Cato

Not to preach Harry but you've got to watch pink eye and sanding / cutting debris on your workbench. Picking up tools with styrene / basswood crumbs on fingers is a direct route to itchy eyes. Been and go there too often...

So, once you make sure everything fits, are you going to have to take it all apart for painting? Absolutely. Many times. Paint, interior wood / leather / carpet, all glass; the list is extensive. That's why I changed so many fasteners away from the Pocher screws to much more durable bolts and studs. This many changes has dictated constant disassembly and reassembly for trial fitting. Virtually nothing is attached as Pocher designed it any more.

Another piece of the puzzle... I promise you're not looking at the same picture over and over but it may seem that way. Here is a look ahead by trial fitting the hood panels in place. They are a project unto themselves when I get there. Just wanted to see how hard the work might be ahead. Got a pleasant surprise. For this mock-up, the body and floor are final-bolted to the frame. The now-finished trunk fit perfectly in its spot. The fenders are bolted on, not hanging. So this is nearly the finished look of all the panels and clearances. The hood side panels are taped in place and the happy surprise is that the louvers are parallel to the hood top edge and virtually in line with the cowl louvers. A primary reason to lower the firewall and channel the body was to get that louver alignment. No stock Pocher Rolls kit produces this accurate scale look. The addition of the hood panel side hinges will make the louvers about perfect. You can see the cut line at the cowl needs material added and a bit of truing at the grille shell but that's small effort. If you look way back in the thread you can compare to early mock-ups before all the cutting. It's a dramatic change. Made this all worthwhile. Now to tackle the door fit and hinging, a formidable job to get right.:

Grat job and a great skill-builder Scott.

It would if Meit or Cox built it! Skip, please understand; I'm building way over my head here and working features like lights, lids, steering column controls and micro switches are the ken of those gods. I'm shooting for perfectly opening and closing doors and hoods. Maybe a nice paint job. Those will all make me really happy. i don't intend ANY fingers opening lids and switching lights. I just wanna look at it forever if I get that far.

You nailed that trunk Cato. There's part of me (big part) that doesn't want to see this end ... I'm having too much fun watchin Thanks again Skip. Mike, you might get your wish; this may not end until I take my last nap...

Over 15 hours work... And not proud to tell you; that's just the trunk to this primer stage. Many guys go much faster than I. That also does not account for several hours of just looking at it to get the design as desired. The summary: over 15mm's removed from the top surface (not counting 2 or so for the saw cuts - you must take that into account when you start your design) and 2mm from the bottom to slope the back forward. Vertical height cut by 3mm at the body side and 2mm at the spare tire side. Lid sectioned accordingly. Strange phenomenon; when you cut the slope angle at the trunk rear, it has the effect of pulling the front trunk wall rearward. Leaving a big gap to the body. So you must add that section (roughly 15+mm's) back onto the forward sides of the trunk. Results, more seams to fill but you get a nice custom fit to snuggle against the back of the bodywork. That's known as winging-it as you go... Then three applications of Bondo and sanded from 80 grit to 600. Three coats Duplicolor Sandable Scratch Filler prime; 1 mist, 2 medium. Small amount of skim coat needed in 2 small spots. When finalized, wet 600 or 800. Here's what came out of the lid: For comparison, here's an earlier shot of the full-sized box in height and length with no slope. Drawn on it is an early sketch of a proposed slope when I decided the trunk needed to 'streamline' to harmonize with all the other lowering and clipping. I'm pretty glad I went this route with more rectangular edges. More in keeping with the Gurney Nutting influence but with a bit of 'style':

Thank you Skip and Mike. Nice to have your support. Yes Skip your example photo of 201 RY has been a huge influence on me. No stock Pocher kit captures the low roof line, dead level hood line and level louvers; something very hard to do on a Pocher. I'm not making an exact Gurney replica but taking all the classic cues with a little of my own expression. I'm about 90% there with the main architecture.

Yes, thank you Eric. I just slapped it on with a dab of tape for a cheap thrill. To see a chrome or painted part in place gives incentive.

A clearer vision... Seeing the elements closer to finished and planning many steps ahead. The blue is the proposed beltline to be made from .030" with probably an .080 raised bead in its center. Wheel and fender just hanging in place so will be neater when fastened. Trunk is cut and altered and studying whether to lower it a tad more. More seams than Frankenstein monster right now but soon to get Bondo. The cut door top edge allows a smoother more flowing beltline. The landau bar shows how much the roof has come down. Compare to earlier un-cut photos. This is all for study and small changes may happen if it doesn't sit well with me over a day or so.

Search here. There was a large thread by experienced users.

