Chapter 8 It's a Grind

  Working on the block has been a parallel project with changes to the crankshaft.  The crankshaft started life as a forged steel Studebaker 259 unit.  It was stroked 5/8" to take the stroke from 3.625" to 4.250".  I had a lot of concerns about getting it to work for a Bonneville application centered around the close quarters and proximity of the camshaft.  More details on the camshaft are coming, but suffice it to say that the lobes on the camshaft were very close to the bearing journals.  The cam used by Granatelli was very small in comparison, as they had reduced the base circle to 3/4".  The roller cam I wanted to run and designed expressly for Bonneville use with a valve lift of 0.620".  I assumed the cam was reduced because of clearance issues with the stroker crank.

  Since the crankshaft was key to getting the displacement needed, I determined I needed to work on the crank, and if it wouldn't clear the giant roller cam, I'd design another with a reduced base circle.

  In balancing the crankshaft, extra weight was added to the end counterweights.  Otherwise, the crank was just like a standard 289 crank, just made longer in the rod journal placement.  The counterweights were the same shape, and rod throws carried the normal contour out to the rod pins.

  Oil control is a big thing for me, and I wanted to make this crankshaft enhance the oiling, not make it worse.  A phenomenon known as windage occurs when oil from the bearings and cylinders is hit by the crankshaft, dissapated into smaller droplets, and pulled around the rod throws and counterweights by the rotation of the crankshaft.  Smokey Yunick did some experiments with windows in the oil pan to actually see windage in a running engine.  He reported seeing virtually all the oil in the pan making a larger and larger cloud with the appearance of a taffy pulling machine.  This creates a parasitic drain from the impacts.  Also, as more oil is entrained, less is available for engine lubrication and cooling.  Yes, cooling.  More on that later.  Eventually, with high enough RPM's virtually all the oil is tied up in the windage cloud and, in extreme cases, causes the oil pump intake to be uncovered and system oil pressure and flow drops to zero.  Bad combination.

  So, what can be done?  Various engine builders have done experiments in reshaping the counterweights and rod throws with good effect.  Arguably, the best method shapes the leading edge of the counterweights as a bullnose or rounded profile.  This reduces the impact of the crank slamming into oil draining down to the pan and encourages the oil to run across the surface to an edge where it can be channeled safely back to the oil pump.  The trailing edge is reshaped in a boattail with a sharp edge, which sheds the oil in large drops to the main web or block wall, out of the way of the next oncoming rotation.

 The next step is a crankshaft scraper, a thin blade of Teflon that wipes the oil from the crank as it passes 90 degrees on the upward portion of rotation.  This, in conjunction with a well-designed oil pan, should go a long way to improving oil control.

  It takes a lot of grinding, shaping, and smoothing using several tools to reach in and get to the nooks and crannies.  The pictures show the roughing out of the shapes needed.  There is a lot of surfacing left to do.

  An added bonus is that the crankshaft is lightened during the knife-edging, greatly reducing bearing wear and crankshaft twist.  The smoothing of forging marks increases reliability as well.  There is another process yet to be done once the entire knife-edging procedure is done and the crankshaft is polished to a scratch-free condition. The oil ports that run through the crank need to be beveled, removing the sharp edges and tapering them out to increase the time the bearings are in a place in rotation where oiling can take place.

In all, it's a lot of work.  Some folks pay someone else the $1000 it costs to farm this work out.  And we haven't verified other changes needed for the clearance of this crankshaft.

Chapter 7 Concrete Thinking

  With oiling issues partially addressed, I turn my attentions to the block's water jacket.  Studebaker blocks were cast in Studebaker's foundry located at their base of operations in South Bend, Indiana.  Anyone who has peered into the water jackets can attest to the wide variety of foreign objects that occupy that space.  Casting sand, wire used to reinforce and position cores, dirt, rust, a little bit of anything and everything.  This block was no different.

  The hot tanking at Precision Engines II had done a pretty good job of rinsing most of the water jacket clean, but there was still a fair amount of rust and corrosion.  One bank at a time, I filled the water passages with muriatic acid.  If you do this, be prepared for some pretty nasty fumes which will rust any ferrous metals in the vacinity.  After allowing 10 minutes or so of foaming and bubbling, I rinsed the block with fresh water.  Then repeat on side 2.

