Milwaukee Midget

[fordboy628]

Would love to try that one.... not available within 100 miles or more of Wichita.  (according to New Holland website)

And therein is the curse (or blessing, depending on your point of view) of craft brewing.....    extremely limited distribution.    The brewmasters who craft these limited edition suds are sort of like racers and their handcrafted cars........    nobody does it for the money, or the "glory", they do it because they want to.........prove a point................

 
to racers, brewmasters, St. Augustine of Hippo, and anybody else you want to add........

Happy Holidays,
Fordboy

[38flattie]

Midget, et all,

For my Merry Christmas toast to all, (and Happy New Baktun!!), I highly recommend:

New Holland Brewing's Dragon's Milk. (an Imperial Stout, 10.0 ABV rated 98 @ ratebeer.com) I however, give it a 100 score......

http://newhollandbrew.com/beer/high-gravity-series/dragons-milk-ale-aged-in-oak-barrels/

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/new-holland-dragons-milk/14621/

Take care, a couple of pints of this stuff takes you out of the driver's seat, and probably sends you to naptime......

 
F/B

Would love to try that one.... not available within 100 miles or more of Wichita.  (according to New Holland website)

I go though Wichita almost every month, on my way to see dad. PM me your contact info, and I'll bring you a care package on Jan. or Feb.!

[Milwaukee Midget]

Ok, so we survived one disaster.

On to the next disaster . . . have you fired up the motor yet? 

Dean, don't you have some palm trees to trim? 

Still waiting on the spring cups - holidays seem to slow walk everything.

Next time it fires up will be on the dyno. 

Considering how much wasn't right, it's a miracle I haven't broken something beyond repair. 

I'm feeling pretty confident at this point - but I've felt confident before, and I was just lucky.

Disaster would have been taking it out in October untested.

A grand and glorious Christmas to everyone, and a safe and fast New Year.

[fordboy628]

Ok, so we survived one disaster.

On to the next disaster . . . have you fired up the motor yet?  

Dean, don't you have some palm trees to trim?  

Still waiting on the spring cups - holidays seem to slow walk everything.

Next time it fires up will be on the dyno.  

Considering how much wasn't right, it's a miracle I haven't broken something beyond repair.  

I'm feeling pretty confident at this point - but I've felt confident before, and I was just lucky.

Disaster would have been taking it out in October untested.

A grand and glorious Christmas to everyone, and a safe and fast New Year.

GOODBYE TO 2012.......     WORST APOCALYPSE, EVER.......

(well, maybe not, for BMC's anyway..........)

http://2012apocalypse.net/      (these persons are obviously drinking something/doing something that is causing serious hallucinations...)

  to a better, faster, safer 2013 & BAKTUN 14!!!
Fordboy   (Is there anybody out there who can translate "Fordboy" into Mayan??)

[Stainless1]

Minor hijack
FB628, PM sent, looking forward to seeing you on the salt and I'm keeping my eyes on the mailbox.   

Flattie, PM sent, stop by if you get a chance. 
When you guys get to Kansas don't forget to set your watches back... about 20 years should do it... 

Back to subject, might want to run it a little before the dyno just for fun. 
Been a good year so far, hope the next one lands you in Warnerville
See ya on the salt 

[Milwaukee Midget]

Back to subject, might want to run it a little before the dyno just for fun. 
Been a good year so far, hope the next one lands you in Warnerville
See ya on the salt 

Here's the deal on that - it's such a PITA getting the engine in and out of the car that to run it in before taking it to the dyno is actually a waste of time.

No, we'll break it in on the dyno.  This time, I really want to test the engine seperately of the chassis, and I promised Dema accurate #'s on the combination for the cam he built for me.

[Dean Los Angeles]

As always on a retro build you want to use period appropriate methods.

[Milwaukee Midget]

Very crafty, Dean.  I particularly like the emergency transmission antenna to call for help from the forestry department.  I used similar techniques when I lived in Iowa and worked on stub-nose Econolines and Penn-Crest lawn mowers.  But now that I've moved to the big city, and I'm working on sophistomicated fereen cars, I've had to up my game. 

Inspiration galore, here . . .


http://www.rubegoldberg.com/home

[Milwaukee Midget]

Well, this promises to be the biggest fiasco of the build to date.




