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Next project - 38 fiat topolino

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by maddog, Mar 22, 2007.

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  1. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    and more.... these may be in an odd order so take a step back and look at all the headlight posts...

    pic #1 is the two sides welded together from a heavier plate and a heavy plate washer for the atual mounting area.. and then I closed it up with a thinner plate on the top and bottom

    pic #2 a different angle

    pic #3 bottom view

    pic #4 the complete assembly

    pic #5 the hole on the back of the mounting bracket to bucket is soon to be gone

    pic #6 these tabs are for mounting and the wiring will be run thru the frame rail between the tabs.

    pic #7 this is a rough view before the mounting arm was welded completely.
     

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    Last edited: Mar 21, 2011
  2. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
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    and even more.... this is the mount stuff

    pic #1 the right side part is the factory mount that was used to mount to the fender, the left side part is after I machined it down

    pic #2 is the bottom view

    pic #3 is how the machined part fits on the mount part that is originally rivoted to the bucket

    pic #4 shows the parts and the wiring the mounting post had to be welded in place so I could clear out the side to slide wires thru.

    pic #5 complete structure

    pic #6 the post bolt will eventually be sliced shorter..
     

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  3. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    the last few.....

    pic #1 shows the wiring coming thru the frame rail

    pic #2 once the arm was mounted I did a bit of bodywork so when the arm was on the frame rail flaired smoothly to it.

    pic #3 the mounting bracket bolted to the bucket. the bolt washers are made with a rubber gasket on one side.

    pic #4 here's what's next... I bought some used headlight reflectors and cut the centers out... I am going to use the original reflector and paint it black then epoxy the small reflector dome in the center of the original reflector... this allows me to use new headlight bulbs in an original bucket. have a new set or original lenses coming from italy
     

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    Last edited: Mar 21, 2011
  4. GaryB
    Joined: Dec 19, 2008
    Posts: 3,529

    GaryB
    Member
    from Reno,nv

    the thought and fab work are amazing.very nice bitchin car
     
  5. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    the wheelie bar situation.....

    pic #1 working out the mounting points... bought the kit from Alston and it comes with long tubing, some tabs, some end plugs, wheels, and springs, and NO pictures ?
    I set the front end up in the air after deciding how much wheel lift and weight transfer I wanted. Alston says to put a 2" block under the wheelie bar wheels to get the correct front wheel lift.... after going about it by lifting the front end it turns out that the 2" block is almost exactly correct....
    decided on moving the upper bars inward from the lower bars, shows the rear housing brackets I designed.

    pic #2 top view

    pic #3 from cardboard to steel

    pic #4 plates on lower bar

    pic #5 decided to put holes in the plates and then weld tubing between for strength.

    pic #6 brackets finished

    pic #7 all the parts cut and mocked up
     

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  6. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    more....

    pic #1 mocked up for welding the lower bars

    pic #2 then there is getting the bars straight AND centered so I had to run a piece of tubing off the 4 link plate and then 90 degree across the back with another tubing

    pic #3 side view... also had to remove the rear shocks and drop the back of the car on to the bump stops with the front wheels set at the max lift height I decided on so I can make sure of clearance.

    pic #4 time for fabbing in cross bars

    pic #5 upper bar tabs and lower bar mount

    pic #6 running stance
     

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  7. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    some interior filler panels....


    had to go in and out about 20 times with the fuel cell on this one, fun with 6 gallons of fuel in it

    pic #1 template to close from the body to the fuel cell
    .. note the red line

    pic #2 panel made from interior cardboard with fiberglass resin on one side and a sheet of mesh/ cloth weave on the other

    pic #3 bottom view of pic #2 (the white in the foreground is where the seat back up to)

    pic #4 bottom view of p/s panel

    pic #5 this panel sits beneath the fuel cell... it looks rough in the pic but its surface fiberglass is ground for the next layer to adhere.
     

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    Last edited: Mar 21, 2011
  8. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    more interior...

    pic #1 filler panel for rear wheel opening

    pic #2 here's most of the panels I had to make... the acred arrow looking ones are the finished panels of pic #1... the long panels fill the door jam from frame to body... the short bent panels fill the from of the door jam and up the roll cage at the front of the jam...

    pic #3 this is the rear panel shown in the previous post, the two sets of three holes will have a sliding panel to cover them that will be opened when I want warm air in the interior.. when the fans turn on the warm air from the radiator runs up against those panels.

    pic #4 the gas door is coming along... this is what I am making to cover the gas door
     

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  9. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    carpet takes sooo much time ugh

    I decided to trim around the roll cage so there are not a bunch of seams everywhere

    my eyes are crossing.. had it almost finished and trimmed one piece wrong, went to buy some more material and the supply store had finished the old roll of carpet and was on another roll and it was a slightly different material... after much back and forth in my mind I just bought enough to redo the car again and removed all the carpet and went back to work.

    this carpet is a nicer feel so as usual everything works out for a reason. also decided that I must have had a brain fart when I put gray on the dash and seat backs.... duh

    so I bought satin finish black for the seats and dash and... got back to work..

