Getting a Boost, part 2

I haven't been working on "Nell" much recently, but I try to drive her once a week.  Several weeks ago, a professional photographer friend asked if he could take some stock photos of "Nell", and here is one of the results.

I really appreciate having a few "Glamor Photos" of the car!  My friend has a great eye, professional equipment, and the experience to use it well.

Yesterday, I drove Nell to a local cruise night with the rest of the classic thunderbird club.  We rendezvoused at Ford Guys's shop, which was close to the cruise night.  While I was there, I mentioned to him that I wanted to install a larger brake booster.  His immediate response was "The stopped making them", and he was pleasantly surprised when I said that I had just picked one up on eBay!  I guess I really was fortunate.  Ford Guy then mentioned that he had a template for making a bracket to install the larger booster, which he has used on several cars.  He disappeared for a few minutes, then returned with the cardboard template, and a Xerox copy of it for me!  This will be extremely helpful... I will make a bracket from this template out of 1/16 or 3/32" flat stock, and be certain to avoid any interference issues.

 Cruise night was a lot of fun, even though it was the hottest day of the year!  For reasons not totally related to the true merit of the car, Nell was selected to win an award from among the T-birds present!  This was a nice surprise, and I appreciate the support and affirmation that it represents.

Getting a Boost, part 1

Long time no blog.  I've been busy with my fledgeling consulting business, my family, and my church.  While I have been enjoying 'Nell', I haven't really made any improvements.

Earlier this year, I finally corrected a grievous oversight and had Uncle Packard drive the car.

Uncle Packard seems to be enjoying himself!

This is the man who gave me so much advice, encouragement, and resources to do the restoration two years ago, and he never even drove the car!  Well, he greatly enjoyed the experience of driving his Mother's last car.  He had two interesting and wise comments:

• "The car seems to want to go much faster than is reasonable."  I guess that means that my engine modifications were highly successful!
• "The car could use more assist on the power brakes." I agree... the brakes, even with power assist on the aftermarket front disks, require much more pedal pressure than a typical modern car.  If I didn't know better, I'd even say they were manual brakes.

I've been thinking of improving the power assist on the car for several years.  At the CTCI western regionals in 2013 I remember seeing Gill Bumgarner's '57 with a larger brake booster for his aftermarket front disk brakes.  He explained to the eager crowed gathered around his engine compartment that the stock Midland C3400 booster can only develop about 500psi brake pressure, but that most disk brake conversions need closer to 1000psi.  He had installed a slightly larger booster, only on the front disks, and claimed that the better pedal pressure was much lighter and more typical of modern cars.  

Since I want this car to be easy and non-threatening for anyone to drive, I have been on the lookout for one of these larger boosters for some time.  After doing some research, I am convinced that Gil was using a Midland C490 hydro-vac booster, which is available rebuilt from Cardone (stock #51-9241).  These occasionally turn up on eBay for under $250, and I finally picked one up

The C490B is slightly larger than the stock C3400, but the connections are nearly identical.  

 Since Gil had one under the hood of his '57, I know it will fit.  The next question is if I need to fabricate a new bracket.  Time to check some clearances.

The string is a reference for the hood clearance. The string is straight, but the hood is slightly arched.

5" from the bracket to the string.  

There is an additional 1 3\8" clearance over the brake booster location, for a total of 6 3/8" above the bracket.

The new C490 booster will require just over 5" clearance, once I rotate the clamp out of the way.

This gives me some confidence that I will not need a new bracket.   After I pull the stock C3400, I can dry-fit the C490 and very carefully check clearances.

Before I do, I plan on painting the C490 with gloss black enamel.  I think it will look much better than the 'rust-through remanufactured grey', and maybe even dress up the engine compartment a little.

I need to be careful about this, though, or I may end up buying stainless steel fuel and vacuum lines and chroming the throttle linkage!

Another kind of Car Show...

Nell was in a different kind of Car Show earlier this month.  The Thunderbird exhibit was intended to raise awareness of the 60th anniversary of the model.

I was certainly gratified by all of the encouraging comments about "Nell"!  Plus, I got lots of free passes to the show.

Another loss...

I just found out that Otis, the owner of the shop that did such a marvelous job painting the T-bird, died a few days ago.  Is wife preceded him into the eternal realm just last month.

Otis was an amazing and humble guy, who started this body shop in Southern California just after returning home as a WWII POW.  The shop has been around so long, and Otis was such an amiable guy, that it became a local gathering place for metalworking talent to come and just shoot the breeze.  I think I got a lot of free work on the T-bird because of this.

Otis was over 90, and got a heart valve replaced while the T-bird was in his shop.  He was back in the shop 3 days after surgery... His son Van pointed out that Otis needed to be available to talk to his friends, and that helped his recovery.

From my Uncle's email... "Otis was a decorated hero of WWII, a side gunner on a B24,   On a raid of Polisti his plane was shot down and he became a prisoner of war.  He was liberated only when the US Army reached his camp.  He was tendered a medal, but he turned it down, saying the real hero who deserved the medal was the pilot who got them down safely."

There are some people that make you just want to be more like them!

RIP, Otis.  My sincere condolences, Van.  The world is a slightly poorer place.