1969 Torino WIP NASCAR build

Here are the first pictures of my build, most of the work that needs to be done is to lower the cars stance. First the chassis is to far down it hangs lower than the body.

the next problem is the NASCAR wheels when lowered and tucked in will hit the inner fender. I cut out the inner fender and will make a new one later.

To lower the body on the chassis cut the mount under the radiator bulkhead flush so it sits like the picture.

now that the body is lowered the interior will not fit just cut bottom out with a razor saw.

Now that looks better

The next problem the wheel sticks out past the fender. just cut the axle hub back a little

On my car the wheel needs to move up more or the front needs lowering. I drilled a new hole above the existing one

next we will cut the fender and add inner fenders. Hope you enjoy.

Damon

Damon,

You are a "Styrene Savior"! lol!

I will be watching this post like a re-run of an old Spaghetti Western!

I can't believe that they could mis-engineer a model this badly! It bums me out that it seems to have been just thrown together.

Well, your thread is surely showing me the way. I'll be doing a pair of these at the same time, and will certainly benefit by your post here!

A question if I may, about cutting out the bottom of the interior pan--you have those marker lines on there--from what I gathered in your post in MY thread, I thought that I had to cut out BETWEEN those lines--yet you look like you're cutting out the ENTIRE BOTTOM of the pan? Or are you only cutting out ONLY up to the front line that you have marker there?

Also, how does that affect the position of the drive shaft and engine placement through the channel molded into the interior pan?

And, do you also have to now lower the interior roll cage?

I have to say too, that the interior shot you showed of the real car's engine bay shows those "false walls" very nicely. I was dubious about the accuracy of those, but it seems to be exactly what you have engineered in your model!

Doog    I changed my technic on the interior pan I think instead of grinding it paper thin It would be easier to cut it off and then use the chassis bottom for the floor. I will make a  transmisssion hump later and glue it to the chassis floor and the interior pan will fit over.  The engine on the last build cleared the hood if it wont this time I will have to figure out how to lower it also. On this old model I dont have a drive shaft it is molded as one as well as the rear axle on the chassis pan. I am not worried what the bottom looks like I will just make the engine and interior look good. the cage should fit good maybe even better. The Holman Moody prepped Torino's had a different front suspension than the stock torino they i believe used a 1958 Ford suspension. Tha t supension was a double A arm so the strut mount on inner fender would be gone anyhow. I have thought of using a older Thunderbird chassis from an old say 1990s kit and set the Torino body on top. Might try that one later you can pick those kits up for 10 bucks on Ebay.

Damon

Damon,

You're just foll of information and technique! Cool beans!

Well, that's an interesting approach you're using for the floor, although I have my reservations about that approach. I have to wonder if you could just shave a few mil's off the roll cage and bottom of the seat, and have it fit that way?

Here's what I just did--I bought a second Torino off eBay just now (couldn't find one at the LHS on my way home today) and I'm going to use it as a strictly experimental "chop shop" car build. I'm going to figure this sucker out and try some modifications on my own and see if a combination of what you're doing here and maybe some of my own innovations will make for an easier route. Two heads are maybe better than one sometimes, eh?

Of course, I'll WIP it here as well, so that we can tackle the problem together. Gotta finish two projects first.

Keep going though, and keep posting pics. I'm definitely curious to see how you're going to get everything to fit!

Damon, check out this link--the original Bud Moore Torino is up for sale!

Some great pictures for details!

Torino #15

Hey Damon,

I also put up a question on another forum, and got this answer, in part--

"The AMT Torino  and the Cyclone are re-pops of the MPC kits, which are related to their old Southern Stocker kits.  I have a very old posting from Randy Ayer's board which says that parts were modified in the process of modifying the SS kits into the Torino/Cyclone kits, or vice versa, with the upshot being that the firewalls are not good fits and need to be adjusted.  So there is part of your problem."

Hmmm. So the firewalls are bad fits? Might consider that in your building!

I'll let you know if I get more info!

doog    I hope we are working on the same kit lol. Are you building a 1972 Torino ? I have not built this kit I am doing the AMT 1969 Torino. Hey I would like to see your WIP pics If you want to post them here that is great.

Damon

Have some more progress pictures to put up here. I cut out the fenders for the wheels and I like the stance. This is time consuming had to mock the model up and cut check it and cut more until I liked it.

Now for the Inner fender I cut out some sheet and bent it at top I will glue later after I paint the body, I will cover fender with aluminum foil.

shaved the body and filled in places around wheels almost ready to paint

Damon

nomad68

doog    I hope we are working on the same kit lol. Are you building a 1972 Torino ? I have not built this kit I am doing the AMT 1969 Torino. Hey I would like to see your WIP pics If you want to post them here that is great.

Damon

OOPS! Well, color me stupid! Yup, you're right--I'm going to be working on that '72 Torino!

BIG difference, huh?

Oh well. I guess that it's a good thing then that I got that extra kit, huh? lol!

Well, no matter. I'm enjoying your commitment to this build, and am eager to see it finished! I'll stay tuned; maybe I'll get some ideas that I can use on the '72.

FWIW: Don't let yourself be confused by that "restored" car. For one thing it looks to be using a modified Cleveland motor which NASCAR went to later on while the cubic inch limitation was appx 350. Chevy teams ran the SBC 350 and Ford teams used the 351 Cleveland. Back in '69 the Ford teams usually ran a 427FE engine unless they chose the recently approved (by NASCAR late season) "Boss 429".

