I seriously can't wait to see this thing on wheels... I'm picturing a retro mod version of this... Vintage racing yummyness
I seriously can't wait to see this thing on wheels... I'm picturing a retro mod version of this... Vintage racing yummyness
I am definitely interested in the results of your powder coating as well. That might look awesome on a variety of cars. AND CHEAP!
Oops. Tonight will not be wheel powder coating night. I apparently don't know how to read the date. Powder will be here tomorrow, not today.
Oh, well. Plenty of other things to keep me busy.
Just out curiosity, how different is the width between the VW and Fiat upright where it bolts to the strut's bracket? I.E. if I didn't have a good 128 tube to donate, could I just mod the VW bracket to fit? Or is the slot on the VW tube narrower?
In reply to Kenny_McCormic:
I looked into that very briefly. I want to say the Fiat knuckle is 25mm wide where the strut attaches and the Rabbit knuckle was 20mm. These numbers are off the top of my head, so don't quote me on that. I know that MKII VW knuckles are thicker in that regard, but I don't know that dimension is, only that it is "bigger".
All welded up and sandblasted clean.
Powder tomorrow.
Purdy. Looks like there is still some slag on the weld though. That will mess up your powder job.
Nice!
Guess the screw to tighten that clamp is a bit redundant at this point?
Even if I didn't know you, I would know that you are in industrial maintenance
In reply to Jumper K. Balls:
Whoa, dude.
Single split. What do you think I am? Some sort of barbarian?!
Man, the strut tube diameters definitely explain why the Fiat X1/9 guys always go with the Rabbit coilover setup. That's so perfect it must have been some common supplier in the distant distant past.
It also helps that the Bilstein sport struts for the A1 VW are the shortest ones they make. I spent some time on the phone with a Bilstein tech looking for a strut cartridge I could start with for my RX2. IIRC the front of the BMW 325ix uses one that is pretty close too.
Now to figure out the top half of this situation.
The Fiat strut mounts are laughable terrible. There's no actual bearing, just some fiber washers (that have all but returned to the earth) sandwiched between two greased plates. You can get some aftermarket Torrington style bearings and hardware, but at $90 plus new strut mounts, I'm leaning towards modifying the strut towers to accept a newer mount. Call it "future proofing", if you will.
Right now I'm looking at BMW 2002 and E21 parts as well as Volvo 240. My shopmate should be around tomorrow, and with any luck, he will be driving his 2002 and bringing me a Volvo part for measuring. Two birds, one stone. But also all my eggs in one basket...
Springs and top hats won't be here until next week, so I'm not in too big of a hurry.
Cheers.
The Burrito's are away for the next few days. Work should resume early next week.
Congratulations
Wow, She is into old Italian cars and is HOT?
Keeper For sure!
In reply to wvumtnbkr:
Hey, that's my wife you're talking about....
Congrats marriage is the best mistake my wife ever made.
Congratulations! I did not get my fiancee an Italian car but there is still about a week or so before our impending marriage.
Italian car-building honeymoon?
Welcome to married life. It's not always great, but it's always worth the work.
So far it has been great for me and my wife. I hope your marriage is just as good or better!
Wow, congrats on getting hitched.
BAck to the lack of rust thing. That shell is cleaner than just about any early 70's Fiat was in the UK after one year. It was not uncommon for them to fail their first MOT (after three years, then every year in perpetuity) due to rust even in the early 80's
Front brakes are ready for reassembly.
That desert tan powder looks really, really good. I feel like you need fancy pants fasteners now, though.
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