The Gearhead Thread

[JimVH]

Another cool stuff find while de-hoarding the house.

From Hot Rod Fuller's top fueler (David Powers Racing 2008-ish).

That is very cool. It's amazing that they have to rebuild the engines between each run. Watching them do that was just as exciting as the run down the next 1320, at least it was to meet.

The pit area between races is an fascinating place. Loud, too. Like, indescribably loud.

[FredS]

Another cool stuff find while de-hoarding the house.

From Hot Rod Fuller's top fueler (David Powers Racing 2008-ish).

That is very cool. It's amazing that they have to rebuild the engines between each run. Watching them do that was just as exciting as the run down the next 1320, at least it was to meet.

The pit area between races is an fascinating place. Loud, too. Like, indescribably loud.

Ahhhhh. I can smell the nitro. Feel it sucking the oxygen out of my lungs.

[FredS]

Speaking of pits - this kid was nosing around the Howe Motorsports pit and they let him set in the car while they warmed it up. I don't know that I've ever seen such pure and innocent joy in my life.

https://www.facebook.com/Howemotorsport ... 0317358119

[Hovannes]

I bought a jug of high falutin' fully synthetic oil for the 1924 T at Walmart.
The poor old girl isn't going to know what hit her.

[Hovannes]

There are two petcocks on a Model T engine.
If oil doesn't come out of the lower petcock when opened, there isn't enough oil to operate the engine.
If oil comes out of the top petcock when opened, there is too much oil to operate the engine.
Both petcocks are unreachable and unseeable from where you add oil to the engine.

[Hovannes]

I ordered a set of Whitworth sockets off of eBay for the Morgan 4/4.
There was no way around this.

[Hovannes]

With the work on the T nearing completion, I puttered around with the Morgan.
The rear license plate lamp housing has a crack in it.
I ordered a replacement, but it doesn't fit the license plate bracket, so it's either cobble something up or mend the old housing. This is thin metal, which I can probably solder or braze and grind or polish to smooth it out. The problem is---can such a repair be replated?
I know that I can take my question to a plating shop, but I probably won't get to that part of town for several weeks, so I thought I'd ask here if this plating can be done and which repair would be better---brazing or soldering? I have silver solder, rosin core and 50/50 on hand as well as brass rod.
I'd think brazing would have a greater chance of warping the housing, but since I've never tried brazing thin sheet metal, I'm hoping one of you experts might weigh in.

[SlowToke]

Bought a mig/tig welder to finish up the welding on the 1970 Ironhead. Not much experience at welding other than an arc welder so I have a lot to learn. Any advice as to whether I should buy Argon or is shielded wire good enough for the job?

[FredS]

Flux core wire does OK if you run it through a good machine. You get way more splatter though, than if you use shielding gas. You can get pretty good with practice, and a small side grinder can get rid of most splatter. If you weld as often as I do a bottle of gas will last 10 lifetimes so it may not be worth the expense if it's just going to set in the corner and collect dust. TIG, of course requires shielding gas period.

[SlowToke]

Flux core wire does OK if you run it through a good machine. You get way more splatter though, than if you use shielding gas. You can get pretty good with practice, and a small side grinder can get rid of most splatter. If you weld as often as I do a bottle of gas will last 10 lifetimes so it may not be worth the expense if it's just going to set in the corner and collect dust. TIG, of course requires shielding gas period.

I'm pretty good at grinding since I suck at welding.