absmiami

thought this was worth posting it's a racing engine history run-down - beginning with the 3 litre Peugeots thru GP engines to 1994 https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=27760 very nice …… great way to waste an hour …..

And thank you , Mr. Driver ….

the bolts will just barely be visible with the water pipe in place the Etzell white metal casting for the Hilborn unit is really good starting to drill holes for the fuel lines and will try to open the throttle valve holes to run a throttle body rod and linkage and per the Ludvigsen photo - I'll make an intake plenum that this team used - the Foyt car would have had a different set-up

the gear case cover has circular plates to inspect or maintain ? the gears driving the camshafts I had to grind them off of the Etzell casting to change the height of the cover so then I tapped out some .015 plastic replacement discs - glued them on - drilled four .0125 holes [not three - but four - on this engine] and glued in some replacement bolts - these are fr Scale Hardware - size is .020 - which is probably just slightly over-size - but will look right then added some bolt detail to the flanges in the cyl head - not enough material on the sides of all of the flanges - but I managed to get four out of six - that'll do ….

the exhaust side gear train cover is sawed off and height reduced per the first photo so both sides are now about the same height and I modified the AMT kit water pipe and added some flanges - evergreen strip drilled and filed - to dress up the cylinder head

interesting factoid - the photo fr the Ludvigsen 60's Indy car book clearly shows that on this car - the peek of the intake side valve cover has been ground down slightly to clear the engine bonnet hinge so I'll do the same - which will give the kit engine a bit more clearance it will seem to be some modeler's deceit - unless you've seen the ludvigsen picture ….

forgot to post a picture of the Etzell engine next to the kit engine What a difference !! the Etzell engine also came with a much better trans - which can be used with nearly no mods …..

my son's glfriend - who knows all things cellphone - downloaded a camera app onto my iPhone that modifies photos with all sorts of different artistic applications …. called becassa so it's a blue world today - as I'm learning how to use the app ….. neat ...

the engine bulkhead on the printed frame leaves a gap between the edge of the bulkhead and the cowling so I cut back a section of the bulkhead and added and shaped some evergreen strip - .060 - thick - to eliminate the gap will do the same on the left /driver's right …. - I found a very good bl/wh photo of the Willard Bat Sp engine bay in one of Ludvigsen's photo library books this is critical - because there are some clearly visible differences between the Sheraton Thompson's engine bay and the Willard so armed with this info I can get back to the engine ...

there is a brace - or a molding - that the nose and the leading edge of the engine bonnet are attached to with screws I think that the cross brace that is visible in the third picture is supposed to represent this part on the printed frame I'll remove it because it is not far enough forward. and I have glued a lip to the trailing edge of the nose with .015 x .156 evergreen strip to serve this purpose - the fit will not be precise enough to line up all of the screw holes but that's okay …..

Something else .... the Rev’s Museum in Naples fl formerly the Collier ..... has a searchable on line research archive. I think the best on the planet If you do a search for the’64 Indy race you’ll find some good photos of the frames of the Watsons. Mostly Foyt’s car but that was very close to the Willard Battery Special Great resource.....

your velcome

photo 1 Bob leaning into the engine bay of the Belond Special photo 2 of the Belanger Special while being restored in one of the Museum's off site restoration shops - circa - about 1992 - Bob gave me a behind the scenes Museum tour - including a trip to this restoration shop I've also got a number of his drawings - the Chaparral, and Cummins Special - and some frame drawings and some others .... he studied and drew the features of the Watson and the Kurtis frames - in great detail

here's something odd the profile openings on the kit nose for the suspension pickups are different left and right the left side opens nearly at the peak or of the nose - the right farther back studying the frame shots and the Clidinst drawing .... the car ran offset torsion bars - front and back - meaning the torsion bar at the front left is about 2 scale inches longer than the right - same at the back - not sure but the other Watsons probably had this same feature ... so I'll make these changes to the frame and then make changes to the sides of the nose ...

thing 4 the kit nose has a scoop that is too shallow the engine compartment scoop on the Willard Battery Special is deeper - at least 4 scale inches in height so I removed the plastic forming the base of the scoop and replaced it with evergreen plastic to form a deeper scoop after a lot of sanding and filing - still need to add a small vertical stake at the mid-line of the nose Foyt's car has a scoop that is even larger - there is an aftermarket mod for that ...

