Roger Zimmermann

Last Sunnday was "repair day": I did a search in the Mark II forum for something not related and I found very nice pictures from the lifter valley's cover. I saw, but not immediately, 5 errors I did on mine! What a shame! I can accept one error, but not so many, so I reworked the part. I know that it will be barely seen, as the intake manifold mostly hide it. Anyway, the errors were corrected, some with bondo. Then, by looking at the pictures I took on a real Mark II last November, I noticed that my oil pump, freshly done, had also 2 errors (there are more errors I cannot correct). Well, the oil pump came for modifications after the cover... Now, I'm doing the oil pan; the first step is the flange as it can be seen on the attached picture, a real nice easy part. Of course, the part is more looking as a cover for the moment. You can also see that the engine has a crankshaft. In fact, this is just a piece of brass on which the pulley will be installed. The feet under the cylinder head are the pedestals on which the valve covers will be attached.

The intake manifold is finished; what a work load it needed! It's far from perfect; despite good pictures, sometimes I cannot catch the small difference...I will however survive: usually the hood is closed. When it's open, the air cleaner is hiding a great part of the intake manifold. The underside of the manifold is...like the rear of a house in Hollywood! Only the top is more or less done like the real one, the underside will never be seen, the various canals are open. This part is constitued with 20 or 30 tiny brass elements, brazed one after the other, taking care the the previous one will not shift during the heating process... The carb spacer and the flange of the carb are assembled on the manifold. No, the carb is not yet ready!

Thanks to a member of the Mak II forum, I got nice pictures which helped a lot to continue the work. The manifold is almost ready; some improvements and detail work are to be added. Missing are the flanges; they will be added later.

It's good looking , Johan! My cars are from another time (fifties) and it seems that it's never ending!

The attached picture is showing the little progress I did with the intake manifold. I'm working from back to front; somewhere in the front part there will be a thermostat housing. For the moment, the housing is still in the sky! The four holes are just for fun or to help to identify the part...

Thank you for your comments Dave! Usually, I don't know the location of the people who are responding, but I know whre you are: almost 20 years ago, while on training course for GM, I drove near London on the freeway! It's possible to make small part on a large lathe; the countrary is more difficult! The size of the lathe was dictated by the available space and ease of transportation. All my work is done in the same room acting as office and workshop. As a matter of facts, all people doing such reproductions have a certain age; young people now cannot wait for a long time until they see a result; they prefer different king of work/occupation.

You see correctly; you have a good imagination! On the other side, I have no idea what a Reeves Octoauto might look like! 1:16 is not a common scale; I'm wondering why your friend choose it; he could also publish what he is doing! To Scott: when a part is cleary defined, like a pulley or the air cleaner, things are relatively easy to do. When a part is like the intake manifold with no clear dimensions (except the ones I have from the now existing block) it takes hours to see at pictures and try to decompose in small and easy parts. When I was at the real car, I took a grat deal of pictures. However, as I was not in the construction mode, I took the wrong ones or at the wrong angle! The finished manifold should look like the small attached picture.

Engine are full of difficult parts; the water pump was one of these; the part pictured is another one. It's rather strange looking: it should be an intake manifold when ready. I have many pictures from this part, unfortunately assembled on an engine, with carb and other accessories. They hide the interesting details; I'm progressing very slowly, mostly with guessing and trying. I had already the same difficulties with the intake manifold from the Toronado and the one from the Avanti; new engine, old story!.

LH horn placement: I dit it right on my model! I had to look at numerous pictures and the sole position which was possible was the one pictured by Phil Ritter.

It seems that I'm not the sole fool on Earth! Thank you for showing these models. Recently, I got some pictures from a Duesenberg, scale 1:6 with running engine: 8 cylinders, 4 valves per cylinder...absolutely amazing. Here is the link: http://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/chenot.htm

Happy New Year to you and to all people of this forum!

