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TDR Pro Street Chassis


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looks like a great start rick. blown hemi and a willys. that's like ice cream on a stick. the two go great together. can't wait to see all those shift levers throught the floor pan. i'm getting tingly all over just thinking about it. any idea whether it will be blown and injected or blown and carbureted?

Edited by comp1839
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  • 2 weeks later...

I haven't had a lot of time to work on this project in the last couple of weeks, but after seeing what Dave and Don are doing, I was inspired to spend a few hours on the Willys.

I've used one of my unfinished Hemi's as a mock up engine and mounted it in the chassis. For this build, I'll be useing front and rear engine plates, rather than typical mounts. The rear plate will be attached to a custon, reinforced firewall. Due to some clearence issues with the chassis, I had to move the engine back and build a recessed firewall.

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Once I had the engine and firewall sorted out, I was ready to start building a roll cage.

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The roll cage will be a typical pro street style and will help to tie the chassis together and provide some added strength front to rear. Once the cage is fully mocked up, I'll build a complete floor pan and attach the cage to it. Thanks to my pal Dave, I've got some great reference shots to work from.

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After adding the mock up blower and dual fours, I'm thinking that I may need to find a way to move the engine forward just a bit. This could require some minor chassis surgery but I won't do it until I tinker a bit more. I still have to mount the GZ bellhousing and the lenco trans and that will help determine the final location of the engine.

I hope you like where this project is going.

Edited by arick
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Aftashox, you can find TDR products at www.tdrcatalog.com.

I've scratched front and rear engine plate's and have the engine trans where I want them.

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The plates are only roughed out so I haven't photographed them yet. Now that I know everything works, I can finish shapeing them and add some attachment fittings and a drive shaft. I still need to add an additional cross member and a trans mount along with some further modifications to the chassis. The mock up consists of a TDR Hemi block, a George Zurowski bellhousing and Dave's Lenco trans. Now that I know where the engine/trans are going, I can build a floor and finish the roll cage, wheel tubs, fuel cel and trunk.

Edited by arick
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Thanks guys! The nice thing about building it this way (thanks Dave for the photos) is that all the little details, including the tach and fire extinguisher that Don mentioned, can be "seen" simply by lifting the body off the chassis.

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Thanks guys! The nice thing about building it this way (thanks Dave for the photos) is that all the little details, including the tach and fire extinguisher that Don mentioned, can be "seen" simply by lifting the body off the chassis.

Arick i love this model you make.

i looked at tdrcatalog will order stuff from there it's great what they sell.

one question mabey i over looked but can you tell me where you get the body ?

keep up the nice work will follow this one

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Thanks for the positive feedback Dirk.

The body came from the Madd Fabricator. Unfortunatly, its no longer in production and I can't tell you whether or not it will be revived in the future. I know that MF follows these threads so perhaps he may be able to add more information.

I can also tell you that Don is working on a 71 Baracuda body in 8th scale and it will be of the same high quality as the MF Willys. If you check the threads on the "Big Boyz" page, you'll find it and I know that Don will keep you informed of its progress.

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Thanks for the positive feedback Dirk.

The body came from the Madd Fabricator. Unfortunatly, its no longer in production and I can't tell you whether or not it will be revived in the future. I know that MF follows these threads so perhaps he may be able to add more information.

I can also tell you that Don is working on a 71 Baracuda body in 8th scale and it will be of the same high quality as the MF Willys. If you check the threads on the "Big Boyz" page, you'll find it and I know that Don will keep you informed of its progress.

Thank you so much for the info start looking wright now :rolleyes:

will keep following this project

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In regards to the availability of the Willy's body, I do plan to go back into production with it. I've been doing some experimenting with two part epoxy resin to use with the fiberglass cloth, instead of the polyester resin that I've been working with for almost 50 years . The epoxy resin has a couple of benefits over the polyester resin, which I don't need to elaborate on here. I've also got a couple of other bodies in the works for which I'm just about ready to create the molds for. Stay tuned to this site for future updates on the current status of the MADD FABRICATOR series of bodies.

CHEERZZZZ !!!!!!! MADD FABRICATOR

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In regards to the availability of the Willy's body, I do plan to go back into production with it. I've been doing some experimenting with two part epoxy resin to use with the fiberglass cloth, instead of the polyester resin that I've been working with for almost 50 years . The epoxy resin has a couple of benefits over the polyester resin, which I don't need to elaborate on here. I've also got a couple of other bodies in the works for which I'm just about ready to create the molds for. Stay tuned to this site for future updates on the current status of the MADD FABRICATOR series of bodies.

CHEERZZZZ !!!!!!! MADD FABRICATOR

Yeah, buddy..........just thinking down the road a bit, 1/8th scale is a blast to build but despite all our begging and pleading over the years to the big model car companies for something really new & affordable, it doesn't seem to be in the cards.

I received a couple of private "Es" asking why TDR & the Madd Fabricator have been relatively quite lately....well, fellow modelers, the answer to that is simple.

We've been devoting a tremendous of time to developing new masters for bodies and more parts, I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag yet but I will say.......put a seat belt on your modeling stool and grab a drool towel. If biggies are your your "thing" you're going to have lot's of goodies to choose from.

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I made a bit more progress today. Before going any farther with the roll cage, I thought it best to rough in the floor. I also wasn't happy with the first set of wheel tub inners so I roughed in some new ones. After a bit more fitting, I'll be able to continue roughing in the roll cage, followed by the trunk inner structure.

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Got a little farther along with the roll cage this morning. This is a pro street build so I'm going with a fairly basic cage. I still have to add some down tubes that run from the top of the cage to the rear end along with a couple more support tubes. The joins and bends still need some clean up.

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A tour through the parts box came up with these seats. I have no idea where they came from but with some risers under them they will be a perfect fit for this build.

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Edited by arick
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  • 4 months later...

Its been a while since I've posted anything on my 8th scale pro street Willys. For those of you that are new here, this build is based on a TDR pro street chassis and a MF Willys coupe body.

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The chassis is an excellent piece but it will need some modifications, depending on how the model is being built. In my case, I'm going the pro street route so I've added a basic roll cage thats typical of a street car.

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I constructed the roll cage using styrene tube and aftermarket bends. Its smoothed and primered but not yet secured to the chassis. The floor and firewall are made from styrene sheet. The firewall is attached to the roll cage while the floor is in the mock up stage and still has to be opened up for the transmission/driveshaft tunnel.

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The body sits very nicely on the chassis. Note the mocked in front and rear support tubes that run from the firewall to the front of the chassis and from the rear of the roll cage to the rear of the chassis. Next up is mocking up an engine plate that will mount the blown Hemi to the front of the chassis and a cross member to mount the rear of the engine and the Lenco trans.

Edited by arick
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I'm building a blown TDR Hemi and it will be backed by a Lenco trans from Dave. In between will be an original and very rare bell housing from George Zurowski.

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George was known as the "father" of the 8th scale aftermarket and the first one to offer an 8th scale Hemi. It came in several configurations with an optional Lenco two speed with reverser and the bellhousing you see here. I got to know George well and I pride myself in having several of his original parts. Interestingly, George's bellhousing is an almost perfect fit to the TDR block so its kind of an interesting combination of new and historical technology.

As soon as I button up all three pieces, I'll fab an engine plate for the front and an engine/trans mount for the rear.

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