me how much time Tim Ezerts spent on the
seat, learning techniques that he needed to make the compound
curves to construct the perfect Butt Bucket. And, it is... perfect,
I mean. When you first see the car, I ask you to remember to
look at the seat.
I gotta tell you. This looked like an easy deal to build, to
me! And I couldn't understand why Bob seemed to feel it was going
to be so difficult. Over the last month, I have started to understand.
I know we have a lot of craftsmen in our group and there are
undoubtedly two or three others (you know who you are) who could
have done this too. But my admiration for Bob's pursuit of perfection
is boundless. With all due respect to Zane, the old car was a
chainsaw, meant to do a job and no more. This one is sculpture
and I am going to be one proud Doobie to have been the Godfather
to it. I think we're going to make it, By Jove, I think we're
going to make it!
Finished, it looks like this. The extra two holes
are for another bracket that will eventually hold the caliper,
a Halibrand Indy car 2 pot. That went to White Post today for
a quick turnaround rebuild, it'll be back next Wednesday (If
you have to ask how much it costs to get this kind of service,
you can't afford it---Groannnnn!!!). When that comes back Bob
can mock up the axle hub/hat/rotor combo and decide on the caliper
placement and make the bracket.
Like a pal of mine back in Minnesota told me once, years ago,
about restorations and recreations. "There's nothing to
it, if you have plenty of time and money. If time is short, no
problem here, just bring more money".
On another front, McKray is working feverishly on the motor and
we should be able to fire it up this weekend. Bob Mc has about
everything for it, and the machining is mostly done. Tim Ezerts
at Meyers shop fixed an oil pan to fit today and that was one
of the last pieces to do. McKray is delivering a motor to another
customer in El Cajon tomorrow A. M. (08-27-04) and will stop
by Meyers shop and pick up the remaining bits like the blower
and injector and pan and hub/pulley etc.
Kol in the car, holding a dummy steering disc. The
steering shaft is complete with the u-joints and steering shaft
bracket off the rear end just as it was. The steering shaft is
extra long now, as we need to get the wheel made, it was dished
about 1 1/2-2 inches and fit everything at the end. There was
no coupler originally, but to aid people in getting in and out
of the car (we're all geriatrics now) we decided that the ability
to remove the wheel would be a good thing.
The cockpit as it was in 1967 (we did all the chroming
and polishing, it was all black and satin as run in 1965) and
a shot of the steering linkage today, 8-26-04. You can see, it's
close, reaaallll close (see below). Meyer worked hard on this
and searched u-joints to get the same style. The steering sector
is 1959 Fiat 600, that Zane gave me, same as original. Thanks
Zane, this would have been a b---h to find! Bob was able to cut
the original steering arm down to a real thick washer with the
spine inside and fabricated an arm to be as much like the original
as possible. Bob had to MAKE the nut that holds the steering
arm on! Childs play for him. For me this would have stopped the
project dead.
08.30.04 -- The pipe is about done. Bob made
four of these lateral braces which run from rear end top and
bottom left and right, to scatter shield top and bottom left
and right. I thought I remembered that the tubes just had the
end flattened and welded. Bob studied the pictures and said "No,
the tubes had small plates set into each end and the tubing was
flattened on one side and curved on the other to make a nice
joint." so that's what he did.These add anti-twist to the
axle to complement the torque tube making the rear end and the
engine a rigid unit.
The original plan was
for a sliding coupler. Gary Sumek, the guy that owns Lenco, has
been working on something, but try as I might, I can't get an
exact answer. I believe there will be space enough to slide the
forward half enough to disengage it. But, length is an issue
and I just don't know.
If we don't have it now, I will start over the winter, to find
a solution so we can disengage after push starting, or at least
disengage when we want to static start! I tried to buy a sprint
car in-and-out box on E-bay to get a starting point if we won't
have it now, but the bidding went higher than I wanted to pay
for something I am not sure I'll need! I just have to wait and
see what Meyer and Gary were able to cook up!
I was down to Meyers again today. He's there working.
Two projects at once. First, the Steering Wheel. Bob had four
pieces cut out on a water jet. Two Black rim halves, an aluminum
rim core and an aluminum spoke/hub combo. Here's the black halves
and the spoke/hub with the Horn Button Howard Corwin sent me.
thanks Howard!
