formula 55 chevy

[charlie libby]

i use paint drying on the Bugatti as my excuse for working on the chevy ,but the Bugatti is doing well . had people from the great white north for accouple of weeks and a lot of other appointments so not much got done . but the engine is looking good as well as the chassis. working with almost all plastic is a big change so is the size in 1/16. plastic is a lot easier on tooling. plastic did not work well on the tiny carb parts so aluminum it is. tim and francis thanks for keeping up with my projects. brian the engines are my favorite part. hi Pierre I'm glad your still watching . your comments are greatly appreciated. hi ken thank you ,i never worked as a machinist just did a lot while i was fabricating. in nascar and my hotrod shop you did a lot of things yourself.it was great fun. more to come.

[BK9300]

Wonderful progress - the engine is such a major part of your builds - looking forward to more.

[AmericanMuscleFan]

It's different seeing you working with styrene Charlie, your tools will stay sharper longer! 😁  The carburetor is off to a good start, it's promising! 👍

[Mattilacken]

That’s a bad as Chevy! Your scratch work is always impressive! Will be raging along for the ride and might take one of my 1/16 out again. 

[BK9300]

I saw this was posted to Youtube about three weeks ago - maybe there is some useful information in there for your Novi engine

 

[charlie libby]

francis i tried to do the carbs in styrene,not so good. the block and heads in black poly urethane , brian thanks for the video. 1/16 is tiny for me anton. cant wait to try 1/24. looks scary to me. cant get used to the sizes of things in 1/16. made 2 carbs they are not complete yet. taking a vote, one lump or two? squeezing a little chassis and rollcage work in also. thanks for your input.

[absmiami]

“cant wait to try 1/24th”. …

[charlie libby]

working on this a little when i am upset or waiting for paint or glue on the bugatti. i think a lot of people will not recognize this engine. probably never seen a novi with 2 four barrels. this is what you get  when there is no rulebook, fun after over 30 years with a rule book that is constantly changing. seems to be going along fairly quickly . i will finish the engine and then finish the rear suspension. waiting for RB to open up again. thank you

[MarkJ]

Novi. Wow. This is really going to be special. Those Holley's look so real. I bet the song this engine would sing at full throttle would be music to any car enthusiast's ears.

[charlie libby]

i have been working on the front suspension and the exhaust.the headers have been a nightmare . nothing but a bunch of wasted tubing so far , but i will get it right eventually. hi mark thanks for your comments. its very different working with almost all plastic but i like it. if i do another car like the Bugatti it will be a cheetah. ihave been looking for some good drawings or blueprints to help with a body buck like the bugatti buck. any help would be appreciated.if you see or know of any ,please let me know. most of what i have found have not been very ggob 

[charlie libby]

what happened to my spell check. good

[Mattilacken]

On 5/29/2025 at 3:26 AM, BK9300 said:

I saw this was posted to Youtube about three weeks ago - maybe there is some useful information in there for your Novi engine

Man that’s cool! Imagine that they would have though of the idea of just turning the cockpit 180deg annd steering to the what used to be rear wheels. and then later ad the AWD. The car would have had other results I believe. But it’s always easier with our knowledge today. 
 

great work on your build btw! Doesn’t the cage look a bit thick? A cage in 1/16 would be around 3mm I guess, that would be 48mm in 1:1 which is close to the 50mm used by manny.