  The sonic wall testing had shown a few thin spots down low in the cylinders.  This wouldn't be exposed to combustion pressures as the piston rings were well above that point, but any flex would be potential problems for the rocking of the piston at bottom dead center.

 

  Moroso and several other companies offer a block filler which is close to the expansion properties of cast iron.  I just wanted to reinforce the block at the bottom which is called a partial fill.  I positioned the block level front to back and rotated so that the self leveling filler would be over the main oil galley tapering out to the bottom of the core plugs.  Mixing enough filler for one side, it was simple to pour the mixture through a funnel into several of the block deck water ports.  After tamping and helping the mix level with a long paint mix stick, it was topped off to fill up to the desired point.  The next day was a repeat of the process on side two.

  I need to go back a little and pick up a modification made before the block was filled.  In my trips to Bonneville and reading the adventures of other Studebaker guys I noticed several runs had to be aborted due to core plugs coming out and dumping the block coolant during runs.  Definately not what you want when you're backing up a record run and something like this forces you to shut down.  Explanations abound but center on block distortion loosening the plug in its seat and coolant pressure doing the rest. 

  Pretty simple fix really.  Stealing one of Jeff's ideas he stole from someone else, I'd just thread the block to accept iron pipe plugs.  This takes some cleaning up of the existing casting core opening.  BTW, core plugs, or what some call freeze plugs are not to keep your block from cracking when the coolant inside freezes.  Core plugs exist as an artifact of the casting process.  Foundries have to have a way to get the sand out of the block after the casting and cooling process.  Back to the story.  The major thing to remember when threading for a threaded core plug.  That tap is going to get very close to the water side of the cylinder wall.  Forcing the tap to the point it contacts the cylinder wall and pushes on it may result in cracking the cylinder.

  On to the next project in block prep...

Chapter 6 Divide and Conquer

  Studebaker and many other manufacturers used a partial flow filtration in the late 50's up until midyear 1962.  At that point, with manufacturers making the change to full flow filtration, Studebaker also produced their blocks as full flow.  Race block #0001, as a 1959 product, was a partial flow.  To take advantage of full filtration required some modifications to the block oiling gallies.  Since we were making changes anyway, why not explore other improvements?

  Fairborn Studebaker can modify blocks to function as full flow as seen above.  This is accomplished by interrupting the oil circuit as it comes up through the block to the main galley running parallel to the cam.  The oil is routed out of the block, filtered and returned above a plug installed just above the detour and continues on its merry way just like it would have when stock.

  Rather than use two flex lines, I went with pipe connections.  I moved the return to an enlarged, unused oil galley which elimnates two 90degree turns that the oil must navigate.
  While we were making modifications, why not make other improvements to the Studebaker oil circuits?  In researching the reliability of Studebakers I had noticed the majority of bearing failures were in the front of the block.  Applying some logic, my hypothesis was that oil to those bearings had already travelled through the entire block, picking up heat along the way.  The problem was compounded if the bearings the oil passed by in its journey were worn and allowed more oil to bleed off.  So, a reduced flow of heated lubricants would be more than enough to create a greater possibility of oil related issues.  To address this it seemed only natural to provide a source of clean cooled oil at the front of the block feeding front to back to the point where it would meet the normal oil flow coming back to front.

  Fortunately Studebaker has a fitting on the front of the block connected directly to the main oil galleys.  To regulate oil pressure Studebaker had placed a pressure bypass circuit on the front of the block which had a piston backed by a spring.  When the pressure in the oil galley exceeds the pressure of the spring, the piston compresses the spring and uncovers a port whis bleeds the excess pressure back into the pan.  This in itself was an issue as the oil returned to the pan had also been run through the block picking up heat.  A pressure relief in the oil pump itself would take less effort to drive and the bypassed oil wasn't heated up.

  Removing the contents of the pressure bypass bore and plugging the return port allows use of the bypass to bring fresh oil to the front of the engine.  Boring the bypass bore to 1/2" made it possible to have the oil divided equally to the front and rear of the block.  The oil circuit was now routed from the oil pump, out of the block to a filter and oil cooler, then divided into two equal flows - one to the front of the main galley and one to the rear of the main galley.

