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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2021 12:30:23 GMT -5
Wicked so far! Check out the axle on the pics Ed posted. Gee whiz, there's nothin' left!! Ed's in enough "trouble" for posting the pics of the original build that inspired me, & then "twisting my arm" to get one of his teardrop hoods for it! Let's not get him in more hot water! And I'm kidding! I'm glad he posted those pics on his FB page for Drag City & that he offers that hood.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2021 16:12:26 GMT -5
Slow but sure progress. The front end after Bondo & sanding, (& no, It's not finished yet): And I couldn't resist a quick mockup to check the stance so far: I don't want the stance as high as on the model that inspired this, (for one thing, it wouldn't have been NHRA legal), but I may want it a bit higher. To get the stance I have so far, I located the stub axles into the bottom holes & added a piece of styrene to the top of each spindle. Doing the latter raised the front end up 1mm, (1 scale inch in 1/25 scale): However, I did anticipate it might not be high enough. So, I drilled out the top of the center of the upper A arms. That way, if I want to raise it, I can cut off & drill out the upper mounts on the spindles & glue in a longer piece of rod, to add more styrene plates to the top as needed, since the spindle mounts on top are barely long enough with the added styrene now: I feel like another scale inch or two at the most should look about right. More to come!
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2021 22:00:36 GMT -5
Ok, I added another scale inch in height to the spindles. Here's before I did: And after: Before again: And after: Keeping in mind the NHRA centerline rule for engine height in the Gasser class, I think this is about right; what say y'all? At most, another scale inch is all I might add.
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Post by skip on May 18, 2021 7:50:29 GMT -5
I think another inch of altitude would look more a-TRAK-tive! It would balance out the nose high stance that you're after, likely still being class legal.
From memory, (it's also early in the morning for me too so both my brain cells might not be communicating yet!). I thought the NHRA centerline rule for Gas Class height was based off the measurement from centerline of the crankshaft to the tarmac at a maximum of 24 inches of altitude.
Did you give a measurement that I missed or something? Because eyeballing it looks like you are right in the ballpark to meet the NHRA Gasser era Rules. Now for a "Neo-Gasser" anything resembling a Monster Truck is what they're after, with a "You mean they built Gassers to Rules?" attitude!
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2021 10:13:06 GMT -5
I think another inch of altitude would look more a-TRAK-tive! It would balance out the nose high stance that you're after, likely still being class legal. From memory, (it's also early in the morning for me too so both my brain cells might not be communicating yet!). I thought the NHRA centerline rule for Gas Class height was based off the measurement from centerline of the crankshaft to the tarmac at a maximum of 24 inches of altitude. Did you give a measurement that I missed or something? Because eyeballing it looks like you are right in the ballpark to meet the NHRA Gasser era Rules. Now for a "Neo-Gasser" anything resembling a Monster Truck is what they're after, with a "You mean they built Gassers to Rules?" attitude! 24 inches! That's the number I couldn't remember, thanks Skip! I didn't give any measurements, other than knowing how many scale inches the added pieces were, as this has all been pretty much seat of the pants eyeball engineered. Since I'm going for trakable, NHRA legal & logical, no neo-Gasser look here, even as much as I like the original model's stance. Even at that, I'm not 100% sure my molded in front end is legal, but that was one aspect of that vintage model I was determined to keep. I was planning a mockup with the additional scale inch today, so we'll see how that looks.
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2021 18:51:03 GMT -5
Added the final 1mm/1 scale inch spacer to the spindles, & got the stance just right: Best of all, the crankshaft centerline height is right at 23mm/23 scale inches.
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Post by Dave from Pleasanton on May 19, 2021 12:44:31 GMT -5
Early in the gasser rules the cars had to be street legal with windshield wipers, headlights, full exhaust and license. Later rules changed and pretty much all that stuff could be eliminated. Certainly fiberglass tilt front ends were fairly common. More so once you didn't have to have headlights. To my eye the front looks right, but the back looks a little low. Perhaps another millimeter in the rear. By the time I got really interested in drag racing the cars had ditched the high in front low in back to a more even high all around so that is what I gravitate to. Really nice build. Love the idea of the fuel injected hemi instead of supercharged. A more unique look.