Here's the aluminum rim and the spoke.hub which has
to be dished about 2 inches. When that's done it'll be the right
length to fit between the two inside flats on the rim and will
be welded. The holes in the black halves will be countersunk
and then Bob will use some fancy blind fasteners he has to attach
the black halves to the rim. Then the sharp edges will be rounded
on inside and out, the hole pattern drilled in the hub and it's
done! Nothing to it!
I think this is the next to last "Pipe"
setting in place. The push bar will be the last, unless you count
the Brake Handle as "Pipe". (I'll bet I find out tomorrow
there's more pipe.)
The axle is due from Frankland (I know I said Winters before,
I was wrong, get over it) on Tuesday and Robbie Moore is hacking
some hubs out of billet and they're due Tuesday also. When we
get the pinion from Lenco, the rear end can go together for the
final time.
All it needs to do is roll for the Mini Cackle at Cruisin' on
Grand so one way or the other, the car should be ready.
McKray still isn't done with the motor, but there's still some
time for that so I think we're more or less "on schedule".
A little information about the motor for Shubert/Herbert may
be in order. While they ran at 402 inches, a 283 block with a
1 inch Moldex stroker crank, Carillo rods, and all the best stuff
in the motor, we're not looking for performance, however we're
not trying to avoid it either. You just never know. This won't
be a "Paper Tiger". LOL.
McKray started with a good 4 bolt main 350 truck block and bored
it .030. Pete Harris at Crower made me a very nice billet stock
stroke crank. Pete also provided a good deal on a set of Ross
pistons that will give is about 8:00 to 1 compression (I think!).
McKray got a set of aluminum rods (can't remember the brand)
and I got a double roller timing chain from Pete Starrett. Have
I paid you for that yet Pete? Pete also had a Weiand blower manifold
left over from his "Little fuller" project, which I
bought and added to the stack. I paid him for that!
McKray had a set of double hump 327 heads which he massaged.
He can't leave anything alone! I got a 6:71 blower with drive
and idler from another racing buddy. Don Enriquez at Hilborn
made up an all new Hilborn tall 4-port and scoop in satin finish.
McKray found a Vertex mag and a #2 Hilborn pump. Bob Molinari
at Crower made me the nicest twin disc pedal clutch you ever
saw, it's got a starter ring gear on the flywheel so we can do
static starts.We'll have to take a little bite out of the scatter
shield for the Bendix drive, but this is supremo!
And last but not least, Chet Herbert is making a special camshaft
and we'll use his lifters, push rods and rocker arms. We think
the rocker arm covers were Corvette with small breathers, but
the jury is still out. The engine was not a fixed in time deal.
It changed from week to week so different pictures show different
stuff. For awhile, Zane ran without an idler pulley on the blower
drive. If we can hit the belt length and pulley ratio, we'll
probably do the same thing.
That's about it. We are waiting for last minute stuff for McKray
to be able to complete the motor. Maybe it'll fire for the first
time Wednesday Sept 1, maybe not. We're going to put it in the
(Junior Fuel) race car so we have a stable platform to fire it
up. We removed the motor from it last week in anticipation. After
we know it's a runnin' beast, we'll put it on a cradle and take
it down to Meyers shop so they can plumb the fuel lines etc.
Not much etc. on this car either. Fuel lines and kill switch
wire, that's it!
As it stands, although I won't be here (not to worry, Linda and
I will be on a long ago scheduled Alaska cruise) Kol and Marc
and Meyer and Tim and Tony and McKray should have it at the Cruisin'
On Grand Mini Cackle Friday night Sept. 10th. Zane is going to
try to be there. If possible, he will be in the seat for the
first fire-up. TOO COOL!
Here's a shot of the assembled steering wheel in
place. Due to the fact that the roll cage is a little longer
than the original, the steering wheel will be mounted a couple
of inches farther back and will have a quick release to make
it easier for people (other than the designated driver) to sample
the drivers position. This was never an issue with the original,
I doubt if anyone but Zane ever sat in it until we got it. But
at displays like CHRR it's nice to be able to let people experience
the feeling of sitting in a dragster cockpit. There's isn't one
of the Cackle cars that I could get in. We have solved that problem
while toying with historical accuracy a little.
