Force

Mark S Gustavson wrote an article in I think it was Car Modeler on how to wrap a built model for shipping, he even kicked the box around afterwards, unpacked the model and it was intact...I have the magazine but I don't remember the wich issue it was in.

It's not hard, I saw a tip very similar to this one in a car modeling book several years ago and I have done it on several models after that. Here is a model built in 2001-2002 for our now closed local hobby shop where I used that technique, I delivered the finished model to the shop exactly one week after I got the kit...so it was built in seven days.

Nice model indeed.

Well you can call it a separate valley cover, the tall intake manifold on the 409 based Z-11 was casted in two pieces...and the Z-11 was stroked up to 427 cui. For transmission the old iron Powerglide was not that strong so the old Cadillac/Oldsmobile 4 speed Hydramatic was popular in drag racing modified by B&M and often called "Hydro Stick", a heavy beast but a much stronger alternative, when the aluminum PG arrived it's another thing and a prepaired PG withstands a lot of power and torque and is a lot lighter.

Yes, most of the ones I have seen has been painted silver, some W engine high performance engines could also have chromed valve covers. As you may know the Z-11 was a stroked 409 to 427 cui, the Z-11 package was only available for a short time, the engine parts came late 1962 and the RPO code Z-11 Impalas was 1963 and 1963 was also the year for the Z-33 Mk II 427 "Mystery Motor"

First, the oil pan is the wrong way around, the deep part of the sump goes at the front as it does on most Ford engines. If you go by the oil filter placement this engine does not look like a FE, the FE has the oil filter further forward and hanging straight down from a separate oil filter adapter as the FE doesn't have an oil filter mount casting on the block, on the 385 family 429-460 the oil filter is mounted directy to the engine block, but not as far back as on this one and it should be angled more downwards. Next clue is the transmission wich is a C6, the bellhousing is more round on the FE than on the 385 family and this seems to have more of the 385 family shape. On a FE the intake manifold is part of the heads and go in under the valve covers so you have to remove the valve covers and the pushrods before you can remove the intake manifold, that's not the case on a 385 family where you can remove the intake manifold without removing the valve covers. I'm very familiar with both engine familys as we race with a 385 family engine in our Super Comp dragster and I'm currently building a FE stroker for my 1963½ Ford Galaxie, so based on that this engine is most likely a 385 family 429-460 but a crude one.

Here are the instructions for the V903 in the ERTL International Transtar F-4270

I read somewhere they used three speed shifters on four speed transmissions so you had no reverse gate left and the second shift lever was for the reverse gear, leave the regular one in neutral and use the small lever to shift in to reverse, that way you can't accidentally get reverse when you shift with the regular shifter...but I could be wrong.

It looks like the engine and transmission out of the AMT KW K100 Aerodyne kits (BJ and the Bear, Papa Truck, Hideout Truck etc.)

As far as I understand when Garlits raced Swamp Rat 14 (also called Swamp Rat 1-R) at the 1971 Winternationals wich was the first National Event for the car full side panels and nose was added, but it had no rear wing as it came later in 1971, he won the race by the way. He debuted the car earlier than that in December 1970 (later the same year he had the transmission explosion in SR13 at Lions Dragstrip)and at that point it had no side panels in front of the drivers compartment and the tank was at the right side of the driver as seen in the first picture above, later the tank was moved to the front of the car, most likely at the same time the side panels was added.

The Bad Man II and American Graffiti metal kits are kind of "phantom" kits, well at least the American Graffiti car. As the Chevy Mk IV Big Block engine wich are in the Two Lane Blacktop cars wasn't available in 1962 when the AG movie was supposed to take place and they never showed any engine in the movie car because of that, they had to come up with something that could have been realistic for the car and timeframe when they did the kit...and the Bad Man II is a spinoff of that kit. The movie car also have a fiberglass flip nose same as the TLB cars wich the kits don't have. I read somewhere that the sound of the car in the AG movie was from the TLB movie, and some of the sound was even used for the Trans Am in Smokey and the Bandit.

That was what I was trying to explain...I know how this setup works. Yes, the line must go under the car most likely to a catch tank of some sort, like you I don't believe it's a Vac-U-Pan system like some use in regular headers.

Really nice!! I love them 58 Impalas.

The seller can ask for what they want but an item is not worth more than what people are prepaired to pay for it, that's the real value...and just because it's rare doesn't automatically mean they fetch a high price.

The Ramchargers is quite short so you need a longer wheelbase kit like the Carl Casper Young American AA/FD, Don Garlits Wynns Charger AA/FD (SR 10), or the upcoming Tom McEwen 69 AA/FD, all from MPC.

Yes it has to do with length regulations...can't go over 25.25 meters total here in Sweden and in Europe it's even shorter. So most of the trucks in Europe are COE's as you get more payload on the allowed length.

Some say the Cleveland is a better engine but the Windsor was in production 18 years after the Cleveland was discontinued, Windsor was available 1961-2000 and 335 Family 1969-1974 for USA and Australia continued until 1982. The head design is better than the heads of the Windsor allthough the exhaust side needs to be modified to work well, but the oil system in the 335 engine is a disaster for high performance and has to be modified for higher RPM, the Windsor needs no modifications, and the later 351M and 400 are useless.

The seller has reduced the prices 10% for these but I doubt they will be sold even now...the seller has to come back to earth before that will happen, especially on the Van.

Nice build and great backstory.

The 90 degree family 351 Windsor and the 335 family 351 Cleveland are two completely different engines and don't share much except for bore spacing, bore and stroke, and bellhouse pattern (the taller deck 351M and 400 has the larger 429-460 bellhouse pattern), and they look different. The Cleveland has a dry intake manifold and the water outlet is at the front of the block, the Windsor has a wet intake manifold and the water outlet is at the front of the intake, and as allready mentioned, the heads are different. Cleveland engine block, Windsor engine block, in this case a 289-302, the 351 looks the same but has just over an inch taller deck. As for the Boss 302, it's a regular 90 degree Windsor engine block with four bolted mains and Cleveland style heads, but the Boss has a wet intake manifold like the Windsor.

I also like this forum, but I like to read analog printed magazines as well so I hope Model Cars Magazine will continue.

The engine in the AMT 59 Belvedere is not correct for either an A 318 or a B 350 as the heads and valve covers are wrong for an A engine and the distributor placement is wrong for a B engine, and if it was supposed to be a B family Fury 350 engine it would have had dual carburetors. There are in fact three Poly Head engines from Mopar, the early Chrysler 331-354 Hemi based Poly Head Crysler Spitfire and has three valve cover bolts, and the smaller early Dodge 241-325 Hemi based Poly Head Dodge Red Ram and Plymouth Hyfire has only two, DeSoto used both Chrysler and Dodge based Poly Head engines, both of these Hemi based Poly Head engines has valley covers. The A series 318 Poly Head engine has noting to do with the early Poly Head engines, the valve covers has shallower scallops and two bolts holding them down, and no valley cover.

I got new glass together with the new body, new decals and new instructions when I asked for the corrected parts, the plastic bag with the glass was even marked "revised".

Thank you.

One have to remember, they had several cars over the season and different cars for different tracks even then and they can be slightly different.