Also most Ford teams used a chassis built by one of several shops such as Holman-Moody. These shops went with tried and true suspensions. Ford 9" rear ends and often '65 Galaxie spindles and such for how beefy they were.

Of course either "factory Ford teams" or those who were favored and received them were running 'Torino Talledagas' in '69 as well.

MrSquid2u Hey I did some more homework on my car and you are correct Donnie Allison I dont think raced a Sunny King Cobra. I can only find pictures of a Talladega. That car is misleading and probably just painted like his. Now I did find a Orange Cobra that he drove for East Point Ford with the #27 Maybe I can do that car If anyone has any Pics of that one I would like to see them. Thanks

Damon

Do you mean this one? All Talledegas were based upon 'Torino Cobras' (and all built in Atlanta to homogolate at least 500 street cars for NASCAR sanctioning) but from the side the easiest thing to spot is the "droop snoop" like this Talledega.

As far as I can tell while sponsored by Sunny King Motors Donnie Allison was running a Talledega. It then looks like the same car (a Talledega) was later sponsored by East Point after it  had gone from a 427 to a 429. I've seen that livery but can't find it now? One thing to keep in mind about Donnie was that unlike his brother Bobbie, Donnie was always scrambling to find a sponsor. Even with his 'famous name' he was more a Privateer than factory backed or "big team" driver.

#27 Talledega now with 429 sponsored by Sunny King

This page explains what happened with that Torino painted up as the *27 in your picture-

http://oval.race-cars.com/carsales/other/1227029039/1227029039ss.htm

If you'd be willing to start over and match those decals to a Talladega-

Pretty sure that was an old Monogram kit (1/24th) that is now re-issued. Of course "street" Talledegas received 428CJ engines which are visibly identical (except for valve covers) to the 427 but late NASCAR Talledegas had the Boss 429 which could be pirated from the Monogram (and now Revell) 1/24 70 Boss 429  Mustang. Not sure if you want to do all of that but it would make for a real special project! Not to say you aren't already doing something special though. Just that the Boss 429 in a Talledega won Ford the Manufacturer's Title in NASCAR even beating the Dodge/Plymouth "winged cars" with Hemis.

BTW: Your early reference to removing the front "strut" suspension is slightly off. That "shock tower" intruding into the engine bay actually housed a coil spring mounted atop the upper A-Arm with a shock absorber running inside the coil. The Spindle came off this upper A-Arm with coil and shock above it, to attach to a lower A-Arm. So it was an unequal length A-Arm suspension like we commonly hear of but with the coil mounted high instead of between the upper and lower arms. Made spark plug changes real fun with anything but a small block engine too. On top of all that it was prone to stress cracks between the torque of a HP engine having the motor mounts coming off the low end of it and then the hammering of the suspension mounted there too. Don't ask me how I know these things.

MrSquid2u  I am wondering how you know all these things. Reference photos and detailed info is hard to get when modeling these early stockers. I can find more info on the aircraft I model than these cars. Hey thanks alot for your help I think I am going to turn this build into a Talladega. I have in the kit the front end extension for the Talladega but not the correct bumper and grill. I am goin to try to fix that and modify the kit parts to work. Hey Mr Squid have you checked out the Holman Moody website they have a se through drawing of Pearsons Talladega neat reference Pic. Thanks

Damon

^^^

Every reference I've ever seen has stated the front bumper was actually a modified rear bumper on a Talledega! The grill varied a little bit between race teams/tracks but the main thing I've ever read about them was that they were more flush mounted than a stock Torino. I never paid attention but just compare pictures I guess. I used to race waaay back in the day and I knew one family that had three Talledegas in their stable.

I'm only too glad to offer what I think I might know to a great project like yours.

Hey everyone I got some building done yesterday and would like to show my progress. I like to model subjects that are acurate so I chose to model the East Point car rather than the Sunny King car. My decal set has both cars. Maybe I will snag me one of those Polar Lights Kits of Donnies Sunny King Car. In my kit is a Talladega front clip to make the droop nose but it has no grill. I will try and make the Cobra grill work I need help from you all as to what paint looks the best for chrome. I have heard good things about Alclad any feedback there would help. Thanks for looking.

Damon

This picture shows the front clip install

Primed but still needs some putty

Got some paint on,but the primer shows through need to let the enamel dry color sand and paint one more.

Looks good, Damon. Wow, I'm surprised to see that someone is still using enamels to paint. Almost everyone I know is using lacquers there days. MUCH quicker and more durable than enamels, FYI.

The Alclad is the only way to go for chrome. Simply spray it on over a gloss black of preferably Tamiya paint and you're good to go. There's really nothing more to to it than that. Just make sure that you stir the bottom of the bottle of the Alclad to agitate the metal pigments.

Certainly looking the part so far Nomad!

I'm anxious to see more Nomad- how's it coming?

MrSquid2U

I'm anxious to see more Nomad- how's it coming?

I got some decals on tonight should be done decaling and have pics up tommorow

I hope to get some more work done soon. I had a water pipe freeze and burst in my basement and made a mess. We had a night when temp was -35 lots of people had same problem in my area of the country. the water unfortunately came in my hobby room window sill down on my bookshelf of reference books   My basement and work shop are in a messy state with any luck I will have more to post in a few weeks.

Damon

Look forward to this whenever you can overcome the unfortunate events. Sorry to hear about that but here's hoping you're back at the model bench soon!