Considering the high price of a plastic mock motor I am considering building a wooden one. Granted it will not be completely accurate but I believe it will do the job I need it to do. Has anyone built one? I could not find a thread with multiple search attempts. I did find CAD drawings which should get me started. I also have a buddy with one on a stand for further reference.
I have had the same idea.I too found drawings I could use to cnc pieces.but after I really look into it I would have more time and money in one than a plastic one would cost. just the cost of all the threaded inserts you need to be able to bolt on everything is high.
Once up a time, I worked for The Rocket Scientist of Fulton, Avenue, the micro-manager from Hell. A couple of the things I learned from him, that save a lot of grief: 1. Make a list. 2. Don't re-invent the wheel --- it's a waste of time. My advice is to keep a gutted block and head. A hassle? Damn right! But the measurements are exact. Some guys mill stuff inside, out. I've thought, more than once, of gouging or torching stuff out. It always ends up at the bottom of the list.
Agree a junk sbc is cheap but HEAVY to work with. Currently the project car is in the barn so hoisting an issue.
built this 1 out of 20 gauge steel, used it a few times then turned into a BBQ. An afternoons worth of work on the sheet metal brake and about 20 minutes tackin it 2 gether with the mig.
I like the sheetmetal one. Wood - I keep telling my wood worker buddy that wood is for building walls and a roof to put cars in. He has agreed to mill some wooden forming bucks with different radii for me, payment for doing his brakes.
Well, I am no woodworker, but wood is easier to cut, cheaper to buy and rigid (plywood). I mocked up the custom frame of my coupe with 2x4s and truss plates 2 years ago. Could not have gone any better. Cheaper to make mistakes or try new angles in wood. Maybe some of my ideas will inspire others so I will post build pics once I start (unless someone at Carlisle is selling one of those plastic jobs cheap).
Wood moves depending on the temperature and humidity. Hope you are not planning on taking too precise measurements off it!
agree and no. Just looking to see where it will sit in my 39 Hudson to clear dizzy, oil pan, and headers. None of thos will need to be precise.
A blown or wasted SBC block and heads will turn up cheap or free if you dig around and let people know you'll haul one off for them (friends, racers, machine shop, scrap yard, etc.). Hoisting; I picked up one of Harbor Freights fold up/portable cherry pickers when it was on sale for $100. Couldn't build one for that $. Bare block with heads and an oil pan will be a cinch to move around as a mock-up. You'll then have an engine lift when the time comes to install an actual engine in the car. You have a barn, toss the mock block in a corner. (I keep mine behind the garage so it doesn't take up garage space).
I have one of these: http://www.payr.com/ I can't begin to say how nice it is. I loan it to my friends. Well worth the bucks as the years have gone by. I picked it up and dropped it om my foot and didn't even feel it. Try picking up a cast iron block. Also, I'd call and ask. I bought some blemished stuff for WAY cheap. Not on their web page.
I am sure I have seen one in a post on here in the last month or so but buggered if I can find it now! It was very simple - a flat piece of ply front and rear that was a silhouette of a block and heads with some fore and aft runners that spaced the front and rear pieces apart and were in the right place to bolt on valve covers and headers. The rear piece had the bell-housing pattern drilled on it and the front had the water pump bolt holes so you could bolt a pump on. I can't remember if it had engine mount holes or not, but pretty easy to run another fore-aft piece for those and a bottom piece to bolt a sump onto. Hopefully someone else will see this and remember which thread it is on!
I'm not telling you not too, it will work for space claim mock up, get the exhaust mounting surface angle and fore/aft location correct for header mock up, plan for a water pump and crank pulley, paln for distributor location, plan for a bellhousing mounting flange, if you thru bolt these items it should hold up pretty well. You can use T nut inserts on the backside for threaded bolts, ace hardware and home depot stock them. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-nut
I can't imagine how difficult it would be to get a wood mock-up accurately sized and with reliable bolt holes for referencing fit for motor mounts exhaust etc etc.
They sell them both as a long block, with the heads molded together(waht I use), and seperate heads/block. If they have just a block for cheap, I have some Payr heads I'd let go for cheap. I don't need them.
By the way, just because I changed my mind and went with the P-AYR plastic replica doesnt mean that I dont believe in the wooden mockup for roughly determining clearances. In my case I had more money than time. If someone has more time than money a rough homemade replica may still be a way to go.
A plastic car with a plastic motor, trans, blower, carbs, etc, etc, etc. Captured this at Carlisle yesterday. Thought I would share.
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