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71 Cyclone Spoiler kit bash


Sport Suburban

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70 hoods have cowl vents in the hood, 71 hoods do not. This is actually true to the real cars also.

I'm pretty sure the double-to-single hood grilles were a running change on the '70. This was a one-owner original paint car when my boss got it; it had a build date of April 16, 1970:

15914398000_f0ebed42ca_c.jpg

One scoop. The broken grille was in the trunk, along with a good small cowl grille off a blue car (owner bought it to replace the broken one but got the wrong part):

16100953122_2da6dc9459_c.jpg

I have more shots of this one if you need 'em. Don't worry about hood alignment too much; most of the real cars I've seen aren't lined up either. :rolleyes:

One other difference: '71s had a bigger ring in the center grille "bullseye" (although the '71 MPC kit grille was not corrected).

Edited by ChrisBcritter
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  • 3 weeks later...

I've got a build like this in the works, as well (for several years now). Mine will be a Cyclone GT with the chrome trim at the lower body and a vinyl roof. Mine was a NASCAR kit body just like the one that is available right now. But I had a stock interior and grille that I will use. Chassis and engine is Torino.

I thinned the a-pillars and enlarged the windshield at the top of the body. This, in addition to using the engine bay of the Torino, led to the problem that the kit windshield is too small. The Torino seems to be quite high at the front as I needed to cut quite a lot from the firewall and other areas to get the chassis in there deep enough. This leads to the next problem, that the engine will sit too high and hit the inside of the hood. I addressed that by grinding down the engine supports at the chassis a bit.

Currently I am still searching for a proper windshield, and also there needs to be some kind of sheet where the wiper blades rest that I need to scratch build.

My model is painted its body color but the vinyl top hasn't been put on yet. I can't decide on a color for it and the interior also. Body color is some medium green metallic.

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This is the current status of my build:

71Cyclone_01_resize-vi.jpg

Wheelbase and front ride height need to be corrected.

71Cyclone_02_resize-vi.jpg

71Cyclone_04_resize-vi.jpg

Stock engine from the Torino. Interior is resin, I forgot about that ;) Since I started this project I aquired several other 70/71 Cyclones, that got me confused...

71Cyclone_05_resize-vi.jpg

71Cyclone_06_resize-vi.jpg

I had to remove a lot of resin from the rear of the interior. Also, at the firewall you can see where I cut for lowering the body on the chassis/engine bay.

71Cyclone_10_resize-vi.jpg

71Cyclone_11_resize-vi.jpg

The hood is from the NASCAR-model, just as the body. I cut a hole into the hood for the scoop screen and bashed one in from the parts box. The raised portion behind that hole is built up with a sheet of plastic filed to fit. As the NASCAR doesn't have a cowl vent my model is a 71 ;) Emblems are decals from Keith Marks.

Side markers are cut by hand. GT side trim is made of evergreen strips.71Cyclone_12_resize-vi.jpg

Edited by JS23U
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Bob, my hood (and body) looked like this, found this pic in the net:

089-vi.jpg

As I said, I cut the hood open to add the ribbed grille.

Then I added plastic sheet to the center section of the hood between that hole and the trailing edge, in front of the windshield, to raise that portion. The center section is higher behind the scoop than in front of it, that's what needed to be raised. I scribed the surrounding little groove with a dentists tool. Was easier than I thought.

All this hassle isn't neccessessary of course with a resin hood. Either Motor City Resin or Missing Link had a Cyclone resin kit back a while. I managed to get the interior there but not the rest of the car. Hence my decision of modifying the NASCAR body and hood.

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This is a comparison of my modified hood and a 1970 stock annual hood, recognizable by the maroon color and the vent in front of the windshield. Unfortunately I didn't have that one when I started the project.

My hood scoop sits a bit more to the aft of the car, and the ribs are coarser.

71Cyclone_13_resize-vi.jpg

This picture below shows where I put that grille in. Just right of that insert MPC filled in the cavitiy a bit to allow the center section being flatter on the outside. The NASCAR-hood needed to resemble the standard flat hood not the muscle car's bulge hood.

71Cyclone_14_resize-vi.jpg

Left of the insert the raised center portion can be seen. Originally the NASCAR-hood there was as flat as on the right (front) half.

71Cyclone_16_resize-vi.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...

Glad to see this is of use to you guys. My build has stalled but only because I just can't seam to pick a color for it. All the chrome is redone and I have the decals I needed for it from the Model King kits. My 70 also has all the chrome redone too and I still need to do these mods to it.

Just like many of you I have lots of projects in the works and have been getting many of them restarted.

 

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