Ace-Garageguy

That's enough, and getting to be a pretty rare commodity indeed.

I LIKE that, Mr. Snake.

No. Praise for "c%#p"? Isn't that actually lying? Lying pretty much never makes anything better, no matter what kind of good intentions the lie is dressed up in.

Wowee zowee. I just got caught up on this one, and it's one sweet piece of work.

Holy cow. That certainly IS something I'd buy if I had Bill Gates' money.

Yeah, I hear "mirrow" a lot (for that scary thing that has reflections in it), and "draws", both for undershorts and the slidy-things you keep them in.

Depending the speed the car attained just prior to the crash, I'd suspect aerodynamic instability from a pressure buildup under the lowest point on the nose. Approaching trans-sonic velocities, air does really funny things, some very difficult to predict. Drag increases astronomically, and small control inputs can have zero effect, or wildly amplified effect. I kinda doubt her engineer(s) had access to the latest-and-greatest CFD analysis tools like the F1 guys use, and those would only be good up to about 200MPH anyway. Designing something really fast that lives in ground-effect is entirely different from designing an airplane too, kinda unknown territory, the definition of "black art". Leaked photos of the wreckage on a flatbead show the apparent effects of a crash, as well as what appears to be all-enveloping fire. The local sheriff's department have acknowledged the fire, and are said to be working with the team to recover data from the onboard computers.

SEPT 9, 2019 PROGRESS REPORT cont'd. There was a fair bit of bodywork to get it looking like I envisioned, including filling most of the panel lines (as it represents a one-piece clone body shell). One of the more challenging aspects was getting the shapes right at the headlight locations, and correcting the flat-faced look common to the AMT 4-eyed Corvettes. This is an ongoing process. Getting there, but still a fair bit of work needed to get the body right. It's all about caring enough to do what it takes, as many times as it takes...to satisfy myself. Bondo "Professional" two-part polyester glazing putty for the heavy fills, Tamiya white putty for small corrections. Duplicolor "hot rod gray" and "red oxide" sandable rattlecan primers. EDIT: The reason for using different colors of primers on the removable body parts is primarily to help make fit issues jump out. It works quite well.

SEPT 9, 2019 PROGRESS REPORT I did some remedial work on the block, shown earlier, and then realized the valve covers I wanted to use were rather too large for the engine I'm using, which is from an old AMT '57 Chebby kit. As it's kinda late in the game to change engines, and as I really didn't want to split up a better engine to get heads, the best solution was to add .020" stock on 3 faces of each head. This got me in the ballpark, and still works fine with the modified block. With the head situation largely resolved, I went ahead and built some simple headers out of scale 2" rod, drilled on the ends to represent tubing. The flanges are .020" stock, which is kinda fat to be scale-correct, but it looks OK to me (and I'll probably thin 'em just a tad prior to final assembly anyway). I had to make a little joggle in the front pipe to clear the steering box and bracket, and this is why I got the steering mocked up 100% first. The little brace strip at the lower end is .010" X .020", and will be trimmed close to the end pipes. The outlets will also be evened out (actually, they have been, as later build-up photos will show). After finishing, the assemblies were shot in Duplicolor sandable white primer, which mimics the look of the early VHF white nicely. One head finished and shot with real Chebby-orange engine paint, and some shallow holes drilled in the block in appropriate places to suggest freeze-plugs. A nice cast metal oil filter from Curbside Dioramics, though a little large for absolute scale-correct, adds a realistic touch. The oil pan I'm using is from a Revell smallblock Chebby parts-pack engine (the AMT kit pan had a hole for a metal axle and a molded-in oil filter; it also represented a cast, finned alloy job, and I wanted to stay with a modified steel pan). It's the right width for this 409, has a nice overall shape, but needed lengthening and a modification to the front sealing rail that could conceivably work with the engine mount-plate as I have it. Again, .020" stock to the rescue. The modified bellhousing and B&M HydroStick trans, shot in a red that's pretty close to what B&M actually used. A little more work on the oil pan. I decided to add material to represent a modded pan with more capacity, and deep enough in front to house a windage-tray.

Yup. But that line "on other forums, someone will say that they are upset when too many people post exceptional work because it makes them feel inadequate about their own work" boggles the mind.

What year Corvair? That would be another nice one to have now.

All I've ever paid was $2.99 per month. Since 2012. Until today. Pretty "reasonable", if you ask me. P-bucket never tried to "extort" anything from paid users. They just wanted to clear out the deadbeats. At the time of the "extortion" debacle, there were so many free users running ad-blockers that P-bucket was losing money. Part of the "free" deal is that people would at least be exposed to the ads. Ads blocked, zero income for P-bucket, but their expenses continue. Is that fair? I agree the way they handled the whole thing was heavy-handed and reprehensible, it enraged me at the time because so much high-quality web content just disappeared...but one more time, people who weren't trying to get something-for-nothing didn't get "screwed". Here's another comparison: let your engine run out of oil. It blows up. It costs several thousand dollars to get it replaced. Blame the car. But keeping watch on the oil level and maybe adding one quart for $3 each month would have prevented the problem. And of course, not being a moron, I have all my photos stored safely on my own equipment too. Anyone who stores all their data on the web with no hard backup is a fool.