Last month, MiniMania had their straight cut, close ratio gearset for the Midget on sale.  I’d never seen that before, and it was a full 25% off of their regular price.  It was clearly an attempt on their part to get these pieces off of their shelves before end-of-year.  I suspect they were ordered for a customer who backed out, as normally these are a special order item from Britain.  I had them within a week.
  
I would have liked to have had a dyno run under my belt to know if I needed to go with a close ratio set, but given the added strength of the straight cuts, less parasitic loss, and what I’m sure will be a very narrow power band, I’m thinking it was the right thing to do.

Definitely wider than the stock units –



First gear goes from                      3.2:1 to 2.57:1
Second gear goes from      1.916:1 to 1.722:1
Third gear goes from      1.357:1 to 1.255:1
Forth gear remains the same                   1:1

Now comes putting it back together.  I also see it’s 8:57, and the liquor store closes in 3 minutes . . .

[tauruck]

Well if you're in Beerhaven you have to do what you have to do. Hopefully you'll break a record. A lot can happen in three minutes.

[fordboy628]

Well, this promises to be the biggest fiasco of the build to date.



Last month, MiniMania had their straight cut, close ratio gearset for the Midget on sale.  I’d never seen that before, and it was a full 25% off of their regular price.  It was clearly an attempt on their part to get these pieces off of their shelves before end-of-year.  I suspect they were ordered for a customer who backed out, as normally these are a special order item from Britain.  I had them within a week.
 
I would have liked to have had a dyno run under my belt to know if I needed to go with a close ratio set, but given the added strength of the straight cuts, less parasitic loss, and what I’m sure will be a very narrow power band, I’m thinking it was the right thing to do.

Definitely wider than the stock units –



First gear goes from                      3.2:1 to 2.57:1
Second gear goes from      1.916:1 to 1.722:1
Third gear goes from      1.357:1 to 1.255:1
Forth gear remains the same                   1:1

Now comes putting it back together.  I also see it’s 8:57, and the liquor store closes in 3 minutes . . .

Midget,

I guess it's the end of official Holiday & Party time, everybody "back to work"!!  Remember the cheesy CGA graphs I ran for you??  BMC Close ratio (such as it is.....) IS the way to go.   MAY require a push @ the start, but what the heck.

Will fire up "frankenputer" to send you digital copy of Chevy bellhousing bolt pattern in AutoCad.dwg format.  Will be from A/Cad Ver. 9.  Sorry, that the latest version on "frankenputer".  Since it appears that there is no digital drawing out there for the BMC block/adaptor plate, I'm volunteering to gather the dimensions by hand, and average them out over the 4/5 blocks & 3/4 adaptor plates I have.  If by some miracle my Kurta digitizer puck is found, I'll even input the dimensions to AutoCad, overlay the Chevy dimensions and viola, we will have a 2D layout for the dyno adaptor plate.  I still need the flywheel & oil pump cover dimensions from you though.

I notice you have the service manual out on your assembly bench.....   Don't forget:  1/ some trans assembly lube & 2/ that the bag of transmission bits I gave you are: extras............    That carpet in your assembly room must be the entrance to some sort of galactic miniature "black hole", given its' propensity to swallow tiny parts and never regurgitate them.........

BTW, thanks for the visit, etc, & the suds.  Waiting for a full moon to try the "Polish Moon", or maybe not............
Fordboy

[Milwaukee Midget]

Fordboy, as always, I appreciate your time, your insight and your calm, level headed guidance through this process.

I've got a new column posted up on the Moss Motoring website.  Another will be sent up shortly, but for the time being . . .

http://www.mossmotoring.com/bonnienogo/

If you need Brit bits – make these guys your first call – they’ve been awful nice to me.

[38flattie]

Chris, when is the big dyno day?

[Milwaukee Midget]

I've been doing the push on the transmission this week - the spring cups are done, but I haven't heard back on the hardening, so the engine sits.  Dyno adapter, hub - yet to do - I need to have it all screwed back together for the World of Wheels in February, and I don't want to have to pull the engine again to dyno it, so my long horizon is before February 14.

I did take a day-trip to Rockford, Illinois yesterday, to the Burpee Museum.  Rick Neilsen of Cheap Trick has many of his guitars on display through early April, along with his '55 T-bird.  I took particular interest in this modified tele that he had loaned to John Lennon during the Double Fantasy recording sessions.  Probably a good thing it was in a secured Lexan case.

[Dean Los Angeles]

Probably a good thing it was in a secured Lexan case.

In all things etiquette and proper form are continuously required.  Did you wipe the drool off the case?