  Inside the block all of the oil passages were opened up 1/16" over stock.  So 3/8" passages were taken out to 7/16", 1/2" to 9/16" and so on.  This was a twofold benefit.  The galleys were cleared of all rust and gunk which had accumulated plus it is possible to deliver a larger flow if a bearing clearance begins to open up and still have adequate oil to bearings downstream.

  The emphasis and concentration would shift, but there is much more to do on the oiling front

Chapter 5 Go with the Flow

Now that the worst of the cleanup was done I was less concerned about throwing money into a block only to find out there were problems which would result in having to discard it.  It was time to think in terms of making the engine live and thrive in its high output environment.

The first item I turned my attention to was the lifter valley.  Racing Studebakers all fight one common characteristic; the engine oil as it is pumped through the engine has a tendency to accumulate in the lifter valley and on top of the heads.  So much so that many an engine has been damaged by all of the oil being held on top and none available to the oil pump.  The loss of oil pressure can result in catastrophic damage to bearings, crankshaft, rods and cams.

  With that in mind I ran a little experiment on my block.  I set the block level left to right and angled front to back as it would be when installed in the engine bay.  Then I slowly poured transmission fluid into the lifter valley at the very front and center.  I continued pouring until the fluid filled all the little pockets between the lifter bosses.  It took 10 ounces to fill those pockets before the first drop of fluid reached the opening where it would drain back down to the pan.

This means that fully 1/2 quart of the oil in the engine never gets returned to be recirculated by the oil pump.  Further, when the engine is shut down, that oil is subjected to the heat of the engine and literally cooks into a black thick ooze, sometimes even to hard chunks.  Not the kind of stuff you want coming loose in your engine.

  The answer was simple.  Fill all those pockets in and smooth the oil's way back to the bottom.  A special metal filled high temperature epoxy was used for just that.

  With the next pour of transmission fluid, the liquid flowed quickly and completely to the return port at the rear of the valley.  Of course, that is just one of many steps to getting a handle on the oil control needed.  More on down the line.

  With a block in the condition this one was in, every surface becomes rusted and pitted.  Work in the lifter valley was a constant reminder that the lifter bores were also rusted and pitted just like the cylinder walls.  The lifters must cycle smoothly and be contained in a closely fitted bore.  Clearly, a change had to happen.  The popular engines have a lot of tooling in machine shops all over the US.  Studebakers don't enjoy that widespread availability.  If this were a Chevy engine I could just send it out to a shop with the proper tooling to ensure the lifter bores were centered perfectly over the cam lobes and at a perfect angle to keep the lifter in contact with the cam.  This wasn't possible with this block.

  Jeff called me one day and told me about a company making a tooling set to rebush lifter bores.  I contacted them and ordered the tooling.  It consists of a piloted reamer which centers on the existing lifter bore and cuts the bore larger to accept a bronze bushing.  The second tool installs the bushing in the reamed hole.  The final tool pilots on the inside diameter of the new bushing and cuts it to the final size of the lifter.

Installation proved simple enough. I did add a bushing to center the top of the reamers rather than relying only on the pilot to keep thing straight.  Cleanup prep and a coat of Glyptal added a finishing touch.

Chapter 4 Clean is the Scene

  Even with the choice to run in engine class C a lot of latitude existed.  The displacement of the engine could be anywhere between 306.00 and 372.99 cubic inches.  The block from the woods had started life in 1959 as a 259 cid engine.  The score of the stroker crank certainly provided extra displacement, but now the decision of how close to get to the class maximum had to be made.  If I went all the way to the brink of 372.99 inches and had to bore the engine more at some point I would find myself at the bottom of B class.  We would certainly be the little duck in the big pond then.  So, I backed off a bit and aimed for a size that would allow at least one teardown and rebore without going over the C class max.  Since the R3 engines were bored out 0.093" I arbitrarily chose 0.030" over that.  So the target displacement ended up at 362.8 cid.

  We last saw the block at DeepNHock acres, where Jeff and I had tried to clean up the worst of the mess.  Now it was time to start making the modifications that would bring the little 259 back to life as a bigger, better, faster, stronger genuine race engine.

  The first stop had to be a machine shop where the block could be cleaned up in a hot tank before going any further.  Precision Engine II in Sylvania, GA was just a stone's throw away, so we loaded the block and headed over there.  After exchanging pleasantries, Bill had the block unloaded by a helper who took it back to begin cleanup while we discussed the work we wanted Bill to do.

