Never knew what a Hupmobile was until I got a request.
One of my coworkers is doing another restoration, this time on a 1931
Hupmobile. Pretty much is this same car in trim level http://static.automanager.com/c/023009/96c1a831b36b3848b75cdd02715398a9/6d2782ae79_640.jpg
His has a huge inline 6. When I say huge I mean freaking HUUUUGE motor.
Everything on cars back then was huge, low power but relatively simple in design
(advanced for their time).
The problem:
Everything in the motor was fine except for the rear seal which uses a rope
gasket. The material was like pot metal or something as it became very brittle
over the years. When they disassembled the motor the rear seal broke into four
pieces. Not good! Nobody makes a rear seal for these and if you can find an
original its not cheap as these cars weren't made forever.
The solution:
He brings his crumbled up parts to me and I begin the tedious process of
reverse engineering the parts using various tools and software. After cleaning
as much gunk that has accumulated in I start by 'painting' the crumbled parts
using white powder foot spray (athlete's foot shit). This allows me to 'paint'
the parts to make it easier for the laser scanner to create points in space
(point cloud). After scanning the parts I then turn it into a NURBS surface and
then export out to my modeling software.
Here is one of the broken parts I scanned....
Once inside the modeling software I typically begin the reverse engineering
aspect of creating a new model based off whatever critical geometry needs to be
retained. Here is some initial block design model using the scanned part as a
reference for when I am too high or low on some faces and surfaces....
Once I feel comfortable with an initial design this is when I'd typically
farm this out for a rapid prototyped plastic part for initial test and fit
inside the engine block. we still don't have our 3D printer in house yet and my
coworker didn't want to fork out the cash for a prototype so we had to go back
and forth to the engine shop taking notes and caliper measurements to help in
the design. Here you can see the broken seals sitting in the block....
This crank too heavy to walk lol...
Here is a render I did of the initial designed pieces...
The result:
After test fitting the machined 6061 aluminum pieces in the block and placing
the crank in I noticed we had to make some minor changes to allow the top engine
pieces to fit flush. I didn't take any pics of the final pieces outside the
block but here is the final result mounted and ready to go...
One of my coworkers is doing another restoration, this time on a 1931
Hupmobile. Pretty much is this same car in trim level http://static.automanager.com/c/023009/96c1a831b36b3848b75cdd02715398a9/6d2782ae79_640.jpg
His has a huge inline 6. When I say huge I mean freaking HUUUUGE motor.
Everything on cars back then was huge, low power but relatively simple in design
(advanced for their time).
The problem:
Everything in the motor was fine except for the rear seal which uses a rope
gasket. The material was like pot metal or something as it became very brittle
over the years. When they disassembled the motor the rear seal broke into four
pieces. Not good! Nobody makes a rear seal for these and if you can find an
original its not cheap as these cars weren't made forever.
The solution:
He brings his crumbled up parts to me and I begin the tedious process of
reverse engineering the parts using various tools and software. After cleaning
as much gunk that has accumulated in I start by 'painting' the crumbled parts
using white powder foot spray (athlete's foot shit). This allows me to 'paint'
the parts to make it easier for the laser scanner to create points in space
(point cloud). After scanning the parts I then turn it into a NURBS surface and
then export out to my modeling software.
Here is one of the broken parts I scanned....
Once inside the modeling software I typically begin the reverse engineering
aspect of creating a new model based off whatever critical geometry needs to be
retained. Here is some initial block design model using the scanned part as a
reference for when I am too high or low on some faces and surfaces....
Once I feel comfortable with an initial design this is when I'd typically
farm this out for a rapid prototyped plastic part for initial test and fit
inside the engine block. we still don't have our 3D printer in house yet and my
coworker didn't want to fork out the cash for a prototype so we had to go back
and forth to the engine shop taking notes and caliper measurements to help in
the design. Here you can see the broken seals sitting in the block....
This crank too heavy to walk lol...
Here is a render I did of the initial designed pieces...
The result:
After test fitting the machined 6061 aluminum pieces in the block and placing
the crank in I noticed we had to make some minor changes to allow the top engine
pieces to fit flush. I didn't take any pics of the final pieces outside the
block but here is the final result mounted and ready to go...