The steering wheel is mostly done, Bob has to finish the curved
edge on the inside of the rim and polish it. He told me that
he had a little incident with the lathe last night and (his favorite
phrase) "to make a long story short", the steering
wheel took an unplanned departure from the lathe jaws and did
some cross country running on it's own. The evidence is gone,
but the steer wheel is just a little smaller in diameter than
planned. Oh well! It's coming together so nicely that a person
would have to be a bigger jerk than I am, to grumble about something
like that.
Bob says it's coming off the jig either late today (8-31) or
tomorrow. Then it's up to Tim to bang out a body. I was over
at the North County Powder Coating today, to look at the sample
of the special Orange that Lori had blended to match Zane's color
chip. They KILLED IT! It's perfect and they call it "Dragster
Orange". We ordered enough powder to cover the body and
seat and have plenty left over and they promised short turnaround.
Smoke is starting to come out of my ears! Big Yohns
09.01.04 - So
here's a pair of shots approximately from the same angle, showing
the cockpit then (below) and now. It's getting there and as you
can see, it's going to be "The Car" all over again!
Who says you can't go back home? I crawled in again and I'll
be able to squeeze in with a helmet on, under the roll bar and
it's barely higher than my waist. It's so low that you just step
in. Especially compared to the current car, which requires planning
to enter! Big Yohns
Here's a before and after of the caliper (below).
It's not really new, it just seems like it. Not good to scrimp
on (the) brake, especially when there is only one! White Post
did a nice job, Sent it Thursday afternoon two-day, got it back
today. Good service! Thanks Billy!
Here's the coupler, sliding we hope. In the coupler
apart shot, the (female) part on the far right will slide on
the output shaft. In the together shot (below), there will be
a pair of rings on the smaller (right side) end of that half,
that the shift fork will ride in. The plan is to be able to disengage
with the motor running, after a push start for example. Engagement
will only be at rest and rock everything to get the halves to
slide together. That's the story and I'm sticking with it. Big
Yohns
On the home stretch. That's Tim Everts in the car,
he's "The Tinman" at Meyer Racing as well as general
fabricator. Tim's got to make a body in a few days and it's be
fairly straightforward except for the large cowl curve for the
windshield. That's going to be a bear but Tim is good and patient,
it'll be perfect when he's done.
You can see that there is room for an adult in this
car. The rear axle showed up from Frankland today and it is at
Robbie Moore's shop where the hubs are being fabricated from
billet.
9.14.04 - Here's the brain trust, on the left
Bob Meyer, center Tim Evert, right Tony Ettner. This was not
a staged picture, they were actually discussing how to mount
the brake caliper, which you can see in it's end location. The
rear end is completely assembled ready to use and probably mounted
in the car for the final time pre-CHRR. The axle FIT and everything
turns and it is indeed, glorious!
Meyer had a guy named Robbie Moore whittle these
hubs out of billet material on the CNC machine. Too damn bad
they are going to be covered up with the wheels. As I have mentioned
before, this Halibrand rear end was brand new when I got it from
Chet Herbert, never turned over. With the aluminum billet rifle
drilled axle/spool that Frankland Axles made for me and these
hubs, this is probably the finest Halibrand rear axle assembly
in existence. All this for a Cackle Car. I must be nuts!
Here's the almost complete body. Awhile back, I went
to my local hot rod painter and told him what I was building
and asked him about painting the body. He said I should get it
powder coated as it would be more durable. He referred me to
North County Powder Coating, owned by a car nut. I visited with
his daughter, Lori Wright and she helped me with getting an exact
color match created. My problem solved!
However, powder coat must go directly on metal. This means no
filler allowed. I did not realize what an impossible situation
I had created for Tim Evert who was making the body. He has to
make every surface perfect, as we could not use any glaze or
anything in prepping the body. He is enough of a gentleman that
he didn't call me any names or even bring up the fact that this
made his job more difficult.
So, here's the body. The white is the adhesive coating which
remains on the bulk of the body. Most of the fabrication was
simple curves, but (and as Ivo says, here's that BUT again!)
there is a very compound curve for the windshield area. There
the white has been stripped because the metal had to be really
worked. You can get a sense of what is was in the original (below)
when Zane Shubert drove it. I know that we have some masters
of the trade who will see this, but besides the seat, this was
Tim's first effort at such a complex shape and I think he KILLED
IT!
