Mooneyzs

Tim... the paint work is absolutely stunning. Nice job, John definitely knows what he is doing that's for sure and you couldn't go wrong with his advice. I cant wait to see this gorgeous body sitting on the chassis.... gonna shine like a Diamond!! Cheers my friend!! I know it's a huge milestone to have the body done. Very rewarding that's for sure.

Jay.... you are off to a killer start on this. It's really looking good so far. I am looking forward to seeing more updates on this bad boy. Keep up the awesome work.

Mark.... You are sure Trucking along on this build and its looking great. Love the wheel you have drawn up. Going to look good on this bad boy! Looking forward to your next update.

Mark.... nice work, I like what you have done. Looks like it fits like a glove now.

Mark.... What an awesome new project. I haven't been around here much lately. This is going to be another fun one to follow along and looking forward to your updates. You are already off to a killer start, it's looking good.

Daniel... This build is looking good and coming along great. Really love what you have done on it so far. and Love that you made the body out of Aluminum as well as the disc on the front wheel to break the Beams. Very cool touch

Tim.... Things are looking great my friend. Sorry to hear about the paint lifting when you pulled the tape. You will have it fixed in no time at all an I know that John will give you good advice on how to fix her up. Love the idea of adding lettering to the plug wire. I may have to borrow that some time. I had no clue that they made lettering that small in dry transfers...lol Looking forward to your next update.

Brad.... Thanks my friend. I ended up getting a Sherline Mill which I actually picked up used on Craigslist over a year ago. At the time I couldn't pass up the deal that I got on it and I really wasn't wanting to mess with it while I was trying to finish up the Funny Car. I figured that since it was finally done that it was time to start learning how to use it and put it to work....lol Earl.... I understand where you are coming from on the Clamps and all but I think you have assumed that I am using these clamps to hold parts down while I am machining components which is not the plan. These clamps are going to be used on a Chassis Jig plate that I am making which will be holding brass tubing in position as I solder it together to keep the chassis square as well to keep parts from collapsing on me as heat is transferred thru the brass tube during the soldering process. There does not need to be a huge clamping force on the parts to keep them in position. Heck I could use Destaco Toggle Clamps to hold the tubing down if I wanted too. I have seen welders use them during their welding process. I learned from my Funny Car build the hard way when I was soldering some brass structures and had the pieces fall apart on me multiple times. I then was trying to use alligator clamps and other items as heat sinks to draw heat away from the tubing since I only have a solder iron and not a Resistance soldering unit. The clamps I am designing are basically miniature versions of Clamps and hold downs that I use on Fixtures that I design for work to hold Parts which either go on our CNC or manual machines. I also design fixtures for our mechanics to use that assist them while they are working on whatever components that they may be overhauling. Here is just a small variety of clamps we use that I decided to scale down to work for my needs: My whole thought process was that I design tooling for work and maybe I can utilize things I have learned there to help me make and design some things that would help me with my model builds. I don't think I have ever seen any of our machinist do the sand paper trick in a vise but I will ask them if they every have. And no need to worry I always wear my safety glasses when I am using my Mill.

Daniel... Thank you very much. You should get to using your mill, you know that's they way I figured I was going to learn by making chips and I am sure that I will make my fair share of mistakes along the way. But I do pick my Machinist brains at work on how to approach & set certain things up. Tim.... So glad to put a smile on your face. I know you have been waiting for me to start making some chips. I waited way too long before messing with my Mill. It is so much fun and satisfying when making chips, kind of weird to say but its a little therapeutic as well. I know that with time and practice I hope that my skills increase with the mill machine and hopefully be able to machine components like you, even an Engine Block some day. I would love to get one of the CNC Sherlines but I need to learn and understand the manual machining first. Now I need to get back and finish up the next 6 of these clamps. Your gonna laugh at this but I think the first clamp I made took me somewhere around 6 hours but that also included just taking some scraps and testing cuts. I had taken one block and was taking my time just to square it up and I was taking very light cuts because I was a little afraid to take too heavy of a cut but I have been pushing myself a little more. I have gotten brave enough to take some .030"/.035" cuts but would like to try up to .050"....So stay tuned....lol

