1949 Ford Dirt Racer

[Go4fun]

My best friend took me to a model shop on my last birthday and standing there looking at a wall of model cars said "Pick one". I had always wanted to build a '49 ford so I got one. Then he took me out for a steak dinner and we talked racing. We have been friends since high school and have either raced or watched racing all that time. So of course there was no way this beast could stay stock. So I dug in my mind to remember the rules (as best I could) for a Street Stock class dirt racer.
So first a teaser pic of the car mocked up.

The cars had to look pretty stock by  the rules. Wheel openings were allowed to be opened for clearance.
Most WhIffers think the instuctions are useless. I think they can be used to map out changes like so.

Now here in "The Land of A Million PXs" (United States) we race on dirt tracks turning left, or counter clockwise. So you move weight to the drivers side of the car and get rid of excess. The trunk (Boot) lid was not going to be opened so the floor of the trunk (boot) was patched and painted flat black.


More to come

[Go4fun]

This build is based on the reality of the local race track rules circa 1969 or so. To say they were somewhat hard to decipher would be an understatement.   But I was always one who read all those white parts between the printed lines and thought long and hard. Now the rule said you could not reinforce the frame. But you could build a protective cage around the gas tank. So after trimming and ripping out all the unnecessary bits you needed weight in the back for traction.

The fuel tank was moved up to keep it from dragging and to enable a thing called Side Bite, where the car rocked onto the back right tire to make it accelerate better out of the corners.

[Go4fun]

Now these same rules said you could cut out the doors and put side protection bars in. This not only keep your ribs intack and your legs in working order but acts to reinforce the cage front to back. Our rules said "At least Three tubings bars Horizontally with Two Vertically running from top bar to bottom bar or Frame". But I never saw where it said the horizontal bars had to be round, any particular maximum size or the bottom bar had to be ABOVE the floor.

I outlined my 'New Bottom Door Bar' in the red box.

[Go4fun]

I'm getting the feeling people aren't all that interested in this build in this site.

[perttime]

I had to google "1949 Ford Dirt Racer" to find out what kind of a thing you are talking about. At the moment I seem to have some snag with viewing images (on What-If or photobucket?).
Sounds like it could turn into something pretty cool.

I'm a bit torn about the idea of racing where you only turn left although I quite enjoyed watching motorcycle Speedway races as a kid, and try to catch some video of the Reno Air Races 

[Go4fun]

It's an American thing, LOL! It's a "What If..." about Midwest racing in the mid 1960s. Sprint Car (open wheel) racing was the main kind of racing but stock cars were starting up. So two friends decided to take the old '49 Ford Coupe out in the back yard and go racing. Luckily they had an older man living next door who not only had a welding service but used to race Midget Racers! So the car will be above the usual "Two monkees and a football' class of beginner racer. I was covering the build up very well for a bit but like I said, interest seemed low.
Maybe you can go to facebook and look up the group "Model Vehicle Builders & Enthusiasts". I have a whole file in there on the build. Your welcome to join.

[Go4fun]

So the buid continued. I had the stock kit cage. Didn't like it at all. Thick old bars and not designed well.

It wouldn't even sit on top of both frame rails! Good thing I built that extra 'Door Bar' under the drivers door. I just shifted the cage left and it hit the 'passenger' side frame rail and that 'extra' door bar under the floor.

So I got rid of all but the main hoop and left forward down bar and built from there. I used the larger rollbars from the kit and my plastic stock to simulate 'padded' bars.


So now the stock seat won't fit and the 'buckets' in the kit are FUGLY! Well, these are too younger guys on a 'pop-bottle ad grocery sacker' budget. So they just take off the passenger side back cushion and brace the driver's side. Nice having a semi-retired welderwho raced and built Midget Racers next door. They are slowly sucking him into this build! :evil:


And of course 'old' Ace, (42 is old to teenagers), insisted on rebuilding the flathead in his garage for 'Advertising' his welding service and cost of new parts. "Now where did I put the crank, rods, pistons, cam and lifters out of that old racing flatty"?  

