Mooneyzs

Well Fellas I know it's been over a month since you have seen an update and well I have gone thru a period of losing motivation on this one. I had started to put decals on it but was having trouble with the decals ripping on me so instead of really getting ticked off at it I decided to put it to the side for a bit. I am slowing getting the motivation back to work on this again but there is something else going on that has me frustrated at the moment with making me not want to build. Anyway so in the mean time I decided to work on something else and actually for a while I have had this idea of making a Chassis Jig Plate which will be used to assist in building chassis's. So I decided to draw some stuff up in my CAD program of what I wanted. These Jig plates will be 2 separate plates.... One I am making 6" x 17" which will be used for dragster chassis and the other is an 8" x 10" plate which will be used for any type of door car, Funny Car, and Pro Mod Chassis. I will be making them out of Mic 6 Aluminum that is 3/8" thick and it will have holes on 1/2" centers. Here is what they look like after drawing them up in my CAD system: Here is the 6" x 17" plate design: Here is the 8" x 17" plate design: So today I had to go into work today for a little bit and well I got one of the Machinist to help me with my stuff and was able to get them fabricated. Here is how they turned out.... Here is the 8" x 10" plate: Here is the 6" x 17" plate: Here is a shot to show how it will be used. All of the Holes are threaded with an 8-32 thread and have a counter bore of .075" and I have 3/16 shoulder bolts that will get screwed into which ever holes and then you can bank your parts/tubing up against it to keep things square. I have plans on designing clamps that will bolt to the plate to hold parts in place as well as making brackets that will keep things lined up: Showing it with the funny car chassis sitting on it: Here you see some 1" x 1" Angle plates which will help keep the from wheels square when time come to put them on. I am still actually debating if I will glue the front wheels on or if I will keep them a slip fit so I can take them on and off depending on how I want to display it: Upclose shot:

Randy D.... Thank you my friend. I really appreciate the kind works. You are so right that I need to get back to the bench. The past few weeks have been tough for me to get to the bench, I have lost motivation due to some other things but I am slowing getting it back. Bob... I know its been way too long for an update. I have a little something that I have been working on the side that I will show some pics and hoping to get back to the bench later today and tomorrow. Nikko... I am glad to hear you are doing well. Enjoy that time before school starts. I know the feeling of building the 1:1 I was the same way back when I was building my '71 El Camino in my late teens and early 20's. Congrats on your ET Bracket Race win in your Malibu. I am sure that is a blast to run. I still need to get a Posi and some 3.73 gears put into my El Camino and would love to take it out the track after that. I will be tickled if I could get it to break 12's.

Jonathan... Those turned out great!!! I just don't know which one I like better . I really need to pic a set of these decals up. I need to find a kit or two first... lol

John... This is looking Killer my Brother!! Gotta say my favorite part of this build right now is the 3D printed engine sitting in there looking all sweet in its spot. Looks like it was a perfect fit. What a great way to start that phone booth out, using templates for your patterns. I know you will make the phone booth look better than the real thing...lol At the rate you are going right now, you will have this done in no time at all. Keep up the great work my friend!!

Hey John.... it's great to see you back at the bench Brother. I kept looking in the wrong areas for this build and I finally found it. I know you will hit this one out of thr park when you do your Teresi magic to it. I will be following along and looking forward to your updates.

Jonathan..... Those bodies are looking great. Totally digging them. I do have a question on the M on the hood did you have to cut out each part between the legs. Hope that makes sense what's I am asking...lol

Rickard.... it is great to see your back at this one. That is some.nice work you have done there.

Hey Rom... How the heck are ya? It's great to see you on here. Thank you for the kind words my friend. Have you been doing any building lately??

Nikko... Hey Its great to hear from you my friend. I hope life and school is treating you well, also hopefully you are getting a little bench time in yourself. Thank you for the kind words. I am really pleased with how some of my recent items have turned out. I know they probably cold be better but at this point they are good enough for me...haha I just want to get it done to move onto my next project. Dave... Thank you very much. I am super happy with the way the clamps turned out and just with that the company that made them were still around...lol. Now wouldn't that be a kick in the pants if I could find some Nitro-methane and burnt rubber from a burnout air fresheners and toss them under the display.... haha Bob... Thank you for sharing your picture. I love it. I have only been able to find a hand full of pictures from when it ran back in the day. I think this may be only the 4th or 5th picture I have seen of it. The rest of the pictures I used for reference were pretty much the ones that Mr. Prudhomme had up on his snake racing web page.

