2011 - October 18th - Zenith Carby Upgrade - Stage 2 The Fitting

After 2 nights of  heated battle with man versus machine the carby is fitted, but there are several areas that require further attention, being:

* Fine tuning the linkages
* Connecting the hot air intake
* Connecting the crankcase ventilation
* Tuning the carby

Last night was a frustrating 4 hours in the shed after I discovered he Zenith is a lot longer in the throttle stroke than the Carter carby. I had to make several new linkages and luckily was able to adjust the length of others. Several years ago I converted the metal to metal carby linkages that had an enormous amount of slop to flexible rose joints. The end result is no slop and an instantaneous throttle response. ( I will cover this in more detail in a later posting)

I also had to fit a different choke cable and housing as the old one was too short for the Zenith.

The easiest part of the operation was bolting the carby on to the manifold.

At this stage I thought I would connect the fuel and see what happens. The Zenith is a very obliging set up in that it has three possible fuel inlet ports covering 3 sides. The fuel line is connected and I turn on the tap on the Vac Tank. Instantaneously fuel starts coming out the carby air intake. Turned off the Vac Tank, wiped up the fuel, tried again, fuel pissing all over the place.

I had a hunch that the internals of the carby had to be primed at which stage it would stop dripping fuel, otherwise I am in big trouble. So I turn of the Vac Tank and try to start the engine. Turned it over a few times, kicked but would not run. Tried again, the Red Chev fired up but would not rev past idle. Jumped out thinking I had to turn the vac tank back on, which as I did I noticed 2 plug leads were disconnected. There was no great miss, just a lack of revs. Try running your modern on 2 cylinders.

After putting the leads back on the Red Chev fired up, running very smooth. This was a complete surprise as I had not yet tuned the carby, I had no choke, and the engine was on full retard. Normally the Red Chev runs pretty average on full retard, so I can only assume that when everything has been set up right, this Zenith 14991 will be a big improvement.

There was no more fuel leaking after the engine started so my hunch about the carby needing to be primed must be correct, I don't really know, but she ain't leaking anymore.

I still have a few more hours of work to get the set up right, but even at this stage I am very happy with the results so far.

Upcoming Improvement no 8 - Carby Upgrade

Now that I am doing a lot more driving at highway speeds, I am looking for smoother acceleration, a slight increase in power and if possible better fuel economy. I have always been a big fan of the original Carter carby, defending its honour to the max, however lately I have been paying more attention to the experiences of other Chev 4 owners.

The name that came up from several sources, mainly in the states was the Zenith 14991, an after market carby, been around for don't know how long, used as an after market unit on A models and various tractors. Recently a couple of 28 Chev owners on the net, one from the States and the other from Great Britain have completed successful installations with positive results

With no intention of ever doing substantial engine modifications, I have always looked for add on or bolt on improvements. The first was Autolite 3077 spark plugs, and hopefully the next will be a carby upgrade.

The only thing that was in my way was the cost, not budgeted, and a plan to buy one in the future, but not now or that soon. All that changed when a close friend, and you know who you are, shouted me the purchase price of a carby as a gift. Your generosity was very much appreciated.

So its a month later, the carby has finally arrived, I have compiled a lot of data about the installation, and I am ready to go. After the "Last of the Chrome Bumpers" run this weekend, the 2nd October, I will start the conversion process.

I need to fabricate an adaptor plate as the mounting holes are 90 degrees opposed to the Carter, re route the fuel line and change the throttle and choke linkage.

So which one will run better, the 83 year old technology in the Carter, or the more modern Zenith 14991. I will let you know in a week or two, but the money would have to be on the Zenith.

I have included a few pictures below. The original Carter has a brass bowl and black body, and the Zenith is the more chunky looking all alloy unit.

And this is what one installed on a 28 Chev in Great Britain looks like.

2011 - 14th October - Carby Upgrade Stage 1 - Adaptor Plate

The first thing required for fitting a Zenith 14991 to a Chev 4 is to make an adaptor plate, which is required as the mounting holes are 90 degrees different to the carter carby. In simpler terms the carter holes run across the inlet manifold, whereas the Zenith's mounting holes run along the manifold.

Not having a milling machine, I spent approx 10 hours drilling, filing and polishing, which also included throwing out the first attempt as I did not like the way it was turning out. The filing was the killer.

Drilling the pilot hole

Boring the Centre hole

Lining up for drilling the Zenith mounting holes

Anyone for Swiss cheese (or death by a 1000 holes)

Many hours later, the finished plate

 

 

And a few shots of how it all fits together

You may notice a gap between the manifold and the adaptor plate on the following shots. There is a bit of interference between the edges of the manifold flange and the bolt heads securing the Zenith to the adaptor plate. This will be a simple fix requiring slightly reducing the edge of the manifold flange and possibly fitting socket head bolts instead of hex head.

