Badman C/A (ca. 1975)

[David G.]

That's cool!

I love the wire bundle coming out of the back.

And I thought that I was clever running two wires out of the old dash-mounted Motorola 2-way on my '59 Ambo.

 

Nicely done Daniel!

David G.  

[bytownshaker]

Love the tach reminds me of the one I had in my 67 Camaro. Wish I had kept it.

[TopherMcGinnis]

[Straightliner59]

22 hours ago, David G. said:

That's cool!

I love the wire bundle coming out of the back.

And I thought that I was clever running two wires out of the old dash-mounted Motorola 2-way on my '59 Ambo.

 

Nicely done Daniel!

David G.  

If they're there, they need to be there!😄 Or, something like that! Nice work, David!

[Straightliner59]

17 hours ago, bytownshaker said:

Love the tach reminds me of the one I had in my 67 Camaro. Wish I had kept it.

 

I had forgotten that Garlits' tach was a Dixco. When I went to research for the tach, The stars and stripes one I found was a Sun tach, sold by Moon, so I copied that one. I wish I had seen this one, first!

[Straightliner59]

I've begun working on the upper engine components. The mag will be a Cirello Frankenstein-type magneto. Also seen are the beginnings of the Hilborn manifold. The runners will be cut to length, and cleaned up, then angled, like those in the photo. Lots of shaping left to do with the mag, as well. Comment freely. Thanks for looking!

[Straightliner59]

I've got the runners farther along, and started piddling around with whether the configuration I'm considering, will work, satisfactorily. Getting a 45-degree bend in a 1/8" injector stack, I'm finding, ain't all that simple! Then, there's the whole "making it look acceptable" thing. That ring clamp has made it a bit easier to hold on to those little elbows. I use it more frequently than I ever imagined I might, when I bought it. Anyway...

Just for fun, too! Thanks for looking!

[David G.]

I admire your patience Daniel. My frustration wouldn't necessarily be in working with the tiny pieces but against the decreasing dexterity of my fingers and hands.

Fabulous work! Thanks for continuing to post these updates.

David G.

[Straightliner59]

8 hours ago, David G. said:

I admire your patience Daniel. My frustration wouldn't necessarily be in working with the tiny pieces but against the decreasing dexterity of my fingers and hands.

Fabulous work! Thanks for continuing to post these updates.

David G.

It's true...the fingers aren't as supple as they once were! I'm not sure if I will stick with these little aluminum elbows,  or not. I'm exploring options to make them better, and more uniform. Thanks, as always, for your kind words.

[dwc43]

On 11/22/2024 at 3:59 PM, Straightliner59 said:

It's true...the fingers aren't as supple as they once were! I'm not sure if I will stick with these little aluminum elbows,  or not. I'm exploring options to make them better, and more uniform. Thanks, as always, for your kind words.

I had an idea. Not sure if it would work or not, but worth a try. What if you placed a solid plastic rod with a tight fit inside of some aluminum tube as support and then heated it off and on and slowly bend it off and on. Not try to bend it or overheat it all at once. Then you could go back and polish it later. Worth a shot I guess. 

[dwc43]

On 11/22/2024 at 3:59 PM, Straightliner59 said:

It's true...the fingers aren't as supple as they once were! I'm not sure if I will stick with these little aluminum elbows, or not. I'm exploring options to make them better, and more uniform. Thanks, as always, for your kind words.

I was looking for parts and came up with another idea. Sour Krauts has elbows for both intakes and exhaust pipes for semi-trucks. In both plastic and rubber. The ones in the pic are rubber. Maybe you can put that to some kind of use to make your stacks if my other idea does not work for ya. 

Oh, I have bought from him before. If it says out of stock or don't find what you want, email the guy anyways. He may have it or can get it for you quick. 

www.sourkrautsmodeltrucks.net   Just hit the model truck tab at the top to start looking for parts.

