Helping a fellow scratch builder out in 1/8th scale

[Brian Conn]

  Go ahead and send everything with the Willy's to Bob's.......also do you have any valve stems? He's only got one installed and still need 3 more.  I'll post a picture of what I need as far as the inner wheel goes...I'm going to update the WIP sometime yet this evening.

[Brian Conn]

   Here's the pictures for Marty....the measurements are in mm.  I can convert them back over to standard if need be.

 

Front 1/2 only on the Left, complete wheel on Right.



Dimensions in mm. of the wheel half that is needed.

  Figured out the issues with the front suspension....no biggie and a rather simple fix.


 I had been having issues with the front suspension....manly the coil over shocks. The spring was touching the frame....even with the ride height set. Part of the problem was with the springs...scale wise they are too large of an outside diameter. I rectified that problem with a visit to the local hardware store. The other problem is that the Brass locating pins for the coil over shocks need to be moved outboard +- 1mm. The movement of the Brass locator pins will only be enough to gain some needed clearance on the frame rails , yet visually, the shocks will remain in alignment with the mounting nuts that are located below the Brass locating pins on the bottom side of the axle.


 Removed the locator pins...to keep the shocks in line with what appears to be some kind of mounting nut that is part of the axle on the bottom side, the hole was filled w/ CA and the new hole was drilled using a pin vice outboard from this one enough to provide needed clearance on the frame rails , yet visually remain in alignment with the mounting nut on the bottom side of the axle.


   Went to the hardware store and picked up a #3 compression spring which fits the shock body perfectly. There's enough spring to do 2 shocks. The gently used click pen will yield the adjustor nut and coil-over cone.


  Removed the tapered part of the click pen where the ink cartridge comes out. I removed a small section of the tapered portion for the coil-over cone and a small section the fits up inside the pen body for the adjustor nut.


  Once I clean these two pieces up...make them uniform in diameter size as opposed to the rough cut appearance they have now...I'll set the ride height and add the coil springs then CA everything in place. The shocks will be solid pieces with no movement and will support the frame off of the front axle.

[Marty W]

Brian, I am almost certain that is the same wheel I have, the American Racing Daisy Mag, only mine is gold, and is the complete wheel. I might still have the chrome version stored away. The inch measurement comes out to 1.647 inches, which equals the 41.85mm. I also dug up a tach.

[Brian Conn]

   Figured out how I am going to set the front ride height....barrowing from the same way that some of us adjust the height of the main roll cage to fit up against the inside portion of a roof.



Fabricated shock mounts (White) that fits inside the original pieces that Bob had done on the frame.  Will drill a hole in the shock mounts for the Brass rod to pass thru.  Once the desired ride height has been established, I'll cut the remaining Brass rod above the shock mount off, leaving aprox. 1-2mm. for detail (threaded top portion and nut)...the Aluminum pieces will go over the Brass rod to make up the shock body and shaft assembly and the coil spring section and related pieces over those pieces for the coil overs .  Once everything is in place, either 2 part epoxy or CA or both will be used for a strong bond that will be needed to keep everything in place.  This front axle also has Ford strut type lower control arms which will help in keeping the front axle where its supposed to be.   

[Brian Conn]

  After getting the struts attached to the axle beam came the task of aligning the front end.....took longer than I thought it should, but like what has been stated before at this large of a scale every little thing really sticks out if its not done correctly.

   
  This build is suppose to represent what would have been found in the mid to late 60's...Bob had just started on some coil over type shocks before his stroke.  His wishes where to build something like the Monroe Load Handler shocks from the 60's.  I was able to locate some decent pictures of those shocks on the net.  I have established the front ride height by using LEGO's to support the frame in 3 places.  I will disassemble what is shown here and fill the shocks with Epoxy to make them solid pieces to hold the correct height.  The shock mount on the frame will be cleaned up and painted to match the bracket and the Brass rod that is sticking thru will be trimmed down and be detailed to resemble the top threaded portion of a shock with a nut.

 
  Bob saw the picture that David Bogard had posted of a Ford pickup and told me that is exactly what he is after as far as front and rear ride height.  This is a mock up...so far so good.       

