American Graffiti ‘32 Ford Coupé

[Twokidsnosleep]

I think this is the carb size I am going to go with
Have to chop and reverse the alternator to sit the right way around at the correct location to the movie car





This one has six carbs!!! Can’t imagine trying to tune that up correctly

[barryf1fan]

This one has six carbs!!! Can’t imagine trying to tune that up correctly

I hear'ya... I had a 1967 Morris Minor 1000 convertible when I was a kid and it had dual Weber side-draft carbs, and that thing was a huge PITA.

Love this build (NGL, I dig all of your builds!!)!!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Hold onto your socks, an nice quiet Sunday morning of building
Dove into my secret box of goodies to finds some detail stuff


Green fuel lines will look cool…movie car had gross yellow brown clear ones


Making the carberature stacks out of aluminum. Which polishes nicely but bends about as well as I do right now





Pretty much there, just some refining and polishing. I made the rotor and wiring too…red hairy thing in the vise

[Twokidsnosleep]

Found this in my box


It is a sticky backed tape. I didn’t smooth the firewall enough. I might put it right over the aluminum bit I made
Ya I am going to try that

[Stokesy44]

Engine is looking smart with the carbs and wiring

[Twokidsnosleep]

Engine is looking smart with the carbs and wiring

Devil is in the details!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Getting the exhaust headers 3D printed out
I did a print from the file that was 1/25 scale…way small
So I did another with my multiple versions on the same plate each 10% larger…and luckily got two good ones





Then did a putty test fit with the header and alternator to get an idea of positioning

[digger303]

[Stokesy44]

That looks superb. The painted carbs are awesome too.

[cor]

Its looking good

[Twokidsnosleep]

Its looking good

That looks superb. The painted carbs are awesome too.

Cheers guys, coming along slowly
For my next trick I think I am going to cut open the doors
The exposed external hinges are the issue to solve

[digger303]

Its looking good

That looks superb. The painted carbs are awesome too.

Cheers guys, coming along slowly
For my next trick I think I am going to cut open the doors
The exposed external hinges are the issue to solve

I'm ready

[Twokidsnosleep]

The exhaust headers on this car protrude out over the frame instead of inside tight to the engine block
So I have to extend the pipes bit am unsure how far
I made an adjustable set up that I can fine tune and then tighten and seal everything up as I add the frame bits and stuff that might get in the way.









For your entertainment, dog in the weeds. She is a super seeder

[Stokesy44]

Excellent work.

And you have a lovely view from the front garden

[Twokidsnosleep]

Well Saturday was fun
I modelled most of the day in the garage at the mini metal lathe!
I made three pulleys for the engine: the fan, water pump and alternator and a piston handle for the shifter
Here we go….












The shifter handle

[Stokesy44]

I know I joke a lot about this side of the hobby but that doesnt mean I'm not impressed.

Those milled parts are absolutely stunning, the skill needed and the final look of the parts is superb.

[Twokidsnosleep]

I know I joke a lot about this side of the hobby but that doesnt mean I'm not impressed.

Those milled parts are absolutely stunning, the skill needed and the final look of the parts is superb.

There was also some swearing and anger….the lathe has sat too long unused and precision instrument don’t like to do that
Took a while to get the cross table working right, it was jamming up

[digger303]

Very good work making those items.....a deft touch when working in such small confines.

Yes when you don't use them often enough the lube gums up and some parts start to get a bit of corrosion and garages or big unsealed sheds tend to get more moisture in.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Video of the lathe in action

[DRUMS01]

Looking great Scott, a real labor of love going on here.....

[Twokidsnosleep]

Looking great Scott, a real labor of love going on here.....

Man,thank you
I don’t know about love though, I think I am building this one for spite
I have wanted to build my own parts on the lathe so this was a good project for that

[Twokidsnosleep]

Very good work making those items.....a deft touch when working in such small confines.

Yes when you don't use them often enough the lube gums up and some parts start to get a bit of corrosion and garages or big unsealed sheds tend to get more moisture in.

Thank you
I hate to admit it but this stuff was all eyeball, seat of my pants design. No detailed drawings and careful measures
I just banged them out…but I did have styrene kit parts as a starting point.

I don’t see how and internal Allen bolt got loose for my wheel nut that is what my problem was and I needed to stop, take a deep breath and figure things out instead of forcing it and breaking something. After I got those things tightened up and rolling smooth, the lathe worked perfectly

[bfrd]

Spite is a pretty good motivator too. I think the people saying negative stuff are just jealous. This is one very impressive build!

[Stokesy44]

Spite is a pretty good motivator too. I think the people saying negative stuff are just jealous. This is one very impressive build!

I agree. You've got to have an empty dark soul to criticize something like this. I've been on this planet over 50 years now and the ability of people to be mean still surprises me.

[digger303]

Very good work making those items.....a deft touch when working in such small confines.

Yes when you don't use them often enough the lube gums up and some parts start to get a bit of corrosion and garages or big unsealed sheds tend to get more moisture in.

Thank you
I hate to admit it but this stuff was all eyeball, seat of my pants design. No detailed drawings and careful measures
I just banged them out…but I did have styrene kit parts as a starting point.

