Next project - 38 fiat topolino

george, considering this thread was/is started for the car I now have in my garage I figured the parts probably won't get deleted, although I will post in the classified section now that I know there is one. thanks for the tip.

 

I had great plans to get out in the garage early saturday and again on sunday and get some stuff done.... somehow it was 2pm both days before I found the garage ?

Anywho here's the tinkering that happened in the few hours of each day.

I removed the spare wheel indentation, then cut the center out of it. I bought a spare wheel cover from Rod N Race and cut the center out of that, performed a little fiberglass / metal surgery and whamo... now I have a spare wheel cover with the correct shape while allowing extra airflow for my radiator and fans. (once I weld it back on the car that is)

I chopped the rear lower panel off the car because its destroyed and making new lower parts is just easier on a bench. It also would have been easier if I still had my body fab tools but hey its not the tool in the hand as much as it is the hand holding the tool. I added some length to the rear panel for a smoother look and to cover the rear frame rail cleaner.

Both sides are finished but my digi camera's card filled up so I'll post some pics when its welded back in place and the spare wheel cover is also welded back in place.

 

note to self: never weld in 100 degree weather.... helmet, gloves, jacket = loss 5 pounds per hour.

2nd note to self: nothing worse than welding rusted 72 year old metal to other 72 year old rusted metal... unless the metal in question is NOT produced in a US steel mill.

3rd note to self: a 6 foot long bead is enough to fry your noodle.

4th note to self: grinding can always happen ANOTHER day.

Ok, here's the rear of the rod with the new lower section welded in place, the lower back of the car welded back on board and the inverted and sliced and diced spare wheel indentation welded in place. A tour around with a flap wheel and its done. Not great for 3 hrs but not bad either.

Hope to have the new dies for my tubing bender thurs. (they said they would RUSH it,,, yeah right) so next weekend is the roll cage weekend.. I hope.

Can't find the size fuel cell I need so I decided to build my own. Found the company that actually makes the internal foam that goes inside so I can
get the exact size I need to fill it up woo hoo. Now that I am building my own tank I can send the rearend out for work.

Thinking about the front pan hard rod and alternator brackets for later in the week, time permitting.

 

Looks good. Now where you gonna put the tank?

 

The Blue topo (bottom left) is an Aussie car. Has plenty of race history and was made famous by Mark Georgette. These days it's owned by a guy in the country town I grew up in.


He also owns this (among other things)

 

Here's another Aussie topolino. This is how it looked in the early 70's.

 

that primer red topo is one fugly project gone terribly wrong YIKES!!!

 

Cool stuff Zoomer. I am so happy to see the car moving forward.... without my time and money.

You are doing some great work, cant wait to see it finished.

 

since it was 110 in the garage all weekend I figured it was a good time to start bending the roll cage... duh Doing the math is interesting on longer multiple bend parts as there is a certain "pull" amount that needs to be subtracted from the lengths between bends that no one ever seems to talk about.

The cage will have 18 pieces when completed, I got 14 of them bent this weekend. I figure another two days to bend the rest, notch the ends, finish fitment, square up and weld in place. Will post pictures when its completed.

 

well I finally got back in the garage this weekend and finished the roll cage. it is currently tacked together which gives me the ability to build mounting points for my booster / master assembly and pedals. also get to dig in and finish the steering system I designed. did some work with narrowing the seats by removing 5" from the centers and chopping them short (removing bottoms) this allows me to do the dance between the seat position front to back (so the cage doesn't cramp your shoulders, more) and the angle.

while I was dancing with the seat I tinkered a bit with the driveshaft tunnel and trans hump tunnel. I have to run the rearend thru its range of motion to determine the "up" angle which tells me how high the driveshaft tunnel needs to be with allowances for front and rear driveshaft loops, to do that I have to mount both rear shocks and.... funny how while building the cage all these other parts HAD to be worked into the mix.... ok not that funny. enjoy the pics.

once I have the rearends range of motion I can bend the radiator lines and then...... then I can send the rearend out to be built. probably sent a few days this week making the rad fan mounts (changed the design) and the side closures and lower scoop, the alternator brackets and whatever else I rambled about at the start of this post...... bending a roll cage in a tiny car like this is NOT what you want your first roll cage experience to be... ugh, however, I always liked a challenge.

off to see George Thorogood

 

nice cage.....seems to cover alot of the car....almost like an internal exto-skin....or an oversized center seat cage...lots of time in those bends too............

