1972coronet Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 3 hours ago, tim boyd said: I'm not much on Celebrities, to be honest, but I found [ Jay Leno ] to be refreshingly down to earth - just two car guys sharing their interests. Jay most certainly is an everyday man. I met him at the annual Spring Fling Chrysler show at Woodley Park (Van Nuys) in 1997 , purely unintentionally. I literally bumped-into him as we were perusing the same car (haha). He said something to the effect of , "Fancy meeting you like this !" We both shared a laugh as he introduced himself. Very nice , and one of the most sincere, authentic guys I've ever met, Celebrity notwithstanding ( I also met Dennis Hopper back in 1999 at an art show. He, too, was very personable). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris chabre Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 youre making me wish I never sold my LX Dennis. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geemoney Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 great stuff here, love the subject! this week my daily driver broke. I was FORCED to drive my 665 HP SVT COBRA all week... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Great project. Love seeing how you approach doing things. Glad you were able decide to do this project despite the short comings of the kit. In fact in this case the backstory could be that the top had been chopped to make the car a little more aerodynamic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 (edited) UPDATE! I’m back! I haven’t been able to have a Sunday afternoon at my workbench for a month worth of Sundays. And not for lack of desire. The weekend before Christmas we were visiting another state and for the rest it’s been just cold enough (and rainy) to make it uncomfortable to sit out in the garage. Finally, today it all worked out! Since it had been a while I had forgotten what I wanted to do next so to get the juices flowing I messed around with some easy drilling and pinning of various engine parts to make mock ups and final assembly easier. Then I got compelled to mock up the engine, tube k-member and rear axle upside down for a look. This caused me to start messing around with exhaust ideas… Below is what the kit gives you. On the left is stock system and on the right is the optional drag race system which consists of MAC Pro-Chamber mid section and some bullet style mufflers that are disappointingly simplified. Not even turn down tips behind the mufflers. Hokey! I don’t like the looks of either system, the pipe size looks a little small and wimpy and both would need modifications to mate up with the new SVT Cobra engine and long tube headers. After giving it some serious thought I decided this car needed Flowmaster mufflers like every proper 90’s Mustang. Only catch is that I didn’t have any and I’m not even sure if there are any available in scale? No problem, I’ll make my own! I started with laminating some chunks of plastic together, cut them into the basic dimension, finished shaped them then added the seam strip. A couple of robust looking turn-down tips were made from the ends of the headers found in Revell’s recent reissued ‘29 Roadster or their original issue of the ‘30 Coupe. I then made new exhaust pipes from Evergreen 3/32” tubing which is a size bigger than the kit pipes which (IMO) give a much more aggressive appearance. It’s like the difference between stock the 2.25” pipes and proper aftermarket 2.50” pipes on the full scale cars. Once the pipes were fitted I then trimmed a crossover pipe to fit between creating a classic Fox Body Mustang “H-pipe” mid-section. The mufflers have alignment pins which fit into the pipes and the front ends of the pipes were drilled out bigger to fit over the little alignment nipples on the headers. I also made a new driveshaft since the kit piece was now too long. I used larger 1/8” Evergreen tube and heavier U-joints from Revell’s ‘32 Ford kits to replicate the bigger diameter aluminum HD driveshaft that was offered in the old Ford Motorsport SVO caltalogs (and is still available from the current version of the brand, Ford Performance.) Now the exhaust system can get crossed off the to-do list. Always a big deal! Some people will probably call cop out for not doing full tailpipes but SO MANY of these cars ran dumped Flowmaster’s back in 90’s, one of mine included for a while! Edited January 10, 2022 by Dennis Lacy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullybeef Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 I can hear that blasting down the boulevard now! Looks great @Dennis Lacy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve H Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Nice work as always Dennis. Great to see you back at the bench! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cool Hand Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Good to see a progress update. tidy work on the exhaust. Many of the street car's I remember that dumped straight out the box's had that sweet sounding lumpy cam deep rumble. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Vroom, vroom!! -RRR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keef Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 On 12/16/2021 at 9:22 PM, chris chabre said: youre making me wish I never sold my LX Dennis. He’s making me want to buy my old Fox Coupe back from the guy I sold it to 32 years ago. It’s still sitting in the same spot and only missing the steering column. 