Bonneville Race Truck Parts

At a recent show here in Portland, I got connected (via Buck) with a fellow modeler who is building the Bonneville record holding, Modified Diesel Truck class Freightliner. Here is a photo of it from one of their handouts:



This truck has the record at 228 mph, and is powered by a 16V92 Detroit Diesel engine, with four turbos and two superchargers. The massive engine is located behind the cab. For those who are not familiar with this old family of engines, they are 2 stroke diesels, with turbos and a roots style charger in the engine vee. The 16V is essentially two 8V engines bolted together. This one makes over 4000 HP!!

As a side tidbit, I learned to drive a truck on one of these (a 6V92). Where the 4 stroke engines gain or lose RPM slowly, the 2 strokers do so very rapidly. With the non-syncromesh transmissions most trucks use, rev matching is critical. The 2 strokers take a lot of practice to drive smoothly and well.

Anyway, the modeler is looking for a custom decal sheet of sponsor logos, and a set of wheel covers (moon discs). So Buck herded him my way, as I have done both. So I have completed the decals sheets for him, one set with clear background, and the other is white. Some logos are on both because I don't know which will come out best. Here they are:




Next up are the wheel covers. They will be like the ones I made for the Salt Shaker Bonneville Bug, only bigger diameter. Here is a photo of the Tamiya truck wheel, the 1 1/4 inch aluminum bar stock (6061T6 alloy), and the ones I made for the bug:



I may make him two sets, as reference photos from their website (www.jointventureracetruck.com) show both dished and flat wheel covers. I am not sure which he will want. I have not started these, as I am waiting for him to confirm the desired outside wheel diameter.

Anyway, having some fun doing this too!!

Cool !
Hope to see the model eventually.

Clay when Dave finishes the model I will photograph it and post the pictures here. Dave doesn't own a computer.

Pete the decal sheet turned out nice. I am sure the wheel covers will rock also.

So, I finally got the wheel covers complete for this race truck. Had to wait until the bench was open up enough to get the lathe "uncovered".

Here is a photo of the completed covers taped to a shipping cardboard:



In my research photos of the truck, I saw front discs that both were solid (with taper), or tapered with a hole for the front axle hub. On the rears, I saw mostly flat. So I am giving Dave big choices. He will have a full set (plus one extra) of the full 12 degree taper, plus two front with the hole, plus either the flat or a 3 degree rear taper. I thought the 3 degrees made the "spun aluminum" look better than the flats.

So it will be interesting to see what he does with this!!! These will go out in the mail tomorrow, along with the decal sheets.

Thats some awesome work Pete !

Pete, Dave is going to jumping up and down happy. I know it for a fact.