Eric Macleod Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I love the period photos. Interesting how you handled the nose cone radiator area. This is a really great model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted November 2, 2015 Author Share Posted November 2, 2015 (edited) UPDATE Spent some quality time at my workbench today and now have the chassis fabrication nearly finished. Just a few odds & ends left like making a drive shaft and creating some rear body mounts. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki The steering system is complete. I used the pitman arm from a Revell '32 Ford kit, cut the linkage away and drilled both ends for pins. A drag link end was created to attach to the bottom of the pitman arm, between it and the steering mount upright. The drag link is left as a slip fit into the end of it. I also made a steering wheel shaft and attached the butterfly wheel from the AMT '23 Roadster parts pack. Hosted on Fotki I built a drag link that passes through the dip in the headers and attaches to the hoop steering arm that I previously added to the front axle spindle area. Hosted on Fotki The steering pitman arm and drag link end just barely fit inside the small T cowl. Hosted on Fotki The reason I left the drag link as a slip fit into the inner tie rod end is because it has to pass through the edge of the firewall. I was originally going to mount the pitman arm on the side of the cowl but the shape of the headers dictated this arrangement. I think it's pretty neat and a little more interesting than the typical cowl mounted steering. Hosted on Fotki I mounted a pair of lever shocks to the front which are cut down versions of those found in Revell's '29/'31 Model A kits. Hosted on Fotki I also installed a simple .060" rod cross bar and mounted the nicely rendered Moon fuel tank from Revell's '32 5-Window. Hosted on Fotki Edited November 2, 2015 by Dennis Lacy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted November 2, 2015 Author Share Posted November 2, 2015 Here are some mock ups with all of the latest additions. I decided to forego the track nose and make a filler panel for the T shell that I'll put a shop decal on. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki I installed mounting pins in the log intake and drilled corresponding holes in the bases of the carburetors. I also modified the headers from Revell's Slingster dragster by shortening the engine side of the tubes 1/4" to suck the headers up closer to the engine and clear of the frame and suspension. Hosted on Fotki The Moon fuel tank is visible in the empty cavity behind the seat. Hosted on Fotki At this point most of the fabrication work is done other than the drive shaft and body mounts I mentioned in the chassis pictures above. Once I complete those the model can be prepped for paint which means lots of clean up work. I'll get everything ready but I'm not so sure when I'll get to actually painting it because I do all of my painting at work and right now all of my spare time at work is dedicated to a real 1932 Pickup that I'm building for myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 (edited) I really like this Dennis, excellent work. I think it looks better without the track nose. Edited November 2, 2015 by afx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim boyd Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 The really big payoff is those last pictures showing the mocked up result. Everything is "just right". I also like your decision to go with the blanked radiator shell. Most excellent! TIM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt Tuttle Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Very promising this far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgefever Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Clever stuff, looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James2 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Great looking car, nice details too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spex84 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Looks fantastic, Dennis. You making getting dialed-in proportions look so easy. This thing looks totally sweet just sitting raw plastic.I'm not sure what you did for cooling, but mashing the engine right up against the grille shell results in great proportions. Is the intent that the car would make a run with solely the water in the jacket? I've seen some photos where a drag-spec engine has a small reservoir mounted between the water ports on the front of the heads, but space looks tight here. Maybe the backs of the heads could be tapped? I have no idea where the water channels are internally on these engines. Anyway. It looks awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 Looks fantastic, Dennis. You making getting dialed-in proportions look so easy. This thing looks totally sweet just sitting raw plastic.I'm not sure what you did for cooling, but mashing the engine right up against the grille shell results in great proportions. Is the intent that the car would make a run with solely the water in the jacket? I've seen some photos where a drag-spec engine has a small reservoir mounted between the water ports on the front of the heads, but space looks tight here. Maybe the backs of the heads could be tapped? I have no idea where the water channels are internally on these engines. Anyway. It looks awesome.A car like this would have no cooling system to speak of. It would be pushed to the line, fired, do its burnout, make its run then shut down after the finish line and towed back to the pits. That being the case, engine temperature wouldn't be a concern. In a lot of cases the oil galleys in the block would be tapped into and tubes set up to spray the interior of the engine. Oil spray cooling is incredibly effective. A good friend has a current '29 Roadster Bonneville car that is 300 MPH capable. The engine is repurposed from a top-fuel dragster and has oil spray cooling only. Running the 5 mile course wide-open the engine barely breaks 160 degrees. In fact, they had to dial back the oil cooling at some point because the engine wasn't getting hot enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gasser59 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Dennis - this is an outstanding build and sits oh so right. I was just getting use to the track nose but am glad you decided to scrap it. Really like your execution and creativeness.Looking forward to some paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Kron Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Hiding in plain sight! How could I not notice that you deleted the track nose. I agree, it's a good move if you're going for a drag strip machine. Although I must say it would have made a lovely street roadster with the original nose treatment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spex84 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Thanks for the info on oil spray cooling--I didn't even know that was a thing. Crazy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagercr Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Dennis, I can't wait to see the finished product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim boyd Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 (edited) I was going through my 1967 and 1968 Car Model magazines a couple of weeks ago, and there was an interview of Don Prudhomme by former CM editor Joe Oldham (yeah, THAT Joe Oldham), I think it was in the December 1968 issue. Joe asks Don to describe a run from beginning to end. In it Don says that he would blip the throttle while staging to inject a fresh load of Nitro into the engine to keep it running cool. That's the first time I remember ever reading about that as a way to control engine temp on a blown Nitro engine. (I'm pretty sure I read this in that issue of CM, but please don't kill me if I am remembering the source of this incorrectly). Cheers..