2011 - 27th November - Electric Fuel Pump Compliments the Zenith Carby Upgrade

This may seem like a leopard changing his spots as for many years I have been a staunch believer and supporter of retaining the Stewart Warner Vacuum Tank, as fitted standard to 1928 Chevs.

This all changed when I fitted the Zenith 14991 carby. Around town at 35 miles per hour it ran beautiful, and on the open road I could cruise at 50 to 55 MPH with no drama, except after about 15 miles of high speed driving I would out strip the rate of fuel supply, and suffer fuel starvation until I backed off and let the fuel supply back into the carby. On hills the problem was a bit more severe. It was not a Vac Tank problem but the 14991 carby requiring fuel pressure to run at its ultimate level of performance.

I was advised by a Chev guy in the States before I fitted the 14991 that I would need an electric fuel pump.

I took a gamble and lost.

You are never too old to learn. For years I thought the standard Carter carby was fine, did not know any better. Changed to the Zenith, very happy. Similar experience to when I changed over to 3077 spark plugs. So fitting an electric fuel pump was viewed in a similar way. Not to make the Red Chev a racer, just a bit more respectable on the open road.

A 6 volt in line fuel pump was ordered from the Filling Station in the USA, and has just been fitted. Some people hide these under the chassis or inside a stripped out vac tank, but hey I am not ashamed or it.

I have mounted it on the firewall, right next to the vac tank, and by installing a tap in the vacuum line from the manifold to the vac tank, I can convert back to the original system in about 10 minutes. Will probably never need to, but lets be on the safe side, plus it allows me to maintain my faith and reliance in vac tanks.

The fuel pump makes a bit of noise before the engine fires up, but once running you don't hear it. I will do a shake down run up to Trafalgar to see Monty and Grant in the next week or so, which should be a good test, and if something happens 1 of my 2 fuel systems will get me home.

A few pictures of the installation are below.

2011 - October 22nd - Zenith Carby Upgrade - Stage 3 The Fiddly Bits

The last week and a bit has seen hours in the Chev shed like the days of old, 4 to 5 hours a night, but progress has been very good, and I am now on the home straight. After fitting the carby to the adaptor plate I then had to "tweak" with a capital T, most of the linkages.
There was a lot of cutting, bending, cutting threads, all of which soaked up an enormous amount of time, but never dampened the enthusiasm to get the result I was after.

This was never more adamant than the accelerator pedal linkage, which previously I had never been happy with. This was the time to get it right and that took me about 8 hours, including fitting an accelerator return spring with the right feel.

I took the Red Chev for the first test drive with the Zenith fitted last night (Friday 21st October), very encouraging. I was originally worried that the exhaust note was a lot louder, but that was only with no air intake hose and air filter. Once I temporarily fitted these, the exhaust note was more normal.

I found during the test drive that without being tuned yet, the Red Chev seemed to have more power in first and second, with quicker acceleration. I will update this area once the fiddly bits are completed and the carby is tuned at 1800 RPM.

This leads me to this afternoon (22nd October), and as per the picture below I have a carby fitted but no connection for the crankcase ventilation tube or the hot air intake hose.

You may be able to see from the next picture that the carby air intake is bigger than the air intake hose, 1 5/8" versus 1 1/2"

Earlier in the week I had the local exhaust shop expand a piece of 1 1/2" tube up to 1 5/8". The outside diameter was the correct fit for the carby intake, and the inside diameter was the correct fit for the air intake tube. I regard this as a stroke of good luck, perfect fit for both requirements first try.

You can see the tube insert fitted, but I still had a problem with the crankcase ventilation tube, no connection.  Now I am aware that some Chev 4 owners who have done a similar carby upgrade have fitted a small section of radiator hose into which they then inserted the crankcase ventilation tube. I chose to go metal all the way.

 I made a connection piece from a piece of 16mm solid bar, which I drilled out in stages to 12.5 mm, the biggest drill my pedestal drill press could handle. Out came the rat tail file to finish off the hole to the right size, somewhere around 12.75 mm.

Luckily I was able to bend, stretch and manipulate the existing crankcase ventilation tube to fit the changed connection points.

The picture below shows the connection piece in place but still needing to be welded.

 Being a polished metal junkie I then spent several hours polishing both parts before drilling a pilot hole and inserting a bolt to hold both parts in place for welding.

