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One of the most important features
of the "Joe Dirt" Daytona is the
jacked up rear stance of the
car. In this photo, the wheels have been
mocked up with the correct Cragar S/S mags
and wider tires installed in the rear.
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In this view, the rear stance is pretty close,
but it still needs a little more.
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The front stance is also close.
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In this photo, the rear wheels and tires
are the same. The front tires have been swapped
with a correct "whitewall". Although subtle, the
rear chassis and springs have been modified to raise
the rear stance slightly.
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Here you can see that the rear of the body now sits
about 1/4 of an inch higher.
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Raising the rear effectively lowers the front a
a little, but there's still room for improvement.
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This image is the test fit after the final
chassis modification.
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Rear is same as before.
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In the front, the axles on the spindles were
relocated approximately 1/8 of an inch higher.
Relocating the axle pins allows for all of the
original steering linkage to work correctly. You can
see that the front tire now sits up inside the fender a
bit more than in previous pictures.
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Now that the stance looks good, lets do a side by side.
comparison to show how dramatic the small changes have
altered the stance of the model.
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Here's a rear view of the modified Daytona diecast
next to a unaltered version of the same scale model.
The side by side difference is quite obvious.
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This image shows just how much the front of the
modified diecast was lowered.
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The chassis, wheels and tires have been assembled
and weathered.
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The Ertl Daytona diecast used as a starting point
came with a 426 Hemi. Since Joe Dirt's Daytona has a 440 engine,
another Ertl Charger with a 440 donated it's engine and
exhaust.
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Since the engine in the real life Joe Dirt movie prop
car was left "restored", the engine & engine compartment
in this Junkyard Jewel version will also be left "restored"
and not receive any weathering.
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Click Here for Page 3 of the Build-up! |