Tommy Ivo Showboat Plumbing

[Farmboy]

By no means is this the final word on engine plumbing, but it's how I did Ivo's car.  Hopefully it may be of some help to anyone wanting to include any of the 4 engine fuel delivery details.  I relied on Ken Foran's spectacular brass large scale scratch build and on line vintage photos of the real thing.

This is the injection assembly supplied.  By itself, 50+ years later it's still a beauty of a part.  Painted black, given a wash and some drybrushing, IMHO,  it would look great!  I simply like to try to do things myself.  

Here's the unit disected.  The center is discarded and slight mods done to the remaining two injector banks

I've attached all 8 banks to a strip of painters tape and shot them a dark gray.

These pieces get small real quick!   My first alteration was to saw a groove across all 4 injector bases with a razor saw deep enough to take a length of a straight pin (you may need to widen the slot with an xacto blade).  

Here you'll see a mock-up of how the ferrules will sit on the base, the pin not interfering with the ferrule base.  The pieces are so small it appears the pin shaft has been drilled thru the bases.  They are not yet cemented only standing for the shot

I'll have more soon.

Comments and observations welcome

 

[Joe Nunes]

Good detail information. Keep it coming!  ?

Joe

[Farmboy]

I used 'seed beads' to represent the fuel inlets.  The fuel line itself attaches to the side of bead, not the open end.  Don't worry about the opening, I found it's not really visible when all is said and done

....and just for perspective.....

And the quick mock up.  The injector banks are about 1/4 done as there are still velocity stacks, fuel lines, and injector shaft/linkage to add.

Now it's on to the small stuff.  You'll need 4 distribution blocks, each drilled out for 8 lines, a topside hard line, and a side throttle lever

To mount them, simply glue them to the center valley cover, or for a sturdier unit make a mount like these below from aluminum.  They're as wide as the block.  Cement it to a block down one side, bend 90 degrees and glue along the bottom of the block.  The length is cut so that the free end is cemented under an injector bank and is long enough to have the block centered on the valley cover.  A dab of ca makes it secure.

In the shot below, notice (besides the fuel lines) the blocks are not centered front to back on the individual engines.  The block needs to sit in front of a gap in the velocity stacks to allow for throttle linkage.  Not doing linkage?  Don't worry about it.

32 injector lines. Whew.

Comments and observations welcome.

[alan barton]

Absolutely beautiful work but even on a full size computer screen I am struggling to see the detail you have achieved.  Any chance of a slightly bigger photo of the finished job?  I have one of these kits in the pile and would be interested in tackling the conversion you have shown here.

Cheers

Alan

[Farmboy]

 To my embarrassment Alan I agree these are crappy shots that were done with my phone at the time.  "...of the finished job...". I'll retake a couple of shots close up from directly overhead.  Ignore the linkage and it will make sense.  My sincere apologies.

Regards

Mike V

 

 

 

 

[Farmboy]

Hey Alan, here are two additional pics for you

You'll note the hard fuel line completely obscures the distribution block so I sketched it for you

Hope this helps.

Regards

Mike V

 

[Farmboy]

Oh, in case this is of any helps, these are injection banks with the slots cut in to them

[Tortuga Kustomz]

Thanks for the info, i start gathering info for my project, going to start that in a couple months after i got (Info+parts+cleanup the kits) the scratch building section is not goingt o be a problem o guess

[Farmboy]

I know I've included this in the wip thread but I think it should be included here.   If I could only add one detail to the model it would be this piece.  It is a very very obvious line that runs from the top of one distribution block, and ends on top of the next.  

From the left the line begins with a 90 deg elbow on top of the distribution block and has a vertical hump in it to clear an actuator arm.  Next it has a series of hard horizontal bends to navigate around the magneto and ends at the tee.  A short length comes off the other side of the tee and bends 90 to end with another elbow on top of the 2nd distribution block.  Repeat for the other engine bank. If this is all you plan to add, then simply forget the hump and tee sections and make the entire line in one piece.  A dab of brass paint on both ends completes the look.

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by Farmboy

[Farmboy]

If you're including the shafts for the injector banks take note that the pin joins to the engine behind it on the inboard sides only.  See the photo below.  Do not confuse the pin shaft with the bigger engine braces.

[Tortuga Kustomz]

Love that detail, i think that is one of those that is unique for this car

[Farmboy]

I guess Tom was as much a showman as a driver.  I think that piece really draws a person in!

 

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Farmboy

[Farmboy]

Only a few items left to cover.  Let's deal with the fuel pumps.  I felt they were quite a bit over scale so I made them a bit smaller.  This is not necessary but I'll show you what I did anyhow.

In the shot below, the top piece is from the kit unaltered.  The round pin plugs into the manifold, then the magneto fits loosely into a hole on the top side of that pin.  Not very strong if you're wiring the mag.

The bottom piece has the body shortened and a hole drilled thru the mount, eliminating that pin.  (I replaced the pin on the bottom of the mag by drilling a larger and longer piece of rod).  Now, when the magneto is installed, the new pin goes thru the hole and into a deeper hole in the manifold for a secure joint.

Make a few 90 degree elbows and tees for the fuel lines

I'll do a diagram at the end of this thread showing fuel line connections.

Edited January 14, 2023 by Farmboy

[Farmboy]

Oddly, I don't have a lot of control over picture sizing for some reason.  Tablets are a pain.  Next build will be done on a laptop and pics from the Canon.

[Joe Nunes]

I like the idea shown for making up the T pieces using metal tube. Thanks!  ?

Joe

[Farmboy]

Here's my rendition of the fuel system as I followed it from a rough diagram.  

 

The only lines that come topside are the ones with the tee (#4) to feed the fuel distribution blocks.  There are 4 lines per pump.  Line 3 goes down on the outside and disappears under the engines.  Lines #1 and 2 go down between the engines.  ...and that's it.

I did this entire build from the beginning on coffincorner2.com, a site focused primarily on showrods, sharing it here part way thru.

Comments and observations welcome