little austin hot rod

[jbwelda]

not that i dont have projects i should finish, but i have had a resin austin body of unknown origin, bought it at the NNL West one year, that i have been waiting for inspiration on.

the other day it came to me: use the roth tweedy pie 2 chassis and running gear, its perfect: stubby, already Z-ed, well detailed with really cool vintage parts (lever shocks for instance).

so i dug out the kit (i had hoped to build it as the original tweedy pie but theres always another one where that came from i suppose) to try fitting the frame to the body and see whats up.

well whats up is the frame really is the right length, that is to say, very short and stubby, but a bit too wide. so i have sliced the inner frame X rails and squeezed the rails together. but its still not narrow enough because i want to channel the body way down over the frame rails.

ive got it drying up nice now and tomorrow i will attempt some more narrowing...maybe i will just try a heat gun with me squeezing the rails together about a half inch forward of the X member...the mark you see on the frame is approx where the body will begin.

for motivation, ive been mulling over mills so to speak, and i want something brutish but smallish. my original, and still current, thought was the small hemi out of the ala kart reissue, and i like the short slanted injector stacks on it too, so its certainly compact and brutish.

ive also thought about a buick small alum block motor and with that i was thinking taller injector stacks for a more eye katching look.

but at the moment i am using the hemi for mockup purposes and its still what i see in my minds eye.

if you dont know, this tweedy pie 2 kit is very very nice. the more i look at it the more i think i might just use it complete as it is. if i didnt already have some halibrand kidney bean type wheels for the front i would like the TP2 front wires with disk brakes. there are a lot of really detailed nicely cast pieces in this kit including the six velocity stack topped carbs in glorious chrome plating and that motor is itself a compact jewel...separate chrome wiring harness and fuel lines!

anyway heres a few pics...like i mentioned i have other projects to finish up but hopefully i will put some more time into this in the near future...at least get the stance right. i might cut the rear cross member loose from the rails and raise it up because theres plenty of room on the rails to do that at least an eighth of an inch. i kind of want this car to sit mostly level, maybe a slight rise to the rear, but very low overall.

heres the body: very nice delicate casting and nice proportions. rear fenders are nicely incorporated into the body. i should have bought two of these because i think they were only 10$ or so:

heres the frame being held in place while the glue sets up, post narrowing. i should have taken a pic of the frame as it was originally, as it sits ive probably cut about 3/16 out of the center of the X-member + where the front of the Xmember meets the frame.

finally heres another shot of the frame in the jig with the body in the background:

many thanks for looking and questions comments criticisms appreciated!

Edited February 19, 2011 by jbwelda

[Bernard Kron]

Very interesting ideas. I like the rear deck shape of the Austin body. I'm looking forward to the first mockups to see how it all goes together. If you did go with the aluminum small block, what would be your source for the engine?

[highway]

It looks like a good start, and I like your frame jig. Is it just a piece of metal and the door magnets from a door like on an entertainment center or computer desk? As for engines, the Hemi from the Ala Kart sounds like a nice idea, but what type of engine is in the TP2? Is there any era you are thinking of, like a 50s period hot rod or more modern?

[jbwelda]

thanks for the replies...hadnt really thought of where exactly to source a buick motor, but i think i have one around somewhere though it would probably be the bigger nailhead. i would just want the look of the vertical valve covers more than anything. wasnt there one of those in a revell parts pack that was reissued and ive got on the shelf? or maybe in that newish AMT 62 Buick...ah yes the "Advanced Thrust Wildcat V8"...that should probably do though its not strictly the motor i was referring to. seems to me i recall a small aluminum block buick motor being in some kit i had years ago but i cant put my finger on exactly where. any tips would be helpful...

i am not sure what the motor in the TP2 was supposed to represent, it looks to my untrained eye like a small block chevy; i think thats what was in the original tweedy pie.

but i think at this point i am going to stick with the ala kart hemi.

as for era, i am thinking sort of mid sixties semi backyard build look, street driveable but just barely. something more like a gasser that is drivable on the street. we will see how that goes as it progresses. i am currently seeing it in tamiya mica red with an overcoat of their clear red for a candy color look (my friend john just showed me a car with this combo on it and it looks sweet like a candy apple should!

like i may have mentioned, im not much on hurrying through something so i see this on my workbench for a few months at least. plenty of time for evolution.

that jig there is from micro mark and yeah its magnets like from a stereo component cabinet on a folded metal sort of base. very useful for things like this and for setting wheels parallel and vertical etc. i usually glue a piece of grid paper to it but in this case didnt bother.

i really want to finish the karmann ghia and the jaguar race car XJ-S that i am closing in on before i get hot and heavy into this austin, and also progress some on the 1/8 offy motor ive got on the bench. this is really just setting up some projects for this coming winters hibernation so be ready to see endless fairly meaningless posts from me in this thread for the next, well, quite a while!

Edited May 30, 2010 by jbwelda

[highway]

as for era, i am thinking sort of mid sixties semi backyard build look, street driveable but just barely. something more like a gasser that is drivable on the street.