Harry, here's my lower radiator view. You can see that the crank snout just peeks into the rectangular slot shown above. Not much contact. Also seen here is a very helpful and strong new attachment for the radiator. I enlarged the screw holes in the grille shell to .080. Then made 'studs' out of 2mm threaded rod and nuts. Nut at the top, a drop of CA and into the holes. Then a drop of epoxy to secure them in the shell. Carve a little clearance for the nuts in the plastic bottom corners of the rad. The studs come through the crossmember and the constant removal and replacement is a plug in - no more wiggly, stripped skinny Pocher screws. You can see here the nut and washer from the bottom which snugs it up. Very sturdy. Getting the firewall and grille shell sturdy is very important. When you make the brace rod between them, it hold the positions of these vital parts solid for body and hood attachment. If you didn't drill the firewall for the Koo-recommended 8mm down from top rod location already, I can show you an accurate attachment using a clevis , at the top edge of the firewall. if you want....

I got fairly close on my interpretation, but you make better ball links on the rods than I do. Here's the general idea; Here's the worst thing they did; the wire shield run. It was like this, with the relay box lowered. It actually exits the upper box lower on the side but I missed that. Got the rest right. The structure was an aluminum casting. The whole firewall front edge is kit wrong with the brass strips the location where the body actually begins. Good luck with that but I know Haddock's done it. Fill the kit holes and remember the foot pedal had a lever coming through for the oiling cannister:

Egon had sent me some fantastic 1:1 shots of a '29. Tomorrow, I'll round them up and buzz you.

Yes--- because they bring us closer together...

Respectfully, you're correct as far as you go. But your solution brings up another hitch. Moving the rad forward will mean shortening the front tray. You could do that or eliminate it. Far simpler is the Koo idea of drilling the lower rad for the crank snout clearance. Taking a slight shave off the fan pulley boss on the block gets that off the rad. Simpler by far than adding shim to the hoods. Don't think you want to move the firewall forward or the cowl; many worms in that can. EDIT: just found mine: ">

Then you need to make a new longer drag link. Splice the old one; piece of cake.

BTW- You may want to remove the gas pedal from the spacer block. Makes it too hard to get the floor around the pedals. Still stands well enough without being pinned to the block. If you're not gonna lower the firewall, just attach the spacer to the chassis. Also, slicing the toe board off the floor (right at the angle) is a huge help with in and out. Can be set back in when the floor bolted in finally.

Really clean build in record time. Yes, I discovered Haddock's stuff after I had much assembled - like the carb height- so had to retro fit a lot. Left the carb in wrong position but altered the dizzy mount tower height as you did. When you get there, there's an error in how the Autovac out line connects; it needs to come forwards not out the side. The firewall will be your next adventure in scratch work. The wire track molded on is all wrong as is the height of the relay box. I used flattened ally tube to make new. The wire loom you made is good and Marv will be disappointed you didn't spend the $12. Neither did I. Amazing how little of any of this you will see when fully built.

You once told me long ago that you might do some of Haddock's stuff but certainly not all of it. That's out the window. Considering you don't have a lathe and mill nor bolts smaller than 00-90, you're doing great work. I just did a similar simulation of his parts best I could without those advanced tools.

Harry will be finished and building his next 10, 1/16th's before I finish.

Rakish was the goal. With Rolls elegance. Very tough to nail but I'm trying.

The look... A mock-up yesterday to check progress and look for any flaws in design. Everything just sitting in place, no fastening. Seen here is the lowness of the main body, cut-down door, roof and windscreen frame. Having the fenders in place is visually important to assess how the lines flow and the tire gaps. Evident in the side view is the shortened body bottom edge. Both fenders will need to have their bottom edges trimmed to not extend below the running boards. As stated earlier, one change affects several adjoining areas. It's all got to be made consistent to work. An important element yet to be added is the raised beltline which will run from the grille shell to the trunk. It will define the lower edge of the roof covering. That will add sleekness if I get it right. But before that, the doors will have to be hinged and hung in their correct position. See? One step depends on the other. Another example is the hood sides; the fenders must be in place to set the bottom edges. Then, the louvers must be aligned to the cowl's by adding or trimming side panel material. Then the cut lines must be squared to the grille shell and cowl leading edge. Lot of juggling and they are a whole separate project unto themselves. Today, the roof center section got permanently joined to the body sides, 3 layers of filler in the seams and sanded. The whole body structure got very rigid with the sides now joined by the cowl and the roof. I began alterations on the trunk to slope the rear and change it to its new lower height. More work tomorrow and pictures....

Bruce, magnificent job. Don't rush a thing. Tim is right, one of the most beautiful F-1's ever - all business. The modern ones look like transformers next to this. They just don't have 'IT'. For that panel fit, don't leave things in tension. Sand away inner surfaces or detail if you have to. Consider making new ones from .005 ally or brass. If you get the relief, consider mini magnets to hold closure. Some are very powerful. Show us what you come up with. C

Great job. Just rub some graphite or Rub n' Buff on the manifold.