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618 Posts
In a futile attempt to avoid a last minute rush I started this build last year by starting to carve a Honda RA272. After a good start, life and other projects took precedence and the rough carving was put to one side. A couple of months back I picked it up again but couldn't get the shape the way I wanted - Oh well try a Honda RA271 much boxier shape would be much easier to do.
A couple of weeks of filling and sanding and the basic body shape was right but needed allot of detail adding before it would be cast. Look at the calender and realize I only have a week or so before it must be sent to the US.
A quick scrabble trough the box of bodies for a 1.5 liter shell reveled a few and I settled on a David Jones Ferguson as a good idea (a front engined chassis is obviously going to be easy to build and make competitive - "not") just to make sure it was easy to do in the time I added the complication of making is an "iso".
To save time I started work on the body and chassis simultaneously and hence was not able to marry them up till the last minute.
First a look at the chassis:-
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Fairly straight forward until I try to fit the crown gear and remember that with the ball race fitted to the bracket there is not a enough room for a standard slot-it pinion. Unfortunately, I managed to force the shaft too far back into the BWA motor so a new motor needed to be fitted along with the ground down pinion. But every thing went back together OK. It was originally very stiff but loosened up after running in.
The body looked OK to start off with and a test fitting of the chassis showed I'd got the wheelbase about right (although it does change by a couple of millimeter as the chassis moves.
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But oh dear - the guide.
What looked like a normal sized MRRC guide on the chassis looks totally enormous with the body on and is only just covered by the body. Oh well just change it for a Slot-It. No that won't work as the chassis is too short at the front for that.
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Start detailing the body - Carbs and exhaust go on nicely.
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Make Build up suspension off the car and offer it all up.
No where near enough room between the body and the wheels so need to cut it back drastically to fit. Similarly fitting the driver should be simple (as I've gone to the trouble of making it front engined) Find the rear bracket and chassis tubes get in the way and quite a bit of dremelling is required.
Test run it and find the rear ortmanns have far too much grip and the car will not slide under any circumstances. Oh well it's now the day before it's due in Fort Wayne so nothing to do except post it.
So it doesn't look very nice. It's slow and heavy and impossible to drive - at least there's a nice prize for last place this year.
All the best to all my fellow entrants.
Mike
A couple of weeks of filling and sanding and the basic body shape was right but needed allot of detail adding before it would be cast. Look at the calender and realize I only have a week or so before it must be sent to the US.
A quick scrabble trough the box of bodies for a 1.5 liter shell reveled a few and I settled on a David Jones Ferguson as a good idea (a front engined chassis is obviously going to be easy to build and make competitive - "not") just to make sure it was easy to do in the time I added the complication of making is an "iso".
To save time I started work on the body and chassis simultaneously and hence was not able to marry them up till the last minute.
First a look at the chassis:-
Fairly straight forward until I try to fit the crown gear and remember that with the ball race fitted to the bracket there is not a enough room for a standard slot-it pinion. Unfortunately, I managed to force the shaft too far back into the BWA motor so a new motor needed to be fitted along with the ground down pinion. But every thing went back together OK. It was originally very stiff but loosened up after running in.
The body looked OK to start off with and a test fitting of the chassis showed I'd got the wheelbase about right (although it does change by a couple of millimeter as the chassis moves.
But oh dear - the guide.
What looked like a normal sized MRRC guide on the chassis looks totally enormous with the body on and is only just covered by the body. Oh well just change it for a Slot-It. No that won't work as the chassis is too short at the front for that.
Start detailing the body - Carbs and exhaust go on nicely.
Make Build up suspension off the car and offer it all up.
No where near enough room between the body and the wheels so need to cut it back drastically to fit. Similarly fitting the driver should be simple (as I've gone to the trouble of making it front engined) Find the rear bracket and chassis tubes get in the way and quite a bit of dremelling is required.
Test run it and find the rear ortmanns have far too much grip and the car will not slide under any circumstances. Oh well it's now the day before it's due in Fort Wayne so nothing to do except post it.
So it doesn't look very nice. It's slow and heavy and impossible to drive - at least there's a nice prize for last place this year.
All the best to all my fellow entrants.
Mike