thank you Ranchero so some test fitting - that's why I made the front brace first ... the peak of the timing chain cover still interferes with the engine cover - but not too much there is enough room under the bulge with the new renshape profile IF i make a small reduction in the height of the timing chain cover which is what I've done here with a razor saw and some files this seems to work so I'll make the same change on the other side

have you seen the Netflix Shelby doc put together by his sons and grandson ???? better than the Ford v Ferrari movie in some ways more car stuff and less Hollywood ....

forgot to mention something that maybe you already know ... "Jones" is Parnelli Jones - whose place in Indy lore is secured not just as an Indy winner, but also as one of the few brave men who won in front engined roadsters - and was also willing to race a car with a turbine engine and with an engine in the rear - so as a teen - he, and Mario - and of course Jimmy - were three of my first racing heroes .... and for those of you newer to the hobby - Chris Etzel is no longer with us - so this is a sort of tribute build... treat yourself to some of his kits or castings - anything that you can get your hands on ..... - he was a cottage industry resin casting pioneer - sorry that I never got to meet him .... will also be using the scale drawings of the Willard Battery special as drawn by the late Bob Clidinst - these are very valuable - he too is missed I actually did get to spend a day with Bob on my trip to Indy years ago - I know that some of you may have also crossed paths with Bob - he was - for those of you who did not know him - an excellent modeler himself - for the record ....

I always have some scraps of renshape handy .... 2 plugs of renshape were superglued into the opening made in the engine cover the kit eng cover bulge has a taper that I have to eliminate to make room for the top of the cyl head the idea is to shape and sand the renshape to follow the bulge front to back without the taper so once I've got some putty and paint and decals on the cover - there won't be much difference between the kit part and the modified part but since I am re-shaping a portion of the cover on either side of the mid line - I can make an engine cover hinge but probably can't use a working hinge - that's okay .... the shaping and finishing of the renshape is done with some sanding drums, sanding sticks, and some diamond coated foredom bits ...

so in order to fit the Etzel engine I have to perform some plastic surgery ..... the hole in the engine cover was cut to see what sort of profile I would need to clear the top of the timing chain cover - now for a plug of renshape .... the idea is to slightly change the profile of the bulge in the engine cover without a drastic change to the basic shape of the engine cover .... forgot to include the shot of the engine brace from the old Road & Track Salon ....

I'll need to make a vertical brace for the lower eng brace but these shots show how the Etzel casting fits into the 3D frame and the kit bodywork

thing 3 your can't fit the Etzel engine too low in the chassis because the exhaust manifold has to leave the engine bay through the corresponding manifold opening - which of course means that the engine cover will not fit over the profile of the cyl head - particularly the timing chain cover at the front of the engine - I think that I've got a fix for that ... the other shots show some of the fastener posts made from Evergreen stock and glued to the frame members - there will be quite a few more of these ...

the first photo shows the kit engine brace that I'm replacing with a nickel and brass soldered brace that will sit on frame posts made from Evergreen stock and round rod this will look more accurate and give me a good sound fitting for the Etzel white metal casting - so I can fit the engine casting and figure out what fits where - or doesn't ...

thing 2 these Watsons had the 255 Offy installed without a tilt - straight up and down - but with a very slight pitch down at the front the Etzel casting is a super accurate 270 Offy - which is about 1/2 inch taller than the 255s that were used at Indy from about 56 onwards but that's only .020 inches so let's see if the Etzel casting will fit ... many of you know that the kit engine is undersized and too short and just plain funny looking so I started by cutting an opening in the body at the base - because the Watsons raced with the sumps protruding down through these openings - the Etzel engine casting has a separate part for the sump cover - don't need that yet .....

the third shot has the kit frame in place, with the kit fuel tank for reference the plugs at the base of the body were reduced / trimmed to better site the 3D frame after the trimming, the last shot shows that, yes, the frame will fit nicely into the kit body but the intrepid modeler will have add all of the various suspension bits and the many braces and fastener plates visible on period frame photos and if you are making Jones' Willard Battery Special - the front spring pickups - which protrude up and away from the bodywork on the Foyt car - have to be clipped off - the Jones Watson roadster brought the pickups inside the profile of the frame ...