Codi

That is just too cool Eric. Count me along too for the ride. cheers, tim

Dwayne, the "mobile jig" you reference was in no way a contributing factor to what occurred. But certainly you should do what you think is best on YOUR build. tim

Mock-ups of the car. The car will sit a scale 4" off the front spoiler lip YET TO BE ADDED.....and I'll take about 1/8" off the aluminum spoilers on the back. The ride height just in front of the rear wheel well will be 9" in scale. I'll adjust my jig for the new build and start by fabricating the Halibrand rear end, trans and Donovan while drawing up the chassis. Not sure if I'll do a solid drop axle or independent front suspension, I'll decide when I get the chassis drawn up. On the body, in addition to the front spoiler extension, I'm considering a few other modifications, in no particular order: front fender "blisters" for additional tire clearance, canard wings on the back half of the car, but they'll probably interfere with the headers, rear-window venting similar to what Chris has done on his Vega funny and maybe extending the lower side valances of the car ever so slightly. The hardest part of the body work is done with the extension of the wheel base when I move the wheel wells back. There will be plenty of room for the driver. cheers, tim IN THIS NEXT PIC, PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ANGLE I TOOK THIS PHOTO THE FRONT APPEARS TO SIT TOO HIGH, IT DOESN'T.

Thanks for the pics Chris......this is my favorite as an fyi. I'm not going to try to replicate this car exactly, but I like the cars dimensions etc. alot. And to everyone that is following, thank you for the interest and comments. I'm going to take time to do some drawings that need finished on the Mustang funny build so I can get it moving forward in a meaningful way. In the meantime, I'll be cutting this one up as noted to get it right for designing the chassis. cheers!

Wow guys, that was fast. Just to clarify, I was planning on raising the roof only at the FRONT pillars. 1/16" , no more than 3/32" will do the trick. I like the height of the roof at the back and want to keep that. It should have a slight forward lean no matter how subtle in my opinion. One thing I've learned from chopping roofs is that a little bit goes a long way and I obviously took this one a little to far initially. Bob, like the "Phoenix" idea....was already thinking about a nickname for it. "Son of Henry" just doesn't do it though. Thanks again everyone. The next step is to take the new kit that I ordered and get the roof re-profiled and the doors / trunk open. That will surely change it's character.

Just a mock-up. Need to re-chop it and open doors and trunk. Most of the Henry parts will fit this I believe. Not sure on the engine yet though. If the turbo motor doesn't fit, (it's very tight) then a naturally aspirated 800+ cube mountain motor Ford would go in it.......bracket car perhaps? comments welcome, tim

I don't know what to say other than thanks to each of you. I've "buried" Henry now. Time to move on right?!! It was a closed casket, there will be no final pics of the chassis as it's not how I want to remember this build. Today I discovered the 1/16" steel plate that the jig was bolted to was bent as well from the fall. The main hoop did it's job and protected the driver ( I would like to believe anyhow) but it was bent severely in addition to all the broken joints etc. My point being, there is no chance to salvage it. For all of you that followed along, the tolerances were SOO tight on it, that a 64" off meant all the world during assembly. I'm WAY off a 64" now. I'm keeping the chassis to part off of it when I move on. No sense remaking custom brackets etc. that took hours for no good reasons right? For a giggle, the electrician showed up today to add more overhead lights over my revamped work area, sure enough the ballister was bent and he can't finish till Thursday, figures huh. I'll share shortly what I'm going to do next but the Mustang Funny (heard ya' JOE!!!) is one of the two (3 perhaps?) that I'm going to get after. Really want something simple and easy so to speak to add to the project list. My "Gravity" paints are on the way for sampling and I'll let you know what I think. They were part of the final prep for Henry. THANKS & CHEERS EVERYONE!

Good morning fellas, I just want to say thank you for all the sentiments you've shared. Many of you have expressed all too accurately how i feel about it right now. You're a good bunch of guys! Not to be melodramatic about it, but it's like I lost a pet or something. It was THIS close to being finished. On the brighter side, it wasn't in a state where any of the pieces I've made were on it or destroyed. I REALLY want to use the many parts I've fabricated but I'm not mentally ready to go after a chassis like that one just yet. Might use them over several, different types of builds. Electrician is coming over today to add some over head lights as I've re-vamped my work area. The Mustang funny will most certainly be one of the things I move on with. I'd like to also start a "simple" build to do alongside of it as I want to take part of the Summer to work on my painting skills. Here's a pic of a Falcon I worked on that would be a good candidate I think for using many of the Henry bits and pieces (no pun intended Joe, I assure you) I'd open the doors and trunk and was thinking I should re-chop the front of the roof as I think it's too low. Any thoughts guys? Comments welcome.

Hey Chris, for what it's worth, no build is perfect. None. From what you've described, I completely concur that you should just leave well enough alone and see her finished. You've nothing left to prove on this build and have every reason to be proud of how it turned out so far and have no doubt it will be overwhelming when completely done. Cheers to you, tim

Well now, so I made a lot of headway on the brackets etc. Got ready to solder on a fabricated bracket for the chute handle. Moving from one work area to another I carried the chassis in its jig and felt something on my arm as I was sitting down. There was a big ol' hornet on my forearm and the moment I went to shake it off in panic, the chassis and its jig (which were secured in the milling vise) went to the ground. Naturally, it landed upside down and is for all intents and purposes, destroyed. So, this thread has come to an ignominious ending. In summation, 20 months of building it, many custom parts that have no home for the time being and easily more than a 1000 hours in the chassis and it's components. I did get a bunch of experience and knowledge from this one which will serve me well going forward. But the disappointment in not seeing this finished as intended just sucks. Cheers?

