New build '86 Bob Glidden/Motorcraft T-Bird!

Mitch heres a idea on running fuel lines or bat cables through the interior of race cars on the passenger side floor use a small piece
of tubing attached to front and rear firewalls then run lines through the tubing , thats how I did on my dirt cars when I was still
racing (can't afford to any more) . Hope this helps .

Good idea! I hope to take pics tonight for ya'll. Got side tracked teaching today and in a lot of pain. Change of direction - I loosened up the battery and fuel cable and ran them outside of the underside chassis brace/support (yours might have the same piece, CM). I like the idea of running them inside and should have! Anyway, never having worked on such a strict race piece, I ran the black and grounded it to the engine block and ran red to the starter. I figure once car is started, some kind of wire must give current from the alternator back to recharge the batteries, so maybe I'll feed a little piece of .018 black wire somewhere. I need to study up on this stuff! The MSD two-step is on the firewall and a feed from the MSD AL-7 under the dash runs to that.

The coil from BNL is larger than I thought, so it's under the MSD on the firewall and has a nice rubber boot for the dist. wire. I'm waiting on spark plug boots to finish that and the headers are being painted Jet Hot white. Not sure if this is 1:1, but... I worked so hard on getting those tiny friggin' AN fittings into the carbs, then yanked them out today. There's simply not enough room (or feeling left in my fingers!) to make it work. I bought some styrene rod that looks pretty sharp and I cut 2 pieces and mounted them in between the float bowls on either side of the carbs. I found some Tamiya sparkle transparent red and blue paint that looks just like aluminum AN fittings! I've got one side painted and I'll do the other tomorrow. Then it's just a matter of fitting a braided line and fitting in the center and run each wire back to the fuel block.

The more I work on this, the more I realize I ain't no pro and I'm keeping it simple! Padded the roll bar around the driver's seat tonight, cut small pieces of rod for bores in the carbs and painted them gold! Now this I can do! So after dinner, I shoot some pics before bedtime and you should have something to look at tomorrow. And please, be honest. I'd rather not detail at all if it looks like do-do, know what I mean?

Peace out guys!

Mitch.. I am speechless my friend. Your attention to detail and making the car as close to 1:1 as you do just makes me feel such humility towards my work. I *love* your enthusiasm in your builds, it is obvious from the pictures that behind the scenes there is someone who cares a great deal about attention to detail. This ride just kicks serious ass! The engine alone is a heartthrob. The roll cage and chassis... everything my man. I am truly struck by the talent you have. There are some incredible builders on here, and I'd really have to put you in that group.

Keep the awesomesauce comin my brother!

Wow! Either I've been kicked off the board for running my mouth or everyone has turned into a zombie! I didn't even know it was Halloween evening. I had a dr's appt. this morning and had a 2 hour round trip. Needless to say with the wife sleeping and time unaccounted for, I got up and slipped down to the model bench. I've been finishing up the fuel system for the last 1.5 hours!

O.K. friends, I need honest opinions. Some of you here know for reals how much of an amatuer I am. Regardless, I aim high and whatever happens, happens. Please look at these pics and see if I've really captured something that looks 1:1 or if it's just not happening. No holding back and I won't get upset. If it's just a waste of money with all these tiny fittings and stuff, I'd rather build box stock and concentrate on the presentation of the exterior and improving paint skills. So, without further ado (and rather poor photography!):










Sorry for what looks like duplicates. I had a couple passenger side shots but I guess they ended up in the trash because they were really fuzzy. Hope these turned out. Happy Halloween!

Way too cool. Now where was I? Oh yeah brains brains

It looks great Mitch. I agree with JP. Patience, my young Jedi!

If you really want to get super close to 1:1 and get the right scale I can recommend a website I use. When I really want accuracy I use this conversion site. Search model scaler on google and you will get a page from Woodland Scenics that let's you convert accurate. Here, this is probably easier: woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/assets/scalerLive/

None the less, bud, I really like your work. Not trying to take away from your skill at all. It's great attention to detail and I want to see the body over this frame soon. Keep up the great work.

