Buffeting at speed

qmdv

qmdv

Well-known member
I have a 32 Highboy roadster. Runs really well and is fun to do running around town. When i get on the highway and get up to speed, 60 mph, I experience a lot of what I would call buffeting. Like I am in gusty winds.

Many years ago I had a 29 roadster pickup with a B motor and Cook 4 port head. Took it up to 80 quite a bit and never experienced this.

I think that what may be causing the problem in the 32 is the fact that I am not running a hood. Maybe the air is having a hard time deciding which way to go causing the problem.
 
I have a 32 hiboy that is not stock and you can get pushed around quite a bit especially when the big rigs go by. It just goes with the territory of driving our +/- 90 year old cars with 90 year old suspensions on a modern interstate at speeds which equal or exceed the age of our cars. I try and take the road less travelled at every possible opportunity to truly enjoy the ride ….
 
ronn said:
also, are you running bias tires?
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Radials. And the roadster pickup had same suspension. My F1 steering box is a bit on the loose/sloppy side. I will start there.

Tomorrow morning 4th July the road should be pretty clear. Test drive it.
 
This is Dick Price in 1948-1949, You can do what he did, try it with the top then without the top and windshield and finally lower it in the back and install a tarpaulin over the cockpit. It made the fastest SCTA one-way pass of any 1932 roadster in 1949. I would have to look it up but I think it was 137.00 mph. He could not back up the two-way run or it would have been a record. That was his daily driver. I asked him what happened to the car. He got a divorce and had to sell it to pay the lawyer.

Check the toe-in and caster. When you drop the frontend and install tall tires in the back you are eliminating some of your caster that was engineered into it to make the car go straight. You might need to add some more caster.

With the weight on the frontend move the steering wheel back and forth and check for play in anything in the frontend. Adjust any play out of the steering box. In the straight-ahead position make sure the steering box gears are where the tight spot is, that helps the car from wandering. Sometimes you have to adjust the draglink (if its adjustable) to get the steering gears in that spot with the tires straight ahead. Cener the steering wheel and box first. Then adjust the drag link to get the left wheel straight plus the toe-in on that side, maybe a 1/16". Then adjust the toe-in for the right side. You might need to pop a tie rod end out on the right side to do it so you're not moving that left wheel and pulling the steering box off of center. If your building car leave that right one loose in the spindle until you do your final toe-in adjustment.

You could always open the cowl vent and see if it creates a downforce. Maybe have it open automatically at 60 mph, like the Porsche rear spoilers that automatically come up.
 

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Dad did pretty good with his 34 Roadster at Muroc in 1939.
 

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Flathead Fever said:
This is Dick Price in 1948-1949, You can do what he did, try it with the top then without the top and windshield and finally lower it in the back and install a tarpaulin over the cockpit. It made the fastest SCTA one-way pass of any 1932 roadster in 1949. I would have to look it up but I think it was 137.00 mph. He could not back up the two-way run or it would have been a record. That was his daily driver. I asked him what happened to the car. He got a divorce and had to sell it to pay the lawyer.
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qmdv said:
I have a 32 Highboy roadster. Runs really well and is fun to do running around town. When i get on the highway and get up to speed, 60 mph, I experience a lot of what I would call buffeting. Like I am in gusty winds.

Many years ago I had a 29 roadster pickup with a B motor and Cook 4 port head. Took it up to 80 quite a bit and never experienced this.

I think that what may be causing the problem in the 32 is the fact that I am not running a hood. Maybe the air is having a hard time deciding which way to go causing the problem.
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Remember, that car would do well over 70 mph when it came from the factory.
It would do it with or without the hood, with or without the top up and with or without fenders. All with no wind buffeting problems.
The first thing to look for is worn out suspension parts. Also look for poorly modified suspension parts.
I have driven 32's over 160 mph many times and never encountered wind problems, other than noise.
 
I was thinking it was the fenders catching air and was going to say to take those fenders off and leave them hanging on the garage wall but then you did said it was already a highboy. A 1932 Ford is about the only car ever made that looks better with the fenders gone. I bet the restorers have a different opinion. A '32-34 roadster will run 100 mph stock without the fenders. One '32 barely did it at Muroc in 1933 and the '34s, verified stock, engine torn down and inspected on the winner at the Elgin Road race did it down the straightaway. I would never butcher an original car to make a hot rod. I would need to go to therapy before I could drill a hole in one. I love those cars stock and hot rodded.

I see your dad had Lyon wheel covers hiding the wire wheels on his '34. He probably bought them at Western Auto. That was the thing to do before the '40 Ford rims arrived. As a former SCTA club member, maybe 15-years ago, I had to do safety patrol out at El Mirage once a year. They would stick me down at the end of the course (the back door) for the entire day, hot, windy, dust in my teeth and I was so far from the finish line I couldn't see anything going on. I did have a streamliner that couldn't stop, rolled. It finally stop 100' from me, that was exciting. Mostly I just watched my sweat droplets hit the ground and evaporate. I felt like I was in an old western movie, my mule was dead, my canteen empty, I was seeing a mirage that looked like a lake of shimmering water off in the distance, which just happened to be by the starting line where they sold the ice cold drinks and all the fun was happening.
 
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