1/8 scale woody

[Cato]

I'm still building linkages! Holy krapp! There are so many mechanical linkages on this engine, it's taken me several days just to add them all. I hope to have finished engine pix up tonite or tomorrow.

You once told me long ago that you might do some of Haddock's stuff but certainly not all of it. That's out the window.

Considering you don't have a lathe and mill nor bolts smaller than 00-90, you're doing great work.

I just did a similar simulation of his parts best I could without those advanced tools.

[Harry P.]

You once told me long ago that you might do some of Haddock's stuff but certainly not all of it. That's out the window.

Considering you don't have a lathe and mill nor bolts smaller than 00-90, you're doing great work.

I just did a similar simulation of his parts best I could without those advanced tools.

I'm finished with the engine. I added maybe 90-95% of the missing details. At some point it just gets to the point of diminishing returns... there is so much intricate detail there, that adding even more seems redundant. The biggest problem I had with all the linkages was keeping all of the various vertical and horizontal pieces parallel to each other. Being off by as little as half a millimeter in measurements or fabrication, and a link won't fit properly, or won't be straight, or parallel to the rest, etc.

This is the craziest I've ever gotten on an engine. Once I started adding stuff, I couldn't stop!

Anyway, there's no point in listing all of the things I added... your eyes would glaze over, there's just that much stuff! One item I will mention, though, is that "elbow" wiring loom at the front right corner of the engine, that the ignition wires are routed through. Pocher skipped this part altogether, so I scratchbuilt one using my photo references... and I think it turned out great, if I do say so myself!

[Harry P.]

One thing I need to mention... if you look closely at the photo immediately above, you can see a horizontal shaft running between the carb and the distributor mounting tower... right where the engine color changes from silver at the bottom to black at the top. If you build the kit's engine straight from the box, and try to add that link (which is the major link that ties the carb and ignition control linkages together), you'll find that the link will be very crooked. That's because the carb is too high in relation to the distributor mounting plate. You have to either lower the carb a lot, or raise the distributor platform a lot. But doing that makes things look odd, so I split the difference and lowered the carb half the amount needed, and raised the distributor platform the other half. Now that rod can run correctly (parallel to the ground). But raising the distributor platform also raises the distributor, obviously... putting the distributor up too close to that ignition wire loom and making it very hard to get the six ignition wires to make the tight bends necessary to feed into that loom. The fix was easy... I just cut down the bottom of the distributor body. Even though it's cut short, it still looks ok.

[Harry P.]

One more thing... in the photos you see several links that are just sort of hanging there, not conected to anything. That's because those links will eventually need to be linked up to the firewall (and theoretically through the firewall to the dash and steering wheel hub controls).

[wayne swayze]

OUTSTANDING !!

[Twokidsnosleep]

OUTSTANDING !!

Here here, I completely agree

Cement the bonnet flaps on the car, make an engine stand and let the engine sit out of its own!!!

That is really superb work

[Nacho Z]

Twokidsnosleep has a good idea. I know you need to install the engine but how nice would it be to have it sitting on a stand beside the car. Great work Harry!

[Cato]

Really clean build in record time.

Yes, I discovered Haddock's stuff after I had much assembled - like the carb height- so had to retro fit a lot. Left the carb in wrong position but altered the dizzy mount tower height as you did.

When you get there, there's an error in how the Autovac out line connects; it needs to come forwards not out the side. The firewall will be your next adventure in scratch work. The wire track molded on is all wrong as is the height of the relay box. I used flattened ally tube to make new. The wire loom you made is good and Marv will be disappointed you didn't spend the $12. Neither did I.

Amazing how little of any of this you will see when fully built.

[Cato]

BTW- You may want to remove the gas pedal from the spacer block. Makes it too hard to get the floor around the pedals. Still stands well enough without being pinned to the block. If you're not gonna lower the firewall, just attach the spacer to the chassis.

Also, slicing the toe board off the floor (right at the angle) is a huge help with in and out. Can be set back in when the floor bolted in finally.

[Harry P.]

When you start moving things around, you can cause some problems later on.

By moving the carb lower (to allow that control link to run horizontally and not crooked), I now had interference between the carb and the steering box. Uh oh...

My first thought was to simply grind away some of the carb where it interferes with the steering box, but after the time I spent on this engine, that seemed kind of a crude way to "fix" the problem. So I had a better idea... simply move the location of the steering box slightly rearwards and down so it'll clear the carb. That involves nothing more than drilling a new hole in the frame rail for the steering shaft. The existing hole was plugged with a bit of styrene. Then I'll Bondo that, glue some fake boltheads made of hex-shaped styrene rod to replace the ones that had to be removed when the hole was moved, and presto! Steering box will now fit without hitting the carb...

