|
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
06-29-2020, 02:42 AM | #1 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: Germany
Posts: 204
|
1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Hello all
just by chance I found your wonderful Ford barn. My name is Harty, I am from Germany, spend a lot of my life with british motorcycles from last century. Having sold my Mercedes CLS I decided I need an old V8 car. I was searching for a Hot Rod Ford Coupe but the german laws are very unforgiving for the Hot rods and there is a lot of junk on offer for a lot of money so I decided an unmodified car would be the better thing for me. Good luck came my way when I was able to buy a very original 34 Tudor Ford car, albeit technically sort of neglected.... It is a RH drive and I was told, it was built in South America. Anyway, I sorted the carb, exhaustsystem and brakes and got it on the road. As it has the original three speed tranny I found it to be very undergeared. The motor is revving very high and I could barely go faster than 50 mph. With this gearing the car is useless for german traffic as I would be in everyones way on the road. I know that there is a "fast" ring gear available but this 3,54 ratio is only 16% faster than the 4,11 that probably is in the car. I would like to get around 30% faster just to lower the revs and get the car up to 65mph without overrevving. Now my question to you gearheads: is there a gearbox available that fits the crankcase of this engine and is way faster than the original thing? I can live with three speeds but at the moment I change into high gear with a screaming engine at around 35 mph.... Thanks in advance for all your suggestions and advice! PS: the car has 16" wheels and tires 6 x 6.00. I think it should have 17". Is this correct? Anybody having two 17" wheels for sale? cheers, Harty |
06-29-2020, 02:57 AM | #2 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: MN
Posts: 7,053
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
16" 6.00 is correct. A little bigger tire will add some.3:54 is a good gear set for the rear with a strong engine. If three sp is important and is fine. I'd next look at the motor. How is that doing? Milling heads will add some compression and remain in the stock zone. Stocker should run in the 55-60 mph range no issue.
|
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) |
|
06-29-2020, 04:48 AM | #3 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Melbourne Australia.
Posts: 2,079
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Welcome to the Ford Barn. The original correct wheels and tires on a 34 Ford is 5.50x17"wire spoked . These cars when new were good for 80 MPH plus but not today in modern traffic. You would have to maybe update the brakes to match any improved performance you have planned. I drive an original 34 sedan with its mechanical brakes and it runs OK at 50 to 55 MPH which is all I will go. You have to ask yourself if you want to enjoy vintage motoring as it was back in the day or if you want to run with the modern traffic on a German highway. If it is the latter then some modifications to many components will be required. Always a shame to alter an original car that has survived this long in my book. 5 speed boxes can be adapted along with hydraulic brakes and smaller wheels with radial tires etc, etc. Good luck, Regards, Kevin.
|
06-29-2020, 06:25 AM | #4 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: Germany
Posts: 204
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Hello again
I am confused now as I donīt know which wheel size is definitely correct. I donīt want to modify the car at all but it is way to slow for our traffic, to survive it, I should at least be able to do 80km per hour (50mph) without grenading the engine. The engine is the 21 bolt engine. It has got some (enough) torque to cruise at 80km per hour but to go 80 kph it is allready way over the torque summit. I fear the high continous revving will kill it. I hope I can find a solution to make this car cruisable without destroying all the old stuff. So it seems the only possible cure at the moment is putting the fast ring gear into the differencial and fit bigger 17" wheels with a larger tire. That will give me about 20% less revs. Or I have to do a complete set of gears for the gearbox. I have people and machines to do this but for a one-off it might be a bit expensive. cheers, Harty Do 17" rims exist with a 4" width? |
06-29-2020, 11:36 AM | #5 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: now Kuna, Idaho
Posts: 3,779
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Quote:
What sounds like your engine over revving is really just fan noise. we are used to the silence of modern cars which makes us think an old car is ready to explode, just due to the noise level. Old cars had little or no sound deadening insulation in the firewall, and fans were not engineered to be quiet. With your engine cool, remove the fan belt and go for a short test run and see the difference. Your engine reallly is happy at 60-65 MPH. Do you know of Zora Arkus-Duntov? I read an interview with him some years ago. He visited the U.S. in the 1930's and entered a 1934 Ford roadster (stock) in the Elgin Road Race (a then-popular event in Illinois). He removed the fenders and was clocked at 105 MPH on a slight downhill section. He calculated the RPM and was quite impressed. He said he had a race car in Europe with a Hispano-Suiza engine that would blow up long before reaching that RPM. On your gearbox idea of machining new gears, third is direct which is as high as you can get. Oh, you could make 2nd into overdrive by machiing a new cluster gear and driven gear, but then you would have to wind it out in first then shift to direct and finally to what what was 2nd (now overdrive). Not practical. There are aftermarket overdrives that bolt into the torque tube (Mitchell or Volvo) or two speed rear axles (Columbia). |
|
06-29-2020, 10:16 PM | #6 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Melbourne Australia.
