Ognib

That is a nice motor!

Nice! 3" tubes through the mufflers?

A piece of 3/8 tubing slipped snugly inside the collector can. I'm hiding the slight .016 step between the two with the bolt rings that allow the exhaust pipe to be moved to the side for open header times. Chucked the 3/8 tube in my hand drill & rotated it on the running belt sander to be able to cut a clean cone taper down to the 1/4 exhaust pipe. This is all just roughed in at this point...will probably shorten the can and the cone for a more compact look in this area. The bolt ring needs to be shaped down, along with the block plate. Couple of days of detail work here...still have to bend & build everything for the other side as well.

I like the throaty, subdued sound of big tube exhaust, but I don't want to go too big & unbalance the overall flow dynamics of the engine. Using 1/4" for exhaust & tail pipes, which scales up to 2"...about right for the small displacement of the flathead. My head scratch for today & maby tomorrow, as well...how to cleanly draw the end of the collector can down to hold the 1/4 exhaust tube...without destroying the nice crimp work around the header tubes.

The elegance of simplicity...the most difficult state to achieve. Quoted from someone on another forum, "cause you can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter".

It's got the look, fer sure! Got any header build pics? No doubt your detail in 1:1 is as fine as what you do in scale.

I've been a car freak as long as I can remember. I built 1/24 when I was a kid. Always obsessed with realism. Small town boy. About 15, I got my first 1:1...couldn't drive yet...52 chev torpedo back & forgot about the plastic. $125, paid for with lawn mowing & putting up hay dollars. Started hanging out at the local mechanic & bugging him to teach me stuff & he'd let me hang around & watch & ask questions. Never looked back. Worked in auto shops for over 30 yrs...mechanically certified in 12 areas, painted in a Ferrari/porsch/benz/jag dealership for a few years. Built a few rods & show cars & fabbed a few pannels & frames. Retired now. Got the bug about a year ago do do another build. On fixed income now & can't afford that game any more. Decided if I can't do a 1:1 then I'll do a mineature & came back to square one.

Thank you so much, Dr! Much better, I think. Much more visually believable.

Very nicely stated, John, on the deuce.

Thank you, Richard. Glad you're enjoying the presentation. I'm having a ton of fun doing it! I just love to build things. .016" scales up to .128" or a strong 1/8. Sounds about right. The diameter that fits the tube bundle at the end of the header is 27/64. Took the steel in that size out of a center punch set. Wrapped the .016 around the steel by hand as tightly as I could, trimmed the tube material from the sheet. Set the clamps loosely around it & began slowly tightening them, while at the same time, working the aluminum on to the rod with a small nylon faced, dead blow hammer.

Just no accounting for taste.

That's a slick looking ride. Simple & understated. I like the slightly extended hood/wheelbase on these cars.

Sorry for any confusion I may have caused.

I feel pretty good about this piece. I wanted the outside pipes to come off the engine at similar angles for a graceful intersection with the middle pipe. Still have to finish shaping the block plate. Was waiting untill the tubes were in place for best visual balance. However the collector can is ridiculuously out of scale, reguardless of the fact that it's i.d. fits the tube bundle perfectly. It has a .034" wall, which scales up to around 1/4"...way too thick for a header collector. Needs to be more like .010" or so. Looks like I'll have to roll my own tube on this one.

As a gasser style car, is it going to get the tube axle?

What he said.

Thank you, Bill, it feels great when it starts taking shape! David Pride suggested a while back that the headers would look more to scale if I upped the header tube size to 3/16=1 1/2 at scale. I agree with him on this & appreciate his willingness to be straight forward & mention it to me, so took a break off of the front axle & bent up a header this morning. Another build jig, holds everything secure & in place while shaping...even is sturdy enough to do slight tweaks with the pipe in place. Bending posts help maintain continuity of radius. Plus, the aluminum is stiff enough, I can't bend it around my thumb like when working with the solder.

Thanks, Tom. I stuck it together with super glue before removing it from the assembly jig. I use a product that I get from my lutherie supply house that I'm quite impressed with. My plan, from early on, after watching a guy tig weld a .003" coca cola can with no blow through, is to tig the thing together. I don't use credit cards, so until I accumulate the cash for a welder I'm using this. After having done several strength tests on aluminum, I feel confident that It will allow me to proceed with shaping & fitting all of the parts without everying falling apart in my lap. Acetone is an excellent de-bonder for this glue, so when the welder shows up, simple matter to prep the parts for welding. I'm keeping all of my jigs intact to simplify the weld up at that time.

Build jig for the spindles. The 6 1/8 dimension on this axle is identical to the same measurment on the plastic axle. This makes me smile. I welcome all critiques & comments.

Bill, the tin work, the cage, the chassis...all of it man, fantastic.

Thanks, Ken. Real fun stuff...and a most worthy challenge to make it all come together properly. The most challenging thing about this, was having it, not only fit properly, but do so with both sholders on the top side being in the same tangent of the radius of the bend when they join the kingpin boss. This is essential so their is visual symetry when viewed from the front.

The kids are all grown & gone, the wife & I are retired, I'm usually up early, at least 3 or 4 hours before she wakes up, so I get good time to work then. When still had kids at home, hobby time was scarce & hard to come by.

Thanks, guys. Still using the plastic axle as a template, I set up an assembly jig to hold the kingpin bosses in proper position while the tube axle is fishmouthed to a good fit.

That's a very realistic looking engine, David. Fantastic. My flathead work in progress.

Laid out the king pin centerlines off of the plastic piece. Found the visual balance points, marked the tube, & cut it slightly over size. Ya, that looks better.