I don’t see how and internal Allen bolt got loose for my wheel nut that is what my problem was and I needed to stop, take a deep breath and figure things out instead of forcing it and breaking something. After I got those things tightened up and rolling smooth, the lathe worked perfectly

Nothing wrong with your eyes, they came out lovely.
Allen screw coming out was probably a factory issue , just not tightened up enough.

Probably not relevant, but there is a bearing type that integrates the locking screws as part of the bearing as opposed to the type that has a separate collar with the allen screws..so it's a 2 piece thing and it's way superior. Never comes loose as opposed to the cheaper type that always does and causes more problems than one wants.

[barryf1fan]

This thing is looking pretty freakin' amazing!! The detail you're putting into that engine build is too much. You actually made R-E-A-L metal pulleys for the engine. I mean, adding fuel line and spark cables, sure - but milling TINY metal circles that actually look like a crank pulley, and alternator pulley, c'mon!!??



Oh. Wait!!

In all seriousness, looking incredible. Been watching, and agree, the people being a bit negative Nancy can go pound sand.

[Twokidsnosleep]

This thing is looking pretty freakin' amazing!! The detail you're putting into that engine build is too much. You actually made R-E-A-L metal pulleys for the engine. I mean, adding fuel line and spark cables, sure - but milling TINY metal circles that actually look like a crank pulley, and alternator pulley, c'mon!!??



Oh. Wait!!

In all seriousness, looking incredible. Been watching, and agree, the people being a bit negative Nancy can go pound sand.

It’s all good guys
There are some super supportive and helpful ones there too
I think the others are ‘experts’ or enter contests so they are a bit jerky

[Tomcat64]

Been meaning to catch up on this one for a while - it's great to see the body in that shiny yellow and the detailing on the engine is awesome.

Looking forward to seeing how the exhaust system works out.

[Kevthemodeller]

[Twokidsnosleep]

Skip through a bit here, lots of pics

I opened up the driver’s door and made a hinge…or three






Then found some proper rear drag tires as extras from another kit in my stash!






3D printed some proper fitting rear wheels for those tires.
Mr hobby surfacer black base and Alclad chrome with Tamiya panel liner






Then a quick mock up and stance test. As Matthew said, “it looks mean”

[Stokesy44]

The wheels and tyres really look the part.

That cut on the door is beautifully done. I would say perfect work, really well done

[Kevthemodeller]

Oh yes coming together very nicely

[Twokidsnosleep]

I have some Revell spray can chrome coming from the far east….Ontario
Should brighten up somethings

[Twokidsnosleep]

Last night I worked on the exhaust system extensions
Reference for position


Aluminum extensions


Test fit

[Twokidsnosleep]

Figuring out the rest of the exhaust system.
Bending styrene is NOT my forté…just the s curves from the headers, rest is kit

[Stokesy44]

Cool work.

Sprue bending is no fun at all. If, like me, you use heat, the plastic goes from rigid to completely soft to on fire in a matter of seconds!

You get a sweet spot of about 2 seconds in which to work the magic but after that you're calling the fire services!

I wonder if the designer of that exhaust system was compensating for something?

[RangerNeil]

Cool work.

Sprue bending is no fun at all. If, like me, you use heat, the plastic goes from rigid to completely soft to on fire in a matter of seconds!

You get a sweet spot of about 2 seconds in which to work the magic but after that you're calling the fire services!

I wonder if the designer of that exhaust system was compensating for something?

FWIW - I find a bowl of hot water works better for sprue forming. Can be a bit messy so a strategically placed towel is advisable....

[Twokidsnosleep]

Some work on the dashboard. There are eight gauges, kit has four. So have to modify

[Stokesy44]

Nice work on the dash, the new version looks very smart

[cor]

This is a labour of love. Looking good.

[Tomcat64]

Awesome work chopping that door open - and yes it definitely looks mean up on its boots.

The detailing on the exhaust system & dash look great too - nice work mate

[Twokidsnosleep]

Cheers guys, thanks for the encouragement!

[Twokidsnosleep]

I have a very smart helper who is designing this to 3D print






Version 3 is printing right now…to get the Cali script

[runnerUA]

great post! I am reading it and re-reading it daily now. New addiction. I did not know about zero-designs. They have some great stuff. Scott, thank you!

[Twokidsnosleep]

great post! I am reading it and re-reading it daily now. New addiction. I did not know about zero-designs. They have some great stuff. Scott, thank you!

Cheers please read on, we are all here to learn and show

[Twokidsnosleep]

This is version 3.0









That’ll do!

[bfrd]

I have a very smart helper who is designing this to 3D print

A smart helper would have gotten it right on the first try.

[Twokidsnosleep]

I have a very smart helper who is designing this to 3D print

A smart helper would have gotten it right on the first try.

Ya well there are a lot of factors to work out…program, slicers etc
Also down to the machine it is printed on and the resin used.
Matthew is amazing for designing this

[Tomcat64]

Really nice work both of you...

I thought the plate looked familiar, but I hadn't realised that the license number used was a deliberate reference back to THX 1138 (one of Lucas's earlier movies)

[Twokidsnosleep]

Really nice work both of you...

I thought the plate looked familiar, but I hadn't realised that the license number used was a deliberate reference back to THX 1138 (one of Lucas's earlier movies)

Exactly
THX 1138 first movie I haven’t seen or really heard about
American Graffiti was movie #2 for Lucas..then Star Wars