[Straightliner59]

3 hours ago, dwc43 said:

I had an idea. Not sure if it would work or not, but worth a try. What if you placed a solid plastic rod with a tight fit inside of some aluminum tube as support and then heated it off and on and slowly bend it off and on. Not try to bend it or overheat it all at once. Then you could go back and polish it later. Worth a shot I guess. 

Thanks for the suggestion, DW. I appreciate the input! That was one of the first things I tried. Even with the plastic lubricated, it creates enough friction that it tears the aluminum tube. Heating it, even slowly, allows the tube to collapse, during bending. That's what prompted me to try the armature wire, which works great, if I can just figure out how to make uniform cuts. The pieces are so small that they're very difficult to handle. Thanks, again! I may look into the elbows, if I can find some that are smooth, and small enough.

[dwc43]

15 minutes ago, Straightliner59 said:

Thanks for the suggestion, DW. I appreciate the input! That was one of the first things I tried. Even with the plastic lubricated, it creates enough friction that it tears the aluminum tube. Heating it, even slowly, allows the tube to collapse, during bending. That's what prompted me to try the armature wire, which works great, if I can just figure out how to make uniform cuts. The pieces are so small that they're very difficult to handle. Thanks, again! I may look into the elbows, if I can find some that are smooth, and small enough.

Well, shoot, I that I had a good idea there. I don't suppose copper tubing would be any better. Maybe you could 3D print some elbows as a last resort. 

[James2]

Not sure if it was discussed, but if you place the tubbing inside of a snug spring and gently bend the tube will not buckle as easily. I use a verity of electronic/auto springs somewhat like you would find in distributor weights. Just a thought....

[Straightliner59]

Well. This didn't take anywhere near as long as it took me to figure out my SBC Enderle setup! I'll see if I can put this together as a photo narrative. As can be seen, here, my first attempts were all over the place:

Here are the beginnings of the manifold, itself:

Now, how I went about making these tiny 45-degree elbows...I began by cutting four pieces of 1/8" aluminum armature wire roughly 1" long, and taped them together:

I then clamped them into my vise, along with a bending buck I made for rolling the sides of dragster body panels. I used a machinist's square, to make them vertical:

I then used this block of steel to uniformly roll it over the top of the buck. 

A few taps with the ball-peen hammer, and I had this. The flattened ends are not a concern, because they'll be cut off.

Now, using a razor saw, I was able to cut these pieces through, creating the 90-degree base surface for the elbows:

While they're still taped together, I drilled them to accept the guide pins on the throttle bodies.

At this point, I unbound them. Using this little miter box, I was able to lay the elbows flat in the bottom, and using my fingers to hold the parts in place, I could saw the 45-degree top surface. Both during this procedure, and making the 90-degree cut in the vise, I found beeswax to be very helpful in cutting. It's also important to let the tool do the work, and not to force things. This assures straighter cuts. Easier ones, too!

I now have eight virtually identical 45-degree elbows! I have a pair drilled, all the way through, so far. Six more to go! My fingers are pretty sore, so not sure how much more of this I'll get done, tonight, but, I may work more on the manifold, itself. Anyway--I think this will work out, just fine! Now, if I could ever decide to build a fuel/induction system that wasn't so esoteric, my life just might be easier!😅 This setup isn't ideal. Bruce Larson knew it, but didn't want to deal with cutting into his windshield, but had to get the stacks out from under the cowl, so...I always thought it looked cool, and it doesn't have to work, so, here I am!

Don't ever let it be said that I won't suffer for my craft!😁My fingers will vehemently disagree! Thanks for looking!

 

 

[BK9300]

You are a ‘brute for punishment’!  All suffering aside, you take on very difficult fabrication and come out smiling on the other side.  Great perserverance!

[Straightliner59]

4 hours ago, BK9300 said:

You are a ‘brute for punishment’!  All suffering aside, you take on very difficult fabrication and come out smiling on the other side.  Great perserverance!

Thank you, Brian. I got to a point that I could start mocking-up the elbows with the throttle bodies with the manifold "plate". I should be able to get photos, in the next few days, once I've had time to get it together. I screwed up the last elbow, while I was drilling it! I'll need to make one more, now. That said, It'll be the last really distinct feature I want for the car, other than paint and markings--which I am also very excited about!

