Lucky 13-The 30Sumt'n Rod

[mrm]

I had these two boxes sitting on top of each other in my garage that I was walking by every day. I never smoke in my house, so when I need a cig I go in the garage. So I was staring at the two boxes for ever. One was from a Revell '32 3 window and on top of it was an old issue of the ZZ Top's '34. So this crazy idea started eating at me. I love 32s more than anything else (well except Ferraris), but I always loved the roof line of the '33/'34 better. So why not have the best of both? So I took a Revell 3 window and cut it to receive the Monogram's '34 roof. The Eliminator's roof had to be pie cut in the middle to narrow it to fit the Deuce body. Then the back end of the '34 hood was cut, sectioned and glued to a 32 hood, creating a hybrid that is a 32 top hood, but has a 34 cut infront of the windshield. I have glued the side hoods to the body right now, but they are going to be cut to follow the door jambs and to meet the top hood.

There are things I do know how I want and many I don't. I know it will stay fenderless. I know I will keep the louvers, and I will try to use the Mercster wheels. I want this to be the perfect mixture between a traditional and modern rod which is a hard balance to keep.

So what do you guys think?

Modern Ford

Vette motor

or

Ferrari V8

Then what should I do for a chassis?

The standard Revell '32 chassis

The Phantom Vicky's chassis

A custom one.....?

Vette rear end, solid axle quickchange or Jag IRS?

Any suggestions appreciated.

Edited November 12, 2012 by mrm

[dimebolt]

Good start man.

I think it would be awesome with a Ferrari V8 in it.

Corey

[72 Charger]

Ferrari motor cool body mod love the wheels what colors are you going with may I suggest ferrari red

Doobie

Edited October 19, 2012 by Doobie

[mrm]

Ferrari motor cool body mod love the wheels what colors are you going with may I suggest ferrari red

Doobie

I am making it a Ferrari color and it is going to be red, but not the traditional Rosso Corsa. I am painting it Rosso Fuoco (fire red) which is cool red metallic tricoat. It is a $50 000 option on the real Ferraris.

It also looks like I'll be hacking up that Ferrari California that has been sitting somewhere in my garage then.

Any suggestions about what transmission should I mate to it?

[Ace-Garageguy]

The '34 roofline works well on the '32 3-W tub. I'd thought about that before but never got around to trying it. VERY nice combination of the two, and the stance looks great.

For a gearbox, I'd tend to go with a rear-mounted 6-speed from the Corvette C6, with full IRS of course. The heavily waffled / ribbed C6 box loks like the logical progression from the traditional quickchange, IMHO.

I also think the '32 chassis you have under it now looks perfect, with just the right, subtle amount of body-channel. The signature, stamped '32 frame reveals say 'traditional hot rod' but the combo body shell will really have them scratching their heads.

Edited October 19, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy

[mrm]

The '34 roofline works well on the '32 3-W tub. I'd thought about that before but never got around to trying it. VERY nice combination of the two, and the stance looks great.

For a gearbox, I'd tend to go with a rear-mounted 6-speed from the Corvette C6, with full IRS of course. The heavily waffled / ribbed C6 box loks like the logical progression from the traditional quickchange, IMHO.

I also think the '32 chassis you have under it now looks perfect, with just the right, subtle amount of body-channel. The signature, stamped '32 frame reveals say 'traditional hot rod' but the combo body shell will really have them scratching their heads.

Thank you.

Darn , now I have to buy a Vette kit !? On the other hand this set up will save all sorts of frame and firewall issues. This also poses other issues. If I use a rear mounted trany, then I may as well use the Cali transaxle. On the other hand the Vette rear will be easier to adapt to the 32 rails. Hmmmmmm Now I am lost.

I got a Jimmy Flintstone Fire Roadstered model from flea bay with the idea that it has some really cool IRS in it that I could use for this project. I just received it. What a joke. I can scratchbuild one with way better results. What a waist of money.

Edited October 19, 2012 by mrm

[mrm]

OK. I tried the California V8 engine and it I am not going to be using it. The heads would stick out the sides through the side hoods and I really want to keep the front completely enclosed for the look I am going after.

So, modern Ford or modern Chevy ?

[mrm]

So the Cali Engine was too fat for the space between the frame rails and I looked for a Ferrari alternative. I tried the engine from a 365 Daytona, but it is too long and I would like to keep this model pretty traditional (altho very different).