Just to give some perspective as to the relationship
of top of tire and top of cowl, etc., we (Tim and Tony) put a
tire/wheel combo on the car. This is a 29 inch tire, 9:00 x 15.
You can see how it towers above the cowl. Beautiful. This car
has some lines. Makes me smile!
This is a really nice motor, probably capable of
running as good as the car did in it's heyday, although not on
10% like Zane ran! We'd have to put a load in it! It's all good
stuff, all new except block and heads and not a shortcut anywhere.
We might have fired it tonight but it needed some spacers made
for the idler pulley bracket and we elected to adjourn and reconvene
tomorrow when the needed items would be made and installed.
I feel a little like philosophizing right now, but I think I'll
save it until motor and chassis are united and it is a car.
I will say, however, that anyone who wants to do something like
this, and not have any intangible IOU's floating around after
the project is complete, had better take two aspirin and lay
down until the urge goes away! You can't do it with just money!
You will also need help from a lot of people who have no real
reason to help, except that they want to help! Can't explain
it any better than that!
9.15.04 - We were up to McKray's this
late afternoon and the motor got finished and fired up. Here's,
from left to right, one of Bob's neighbors, Mikey Kennedy, Kol,
Don Enriquez and Bob, crouched in front of the motor. We fired
it first on plain old alcohol out of the yellow bottle. Fired
right up, minor adjustments on barrel valve, idle speed etc.
Sounded Great!
After firing a few times, we were satisfied with
the fundamentals, McKray looked at me and said "Do you want
to try it with a load?" I said "We didn't bring any
Nitro!". He said "We've got some left over from Cacklefest
(The Yellow Roadster)". I said "Bring It On!".
Zane and Chet ran 10%, maybe 15% to 20% if their backs were against
the wall and the track was good. But, in order to make some noise,
we figured we'd have to run at least 50% to be noticed in the
"Thunder Parade", so we eyeballed a batch of 50% (Four
Bits as Gabby Bleeker used to call it). Who needs a stinkin'
hydrometer? We measured the amount of Nitro in the Red jug, poured
in the same amount of Alky. Had about 3 1/2 gallons of blend
and fired it up. Here McKray is working his magic on the barrel
valve. Sounded GREAT! Very sharp with the 1 3/4 inch zoomies
off our race car! I called Meyer on the cell phone (7:30 and
he's still working at the shop) and let him listen. I'll probably
pick up the motor tomorrow and take it down to Meyers shop, for
the final calculations to finish the drive line, clutch, input
shaft and coupler deal. Then it'll go together.
There are a few issues. We have 8 nozzles in the Hilborn 4-port
and pictures indicate the car ran with 4 nozzles, so Enriquez
is making 4 correct nozzles and will plug the other 4 locations.
For those of you that don't know, Don Enriquez has worked at
Hilborn since the mid 60's and is the "go-to" guy for
every racer running Hilborn injection. That's how he and Gene
Adams became a team back then. Don wanted to drive and he and
Gene made a deal. Ultimately Gene moved on, but Don stayed. What
a wonderful guy to have for a friend and as a bonus, someone
interested in our project!
Now, I really think we have made it! Cacklefest, here we come!
Big Yohns
9.17.04 - We took the motor down to Meyers
today. The car was in condition to be set on the floor with all
four wheels bolted on for the first time. Immediately Tim and
Kol had to see how high the front end would lift before the body
touched the ground in the back. While it was up, I suggested
Meyer put his level on t. With the 29 inch tires, at full height
the motor is about 1/4 degree down yet. For reference, here's
a 3/4 front shot of Zane in 1965. You can see the motor is still
tipped down. I realized, when looking at this shot yesterday,
at full wheelie, Zane could still nicely see forward past the
motor! Ingenious. Big Yohns
Here's the
little beast with all four tires on the ground for the first
time. In the background is the motor, with the blower removed
for transport. The belly tray is visible. I figure that there
will be various people getting in to try it on, and so we decided
to have a heavy gauge tray as an inner floor. It makes an excellent
place to stand while getting in or out and makes the process
very straightforward. Unlike a typical car where the legs are
way out forward over the rearend and you need to use all arm
strength to get in and out. Here, you just step in and sit down.
To get out, you pull your feet as close to your butt as you can
and stand up. Even an old fat man like me can do it with some
dignity!
