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Front Engine Dragster: The Old Master


ApexSpeed

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392 vs 426 Hemi's. easiest way to tell mags on the front of 426 on the back of 392. 426 car has a air dam in the front of the motor I guess they updated the car when the 426 came available. That's my take on the 2 photos.

Right, so outside of relocating a Cirello magneto to the back of the engine, I see that the manifolds are slightly different, too. The galley cover on the 392 gives a bit of a riser look to the blower.

I have been tempted to order the 392 Miss Deal motor kit from Speed City or the RGE302 Top Fuel 392 Ross Gibson kit for a while now anyway. I have just been trying to justify another expense over a manipulated and costumed 426 kit motor made to look like a 392. How many people could really tell if it was hidden well?

Trust me, I have had these parts in different shopping carts now for weeks—I'm not opposed to picking up either one. I just want to know if I missed legit reason for the differences in the way the different engines look.

dc

Edited by ApexSpeed
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I'm pretty sure you will find that the 392 valve covers are too small to fit the 426 heads given that they are both the same scale. One clue is the relative size of the blower to the rest of the engine in the Steve Carbone pics.

Edited by oldscool
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Ok, so what are the differences? Visually, I'm having a tough time seeing them, even in those photos.

Other than they are both Hemi combustion chambers in the heads, they share nothing in common.

392 has the mentioned dist in the back ( as do all hemis EXCEPT the 426 )

very different valve covers styles

physical demensions on the cyl heads , block and water pump area

I'll see if I can find some conparison pics

For everything you need to know about 392 ( and smaller) Hemi engines

ck out http://www.hothemiheads.com/index.html

For just about anything 426 based ck out

http://raybarton.com/parts/index.php/

or

http://www.forhemisonly.com/aboutus.html

Edited by gtx6970
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Doug, nice work, I love the old F/E dragsters and early F/C's as I grew up on them, I will be following this build. Also, if you need the Cirello mag we have that in kit form (PTMC 34).

Thanks Charlie, bought it last week. :) Nice little piece.

So Speed City Resins provided not only the 392 Hemi kit, Hilborn 4-butterfly injector, but they have the correct 11.0 x 16 Goodyear Bluestreaks for the rear. To round out the rest of the missing engine pieces, I also grabbed their Funny Car parts pack. In for a dime, in for a dollar, right?

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Where'd you get the pictures of the restoration?

Hot Rod featured a story on Pink, Long and the restored car recently, as well as the original 2-issue article on the build in 1964. It's also been featured in Rodder's Journal, on the Cacklefest website, as well as the website www.wediditforlove.com. There is a ton of documentation out there about this car, in it's original form and since it has been restored for Cacklefest. This car also eventually wound up becoming Bruce Wheeler's bodywork-covered Wheeler Dealer FED. I have been spending a lot of time doing my homework on the car, and was pleased to see there so much out there about it. The large photos from Hot Rod were the convincing factor in jumping head-first into this one that might be a touch over my skis. :)

doug

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Didn't do a whole lot today, but I used tonight as a bit of a "do-over" night so that I could fix a couple of things that I wasn't happy with so far.

One, the stock top rollbar section that gets tacked in later in the chassis build was a mess of molding flash, part lines and warping. I didn't lie the way it fit after getting cleaned up, and it didn't match the real car lines or angles very well. After reading a few of the chassis building threads, I decided to see how hard it would be to bend styrene rods over a flame. It's a lot harder than you'd think. After experimenting with a few waste rod lengths and getting globs of melted styrene, I found a ball point pen that had the same radius as the inside of the cage top. It took a few attempts, but I finally figured out how to do it right. I would think that with practice, I could get a lot better at bending deep radiuses. The rear hoop was a bit tougher, but a little freehanding of curves and then cutting out the one that matched what I needed got the right angles and bends. The top cage looks a LOT better than the kit piece. Not perfect by any means, but very happy with the results.

project_oldmaster_022.jpg

project_oldmaster_021.jpg

The other piece I wanted to re-do was the 3 gallon fuel tank. The original has a curved bottom and a bit of a "chin" on the rear base side for catching more fuel pressure on launch. Well above my skillset to create a shape like that, but I wasn't happy with the original proportions. Too short, too tall and too not quite right.