[David Bogard]

We'll check for uneven tire wear a little later to see if you actually have this lined up and balanced. (ha!) Just kidding! Nice work Brian.

[Brian Conn]

  Thanks!

  Probably wouldn't have taken as long if I had enlisted the help from the Grateful Dead Bear 

[Brian Conn]

  Received some goodies for this build from Marty W  .....u-joints, a tach, a complete rear wheel to replace the one with the missing half and some Black elastic lacing that I'll find some where to use.

 
  Got the front suspension finished and have moved on to plumbing the brake lines.  The shocks have been filled with Epoxy and are solid as a rock.  Added some Walthers #2-56 Hex Nuts to the top of the shock mounts where the supporting Brass rod passes thru to give the illusion of the top of the shock being secured by a nut.  The front suspension has to be able to support the weight of the cab as well as the 427 engine which is pretty much a solid mass of resin.  I might have to add some foam donuts to the inside of the rubber tires is they flatten out too much due to the weight.

   
 Right front brake line detail....found some smaller AWG wire that just happened to be Black that is pretty much spot on diameter wise for the rubber brake line....not really visible, but I bored a hole into the brake caliper area and made a plausible fitting and attached everything in the hole much the same way you would with drilling out holes in an engine block for plug wires.
  The mounting bracket on the frame and fitting on the hose end is Evergreen.  Couldn't figure out what I was going to do for the steel brake lines....everything was either too small or too big.  While out in the garage scrounging up Christmas lights for the front yard display ....its somewhere between a Clark Griswald and Cousin Eddy project... I notice my wire feed welder...LIGHTBULB.  I put the Christmas light project on hold...hey, I still got 45 minutes of sunlight to do an hour and a half's worth of work out in the front yard   Fire up the welder, hit the trigger feed and get 2 or 3 foot of wire which should be enough to plumb all 4 corners.  Check the wire diameter with the digital calipers and its with in +- diameter for 8th scale Steel brake lines.
  Going to be off the grid ..so to speak..at least off of the computer for the next couple of weeks.  Will be spending a Christmas vacation in Colorado with Amy's Daughter, Grandson and family.
  SO I BID A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL..
 

[David Bogard]

I seem to recall some kind of "resolution" on this. (needle, needle, ha!) Any updates Brian?

[Brian Conn]

  Update...
  Its on a short hold til Bob gets back with me...
  I did get a steering gear box scratch built....still need to fab up a Pitman arm and drag link for the steering.  Started to plumb and "correctly" route the Right front brake lines.  I had started off heading in the wrong direction (see pic in previous post) ...once I get some more accomplished , I'll post some more pictures.
  I sent him an e-mail a few days ago asking if he had any 427 F.E headers for this build.  I'm needing at least the drivers side to check to see if there will be any clearance issues with the steering gear box...just like in the 1:1 world.
  Bob's got a header mold some where in his house if he doesn't have a set already cast from the past.  Because he is confined to the first floor , most if not all of his building stuff including the rubber-n-resin got moved to the basement.  He has a live in 24/7 care provider that occupies what was his build room on the first floor and I think everything got moved into the pour room (rubber and resin) in the basement.
  If I haven't heard anything back from him, I'll give him a call this week end.

  In the mean time, I've been piddling around with a 1:25 dirt late model build...probably should start posting some progress pics on this build as well in the Fab shop-Under Construction section.

[Brian Conn]

  No, not really, piddled around with it a little bit.  I do need to get this finished and back to Bob.  When I was working on this, it pretty much took up all of the clear work space on the table.....it's not like the 1:25 stuff where I can toss everything back in the kit box and set it aside.  I can only focus on one build at a time , so when I got started back on the Mustang II dirt late model, the '56 pick up got moved off of the table with all intentions of continuing to work on it, now the same thing can be said for the Mustang II as its been placed aside in favor of the '55 Ford Customline modified street stock.
  We have entered into the busy time of the year at work...10,11,12 hr. work days happen with frequency, so the only free time to devote to building happens on the week ends after everything else that didn't get done around the house gets done......not making excuses, just the way things happen