vintagedragfan Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 (edited) makin a little progress, finally got the seat belts done, the buckles are solid aluminum rod bent and ftattened, also got the headers pretty much done too, the pipes are solid aluminum as well as the flanges, they were a pain! but pretty happy with the way they turned out, thanks for lookin! http://public.fotki....er-update-head/ Edited March 1, 2012 by vintagedragfan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ Boy Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Bill, was that aluminum tubing or solid rod!? Either way, they look fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beavis Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 gorgeous work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyn Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 shiver me timbers drop dead gorgeous metal work, Bill. I've always figured that to build a good set of metal headers, you'd have to use brass in order to solder a section of tube on the end of the bent piece of rod: (rod for bending without collapsing, tube to achieve the thin wall look of real tubing). You've found the way (with your skills) of using aluminum to achieve the best result I've seen. Brass would have had to be painted with metalizer. Your flange looks great as well. Awesome work once again. Is this masterpiece going to be ready for the Heartland in June? Can't wait to see it up close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romell R Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 This is an AWESOME project thanks for sharing it with us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragfan Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Bill, was that aluminum tubing or solid rod!? Either way, they look fantastic. gorgeous work! thanks fella's! they are solid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragfan Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 shiver me timbers drop dead gorgeous metal work, Bill. I've always figured that to build a good set of metal headers, you'd have to use brass in order to solder a section of tube on the end of the bent piece of rod: (rod for bending without collapsing, tube to achieve the thin wall look of real tubing). You've found the way (with your skills) of using aluminum to achieve the best result I've seen. Brass would have had to be painted with metalizer. Your flange looks great as well. Awesome work once again. Is this masterpiece going to be ready for the Heartland in June? Can't wait to see it up close. THanks Alyn, means alot, thought about using brass, but the aluminum seemed to be workin, so I went with it, and yes it will be at the Heartland for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragfan Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 This is an AWESOME project thanks for sharing it with us appreciate it Romell, big fan of your stuff as well! great to get some feedback Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragline Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 GEEZ............ Will this end up being the best Cal Charger build ever? I'm thinking YES! STUNNING. The motor looks ready for a squirt and a push. WOW! Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragfan Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 GEEZ............ Will this end up being the best Cal Charger build ever? I'm thinking YES! STUNNING. The motor looks ready for a squirt and a push. WOW! Bob would love to think so lol, but I highly dought it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Sumner Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 (edited) Bill...could you describe the method you used to bend the aluminum rod without showing any tool marks or kinks? You said you used solid rod...what did you do...hollow out the ends on a lathe before bending? How far down can you see into the holes? I'm fascinated by how great those headers look and have tried to make similar ones without much success... Edit: Upon looking more closely it looks like your tubes were solid before bending. But there is a pic there that shows a tube on your bending setup that has the end already hollowed out??? Edited February 8, 2012 by Terry Sumner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragfan Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 yea Terry they were solid before I bent them, I drilled them out afterwards and they are about an 1/8 deep, they are very thin and i junked several trying to drill them so I didnt go very deep, if I drilled first on the lathe it would crush them while bending, the picture is one I junked drilling, just showing my method I used, sorry for the deception.lol and thanks for the interest!, hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mooneyzs Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I am super impressed with your work on these headers. Man do they look great. I may have to try doing a set like that out of rod instead of tubing sometime. Very nice job on them and this build is just coming along and looking great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Sumner Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 yea Terry they were solid before I bent them, I drilled them out afterwards and they are about an 1/8 deep, they are very thin and i junked several trying to drill them so I didnt go very deep, if I drilled first on the lathe it would crush them while bending, the picture is one I junked drilling, just showing my method I used, sorry for the deception.lol and thanks for the interest!, hope this helps No deception noted! I had tried to bend aluminum tubing before but I had the same problem..in a short bend like that they kinked on me. I guess if you put little red balls on each opening like they did on the 1:1 cars to keep out debris it would work out great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TedsModeling Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Just spent about an hour looking at all of your Fotki photos. What a stupendous build. I have this 'thing' about kit-supplied chrome plated parts. If I can use real aluminum or other metal, I will. If not, I'd rather