79 fox coupe factory V8 car. I can get it for about $350 🤣😂 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keef Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 10 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said: UPDATE! I’m back! I haven’t been able to have a Sunday afternoon at my workbench for a month worth of Sundays. And not for lack of desire. The weekend before Christmas we were visiting another state and for the rest it’s been just cold enough (and rainy) to make it uncomfortable to sit out in the garage. Finally, today it all worked out! Since it had been a while I had forgotten what I wanted to do next so to get the juices flowing I messed around with some easy drilling and pinning of various engine parts to make mock ups and final assembly easier. Then I got compelled to mock up the engine, tube k-member and rear axle upside down for a look. This caused me to start messing around with exhaust ideas… Below is what the kit gives you. On the left is stock system and on the right is the optional drag race system which consists of MAC Pro-Chamber mid section and some bullet style mufflers that are disappointingly simplified. Not even turn down tips behind the mufflers. Hokey! I don’t like the looks of either system, the pipe size looks a little small and wimpy and both would need modifications to mate up with the new SVT Cobra engine and long tube headers. After giving it some serious thought I decided this car needed Flowmaster mufflers like every proper 90’s Mustang. Only catch is that I didn’t have any and I’m not even sure if there are any available in scale? No problem, I’ll make my own! I started with laminating some chunks of plastic together, cut them into the basic dimension, finished shaped them then added the seam strip. A couple of robust looking turn-down tips were made from the ends of the headers found in Revell’s recent reissued ‘29 Roadster or their original issue of the ‘30 Coupe. I then made new exhaust pipes from Evergreen 3/32” tubing which is a size bigger than the kit pipes which (IMO) give a much more aggressive appearance. It’s like the difference between stock the 2.25” pipes and proper aftermarket 2.50” pipes on the full scale cars. Once the pipes were fitted I then trimmed a crossover pipe to fit between creating a classic Fox Body Mustang “H-pipe” mid-section. The mufflers have alignment pins which fit into the pipes and the front ends of the pipes were drilled out bigger to fit over the little alignment nipples on the headers. I also made a new driveshaft since the kit piece was now too long. I used larger 1/8” Evergreen tube and heavier U-joints from Revell’s ‘32 Ford kits to replicate the bigger diameter aluminum HD driveshaft that was offered in the old Ford Motorsport SVO caltalogs (and is still available from the current version of the brand, Ford Performance.) Now the exhaust system can get crossed off the to-do list. Always a big deal! Some people will probably call cop out for not doing full tailpipes but SO MANY of these cars ran dumped Flowmaster’s back in 90’s, one of mine included for a while! Equal length headers with 3” pipe, 1 chamber Flowmasters and turn downs sounded soooo good on my 87 GT 😍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keef Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 On 12/17/2021 at 9:55 AM, geemoney said: great stuff here, love the subject! this week my daily driver broke. I was FORCED to drive my 665 HP SVT COBRA all week... Oh the humanity 🤣😂🤣😂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullybeef Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 @Dennis Lacy with all the upgrades to the engine and exhaust will you be adding subframe connectors as well,( unsure if the kit has them)? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, Bullybeef said: @Dennis Lacy with all the upgrades to the engine and exhaust will you be adding subframe connectors as well,( unsure if the kit has them)? Most definitely! The kit doesn’t have them so I’ll be making my own. That’s probably the next step. Edited January 10, 2022 by Dennis Lacy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris chabre Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 3 hours ago, Keef said: He’s making me want to buy my old Fox Coupe back from the guy I sold it to 32 years ago. It’s still sitting in the same spot and only missing the steering column. 79 fox coupe factory V8 car. I can get it for about $350 🤣😂 mine was a 79 coupe. 10 pt moly cage, full Wolfe tubular front suspension, 4 inch cowl, 5 lug svo front brakes, 5 lug 8.8., mini tubbed, real 18 inch 2000 cobra Rs it was a retired drag car that I was going to use as a fully gutted street driven drift car. I was going to put my 14 to 1 289 in it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limeyglue Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Nice work on the exhaust Dennis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geemoney Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 love the mufflers and the overlap on the cases!!