Thanks Clayton...only ever made one semi truck when I was a kid. That's another story but it was cool to do. Joe, scratch-building is more fun right? Like the "war of the worlds" pics too. What must go on in that mind of yours. Chris, I took stainless steel tube to make the body and used fluorescent yellow fishing line. Cut 8 strands and put them in the tube, glued them in place and cut off the ends of the strands. Light passes through it very easily to give the effect. cheers, tim

Congrats Brad on your win at the DSC!! Perfect finish for a great show based upon all of the comments about the turnout and how it was run. cheers

I like that shade of blue you picked out for her. Does justice to the car. Congratulations on getting her done in time for NNL East. cheers, tim

Glad I could be of some help Dave. Been working my way towards the interior of the car now. Spending time making & selecting various support brackets for soldering to the chassis. I want to give credit to Dirt Modeler for the variety and quality of his brass tabs too. I'll be using assorted nickel photo-etch pieces at the very end as well. Couple pics of the start of the dash (brass bracket made) and the shift lite. I saw another builder did something similar on the shift lite so I gave it a try & liked the result., I've yet to paint it black and make the support bracket though. Once I get the majority of the tabs and brackets on that I want soldered v. glued, I'll fab the remaining rails and wrap up the chassis. cheers sorry for the quality of the pics btw.........this is the back plate I made to support the RacePak dash I'll be making.

Paint - CRISP & BOLD............Love the colors on the car Chris! Chassis - SPOT ON Overall - SUPER SANITARY Can't wait for the body trim pieces you made to go on yet, back window, alum. valance sill trim etc. Is it possible it can get even better? Yes, yes it can. Above all Chris, thanks for posting your methods and great pics on the painting of your car. I'm going to have to bribe Teresi for his secrets too. But in all seriousness, YOU still had to do it and I'd be proud to call that my paint job any day. Cheers, Tim

Thank you Tom and Dave. Roger, Unfortunately, other than documenting how I made the girdle with a few pics, I never thought to video how I made them. Steps are straightforward, machined the groove in the girdle, put TIX flux in the channel, placed the letters (tedious but the flux helps to hold them in place) then took shavings of solder and placed it among the letters. Heated the sides of the girdle with a torch and "voila".....hope that helps. Harry, Bill answered your question I believe. His answers confirmed what I knew of the subject. The NHRA was also concerned over lost fan appeal over the simple aspect that the funny cars were to represent, in spirit, cars you could buy from the car manufacturers. Obviously, there were no rear-engine mustangs. So, the marketing aspect probably played into the decision as well as the car manufacturers had a vested interest in sponsoring their cars. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday right? My favorite explanation is that Garlits hit upon a winning design that was becoming all dominant. Racers being what they are, why not funny's too. The reasons for the lack of success of this design in funny cars is based soundly in physics and engineering, which I'd prefer to SKIP at this point since the cars are now banned irregardless. Bill, thanks for efforts & info to explain that to Harry. It should benefit anyone that wants to learn more about that particular era in drag racing and funny cars in particular. Cheers, tim

I follow for the updates Cato.....just being selfish. Just glad to see you back at it and I'm sure you're excited to get her painted sometime this Spring/Summer. Still love the colors you've selected. She's going to be an absolute stunner when all is said and done. Cheers, tim

That is some eye ball searing paint. Love it. cheers, tim

Impressive build Marcelo. Congratulations ! cheers, tim

Wow, my brothers had about 6 Corvairs between them when I was a kid and I assure you, none of them ever looked that cool. Nice slicing and dicing on the body. cheers

Cut the bottom off the block so I could see how the crank girdle I made fits it. I also found the mistake in the length of the plastic block as well. The gaps between the ribs was too wide by about .5mm. It's been shortened 1.4mm to better reflect the real thing. It was just an exercise to understand what the real one should look like as I go forward. I'm basing my engine on Dave's info as mentioned above. I'll nickel plate the brass later. cheers, tim The letters are about 1.7mm in height and 1mm in length. I could have used brass lettering that was just a wee bit smaller as the script just fits in the channel whereas the real car had more spacing between the letters. I'm satisfied with the compromise and think it has merit as a possible resin casting, unfortunately I won't bother. If you look closely at the block, you can see the 3 different slices between the ribs to remove the material as mentioned for proper length.

Whhhaaaattt? Color? Really now..............sorry I didn't make the show. So close Chris, so close. Many many good / great builders at that show, I'll have to make this one someday for sure. cheers, tim

Das ist sehr gut Ludwig. cheers, tim

I'd be proud to call that one mine. Beautifully done. Congratulations. tim

AZ Boy- yeah I saw that one. Nice nice job. Always liked that car and that he was able to "make it work". Dennis / Ray / Scott and Matt, thanks too. I like the challenge of machining A LOT and now that the Henry build has moved along I needed another project that would let me jump back and forth so I can still use my equipment while wrapping up the Henry. Keeps the mind fresh too! Bill, yeah it was off the radar because of it's lack of success, but the stance, profile etc. of the car really caught my eye. The pic below is not reflective of the stance I'm going for, it will sit down more in the back like the Cantorelli car. It would be cool to find out if the original builder of the 1:1 car is still around to be able to speak to him a bit. hmmmmm Dwayne, I'm not sure what's going on with MicroNitro. You'll have to visit his site for updates (facebook) At this point, I want to make my own wheels (or at least try my hand at it) Jim makes nice wheels and hopefully the new owner/operator will continue on. Here's a pic of the wheels I bought from Jim about 2 years ago that I'm considering for the car.