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Post by Lee Martin on Feb 4, 2014 13:08:18 GMT -5
The gun and gearhead crowd will enjoy these fine photos from David.... ________________________________________________ Wooden Redhawk over door in Ruger car barn  Lyle Patterson torques cyl block & cyl head on Cadillac V-16.  Lyle Patterson torques 1930's V-16 as WBR, Jr., looks on.  L-to-R: WBR, Jr., Lyle Patterson, architect Fred Atherton.  Lyle Patterson started as Ruger machinist on Red Label in NH around 1978. Lyle fits rocker arm assembly to V-16 cyl head.  Ruger, Sr., hired Lyle as full time car collection mechanic. Followed by Ruger, Jr.  Cadillac V-16 bored from 452 to 498 CID, compression raised slightly.  Bill, Jr., checks rocker hydraulic dampers for oil on 45-degree V-16.  1936 Cadillac. Rugermobile in background.  Assembled V-16 for another project. 45-degree banks relates to firing harmonics of V-16  -Lee www.singleactions.com"Building carpal tunnel one round at a time" |
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Post by seancass on Feb 4, 2014 13:25:24 GMT -5
Lee, we're missing XXVI and XXVII? Aren't we?
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Post by hammerdown77 on Feb 4, 2014 13:31:15 GMT -5
Hmmm, I see a Triumph in the background as well...
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Post by bradshaw on Feb 4, 2014 14:42:50 GMT -5
Seems I was introduced to Lyle Patterson around 1979. Believe he came to Ruger as a machinist and worked on the Red Label over/under 20 gauge in Newport. Bill Ruger hired him away from the factory to work full time on his cars. Remember seeing Lyle with the stripped frame of Ruger's 1956 Ferrari. The roadster had been driven hard by Ruger, and then used by Steve Vogel. Driven in snow, didn't matter. Ruger talked about shortening the frame, then decided against. I did not as why but figured a shorter wheelbase would've made handling hairy. Memory rusty, i'm thinking the Ferrari was a V-12 with three Weber 4-barrels. An engine meant to be driven with your foot in the carburetor.
Bill Ruger died in 2002 and Lyle Patterson went to work full time on the cars of Bill, Jr.
The Rugers are known for tinkering on their cars to improve performance, reliability, drive-ability. Cadillac introduced a 45-degree V-16 in the later 1920s, and produced it into 1937 or so. If not the fastest car for its size it was one of the fastest. Al Capone bought a 1929 V-16 and had stuffed with armor and bullet proof glass, which evidently wasn't enough to protect himfrom syphyllis.
The Cadillac V-16 has an aluminum crankcase, with cast aluminum oil pan, and separate cylinder blocks, each of course with its own cylinder head----five major castings per engine. Cylinder blocks and cylinder heads are cast iron. Ruger, Jr., had aluminum cylinder blocks made, but these haven't worked out. That is a lot of aluminum to cast without some porosity, as aluminum cools so fast compared to iron. Coolant leaked in the assembled motor. Lyle is seen in photos torquing the cylinder blocks & heads to the crankcase----for the third and final time before installing rocker arm assemblies. As some bolts hold both cylinder block and cylinder head, while other bolts hold only the cylinder block, torque values are different. Torque, as Lee and other gearheads here know, is applied to lubricated bolts & nuts. Otherwise, torque only measures friction of the fastener.
In one photo, Bill, Jr., feels rocker arm action and action of hydraulic rocker dampeners. These are not hydraulic lifters, but dampeners which, under oil pressure, create zero backlash.
On the Cadillac V-16 a shaft from the chain-driven generator spins the water pump (mounted on the side of the crankcase).
There is a wood "Redhawk" over the door in the Ruger car barn; goes back a long ways. Tooling for the Redhawk was still underway in 1979.
David Bradshaw
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Post by bradshaw on Feb 4, 2014 14:45:16 GMT -5
hammerdown77.... I think the Triumph is a Bonneville 650cc.
David Bradshaw
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Post by seancass on Feb 4, 2014 15:41:46 GMT -5
Torque, as Lee and other gearheads here know, is applied to lubricated bolts & nuts. Otherwise, torque only measures friction of the fastener. David Bradshaw David, Are(were) the Ruger's themselves big gear-heads, turning wrenches? Just no time to do all the work themselves? Clearly Sr had mechanical aptitude in spades, but I'm curious what automotive work they did hands-on. Lubing bolts before torquing surprised me at first, but then made perfect sense. I've done just a little work on 6L to 15L diesel engines.(360-915CubicInches) |
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cmh
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 3,745
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Post by cmh on Feb 4, 2014 19:05:10 GMT -5
I love the old Cadillacs  |
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Post by bradshaw on Feb 4, 2014 19:19:15 GMT -5
seancass.... largely self-taught, at least from a young age, Bill, Sr., possessed tremendous mechanical aptitude. Don't know how much tool time Bill, Jr., had, but he graduated Engineering School at Harvard, and has sharp mechanical sense. Doesn't do the wrench work.
David Bradshaw
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cmh
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 3,745
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Post by cmh on Feb 4, 2014 20:21:58 GMT -5
I not only like Mr Ruger's firearms I appreciate his taste in automobiles |
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