I will get the insert welded on Monday, but in the meantime, if the weather is good tomorrow, Sunday 23rd October I will do some more testing and tune the carby.

The Red Chev and the Zenith 14991 are nearly one unit at peace with the world.

Once all is well, in the next week or so I will do a shakedown run to Trafalgar to see Grant and his master Monty.

 http://montythe1928chevrolet.blogspot.com/2011/10/resto-monty-leaves-trafalgar-after.html

Monty left town today, the first time in 44 years to have his exhaust replaced.

147 Miles or 232k Shakedown Run with new Zenith 14991 Carby

I choose the occasion of going up to Trafalgar to help Grant with Monty's Endurance Run, see last posting  http://my28chev.blogspot.com/2011/11/montys-endurance-run.html to give the new Zenith carby a good first long run.

147 miles or 232 k's. How did it go on a 30 degree Celsius day?

Pretty good, the only thing I had to do when I got home was turn up the idle speed a bit. I think it moved and the Red Chev stalled a few times.

I had a little bit of apprehension as ideally the 14991 should be used with a fuel pump, but hey, I am an old fashioned Vac Tank man, and would only convert as a last resort. My criteria for changing the carby was a slightly faster cruising speed, a bit more acceleration, and if fuel economy improved, a bonus, but not a necessity.

Previously I would cruise at the sweet spot 45 mph or 72 k's and anything much faster would start to sound a bit harsh and a tad noisy. With the Zenith the sweet spot now is at 50mph or 80 k's. These readings in K's are as per my GPS. At this speed the Vac Tank worked OK with no issues.

For the first 20 miles or so I pushed it a bit at 85 k's or 53 mph. It went very well, but after about 20 miles I believe the carby was using more fuel than the vac tank could supply, and we are probably talking about pressure rather than volume. I started to get a miss, backed off  to 80 k's it went away.
The same thing if I hit a hill after a running for a few miles at over 80 k's. The miss would occur, below 80 k's went away.

For the time being I can live with this, will see how it goes, but as a general statement, I don't think I want to push the Red Chev much harder than 50mph, but I know if I do want to, can do it in burst of 15 to 20 mph at a time. If in the future if  I desire to run continuously at over 50 mph (it ain't going to happen) then would consider a fuel pump.

Grant took the Red Chev for a drive from Trafalgar to Moe and back, maybe about 20 miles, and his comment was "You would not really want to drive much faster than 50mph"

Below is a couple of shots of the best view from the inside of a 28 Chev, looking over the bonnet at the road ahead, with the motometer in your line of vision all the time.

Had a bit of trouble finding a parking spot when I got to Grant's place. People had started putting out their hard rubbish for collection a bit early.

Heh heh heh

2011 - October 25th - Zenith Carby Upgrade - Done, Dusted, Finished

Please to have finally put the job to bed, after a lot of fine tuning of linkages and the carby return spring.

I tuned the carby yesterday, which involves the normal idle adjustment screw, plus an additional adjustment which is set at running speed, 1800RPM (Boy did that make some racket in the Chev Shed)

The only real scare I had had during the whole process was straight after I tuned the carby and went for a test drive. The Red Chev was back firing badly every time I backed off or slowed down. Thinking I had stuffed up the tuning or something worse, I was relieved to find it was no more than the carby return spring not fully returning the throttle linkage to the idle position. However it took me several hours over 2 nights to get the combination of correct spring tension and accelerator pedal feel.

So far testing has indicated more power and better acceleration in 1st and 2nd gear, and in top gear seems quicker to reach 35 to 40 mph.

Fuel economy and hill performance are still to be determined, but as a general statement I believe the Red Chev will be a more pleasant car at highway cruising speeds.

The final few photos are as follows:

I was able to use the original crankcase ventilation tube with a bit of bending stretching etc.

 The carby return spring, mounting bracket and one of the rose joints that remove any metal to metal contact in the carby linkages.

You can probably see from these photos that both the carby and choke linkages can be on either side, and you can see 2 of the 3 fuel inlet ports. All in all a very flexible carby for many applications.

The extra linkage installed between the accelerator pedal and the engine block.

The welded, and polished fitting with the retaining screw into the carby body

The Red Chev. Down for the count but not out.

I had a great day up at Trafalgar yesterday with Monty and Grant. See the posting below.

http://montythe1928chevrolet.blogspot.com/2012/01/rest-water-pump-new-wiring-harness.html

Pity the same could not be said for the Red Chev. Head wind on the way up, which is not the best driving conditions for a car with the aerodynamics of a brick. Working pretty hard, a few coughs and splutters, but we made it in the end.

