absmiami

Wyoming? Well your winters must be Like my summers ... you’ll have enough time to start and even finish this ! Let me know if you need a photo of something ...

And Brad stubbornly doesn’t blog, or trawl forums, do we can all heap praise on these pages and he will blissfully have no clue ...

For those forum members who don’t know - I think most of you do - the kit is all resin cast - thus no parts trees - I happened to speak with the “factory” yesterday. Brad is prepping some more kits for Randy D. He is one of the last of the Mohicans - the effort required to mold and cast these parts is fantastic - and the quality of this kit rivals MFH - soon this will all be overtaken by 3D printing - But we can leave that debate for another time - for now - this will be really cool to watch - the Simeone museum in Philly has one of the first Daytona Coupes - in dented and chipped unrestored glory.

The steering arm is set with my top secret / xtra special alignment tooth picks.... now about that spare wire that loops thru the front of the frame without a destination. That is the end of the park brake cable. The picture of the real car frame is from the Canepa site. They have a terrific walk-a-round of a Cooper Mark 9 with some suspension updates that is for sale - got a spare 100,000 ?? That picture solved my “where does the park brake cable go” mystery - which of course has kept me up many recent nights - thank you Bruce Canepa ...

So the hub and spindle are finished and the bolt is screwed into the end of the steering arm - which was made months ago from brass - this was threaded by a corresponding thread tool - which is one of those tools that you don’t use very often but you’re glad that you have ...

Got some bolts for the steering assembly - but the size of the bolt head- about .040 across flats - doesn’t match the opening in any of the mini wrenches that were sold with these - so I finally figured out how to make myself one. I drilled a .038 hole into the head of One of my favorite Toothpicks - jammed a bolt into the opening- dabbed a little CA glue over the surface - and voila - mini hex bolt wrench ...

I’m still mad at MFH for abandoning 24th scale GP kits. Imagine how great there Maserati 250F and Alfa 158-159 kits would have been. Maybe some day - just for laughs ? And why haven’t they produced Lotus sports cars in that scale ?? ???

Not likely ... couldn’t see how the expense of cleaning and/or preparing the very old molds would be practical. Would probably be easier / cheaper to 3D print them... and of course there would be the temptation to upgrade parts - such as wheels and tires. Assume that you know that the SMER repros of the Talbot Lago and Alfa Romeo are still readily available. And there is the option of FPP for the Vanwall - and his has an engine and excellent wire wheels ... I’m planning a Vanwall build - I’ll include a comparo if the Merit kit. And there are better / current resin kits of the Lotus 11 and of course the Jag D... back to the Cooper front suspension ... almost there ...

Well. You made me put the Maser back together ...

Yup

You might say that I have had a LONG relationship with Merit kits... the Maser was built MANY years ago. As was the Lotus 11. - Which is a curbside rep of a salt flats car that was hi-lited in - I think - Vintage Motorsport mag years ago ... I mite take another shot at the Maserati 48CLT ... since I built this one - I have photographed on at Goodwood and gotten more reference material. - would like to correct some errors in this build - there are several of them - and I’m trying to convince Reverend Davis to build one too ...

Well as a matter of fact ...

Thanks. I sprayed a coat of Alcad clear on them. - To avoid tarnish. And the larger bolts. — the “Russians” - are by Master Club ....

This is really turning out nicely. Could I impose upon you to replace the fuel injector pipes with some polished alu ?? ??

The crowded engine compartment and transaxle detail is fighting me - misplacing small parts and measurement errors on others - so I retreated to the front of the frame to attach some suspension members. Using resin printed bolts (those Russian accessories) and bolts from RB motion - whatever works ... the nickel silver springs will really stand out ...

Mmmm. Nice Ford - wonder if there was an inter-division battle with Mercury for this car ???

Almost forgot - most of the build pix for the engine were posted on the “some old racing engines” thread. They are mostly on page 4 of that thread - and I’ve posted that thread forward in case you were trying to figure out the engine build ... and it’s tough to find older threads on the phone so I just sent the thread forward ... confused yet ? Good !

Posting to send this thread forward because it contains the build pix for the Cooper engine ... got to finish the Ford Indy engine next as there are some other Mad engines vibrating in their kit boxes ...

Before finishing the steering wheel I’ve installed the tach wires and glued the tach into its housing. The tach line runs back to the cyl head - the electrical wires - well I don’t really know where they go - so I’ll just bury them under the seat. - don’t tell anyone ...

By the way. I’ve not yet installed the carburetor assembly. This sticks out from the back of the cyl head. Which is why there is a large opening in the engine cover behind the cyl head.

In it goes - clipped to the frame members by the notches in the braces. Does the engine cover fit properly over the cyl head - of course not! Why ? Because : A: I think the engine should sit about a scale inch farther back in the frame - but I didn’t have enough technical info to help me sight the engine precisely. B: Also the engine is installed at a Slight tilt back and my engine does not tilt quite enough ... but that’s okay - I’ll just shave some material on the engine cover and I’ll be able to open the cover without interference from the leading edge of the cyl head ...

Now the engine - the gear case is attached to the engine braces and the crankcase oil lines are added before the installation - along with the crankcase/gear case chain drive

There is a fluid overflow container perched against the frame in the engine bay. I’ve glued it in here because its time (past time) to do the engine install and I won’t be able to mess with the container once this is done...

My package is tagged as Grobet ...

Ease of use - get some and post me ... if you were a blacksmith in a former life then it’s intuitive ...