Ace-Garageguy

With the ongoing '66 Chevelle project. Happy as a clam, as usual...

Below are the parts of the Ford 8BA flathead sourced from the stock Revellogram '50 Ford pickup. Besides internal upgrades, the 8BA engine, the last iteration of Ford's flathead V8, had a separate bellhousing to facilitate adapting a wide range of gearboxes, and a conventional looking distributor that was much more accessible than earlier versions. Both of these characteristics make the 8BA the most desirable flathead for any real performance application. The black bellhousing looks, at first glance, to be very similar to the Hildebrandt (NOT Halibrand) LaSalle gearbox adapter, but after more research, I found it's not really right at all. Below is a real Hildebrandt Ford-to-LaSalle gearbox adapter. Though it looks like the black part above, it's actually very much smaller. To do a realistic looking LaSalle gearbox swap, I removed the bellhousing and gearbox from the engine assembly. Dark blue part is a LaSalle gearbox from a Challenger one kit, light blue thing on the right end is a trophy base from an AMT "Trophy Series" kit. Black part won't be used. In preparation for making a right-looking LaSalle gearbox adapter, I laid in a crankshaft centerline marker of 1/16" styrene rod to keep everything concentric. I'm saving the Ford gearbox as well, so it gets some material added to its front face to replace what was lost to the saw kerf. Just checking to see that everything looks square before proceeding...

Nothing too thrilling, as my bench time is severely limited. But I DID finally find a cast-iron Pontiac exhaust manifold with close-to-right port-spacing to match the engine I'm using, and started making flanges for custom headers.

It's been a long time, but I wanted to say a big "THANK YOU" to everyone who commented and I didn't acknowledge.

Thanks for your interest and comments, gentleman. The Allison LSR project, for anyone who's curious...

Being whiiiiiiiiiined at by emotionally incontinent neurotics.

This is the page one of all the lenses. I don't see anything that looks like the standard fluted US-style 5" and 7" headlights on either this page or the next one. https://www.modelmakershop.com/index.php?s=e&k=61&a=kategorie&v=0

The parts on the tree appear to be this type of electric fuel pump, which would be used to ensure constant fuel available to the high-pressure mechanical pump that would supply the mechanical injection system, under conditions of fuel slosh in the tanks due to braking, cornering, etc, Can you post the photo of a similar setup you found online so I can verify my theory?

Makes me think of barbeque...

Meal worms in your Cheerios make for a less than appetizing breakfast.

Rival Crock-Pots make great, almost idiot-proof roasts.

Beer is the answer to all of your problems, unless it becomes a the problem.

95 is about when I'm planning to get my second wind.

Spotmodel shows new stock arriving for some part numbers.

Sometimes there's info available on this very site:

Yeah, I never understood why some aftermarket maker didn't offer a sprue of 'em. Some truck kits have trees of various lenses in yellow and red, Revell used to do a bubble top and other clear stuff parts-pack, some of the parts in the AMT and Revell bumper and grille parts packs needed clear lenses to complete 'em, etc. Looks like trees of clear fluted lenses would have been a no-brainer, especially when you look at some of the goofy parts-packs that did make it to market. Like chrome seats. Really?

"Watch this" I shouted as I donned my wax wings and prepared to fly around the Sun.

Riveted fans were pretty common back before everything went to plastic. 1" thick blades though...nah.

Frustrations abound when one attempts to travel across the Sea of Red Tape with anything remotely resembling speed.

Morning coffee and MEK, or cutting oil, or a little lacquer thinner or bondo stink...man, that's the smell of money being made.

Man, those look great. Nice trick there, sir. Yeah, I sometimes forget how measuring-challenged many in the model-tooling biz apparently are.

Unless you vacuum-mold them, like the googly-eyes people sometimes use for no-flute lenses.

The most important part of getting a realistic looking headlight lens is remembering the fact that the flutes on the real glass lenses are on the inside, and the outside convex surface is smooth. Many kit or diecast lenses put the flutes on the outside, and this looks immediately toylike to me. The problem with having the flutes inside the lens is that it requires a 2-part mold to capture both surfaces. There are plenty of UV-inhibited clear casting resins that won't yellow appreciably over time. But it's still a lot of fiddly work to make good ones...worthwhile in my opinion, as good headlights really set a build apart. EDIT: Something else to remember is that there are only two standard sizes for US sealed beam round headlights, and only two for rectangular as well, so there aren't that many molds you'll need to make.

The court case is absolutely hilarious.

I think it's pretty obvious the federal government should pass laws forbidding anyone from owning boxes marked "ACME", explosives in any form for any purpose, magnets, bird seed, detour signs, catapults, anvils, and hot air balloons, and all these items should be confiscated on a nationwide basis. According to multiple studies that ignore or willfully misinterpret easily accessible data, this will solve the coyote crime problem.