Ace-Garageguy

Yes (through '87 engines of the original 1948 design). The "chrome" cam covers are actually polished cast aluminum.

Had to save space for all the extra TP now that the hoarders are at it again. I guess that's what's meant by "white Christmas" in 2020.

Here's a little secret for you. If something is 12" long, it doesn't cost any more to measure it and get 12" than to have some idiot chimp measure it and get 13". It only costs more when the first clown gets 13", the tools get cut, and then somebody else has to fix the problem.

Actually, Agent G posted that. But I could certainly suffer through having it in my possession.

This same old refrain every time. GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME. THEN MORE MONEY ISN'T REQUIRED TO FIX IT.

I live in a semi-rural area, on a large wooded lot. Big fat field mice (big as medium rats, but kinda cute with light gray backs and white bellies) were a problem...12-15 a year in the house, trapped, usually after they'd shredded book bindings, photos, and made nests to raise their young in model boxes. Even having a cat in the house did no good. But since I've been feeding the feral cats outside (my current housecat is a kitten-rescue abandoned by one of them), I've had zero mouse-rat incursions for several years. The feral cats seem to do a very effective job of keeping all the rodents in check too: no more shredded wiring (squirrels) or fouled interiors in the stored cars either. Kinda interesting, as when hunting's not so good, some of the ferals will wait for me to come home so as to be sure to get a meal that day, and even bring their kittens up on the porch to meet the big food-dispenser being. Some of my neighbors, however, prefer to use poison on the rodents. My current cat has been very sick several times from having (probably) eaten a poisoned rodent outside. Some of the neighbors are decidedly anti-feral-cat too. One of the friendliest of the ferals died a while back, after having been shot through the throat and somehow dragging itself back to my front door to bleed out. I understand people being concerned that feral cats prey on songbirds. I love birds too. But the truth is that the cats only get the slow, stupid birds...insuring the survival of the fittest, and improving the overall genetic makeup of the bird population. Kind of a shame there aren't more lions and tigers and bears in the neighborhood.

I would tend to believe you're correct. I'd also venture a guess that most people here didn't notice the paint mismatch between panels on the blue side-view reference photo posted by Matt. But when you have spent your entire professional life making things LOOK right as well as function, these discrepancies stick out like big zits on the Mona Lisa. Which is why I'm continually amazed that the "professionals" tasked with accurately measuring, scaling, and tooling models almost always seem to miss the mark somehow. Mediocrity is "Job 1" apparently.

Yup. I kinda seem to recall somebody said that earlier...

Width-of-frame channeled f'glass '32 body on American Stamping rails. 327 Chebby w/double hump heads, three Rochester 2G twos, Joe Hunt magneto. Tremec TKX 5-speed. "Culver City" Halibrand QC, gennie forged '32 front axle w/4" drop. Doors elongated and suicided. Custom windshield frame, other bits. This model was built in 1/8 to work out how I want to do the real one. Already have most of the parts except the QC rear end and the front axle. Just scored a pair of Jag E-type wires and hubs for the front.

For simplicity's sake, yes. A sloppy real-car builder could leave it in place but inop, or a more knowledgeable real-car builder might even rework it to function as a pressure-retard, but the most likely scenario would be to just get rid of it.

Lamb vindaloo, fragrant basmati rice, naan bread, sweet-hot chutney, Taj Mahal beer. Probably my favorite meal on the planet.

