- August 27th, 2012, 4:01 pm#409190
Ay there, Venkman30,
Thanks for the replies on my thread, thought I jump on your side of your Ecto build... and to keep it active ... lol.
Yah, so about building your ghost sniffer... I think you can get a good idea of how to build it by checking out drcaron's My Ecto1 equipment build here. The way he is doing his is the almost the same way I'm building mine. Not quite sure if other GBers are following this, but i like to think it is a workable one. If I'm not mistaken, he uses metal mesh on the sides of the sniffer head where the "nose" tubes are attached, thus, aerodynamics come into play because the air flows right through it, reducing some of the drag and chances of it blowing off, which I believe that won't happen due to he is using heavy duty metal and sturdy plastics. I'm flavoring on the sturdy plastics just to keep the rack light enough, reducing the weight as much as possible. I could get away with just having a more simple and streamlined set up, no full frame, no large tanks, high standing aerodome, or even that big dish. But we are building an almost replica of the roof EQ, which the gas economy will be blah, but the eye candy on top will be YAH! lol.
Alright, there are many different variations on this particular piece ( anyone has great ideas and builds that were successful, chime right on in here), one way for that set up is an all aluminum sniffer (to say, I'm using pvc pipes, lighter and easier to cut), or whatever metal you can and have the tools to build it with ei: the frabicating, cutting, bending, shaping, etc. If you're lucky, and search hard enough, you may find a metal or thick plastic box for the sniffer head... all you need to do is drill, cut, or bore the two holes out for the tubings, then epoxy two dowels in the connecting ends, then secure the tubes into the box with screws, and perhaps more epoxy to make it solid (I like to use hot glue, but if it is not the industrial strength, it'll weaken and then come apart sooner). Same goes for the neck ( again, hardware stores like Lowe's got heavy duty large plasitc plumbing/ irrigation tubes you can use for the neck/ body). Wooden dowels and wood screws are idea, along with the combo of aluminum is good. I'm still favoring all plastic (maybe the frame itself also). Though, again, for a roof Eq to take a beating and last longer, metal is the way to go. drcaron's take on the wooden dowels in the tubing to fasten them to the box is a keen idea, so until I get my pics up, following him is helpful, and why not... I'm also following his lead!
Aye, yes, it takes alot of work to make this kind of rack, but better than just having some lights and hardware here and there randomly as I have seen with other Ecto mobiles. Since the car is not a '49 MM, you can make a near rep of the awesome rack instead.T0dd has an awesome set up on his Buick, so that's my goal to achieve likewise. Hope my spill on this was helpful, Venkman30!
Keep on building, and keep on bustin'!
Thanks for the replies on my thread, thought I jump on your side of your Ecto build... and to keep it active ... lol.
Yah, so about building your ghost sniffer... I think you can get a good idea of how to build it by checking out drcaron's My Ecto1 equipment build here. The way he is doing his is the almost the same way I'm building mine. Not quite sure if other GBers are following this, but i like to think it is a workable one. If I'm not mistaken, he uses metal mesh on the sides of the sniffer head where the "nose" tubes are attached, thus, aerodynamics come into play because the air flows right through it, reducing some of the drag and chances of it blowing off, which I believe that won't happen due to he is using heavy duty metal and sturdy plastics. I'm flavoring on the sturdy plastics just to keep the rack light enough, reducing the weight as much as possible. I could get away with just having a more simple and streamlined set up, no full frame, no large tanks, high standing aerodome, or even that big dish. But we are building an almost replica of the roof EQ, which the gas economy will be blah, but the eye candy on top will be YAH! lol.
Alright, there are many different variations on this particular piece ( anyone has great ideas and builds that were successful, chime right on in here), one way for that set up is an all aluminum sniffer (to say, I'm using pvc pipes, lighter and easier to cut), or whatever metal you can and have the tools to build it with ei: the frabicating, cutting, bending, shaping, etc. If you're lucky, and search hard enough, you may find a metal or thick plastic box for the sniffer head... all you need to do is drill, cut, or bore the two holes out for the tubings, then epoxy two dowels in the connecting ends, then secure the tubes into the box with screws, and perhaps more epoxy to make it solid (I like to use hot glue, but if it is not the industrial strength, it'll weaken and then come apart sooner). Same goes for the neck ( again, hardware stores like Lowe's got heavy duty large plasitc plumbing/ irrigation tubes you can use for the neck/ body). Wooden dowels and wood screws are idea, along with the combo of aluminum is good. I'm still favoring all plastic (maybe the frame itself also). Though, again, for a roof Eq to take a beating and last longer, metal is the way to go. drcaron's take on the wooden dowels in the tubing to fasten them to the box is a keen idea, so until I get my pics up, following him is helpful, and why not... I'm also following his lead!
Aye, yes, it takes alot of work to make this kind of rack, but better than just having some lights and hardware here and there randomly as I have seen with other Ecto mobiles. Since the car is not a '49 MM, you can make a near rep of the awesome rack instead.T0dd has an awesome set up on his Buick, so that's my goal to achieve likewise. Hope my spill on this was helpful, Venkman30!
Keep on building, and keep on bustin'!
"Viggie, Viggie! You've been a bad Monkey!"