68shortfleet Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Incredible work you are doing with this kit. I built it a few months ago, what a poor kit. Swore i would never build another on of them. But for some reason I sure like how it displays on my shelf which tempts me to build another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYRENE-SURFER Posted December 21, 2016 Author Share Posted December 21, 2016 Being winter here in Wisconsin with all my usual gardening leave duties finished till next summer, I have resserected this project. I did spend some time resurching old early funny cars, and found a car with a fair amount of documentation. The (Souza Brothers and Dad) steal bodied w/glass front end funny. Though most every photo found shows that this car was under constant modifications. I did find good info from an old (drag-zine) that gives me some great info, so I will try to base things from it. There is lots of missing details like what was the actual wheelbase of the car I am trying to create. I will have to find a good 427 Wedge W/C6 trans. Algon injection (some photos of this car show Cobra valve covers) is that an A.C. Cobra motor? There is a fair amount of styrene editing going on at this point. If I could ask. 1) what is a good source of an 427 wedge block w/c6 trans.? 2) Do you think this photo depicts a lengthened body, or just the front wheel wells moved forward? 3) is there a way to have decals made for this car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 I was wondering when your Souza Bros. car would surface as a build thread. if you have a straight profile shot of the car, it's easy to scale off of it to get a close approximation of the wheelbase. There's no question that both the front and rear wheels have been moved forward. The rear wheel arch is just about centered under the quarter window (much farther forward) and the front fender appears to have been stretched ahead of the door as well (in addition to the wheel arch being moved forward in the fender). There's no difference, really, between Cobra FE engines and any others...besides the valve covers. A good 427 FE for cheap is available from Revell (on Ebay, under $5 if you shop around) as the old parts-pack kit, but I don't know where you'll find a C6 right off hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardnerpag44 Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Some nice work on this looking very nice . The AMT 1966 Fairlane GT/GTA kit has a nice FE motor and a C-6 , if you can't find any PM me I might have a extra one but can only be built stock . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrKerry Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Liking where this is heading, looking good so far!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10thumbs Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Keep going! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYRENE-SURFER Posted December 22, 2016 Author Share Posted December 22, 2016 Thank you all for the comments. This is really turning out to be a enjoyable yet challenging project. The chassis I worked so hard on is now in the scrap pile. It was just not correct in so many ways, The body in the old AMT funny car kit is really a quite good representation of the factory cars that were sent to Holman Moody( rear wheel wells moved forward etc.), the rest of the kit ehh. I have bene bussy with the razor saw on the interior tub, and my workbench is covered with card stock templates. I have done a LOT of research, but there are just some things I will have to guess at. One thing I really don't know is what the rear interior looked like behind the roll bar, I am guessing it was uncomplicated. The documentation I have collected on this car so far is my guide and I am trying hard not to let my inner engineer to take over. The motor and trans look good Paul, I just don't know about the Algon injection.Bill, here is a side view of the car. To me it sure looks like a stock hood length with the lower portion of the wheel well extended forward.What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Bill, here is a side view of the car. To me it sure looks like a stock hood length with the lower portion of the wheel well extended forward.What do you think? I think you might be right. If you put your finger over the lower edge of the car to hide the wheel cutouts, the rest of the upper proportions look a lot like stock Mustang. As far as the Algon injection goes, it works just like Hilborn, but looks a little different. If you don't want to scratch-build an accurate Algon manifold etc., Speed City makes this resin Hilborn unit for the old Mopar Hemi that should be a good place to start, and has about the right port-spacing for a Ford FE. The tricky bit for an FE-specific manifold is that the upper (inner) valve-cover-gasket rails are part of the manifold (not part of the heads as on most other engines), so there's a fair bit of modding to do to get the exact right look. Combine a kit FE-manifold with the resin one above, and you ought to be able to get something reasonable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYRENE-SURFER Posted December 22, 2016 Author Share Posted December 22, 2016 Thanks Bill, that gives me something to work from.I saw a hood with the tear drop hood for this year of Mustang (I would have to fill in the cutt out on the AMT kit) somewhere on the net.Don"t remember the site, could that be Speed City as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Pretty sure that front end is stock length, but the openings have been moved forward--and then the wheels themselves situated so that they crowd even those at the front edge.The rear wheel openings aren't moved as far forward as the AMT body, and I think the AMT body's openings are larger, but it might be more work to fix this to true accuracy than it's worth. I don't think I'd sweat it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbart Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Wow! What a super build! I know one thing, by the way that car is coming together it's going to be about as correct and perfect as one can get! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYRENE-SURFER Posted December 29, 2016 Author Share Posted December 29, 2016 Here is the interior so far. It's not accurate but I have found no photos that are helpful. I'm just trying to make it look plausible at this point so I can move forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYRENE-SURFER Posted December 29, 2016 Author Share Posted December 29, 2016 here is a view from below and the frame laid on approximately. They need to be bent to shape, the frame behind the coil spring mounting points for the rear axle will be round stock. It seems strange, but that is what I am seeing in my documentation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYRENE-SURFER Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 I needed an engine block and c6 transmission to move on with the mock up of the interior (firewall and trans tunnel) as well figuring out the setback of the motor. I found a 1971 ford Ranger(Moebius kit) locally. Has a 390 block with as far as I can tell a c6 transmission. Is it? Anyway I'm using them to lay out the cutout in the firewall and make sure the hump clears everything until I can get the correct parts. The Transmission in the Moebius kit is nicely molded and looks like the c6 ones I can find online. Please let me know if I'm wrong, not a ford expert. The 390 Block is not that great and I need something with better detail for such an exposed engine situation. Made a mockup frame, well more like a cradle to hold the engine in place while I work on the floorpan. I'm leaning toward doing an early version of the car (short wheelbase, leaf spring front and coil spring rear suspension) less body mods and easier livery. Still wish I had a bitt more info on this car as far as what they did with the frame towards the back of the car. Some things that are unusual to me is the wide spacing of the main frame rails (around the same width as the grill if you look at how the fiberglass front end attached them). Another being there are no front diagonal braces to the rollcage and it looks like only one leading back from the hoop. Here are the pictures. (you can clearly see what Snake is saying about the not correct rear wheel openings in the side view).Honk if you like it. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 HONK HONK !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afx Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 (edited) AMT's '60 Ford Starliner has a nice 352, not sure if it's the same block as the 390. AMT's '66 Fairlane GT has a 390 if I am remembering correctly. Two options you may want to check out. Edited January 6, 2017 by afx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr68gts Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Should be the same JC. And it's possible it's as good as the ones in the AMT 66 Fairlanes. (in fact most if not all 1:1 FE blocks say 352 on them IIRC)Excellent work so far!Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYRENE-SURFER Posted February 3, 2017 Author Share Posted February 3, 2017 (edited) Some progress to report, I had to redo the rear wheel tubs. Stupid mistake, when I glued things together I attached the inside panels to the wrong side of my pencil lines. So that made them to narrow. It's now sorted and the transmission tunnel is finished as well. Stupid question... why did this car have two brake pedals? Was one for the front other for the back? Yah I know, stupid question but I don't know about these types of details of early drag cars. Edited February 3, 2017 by STYRENE-SURFER Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryR Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 My favorite FE Ford motor is Revell's. The Mysterion has two, plus two c -6's.The only FE Ford fuel injection made was in the 67 AMT Mercury Comet annual, and it was very nice!I agree with whoever posted about modifying the MoPar unit. It's accurate (NONE of the present AMT's for any engine are really accurate at all), just needs cutting and fitting to the Ford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYRENE-SURFER Posted February 3, 2017 Author Share Posted February 3, 2017 My favorite FE Ford motor is Revell's. The Mysterion has two, plus two c -6's.The only FE Ford fuel injection made was in the 67 AMT Mercury Comet annual, and it was very nice!I agree with whoever posted about modifying the MoPar unit. It's accurate (NONE of the present AMT's for any engine are really accurate at all), just needs cutting and fitting to the Ford.The Moebius 71 Ranger has a really nice c-6, the 350 block and heads in the kit I think I can use as a base for an FE.The injectors and manifold will probably have to be scratch built. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DumpyDan Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 Well done looking real nice, can't wait to see more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYRENE-SURFER Posted February 15, 2017 Author Share Posted February 15, 2017 Got the interior tub finished, it's going to be painted to replicate aluminum so I had to take extra care making good clean seams in the 15 separate pieces. As well as some fine sanding. (shown with my mockup rear axle) I had sanded some .100 x .188" Evergreen strips down to .100 X .132" for the frame rails, only problem with them is they are not going to be strong enough to hold up the front of the car without some kind of additional support. (see picture) The real car had no diagonal bracing up front. Have thought about brass but can't find the size needed (something close to 1/8x3/32") or Evergreen 1/8" square tube with a brass or carbon fiber rod slid into it would work but look slightly out of scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davewilly Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Looks to be coming along pretty good..The floor board & tunnel look great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeatMan Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Nice! And you did this to take a break from another build? Some break! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STYRENE-SURFER Posted February 15, 2017 Author Share Posted February 15, 2017 Nice! And you did this to take a break from another build? Some break!Thanks, it's turned into a very different type of project than it started out as hasn't it. Always happens to me.I do work on other things but this is getting the most bench time lately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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