Ace-Garageguy

Yeah, but that was the days before CAD, and the chassis wasn't really intended originally to take the big engine anyway. You just about had to cut some access holes to get to the plugs in the Sumbeam Tiger too, but again, the engine was shoehorned into a car it was never intended for. I was not impressed when one of the CAD-designed Chryslers of fairly recent manufacture required wheel removal to change the battery. I recall the first time I worked on one of the early CAD-designed Nissan products, and though it looked like there was no way in hell I could do timing-chain tensioners with the engine in the car, it came apart remarkably easily. There was just enough room to get everything out. I was really impressed. One of the beauties of CAD is that you can build and disassemble everything in virtual reality, and make damm sure something is easy to service BEFORE the design is finalized and tooling is committed. Those Nissan designers got it right, but more and more, there's just NO THOUGHT given to access or ease of service...and I'm an engineer myself. I can usually look at something for a few minutes and see how, with just a few simple mods (that could have been EASILY done in VR during the design-phase) a nightmare-to-work-on POS could have been otherwise.

Looks like turbos blowing into a high-rise 4-bbl manifold with no carbs or fuel injection, as Mr. Boyd mentioned...BUT...the same basic turbo arrangement could blow into an "airbox" built around a Hilborn short-stack manifold, so all the Hilborn stacks and stuff could be omitted, other than fuel lines and linkage going into the "box".

it faster than

Speaking of which...one setup that could be wickedly badass would be a turbo (or turbos) blowing into a Hilborn injection setup. I've never seen it done on the street, but it's entirely feasible (for the time period Mr. Snake is thinking about too), and could work just fine without the longish injection stacks often associated with a Hilborn rig...so it could all fit under a stock hood. (the shot below is on a 4-cylinder, but you get the idea...) Hmmmmm...I may have to do one on something.

down his leg

Yup. Another case of fixing something that ain't broke, and redesigning-the-wheel by a group of folks that may be a gender-and-ethnically-balanced "team", but who have no idea of what a truck is actually for. Of course, "NEW!!!" "GIMMICKY!!!" and "NEEDLESSLY COMPLEX!!!" has appeal to one market sector.

But all that really is is a further reinforcement of my oft-repeated opinion that serviceability is the LAST thing that occurs to most machine designers now, and repairs have become needlessly difficult.

My last ex was a new-car-only girl. At the time she bought her last new loaded Yotyto, I could have got her a pristine old 911 for the same bucks (she COULD drive a stick, this was well before the prices went nuts, and you could still buy exceptionally clean, well-maintained one-owner cars for reasonable money). The last time we talked, some years back, the dealer had just bent her over for a $1300 brake job on a car that was only a couple of years old. When I explained to her that the parts were only about $50 and the rest was a hosing, she got furious...at ME. Yes sir...get your girl in that Nomad.

The cheap oil changes are losing-money propositions for the dealerships, and ONLY act as a way to get potential customers in the door to be up-sold other services. Frankly, it's kinda tough for an honest dealership to make any money on the mechanical side. There's simply a flaw in the business model that encourages them to cheat. The first (and best) dealership I ever worked for...as an apprentice...sold new Datsuns, Fiats, and Triumphs. The lube rack guys did a 1500-mile oil change on a brand new 240Z, and then took it to lunch. When the car came back, the rod bearings were knocking and the idiots professed to know nothing about it. Turned out they'd been playing grab-ass and neither one had put any oil back IN the car after replacing the drain plug.

Air-cooled engines still need the fan shrouds to direct cooling air over the heads and cylinders. The perimeter seals that normally seal the shrouds to the engine bay are a separate issue, and can be dispensed with on a buggy. It appears your buggy has no fan shroud, and the heads and cylinders would cook quite soon. Just moving down the road is not enough to cool it, and without the shroud and other cooling "tin", the fan just blows air out the sides, NOT over the heads and cylinders. I always cringe when I see some guy letting his Harley sit idling on a hot day too. I can almost hear the engine screaming in agony.

Pete mentioned brittleness...I once soaked an old Indy-car frame in brake fluid to remove some particularly stubborn paint. When I took the frame out, it had become so brittle that it broke into small parts during handling. It was too brittle to repair. As soon as I glued one area back together, another one would break. Apparently brake fluid can leach the plasticizers out of some old styrene formulations, so proceed with caution when stripping vintage or irreplaceable parts.

Excellent advice.

As you suspect, the perimeter seals on anything air-cooled would do nothing on a car that has an exposed engine. On buggies, the heated cooling air tends to blow away, but sitting and idling on a windless day can be a problem. On my 550 Spyder replica (hot-rod VW powered), the engine bay is wide open, but covered by the rear bodywork. There are no seals (the original was primarily a racing car, and at speed, heated cooling air would leave under the car and out the vents on the rear deck) and stop-go traffic or idling will see the head temps skyrocket as pre-heated air is recycled over the engine.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The turbo setup shown above appears to be another "artistic interpretation" that has only a passing relationship to actual function in reality. The plumbing, as shown, would have the two exhaust manifolds blowing into a T, directly at each other apparently. A HUGE flow restriction. Then the exhaust gas is supposed to find its way to the turbine (I assume that the T and the lower 1/2 of an insulated shroud around the entire turbo unit, and the lower half of the turbine exhaust, is what's supposed to be represented by part #13, with #12 being the upper half of the shroud and exhaust from the turbine section), and exhaust out to the engine compartment, at the far side of 12/13. Parts 10 and 11 are apparently an air intake for the compressor section (with no filter), and the output of the compressor is apparently directed into the top of the carb. Yes, it's a "blow through" system and it's sorta OK, but really misses the mark for anyone wanting realism...if the parts look like the instructions.

I saw more than a few of this build style while I was growing up in the East. Nice job so far.

Brian's right. By the time she ended up junked, she could have had just about ANY engine swapped in, not just a Ford. Except that the '56 has a wrap-around windshield, which the '53 does not.

while passing gas

Nice job on that. She presents like a survivor that's been maintained and actually used. Though it's not an easy kit and has some detail inaccuracies, it does capture the proportions of the real car pretty well.

Goober's pool boy

Interesting. Nice start. Muncie (above) answered my question as to how only 32 units (in full scale) could possibly justify the tooling cost for pressing the rear body panels: "All of the metal is sections from tooling for existing Brookville bodies".

Excellent. If more people would just watch their gauges, there would be far fewer unnecessary repair bills, or vehicles needlessly killed.

WATCH YOUR TEMP GAUGE. By the time the "low coolant" light comes on, you could have already blown a head gasket.

100% syntax free

Wow Rob...you could be on the leading edge of a whole new fad.