 

Your roll cage looks great. It has answered a few questions that I have had on doing mine. I really like the door bars. They look as though they will still allow easy access to getting in and out of the little mouse. Once again I am impressed with the quality of your workmanship. Can't wait to see whats next.

 

thanks for the kind words guys. sorry some of the pictures posted sideways, not sure why. I suppose you could drag and drop onto your desk top and turn them if there is something just so amazing you have to see it corrected : ) or if your neck is frozen stiff I suppose.

as for the getting in and out, I think I am going to add a "pull" bar to the A pillar part of the cage to help with "others" getting out and slowing their backsides down when getting in : )

as for what's next....... hmmmm

 

hey Ken thanks for the insult perhaps another blog would be a better place for your "suggests"?

 

"just asking" hmmm that would imply a question, a question is not written "I assume", that would be an assumption. A question would be, "are you going to put inner tubes inside at the points where the cage butts together?" Notice the difference? Assumptions are really just masked judgements.

 

Now back to our regular programming.

Zoomer,Any updates?

I have been following this car since Jim had it. Going to be a nice ride when done.

 

Yeah, what the heck is going on with the little mouse? I getting anxious for my first ride in it.

 

well, I got into crunch time on another project and then vegas happened. Tomorrow I start on the project again, Hoping to wrap up a bunch of 80% finished things thru the weekend, then getting to more serious things next week. the list is long and the road is winding, however... with some cruising happening on Van Nuys Blvd on Wednesday nights again...... after 25 years of it being crushed by cops and with a new Bob's opening next month for a friday night cruise I'm going to push hard to get the little mouse under its own power by the end of Sept.

Looks like the rear end goes to the shop next week for a bit more narrowing then originally planned, a locker carrier, probably new axles, 4.11 gears etc. figured out the travel rate last night so now I can build my two driveshaft loops, inner floor support bars, driveshaft tunnel, finish the transmission tunnel, and fab the booster master mounts. Then its bend the radiator supply tubing front to back, front pan hard rod, and the steering system. ....and then...... have no fear guys this little car is NOT going to get left in the corner and forgotten.

 

can anyone tell me who makes this wheel?

 

They may be Dragway wheels?
http://www.dragway.com.au/s_6.asp
Look at 'Deep Dish'

 

On second thoughts, are they 6 spoke?

 

I think they are a 6 spoke now that you post that question, hmmm

 

Here's a few pics from fri / sat adventure. I built a double driveshaft loop system that had to bolt in since the trans cross member also bolts in (although tack welded in place in pics) the rear hoop will be welded in solid and accounts for the max travel in the rearend. As soon as I figure out my rear wheels and what offset is available then... finally... the rearend goes to the shop.

The frame work on the drivers side of the driveshaft hoop support mounts the trans cooler / fan.

One shot shows a few new parts that I finally had to throw on the car to figure out how to run the water lines..... the pile of bent welding rod hopefully will end up being those water lines tomorrow.

 

This is what a Fiat Topolino should look like...

4 Allison aircraft motors and 12,000 horsepower!!

Probably doesn't corner real well though

 

The wheel might be an ET III product. I'd check there first, anyway!

 

I'm in a panic, I found those on Ebay and was going to order a pair. Now I can't find them!

 

Found them! http://www.jdwheels.com/ebay.htm They are pretty cheap too.

 

I've got a pair of them for my Topolino project. Here's some blurry photos from a couple of weeks back...

 

Thanks for the heads up on the wheels guys I really appreciate it. Put a call into Halibrand to see if they still make the actual wheel before buying the copy, although the copy is probably 1/3 the cost.

going in to finish the radiator tubing today...... famous last words. will post pics as soon as completed.

 

found the "gasser" wheels rears and fronts, that's the direction I'm going so I have my fronts to sell.... ET II 10 spokes with MT ET tires, all new along with the old Buick finned brake drums complete.

90% finished on the radiator tubing, wow what a job.... mounted all the tubes with rubber bushings to allow vibration to dissipate.... waiting for the inlet neck from Jegs for the Moroso electric water pump I bought so I can hang the last section of tubing.
Each direction has three pieces so it can run thru the frame cross members while allowing for easy removal if ever needed.