  First on the list had to be a general inspection for cracks or other problems followed by sonic testing the cylinder walls to be certain we could safely bore the cylinders to 3.686".

  The block was difficult to get readings on because of the rust, but after cutting some light passes Bill was able to declare we were on solid ground.  The block was bored and finish honed to it's final dimensions.

  Running that kind of stroke plus the extra stress from supercharging requires more support for the crankshaft.  Bill installed Ken Evans 4 bolt splayed main caps and align honed the block.  We discussed other modifications I would be making and ordered a set of ARP studs for the mains and heads.  Talk about service !  Bill found out I wanted the work done, did the job and had the block ready for me to bring back to Illinois in 3 days over a weekend.

  The first order of business was a careful documentation of the wall thickness of each cylinder.  The picture above shows the system Jeff and I developed to test and record several areas in each cylinder in a repeatable method.  Hopefully, as we accumulate data on many blocks, we can predict which blocks will be most suited for large bores.  Of course, each block is an individual and will always require checking before investing lots of hard earned cash to build it.

  The system we came up with assigns positions around the cylinder like a clock.  Readings are taken at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 o'clock at depths of 1", 3" and 5" from the block deck.  Each reading is recorded for every cylinder.  It takes a little time, but reveals a lot of information about how Studebaker cast its blocks and routed oil galleys and water passages.

  We also developed a chart to graphically visualize how the wall thickness vary and transfer cylinder to cylinder.

  There are always a bunch of little things that add up to a big job on a race engine.  The flash from the casting process had to be ground down.  The water jackets were full of debris.  The accumulated oil sludge now baked dry had to be removed.  The block was certainly better than where it started, but there was a long way to go.

 

I began with general grinding and smoothing of the exterior casting flash using a small hand grinder, sanding rolls, and carbide burrs.  Then move inside.

The level of miscellaneous parting lines and slag was surprising.  The lifter valley, once it was cleaned up, required a lot of attention.  There is a big difference before and after.

Each threaded hole was cleaned out followed by chasing the threads, more cleaning and inspection for damaged threads and shavings.

 

 





Chapter 3 Things Heat Up

About this same time period I had arranged to buy a rust free 1964 GT Hawk from a friend in Ohio. I hadn't picked the car up yet and it was taking up valuable storage space. After loading the car into the trailer, the seller and I stopped for lunch and as car guys are wont to do, began talking about automobilia.

 

Nels is a big Studebaker fan and has several significant cars and engines in his collection. On my first visit to Nels' shop not only had he shown me the Hawk which I bought, but many other cars as well. The one that stood out in my mind was a Daytona that had been the cover story for Hot Rod magazine in 1964. Nels was just beginning to restore the car on that first visit. On this occasion I asked how the project was faring. What I heard was an incredible story about the original R3 engine being separated from the car by Andy Granatelli's shop. In its place was a highly modified engine with a special crankshaft, cam and pistons.

Nels went on to tell how he had found the original engine and purchased it, then started a search for the car. Obviously, he found and procured said vehicle and reunited it with the rare hardware with which it was born.  And this set into motion events that would bring the Hawk, that nasty block, and genuine Granatelli ingenuity together.

My curiosity aroused, I asked what the modified engine had been. As the story goes, the Granatelli's had been on a quest for the same thing I was now, displacement. Their answer was to build the longest stroke crankshaft ever attempted in a Studebaker V8 block. By using a stock Studebaker forged crankshaft for a 289cid engine and welding massive amounts of material on the rod throws, they were then able to move the rod journals outward over 5/16's of an inch. The normal stroke on a 289 was 3.625". The story had it this crankshaft boasted a tremendous stroke of 4.250"!!

How did they do it? Did it work? What were the other changes required to the engine to accomodate this? The questions were popping up faster than I could register the answers.

At that time, Nels explained he couldn't really answer my questions as he had yet to tear the modified motor down. He was busy with the restoration of the car and its original engine. As best I could I calmed myself enough to get a commitment that I would get first word and first shot at the internal rotating assembly when he had time to take the engine apart. And then, it could all be for naught. Many myths surround the goings and comings of experimental parts and engines. Plus, 48 years had elapsed since the motor was built. It might all just be a story.