Here is the Finished Clamp, The clamp on the right was my very first piece that I made and will probably leave it somewhere on my bench so it reminds me that I can machine parts. I realized I messed up on how I approached it and fixed it for the next one which is on the left: Here are all 3 parts, 2 Clamps and my test piece. I am really happy with how they turned out considering I have never machined any parts before. Now I only have to make another 6 to 8 of these Clamps....lol:

Here is what it looked like after cutting the angle: After cutting the Angle's on the part, I put the part back in the vise and indicated the part in and set my X and Y zeros on the DRO with an audible edge finder: I then machined the part to length and added the hole and slot to the part: Next I flipped the part over and faced it off to size (yes these are two different parts, Top pic part #1, Bottom Pic part #2, I forgot to take pics of the 2nd part after I flipped it over to face it):

Ok Fellas.... So as mentioned I haven't been to the bench so to speak for a while but I have been working on some design work and spending time here and there at the computer. I have been working on designing components for a chassis jig for this project so I can keep the frame square when I build it. I have designed miniature clamps which is somewhat of a scaled down version of clamps I use on fixtures at work that I design. I know some of you may think I am nuts for doing this but I thought that I could approach this like I do with some projects at work on how we bank parts and hold them down in fixtures while they get machined. So far I have gotten a couple of the clamps and components for the fixture drawn up, I still have more to do there. But I did start to Machine a few of the clamps and let me tell you that it gave me a much more respect for guys like Tim (Codi), Dave (Comp1839, Mark Jones (Scale Master) and all the others out there that machine parts. I didn't realize how much time goes into setting up a part prior to machining. While I am having a blast making chips, I know I am going slower than those who have been doing it for a while but I am also taking my time to learn and not screw things up. I am taking lighter cuts while I am learning my machine and am sure when I am more comfortable I will be taking heavier cuts to rough the part out and come back with a light finish cut. Anyway let me share with you a few pics of what I have been working on the past few weeks. Here is my Chassis Jig Plate, the Hold Down Clamps and supports. I still have more items that I need to design for the fixture: Here is an up close shot of the hold down clamps: Here is the drawing of my clamp along with some 6061 Aluminum to make them from: I started out first with squaring up my material: Once I got the block squared up I used and angle guage to cut the angles into the part:

Hello Fellas.... I apologize that I haven't been around much lately, life and work has been busy but I am slowly getting back to the bench. Curt.... I don't know how you missed this build....lol. It is going to be a really fun build, especially with the meaning behind this build. I have another FED that I want to build where I would use a set of your wheels on it. But on this build I am shooting to pretty much scratch build and 3D print most of the parts. It's something that I want to challenge myself with. Hopefully you understand. It was great seeing you at DSC and GSL. Dave.... Thank you very much. Daniel.... Thank man!! I started my CAD skills with AutoCAD12 and then learned Pro-E in college and back in 2007 one of the companies I worked for Switched to Solidworks. So pretty much the past 12 years I have been using that program. In regards to the 3D printed parts and cleaning them up, to me some of it doesn't really take too much time to clean up. The material is a UV cured Resin based Acrylic Plastic and it sands really easy. I will have to take one of the parts, sand on it and post some pics for you so you can see what I mean. Keep in mind that I had this printed thru Shapeways and it was printed with their smooth resolution. I probably should of paid the extra money for the Smoothest but at the time I just wanted to see how these parts turned out so I could use them for mockups while getting the chassis fabricated.

Bob.... Thank you very much, It was definitely an honor to win the award and to be in contention for BOS but if you were to see Mark Jones Super Seven he brought in person, you would understand why his build deserved to win Best in Show. There were so many machined and scratch built parts on it. It's a beautiful build, you can check it out over in the Big Boy's section.

Tim.... Absolutely Stunning My Friend!!! This build is out if this world and continues to get better with every update. Love the display you are doing . You are in the home stretch for sure. I wanna hear this thing fire up.