Hot Rods My Project....1938 Fiat Topolino.....Lil Beast...........

The Beast looks really good out in the daylight. Looks like it is really coming together nicely.What is the hood ornament off of? Keep up the good work.

 

Nice to see the roller roll. Now get it steering and drive it in that crappy alley you live on!

 

lookin' good!

Can't wait to see it go from roller to driver.

 

Bob, i picked it up off evil bay...just looked like the curve would match the nose on Lil Beast...and it does almost perfectly..saw the same on a car here, Hamber said it was 46'-48' dodge hood ornament...it's a big horned ram, in a full charging, streched out head squared ramming leap....i just thought it was cool...$9.75 bought and shipped....heavy sucker too!!!makes a great nose/grille handle.....

Dan, Jegs sent the wrong pitman arm ...again!!!!!bitched my way up to an order manager, told them about it, blamed them for missing Sins of Steel show due to it...in the end , i got them to drop shipp a brand new vega box....no shipping charges and also at $180 under list price...i been buying from them for years and really laid into them....should be here today..need to post my stock vega box in the classified adds..


bowtie40, the visor is to give me an idea of what the topo would look like with less windscreen reveel...but for the record, Lil Beast is being built as a cruiser..cross the usa crusin'.....i'm sure he'll make a pass or 3 down a strip somewhere,, but.....

so, i need to install the steering system, then i'll install the pedals, 3, and can get on with the mechanics of the brakes and clutch...then we'll hit the test track..more commonly referred to as "the crapy alley out back"

 

Thanks alot, just got NOTHING done at work for the last hour reading this thread! Man that car is going to be awesome! Keep up the good work!

 

Crappy alley out back or straight flat road out front. We all have to have a test track! I'm just lucky mine is wide, flat, and empty! You got crack heads for speed bumps in yours so if you need to clear the carbon off your elephant, bring it on out to my zoo!

 

Drag racing at Dans House!!!

 

well we're gonna need a radiator and a clutch system to go racing at Danny's, Randy....besides coil overs, these are my next "big ass money issues"....

on another note, can ya beleive Jegs fucked up on the gear box...i ripped ass yesterday when the wife said it hadn't come..so today, we'll be watching for it..another $50 off the price and next day air for free...gotta love it hahahahahah....this thing is gonna cost me less then a used vega box!!!if they ever get it here

i been wanting to take the topo up to the shop and scale it...been wondering what it is up to weight wise..i've stuffed alot of that 3/4" x 3/4" 14 ga tubing in there...bout the only thing i'm missing is gas and tank, radiator and coolant...floor tin, the other things, clutch and hyd system for brakes ect won't add that much more weight...damn shame my camper project trailer is just about a foot too narrow to load Lil Beast up on..unless i remove the front tires

 

I'd say you could use my trailer but it has a dead truck on it...and I'd need it back before winter.

 

TOPOLINO...YES YES it's time to brang this badboy back to the top of board...POP.

 

Truck is alive. Trailer is empty. And your camera SUCKS!

Good thing I brought my own...









Now, get better lighting, fix that damn garage door, put the million dollar steering box on it, and get it into the daylight!

 

I heard this stands for Mark's Topolino?

 

you da man Danny~~~~~~ and i know Eli had a hand in some of these pics too!!!!!! thanks guys....ya the M/T really does stand for "Marks Topolino"....Mickey Thompson was such a cool dude i figured i'ld let him use it for his logo too.......

working on the steering box mounting bracket today, that peice of hog angle i got from ya is big enough to cut one out of..hell probably 2 or 3 more in it...hey, i'm a poor Hamber...gotta save where i can...i need to find some shots of old style columns that are cut down...figuring that i don't need but a 1" maybe of outter column below the firewall in the engine bay.and that the inner shaft can run out a bit further and connect to the u-joint i'm gonna need to transgress the angle.....give me a tad more room...other issue is i been looking at column support brackets...gotta come up with something "cool"...also been cutting up poster board to come up with a desing for the front shock mounts...i'm on my 4th modified template there

thought ya took a pic of "under the hood" when we had it flipped???man i'm a picture whore ain't i

 

You mean the one with your monkey arms in it holding the radiator mock up?

 

Yep, Eli took most of the shots. He's practicing. Glad that angle is working for you. Not sure where I came up with that. When you have a farm, some of that stuff just appears, you know!

Heard I'm getting complained about for having too many cars and too many goats. You got room in your alley?

 

well another week of long working hours...have managed to mock up the complete steering system..have some whittlin to do to the column and shaft still butttttt.........i've been chopping it down lil by lil......spent most of the few hours this week going back and tying up stuff that was just tacked cause i couldn't decide if it was how i wanted it...sound like my wife there i guess.........and changing a few things on the seat bottom mounting and how to tie the front floor into the rear...and keep enough gas tank space to carry 11-12 + gallons on board...and it is all falling in place .....slowly.........

working on a firewall template...this thing is getting fatter as i go, lots of tubeing...want a good "solid" lil car..and the space is shrinking........but i'm still a short lil sucker, so still feels roomy to me....

 

Mark,
Great to hear you are making such good progress. What is your seat out of? It looks really good, almost like it was meant for the Topolino.