[Pierre Rivard]

Bunch of guys with their 3D printers looking at this and scratching their heads. Making our own parts the old fashioned way  is rewarding and so much fun... sometimes. 🤣

[Straightliner59]

11 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Bunch of guys with their 3D printers looking at this and scratching their heads. Making our own parts the old fashioned way  is rewarding and so much fun... sometimes. 🤣

Maybe even most of the time! 😃 It's what I enjoy most about modeling. I'm not kidding, or exaggerating when I say that I started scratchbuilding, because it's more fun than scraping parts! I don't need to tell you--there's nothing like the satisfaction of looking at a tiny model, you built for a bigger model, and knowing that you did that!

Today's a big day! I got the fuel injection setup mocked up! It was the last thing needed to really see what the car would look like. I plan to "anodize" the stacks four in purple and four in orange. I'll be trying for something that looks like those old aluminum picnic glasses. I'll be messing with mixtures of Tamiya clears to test on "scrap" aluminum rod or tubing. I like it! Everything's temporary, thanks to Alene's Tacky Glue. Some bits are out of alignment, but they'll be fixed in final assembly. I will fine-fit everything when I put it together. Comments are always welcomed. Thanks for looking!

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Great job Daniel, you are tenacious my friend!  Have you ever tried soft aluminum craft wire, I use it for headers, it's softer than standard rods?

[Straightliner59]

17 minutes ago, AmericanMuscleFan said:

Great job Daniel, you are tenacious my friend!  Have you ever tried soft aluminum craft wire, I use it for headers, it's softer than standard rods?

I'd guess that's a different nomenclature for the armature wire. This is used to make framework for sculptures. It's dead-soft, so it's easily malleable. Since I first tried it, a couple years ago, I ordered some in different sizes. This, I think, is 9 ga. It's right at 1/8" in diameter. And, yes--it's excellent for headers! Thank you, Francis!

[David G.]

Day-am Daniel!

That is some of the most impressive micro metal magic I think I've ever seen!

Kudos to you Sir!

David G.

[Straightliner59]

On 12/1/2024 at 5:44 AM, David G. said:

Day-am Daniel!

That is some of the most impressive micro metal magic I think I've ever seen!

Kudos to you Sir!

David G.

I appreciate that, David! It was a helluva journey, getting there! The stacks and elbows are now assembled, and cleaned up. I've started adding details to the manifold. The ribs are .010"X.020" Evergreen, on edge. I want to get one more down each side, then I can start fitting the throttle bodies/runners, and make them one, with the manifold. I'll probably try to finish up the fuel tank, today, and get it mounted. I need to make the fittings for the main line, and two returns. The holes are drilled, I just need to make and install fittings, and mounting bolts. I have a thing, for copper pigtails! Thanks for looking!

[Ian McLaren]

Daniel, I am so impressed with your scratch building skills and your perserverance to find a way to make it work.  The intake manifold and injector stacks being the perfect example as is the Sun Super Tach, both are simply amazing.  I always look to your builds as a source of inspiration and a resource when I am faced with a new challange.  You are the real deal when it comes to defining what an all round modeler is and I am proud to be able to call you a friend!

 

[Straightliner59]

1 hour ago, Ian McLaren said:

Daniel, I am so impressed with your scratch building skills and your perserverance to find a way to make it work.  The intake manifold and injector stacks being the perfect example as is the Sun Super Tach, both are simply amazing.  I always look to your builds as a source of inspiration and a resource when I am faced with a new challange.  You are the real deal when it comes to defining what an all round modeler is and I am proud to be able to call you a friend!

 

Wow, man. I sincerely appreciate those words. They kind of make me feel like my work just might be worthy of the time spent by all those guys I learned from, a tribute, to them--and to you, and Francis, and Tim, and all those others, who inspire me, today. It's a lot of fun, and ultra-satisfying to finally overcome a challenge you've faced, sometimes for decades; And, sometimes just a day, or two! Thank you for your kind words!