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Post by Dennis on May 19, 2021 15:50:22 GMT -5
Looking good!
On those rear wheels I just noticed in that last picture that they have no lug nuts. I’d definitely add that detail and also drill the centers open which would in turn eliminate the little center caps. Those details would make those wheels look all business.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2021 17:52:15 GMT -5
Early in the gasser rules the cars had to be street legal with windshield wipers, headlights, full exhaust and license. Later rules changed and pretty much all that stuff could be eliminated. Certainly fiberglass tilt front ends were fairly common. More so once you didn't have to have headlights. To my eye the front looks right, but the back looks a little low. Perhaps another millimeter in the rear. By the time I got really interested in drag racing the cars had ditched the high in front low in back to a more even high all around so that is what I gravitate to. Really nice build. Love the idea of the fuel injected hemi instead of supercharged. A more unique look. Thanks! Yeah, I love the stance but may raise up the rear & see how that looks. 1/2 to 1mm at the most though.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2021 17:56:43 GMT -5
Looking good! On those rear wheels I just noticed in that last picture that they have no lug nuts. I’d definitely add that detail and also drill the centers open which would in turn eliminate the little center caps. Those details would make those wheels look all business. Yeah Dennis, you just had to see that also!!! Lol!!! I considered doing that but that leads to other issues; I really like the look of those center caps, the chrome on those vintage rims has faded to a really nice, natural aluminum look, & fixing that problem would lead to more work to address those 2 things. So, I'm going with the story that the rear end has center locking hubs. Lol!
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Post by 41chevy on May 19, 2021 21:29:21 GMT -5
The rear could come up 1mm to allow for tire grow. At speed the old Race Masters and Firestone 500's would grow 2 to 3 inches from the heat. The slicks I run today start as 11.5 x 33 and at the lights they are 10 x 35 from the thermal expansion. Good though that gives me a tad more top end.
My real 55 was built in 1962 to run D/G. The rules for it than by the NHRA and later rules from IHRA specified that the center hub of the axles could not be lower the bottom of the rocker panels. Full interior, working lights, radiator and self starting.Most rules between the NHRA, SCCA,IHRA and UDRA were close but enough differences between them that I had to change things some to go from Suffolk dragway 20 miles to Islip Speedway to run the same day. I still race it today 59 years later (now running a 10/71 huffed 588 BBC) the balance of the car less the engine and disc brakes is mid 60's tech. According to the "experts" it is not 'authentic" because it has a B&M Hydro Stick in it. . .been in there for 56 years. Here is an E/G Stude from 1966 UDRA rules 3 speed stick and injected 301 Chevy. Paul Hosted on Fotki
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2021 21:49:44 GMT -5
Paul, much thanks for the info on the rules! Along with the vintage model pics Ed posted, that real life Stude has provided inspiration as well.
I did add .5mm styrene spacers to the leaf spring mounts today. I thought about 1mm spacers, but I really like the nose up stance I got the other day, & I wanted to keep close to it without having to raise up the front end any more.
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Post by 41chevy on May 20, 2021 12:13:31 GMT -5
Glad some of my life experience paid off.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2021 13:02:53 GMT -5
Decided to remove the kit firewall & make one out of Evergreen, simply because I could make it one piece: Still need to add some small filler pieces on the left in the pic, where the razor saw slipped, then putty & sand, but not a biggie: I'm going to make the side panels once I fill in that gap & attach them, then putty & sand.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2021 13:49:52 GMT -5
A piece of .60 half round & a .020 rod filled the gaps well: Let dry, sand smooth & apply a bit of putty where needed, then sand smooth again. Didn't take pics, but I braced the backside & provided gluing areas for the side panels with some Evergreen square rod.
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