[Cato]

Then you need to make a new longer drag link. Splice the old one; piece of cake.

[Foxer]

That engine is a beautiful piece

[Mike Kucaba]

Just looked in on this build-up... Really Breathtaking!!!

[bobthehobbyguy]

The engine looks great. Looks likes it full size. Great job on the pictures

[Harry P.]

The rear axle assembly is incredibly complex, mostly due to the complex system of levers and rods of the mechanical brake system. Many of the components are plated brass. I don't think any of these parts would have been plated in real life, so all of them will have to be painted semi-gloss black...

[cobraman]

Top notch work as usual.

[Harry P.]

While all of those parts are drying, I decided to do a quick mockup of the engine installed in the chassis... just to make sure the steering box would now fit into my repositioned frame rail hole without hitting the carb. Success! But I found another problem... the radiator, if installed per the kit pieces, winds up being too far back. The front of the engine (where the hand crank would go) interferes with the radiator, and the fan would hit the radiator, too. Simple solution: re-drill the holes in that U-shaped front crossmember that the radiator sits on top of, moving them forward about 2mm. Now the radiator can be bolted down to that crossmember and there will be enough clearance between it and the engine components.

BUT... remember, every time you move one thing, the fit of other things is affected. In this case, because the radiator/grille shell is now further forward, the distance between it and the leading edges of the cowl has increased... meaning the hood panels will now be too short!

The solution in this case is easy. I can either move the cowl forward enough so that the hood panels fit, or I can simply add some plastic strip to the edges of the hood panels to lengthen them. Either way works. And the reason I can move the cowl forward is that, remember... I'm building the woody body from scratch, and can adjust the dimensions to whatever they need to be. If I were building this kit box stock, I would not move the cowl forward, as that would affect the fit of the doors... I would just lengthen the hood panels and leave the cowl where it's supposed to be. But a custom body gives me the option of either lengthening the hood panels or moving the cowl forward... whichever winds up bring easier.

[Cato]

Respectfully, you're correct as far as you go. But your solution brings up another hitch.

Moving the rad forward will mean shortening the front tray. You could do that or eliminate it.

Far simpler is the Koo idea of drilling the lower rad for the crank snout clearance. Taking a slight shave off the fan pulley boss on the block gets that off the rad. Simpler by far than adding shim to the hoods.

Don't think you want to move the firewall forward or the cowl; many worms in that can.

EDIT: just found mine:

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Edited July 2, 2015 by Cato

[Harry P.]

Yeah, I actually ground away the inside of the radiator first, like you did. Also shortened the fan pulley shaft, like you did. But I still wasn't happy with how close the fan was to the backside of the radiator... that's when I moved the grille shell holes on the crossmember forward.

But I think you're right, I should just go with the original mounting position for the radiator.

Aren't Pochers fun?

[Cato]

Yes--- because they bring us closer together...

[Harry P.]

Hey C... what did you use as reference for your firewall details?

[Cato]

Hey C... what did you use as reference for your firewall details?

Egon had sent me some fantastic 1:1 shots of a '29. Tomorrow, I'll round them up and buzz you.

[Cato]

I got fairly close on my interpretation, but you make better ball links on the rods than I do. Here's the general idea;

Here's the worst thing they did; the wire shield run. It was like this, with the relay box lowered. It actually exits the upper box lower on the side but I missed that. Got the rest right. The structure was an aluminum casting. The whole firewall front edge is kit wrong with the brass strips the location where the body actually begins. Good luck with that but I know Haddock's done it. Fill the kit holes and remember the foot pedal had a lever coming through for the oiling cannister:

[Cato]

Harry, here's my lower radiator view. You can see that the crank snout just peeks into the rectangular slot shown above. Not much contact.

Also seen here is a very helpful and strong new attachment for the radiator. I enlarged the screw holes in the grille shell to .080. Then made 'studs' out of 2mm threaded rod and nuts. Nut at the top, a drop of CA and into the holes. Then a drop of epoxy to secure them in the shell. Carve a little clearance for the nuts in the plastic bottom corners of the rad. The studs come through the crossmember and the constant removal and replacement is a plug in - no more wiggly, stripped skinny Pocher screws. You can see here the nut and washer from the bottom which snugs it up. Very sturdy. Getting the firewall and grille shell sturdy is very important. When you make the brace rod between them, it hold the positions of these vital parts solid for body and hood attachment.

If you didn't drill the firewall for the Koo-recommended 8mm down from top rod location already, I can show you an accurate attachment using a clevis , at the top edge of the firewall.

if you want....

[crazyrichard]

harry : whow .. awsome ... love the woody idea !!!!