I was thinking if that was the era you were shooting for, the Ala Kart Hemi is a nice choice. I think a Cadillac engine may be another nice choice for the era, it's just a thought. You could either use the Revell Parts Pack Caddy or the Revell 49 Merc from a couple years back has a nice Caddy engine in it, even though the kit doesn't state it's a Caddy.

[jbwelda]

well a little progress to report: the body is soaking in westleys bleach white and meanwhile i have narrowed the chassis front pretty considerably to fit inside the body lower cowl where i will be building a firewall when i start getting serious on the body. right now though i am trying to fit the mill to the chassis and determining ride height, which means figuring out what wheels and tires to use, using white glue to put stuff together temporarily to get some idea of how things will be when it does get assembled.

once again i have to say this tweedy pie 2 kit is the stuff! the rear wheels look to be deep chrome halibrand style which when i strip the chrome (not planning on much chrome on this car) and paint them magnesium will be perfect with the halibrand style fronts which i plan on giving the same treatment. i havent picked out a good front tire yet but i might use something very small to really get it down on the ground...thats where figuring out how low to let the Hemi deep oil pan sit comes in. in the rear though i cant resist using those racemaster slicks from the new double dragster. in fact i would like to steal some of the chrome running gear from there but i want to build the dragsters too so i have to stick with tweedy pie 2, which is very nice itself.

anyway heres some pics, not sure they indicate a lot of progress but ive been doing a bit of fitting and fiddling and thinking which might not show so easy!

frame letting putty dry and various components from afar:

heres a close up of the ala kart hemi in the chassis. perfect fit. the front cover and its brackets fit right down into the front motor mount on the tweedy pie frame. some things were just meant to be:

wheels and tires. like i mentioned ive still not decided on fronts but i want them small for those tiny halibrand rims. and the racemaster slicks from DD seemed like a natural:

heres front and rear axles and springs etc assembled with elmers glue and drying up. that means photos of the chassis up on posed wheels cant be far off!

finally a look down the chassis toward the front. numerous sink marks in the frame rails are being repaired, or attempted to anyhow. the frame has been narrowed in a "coke bottle" fashion to fit inside the body cowl but still retain the front and rear crossmembers. i figure this way i am disturbing the TP2 kit geometry in the least way possible and everything still looks pretty straight. but the frame had numerous pin marks and low spots and flash in tight corners so will probably require more cleaning up after i shoot a coat of primer on it.

thanks again for looking!

[jbwelda]

there has actually been some progress made: frame is smoothed and painted, motor block painted, and currently being detail painted, unfortunately i let the elmers glue dry from the mockup so when i tried to position everything for a photo, it all broke apart! so its drying again now and hopefully in the next couple of days i can post some pics of the stance or at least what i hope it to be!

thanks again for looking, sorry no pics quite yet but i work slow in the summer!

[crazyjim]

Very intesting build and one worth watching. Keep going.

[jbwelda]

alright finally got some photos...i dont know about anyone else but i find test fitting, especially for photographs, to be incredibly tedious. when you get it *just about right* you move something and the house of cards comes falling down! well that said i think i learned a lot from this session as far as look and fit are concerned, i will share my observations along with the photos.

a rather crude lot of tools for the job:

well lets get right at it:

first of all, what i need to do next is make and attach a firewall panel so the body will channel down over the frame more the way i want it to look.

second of all i need to move the motor forward which unfortunately means cutting out the front motor support and replacing it with something that extends forward. its unfortunate because i have already painted the frame! but shouldnt be too bad to make look ok if not great.

the rear axle is also a bit too wide and its gonna be painful to try to narrow it substantially because of the way the spring hangers come off it. but im going to explore that some because it needs brakes in the rear and i really dont want the tires to stick out any further than they already are, and ideally i would like to see them tucked in another 1/8" each.

the body is sitting more or less like i want it in the rear, that is to say, pretty much right on the tires with a forward rake. that rake isnt fully realized in these poses, it needs to be channelled more in the front.

a view from the front right

oh yeah and then there is the "well when are you gonna finish US???" pile:

thanks again for looking and as usual any questions comments criticisms will be cheerfully deflected!

[Dave Ambrose]

This idea might be a bit late to the party, but the Buick aluminum block V-8 would be a peculiarly appropriate engine for an Austin. It was licensed by Rover (later British Leyland) and installed in most Land Rovers, and some MGBs.