Tim... That block is a work of art and looks great with those ribs and the Valley cover on it. Man you do some nice work. I am really excited about how you are going to machine your heads and valve covers. I will be taking notes of those for sure. Looking forward to your next update.

Ray... It is true that I had ordered a couple of engines from Mark Johnson about 3 years ago and still waiting for them. Back on 9/23/2013 I had emailed mark letting him know that I wanted to order 2 of his 1/16th Scale Donovan engines and then I also told him that I wanted one of his 1/16th Scale Big Block Chevy engines and I couldn't decided if I wanted the regular big Block or his Big Block with the Arias Heads. I wanted the Donovan engines for a specific project, well lets just say actually 2. You will learn more about them later once the Army funny car is done but I will just say that these 2 Projects are near and dear to my heart and where my love of drag racing came from. So I had attached a couple pics of this car to show Mark w hat I was wanting them for. Back on 10/4/2013 he gets back to me letting me know that he has 2 versions of the 1/16 Donovan 417 engine and the price for the Big Block Chevy would be $35.00 and an additional $12.00 for the Arias heads. He also sent a few pics of the Donovan engine to me what it looked like. I wrote Mark back on 10/4/2013 and had attached some pics of the engine of the special project I want to do. So He got back to me on 10/12/2013 and mentioned to me that the Manifold in the pics I sent him was much higher than what he had in his kit. Mark said that he might undertake the part of making that other manifold that I needed and hoping that he could get it done before shipping the engines to me. I had gotten back to Mark on 11/15/2013 letting him know that I wanted to get the 2 engines and that I didn't know what he wanted to do about the manifold. I told him let me know and I will get a Money order out ASAP. He then got back to me on 11/17/2013 Letting me know that the total for the engines would be $76.00 ($35 for each engine and $6.00 for shipping). Mark said that he would still have to develop the taller manifold and that I would get the present engine combo like he did for me on the 426 that is in my Army Vega and then when he got the valve covers I needed done, he shipped them later. So I was stoked to hear that when he said that back then. I asked him if it would be any trouble to add the Big Block Chevy to the order and I had said that sounds great about getting the Donovan engines and that I could pick up 2 of the manifolds once they are done. I also mentioned that I wasn't even close to starting these 2 special projects but was trying to get parts together for them. I had asked him to let me know what the new total would be for the engines and that I would get a money order out to him the next day. So I had ordered 2 Donovan Engines ($35.00 ea) and a chevy big block engine ($35.00) and a set of the Arias heads & valve covers ($12.00) plus 6.00 shipping for a total of $123.00. On 12/16/2013 I got a email letting me know that he got my Money order and that he was proceeding with my order. He has mentioned that it may not get to me until after Christmas with being busy for the Holidays. I was glad to hear that he got my money order and told him that it was totally cool to get to them after Christmas and I told him that I was in No Rush at all for the engines. Now Fast forward to 8/14/2015.... I got an email from Mark letting me know that he got to the Post Office today and mailed out a 427 Big Block Chevy and Arias Big Block Chevy. Also telling me that he was going to be forwarding the Donovan's to me soon. Well since then time has gone by and I haven't heard nothing. So about a week ago on 7/1/2016, 10 months later still nothing on the Donovan engines. I decided to email Mark on 7/1/2016 and ask about these engines. I told him that its been a while since we last chatted (emailed) and that I wanted to find out the status of the engine. I also had told him that I lurked on the Facebook page "Dedicated to preserving 1/16 Drag Racing Models" since I got off of Facebook about 2 years ago I wasn't sure if I would be able to see this group or not. But was able to and I ran across a post where Mark mentioned that he wasn't going to making parts for a while and that he was going to fill what ever open orders he had. I mentioned to him that when I originally ordered the 2 Donovan engines I wasn't in a hurry for them 3 years ago and knew that he had to develop the High rise manifold. Well As of late I have been itching to start these 2 special projects because I want to draw the chassis's up in my CAD system and I needed the engines to be able to measure so I can base the rest of the measurements for the chassis off the engine. I told him That I have been extremely patient waiting for these engines and that I decided to draw up the Donovan High Rise Manifold that I needed and would have them 3D printed. Again I reiterated that I have been waiting super patiently for these engines but I am at a point where I want to start these 2 builds. I told Mark that Either I am going to have to have him send me the engines in a timely matter or if he couldn't that I ask if he would refund my money. I would of had no problems if he would of send the engines out way back when and then I waited for him to develop the manifold. I am not one that will ever bash anyone on this forum but I do not think that I should of had to of waited for 3 years for these 2 engines. During the time frame when I first starting to use his resin engine's about 4 plus years ago, the 426 Hemi that is in my Army Vega funny car I was so impressed with his resin engines that I was promoting them when ever people asked where I got the engine I told them from Mark Johnson, he has the best 1/16th engines in the business. As of today I still haven't gotten a response back from my email and I know it hasn't been quite a week yet. I am a pretty understanding and patient person but at least have the decency to respond to an email and get back to someone. I would of been fine with an email that said... "hey sorry I haven't gotten back sooner things life has busy etc", and at least let me know your plan on the engines is. Ever since I saw this thread and saw what Tim posted I have been on the fence If I should post my experience or not. But since this has left a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth I figured it wouldn't hurt to share with everyone. So as of right now I am trying to find a 1/16th Scale Aurora Donovan engine that I can buy. I know they are hard to come by and I missed an opportunity a few months ago on ebay and wished that I would of bid another $15 to $20.... It would of been worth it to me at this point. Anyway here is a picture of the manifold I have drawn up and a picture with the Blower I drew up for the Army Vega Funny car. I still have some minor tweaking to the manifold model like adding the blower stud holes and some mount holes that will bolt it to the heads. Manifold: Manifold and Blower:

