Thursdays musings
Posted by Dr Diecast at 4/3/2008 7:17 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
So we approach the end of another week in paradise, LOL. Actually it is in my opinion. Sunny and mid to upper 70's everyday is the world I want to live in. Guess I will be whining when its 110 and sunny, LOL. I actually don't mind that either.
Ok....So I got most the final assembly done on the Elke now. I had to make a fuel cell and battery box lids. Got the color mixed for the interior so I can spray that this morning and then get it dry assembled this afternoon for pictures. I also had a little mini project I did yesterday for a customer which I will explain next.
I like little quickie (couple hours) type projects as they break up the long more involved ones. This one seemed pretty simple as it involved an engine swap between 2 cars. See the customer wanted to give his family mechanic a diecast version of his old muscle car ,1971 Charger R/T. His car is a Blue, Black interior 440 6 pack car. In diecast they make the identical car but as a Hemi. So my customer wanted me to do an engine swap.
We started with an R/C2, 1971 Charger, he supplied, and a completely detailed 440 six pack engine that was sent to him by GMP who makes the 70 B Body Road Runner, GTX line of cars. Now so you know all things diecast are not the same especially when it comes to engine in scale. So until I had everything in front of me I wouldn't know what it would take to do the swap.
First off I had never taken one of these 71 Chargers apart so that in its self is a project. Finding any hidden screws and or removing an screw covers takes some time but in the end it came apart rather easily. The next thing of course is removing the engine and in this car is only hel in with one screw through the chassis into the top of the trans. The trans is also held in place by the trans support and the front of the oil pan has a hole in it which rests on a pin that sticks up off the K member at the front. The interesting thing is the 440 engine had a hole at the front of its oil pan too....... could I get so lucky ?
In simple typed words .... YES !!! It did line up correctly...... yeah...... but the trans on the 440 is complete like a real one and not like the Hemi setup with only 2/3rds of the trans molded and the cutout on top for the screw. See in diecast all engines and transmissions are molded together, well 90% of them with only the topper engine diecast being different. So.... what happened here while simple did need some more modification.
First I had to cut out mounting tab in the trand tunnel for the old trans.... once that was removed I could test fit everything and while it did line up the air cleaner sat too far forward for the hood to close properly so I had to remove it and re glue it back a little further. This was actually a good thing as the Hemi engine sat a little higher so while the 400 fit is did sit a little lower than I would have liked. The repositioning of the air clearer gave it a taller look and one that would also allow the hood to close correctly.
Now with this done I set about hooking up the battery, heater, and radiator hoses. First let me say GMP does a great engine. Though I do find fault with there batter cables. While very thing but problably accurate they never paint the positive one red along with there terminal caps look odd. So I went ahead and reused the ones off the Hemi. I re glued all the other hoses and yes even changed out the 440 hose to be correct. Not sure how many know but the upper hose on Hemi engines attaches to the passenger side of the radiator but the 440 attaches to the driver side.
Once this is done I had to source some exhaust trim from a parts GTX that had a 440 in it as Hemi exhaust is different and the pipes dont line up with the manifolds. This took a little trimming here and there but BOOM....... she was done and looked 99% factory if I must say so myself. I then reassembled the car, removed the Hemi tampo decals off the hood and she was ready to go.
This car is made with working hideaway headlights and one was broken so while I had the car apart I fixed that for him too. Funny how there are 2 pieces that hold the housing in place to the light bucket will rotate but the one side had one piece missing all together........ go figure..... those Chinese dont really pay attention sometimes I think.
Well here are a couple shots of the Green Concept Cuda heading to Jeff in Canada. Hope you enjoy it more in person then in pictures.
OK....... I'm out !
Ok....So I got most the final assembly done on the Elke now. I had to make a fuel cell and battery box lids. Got the color mixed for the interior so I can spray that this morning and then get it dry assembled this afternoon for pictures. I also had a little mini project I did yesterday for a customer which I will explain next.
I like little quickie (couple hours) type projects as they break up the long more involved ones. This one seemed pretty simple as it involved an engine swap between 2 cars. See the customer wanted to give his family mechanic a diecast version of his old muscle car ,1971 Charger R/T. His car is a Blue, Black interior 440 6 pack car. In diecast they make the identical car but as a Hemi. So my customer wanted me to do an engine swap.
We started with an R/C2, 1971 Charger, he supplied, and a completely detailed 440 six pack engine that was sent to him by GMP who makes the 70 B Body Road Runner, GTX line of cars. Now so you know all things diecast are not the same especially when it comes to engine in scale. So until I had everything in front of me I wouldn't know what it would take to do the swap.
First off I had never taken one of these 71 Chargers apart so that in its self is a project. Finding any hidden screws and or removing an screw covers takes some time but in the end it came apart rather easily. The next thing of course is removing the engine and in this car is only hel in with one screw through the chassis into the top of the trans. The trans is also held in place by the trans support and the front of the oil pan has a hole in it which rests on a pin that sticks up off the K member at the front. The interesting thing is the 440 engine had a hole at the front of its oil pan too....... could I get so lucky ?
In simple typed words .... YES !!! It did line up correctly...... yeah...... but the trans on the 440 is complete like a real one and not like the Hemi setup with only 2/3rds of the trans molded and the cutout on top for the screw. See in diecast all engines and transmissions are molded together, well 90% of them with only the topper engine diecast being different. So.... what happened here while simple did need some more modification.
First I had to cut out mounting tab in the trand tunnel for the old trans.... once that was removed I could test fit everything and while it did line up the air cleaner sat too far forward for the hood to close properly so I had to remove it and re glue it back a little further. This was actually a good thing as the Hemi engine sat a little higher so while the 400 fit is did sit a little lower than I would have liked. The repositioning of the air clearer gave it a taller look and one that would also allow the hood to close correctly.
Now with this done I set about hooking up the battery, heater, and radiator hoses. First let me say GMP does a great engine. Though I do find fault with there batter cables. While very thing but problably accurate they never paint the positive one red along with there terminal caps look odd. So I went ahead and reused the ones off the Hemi. I re glued all the other hoses and yes even changed out the 440 hose to be correct. Not sure how many know but the upper hose on Hemi engines attaches to the passenger side of the radiator but the 440 attaches to the driver side.
Once this is done I had to source some exhaust trim from a parts GTX that had a 440 in it as Hemi exhaust is different and the pipes dont line up with the manifolds. This took a little trimming here and there but BOOM....... she was done and looked 99% factory if I must say so myself. I then reassembled the car, removed the Hemi tampo decals off the hood and she was ready to go.
This car is made with working hideaway headlights and one was broken so while I had the car apart I fixed that for him too. Funny how there are 2 pieces that hold the housing in place to the light bucket will rotate but the one side had one piece missing all together........ go figure..... those Chinese dont really pay attention sometimes I think.
Well here are a couple shots of the Green Concept Cuda heading to Jeff in Canada. Hope you enjoy it more in person then in pictures.
OK....... I'm out !
John, the Cuda looks great
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