[Go4fun]

IMAGES REFRESHED
So here is a picture of the interior 'pan' test fitted together.


Of course having an old Midget driver/builder working on the car the dash couldn't be stock. So I raided an 'extra' Kurtis Kraft Midget kit I had for the photo-etched dash board and decals and rebuilt the stock Ford dash to take these parts.


Then I discovered the 'stock steering wheel looked like something off a Greyhound bus!   The 'custom' wheel in the kit looked like something for a go-cart. Hmmmmm.... Back to that Midget racer kit.

Oooohhhh. Photo-etch and a 'just right' diameter steering wheel.

[Go4fun]

Now I had a nice steering wheel with phot-etch spokes but the hole for the shaft was too small for the Ford column and the right size to fit the wheel would be under-sized for the dash. So I came up with this solution out of my stock of Plastruct styrene tubes and rods.

I even made a nice 'padded' hub for the driver to beat his fist or head on.  The spokes are trapped to the column and it fits the dash perfectly. 

[PR19_Kit]

Is the suspension offset on these cars as they only turn left, and if so how do you do that on a model?

[Captain Canada]

I started watching ! Might learn a thing or two from a car guy 

The mock up looks pretty good.

[Father Ennis]

I'm really finding this not only of interest but bringing back fond memories of my younger days.   Stock cars have been raced around here for as long as I can remember. I had some great times going to the local travel with a friend and drinking cups of beer while we watched the races. Of course I was underage back then !!!  There are lots of "good ole' boys"  just like your story around here, where I live. In fact my next door neighbour was one of them. He use to tune his car every Saturday morning outside my.bedroom !!!  I got to admit ,I have to agree with Go4fun, it's an American thing !!!   You other guys just don't understand and never will.  Personally,I'm getting "stoked" on these car model builds and just might get out one of my.kits and do some work ...

[PR19_Kit]

I got to admit ,I have to agree with Go4fun, it's an American thing !!!   You other guys just don't understand and never will.   Personally,I'm getting "stoked" on these car model builds and just might get out one of my.kits and do some work ...

Oh yes we do!!!!!

I've been tuning and uprating cars ever since I started driving!

[Go4fun]

PR19_Kit: "Is the suspension offset on these cars as they only turn left, and if so how do you do that on a model"?
On Late Model and Modifieds they do offset the suspension. They will actually get custom made rear ends that have a longer axle on one side and use longer control arms on the right front.
Luckily I'm building this as a Street Stock where the rules try to keep them simple and as stock as was safe. BUT (as of the time period I'm modeling), they only allowed one extra shock absorber ['Damper'] on the right front wheel as the older cars had a habit of collapsing the front suspensions and sending the car rolling like a barrel! You could run reversed wheels where the rim is outset outward from the center and you could 'shim' the angle of the front wheel so it worked better in the corners. I'll show you the tricks here. I have a Late Model in the planing stage.

Father Ennis : "I got to admit ,I have to agree with Go4fun, it's an American thing !!!   You other guys just don't understand and never will".
Actually I found a group on fa(R)cebook that I am now following about people 'Across The Pond" who are racing old Minis and what we call Capri's and such as stock cars on small ovals. Yeah, they sit on the wrong side of the car but it sure looks like fun. And they have older drivers that retired from the more 'advanced' (Spelled E-X-P-E-$-I-V-E) series that are coming back and having fun! Sure they gripe and groan about 'Some twit wrinkling my wing!" but you know they will hammer it out and be right back in the thick of it as soon as they can.

The reason I stopped racing my 'Fun' car was they started in with fabricated bodies and opening up the rules. They priced themselves right out of the "Fun, beginners class" market. It will be the death of fun racing if they can't figure it out and stop making the same mistakes.
Now on with the build.

[Go4fun]

  I have super glued the darned rim to the darned steering column spokes five, count them FIVE times and it still falls off if I breath on it!  I've cleaned and sanded everything and still no joy.
Is there a trick to gluing to photo-etch?