    I'm hoping to have the interior finished by tuesday (of course I thought the same thing last saturday)

    got the headlight lenses from italy... they shipped the wrong size ahhhhh

    got the door lock.. someone took a grinder to the face ahhhh

    got the trim piece for the center of the grille... $180 ahhhh

    I'm having a guy back east try to match old glass lenses from some other car to what I need.. we'll see, I might just machine a plug and heat and drape lexan over it to make my own.. that way I can put what ever type of pattern I want in it.

    blah blah blah the next pics I post will be of the COMPLETED interior.... (someday)
     
  10. Really nice fab and how to work, thanks for posting it.
     
  11. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    thanks for the kind words guys...

    will be posting completed interior pics next week (yeah.... sure I will, no, really I will)

    found the correct head light lenses, again from italy, (let's see if they ship the right part this time)... decided to go with glass instead of lexan (scratch factor) so I also found the window latch / handle / lock mechanisms in italy... figured at this point whats another couple $100 right?

    have to fab my hood ornament so I figure I'll do something close to the gas door design and then tie it into the trim around the grille...

    another few weeks perhaps I'll do some shake outs on it.... probably post some video when I do the shake outs
     
  12. This is a wicked little car!
     
  13. heath brinkley
    Joined: Sep 8, 2010
    Posts: 24

    heath brinkley
    Member

    fuel altered, and forget the title. If it were mine it'd never see the street. anything related to street on that thing would be criminal. 100" wb, BBC, GMC blower, 1 seat, but that's just one opinion.
     
  14. heath brinkley
    Joined: Sep 8, 2010
    Posts: 24

    heath brinkley
    Member

    Great find by the way. To say I'm jealous is an understatement.
     
  15. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    the carpet is finished, the dash is finished, the seat backs are finished, the seat bottoms are finished, the seat frames are finished....

    the delivery "port" to get fuel from the outside of the body to the fuel cell neck is finished... sanding roll cage to repaint tomorrow, then fuel cell and rear panels go in for the last time, then seat frames get mounted and seats get assembled... then head rest roll bar component goes in....

    have to paint the shifter box and steering column brace... figure the interior will be completed in the next few days.. fitting my templates to get my windows cut next week... waiting for my head light lenses ... still : / will build my tail light braces next week and if I get my head light lenses the headlights will get done next week as well..

    down to a one page list to finish...
     
  16. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    just wanted to throw a camera pic up... this is from the drivers side rear pov the fuel cell is final mounted with the interior panels that cover the back of the cell and seal off to the body around the back and sides of it.

    the head rest removeable bar is in... really tight fit but it all still works... the upper harnesses are attached as well (less parts = less boxes)

    still have to install the fuel neck filler cap assembly and carpet the inside of the fuel door.
     

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  17. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    coming along... got smart and taped carpet on the bars after the repaint.

    the inserts on the seats are not secured as yet and I am going to remove the harnesses to disassemble and paint the buckles and etc. also going to shoot a transparent paint onto the simpson labels so the white goes black the bright red darkens up a bit.

    its a long ass story getting these parts the way I want them and I won't bore you with it.... at least not now (saving it for the entire pic essay, just needed to get something out into the real world so I don't get lost in the garage-o-sphere)
     

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  18. GaryB
    Joined: Dec 19, 2008
    Posts: 3,529

    GaryB
    Member
    from Reno,nv

    very clean build, bitchin car
     
  19. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    thanks for kind words guys, it all helps the project keep moving forward.

    doing some welding on the nose/grille section to better fit around the intake manifold when its mounted. fabbed some small plates so the mounting screws pressure the little plates and not against the paint of the nose.

    put the passenger door on... for some reason I thought the car would look bigger with the door on but it got ALOT smaller.

    working on the grille trim and fabbing a hood ornament.

    have one of the head lights ready to go back together, will do some slicing on thursday to get the other one ready to assemble.