I used another FED kit fuel tank base that had the right height and then created a new top for it out of .020" sheet styrene, with a more accurate vent tube setup. It's a minor detail that most won't notice, but it bugged me so I re-did it. The flip-type gas caps are ProTech pieces and a perfect match to the original. Kinda need to figure out how to polish something that is smaller than a baby aspirin, though.

New one in front, old one in rear...

project_oldmaster_024.jpg

More soon...

doug

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Didn't do a whole lot today, but I used tonight as a bit of a "do-over" night so that I could fix a couple of things that I wasn't happy with so far.

One, the stock top rollbar section that gets tacked in later in the chassis build was a mess of molding flash, part lines and warping. I didn't lie the way it fit after getting cleaned up, and it didn't match the real car lines or angles very well. After reading a few of the chassis building threads, I decided to see how hard it would be to bend styrene rods over a flame. It's a lot harder than you'd think. After experimenting with a few waste rod lengths and getting globs of melted styrene, I found a ball point pen that had the same radius as the inside of the cage top. It took a few attempts, but I finally figured out how to do it right. I would think that with practice, I could get a lot better at bending deep radiuses. The rear hoop was a bit tougher, but a little freehanding of curves and then cutting out the one that matched what I needed got the right angles and bends. The top cage looks a LOT better than the kit piece. Not perfect by any means, but very happy with the results.

project_oldmaster_022.jpg

project_oldmaster_021.jpg

The other piece I wanted to re-do was the 3 gallon fuel tank. The original has a curved bottom and a bit of a "chin" on the rear base side for catching more fuel pressure on launch. Well above my skillset to create a shape like that, but I wasn't happy with the original proportions. Too short, too tall and too not quite right.

I used another FED kit fuel tank base that had the right height and then created a new top for it out of .020" sheet styrene, with a more accurate vent tube setup. It's a minor detail that most won't notice, but it bugged me so I re-did it. The flip-type gas caps are ProTech pieces and a perfect match to the original. Kinda need to figure out how to polish something that is smaller than a baby aspirin, though.

New one in front, old one in rear...

project_oldmaster_024.jpg

More soon...

doug

Get yourself a mini torch the kind that free stands and runs on butane, they are about 25 bucks. This helped me a bunch with bending rod it allows you to only heat a small section of rod at a time, just make a couple of quick passes thru the flame and your good to go.

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Doug, what a great project! The reference material alone should be enough motivation! That r/s shot of the blower & hat w/ the linkage is soooo….soooo….nice.

After I get these Barracudas out of my system, maybe it's time to build some drag cars next. This rail looks fantastic, keep it up.

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No real progress to report on so far, as I wait for a boat load of 392 Hemi engine pieces, a late-arriving trade from the boards here and a general lack of "me" time to work on the car.

But, I have been busy with the reference materials. Two big pieces that will prove to be absolutely priceless as I move forward with this car.

One, I found through some searches that the current owner and restorer of the Old Master, Pete Eastwood is also an active member at the H.A.M.B. hot rod boards, so I contacted him through the forums. Renowned in his own right for his hot rods, he has already proven to be helpful in clarifying details of the car for me, and said he'd be willing to help with anything else I needed to know about the car.

Two, I tracked down Wes Allison, the Hot Rod photographer that shot the car for the January 2013 article about the car. He was able to provide the proof sheets of the raw photos from the shoot, which include about 4x what I was already able to find from the article. A bunch of views of plumbing, pedals, steering and other things that I had not been able to see in other photos.

Both of these contacts will make this build infinitely greater than I could have ever hoped to do when I started this hair-brained idea.

I'm even more excited for this project now than I was when it began!

More soon, hopefully. :)

doug

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