Posts: 2,079
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)
Quote:
|
|
06-29-2020, 07:25 AM | #7 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Charlotte NC KiWi-L100 available here
Posts: 2,963
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Welcome to the Barn Harty. You will get some great help here.
Cheers Tony |
06-29-2020, 07:37 AM | #8 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Melbourne Australia.
Posts: 2,079
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Hi again, I gave you the correct information on the wheels and tires. 5.50x17'' so that's 5 !/2 inches wide x 17 inches diameter. 6.00X16'" wheels came in on the 1935 models. Be aware that some information posted on here is not correct. These cars with a standard diff ratio of 4.11 would do about 84 MPH in road tests of the day. Sometimes the old V8s sound like they a revving hard because of the air flow noise coming from the generator mounted fan. Maybe your engine needs a tune up. I think you could gain some experience with your car by buying some service literature and studding up on it before deciding on any modifications. Best way of driving your car is to pick quiet country roads and keep off the high speed freeways. 50MPH is very easy for a good condition Ford V8 to cruise at. Regards, Kevin.
|
06-29-2020, 08:01 AM | #9 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: Germany
Posts: 204
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Quote:
cheers, Harty |
|
06-29-2020, 08:19 AM | #10 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Manawatu, New Zealand
Posts: 1,416
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Quote:
__________________
Such a fine sight to see-Its a Girl, My Lord, in a Flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me. |
|
06-29-2020, 08:44 AM | #11 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Melbourne Australia.
Posts: 2,079
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Quote:
|
|
06-29-2020, 09:09 AM | #12 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Posts: 26
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Hi Harty,
fellow german. When I calculate the theoretical speed of my truck in direct gear and 4,87 rear end, I'll end up (7.50-16 Tires, 80cm diameter) with 73 kmh at 2500 engine rpm's. I would consider 2500-3000 rpm to be safe for long distance motoring. With the engine at redline (3600 rpm) top speed of my 49 F2 would be 106 kmh. Will most likely never see this scary figure, though. A 4,11 ring gear set which is available for my rear end would raise my speed by some 20%. Simply wait for the general speed limit to come. The days of the german Autobahn as we know it are numbered, I guess. Wil from Hamburg |
06-29-2020, 07:44 AM | #13 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Melbourne Australia.
Posts: 2,079
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Just another point, are you sure you have it in 3rd (or top) gear ? Don't mean to be funny here but strange things can happen ! Many good books are available on these fords. Try MACS on line catalogue which has a book section. Regards, Kevin.
|
06-29-2020, 07:53 AM | #14 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: Germany
Posts: 204
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Yes, definitely in high gear. Reverse is forward left, low is backwards left, second is forward right and high is backward right (at least on my box)
|
06-29-2020, 07:44 AM | #15 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Sweden
Posts: 3,045
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
I have a set of 4 17" rims with tires(old!!) here in sweden.
Not sure if i have a correct set of hubcaps for them though...make me an offer ! |
06-29-2020, 07:52 AM | #16 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: Germany
Posts: 204
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Send me some pics - if they are 5 x 5,5", have a center hole of about 92mm and the big hole for the hub cap is about 140mm AND a rim of at least 4 inches between the shoulders, I am very interested. My 16" rims are about 140mm wide on the outside.
|
06-29-2020, 07:54 AM | #17 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: St Croix Falls WI
Posts: 2,080
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Unless you have a very strong engine don't go more than 3.54 on the rear gear .
They get pretty doggy with a 3.25 rear gear . Stock wheels on 33-34 cars are indeed 17 " . |
06-29-2020, 08:09 AM | #18 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Manawatu, New Zealand
Posts: 1,416
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
I have 16 inch wheels on mine and everything else is standard and like Kevin cruises comfortably at 50 to 60 mph (80 to 100 km/h ) would do more but not best for safety or longevity. I have a set of 17 inch wheels but haven't got around to putting them on - a full set of tires is expensive (especially in 17 inch radials) so I will wait until the ones I have need replacement before going to the bigger wheels. -Karl
__________________
Such a fine sight to see-Its a Girl, My Lord, in a Flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me. |
06-29-2020, 08:28 AM | #19 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Chester Vt
Posts: 8,860
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
If this car came from s america, not sure what rear axle ratio is in it. I've had a few 34 cars and trucks in my life and most went faster than I wanted to drive them. Bonny & Clide, thanked Henry for the fastest car on the road.
|
06-29-2020, 08:53 AM | #20 |
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Melbourne Australia.
Posts: 2,079
|
Re: 1934 Tudor needs a little hop-up
Vincent, check to see that the carburettor throttle butterfly is fully open when your foot is flat to the floor. Something is definitely not correct on your car. Regards, Kevin.
|
|
|
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) |
|