Kol is trying out the seating position and pedal
placement. There is a little adjusting to do there. Otherwise
everything is in the relationship that was expected. Bob was
going right to work on the output shaft/clutch/coupler situation.
The body is getting final touches and the windshield is being
made. The seat is out, getting upholstery made to match what
was in the original, and some extra padding to use when "Skinnies"
get in the car for cackles or whatever. Having car and motor
in the same location is a good feeling. McKray fixed a little
oil pickup problem and fired it up a few times last night, so
it was completely ready to be picked up this morning. The excitement
level is building!
9.19.04 - I called Meyer at the shop shortly
after Noon and sure enough he was there. He had taken the car
completely apart to get the chassis and etc's painted black.
He said "I need your advice on something, can you come down?".
Of course, I was flattered, He hasn't asked for much input on
this project, so I said Sure and headed down there. When I got
there he said" I need to know which of these two methods
will be better cleaning the rear end center section" and
handed me a wood handled wire brush and a rotary wire brush in
a cordless drill, plus a can of Brake Parts Cleaner!
Well, I can take a hint as well as the next person.
Here's a comparative shot. The rear end was pretty scuzzy, even
though it had never been used, 40 years of sitting around had
taken a toll. So, it's clean now and ready to be put back in
the car.
This is the painted chassis. Not much there. i asked
Bob what it weighed and he said he thought it was between 68
and 75 pounds. I don't know if he'll weigh it or not,. He did
weigh the rear end, it was 102 complete with bearings, cages,
mounts, hubs and brake hat and disc. The caliper is a heavy dude
even though it's mag, I bet it weighs 5-6 pounds so maybe 108
total. To the best of our recollection, the similar contemporary
rear end in the race car weighs 114. That one is not an open
tube, but is a mag Center and Side Bells like this. The race
car rear end has side tubes with 9" Ford flanges, bearing
cups and a 35 spine spool, scalloped Ring Gear etc. It has Strange's
lightest drilled axles and carbon fiber brakes. I would say a
contemporary Champ tube rear end could be made to weigh 90 pounds
or less, with one Carbon Fiber brake disc, a new caliper, scalloped
Ring gear, Aluminum Hubs (the S/H axle has billet steel hubs)
and the same axle and Mag Center section and Side Plates as S/H.
Meyer installed the new Crower pedal clutch that
Bob Mollinari made for S/H. It has a small ring gear and the
clutch can had to have a small relief milled in it for the block
mounted starter Bendix drive, so we are able to static start
without a blower mounted starter and the attendant cage and brackets
etc. In my view, it's better and seems to work fine. Compression
is 7.8 to 1 and we're running about 10% overdrive (36 tooth bottom,
33 tooth top pulleys) and the starter spins it fine.
The Scattershield is the original from the car built
by Roy Steen in 1964 that was the predecessor to this car. It
has been sliced open with an exploding clutch and welded shut,
you can see the welding rod surgery performed by Zane in 1965.
It had been drilled, milled and generally abused for 40 years.
Meyer went to work and filled all the extra holes (maybe 12-15
of different sizes) and then smoothed it and painted it. looks
like new! Well, that's it for another day. The miscellaneous
pieces of tubing and etc's will all be enameled black tomorrow
and the car will start going together for the final time. I didn't
think there was going to be time for this disassembly, so I thought
it was going together last week! Show's what I know! LOL
Bob says he'll get the final size output shaft from Robbie Moore
in the morning so he can start fitting the power train together
in complete form for the first time. It looks like there is length
in the torque tube to separate the coupler halves for static
starts etc. but there may not be time to make the process work
before CHRR. That's okay. Got Rocker arm covers, fuel lines and
a couple of other things plus body coloration to get completed.
Looks like it'll not only be completed, but it'll also be FINISHED
in time for CHRR. A dream come true for this old guy! Big
Yohns
9.21.04 - We are only a couple of days away from
completion, unless something really bad happens. The stuff that
needs to be painted is painted. There are only two pieces on
the car that will be polished, and they are. The body and seat
goes to the Powder Coater tomorrow. The upholstery is mostly
done except the installation method (simulated snaps and velcro,
no holes will be drilled), scheduled in the car for Monday. The
body comes back Friday afternoon. Fuel lines are to be picked
up tomorrow at 1:00 or after. Tom Abbott of Chute Metal said
the chute pack etc. will be at Meyer's this week. Mckray has
valve covers, breathers on the way from Mooneyes.
