GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 So there's this "deep pocket" hot rod guy that's a hardcore gear head............he also loves golf, but a loud, flame belching in your face hot rod just wouldn't fit in at the country club....right? So in his mind he sets out to build a " socially acceptable" rod. Let's start with the frame.......... Some parts box bits, plastic strips etc. for the side rails, gas tank, battery box, coil spring buckets and we have the beginning of chassis. '68 Vette front and rear suspension. Long wheelbase huh? Betcha can't guess what the body is going to be.
Wagoneer81 Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 OK, you had my attention at "Deep Pockets"... Gotta love the old 'Vette suspension! I look forward to seeing more!
hotrod59f100 Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 I was thinking of building a Bugatti rod . Out of lindberg
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 9, 2012 Author Posted February 9, 2012 You guys are close but no cigar. Clue.......gotta have a place for those golf clubs.
Pete Aron Posted February 10, 2012 Posted February 10, 2012 You guys are close but no cigar.  Clue.......gotta have a place for those golf clubs. Hmmmmmm, didn't the Auburn Boattail Speedster from Monogram(I think?), have a golf club access door behind the passenger compartment?
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 10, 2012 Author Posted February 10, 2012 You're right Pete......'35 Auburn, but I have a "curbside" Lindy kit.
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 13, 2012 Author Posted February 13, 2012 Here's a few more pics....most of the work on this build is going into the chassis. Very little of the Lindy "curbside" belly pan was suitable for this hot rod. I'll be using an L-88 BB Chevy and 4-speed. Not sure yet if I'll go with a blower, turbo or dual quads. I'll probably use side pipes with cut outs as well as dual mufflers for "cruising" the country club. A little more filing, fitting, sanding and the chassis will be ready for paint.
Dr. Cranky Posted February 13, 2012 Posted February 13, 2012 That chassis is looking good, Granpa. Keep it going.
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 16, 2012 Author Posted February 16, 2012 Nothing bugs me more than taking the time to drill holes, run plug wires, install the engine only to have a plug wire pull out of the head after the exhaust and everything else is attached. Besides, installing them one at a time is a pain. Here's what I've come up with to eliminate all that frustration. I paint the head, drill the holes and select a proper size wire for the plug wires first. I try to use wire that has a smaller diameter than the wire that I use for battery cables so that the scale looks right.
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 16, 2012 Author Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) Cut 2 lengths of wire per head, use waterproof markers or paint to simulate the plug boots in the center of the wires. Slip one end of the wire into the first hole and the other end in the second hole. Presto......4 plug wires with boots. If I wanted to detail the head even more I'd slip a short length of slightly larger wire insulation over the plug wire and push it down flush with the head instead of painting the center section. A little touch up on the boots and these heads will be ready to permanently attach to the block. NO WAY are these wires going to pull out! Edited February 16, 2012 by GrandpaMcGurk
jeffs396 Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Great tip on the plug wires Don! Looking forward to this "High Society" rod!
Joker Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Forehead slap on the spark plug wires.. learn something everyday ...thanks
DANB Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Best way to do plug wires ive seen yet, i might finally give it a crack lol
XJ6 Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Great tip on the plug wires...Thanks for sharing Cheers...Don aka XJ6
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 16, 2012 Author Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) You guys are more than welcome.......glad it's something you can use. Now I'll see if I can figure out a builder friendly (or at least easier) way to wire the distributor cap. I get so caught up in details at times that I tend over look the K.I.S.S. principal. Edited February 16, 2012 by GrandpaMcGurk
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 16, 2012 Author Posted February 16, 2012 Virgil, I figured when I retired I'd have all kinds of time to work on models...yeah right! About the only time I get for fun builds is sandwiched in-between "FINALLY" getting these 1/8th glass Cuda bodies done, yard work, my full size toys, SMC, F.A.S.T club, other hobbies and keeping up with the old womans honey dew list........I think I had more time when I working full time. Top all that off with the fact that like the old saying goes...."the faster I go, the behind-er I get". Oh well, where did I put that kit distributor? Ahhh.....here it is. Man this thing is tiny....I suppose I could drill 8 tiny holes for the plug wires, one for the coil wire and oh yeah, another for the vacuum advance with a cat hair drill bit. That's assuming I had rock steady hands, 10x magnifying eyeballs and the patience of a saint. I'll be 65 this year and I really don't qualify for any of the above. Large scale wouldn't be a problem but in 1/25th I had to come up with something less stressful that looked good......after all, supposed to be fun right? I think it'll be easier to make my own. Next post I'll show how I did it.
uppnaway69 Posted February 16, 2012 Posted February 16, 2012 Omg thank you so much for showing how you wire your engine that has helped me so much
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 17, 2012 Author Posted February 17, 2012 Paul, there may be better ways out there or some that suit your building style more, all I'm doing is showing the way I do it. If it works for you you're welcome to it. Here's an easy way out if you use a magneto rather than a distributor...all I do is drill one hole through the top of the mag and run the wires through it. If you look at a few pics of magnetos you'll see that the wires come out of the sides rather than up and this is close enough for me with these 1/25th models.
ZombieHunter26 Posted February 17, 2012 Posted February 17, 2012 I am definitely sucked in, Don! I gotta do some more research on my engines before I go putting all the bells'n'whistles on my build engines. These types of posts definitely help! Keep up all the awesome work!
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 17, 2012 Author Posted February 17, 2012 (edited) Well, let's get started on this distributor. I grabbed a piece of tubing from the stock stash about the same O.D. as the kit distributor. As you can see it's fairly thick walled so I drilled it out a little and moved up to a slightly larger bit and thinned it out some more. I started with a smaller bit first so that I wouldn't split the tubing. Edited February 17, 2012 by GrandpaMcGurk
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 17, 2012 Author Posted February 17, 2012 I cut off a piece of the thinned out tubing about the same height as the body of the kit distributor.
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 19, 2012 Author Posted February 19, 2012 I made a base and pin for the bottom of what will become the distributor cap......painted the inside of the cap flat black. The slot in the side is for the vacuum advance as this will be an old school blown street engine.
GrandpaMcGurk Posted February 19, 2012 Author Posted February 19, 2012 I wanted to see if I could come up with something to give the valve covers on this engine an anodized look on the cheap. I've tried candies over "chrome" paint etc. and never been real happy with the results. I'm not using an airbrush or any expensive stuff on this build, just rattle cans etc. to keep it within our current economy crunch hobby budgets. Here's something I came across at Wally world...... Disregarding the can directions about polished stuff and all that other info that we men don't read anyway.......I grabbed some stock "kit" bow tie chome plated covers out of the parts box. Sprayed a couple of tests and was pleased with the results so I painted the Moroso covers I'll be using for this build. Several light coats of the paint with a couple of minutes dry time in between coats followed by a coat of clear the next day produced these....these large photos really don't show just how much the "chrome" shows through the paint and being windy and raining outside I can't take pics out in the sunlight, but they really POP, I think you'll get the idea.
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