>TIM Edited November 4, 2015 by tim boyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horsepower Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 We had a flat bottom ski boat with a blown 392 Chrysler stroked to 440 cubic inches, that had been a blown fuel flat bottom and the original set up had a water neck on each head with a cap, the block had been filled up about 1/3 with a cast iron filings and resin mixture to help stiffen the lower end of the block, and the cooling was handled by filling one of the water necks until water would come out the other side,then after the run the caps would be removed and cool water was circulated through the engine to cool the block and heads before the next run. For use in the boat the necks were removed and replaced with temp gauges and a water pickup on the trim plates was used to pick up water that ran into the block and a line from each head to the water manifolds was used, there was no water circulation until the boat was above 10-15 miles an hour.Love your car, but personally would have set the engine back just a little, there was plenty of clearance at the body, bellhousing to do so, like I said, just a personal preference, but the clearance between the rear of the engine and the firewall looks excessive to me.Now that you have the idea down, lets see a track roadster, maybe using a V-6 for power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 Love your car, but personally would have set the engine back just a little, there was plenty of clearance at the body, bellhousing to do so, like I said, just a personal preference, but the clearance between the rear of the engine and the firewall looks excessive to me. Now that you have the idea down, lets see a track roadster, maybe using a V-6 for power. The body actually sits where it does because if it were any further forward the magneto (not shown in any of the mock ups because I keep forgetting to drill the mounting hole in the engine) wouldn't fit. So the finished car won't have that void between the engine and firewall. I do have a new plan for that Kurtis track nose and it will eventually be a 40's vintage '25 Roadster dry lakes car, not powered by a V-6 but a flathead V8-60. That's a ways off, yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 Dennis - this is an outstanding build and sits oh so right. I was just getting use to the track nose but am glad you decided to scrap it. Really like your execution and creativeness. Looking forward to some paint. Hiding in plain sight! How could I not notice that you deleted the track nose. I agree, it's a good move if you're going for a drag strip machine. Although I must say it would have made a lovely street roadster with the original nose treatment. I think deleting the Kurtis nose was the right thing to do. Every morning when I get my car out of the garage for work and every night when I come home and put my car back in the garage I stop and check out this project still mocked up on my work bench. Every time I look at it I'm happier with the decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horsepower Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 The body actually sits where it does because if it were any further forward the magneto (not shown in any of the mock ups because I keep forgetting to drill the mounting hole in the engine) wouldn't fit. So the finished car won't have that void between the engine and firewall. I do have a new plan for that Kurtis track nose and it will eventually be a 40's vintage '25 Roadster dry lakes car, not powered by a V-6 but a flathead V8-60. That's a ways off, yet. cool, wondered how long it would take before the little V-8 60 out of the midgets ended up in a street rod, but I kinda thought someone would put it in a '32, or maybe the '40 Ford sedan delivery since that's the V-8 that was the one used in that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Metallic Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 cool, wondered how long it would take before the little V-8 60 out of the midgets ended up in a street rod, but I kinda thought someone would put it in a '32, or maybe the '40 Ford sedan delivery since that's the V-8 that was the one used in that.I don't want to hijack Dennis thread for this sweet T he's building. But for a V8-60 hot rod build check out this thread.http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/106836-mixing-t-and-a/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 cool, wondered how long it would take before the little V-8 60 out of the midgets ended up in a street rod, but I kinda thought someone would put it in a '32, or maybe the '40 Ford sedan delivery since that's the V-8 that was the one used in that.The problem with the little V8-60's is that even in fully hot rodded form they don't make a lot of power and because of they're small displacement they're really short on torque so putting one into a small, light car like a T Roadster (or midget oval track racer) is about the only thing that makes sense. The performance would be pretty uninspiring in a '32 and especially in a '40. I have driven an all-original '38 Sedan that had the V8-60 and it was dreadfully under powered. I'm really surprised sales supported keeping that engine option for 4 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blazefox Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 Looking good nice build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DumpyDan Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Oh wow, that looks so cool, keep this going Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim boyd Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 The problem with the little V8-60's is that even in fully hot rodded form they don't make a lot of power and because of they're small displacement they're really short on torque so putting one into a small, light car like a T Roadster (or midget oval track racer) is about the only thing that makes sense. The performance would be pretty uninspiring in a '32 and especially in a '40. I have driven an all-original '38 Sedan that had the V8-60 and it was dreadfully under powered. I'm really surprised sales supported keeping that engine option for 4 years.Just a second vote confirming Dennis' comments about the V8-60 and its lack of power/torque to adequately power a car in any applications other than very light hot rods/racers. But it sure does look cool, doesn't it??? TIM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Minarick Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 Very cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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