Gary Doucette's 1964 AMT Watson Conversion Kit WIP 5/24/17
May 24, 2017 12:29:48 GMT -5
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Post by kip on May 24, 2017 12:29:48 GMT -5
Gary asked me to build one of his AMT Watson conversion kits and give him some feedback. He said it was OK to put on the internet so I thought I’d put a WIP on the forum. I decided to do Foyt’s 1964 winner. I started with Gary’s suggested mods to the frame. I cut back the torsion bar holder knob (see red arrow) and replaced three of the frames cross bars with brass tubing. The brass tubing was my own mod because I never liked the fit of the AMT frame halves. For clearance, I did raise the front bar that I replaced to fit between the side rails rather than below the side rails. The rear replaced bars are strictly my own preference and not necessary for the conversion
The front frame needs modified so that there is clearance for that huge scoop in the nose. The red arrow shows where the frame was cut, heated (with hot water), and bent down. I inserted a small piece of plastic tubing and glued it all together. The yellow arrow is where the small bump was cut off for clearance and the blue arrow shows where I sanded down the torsion bar knobs to clear the underside of the nose. This last mod was not in the instructions. I also sanded the top cross bar flat where it goes under the scoop. This was my own mod.
The inside of the body is rough and needs some smoothing to let the frame sit down the whole way. (The sides were warped but 6-7 seconds under hot water and they straightened out). The yellow arrow shows where I smoothed the inside even more as that is where the engine sits and will show with the hood off. I also drilled out the small holes in the side, Even with the sides smoothed, the frame will not sit down far enough. The frame supports (red arrows) sit too high and must be shortened. On my body there was also some extra resin at the top of these supports along the side panel that must be removed. Remove resin until the frame sits low enough to allow the frame pins for the rear radius arms to sit in the cutouts in the body.
The nose on this car slants steeply which--with the scoop--creates clearance issues. I compared Gary’s nose (on the left) to the nose from Lance’s conversion kit. According to photos and the Clindinst drawing, the scoop on the nose is slightly rounded at the back corners.
The profile of the nose is very unlike previous Watsons. According to the Clindinst drawing, it is very sharp to a point at the front and has a very sharp edge between the upper face and the lower part.
I am going to use the AMT engine for this build. I hate it and prefer the Etzel Offy. But the Etzel sits too high and a large chunk would have to be removed from the bottom to make it fit. The AMT is not as tall.
I have not quit on the Delrose Holt dirt car. I am trying to work on both. The dirt car should be done in week or so and I will post some finished photos.
kip
The front frame needs modified so that there is clearance for that huge scoop in the nose. The red arrow shows where the frame was cut, heated (with hot water), and bent down. I inserted a small piece of plastic tubing and glued it all together. The yellow arrow is where the small bump was cut off for clearance and the blue arrow shows where I sanded down the torsion bar knobs to clear the underside of the nose. This last mod was not in the instructions. I also sanded the top cross bar flat where it goes under the scoop. This was my own mod.
The inside of the body is rough and needs some smoothing to let the frame sit down the whole way. (The sides were warped but 6-7 seconds under hot water and they straightened out). The yellow arrow shows where I smoothed the inside even more as that is where the engine sits and will show with the hood off. I also drilled out the small holes in the side, Even with the sides smoothed, the frame will not sit down far enough. The frame supports (red arrows) sit too high and must be shortened. On my body there was also some extra resin at the top of these supports along the side panel that must be removed. Remove resin until the frame sits low enough to allow the frame pins for the rear radius arms to sit in the cutouts in the body.
The nose on this car slants steeply which--with the scoop--creates clearance issues. I compared Gary’s nose (on the left) to the nose from Lance’s conversion kit. According to photos and the Clindinst drawing, the scoop on the nose is slightly rounded at the back corners.
The profile of the nose is very unlike previous Watsons. According to the Clindinst drawing, it is very sharp to a point at the front and has a very sharp edge between the upper face and the lower part.
I am going to use the AMT engine for this build. I hate it and prefer the Etzel Offy. But the Etzel sits too high and a large chunk would have to be removed from the bottom to make it fit. The AMT is not as tall.
I have not quit on the Delrose Holt dirt car. I am trying to work on both. The dirt car should be done in week or so and I will post some finished photos.
kip