Here you can see, Meyer and Timmy have the motor/driveline completed
and installed. We're behind best case scenario, but ahead of
worst case scenario. I guess that makes this just average!
Except for the body in Shubert Red/Orange, everything
else on the car will be black or as close to metal/alloy natural
color as we can get it. No Red and Blue Aeroquip, no nothing.
That's the way it was, that's the way it will be. I said two
things were polished, that's wrong, I was thinking of the Steering
Wheel (which will bring tears to your eyes) and the steering
idler arm. The front hubs and rims are polished also. They are
all old parts and really needed the polish job to make them look
presentable.
There is one small dilemma, the headers. Doug Thorley made us
a set of flanges and formed tubes, which Meyer got today! Bob
will make them over the next few days and we have to decide whether
to paint them black or silver, or just leave them alone. Since
Zane ran so many different headers (he said he made a set every
week trying different things) we could do anything with them
and it would be period correct. Anything but chrome them, that
is! I dunno what's going to happen here. I guess it'll depend
if Bob wants to cover his crappy, globby, welding up with paint!
He's going to kill me.
Busy days, but the activity level should subside by Monday or
so, to allow for a couple of days decompression before I leave
Thursday early M. M. for "The Patch".
09-22-04 - Tim finished the body today and
got the windshield fitted. This was just prior to the body coming
off the car, to go to the Powder Coating shop.
If you peek in past the roll bar you can see the
Steering Wheel. It looks really nice. You may notice that the
windshield and the roll cage are not far apart. That's no illusion.
this car was very close coupled in the driver area. It will be
a challenge to get into it even though it's longer in the roll
cage area. We may have to remove the cowl for larger persons
to fit in. Don't know yet.
Because we won't have an un-coupler until later,
we had to have a means to hold the clutch pedal in to roll the
car around etc. This is Meyer's version of a clutch rod. It is
placed in the car with the right side of the device located on
the seat cross member tube. The dangling part is the left side
which is a cup that fits over the clutch pedal. The two ends
are put in place and the offset handle is pressed down, the device
straightens out and the clutch is held in. The "knee joint"
goes over center and the whole works is solid. Ingenious.
9-28-04 - It's complete as it's going to get
and it's in the trailer alongside the house. Trailers hooked
onto the Motorhome which is full of water etc. Tomorrow, all
we have to do is load the El Camino on the trailer so Kol can
bring it up behind his motorhome. Racecar is done too! I can't
believe it. I have a day to sort of relax before heading out
Thursday Morning at 7:30 or so. We left Meyers shop at about
7:30 tonight, been there since about 8:15 this morning, finishing
last minute stuff after we thought the car was done three days
ago. We had a celebratory MGD to signify completion. Timmy still
has to make header covers, but he made the patterns and Bob will
bring them along Friday. Enriquez said the scoop would be at
my office via UPS tomorrow, that'll be the last thing to complete
the car!
Ronnie Goodsell stopped by tonight. He has a shop about across
the street from Meyer and is coming up to CHRR with Meyer. I
asked Ronnie if he had been in the car yet and he said no, so
I told him to hop in. Didn't have to ask him twice!
I think there's going to be a letdown here, as I have been all
nerves about everything getting completed and being able to make
good on my promises. It's all going to happen as planned. We
are going to be out in front of the Double Tree Friday night
and do a fireup. I don't have any idea if we are the only car
or if there are a half dozen, but Zane Shubert will be there
in the seat and Chet Herbert will be there to cheer him on. They're
still friends after all these years. How special is that!
This is a kind of funny little race car. It's as limber as a
Russian Gymnast and it's hard to believe we ever ran cars that
flexed and bent like this one does. And it's small. But it was
what it was, when Zane and Chet ran it and when we ran it two
years later. I find it hard to believe that we actually stuffed
a fuel burning Blown Big Block in it. Well, here it is again!
Big Yohns
09-29-04
- Here's Kol and Tony observing as Tim
tries to figure out how to deal with a last minute issue. All
that's left to do is remove the protective coating from the windshield
and install the blower scoop. It's funny, with the small block,
it's accurate historically for it's role as Shubert/Herbert.
