[Stuart]

I visited my brother in Mankato, MN today. There are some 135 foot tall grain silos in the middle of town, adjacent to the Minnesota River. The City commissioned a renowned artist from Australia to paint a huge mural on the front and back of the silos. It's difficult to imagine how he was able to create such realistic images on such a large scale.

More information on the work is here:http://www.twinriversarts.org/silo-art-project

[Firedup6975]

Sunset off my back deck, and out front off my front porch.

[Hikin Mike]

Originally Posted by Firedup6975

Sunset off my back deck, and out front off my front porch.

What's that white stuff?

[71GP76TA]

Originally Posted by Stuart

I visited my brother in Mankato, MN today. There are some 135 foot tall grain silos in the middle of town, adjacent to the Minnesota River. The City commissioned a renowned artist from Australia to paint a huge mural on the front and back of the silos. It's difficult to imagine how he was able to create such realistic images on such a large scale.

More information on the work is here:http://www.twinriversarts.org/silo-art-project

Waste of tax $$$. They could've improved roads and infrastructure with that money

[Will]

Originally Posted by Stuart

... It's difficult to imagine how he was able to create such realistic images on such a large scale.

Don't listen to the curmudgeons. That's really cool.

[Greg Reid]

Besides the size, painting on a rounded, irregular surface like that and making everything appear correctly proportioned is not easy by a long shot..

[OG68]

Good art will always has a positive effect on peoples lives.
Just as much as filled pothole.

[Greg Reid]

Agreed. Our cars that we love so much are a waste if you want to look at it like that. A car only needs to be a blocky design with four wheels, a place to sit and a propulsion system. Artistic design has a lot to do with our choices.

[Region Warrior]

Originally Posted by 71GP76TA

Waste of tax $$$. They could've improved roads and infrastructure with that money

Have to admit I agree.
Its cool, but could of paid inner city kids to do it

[FirebirdHank]

I have to admit that I see both sides of the argument. I wonder what the cost was.

[Stuart]

The purpose of this thread is to post pictures so I don't want to sidetrack it any further, but the mural was actually done under the auspices of a nonprofit arts council. Its cost was mostly covered through grants, sponsorships and donations. Only a small amount came from municipal funding.

[Heybuck]

Over the past 5 or 6 years here, painting wheat silos has become a very popular way for local communities to bring tourists to their towns.

I understand the first one was painted all at his own cost by an Australian guy named Guido van Helten in a town called BRIM. I have been to it myself and its spectacular. Even more so when you read that he painted it in the heat of summer, very high winds etc, hanging from a bosuns chair or on a very large scissor lift. Took him about 30 days.

As with all the art silos, the people or scenes they depict are locals. Some are children local to the areas, most are farmers. There are NO political persons painted at all. I believe all silos have been commissioned by locals who collectively realise that bringing tourists to their area generates money for their community and more to the point, it make tourists get off the beaten tracks and look at something different.

You can look at a link here http://siloarttrail.com but if you type in Australian Art Silo Trail there are many links.

[Stuart]

Guido van Helten is the man who painted the silos in my photos, and it was done for the reasons you mentioned. However, on this project he had to deal with high winds and cold Minnesota weather, not the heat.

[Firedup6975]

Originally Posted by Hikin Mike

What's that white stuff?

Powdered sugar

[455firebird1969]

My freshly built 284 CI (4.7 stroker) inline six. It uses a Mopar 1993 4.0 block .060”overbore, with a AMC 258 3.89” stroke crankshaft. Custom forged pistons & rods. I ported the 1996-1998 “0630” cylinder head, it has Manley SS LS1 valves and a Comp Cams 68-236-110 HFT camshaft. It has a banks header, with 2.5” pipe to the Raptor muffler and Hi flow cat. I am using a 1995 XJ engine wiring harness PCM & ECM to make it all work. It runs on 87 octane regular unleaded.

It makes great torque off of idle, and is super fun to drive. It’s like a little Hot Rod now with this new engine. It’s quick off the line with my TF-999 automatic transmission.

[Region Warrior]

Originally Posted by Stuart

The purpose of this thread is to post pictures so I don't want to sidetrack it any further, but the mural was actually done under the auspices of a nonprofit arts council. Its cost was mostly covered through grants, sponsorships and donations. Only a small amount came from municipal funding.

That's good. Originally thought through tax payers.
What usually happens around here.
Didn't mean to sound PO'd.
Thanks.

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by 455firebird1969

My freshly built 284 CI (4.7 stroker) inline six. It uses a Mopar 1993 4.0 block .060”overbore, with a AMC 258 3.89” stroke crankshaft. Custom forged pistons & rods. I ported the 1996-1998 “0630” cylinder head, it has Manley SS LS1 valves and a Comp Cams 68-236-110 HFT camshaft. It has a banks header, with 2.5” pipe to the Raptor muffler and Hi flow cat. I am using a 1995 XJ engine wiring harness PCM & ECM to make it all work. It runs on 87 octane regular unleaded.

It makes great torque off of idle, and is super fun to drive. It’s like a little Hot Rod now with this new engine. It’s quick off the line with my TF-999 automatic transmission.

Sweet Set up!! Love that build. Lots of thought went into that engine build.
How is the vacuum? I noticed brakes are manual?

[Will]

It was a busy evening for the birds and the bees in the old apple tree.











Full gallery here:
https://willbaker.zenfolio.com/p101906936

[Murf]

Yesterday morning



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[455firebird1969]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

Sweet Set up!! Love that build. Lots of thought went into that engine build.
How is the vacuum? I noticed brakes are manual?

I can’t take much credit for the thought that went into this build. The Jeep guys have been building similar engines for decades, using the Mopar 4.0 that replaced the AMC 258. I called Russ Pottenger in CA, and told him what I wanted to build and he sold me the correct rods, pistons, camshaft, fuel injectors & throttle body. Russ frequents jeepstroker.com.

I did port the head using traditional methods that work in a Pontiac build. All of my head porting knowledge comes from Jim Hands book, so again, I can’t take much credit for the work I did on the head, other than I was the one getting dirty, and making a mess in my shop. I put about 20 hours into this cylinder head. I also custom built the 2.5” exhaust system. Using a Banks SS header, a 2.5” Hi flow cat, and a 2.5” Raptor muffler, and a box of tubing from E-pay.

The Jeep has always had manual brakes. The engine starts & runs excellent with a slight rumble at idle. It has immediate throttle response, immediate off idle power and pulls pretty good up to about 5000 RPM. I don’t use a tach, but it pulls hard from idle to when it sounds like it’s gonna blow up, so I’ll guess that’s at about 5000-5500 RPM.

I made an error when I listed the cam PN. It is 68-236-4 , with a 114LSA installed at 111 ICL.