 

Several months passed. Then word from Nels. He was going to tear the engine down and peek inside. Questions were sent and pictures came back. More questions asked and more pictures and measurements returned. It was true. A monster stroke Studebaker crankshaft had been built. Nels promised he would bring the parts to South Bend for the annual swap meet held in the Spring.

 

 

Then, a major catastrophe. In February was working on my sawmill in preparation for cutting lumber for Lisa, my wife's, and my dream house. I found myself alone and on fire. Gasoline had sprayed out of the carb on the sawmill engine hitting me in the chest and then ignited. In trying to put myself out I staggered through the old gasoling I had emptied from the fuel tank on the mill. It was pretty ugly. Two weeks in the burn unit and enough pain to last the rest of my life. But, I kept telling myself, "If you get out of here, you are going to South Bend in May." And thanks to a lot of prayers and hard work, I did.

 

Despite my wife and family's objections I went to the South Bend meet. Sure enough, Nels had the rotating assembly wrapped in towels to keep the grease and oil from staining his upholstery. We carried the parts in to Ted Harbit's tables inside, laid everything out, and the discussion and dissection began.

 

The rod journals were moved out far enough that steel plates had to be welded to the counterweights to balance it.

 

The modified engine couldn't have run very long. The ink confirming the bob weight needed for balance was still visible.

 

The bearing journals we perfect with the rod journals were 0.002" under Studebaker spec and the mains were dead on. No scratches or blemishes to be seen.

 

How did they swing that huge stroke in a Studebaker block?  Our initial thought was the obvious reduced base circle cam.  It was a full 1/4" smaller than an R2 cam we compared it to.  And dwarfed by the roller cam I had gotten for the project.

On further inspection, that cam had been destroyed by the lifters, presumably, by the excess valve spring pressure they tried to run.

Nels wanted to keep the R3 rods used in the rotating assembly, so I returned home with the crankshaft, pistons, cam and lifters on top of the world.

That brings us back to that nasty block, race candidate number 1.

 

Chapter 2 This Needs SALT

My first exposure to land speed racing was by way of a fellow I had met purchasing my first Studebaker, a 5,000 mile all original R2 Avanti. Greg had found the car, stored in a garage for the last 43 years, and brought it to running condition. When I answered the ad I had no idea what chain of events would be triggered. You see, Greg had another Studebaker that he was racing at Bonneville. A 1953 coupe that was run with several powerplants and had already set several records.

Months later, when Greg came by our place to check in on my progress with the Avanti, I learned of the Salt2Salt race team. After a few war stories I was hooked. After meeting the rest of the team at a swap meet and, unbeknownst to me, passing the verbal interview, I was asked to join their effort.  Later that year I made the pilgrimage to the salt with the Salt2Salt team and the die was cast.

 

Very quickly, a plan I had been working on, namely running a GT Hawk at the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Races, was detoured to run the car at Bonneville first. In the 2 day drive back home we scoured the rule book for a configuration to run the Hawk on the salt. It didn't take long to decide to run as Studebaker did in the early '60's; a stock bodied car with safety and endurance modifications to represent the brand and follow the sales mantra of the 60's. "What wins on Sunday sells on Monday." Thus the Classic Production Supercharged class was selected. But what about engine size?

Studebaker as an engine manufacturer had a long and storied past of successful endurance engines. The last of the line was a group of V8's, the fastest of which were supercharged. But displacement was not their strong suit. The largest displacement V8 raced and sold by Studebaker was the R3 and R4 engines. With a displacement of 304.5 cubic inches, modern racing classes at Bonneville would place those engines near the top of D Class by Southern California Timing Association (SCTA). The destroked engine was 259 cubic inches which falls into Class E. Studebaker engines are raced to this day at Bonneville, many holding and breaking world speed records in those classes.

 

The Salt 2 Salt boys had built a 182 cubic inch V8 Studebaker engine.  In tech inspection, it was confirmed to be the smallest displacement Stude V8 ever run at Bonneville.  Always striving to be different and with a keen sense of symmetry, I felt it would be fun to build the largest displacement Studebaker that had ever been raced on the Salt. At the time, I was thinking about boring a block to the razor's edge. Enter fate.