Short hooded stepdowns are for Hot Rodding

[Deleted User]

I finally had some time to mess around in the shop today.



Since I have been sidetracked with a blown head gasket, I thought I'd take the opportunity to answer one of my age old Hudsonly questions:



Will the triple weber outfit fit in a short-hooded stepdown?



I was at the perfect place to find out, so here is the result.





Yes, it will fit. I think Jack Clifford must have planned it that way, because it barely fits.



Its this close:





1-3/4" from the carb to the fenderwell. Just so happens the shortest available breather for the DCOE is the same thickness. You will have to drill a hole on the fenderwell to be able to remove the breather nut. on the back carburetor and the rearmost nut on the center carburetor. If your motor mounts aren't up to snuff, your breathers will smack against your passenger side fenderwell.





Firewall clearance is pretty tight as well





1" from the rear carb bore to the firewall. This also clears with smaller DCOE breather @ 1.750" thick.



It just couldn't fit any tighter and escape major modification.





Just goes to show, there isn't anything a Hornet can do - that a short hooded stepdown can't do too.



Looks like the stroker will go into a Super Wasp after all.



Mark

Unknown

Weeeeeeeee!!

rambos_ride

That's a nice looking setup.

That will be a fun one to hear down the road!

7XPacemaker

If your putting that stroker in your SWB...Don't forget to wrap the headers, insulate the firewall, and anything else that you can do to deflect the heat from the inside of the car. If you don't, you'll feel as if you were in a fully operable blast furnace! The sealant melted down my clock face this year! Of course, a BLACK car doesn't help either.........

50C8DAN

I will be interested to see how you do the headers. Larry and Clifford said the current design will not work with the Weber manifold. I did not think to ask if the flange they sell for DIY will work or not.

[Deleted User]

50C8DAN wrote:

I will be interested to see how you do the headers. Larry and Clifford said the current design will not work with the Weber manifold. I did not think to ask if the flange they sell for DIY will work or not.

The only thing preventing the current design from working is the center two exhaust tubes for 3&4. If you'll look at the Weber intake, the center two intake runners pinch in pretty quickly. The header tubes come out straight and then bend downward, to work with the Triple Weber - they need to bend toward each other just a smidgeon to mimic the inward bend of the intake runners. Its not a huge amount of interference.



I've kinda got that figured out, I think. I'm not going to do any cutting on the center tubes until I get the engine closer to completion. The thread "header install" kinda answered my header to body question with the swb stepdown, the only wildcard left was whether the triple manifold would fit.



7xPacemaker brings up a good point on the heat - one I'm in full understanding of. The Super Wasp is kinda my "learning platform", and I've driven it several thousand miles with no floorboard/firewall insulation. The heat is hellacious to say the least. The '49 is as cool as a cucumber even without the floorboard/firewall insualtion.



I may need to fabricate some heat shields for the rear carburetors. If the heat difference in the cabin is that great, I'd suspect the Webers to be in danger of percolation moreso in the SWB than the LWB as well.



The installation is wayyyy down the road. I just wanted to know if it was possible as I've never heard anyone say if it was or wasn't.



Mark

dwardo99

Maybe an excuse to put louvers in the hood. That would be way cool.

[Deleted User]

in right hand drive things get worse in a pacemaker/ wasp- you are sitting on top of the exhaust and things start getting real toasty. last time i took mine out the radiant heat from the exhaust started unsoldering the wires above it... but then that crap ford 6 blew its headgasket.

what is this diy clifford header setup? a flange kit and a bunch of bends to weld together yourself? this is the kind of thing i think i will need to try and clear the pedals and steering box

Unknown

half baked wrote:

in right hand drive things get worse in a pacemaker/ wasp- you are sitting on top of the exhaust and things start getting real toasty. last time i took mine out the radiant heat from the exhaust started unsoldering the wires above it... but then that crap ford 6 blew its headgasket.

what is this diy clifford header setup? a flange kit and a bunch of bends to weld together yourself? this is the kind of thing i think i will need to try and clear the pedals and steering box

Why dont you do it the hard way and put your steering on the left side that is the right side you know & problem solved. Good luck, Ron

[Deleted User]

Ron P wrote:

Why dont you do it the hard way and put your steering on the left side that is the right side you know & problem solved. Good luck, Ron

because here in upside down land we actually do everything backwards

[Deleted User]

The set-up looks cool Mark!

Jay

Geoff

Actually, we don't only do things backwards, but upside down as well! Try removing the fuel pump from a r.h.d. Jet, with the exhaust piple, steering box, shift linkages, and pedals in the road, and you have to stand on your head backwards, or turn the car upside down!