Here are the engines for comparison.

So now I am back at square one with the motor choice. I am leaning towards keeping this one all ford.

Meanwhile I decided to play with wheels......

[Mach1revo]

Awesome start. I'll be following this one.

[tubbs]

So the Cali Engine was too fat for the space between the frame rails and I looked for a Ferrari alternative. I tried the engine from a 365 Daytona, but it is too long and I would like to keep this model pretty traditional (altho very different).

Here are the engines for comparison.

So now I am back at square one with the motor choice. I am leaning towards keeping this one all ford.

Meanwhile I decided to play with wheels......

if its getting a modern type engine, i'd say with more modern stile wheels and go with either the most upper right ones or the ones below them. i personally do like the steelies and the hub caps. i have a 32 planned and would love to run those on it. what kit did they come from?

[mrm]

if its getting a modern type engine, i'd say with more modern stile wheels and go with either the most upper right ones or the ones below them. i personally do like the steelies and the hub caps. i have a 32 planned and would love to run those on it. what kit did they come from?

The steelies are the regular wheels from the 32 5 window kit, but the rears are fitted in a custom aluminum sleeve and then wrapped in an Alumacoupe tires.

[torinobradley]

How about getting a couple of them ford small blocks and making a ford V12. Something like Ford did with the GT90. They took two V6s and welded them together for a V12. With the SBFs, you could shave two cylinders of the front of one and back of the other, a bit of glue and voila, instant exotic motor... Of course, you would need a suitably exotic induction system as well. How about a suitably long supercharger with four throttle bodies attop? The V12 would be exotic but the supercharger would put it back solid Hot Rod soil.

[mrm]

How about getting a couple of them ford small blocks and making a ford V12. Something like Ford did with the GT90. They took two V6s and welded them together for a V12. With the SBFs, you could shave two cylinders of the front of one and back of the other, a bit of glue and voila, instant exotic motor... Of course, you would need a suitably exotic induction system as well. How about a suitably long supercharger with four throttle bodies attop? The V12 would be exotic but the supercharger would put it back solid Hot Rod soil.

This is a great idea, but my main issue with the model is that I want the front hoods to be intact and the proportions to stay the same, so I am not sure that a V12 can fit in there. I will look into it anyway. Thanks.

[Ace-Garageguy]

The 4-cam Ford V8 is really pretty exotic when you forget it's a mass produced engine. Several are available in kits. I've adapted a Corvette C5 torque-tube and bellhousing to the 4-cam Ford (by making a styrene adapter plate to replace the rear of the block mounting-flange that went with the transmission) so I could use the C5 rear auto-gearbox and suspension in another build.....though it's a wide engine, the one in the AMT '32 Phantom Vicky just barely would clear hood-sides. Just a thought.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy

[mrm]

The 4-cam Ford V8 is really pretty exotic when you forget it's a mass produced engine. Several are available in kits. I've adapted a Corvette C5 torque-tube and bellhousing to the 4-cam Ford (by making a styrene adapter plate to replace the rear of the block mounting-flange that went with the transmission) so I could use the C5 rear auto-gearbox and suspension in another build.....though it's a wide engine, the one in the AMT '32 Phantom Vicky just barely would clear hood-sides. Just a thought.

I love those engines and I have used them in Deuces before. But there is no way fitting one without modifying the hood sides.

I am thinking a SBF like the one from the kit, with an Inglese intake with four carbs and alu intake stacks. It will be modern, but with a nice "vintage look" and totally in the character of the rest of the car. Plus it will fill up the space under the hood nicely.

[Ace-Garageguy]

.....I was thinking if it was far-back enough in the car (maybe even with a firewall mod to shoehorn it back farther) helped by having the gearbox in the rear, that the 4-cammer just might squeeze in.........

....but the Inglese / Weber setup would really look great on the earlier engine in this build. I assume you're aware there are Weber-look trrottle bodies for EFI in 1:1, to get the late performance / early look combo.

If it were a 1:1, I personally think it's hard to beat the little Ford V8 for a sweet sounding exhaust.........

[mrm]

I assume you're aware there are Weber-look trrottle bodies for EFI in 1:1, to get the late performance / early look combo.

