Billy the Kid Demon Pro Stock

[Rattlecan Dan]

Whew! That's a lot of work going on there. This is going to be a Showstopper for sure. 

[dragcarz]

On 1/12/2024 at 7:05 PM, Nitro330 said:

Hi Roger, the bead roll looks great!  Small detail that makes a big impact.  Also, congrats on the new job!

Thanks Terry, I’m really enjoying it so far. Sure has affected the bench time though.

[dragcarz]

9 hours ago, Rattlecan Dan said:

Whew! That's a lot of work going on there. This is going to be a Showstopper for sure. 

Thanks Donato! 

[BuilderX]

On 11/22/2023 at 1:29 PM, dragcarz said:

Back in February of 2006 I purchased a built up  MPC 71 Dodge Demon. They were super rare, hard to come buy and I sure couldn’t afford to pay for an unbuilt kit. It was painted blue and had the rear wheel openings hogged out. I paid $51.00 for it. My intention was to build the Rod Shop Pro Stock using the Fred Cady decals. Needless to say with work and family it’s never been started.

Fast-forward to today and the reissued MPC Demon should hit the shelves any day now. Some time ago Slixx Decals printed the Billy the Kid Demon Pro Stock decals, and my intention for this build changed.  Now that the reissue is coming I’ll probably buy a couple and maybe one day do the Rod Shop Demon also. Not one to waist plastic I decided to do my built up, correcting the flaws, glue spots, repairing the rear wheel openings and reshaping the front. 
 

Now the disclaimer, this will in no way be close to what Francis is doing to his Demon else where on the forum. I’m no where in his league of builder. I hope to produce a reasonable replica of Bill’s Race Car. 

The body and interior  has been stripped of its prior paint. I’m looking to use the AMT Duster for the chassis and I have an MPC Dart Sport kit for the Hemi and rear wheel openings.  I’m hoping the reissue will correct some of the original kits issues. Other than the body this is the MPC Duster kit, the interior is incorrect as are the front wheel openings, I think it’s interesting that they corrected the front wheel openings on the Dart Sport / Duster street Machine kit.

What does 1920s gangsters have to do with the wild west Billy the Kid?? lol

[dragcarz]

I got a little bench time this weekend. I trimmed and removed the window cranks, and rear arm rests on the door panels. I also added .040 Plastruct strips to the inner fender panels as they are just a little narrow, test fitting the firewall also.

[Zippi]

You've been a busy boy Roger. Looks good.

[Straightliner59]

15 hours ago, BuilderX said:

What does 1920s gangsters have to do with the wild west Billy the Kid?? lol

I was wondering the same thing!?

[David G.]

Good progress on this one Roger.

David G.

[dragcarz]

I finally got some bench time and was able to get the engine compartment together. Lots of cutting and trimming, I tried to replicate what was common in 1972, the rule book states stock front suspension, but torsion bars were swapped out for coil over shocks with the upper shock mount braced by the front roll cage supports. I’m going to use the coil over shocks from the Johan Hornet funny car. I need to trim the K member for the dry sump oil system.

[Moparman18064]

21 hours ago, dragcarz said:

I finally got some bench time and was able to get the engine compartment together. Lots of cutting and trimming, I tried to replicate what was common in 1972, the rule book states stock front suspension, but torsion bars were swapped out for coil over shocks with the upper shock mount braced by the front roll cage supports. I’m going to use the coil over shocks from the Johan Hornet funny car. I need to trim the K member for the dry sump oil system.

Looking good. Nice and clean. I am in awe of how that engine compartment came out. At least this gives you plenty of room for headers. I have to highly modify the headers on my build. The torsion bars and steering leave very little room.

Edited February 5, 2024 by Moparman18064

[Zippi]

Nice work.  Coming along nicely.

[Nitro330]

Looks great Roger!  That is a lot of work in the engine compartment.  Looking forward to see how you mount the coil overs.

[dragcarz]

Thanks Terry, here’s what Herb McCandless had on the Sox & Martin built Demon, I’m going with a variant of this.

Edited February 5, 2024 by dragcarz

[Straightliner59]

This is really coming along nicely, Roger! Beautiful work, sir.

[dragcarz]

3 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

This is really coming along nicely, Roger! Beautiful work, sir.

Thanks Daniel 

[David G.]

I admire your patience and attention to detail Roger, not to mention your building skills.

For me, the research and planning can be as much fun as the build itself.

David G.

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Excellent work on the engine compartment Roger especially knowing how rare good shots of these old racers are.  It's always a good challenge to fit a big HEMI between the fenders of these pony cars, but it's also very impressive and intimidating when the hood is open. ?

[Volzfan59]

This is really looking good! I love the old drag cars from the 70's.

[dragcarz]

21 hours ago, David G. said:

I admire your patience and attention to detail Roger, not to mention your building skills.

For me, the research and planning can be as much fun as the build itself.

David G.

Thank you David. I do enjoy the research as well, unfortunately over the years if had to get rid on my magazine collection due to numerous moves. I spent hours scouring through them for ideas. 

[dragcarz]

18 hours ago, AmericanMuscleFan said:

Excellent work on the engine compartment Roger especially knowing how rare good shots of these old racers are.  It's always a good challenge to fit a big HEMI between the fenders of these pony cars, but it's also very impressive and intimidating when the hood is open. ?

Thank you Francis. I’m sure the real builders of theses Hemi powered cars were glad to get rid of the torsion bars, and move the steering to the front as it really opens the engine compartment up. 

[dragcarz]

17 hours ago, Volzfan59 said:

This is really looking good! I love the old drag cars from the 70's.

Thanks Steve, me too! 

[dragcarz]

Made some progress today, I added strip styrene to the firewall to fill the gap at the cowl. I notched the K member for the dry sump oil system. I was going to use the Hemi from the Dart Sport kit, but it really lacked detail, I then found an old Johan Sox & Martin Hemi, but there was a hole in the block for the front axle that I started to fill. Then I came across the optional Hemi from the AMT 70 Coronet kit, and decided to combine it with the S&M heads and intake. I then fabricated the front engine plate, Elephant Ears as they were called at times. 

[Zippi]

Boy that's looking really good there Roger.  That Hemi looks pretty sweet setting in the business end.

[Nitro330]

Coming along nicely Roger.  Great job on the engine plate!

[dragcarz]

1 hour ago, Zippi said:

Boy that's looking really good there Roger.  That Hemi looks pretty sweet setting in the business end.

Thanks Bob, I sure miss stopping by the garage!