strip the chrome pieces and use Alclad. My problem has been the kit-supplied spoke wheels. The spokes are too thick to be realistic and I'm constantly looking for replacements. I found some Franklin Mint motorcycles that have excellent wire wheels, but they're not quite the right size. Any chance of marketing your front and real wheels? The blower looks like aluminum, but I didn't see any photos on it. Is it scratchbuilt? How did you center your drill in the headers, in order to get such a thin edge all the way around? Did you use a drill press or your lathe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragfan Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 No deception noted! I had tried to bend aluminum tubing before but I had the same problem..in a short bend like that they kinked on me. I guess if you put little red balls on each opening like they did on the 1:1 cars to keep out debris it would work out great! yea terry that is true, actually thought about doing that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragfan Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 I am super impressed with your work on these headers. Man do they look great. I may have to try doing a set like that out of rod instead of tubing sometime. Very nice job on them and this build is just coming along and looking great. thanks for the kind comment Chris, I think funny car headers might be a tiny bit easier considering they are not U shaped, its a loooong way around on these, broke several pieces, I didn't do any annealing that might have helped! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragfan Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 Just spent about an hour looking at all of your Fotki photos. What a stupendous build. I have this 'thing' about kit-supplied chrome plated parts. If I can use real aluminum or other metal, I will. If not, I'd rather strip the chrome pieces and use Alclad. My problem has been the kit-supplied spoke wheels. The spokes are too thick to be realistic and I'm constantly looking for replacements. I found some Franklin Mint motorcycles that have excellent wire wheels, but they're not quite the right size. Any chance of marketing your front and real wheels? The blower looks like aluminum, but I didn't see any photos on it. Is it scratchbuilt? How did you center your drill in the headers, in order to get such a thin edge all the way around? Did you use a drill press or your lathe? appreciate it Ted, these are all my first attempts, I have never done any of these things before, I am still learning! these are all things I have wanted to do to a model, the engine and blower are from the kid, i used Alclad on the blower( did not strip) which is the first time I have used Alclad also, I have had several people ask me about makin them wheels, at this point all my spare time is used on the car, lol, I dont have a mill (yet, hopefully very soon) so machining is a slow process, I am just using good ol common sense on all of this stuff, centering the hole on the headers I could not do on the lathe, which would have been the easiest, my jig i made for bending would have crushed them when I bent them, so I bent them first and used a pin vise and started the hole close as i could get it then step drilled them out with a cordless drill, junked a few in the process!! lol thanks for the interest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrone Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 that is some really nice work.... those headers are off the chain... great work.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragfan Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 that is some really nice work.... those headers are off the chain... great work.... thanks Tyrone I'm tryin! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Sumner Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I didn't do any annealing that might have helped! Ya know...I was wondering that very thing and was going to ask you if you had heated them up at all... You answered my thought? Now I wonder....would heating them up actually make it easier to bend them. I mean, I'm sure it would work with steel and brass but i don't have the knowledge as to how it would work with aluminum rod. Would it just bend easier? Or would it make the metal grainy and more prone to breaking? I just don't know but would like to. Also, what about discoloration of the aluminum? Would it get discolored enough where it would take some serious sanding and buffing to get the aluminum back to shiny. I know from tig welding that the surface of aluminum oxidizes quickly and there is a thin top layer that is a lot harder than the underlying aluminum...that's why you have to scrub the aluminum where you're going to weld with a scotchbrite pat really well....that harder surface makes it much more difficult to tig weld. Which makes me wonder if using heat would increase that oxidized area and make it harder to bend? I don't know about any of this...I'm just thinking and writing my thoughts down... Maybe will have to do some experimenting.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romell R Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 In the begining of this thread he said the headers were made of solid aluminum rod in which case no annealing would be needed, he just bent them into shape and Im assuming he drilled the ends out once that was done. In anycase its a job very well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagedragfan Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 I got the butterfly steering wheel done, with real wood grips Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gasser59 Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Now come on Bill. We'd like to see your amazing talent on that steering wheel up close and personal but the pictures just aren't big enough to study. I'm sure its gorgeous but I don't know for absolute certain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragline Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I agree. Pics need to be MUCH larger. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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