Everything depends on the era and application you're building. A blown car in the 1960s would most likely run a magneto setup, as coil-type ignitions would be on the ragged edge of not being able to make a hot enough spark to light off a blown engine consistently...but the amount of over- or under-drive on the blower is part of the equation. An over-driven blower on a drag car would need more gutsy ignition than an under-driven blower on a street machine. Cylinder pressure in a racing engine will usually be higher than a street engine, requiring a "hotter" spark. There are a few coil ignitions that could handle it back then, like a Spaulding Flamethrower, or some of the other two-coil rigs. Coils would be external on those. On the other hand, a GM HEI distributor, made from about '74 onwards (and looks kinda like your model) makes a much hotter spark than some of the earlier hot-rod setups, should be able to handle a street-driven blown engine without huge boost, and has its coil inside the cap. It only requires one small wire to power it...no coil wire. The first-generation HEI rigs had some limitations, but GM and the aftermarket quickly solved the problems. People dissing the HEI today are generally just rebleating what somebody else said, and most of 'em don't know what they're talking about. A stock HEI distributor with vacuum advance won't work with a blown engine, because there's no way for it to get a boost reference to vary the timing as the blower blows harder. There are, however, plenty of HEI-look distributors that WILL do the job on a blower motor...and none of the differences would be visible. Again, both the "module" and the coil are inside the typical HEI cap, so you don't need to worry about coil wiring (remove the nipple for the coil wire from the cap). HEI caps are usually larger diameter than older coil-type caps, and usually look like this...more or less. Another popular (external-coil) electronic distributor that will do the job is the Mallory Unilite, and its relatives. Use a separate coil, and wire it like you normally would. There's a lot to getting the right ignition system on a real engine, but the info here should be plenty to get your model reasonably accurate. If you're building an earlier car and want to run a magneto or a Flamethrower, I've got posts that show the correct wiring for all of 'em. Just ask.

Exceptional progress on making what you're missing here. Very nice. Unfortunately, these Pontiac engines are so wrong in many areas that I've done almost as much work to one just correcting things as you have manufacturing much of a new one. Still, I'm sure it'll look great in your model...and you certainly deserve extra points for fabricating what you don't have.

Thanks. I'll be working up through Christmas eve, but thought I might steal some model-bench time during the week before New Year. Guess not. I am beginning to imagine putting all the incompetent morons I have to clean up after through wood chippers. Makes for a very satisfying experience.

The Neon just stripped the timing belt belt at 145,000 miles. The "mechanic" I bought the car from swore he did the requisite timing belt change at 100,000. So either the clown flat out lied, or he buggered the install...very common when chimps with tools try to shortcut the job and force the belt over the sprockets with a prybar. Little car treated me well though, and died in the driveway before I got out on the road. Just bought a good used head and 16 new valves, will build it on the bench, then do the swap over Christmas week.

Complete set of factory service manuals for the old PT Cruiser. Pretty much have factory manuals for everything I own now. Considerably richer source of information than Haynes, Chilton's, etc.

At the shop last week... Nice little plastic '32, in for pinstriping: Very fine all-stock '48, other side was torn off: Very clean and tidy 409 Impala (at the shop next door):

Beautiful work, sir. I missed it earlier. Much as I've enjoyed the real ones over the years, I've yet to even start a model of one. Seeing models like this makes me want to remedy that situation.

Mmm mmm GOOD !!! or

What you're actually gonna hear is that tortured front UJ snapping, the sound of metal twisting as those ridiculous shackles pretzel, and the resulting screeeeeeee-thump as she pole-vaults on the driveshaft.

Yeah, kinda like the guy who liked the look of a boat with lotsa holes in the hull.

If that's not a gen-u-wine engineering term by now, it surely otter be.

Pretty much the same runaround I've been getting from Comcast about frequent outages over the past few months. They discourage calls as well, carefully hiding the contact number. So while you're online with Rasheed in Calcutta, the dammed net goes down, and you have to start the whole process over again. My landline also comes in via the same coax as the net, and it fails at the same time as my web connection...naturally. So...I've now run out of cell battery twice while trying to get through to Rasheed and his buds in India too. Everything really is going to hell.

Absolutely outstanding. Real open lovers add immeasurably to the realism of any model. What you've done is to duplicate in scale the exact technique and tooling used in the real world, as you noted above. You must be channeling Gerald Wingrove.