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 18 hours ago, Steve H said: Nice work as always Dennis. Great to see you back at the bench! Thanks Steve! It’s tough when you really want to be at the bench and you can’t be. I might not have made it another week! 🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 UPDATE! Today was a bit frustrating as I tried to get going back on the LX. As I last worked on it I felt like I had gotten the engine properly located fore & aft which allowed me to make a new driveshaft and exhaust system. As I started trying to work with the project today I decided that I would also like to add a locating pin to align the transmission with its cross member but I just couldn’t get the engine positioning to cooperate like before requiring the rework of the motor mounts that I had added to the pads on the tubular K-member so that they properly fit into the nooks in the sides of the engine block. Again, not prototypical but it works. The other thing is that it would be tremendously helpful if I could permanently attach the front K-member BUT if I do then the engine can’t be installed with the headers attached nor can the headers be snaked into place if the engine is installed without them. This makes it a challenge to get consistent mock ups and fit checks. Permanently attaching it would also make it a royal pain to paint as it needs to be a different color than the chassis. Anyhow, with the engine positioning finalized (for real this time) it’s now 3/32” forward of previous so that meant building a new, longer driveshaft and I added cone extensions to the headers so that the exhaust would hook up. No way I was making those pipes again! I still needed to make supports for the mufflers. The kit mufflers have pins on the top sides which fit into holes in the floor. I figured out where to drill and added pins to the new mufflers and slipped sleeves over them to set the muffler off the floor the proper amount. I then filled the holes in the floor and drilled them back smaller to match the size of the muffler pins. So that, unfortunately, was the big extent of today’s work. Admittedly a good portion of the time was spent in denial before ultimately sucking it up and reworking everything. On a couple of small notes, my pal @Rocking Rodney Rat sent me an Autometer monster tach which I fit to the dash with a pin. I would never put one in any car of mine but love ‘‘em or hate ‘em, thousands of people did in the 90’s. I also found that the electric fan from Revell’s 1948 Ford Convertible is a good fit for the radiator and looks like it would be robust enough to keep such a car cool. Here’s to hoping that there won’t be any more annoying set backs and next time will be more productive. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris chabre Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 I always hated seeing 2 tachs in a mustang haha build looks awesome as usual!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Lacy Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 2 hours ago, chris chabre said: I always hated seeing 2 tachs in a mustang haha build looks awesome as usual!!! The justification is that the factory tach is inaccurate at upper revs, which is true. Doesn’t change the fact that the monster tachs are gaudy! 🤣 I’ve never looked at it anyways. Always shifted by ear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris chabre Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 4 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said: The justification is that the factory tach is inaccurate at upper revs, which is true. Doesn’t change the fact that the monster tachs are gaudy! 🤣 I’ve never looked at it anyways. Always shifted by ear. Im ok with Monster tachs...Stock tachs were garbage, no one ever used them haha 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeatMan Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 Nice fab work! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted February 1, 2022 Share Posted February 1, 2022 Nice exhaust set up! Big racing tachs are easier too see… 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Karson Posted February 1, 2022 Share Posted February 1, 2022 Big Tach - Little Tach - Factory Tach - Hooray! In a model car even the least notable detail is not left untouched. To the model viewer the size of the tach(s) is only caught by the corner of their eye and seeing any amount of model detail, even to the untrained eye, is the difference between a model built absolutely box stock and one with modified points of interest throughout! Not every kit comes with a big tach... think about it. Notwithstanding the amount of knowledge and reference material being drawn on in the construction of this pony car, but also the flavor of having your own 1:1 pony car is outstanding! Having owned a number of Mustangs from a '66 Six w/3spd Coupe with sequential T-Bird taillights to a '68 Shelby KR500 Convertible. Wait, a '69 351 Windsor coming in last. Got to drive @Rocking Rodney RatMustang shortly before he rolled it;-( Can you imagine how much fun it would be to drive ADL's SVT Cobra DOHC Pony Car?!. Keep watching because with what we've been left preview to thus far... the future of this pony car build is in excellent hands! -KK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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