Here's something this will blow your mind too: www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=70954

It has various cross-references which are very helpful. Here's what RB Motion has for pre-colored AN fitting pairs for use with a .025 (carb) fuel line: Hex Width 0.96mm (.038"). Chamfer Nut Bore 0.68mm (.027"). Compatible braided line dia. 0.63mm (.025").

To me, this means the width of the red fitting and it's blue nut which slides on for sake of authenticity in looks is .038". The Chamfer nut bore (hole where the braided line goes into red side of the fitting is .027".  I can in no way make a braided .025 fuel line fit into a bore hole only .002" larger!

My solution is to use the next larger size of fitting: Hex Width 1.17mm (.046"). Chamfer Nut Bore 0.94mm (.037"). Compatible braided line dia. 0.89mm (.035"). While this is meant for an .035 braided line, ain't NO way an .035 line is gonna fit into a bore of the same size! However, if you use this size fitting for an .025 line, you've got a full .012 larger bore hole to fit the .025 line into. No matter how well you trim a braided line, it's going to fray (I know this from 1:1 experience with my '93 EFI 342 CI Mustang).

For every fitting/line pair in the future, this is how I'm going to approach it. And if you use ProTech's flexible aluminum line instead of braided line, check Ted's site as he as invaluable info how the alum line differs from braided in actual O.D. This will help you choose the right sized bore in your fitting.

Sorry for going off, but I wanted to share what I've learned before you go dropping 9-10 dollars on fittings (one pack makes a set of 4 fittings). If you don't get them pre-colored, they are over $ less per set.

Don't get discouraged Gardner - I went through 4 '66 Nova bodies on my first real build! Bench it for a while if you have to and come back later.
Thanks for the encouraging Ice & CM. Ya mean I have to paint a body too??? 

Lookin awesome mitch! The stuff you are learning is really amazing. I can't imagine all the careful fitting you had to do. Engine, and all the components you've done so far are just out of the park!
I'm with Ice, looking forward to seeing the body!

Thanks bud. I got a couple of unfinished next size up plain alum fittings from Teds yesterday, so next build will have the benefit of seeing the results.

mitch, this thing is looking fantastic, awesome detail! take your time, but hurry up, I wanna see it done...

Your build's looking awesome dude!! The seat belts look good are those the ones I sent ya ?

Lates pics from tonight: not great, but... NO, I am not a Confederate, the book was just handy in the living room and level! I am done for now with all detailing, except for slicks decals. I burned myself out cutting/sanding them tonight. It now has disc brakes (hopefully visible in the front photos at weird angles), alternator wiring, fixed fuel wiring, fire extinguisher and leveled shocks on the a-arms.

Now it's time to have some ice cream or something good, or just dream about the pro-mod mockup pics at the bottom. Enjoy, criticize, it's all good. I def spent WAY to much time in detailing for a 2nd full build.

Looking really good Mitch! Also you can never spend too much time detailing. You are doing a fine job, keep it up.

And what's wrong with being a Confederate? Here in Brooksville we celebrate every year the "Brooksville Raid" with reenactments and the whole nine yards. Celebrating that the Union came here, kicked our butts and burned everything. The reenactment ends the same every year with the Union winning, never changes. Yeh, we are a special kind of special here.

One more thing about that book - I've loved ever since I was a kid. Not only did it contain the most detailed information about one of the lowest times in our nation's history (until now), it had incredible pen and ink illustrations, letters from the front, and these incredible 2 page hand painted illustrations of battles, with minuature soldiers from both sides fighting, cannons, marked troop movements and the philosophies of the major generals played out, with both good and bad results. It was like a wonderland of something so unreal I couldn't understand the underlying effect on our nation; more like a video game as if one had been built in the mid 60's.

My father has since given it to me and I treasure it as there must not be many left.