Jo-Han Maverick Dyno Dons Ride-One Year Project-Complete!

This morning I got her standing on her own. Rear tires will be going in a smidgen to give her the proper look but this is going to be the ride height. All this time I had to find a way to lock the front suspension ride height in and I finally was able to do this by drilling small holes in the front of the frame and installing locating pins. Worked like a charm:

I worked a lot on the firewall this morning by modifying to work with the Mustang shock towers. I'll post progress of this on the next update. Meanwhile I also cut out the battery box/ pedestal on the R/H shock tower panel. Battery is located in the rear of the car so no battery box was needed here. Plus I needed all the room I could get with that big ass 427 in that engine bay.

Before....



and after:

 absolutely 

crown r n7

 absolutely 

Roger that!

This build just keeps getting better and better.

Thank for the encouragement fellas. I'll need all the help I can get in keeping my "m.o.j.o." up for this one.

What's up with the "m" word being banned anyways?? Weird

Looks great Joe. Stay with it my friend. You've got the ole Mo a going there and it's paying off.

Thanks Joe. Movin' slow on this one now as I'm really trying to make sure that all of these mods are going to all line up with one another. Already spotted one area that needs a little attention but still movin' forward. 

Still following and still smiling at a wonderful build....

Ben

Thanks alot Ben. This week has been slow and it usually seems to be that way towards the end of alot of my builds. All the planning that I've been doing for the last 4 months all comes together at the last part it seems. Sometimes I'm hesitant to move too fast as a screw up at this point would mean alot of re-work. 

I've been working on the firewall area, removing the already installed transmission mount and moving it to the rear a little more so that the engine and transmission will set into place properly.  That meant popping the mount loose, sanding and repainting the chassis (which I had to separate the front subframe from the main part of the chassis to gain access to the areas for sanding and the repaint) and reassembly of the whole chassis again. I also worked on the rear part of the chassis so that I could get the proper rear tire alignment with the body (in other words...suck those big fat rear tires inwards a little bit towards the center of the car to keep 'em from sticking out too far from the wheel openings). 

I received my tachometer from Ted's Modeling Marketplace and while it is the perfect size and diameter, the tachometer decals that came with it were NOT. Really frustrating why a manufacturer (Detail Master) would put a smaller tach in a package and then throw decals for a MUCH larger tach in the same bag. Really pissed about that but I'll make something work. 

Most of the efforts moving forward will center around the engine bay and all the parts fit as well as the engine detailing. I was really surprised when I actually thought about it that I'm around 80% complete with this bad boy. I've been on it since late December/ January so it's been a long road but I'm well pleased with how it's turning out so far. 

Thanks go out to all who continue to follow this build, give input and encourage me along the way. She's been a tough kit to work with.

I actually found a tach face decal in a decal sheet for the Revell Pro Stock Thunderbird kit. Also managed to get the correct style tachometer mounted in the correct place on the car.

Man, that looks really really good. I love all the work you've put into this badboy. Very unique and very cool.

BK

Thanks Brandon.

The tach looks right sharp. Definitely well done as it is quite prominent and looks the part.

Thanks Joe!!!

Ok......I'm finally back in action on this one. After months and months of thought and fizzled out ideas I've finally got it. Sorry it took so long to get back to you Roger. I was just flabbergasted at the whole thing when it came to this part.

First off...I had an idea for the fenderwells that have been giving me so much grief and pause on this build. We'll be moving forward using soda can aluminum for those. I have to move the shock tower just a shade to the rear of the engine bay to make this work so here's the plan moving forward.

First off, I didn't have a Diet Coke can but I did have a Sprite offering.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Presto!!! I've still gotta play around with cutting and trimming here and there to get it all to fit just right but you get the idea. Now I can cut the shock tower from the plastic piece and adhere it to the aluminum part in the correct place and I also get rid of that windshield washer bag that shouldn't be there. BONUS!!!

mustang1989

Thanks Joe. Movin' slow on this one now as I'm really trying to make sure that all of these mods are going to all line up with one another. Already spotted one area that needs a little attention but still movin' forward. 

 

Mustang,

May I ask why you didn't make sure that everything would fit before you started painting?

BigJim

 

 

mustang1989

Thanks Joe. Movin' slow on this one now as I'm really trying to make sure that all of these mods are going to all line up with one another. Already spotted one area that needs a little attention but still movin' forward. 

 

 

 

 

Mustang,

May I ask why you didn't make sure that everything would fit before you started painting?

 

Good to see you rolling again on this one!

(Sometimes a little break is all you need to come back to a project with a new 'eye!')

So now we add tinsmith to your list of skills.

And way to think outside the can....er, box.

Good to see this one going again, and I look forward to seeing how the sheet metal work turns out.

That aluminum will make the engine bay look just that much more authentic. Very nice.

BK

Thanks you guys! One weeks worth of titting and scrapping 3....or is it 4?? fabricated inner fenderwells no and I've finally got it. I got the idea to put the base engine in the bay adn it changed the whole complexion of things......ALOT. With the engine in place I get to see what's gonna work....and what aint. So with all that stuff being said I had to approach this with a whole new mindset and put an inner fenderwell in place with no V cut outs for the shock tower for added rigidity once fitted into place. then I cut the plastic shock towers from the original inner fenderwell and thinned it down enought to clear the rocker covers and headers. This.....is gonna work. Afteer more than 6 hours at the bench enduring trial and error ...I think I've got it. A nice coat of semi gloss black and it'll all look the part.

The modified shock tower is laying just in front of the radiator core support area:

OK, I guest that I missed something along the way, so, what happened to the Boss 429 engine? That is a SOHC 427.

BigJim

OK, I guest that I missed something along the way, so, what happened to the Boss 429 engine? That is a SOHC 427.

 

Seriously though......I was going to use the Boss 429 till I discovered that Don used a SOHC instead.

Looking good Mustang!

That is some really outstanding progress Joe. Certainly some quality scratchbuilding. All that extra effort is definitely going to pay off. I applaud your your diligence and effort.

Thanks Joe. Been a while since we've talked but so far everything is going alright this way. Hope all is going well for you as well.

Progress is movin' right along on this one finally. Managed to thin the radiator out so the engine would fit nicely in the engine bay and re-apply the radiator cooling fins to the back of it after thinning. I also test fit the modified headers in place. Looks like this is going to work out very well as they fit great and exit in just the right place.

Looking good.  Those headers look fantastic.  Are they staying black?

 looking good I like what you did with the shading and the transmition is just right with wash. What I'm going to miss is posting my WIP in SA too... :(.

Thanks John and Nick. 

John: If they do stay black I'll be weathering them a bit. Can't have brand new ones on there you know. 

Nick: I tried not to overdo it too awful much with the wash on the XMSN. After the SA magazine folded up I stopped posting at all over there. I figured it was only a matter of time till it "popped smoke". Good crowd and I'll be missing it as well. 

Excellent progress Joe. The headers are looking muy fabulous.

Thank you Mustang for putting in so much effort into these detailed build postings. You have amazing modeling skills and are teaching us all how to execute a master build of a super detailed realistic classic drag car.

I had the same experience with one of those beautiful aluminum tach aftermarket sets and also had to resort to my decal spares for an appropriate sized dial decal. These turned aluminum tachs are worth the $7 for the realism they add to to top dash of a SS.

I identified and had to laugh at your PE fab frustrations during assembly of that incredible shifter mechanism. It gave me flashbacks of my own PE adventures of a few years ago while attempting to assemble a 1/350 battleship parabolic radar dish. It ended with a hammer and an $$$ PE set re-order....

cant wait to see your beautiful build "under glass"!