Guess I missed the dead line on when they were stopping taking orders.... Oh well such is life.

Isn't that the Truth...lol

Tim.... that is a killer looking valley cover. That turned out very nice. I am very impressed by it. I can't wait to see you start on the heads and valve covers. I am going to have to take notes ?.

Austin... Thanks.. Right on about attending NDSU. I was actually back in Fargo last summer for a family reunion and had a blast back there. Got to see NDSU... went to the Fargo Air Museum and most of all got to see family that I haven't seen in many years. Tim... Thank you!! Bob.... I am hoping to have some sort of updates real soon. Yeah the minions went on strike, they said it was too dang hot and decided to take a trip to Van Nuys California to visit their cousins.....

Jonathan... Thank you for the link. I have heard some great stuff about the power slide decals.

Jonathan... I like those. where did you get those from?? or who I should say. They look very nice.

Great Idea... I am going to have to try this one out.

Tim... Thanks for the info. I have been keeping track of tools that I will need one day....lol They should turn out perfectly as long as the dial is moved the same distance.... . Did you have to deburr them with a little bigger drill or did you take some fine paper to knock the burrs off ? Keep up the amazing work on this bad boy.

Now that's funny

Tim... This is some just freaking killer work. I do have to ask what size center drill did you use..... 1, 0, 00, 000, 0000 or 00000? You approached drill the holes the way I would of because the 1/8th shank on the center drills would of gotten in the way...lol. Every little pieces you do for this engine is a work on art. Every time I see your updates, they are motivations for me to eventually get an end mill and lathe...lol Cheers!

Tim.... You are one talented craftsman. That oil pan looks gorgeous. Nice work Buddy!

Randy.... Are you for real brother.... Hot diggity dog... those carbs and linkagw set up are just amazing. I am truly blown away by your abilities and attention to detail. You amd Tim have to be some of the best with the small parts you guys are doing on your builds. I Thought I was doing a few cool parts on my funny car but to see what you guys have done in a smaller scale makes my stuff look like junk . Keep up the great work.

Tim... that block is outstanidng my friend. That is some Top Notch machining right there. I can't wait until your next update

It would be a blast to be able to make this show. I will have to see if I can make it out or not.