 

Bob,
the seat is a 65 mustang 2+2 pony rear seat....it suspends off hooks, and is really very comfortable...right now i'm working underneath it to weld in some support tubes under the hump...this is the only place where the seat made full contact in a stang..fitts in great, 1 1/4" gap on the botom from side of topo, just enough room to have a sidewall insert made.. and the backrest is dead nut between the factory topolino door to wheel well braces...it's the side to side dimensions you gave me months back that i figured it would fit....i bought several of these seats at swap meets for under $40...to get the pattern and all the hardware that goes with it.. i was going to make it fold down like stock, but when i saw how easy it fits onto the factory supports, i made it a lift out for fuel tank install removal and built it so that my 5 point belts will have strong mounting locations and also hold everything in place ..then i found that new repop covers are all over evil bay, generally at $35-$45 a set..and with some really cool 2 tones...but i just liked the pleated black look....and it will be easy to match it for some door panels , ect....

so far, after selling off the un-used seats and covers, i have about $39 bucks in the seat as seen with new cover and another cover set, black but different pattern,

 

The Topolino looks great so far. As far as radiators go there is not much frontal area, or any other area in the nose. To cool the hemi you may want to run a cooler thermostat and get an aluminum double pass half size radiator like the ones in the Honda Civics. It's still going to be cramped in there.

 

The Mustang rear seat was my first guess. I just didn't know what year. It's nice seeing somebody getting good deals and making the most of them with a little creativity. Are you going to put a roll bar hoop behind the seat? You know, one of those just in case I loose control of my short wheel base Lil Beast.

 

The Topolino looks great so far. As far as radiators go there is not much frontal area, or any other area in the nose. To cool the hemi you may want to run a cooler thermostat and get an aluminum double pass half size radiator like the ones in the Honda Civics. It's still going to be cramped in there.



the mock radiator shell is just 1'" shorter then the griffin that cooled my blown, right at 600 hp, 400 sbc in my vega wagon... and vegas are known for their lack of air under the hood area........so with no sides on Lil Beast, i think cooling will be ok..most say that the hemi's run cool??guess i'll find out ....

Bob, i'm figuring a main hoop behind the seat, tight but i'll squeeze one in there...also going to install what is basicly like rock rails on a jeep...or under the body nerf bars....and thru bolt a to it a low, along the floor style door bars..as ya know, it's easiest to butt first back into these lil suckers, with the sucide doors...it's just the thought of a side impact is a big concern,,,theres 8"s give or take of tin before the frame...the thought of it wraping around my legs and shoulder doesn't sound good.......building a cruiser...been wondering how fat the car is getting...hell i've installed about 30' of 3/4" 14 gauge tubing so far..

 

Make it strong. Weight won't be a concern. It will probably be under 2,000 lbs. So a little extra bar strength should be a good thing.

 

under 2000 lbs....have you weighed the furgone yet???i wonder what it weighs every day when i pull into work and see the Cat scales....on another note, i've heard tails that Cat truck scales are not very accurate for cars????too many plate sections???

spent yesterday working on the peadals...looks promising so far, but i need to find more info on stroke length for hyd self contained throwout bearings and the master cylinders they require...i also cut the factory slave mount off the rotated bell housing i'm using...didn't need the room, but made everything look cleaner/roomier..i'ld be trying to finish the steering, but was busy last week and forgot to order the last few peices for it.........crs strikes another old fart!!!

 

Do you know any stock car guys in your area? They may have a set of four digital scales they use for setting up thier race cars. I am sure the cat scales will give you a ballpark weight but they would probaly be more accurate if you hade a 80,000 lb. gvw like the over the road trucks. I do know that my Dad's Anglia weighs 2,150 lbs. with tha big block in it. The Fiats are alot smaller than an Anglia.

 

you dad's anglia makes your furgone look like a mini panel!!!!!!2100 with a big block?? i think i can come in under 2000 lbs ......no dirt trackers that i know of, might be around, but............

spent the sunday and monday nite melting out lead, grinding loose spot welds...pain in the ass compared to drilling them out..........but sometimes ya just don't want any extra holes.....

maybe i'll be able to post some decent photos by the weekend of this weeks progress....hopefully.........

 

I know where you can get ahold of a set of scales...but I won't tell you until I have a minibike to ride in my hay field that is all cut and ready to bale. I'll give you a hint though...they fit in the back of a blue Trailblazer.

 

Thanks for inviting me up to see the beast today Mark. Been Meaning to get up and have a look see.
Your moving right along with it, awesome to hear the Hemi come to life.

amazing that it will only take one rattle can, to paint that sucker

one way to save on paint and body cost. think small

 

glad ya could finaly get up here, even if it was for a short visit!!!but then it don't take long to walk around and sit in a topolino...took longer to hook up the remote to roll the hemi to life hahahaha.......
but i did blow 12 cans of sealer primer on the exterior of the body after i paint wheeled it all down to bare metal....so i figure 2 cans of rattle metal flake and it should be good to go .........

took a change of direction last sunday on which section of the car i'm working on....needed a change of pace,,,besides, i been waiting to get this new issue laid to rest.........hopefully i have it fairly well under control before the long weekend is over.....pics soon......

 

Elmwood Auto Club, Berkeley Calif.
Picture at Fremont Drag Strip early 60's.
Car owned by Phil Sheehan and Bob Dorrcott