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Fairmont drag car build - Hanging/hinging DS door 8/10/16


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Spent some time today on getting closer to finalizing the template for the motor plate and am messing with a spacer for the mechanical fan I'm toying with using. As with much of this build, it's sort of a mixture of old and new. The fan will be spun by an old-school electric water pump.

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With tin work

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My plan is to make a motor plate in .010" nickel-silver. This has a little ways to go but it's pretty close.

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I'll be adding the exhaust port plates and prepping them for plug wires.

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Side shot showing a bit more of the overall package

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Comments welcome!

Edited by futurattraction
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Been folowing this one for a while. and don't rebember reading along the way.

Are you replicatiing any particular car from the era or ?????

This would look so cool in Glidden colors

Edited by gtx6970
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Thanks for your questions and interest, guys...

Hi Bill - It's more the ????? This specific build isn't replicating any particular car. I've borrowed a lot of what was more or less common "outfitting" of these cars at the time they were run in NHRA, i.e., 351C with UR-19 Edelbrock TR intake, high-port-plated heads, Lenco 4-speed, 9-inch Ford with strut front and disc brakes fore and aft. The pan and cage, too, reflect how they were built at that time. I've designed this to look like what, in my eyes, would be the ideal Fairmont pro stocker, which is part of why I had a tough time deciding what type of class it would fit into. For example, I've always liked the stretched, stock-height rear wheel well openings better than the taller squared-out openings as used by Glidden on his '80 and '81 cars or the Bruckner-Islin-Dreese AHRA Fairmont. I like the tin work in the nose of Animal Jim Feuer's "Zeke" Z-7 much better than Glidden's tin work. I've seen pictures of Glidden's '80/'81 cars and he had a non traditional, roll cage in it, which I don't care for. His main hoop only ran about 2/3rds of the width of the body and the halo bar ran out at an angle to the A-pillar. The main hoop fore-aft placement is consistent with where they were legally required to be, so the seats can't be set back nearly as far as current rules permit. The pan and my forward strut tubing places the engine in its legal location, with the right-front spark plug being in line with the spindle centerline and, of course, I've tried to get the front down in the weeds as much as possible. At the rear of the car, I've chosen to add the PE frame rail/trunk floor supports just because it looks cool and adds some interior detail. The rear of this build sets at a much lower, contemporary ride height and I'm using the larger wheel/tire combo, full width rear deck spoiler with spill plates and it will employ much longer wheelie bars, again because I think they look cool.

Having said all this, the basic pan, chassis and body are all what I consider to be consistent with construction practices at that time, but there are lots of deviations I've made to reflect my own personal preferences.

Brad - The thought crossed my mind to add some "flow through" ventilation holes.

Holler if you have other questions or comments.

Edited by futurattraction
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Thanks Bill. I appreciate your stopping by...

Norbert - I appreciate your saying so, but I'm nowhere near that. The only thing I can claim is to be detail-oriented and a bit OCD... LOL

Thank you, Chris. I'm trying...

I don't have any photo update at the moment, but will briefly describe a couple projects I'm working on. I have to confess that I jumped the gun on gluing my dry sump pan on the block and then started questioning the placement of the scavenge outlets on the pan. The example of a 351C dry sump I'd seen online showed the outlets on the passenger side, which was what I patterned my pan after. Unfortunately, I'm so short on space on that side of the engine, that I decided I needed to do a bit more snooping. After consulting with Dave (comp1839) I decided to change up my oil pan configuration. While I can make the necessary changes on the block it would've been much easier to do off the block. Anyway, I'm going to be adding an additional half-sump to the bottom of the pan with the outlets on the driver's side. I've got a motor plate and dry sump pump support brackets drawn up in my CAD program for photo etching, which will go in on my next .010 nickel-silver order.

That's all for now...

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was on vacation for a bit over a week and just got back last night. I wanted to share some pics of some slight progress I made just before leaving. I've begun revising my dry sump oil pan by adding the lower sump section and extension tubes. They will be cut flush with the edge of the pan and will have a hex fitting added to them at that edge. The ones shown aren't glued in and I may end up using tubing of some sort that will more readily accept RB Motion fittings.

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I added high port exhaust plates and have begun prepping them for adding plug wires. I'm going to use one of Kris Morgan's pre-wired distributors.

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Last but not least, I received the lug nuts for my rear wheel stud conversion.

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Edited by futurattraction
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