That is exactly what i have in mind. It may not be even obvious in 1:24 that you are trying to replicate a modern system with a vintage look tho. I tried the same before with a six pack.

[mrm]

Alright, I new I wanted an exotic, modern engine with traditional looks. I really liked Andrew's idea about making a Ford V12 from two V8s from the 32 kit. So, I ran with it and gave it a try. And I am very happy I did. Thank you Andrew.

So I found in my parts box another SBF engine with a cool manual transmission on it. I cut the front end cylinders off. Then I cut the back end cylinders from Revell's 32 kit and mated them. I scratch built an intake to take the six dual Webbers from the Ferrari Daytona engine and the filter, which will be modified. For the head covers I used two sets of the ones that come in the Speedwagon kit.

I am also happy to say, that I am pretty sure I can shoehorn this mill in within all the hoods. I may have to make a new radiator for the purpose, but I will make it happen.

[bryan_m]

very cool! great idea......cant wait to see more of this.

cheers

bryan

[mrm]

very cool! great idea......cant wait to see more of this.

cheers

bryan

Thank you Brian, but I can not take any credit for the idea. This was one of this cases, where someone gives you a solution that you think "How come I did not think of this first?". Torinobradley gets the kudos for proposing it.

[torinobradley]

You are too welcome! Thanks for the kudos! I've been wanting to do something like this for a while. I gots an idea of a rig rat type truck with a huge turbo V16 made out of big block fords.

I love the progress so far! Keep it up. I can't wait to see how it looks sitting in that bay.

[mrm]

I love the progress so far! Keep it up. I can't wait to see how it looks sitting in that bay.

Thank you. It may be a while before you see this puppy with the engine installed. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to it.

Meanwhile, I did some more on the engine (which by the way I absolutely love now).

first I wanted to make a different air filter. So using the original one from the Ferrari engine as a base I built upon it. It is just from styrene plastic, but I made little lips on the inside, so photoetched mesh could be fitted around it later. I also did not like how plain it looks, so I started scratching my head for ideas how to make it look better. I wanted something custom and not found on any other car, just like the engine.

I was born on Friday the 13th and it is my lucky number. Long time ago I made a design to be tattooed on my arm.

So I thought it would be cool to put it on the air filter somehow. So I took the above picture, loaded it on my computer and then printed it in a size where just the 13 was the size I needed. Then I changed the blade on my knife and cut out the 13 and with a piece of scotch tape I put it on top of a very thin sheet styrene. Then I traced again the design with my knife. Needless to say this took a bit of time and a few deep breaths . But then I had a perfect copy from thin plastic.

Next I glued the design and some really thin strips on top of the filter to create my personalized engine piece. The added strips still need to have their edges sanded lightly. And I have not decided yet if the filter and the valve covers will be chromed or color coded to the rest of the model.

Now back to the drawing board to figure out the headers.

Thank you for looking.

Edited October 24, 2012 by mrm

[mrm]

So, I played with different exhaust ideas. I was thinking that I should go the regular solder route, but then decided, that instead of making my life complicated, I could adapt two sets of the stock exhaust. So I did and I am very happy with the result. Besides I like how the whole thing will make people take a second look because of how easy it is to miss how much bigger the engine is once installed. It still needs a lot of work on the manifolds to "blend" them together, but nothing I expect to give me trouble.

I also did a little bit of body work on the body. I cut out the sides, so now the hood sides follow the the door jamb lines. Then I filled with sheet styrene the holes on each side and puttied everything.

This is how it looks when it is mocked up with a frame/body/engine.

Note that the intake is now not positioned correctly, because the filter hits the firewall. If I had left the stock filter, I would not have this problem. But on the bright side, now I have a good reason to modify the firewall, so it curves around the filter on top. It will be quite a bit of work, but all worth it at the end I hope.

[Droppedgmc]

looking Great!

[torinobradley]

That motor does fill up that engine bay nicely. And it's exotic and detroit! Terrific execution!

Your header solution is great. I just spent the whole evening creating headers on my USRRC 289 Cobra so I know what a pain building them for such a tight space is.

Have you thought about any other design elements for this V12 beast? Some wide wire wheels with knock-offs might be in order to hint at what lies beneath. Tan interior with red or blue seats? Quad exhaust tips out the tail? Wood-grained steering wheel?