But since we ran a big block in it, it doesn't really seem like
our old car. It would probably seem just right to Peabody, however,
because after I quit racing in 1967, he put a small block in
it and ran it until about 1970. In fact, he even went back to
an Orange paint job.
I simply couldn't get down any lower and see through
the viewfinder to take the picture. Some of you already know
that our current race car has couplers in the chassis right in
front of the motor and we often take the front end of the car
off, and hang it in the trailer rafters. With the rest of the
car on big industrial casters we can roll it around like nobodies
business. We take the car apart so we can put it and the Golf
Cart in the 24 foot trailer. We often take the slicks off and
hang them on the wall, just to make the car easier to deal with.
By taking the front axle off Shubert/Herbert we can roll it into
the trailer alongside the race car and haul them both, no problemo.
How do we roll it with the front axle off.? I am glad you asked.
One of the artifacts I got when I started the project was the
dolly we used to tow the car around the pits back in 1967. We
just slide that under the torsion tube and pull the tongue down
and away we go. I have attached a second picture of the car as
we ran it in 1967 on Gas late in the year after we switched from
Fuel to gas. You can see part of the dolly. The dolly looks the
same as when I got it from Peabody. Classic car people called
the look "Patina". I dunno about that. I just decided
to leave it alone. It's off to the CHRR!
I
also picked up a new rig to tow Shubert/Herbert. It's a 1966
El Camino SS 396 with factory air, buckets, automatic etc. Somebody
spent a lot of money making it nice and I sure appreciate it.
For the nit-pickers, I know it's a year to new to be accurate,
as the Shubert/Herbert car was ran out here in 1965. But, the
fact is that we used one just like this, except Blue, to tow
with in 1966 ourselves and I am just going to have to ask God
to forgive me for not having quite the right year Towcar.
I bought it from Pat Austin and drove it home from Tacoma through
the Redding to Grapevine Valley of Death with no air, and overheating
at that, so I had a max of about 60 mph. Oooooh, I am glad I
don't have to do that again. It was over 100 degrees. In Sea-Tac,
a good heater is, apparently, more important than air conditioning
and it probably never overheated no matter what.
But, I had the radiator recored with a four row 5/8 tube core
and put in a Mr Gasket high flow 160 stat. Then I had an old
time hot-rodder here go over the air conditioning and he fixed
it right up. It runs 170-180 now without the air and with the
air it will get up around 200 if I idle for a while.
It has gobs of torque and I have towed 4,000 pounds up hill in
90 degrees on regular gas with no ping and no overheat! It has
a killer stereo, I mean really killer. It doesn't have a c/d
player though, so we'll have to remedy that.
I put on the Halibrand look alikes and the knock-offs and regular
tires, it had some Weld 16 inchers with rubber band tires, looked
like s--t, rode like s--t, engine overreving madly. It's basically
ready to go except I am getting a tonneau cover made for it and
then it'll be done, just in time.
Ron "Big Yohns"
Johnson - Not a New Kid on the Block
Here's a picture of my second dragster, circa 1957.
I don't think what little reputation I have would be enhanced
by the distribution of this picture, but in order to accurately
portray the miserable state of drag racing in Minnesota in 1957,
I will say that this was almost as good as the best. Not quite,
but almost. I had already been a circle tracker in 1953 and built
another dragster in 1956, but it was, unlike this one, kind of
crude!
Kol (son) was about (born 9/17/56) 8 months old at this point
(mid-summer) and Christine was 3-4 months along (born Dec 12,
1957). The engine was a flathead Cadillac, the chassis an ex-track
roadster. The roll cage was plumbing pipe, the seat from a midget
race car, transmission Ford passenger car, Ford front and rear
axle. My Dad and Mom came out to the track one Sunday and saw
me go down the track in this thing, my Dad called it a Suicide
Machine and refused to ever come to the track again when I was
racing a car, driving or not!
Now get this, it was my Dad that took me to the first races I
ever attended because HE wanted to go! I just went along! At
age 11 or so, right after the war we started with flat track
motorcycle racing/track roadster combined show (they didn't race
against each other, separate programs) on a dirt 1/2 mile. He
got me started and then quit on me! What a bum deal. I suppose
my Mom was the driving force in that whole deal. Shrill voice
"Charlie, you're not going to encourage that lunatic to
do this racing, are you?" Mom was nice to me, just didn't
want me dead! |