Ace-Garageguy

Very fine, everything about it.

"MUST GET TOILET PAPER...MUST GET TOILET PAPER..."

Buncha stuff lately, mostly to fill in gaps for donors for other things. Thing I'm most enthusiastic about though, is a full set of the 5 Tamiya engraving tips and bespoke handle. Not cheap, but exactly what I'm lacking in tools to restart some hanging-fire builds.

I build mostly heavily modified stuff. I like the concept and design phase the most. Problem solving, determining everything will fit and would actually work.The early roughing-in of custom bodywork and mechanical mockups also appeal, as it allows me to see what the final result will be. After that, it becomes drudgery.

Never mind.

Yup. Bought two Thames gasser kits just to get the fuel injection. Bought Challengers and Showboats for the engines, bellhousings, gearboxes, and diffs. And on and on and on...

Yup. The engines are physically of similar size, the engine mounts are in about the same place as most smallblock Chevy engines (the '57 Chevy uses front mounts, while the vast majority of smallblock Chevy mills use side mounts), and in the real-world, GM even kept the same bellhousing bolt pattern, so older gearboxes will bolt up. Pay attention to the routing and positioning of radiator hoses, and that's about it.

No offense, but I'd rather shoot myself than listen to the Dead.

Yup...the OEM FirePower pans and most of the aftermarket place the sump to the rear, for just the reason you cite...oil pump in back. HOWEVER...where crossmember clearance is an issue, it is entirely possible to lengthen the pickup tube forward and use a front sump. Photo below shows where the pickup lives relative to the pump. Obviously, the pickup tube could be extended forward instead. Oil slosh during hard acceleration would be controlled by "trap doors" and/or baffles.

If you're doing a 5-window '36, this should help... Here's a thread on a '36 three-window chop...probably more cutting than I'd do, bit the end result looks good. More pix, same guy, and same kit you're doing, by the way...

Chopping a very similar roof has been covered in some depth in this thread:

Gotta last until dis panik be called off...

I'm workin' on a little rap ditty... I got a roll a TP and a sawed-off You gonna hafta keep yo damm pawsoff...

Not freakin' likely.

Either. If I see a smoking hot deal under buy-it-now, I'll jump on it. But auctions have just as much appeal, depending on the model and how stupid prices get. I'm curbing my acquisitiveness though. I just passed on two reasonably auctioned kits I really would have liked to have...virgin copies of stuff I already own. But I prefer to think of myself as a "builder", not a "collector", so I let 'em go.

At the very least Mad Max-style barbed wire rigging and a .50 cal on the roof.

Agreed. Thanks for the color number reference.

Kewl. I like heem.

Well that bites a big one. The box art tires are perfect for a military vehicle I'm doing. Bugger.

Guess I could master and cast some. Probably sell 2. Maybe. Never mind.

Hmmmmmmm...not what I immediately thought.

Hey man...there's an awful lot of gearboxes out there, and lotsa different flavors of the Hydramatics. Kinda impossible to remember all of it every time.

No, actually. 1) His build of a Grand Prix requires a Slim Jim RotoHydramatic, not the big Hydramatic. 2) The B&M conversions most typically used the earlier Hydramatic cases with removable side covers, as are in all the kits featuring them. The Super Hydramatic, which would be correct for a Bonneville or Star Chief, has an entirely different case with no removable side cover.

THIS IS THE SUPER HYDRAMATIC FOR A BONNEVILLE OR STAR CHIEF