Now coming home seemed a breeze, tail wind pushing me along, sitting on 86 k's most of the way, accelerating up the hills, all the sort of stuff it would not do on the way up. Non stop from Trafalgar to 100 metres from the Eastlink turn off on the Monash freeway, and the fire goes out. So here I am, about 115 miles driven, and about 10 k's from home, on the side of one of Melbourne's busiest freeways on on Sunday afternoon, and its about 30 degrees if not warmer.

Tried all the basic stuff, checked the fuel pump, started to think about pulling out the toolbox and a little voice said, NO. Only about a metre between me and the traffic doing 100 kph on one side and a metre on the other side to the concrete barrier. Bugger it, I called the RACV for a Tow truck. Why not, that's why I am in total care. Turned out to be a very wise decision as you will see later it would have been a difficult job to do on the side of the road.

So there I am cooling my heels for about an hour waiting for the flat top, while the Red Chev sits there sulking on the side of the Monash knowing it has to face the embarrassment and shame of coming home on the back of a tow truck for only about the second or third time in 38 years.

Tow truck arrives, loads up the patient and we head for The Basin. Great driver, even managed to get the car into the garage on a up hill driveway. Boy did that save me some blood sweat and tears.

About an hour later I motivated myself to take a look at the problem, and started with the basics:
1. Checked the fuel pump. Working fine
2. Checked the points. A bit dirty and slightly burnt. Cleaned up the faces.
3. Checked to verify power to the coil, power from the coil to the distributor.
4. Turned over the engine, no spark.
5. Changed the coil, no spark.
6. Changed the condenser, no spark.
7. Checked the distributor cap, centre carbon contact worn, replaced cap, no spark.
8. Checked rotor button. Looked OK but changed anyway. No spark.

Spoke to a friend, Kevin in Dapto NSW, who gave me a couple of things to try. These were pretty inconclusive. I was looking for a decent spark from the distributor end of  the HT lead from the coil, and it was pretty weak.

Thought before I go any further I would check the points again, just to satisfy myself the gap was right and they were not shorting out. Discovered the contact arm or spring was broken, with the 2 pieces touching under pressure. Never seen this before in my whole time with the Red Chev, but there is a first time for everything.

This could account for the miss under heavy load, but regardless, thinking that I had discovered the problem changed the points for a nice fresh new set, gaped them at 25 thou, hopped into the drivers seat, kicked it in the guts expecting the engine to fire up. Nothing, zero, dead as a doornail.

That was enough, four hours working in the heat, no luck, spat the dummy and went inside at about 9.30pm.

Did some work in the garden this morning, before I plucked up the courage to open the garage and launch into the problem for a second time.

Knowing that it has to be a fuel problem, I verified again that the fuel pump was working fine. Sprayed a bit of Areostart into the carby, nothing. Removed the vac tank suction line from the manifold, tipped in about 50 mill of petrol, and the engine bursts into life for about 5 seconds. So I know its a blockage of some sort in the carby.

Tried the easy way to dislodge it, asked my wife to turn the engine over while I blocked off the air intake to create suction to see if I could dislodge what ever was inside. No joy.

Off comes the carby, a complete strip, clean and reassemble. Interesting carby these Zeniths, they have a double float, and a rubber tipped needle and seat.

Found a few bits or crap here and there, probably just enough the block a jet or more importantly the needle and seat. Engine fires up first time, purring like an 84 year old kitten.

My diagnosis is a bit of muck was sucked through the air intake, or a bit of  rusty muck broke away from inside the warm air intake. I will get some advice but suspect I need to fit some fine mesh in the air intake to trap any particles before they get into the Zenith.

So the Red Chev is up and about, all is forgiven, until next time.

But it did run beautifully on the trip home before it died.

Oldest Production Chevrolet Found (Built and sold in 1913)

Found this posting on the VCCA Site http://vcca.org/

Posting is by the Chevy Guru (USA)

Well, if we further qualify it as "Oldest complete production Chevrolet Touring Car" - then yes, it sure looks like it! Maybe you saw the rather confusing ad in the latest Hemmings that just came out a couple of days ago. It said "Chevrolet 1912 touring car, 4-cyl, unrestored, barn fresh, complete…" I got my copy on Friday afternoon.

Well, I live and breathe the very early Chevys, and of course there is no such thing as a 1912 Chevrolet. So, did the seller maybe mean he had a Little? But there were no Little touring cars in 1912, only roadsters. And any Chevy from 1913 would have to be a 6 cylinder, and we only know of 3 of the early 6 cylinder cars - two of which are 1914 models. Did he simply have the year wrong? Not uncommon, of course. A 4 cylinder Chevrolet cannot be older than 1914 model year, although some people like to call their early Model H cars (Baby Grand touring cars and Royal Mail roadsters) 1913 models. The truth is, Chevrolet sold the first Model H in July 1913 and called it a 1914 model, just as today when next year's model is introduced months ahead of the actual calendar date (see the extensive article in the March 2014 G&D for more information than you want.)

