MTFCA Forum

I have decided to walk away from this project.
If you will pay the shipping I will pass on the crank and cam. The only criteria is that you convince me that you can carry on and I will share everything I have learned.
All the best
Les
Probably best to contact me off the website!

Wow! This is going to be a great opportunity for someone!

It is a very generous offer.

Oh Les...you TEASE!!!

Kevin you would qualify

Oh no! What happened? I have a fun one as well - Rajo BB head, WIlls Crank, SR carb, hot cam, and block drilled for oil - that's on hold thanks to Covid (until the school opens back up I don't have access to the machine shop) so I know these projects can take an unexpected left turn... Someone is going to inherit a true piece of history...

Les:
sent email ...

Gene
Didn’t get yours yet, so I sent you one!!
All the best
Les

Les Schubert wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 18, 2020 12:12 am

Kevin you would qualify

I’ve thought long and hard about building one of these cranks over the years... but was never a priority for some reason...? I’ve imagined carving on a 4” x 6” chromoly bar for many hours... and then flipping it over to continue carving for many more hours! Not to mention the drilling, the grinding, the heat treating... and the BALANCING!!!

Now what about the rest?! The tremendous amount of work to build an engine worthy of housing the crank is near unmeasurable. Not to mention everything attached to it!!

It would be incredible to create such an iconic piece of early racing history, but it seems to me this crank should go to someone who is looking to recreate the “Kant Skore” special, or some similar high profile effort to honor the Winfield legacy. And of course, if nobody out there is taking on such a project... I would be honored to use this crank for my own selfish interests

My thoughts,

It would be a hill killer. And if thats your thing, a great start.

As for street, I would imagine it would not be reliable, nor street mannered. Its a grenade waiting to happen.

My 2 centavos.

The crank wouldn’t decide how the engine made power... but theoretically allows the siamese intake ports to be less... well siamese. Even with this crank and cam, the siamese intake ports are still arguably inefficient as there will always be the dead space associated with the “other valve”. However, it will provide even use of the siamese port, and so preventing one cylinders air charge from affecting the other. At the time, almost all overhead conversions had siamese intake ports as well, and so even with the increased port and valve sizes and combustion chamber design, they still suffered from the siamese port airflow issues. This probably had a lot to do with Ed being so competitive with his flathead.

Smoother firing was the main advantage, certainly not smoother running. Less variation between cylinder performance means more power! This crank installed in an otherwise stock motor should improve performance without changing the temperment or reliability, simply by improving airflow. Now the cam on the other hand...

I’m walking away from it as I have concluded that I have WAY too many projects and this one will certainly consume a bunch of time!!
Properly built I don’t know of any reason that it wouldn’t be quite reliable and civilized.
Currently I have 6 other T based engine projects (not one of which is stock). Then add in a bunch of other cars I realized I should pass it on to someone like KEVIN!!

Kevin has the means, and my hat is off to him if he accepts.

Me, I would be interested in the cam. Meaning, the design of it. Lift, duration, overlap, etc.

Iskenderian is 95 now, and was a student of Winfields. I would like to know his thoughts on the cam design before he passes.

Kevin, if you become "the chosen one", I could arrange such a meeting.

Kevin, it sounds like you've been drafted, er, "volunteered", er, looked upon to perhaps bear the brunt, er, torch for this piece of remarkable history!

Congratuations or condolences are in order - let us know which!

Jeffery
The cam grind that is with this crank is available to be done to your engine!! It is a grind I stumbled onto in the ‘70’s and it only works good with non-Siamese ports. It will help a T block go 100 mph or more!!

Les Schubert wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:59 pm

Jeffery
The cam grind that is with this crank is available to be done to your engine!! It is a grind I stumbled onto in the ‘70’s and it only works good with non-Siamese ports. It will help a T block go 100 mph or more!!

I drove a speedster thru the traps at OCIR at 76 MPH in a quarter mile back in 1975. I don't know as I would like 100MPH.

Since Signal Hill died, I haven't thought about it in years. However, I am intrigued. Dammit Les.

Les Schubert wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:40 pm

I should pass it on to someone like KEVIN!!

Don’t get me wrong, if Les wants me to be the guy... I would accept without hesitation!!!

Kevin - I think a bunch of us in the peanut gallery would be glad to see you take it on. It's fun to live vicariously looking at your projects with the obvious skills and equipment to do great things. Go Kevin!

Do I sense the possibility of the Akron-Hal rocker arm conversion you designed being contemplated for this remarkably generous project?

civinwt wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 18, 2020 5:58 pm

Do I sense the possibility of the Akron-Hal rocker arm conversion you designed being contemplated for this remarkably generous project?

Oooohhhhh no!!! A fellas gotta focus on one thing at a time. The Akron-Hed will continue it present course regardless of distractions.

Like I mentioned earlier... this crank should be in sumthin special like an offset chassis single seater, or even centrifugally supercharged...? But ideally would land in a recreation of one of Winfield’s cars

So it looks like we have a “arrangement”!!!

Kevin - The Gerber Special put together by Santiago/Reichlin and engine from Scott Hills has an offset chassis and is one pretty special car. https://images.app.goo.gl/xMtpCEjYAkJ3bG4NA

You've likely seen it.

Thanks for the link Walt! I haven’t seen this car before and it certainly is special! It seems like maybe 8-9 years ago Mike Santiago built the A powered single seat sprinter. Guess he’s been busy! It’s good to see Scott at the wheel too. I miss seeing y’all up north... just takes a bit more effort than usual these days to get up there