Projects Kustom From Outer Space..France calling.

Will you be able to drive it soon?

 

I hope soon timwhit, the problem is that i have not enought money in my pocket actualy to finish the car quickly (title, tires, insurance, bla bla...are very expensive in France), so i must be cool with my budget, and each month, i buy someting for the Fregate, but i pay my "cost of living" first, and if there is still some money, i spend for the car.

So i do what i can, with not much.....i recovered the foam from the back seat.


And i cut......

And i can't continue, it's raining

 

Great thread man! Keep it up!

 

Best thread ever. You sir, are an inspiration. The car looks amazing. You are a talented individual. AWESOME BUILD RAT!!!

 

Your doing very well. It will be really exciting for you to get to drive it when the time comes. Keep after it and keep posting. We are intrigued by your writing and your work!! Tim

 

This is one of my favorite threads. Keep up the good work!

 

Sweet!

 

Thanks all for your great messages

I cannot fix correctly the 16" moon discs on these fuckin shit 400 size wheels!!!, tires are impossible to find at not prohibited price, i need to change once and for all my wheels.
The bolt pattern is the same that the early Ford.....not easy to find in France, but the old military Jeep Willys are not rare here, and the wheels seems to be ok for the Fregate......my new purchase of the day......


Moon discs are ok now, it's finally possible to bolt on the wheels

 

Great ingenuity!

 

This is a very good idea. I did the same thing on my frégate, with rims 16 " of Renault Prairie (but they are hard to find).

 

Rickky, just looked at your profile page, great job on your Fregate also. We here in the U.S. are so lucky to be able to pick up the phone or log on to the internet and find whatever we want at competitive prices. Hat's off to you and Ratatouille.

 

What are you gonna do about whitewalls??????

 

Another suggestion about the whitewalls, does anyone make a reasonably priced raised white letter tire in the size you need? Although not as popular now, back in the 70's-80's there used to be quite a few people who made their livings grinding whitewalls into non white wall tires for used car lots. These video's show the basic process (but I notice thier all spinning the tire too fast, and really digging in with the grinder, which gives a more uneven appearance.



The professional machines spun the tire slower, and had the grinder / buffer mounted on an arm to give better control to the cut. As you can see from the video's, most (but not all) raised white letter and thin white stripe tires have a significant white rubber section with just a thin layer of black rubber over it. It wasn't necessary to even have the white stripe, as seen on the motorcycle tire, but I'm not sure how durable the painted on (well, it's rubber, just not baked like a real vulcanizing process is) stripes are. I'm guessing a year or so is all they'll last without freshening up.
http://www.dragtimes.com/video-viewer.php?v=_PPjULa_RrQ

Also the Port-O-Wall's probably look better if not professionally done, check these....




Hopefully this will give you some more options to think about. There are also several different threads here on the HAMB about grinding white walls.

 

Thanks for youtube links. Forget the grinder, with the european technical control, it's impossible to think something like that in France!

When I grew richer, I will offer me reals whitewalls tires.

Like my seats, i wanna drive my car asap, and about the tires, i'm waiting extra large port a walls, and i'm gonna buy ugly new cheap radial tires

It's just temporary........

Today, i have try the Willys wheels, the rim bolt pattern is ok, but the tires are to big, anyway, i must take off these tires, drill rims for the moondisc, paint rims.....



I don't like this moment, because the tires define the look of the car, and for the final result, i want the rear lower than front, and i don't want to see the rear rims, just the "port a wall" flowering the fender skirts.....and with the european modern radial size and no air ride, it's a pure brainstorming !

I wanna drive a real confortable car, with smooth shock absorber, and lower as possible....My car is not a trailer queen, it's my futur daily driver...

Do you have this fuckin shit in USA?....this is the leadsled road nightmare here!

 

I have to say that personally i dont care much about the french cars,but yours looks pretty cool.
And it really needs the white walls..
I know that they are pricey,but have you tried to find them from an another european country?
I guess Germany could be the cheapest country to buy them.Few yrs ago i was in Bottrop and a guy from Germany gave me his businesscard and he was a vendor for whitewall etc tyres.
So you can find them from europe...

 

Ratty: Maybe some scallops on the moon disc's???? or a little rat.

 

That looks like what we call a "speed table" here. Designed to slow traffic down where people tend to drive too fast. They work, but yeah, they're annoying even in something with plenty of ground clearance. The only way a lead sled is going over them is with an air suspension that can lift to clear the ramps up and down.

 

Timwhit, just after the tires problem, i gonna paint the Rat in Tropicaly flakes!

David Gersic, the French strange sense of humor, call the "speed table"......"Lying Down Cops"!...it's only a slow down speed limit for me........With no air ride, forget the likepipes

Finnrodder, real whitewalls are for...next year, or maybe if i'm lucky, soon.......i have check everywhere, web, friends, dealers....used, i cannot find pair, or something in good condition, and for 4 news coker, it's more the 1400€.....maybe cheaper when i'll become an alliance member, the plate on the firewall will be cool

 

Ratty: How about a silhouette of the postal girl???

 

the postal girl is in holiday, i have received portawalls, they are very big! I must find the right size tires....maybe 175/60/16......

 

Later years Fregate had 15" wheels, could have been an option. You can check Munchen Old Timer Reifen for the white walls. They can vulcanize white rubber on regular tires and it's not that expensive, sometimes cheaper than genuine white wall tires.
Speed bumps are absolutely every where in France, I sometimes drive a DB Le Mans stock height and it drags on some of them, even when trying to go over at an angle... My Fregate is dropped 7 cm the transmission sits at about 15 cm off the ground, when it will drive it will drag.
Beware of the portawall, especially if you drive a lot, they dig in the tire side. The older they get the drier they get and tend to curl in and dig even more. I can't afford white walls so I will run black walls.

 

Thanks Chrisp for your message

Sunday, Lord's Day, no noise in the street....so, electricity is so quiet

 

Monday....honk-honk!

 

Tuesday....seat base cover, work in progress.....

 

I've found that if you point horns up, they tend to fill up with water and don't last long!

 

I know that you had said earlier that you can't drive too fast where you live but be advised that those Port-a-Walls WILL disintegrate at highways speeds on radial tires. Just so you know.

 

Hey rat......have you tried old 1960,s/70,s Peugeot pick up wheels....I'm sure they are the same as old five stud ford pattern

 

Yes, in 15', like Peugeot 504 Dangel, i dont know yet about the rear rims.....i must check the backspace, fender skirts are very close to the original 400 Frégate wheels.
I'm work on the valve adjustment, but it's raining suddenly, i have stop the job....actualy, i cannot work i good conditions, May is the month with a lot of Day off, and some people in vacancy make me waste my time.....the joys of working in the street......

 

This thread is simply astounding, excellent work Rat! Keep it up!

 

I do believe that what mrquick was mentioning were the Peugeot 203/403 rims, but only early 203 were 5 lugs 400, the others are 5 lugs 380/15" wheels, 5 lugs were only available on the pick up and wagons and they're getting hard to find in 400, if I recall correctly GM and some BMW have the same bolt pattern. The only problem with GM and Peugeot wheels is that they won't fit over the hub: on the Fregate it's huge and long, so much that in the rear you can't put fender skirts unless you widen the fenders or build some kind of bubble skirts.
I may have a good set of 400-165 Michelin tires from my Fregate Domaine if you decide to run the 400 Fregate wheels, it won't fit the 16" Jeep's.
On your rocker arms do you have a hole to squirt oil on the push rod?