It seems that it's the end of the year; it seems also that I will not finish my engine till 2011! After the water pump pulley, I did the cover of the push rods. I was missing good infos on that piece; the part I did has more to do with guessing than copying. This is not that important because, when the intake manifold will be installed (it has to be constructed first) that cover is almost totally hidden. The provision to screw the cover is not yet done; the plan is that the cover will be held with two .7 mm screws (0.028"). The black portion between the vanes of the wheelcovers is done with foil as paint is impractical to apply. Please note that I added a valve stem! One picture is with, the other one without flash.

The wheelcovers and valve covers were more than one month at the plater; I assume he was very busy! Today, I could pick-up the finished parts. I installed on a temporary basis the valve covers on the heads; the heads themselves are ready with the exception of the provision to fix the valve covers. I could not resist to the temptation to do some holes at the intake ans exhaust flanges; it's better looking! I know that the passages are restangular, but they will stay round. Another view shows the wheelcovers on the "tree"; I have to release them and put some black adhesive foil between the vanes. As I got nice pictures from the fan and water pump pulley, it will be the next task.

The form of the heads may be easy, to do them is another story! However, they are on a good way. The flanges for the intake manifold are done; I still have to do the flanges for the exhaust manifolds. To simplify the work, I have also to do the flanges for the intake and exhaust manifold when I'm doing to respective flange for the heads, otherwise it would be rather difficult to match the form more or less exactly. Flanges are bored together (the one on the haed and the corresponding one for the manifold). The holes or passages for the intake or exhaust will not be done; it would add hours of work for nothing.

Like I did for the Avanti: brass, files, improvisation and many swearwords! I'm attaching a picture of the Avanti engine parts.

You are welcome stev! The next update should be for next week; cylinder heads are maybe "easy" but they are giving a lot of work!

Cadillac had a vacuum pump too. Till 1953, it was under the fuel pump; from 1954 to 1958, it was under the oil pump, inside the ingine. There is a check valve preventing that the intake vacuum is sucking the oil from the engine. After an engine rebuild from my '56 Cad, this check valve went bad and the engine smoked like mad. I discovered the problem almost by accident (after removing the pistons). From 1959 on, the wiper was electric.

I assume it will be an interesting story!

I'm surprised to see that Lincolns still had a vacuum wiper motor in 1960...

Thank you Anson for your comments. When I began seriously with models, it was 1966 with the Toronado. CNC machines had yet to be invented and my wallet would not have allowed such sophisticated equipement. Now, this kind of machines are certainly more afordable, but what is the interest to puch a button (after programming) to have the part? If I would do models as a profession, I would have such equipement, the parts would certainly be perfect (they are not the way I'm doing them) and I would not have the time to show what I'm doing!

Of course, this part is not yet finished. It's one of both cylinder heads. The second one is not far away, on the second picture it is on my huge vice. As both heads are identical, I can do both more or less together, trying to avoid the errors I could do on the first one. Sometimes the errors are fatal: I did some calculation errors on the base plate; I had to discard both and do new ones... At first, I thought that the heads will be difficult to do; in fact, they are relatively simple. Of course, there are some bumps, but nothing impossible when each detail is taken separately. Easier than the water pump!

Tha is an explanation, but I'm a poor genious: this scaling machine is working too slowly; I should go back to the drawing board and create something working more quickly!

After doing the main part of the engine, it's time to do the secondary elements; one of them is the water pump. It's a small part, easy at first glance, but not so when I began to evaluate the dimensions. Thanks to Pat Marshall from Mark II forum, I got nice pictures and one major dimension. The base plate was easy to do, its form is dictated by the distribution chain cover; the remaining elements were not so easy. One difficulty was to soft solder the reinforcment ribs, one after the other, without that the ones already finished were disturbed while the solder went lquid again on the whole part. Anyway, I have the impression that I did it right as you may see on the pictures. The part got a light coat of surfacer; the uniform gray color aids to reveal the intricate form. The holes in the fan hub are not yet done; I have first to do the fan and then do the bores all together.

Thank you John for the comments about that collection. It's amazing that people still gather cars, books and manuals! About the Matheson engine: I suppose that the maximum RPM is rather low with that differences in piston wheight...

It's impressive. If I do understand well, this is a private property?