    the tail lights I thought would work really just didn't fit the look so I am now going with the 1950's pontiac round beehive tail light that I will set in the rear panel below the spare tire hump... the bezel is 4 1/2" O.D. and I really want 3", sooo the actual lens is 3 3/16" so I am going to holesaw a 3" hole and push the lens thru it from behind then design and fab a mounting system to hold the assembly in place and avoid having a bulky bezel altogether. (they are due to arrive wed)

    basically working on 10 different parts of this project at the same time just to keep myself from burning out this close to the end...

    really need get back to the windshield template so I can get the glass house to start on that.

    hoping to have interior pics posted by tuesday, that would be "finished" interior pics : )
     
  20. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    just going thru some old pics and found this one showing what I started with.... and close to were it is currently.

    I remember my brother turning to me with a "wtf are you thinking" look and asking if I was sure I wanted to tackle this since it had nothing done...
     

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  21. fiat gasser
    Joined: Sep 5, 2008
    Posts: 1,591

    fiat gasser
    Member

    It sure has come a long way in a relatively short time. I'm anxious for you to post a video of your first ride and a couple of you warming up the tires. Once again great job and top notch.
    Bob
     
  22. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    time for an update.. if you look back at post #395 on page 20 the last picture is of the headlight assembly I was planning.... here it is

    I bought an original set of used headlight lenses from Italy...

    pic #1 first I had to paint a small ring on the inside to cover the area where I was going to epoxy the original reflector into the back of the lens

    pic #2 I trimmed the original reflector to fit inside the lip of the lens, then I trimmed the back of the original reflector to accept the back end of a newer reflector which allows me to use a modern headlight bulb that simply twists into a socket and takes a plug on the end of the small bulb... then I epoxied the lens into the headlight bucket trim ring and it becomes almost like a headlight from the 70's i structure however I get the 1938 lens and the 2005 bulb set up.

    pic #3 just a better look against a light background

    pic #4 mounted

    pic #5 top view
     

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    Last edited: May 8, 2011
  23. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    it has doors
     

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  24. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    decided to clean the garage so I took the little rod for a cruise. 100ft total trip, big fun, 1 gallon of gas. : )

    pulled the wheelie bars to do the tail light thing (less than 5 minutes to remove) fabbed a license plate bracket that's a bolt on and minimal.
     

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  25. claymore
    Joined: Feb 21, 2009
    Posts: 896

    claymore
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  26. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    yeah I'm liking it. having a windshiled cut this week... getting tail lights and headlight wrapped up this weekend... 95% finished with the hood ornament I built and the grille trim... into primer thurs... door latches are installed and I need to fab new strikers that allow me to add shims to set the door in relation to the body (another project) this car has the blinkers that rise up out of the side panel by the vent door, I decided to keep them and finally found a place to rewrap the windings... ugh $425... now I have to machine new arms and figure out new colored glass....

    I'm driving it next week... you heard it hear first (it may be next saturday at 11:55pm but I'm driving it next week)


    now that the body is completely cured after I shake it out for 50-100 miles I'm going to block the body one more time and respray it (yes ..again) did sheetmetal work where the nose tucks in around the intake as well as the gas door area so it was getting a respray anyway...
     
  27. GaryB
    Joined: Dec 19, 2008
    Posts: 3,529

    GaryB
    Member
    from Reno,nv

    awesome car,video when you get it on the road?
     
  28. Zoomer
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 222

    Zoomer
    BANNED

    just figured out my phone records video duh I'll get some vid at some point in the next 7-10 days

    decided to go with a split windshield... looks really bitchin, very vintage classy cool.... machining a center bar that matches the hood ornament

    dialed in the door glass templates today, big hassle with all the felts and rubber and trim and bs... missing the plate / channel that the window lock/pull rides in.. another part to design and machine.

    I'll have a bunch of pictures to post next week, tail lights, head lights, interior, glass, hood ornament....

    thanks for all the thumbs up.. I appreciate it
     
  29. Dynaflash_8
    Joined: Sep 24, 2008
    Posts: 3,038

    Dynaflash_8
    Member
    from Auburn WA

    wicked car. Almost hard to believe its a street car. Gotta be squirlly
     
  30. fiat gasser
    Joined: Sep 5, 2008
    Posts: 1,591

    fiat gasser
    Member

    There is alot t be said when it comes to the patience, determination, resolve and hardwork to build a car to this caliber. Not to mention fitting so much in the confines of a Topolino. Congrats Zoomer. It far exceeds what I pictured it could be when this thead was started.
     
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