BBossman1 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 This being my first attempt at modeling in over 30 years, I decided I was not going to shoot for the sky and build a super detailed model, but instead create a reasonably accurate depiction of the original car using what is in the kit. Upon receiving the kit and examining the box art, instructions and the actual body, I was less than thrilled with the shape of the rear wheel openings used for the Hemi version. The scribe lines on the body are a good starting point, but having seen these cars in person it is just not very accurate. I was particularly concerned with the fore and aft dimensions as well as the shape of the forward part of the wheel opening. I began doing research which led me to an interesting dedicated racing site which contained a thread over 250 pages long where the folks involved where attempting to document the lineage of all the 68 Hemi Darts and Hemi Barracudas. The thread had hundreds of photos from when these cars were first campaigned in NHRA Super Stock. I discovered that due to class rules, racers where not permitted to alter frame rails or add wheel tubs to gain clearance for the class legal maximum tire size. The only choice was to open up wheel arches of the body. Hurst accomplished this by opening the wheel arch to almost the maximum interior dimension of the outer wheel house. Hurst used as reciprocating saw, BFH, body hammer, dolly and braising torches to accomplish this. It was actually pretty crude in appearance, most had variations in shape from car to car and even side to side, depending on who did the work. There were even gaps in the sheet metal after the work was performed. Armed with this information, I decided to mock things up to see what I had to work with. I temporarily assembled the interior tub, firewall and core support. I then inserted the chassis into the body to see where I was at. I began by tracing the shape of the inner wheel well onto the body. At this point I'll also offer the ubiquitous apology for poor cell phone pics. Once I had the tracing I pulled it all apart and began roughing in the shape of the wheel opening. The new opening and my original tracing can be seen here… My research also revealed that the new shape also required alteration of the inner rocker panel, as it now protruded into the wheel opening. Here is a picture courtesy of Mosher's Motors from a restoration which shows the modifications done to the wheel opening and rocker… After ruffing in the opening, I mocked everything up again to see where I was at. I immediately knew I was on the right track. You can see in this picture that the front of the opening exposes the front of the wheel house and inner rocker… I trimmed away the inner rocker and used a little heat to reform the wheel well… I’ll be back when I've cleaned everything up and made more progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgbben Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Can't wait to see more on this build. Great work Joe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Lookin' good. keep er' goin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skypower Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Very nice job, I am also involved in that other forum, I started the Cuda thread. Yes there is tons of great historical info there for building these cars. Looks like you still have a great eye and good set of skills, I'm going to follow this one closely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Very nice start.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubbs Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 nice job on the rear wheel wells. digging for research is a good thing. here is a real good picture of a resto shops rear wheel openings for a hemi dart clone (or tribute car I guess is the term nowadays)... just for future reference. you can clearly see how much of the body is cut away in front of the wheel. I haven't build my hemi darts yet, have to clear too may started projects out the way, but I will be watching this for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBossman1 Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Thanks guys... Al, I've seen that picture and it, combined with other info I found helped me finalize my wheel openings. I've been jumping around mocking up various sub-assemblies as I come up with the overall appearance I'm looking for. Yesterday I started mocking up the firewall, adding the master cylinder relocation plate, trimming up the master cylinder and fan motor block-off... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skypower Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 You do very nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBossman1 Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Next up is to mod the trans tunnel to better represent a 4-speed dart... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBossman1 Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Turned out about as I hoped, should look okay once the interior tub gets painted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAST442 Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Looking very good and accurate, keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w451973 Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Looking good. Nice attention to detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stump Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Nice work going on here Joe. The tranny hump looks "factory fitted". GREAT stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBossman1 Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 When I first mocked up my master cylinder, I used the "Hemi" firewall from the kit and came up with this... As I thought about it a little more I relaized that the "Hemi" firewall positioned the master cylinder higher so that the master cylinder/brake booster would clear the Hemi motor, therefore my mock up wouldn't look quite right compared to the 1:1 car... I decided to use the kit supplied "GTS" firewall and perform the same modifications. I think this looks more correct for the Hemi Dart... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skypower Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Your doing great, looking very authentic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryan_m Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Very nice modifications.....good eye for detail! cheers bryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBossman1 Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 I set this aside for a few days to get some real life work done. Got back on it this week and finished my trans tunnel mod and painted the floor... I also got most of the Hemi motor done, just need to mount the headers and test fit them in the chassis. i'll be back... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skypower Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mopar - D Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Great looking Dart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FASTBACK340 Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 The transmission tunnel modification is a great touch! Build-on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBossman1 Posted February 9, 2014 Author Share Posted February 9, 2014 Thanks guys... Finished up the Hemi motor today. The only changes I made from the kit were to strip the chrome from the valve covers, carbs and velocity stacks and paint them in more representative colors. I also removed the vacuum advance can from the distributor since the Race Hemi uses mechanical only and I swapped the kit's four blade Hemi fan for the kit's seven blade 440 fan. I looked at a lot of pictures of the 1:1 cars and promotional pictures of the engine; I found the four blade in the engine pictures, but the cars using the seven blade viscus clutch fans. I may fab a clutch for the fan before all is said and done. Anyway, heres the motor... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakshow12 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Race hemi engines had chrome smooth valve covers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubbs Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Race hemi engines had chrome smooth valve covers depends, the restored to "as delivered" form that I have seen have had the black wrinkle finish, I think the owners put the chrome ones on to add a little flash to the engine compartment. I am sure everyone has seen this article before. now, this is just one car, there may have been some shipped with chrome valve covers, hard to tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBossman1 Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) Race hemi engines had chrome smooth valve covers depends, the restored to "as delivered" form that I have seen have had the black wrinkle finish, I think the owners put the chrome ones on to add a little flash to the engine compartment. I am sure everyone has seen this article before. now, this is just one car, there may have been some shipped with chrome valve covers, hard to tell. 68 Dart hemi at Hurst 2.jpg Everything I've seen suggests the Hemi Darts were delivered with black wrinkle finish valve covers. But I welcome any and all input, thanks guys. Edited February 10, 2014 by BBossman1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtx6970 Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) Race hemi engines had chrome smooth valve covers chrome valve covers on race hemi was 1964 and 1965 only. 1968 Hemi Darts and Barracudas were the same black valve cover as the street hemi just as a a bit of trivia , the valve covers off a 1964-65 will not fit on 1966 and later Hemi heads. http://racehemi.maxwedge.com/ Edited February 10, 2014 by gtx6970 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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