If you get aluminum ones, they're not any harder to shorten than plastic. Plus, they're already shiny metal. Parts by Parks makes at least two lengths...

I bought an S1 covered-headlight E-type Jag for $400 that had the same problem. Got it running and sold it on for $1000 and thought I'd done well. Now I see what rough cars bring today...

P-bucket's not perfect, but then again, I can't think of any web thingamajig that is. Occasionally, my own photos have been blurred, and I was concerned. It turned out to be a temporary glitch. And though P-bucket has their fair share, pretty much any web thingy I use with enough frequency to be aware of its shortcomings will have the odd hiccup, or downright idiotic functionality issues. Again, if somebody isn't paying, I don't see much validity in griping. Kinda like...hmmmmmm...if I work on somebody's car for free just to help him out in an emergency, there's no guarantee the repair will last forever (though God knows, some fools will try to get one).

I had a $2.99/month account when P-bucket tried to "extort" money from the free users. They never tried to "extort" money from the paying users, my account still costs the same...and there's no watermark over my pix. Using an ad-blocker, the site loads plenty fast enough. Like I've said...people who want something for nothing shouldn't whinge when they get what they pay for.

...and people who use the non-word "maronaise" to mean both "marinate" and "mayonnaise". Yes, really.

Here's some finned alloy heads with the pumps, early-style...

Yup, water pumps on the heads should be right for a '34. IIRC they lived there from '32 -'36, and in '37 moved down to the lower block. The connections for the upper water hoses could be in the center of the heads, or in front. I honestly don't remember all the possible permutations...so do your research.

Just an FYI on Ford flathead engines...not all water pumps are mounted on the lower front edge of the block. There are also at least 4 designs (that I'm familiar with) that DO mount on the block. They have different mount configurations, so if accuracy is part of the equation, a little due-diligence during research is advisable...

Yeah, well...in my experience, that's how most everything and everybody works. Yes, there are occasionally really good folks who won't try to scam you one way or another, or at the very least, come out on top of the deal...and I can count the good ones I've known on one hand. The more life experience you have, the more you realize that greed and self-interest are universal components of human nature, and it almost always takes somebody who consciously overcomes their natural slimeball tendencies and becomes one of the good guys. I say "almost always" because I actually know two people who are just naturally fair. They are also the only people I have kept as friends.

Good looking truck. That dio is pretty fine too. Very real first impression in some shots, particularly the color of the lighting that looks like fluorescent, and that shadow on the rollup doors. I've noticed exactly that in a buncha shops.

She's a real sweetheart, one of the most genuine and kind people I've ever met. Anybody lucky, it's me. She's not a doormat though. She's got a temper when she's wronged, and she can dig her heels in and be at least as pigheaded as I can...and that's some serious pigheaded. We've been friends since the early '80s. One of my exes met her some years back and said "she's so phony; nobody could really be that nice". Yeah, well...she is. But the ex turned out to be kinda phony about a lot of stuff, and not very nice.

Thank you, sir. I wish that was all she needed too, but she'll be OK. Funny about your "girl friend skinned her toes on the pavement". I bought a '60 Corvair that wouldn't run once for $5. The eccentric lobe on the cam that drove the fuel pump was worn flat. A cheapo electric pump fixed her right up though. Your story reminded me of the Corvair because I took it on a double date after I had it all cleaned up and pretty. The rear carpets looked OK, as did a quick glance under the car (for $5, I wasn't looking too hard) but when the girl got in the back, her leg went right through the floor. The cardboard, tape, and undercoating rust "repair" wasn't fully structural.

Got the 05' Neon "check engine" light out and the car running great. My good friend who owns it had been told it needed an engine (!!!) by several wizard "mechanics". They also wanted to do all manner of monkey motion to the trans, as it would stutter and shudder when it upshifted under anything over 1/2 throttle. The codes were cylinder 1 misfire, and cam sensor. They told her it had zero compression on one cylinder too, hence the idiots wanting to swap in a junkyard engine instead of actually diagnosing and fixing the real problem. As it's essentially a one-owner car, with just over 100,000 miles, I kinda smelled a rodent. Turned out to actually have slightly low compression on one cylinder, from a weak valve spring. Also had a cracked vacuum line, so it was sucking air on one runner at idle and misfiring when stopped, in drive. The cam-position sensor was also actually bad. Little car runs like new again, no "engine" light, no idle misfire, no trans-shudder, still good after a 100-mile test drive.