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Nostalgia Fuel Dragster--Blower Manifold (01/28/23)


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13 hours ago, Ian McLaren said:

Everything looks great, what are you using to represent all of the fasteners ? Well done 

For bolts/nuts, I generally use model railroad hex castings--either brass or plastic, depending on the size needed, or what the application is and what I have on-hand. If the bolt goes through, and requires a nut, I use either bored out hex styrene, or small bits of wire insulation. Thank you, my friend!

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12 hours ago, Codi said:

It's been a while since I've checked in Daniel, nice to see the progress you've made.  cheers, tim

Thanks for checking in, Tim! Thank you for the kind words, as well. Sorry about your health issues. It's especially difficult, when our hands are causing us problems. Hope they're able to get you fixed up, my friend.

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I haven't posted any updates, lately, because I haven't been working on anything that's "photogenic"! Therefore, these photos are kinda boring! In them, you can see areas and items marked with red Sharpie. The marked items (body tabs, mainly) will be removed. The red-marked areas are places that need some sort of attention. I did a little bit of cleanup with the Dremel, then decided to put the chassis in the purple lake. I also replaced an upright that was missing from the left side of the chassis. Now, I'll finish the cleanup, and add back a couple of pieces that inadvertently left the chassis. After all that's done, I should be able to repaint the chassis, and begin installing some parts! As always, your comments are welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for looking!

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Edited by Straightliner59
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  • Straightliner59 changed the title to Nostalgia Fuel Dragster--Brassy Chassis (01/23/23)
10 hours ago, AmericanMuscleFan said:

Purple lake always does the trick to remove paint on plastic but I've never tried it on anything else, does it attack the brass surface?

I can confidently say that Super Clean won't hurt brass, or solder joints! This has now been in and out of the pond several times, for a total of five or six hours, and neither shows any ill- effects. The joints aren't quite as shiny, but they aren't brittle or soft. That said, I think this is ready to add any missing pieces back on, then it can be repainted. It will be a bare-metal color from what I have left over of Testors Metalizers. I'll probably go with stainless steel. That may be what it was, the first time, too.

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  • Straightliner59 changed the title to Nostalgia Fuel Dragster--Bare Brassy Chassis (01/25/23)
9 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

It doesn't seem to affect brass or solder, at all. Don't ever put aluminum into it, though! It will turn that to jelly!

Glad to hear that Daniel, I remember seeing someone soak the brass parts in vinegar to clean them and prepare them for priming and/or painting.  It should not smell good but vinegar is a mild acid and it should not attack the brass too much.

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16 hours ago, AmericanMuscleFan said:

Glad to hear that Daniel, I remember seeing someone soak the brass parts in vinegar to clean them and prepare them for priming and/or painting.  It should not smell good but vinegar is a mild acid and it should not attack the brass too much.

Yep! Good, old pickling solution! Probably acetic acid, which is just a stronger vinegar solution. Vinegar should work fine. The first time I painted it, it was simply washed with an old toothbrush and Soft Scrub liquid cleanser. If I hadn't had to make the repairs, it wouldn't have needed to be stripped! Maybe that'll teach me not to wait 25 years on a project, again!😀

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I didn't like my original heads--they really didn't look like Donovan heads. I used a set of heads cast by my late friend, Mark Brown, from a Miss Deal kit. They're very nicely done--as would be expected, knowing Mark's attention to detail. I also started working on the valley cover. It's made of flashing. The oil filler is turned from a dollar store aluminum knitting needle--a great source for cheap stock! Blower manifolds for early hemis don't seem to be exactly plentiful! Those with any detail, even fewer (obviously!😀). I found one in my parts box, but have no idea where it came from. It'll still need plenty of work! I'm sticking with the blower case and front cover, but will be looking for a new rear cover, or filing the one I have, now, thinner. That's a bit down the road. I am building the valley cover to match the one in the reference photo, which, oddly enough, has an early-'80s Portland Trailblazers poster, in the background. I think that might be Fat Lever!😂 Anyway, there's a lot to go, but, here's the start. Questions and comments are always welcome. Thanks for looking

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  • Straightliner59 changed the title to Nostalgia Fuel Dragster--Starting My Engine! (01/26/23)
2 hours ago, Tortuga Kustomz said:

That's awesome, what a nice detail

Thank you, Marcos. I found a blower manifold that will work, nicely, with a little modification, detail-wise. It fits the heads, great, though. It's not quite straight, in these photos, but, all the angles fit together. I also added some copper head gaskets. I'm having a good time, with this thing! Comments are always welcomed. Thanks for looking!

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  • Straightliner59 changed the title to Nostalgia Fuel Dragster--Engine Progress (01/27/23)
4 hours ago, Tortuga Kustomz said:

WOW just look that you add some details on the side on the engine block, i though on doing that before, but never pull that of, that's a nice touch and makes the engine look more realistic

Thanks, Marcos! I needed it to be a Donovan 417, based on the rules I was using, when I started it (ANRA). This one's a late-model, from the '90s. The early 417s had the "DONOVAN 417" lettering in the girdle. I made one of those, too!🙂 I have an ancient mold for a JP-1, around here, somewhere.

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  • Straightliner59 changed the title to Nostalgia Fuel Dragster--Blower Manifold (01/28/23)

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