So of course I had to call him. And before we hung up, I told him I would buy the car, and be there the next day. What he actually had - and now I have - is a very early production Baby Grand touring car, built and sold in the Fall of 1913. It would have properly been called a 1914 model. It is Car # 727, with hand-crank starting and acetylene headlights.

The Bank was already closed, but Saturday morning I was there to pull out the funds, came home and hooked up my trailer. The car was in Rochester, NY, about 330 miles east for me. By the time I packed for a possible overnight stay and got ready to be gone, I was on the road about 3:30 Saturday afternoon. Winds gusting to 60 mph along the Lake Erie shore for hundreds of miles kept my speed with the big empty enclosed trailer down to 50-55 mph to stay on the roadway on Interstate 90. It was a white knuckle drive for sure. It was almost 11 PM by the time I arrived. Honestly, I hardly looked at the car! Paid the man, winched it into the trailer and turned around for home. I ended up stopping for 4 hours of sleep about 3:30 AM in Erie PA, and finally rolled into home early yesterday afternoon, safely home with my prize. And as fate would have it, we were hosting a VCCA Region meeting at my house yesterday evening. At least I made it in time for the meeting and had something new and exciting to show the folks! It's still in the trailer as I type this, I have to move some things around to make room in the Shop for it - and hopefully sell a car for some space.

So why do I say it is the oldest complete production Chevrolet Touring Car? We have a very active Model H Chapter in VCCA, and a meticulously maintained database of all known Model H cars. This #727 is the lowest Serial Number for a Baby Grand, with a probable build date of September or October 1913. There are 4 known earlier Model H's, but they are all Royal Mail roadsters, not touring cars. Then there is the big Model C ("Classic Six") touring car in the Sloan Museum in Flint, but it was built in the summer of 1914. There is Pinky Randall's 1914 Light Six touring, built later towards the end of the 1914 production run. And there is the Model C in the Alberta museum, car # 93, but it is not complete. And finally, there is GM's so called "Old Number One" which was the prototype Baby Grand, started its life as a Little Six and was converted to the first 4 cylinder engine in 1913 - but that's not a PRODUCTION car, it's a prototype!

Therefore, I believe I can honestly say that this Baby Grand is the oldest surviving, complete, production Chevrolet touring car in the world!

The story is that the car was bought new in the Fall of 1913 by a farmer in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, as the family's first automobile. In the late Teens, the farmer bought a newer car with an electric starter. This was found to be much more pleasant than cranking the Chevrolet, which by the early 1920s was relegated to the back of the barn. A later Star touring car was eventually parked in front of it at the end of its own service life. And then 90 years went by…. the grandson of the owner sold the farm recently, and the new buyer found the old cars. When asked, the grandson said that "grandpa's cars had been there longer than anyone could remember" and they went with the barn. So the new owner found a "car guy" to take away the old Chevrolet and the Star. The Car Guy transported them to Upstate New York, and advertised them in Hemmings. And I came and bought it.

The car shows every sign of having been sitting for 90 years. It is incredibly complete, even the side curtains are still in place under the rear seat. Every part is as it should be. Original paint is nearly all gone, but still visible. The engine turns and has compression. The Simms magneto, Zenith carb, script hubcaps (before the Bowtie) and all small components are in place and correct for the model. Plate glass windshield, original leather upholstery, etc, etc, etc. Very ancient tires and the original top are in shreds, as you might imagine. The only really serious deterioration is where water got into the right rear area in the back seat, and rusted through the body panel and rotted the wood in that right rear corner area.

As above, I don't even have the car out of the trailer yet, and have not had a chance to do a thorough inspection and inventory, or take good photos. But you can be sure I will do so in the coming weeks and months! For now, I can only offer the small photo from the Seller below.

Once I can inspect the rust and wood damage in that right rear area, and assess the overall condition of things, then I will make the decision if it can reasonably be preserved, or if it is more proper to do a restoration. In the mean time, I am just thrilled beyond words to have found this previously unknown old girl, and to have it in my possession!

Below, a couple more photos in the trailer.

 

101 year old radiator emblem - the Model H was the first model to use the Bowtie.

Script style hubcap (it has all 4)

 

And the "VIN" - Car Number 727, Fall of 1913 -