[jbwelda]

yeah youre right about that buick/rover/mg/morgan motor...ive built one for another project:

[jbwelda]

wow these things really move back fast when no one comments!

anyway the mock up session has been very instructive...one thing ive learned is that the body will never fit that chassis the way it was. the rear axle is just too far forward to have the body far back enough to give the motor room to be out in the breeze. now i know a lot of cars like this indeed have the motor set back into the firewall but in this case it was getting ridiculous.

so...i thought about moving the axle back but then it would either interfere with the rear cross member holding the transvers spring, or it would push the rear end way up in the air.

i decided the thing to do was to lengthen the frame right in front of the rear cross member by about a scale 6" inches + some...thats about 5/16ths to us in 1:1. i have done so but it still looks a mess. will post a pic when i get it sanded down a bit more. right now it looks alright but i can see (as usual) i have it just a bit, like maybe a 1/32", cocked to one side. i should be able to make that up by mounting the rear spring/axle parallel to the front. its really only a little bit and i tried to be careful and assemble it in a jig with some graph paper under it to aid in alignment, so im hoping for the best (my typical fallback position it seems).

oh yeah the body sprouted a firewall too, still needs to be fitted on the bottom around the frame but first i have to get the wheelbase corrected so for now it remains rough. i will include a pic of that later as well.

i also ordered some cool stuff from rep and min of maryland including a halibrand rear axle i may use instead of the (looks like a generic) ford axle i current am using.

one question: anyone know where i can some very short hemi head valve covers for the small hemi from the ala kart? i will use the AK ones if i need to but they have spark plug wire covers and i would prefer some with holes/indents to drill out to run wires directly to the plugs unstead of under a cover. cover makes it easier though! just prefer the look of individual wires going down into the cover.

alright then many thanks again for looking...comments criticisms compliments cheerfully considered!

thanks again for looking!

[george 53]

Bill, I know you've already selected your engine, but if you need a Buick mill, the AMT 66 Riv comes with a GREAT 455 V-8 with dual quads. It IS a big block so it MIGHT be TOO big, but it sure is a NICE lookin motor when built.

[Fuel Coupe]

I know exactly how you feel about the lack of comments. My builds get few comments at best. Im just a hack though and my subjects arent the most popular..

but this is turning out to be a really neat build. I love it. Where did you get the little lexan blocks. Those are really trick....

[horsepower]

yeah youre right about that buick/rover/mg/morgan motor...ive built one for another project:

Nice build you've got going, I like what you did with the little Buick motor, there is a guy here in the northstate that's working on an entirely aluminum street rod with that motor for power, that should be a bit different.

[Eric Stone]

I hadn't seen this thread before. This is looking like a cool little build. The stance and shape of the body are showing some attitude. What are you going to use for a grille shell? A track nose might look cool.

[gseeds]

WOW !!! love the motor, nice work !!

[jbwelda]

a bmw? really? i would have sworn it was an austin body. this body looks like the revell of germany bmw? i will have to look into that! doesnt sound right but then again the body was unidentified when i bought it so i guess its possible. can you post a pic of the body you think it resembles please?

thanks for the views and the comments folks.

those lexan blocks are real handy for a lot of things...my buddy jerry amaral gave them to me when he worked at a plastic shop. i suspect you could get some custom cut from any plastic craft shop like tandy or maybe even michaels.

grille shell: to tell the truth havent visioned it that far yet, but was thinking about the cut down 32 ford (?) from the tweedy pie. a track nose would be cool but the last similar car i built like this had a track nose and there are already too many similarities so i want something different this time.

i was even fitting this "austin" (in quotes because of the bmw possibility) body to the frame for that car at one time:

txrat: dont worry about being a "hack", i am a total hack and close inspection usually reveals it! i just hack and rehack until it looks decent! thats why i dont often post close up pics!

thanks again folks, hopefully i will make some more progress and post more pics later in the weekend...

[its-not-unusual]

Nice work.

BMW-AUSTIN 7

Aleks

[Eric Stone]

Ooh, that lil orange track-nosed roadster is pretty!

[jbwelda]

thanks eric! there is a build thread in the workbench section somewhere (probably many many pages back...search for "offy" and youll probably find it) and i also posted finished photos in the under glass section (ditto on finding it). it was a fun, multi year build, as so many of them turn out to be for me!

[jbwelda]

alright a little update, have extended the frame and will refit the motor and body tomorrow for some new and improved pics but for right now a comparison of the frame vs stock tweedy pie frame (from that revell "amigo pack" rat rod reissue of the tweedy pie). note the extension on the red frame, almost ready for repaint, as most of the irregularities wont show under the floorboard i have planned for it. also note that i squeezed the midsection quite a bit, its now much more "coke bottle" shape. i will try to get some more meaningful pics taken and up tomorrow...

this frame extension was necessary to get the body rearward to let the motor breathe a bit instead of being under the body cowl. if my measurements are anywhere near correct (never a given, believe me), the body motor and radiator shell ought to look balanced though still very stubby and brutish.

i also picked up a halibrand QC rear axle from reps and min of maryland, and i will possibly use that instead of the axle pictured, just depends on how it fits.

out of box frame in front, modified in rear:

side by side from the rear:

and from the front:

thanks again for your interest!

[Guest JamesDE]

Really nice work so far....That engine looks killer....

[jbwelda]

thanks james...if you mean the buick/mg/rover/morgan V8 i included above, im afraid that will not be going into this car, i posted it just to show there was a nice version available (white metal). this car will run the small hemi from the ala kart.

hopefully more pics later today

thanks again for looking!

[Raul_Perez]

Looking good, Bill!!

Looking forward to seeing you in Stockton on Oct 17th!!

Later,