Fiata- what happens when a rusty fiat gets a miata suspension an ford motivation

No home.

I'm going to use the fiats windscreen. The miata one has the same starting position at the fender ( within an inch anyway) but is swept back too far. I'm toying with the idea of no windscreen at all but thing that would suck on test drives and the drags. Fiat unit is a bolt in piece anyway so I plan to mount it with brackets and won't have to make that call yet

The donor miata was a donor because of a hit to the rear. Drivers side frame rail was crunched so it wasn't usable. Either way the fiat rear is significantly longer than the miata and even good rails would need help. I considered using the fiat trunk and frame rails but the trunk structure is surprisingly robust. Since I won't be carrying luggage I didn't want the weight penalty.

So it's been a while since I posted updates. A couple of things are still in the works and I'm trying really hard to finish dismantling the fiat so I can get it out of my yard. I've pulled the doors and removed the windshield assembly so far so the only remaining items to pull are the front fenders and grill.

Easy enough right? I mean if the windshield is 4 bolts the fenders must be easy peasy

Nope!

Did anyone here know the fenders are welded in and are a structural part of the body tub? This guy didn't!

So I'm 2 days into the cutting and I'm still not there. It's odd, but instead of cutting out the fenders from the car it really feels like I'm cutting away the car from the fenders. I'd love to show pictures but I have no idea how to capture the ridiculousness of the situation. Hopefully I will get the front end free tomorrow and can post pictures of what has had to come off with them.

I feel your pain!

Nothing can be worse than taking the front off a Volvo P1800.

so its been a heck of a february and i hadn't gotten much done other than dismantling the fiat. its pretty much all on the utility trailer waiting for me to have a weekday off to go to the recycler. i peeled off lots of panel pieces where true rust was absent and i thought i could use it in another part of the reassembly. anyone who wants a full front suspension assembly or rear end speak soon or it will be gone....

following that, i spent some time making temporary braces for the fiats rear end.

mostly welded in brackets attached to both the fenders and the chassis then bolted together. since i am just working up fitment for the full cars panels i don't want too get locked into a bad decision..... yet!

next in line were the doors. these suckers were heavy. the more i get into the body off the fiat, i am beginning to think that fiats answer to the 70's rust issues were to make the panels 2 times thicker than they needed to be so half of it could rust away and still be a drivable car. the difference in heft between the fiats sheet metal and that of the fiat is night and day. to that end everything inside the door had to go. and since the firewall bulkhead was in the way at the front of the door the hinge assemblies weren't going to work either so i just gutted the door almost to the outer skin. there was apparently a good deal of stress in the door skin though and it now has a little bit of a at the for bottom that i will need to fix. as well as a good bit of rust from the wads of pine needles at the bottom of the door, but at this stage the bow isn't enough to throw things off. 

test fit

 oh... you might have noticed some changes at the windshield too.......

so most of the dimension checking i did at the start of the project confirmed this to be a workable idea. well, maybe i should have done a few more checks.... anyone see an issue in the near future? 

some rough figuring and a lot of gazes down the body lines leads me to believe this is how much needs to be removed.... 

armed with a cut off wheel and some beers at the post softball happy hour this is what happened......

 if you think the cut looks bad you should see what my dry wick shirt looks like now.....

Good to see this back up front.

And yeah...I did note that the windshield was gone.

I like this. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Sorry if I missed it, but are the doors going to be hinged or fixed?

Love the project, can't wait to see more.

The hope is that they will be hinged. I've got a LONG way to go before that happens.

so when we last left this story a hole had been cut by a slightly alcohol liberated technician. and i use technician very loosely. so i needed to repair and solidify the frame horn sections. i started by stitch welding a plate to the top of the horn with the vertical sheet metal below 

next i started making templates of cardboard to cover the holes. i started at the front with the plan to move backwards as i went. using the vertical sheet metal between the voids as a bulkhead of sorts. this one would be first. 

first patch panel installed. time to set up for the next one in line

next one installed.... 

oops. photoberkit must have lost this pic

overall views from back to front.... 

 im optimistic this will work.... time to do the other side!

That will work fine. As a person who disassembled a Miata A-pillar spot weld by spot weld, I can tell you it is built like a tank.

so this week is the moment of truth. ive been planning for the front clip and making some eyeball measurements, but everything to this point has been an assumption that i could make a fiat fit on a miata chassis. last week was a lot of preparation but this week is the real deal. it started with some measurements. the fiat is shorter in the nose than a miata. so some trimming was going to happen.

the marker line for the end of the fiat radiator core support was marked on the miata fender

the cut line isn't the long line its the short dash on top of the frame horn right before the radiator core.

since i was going to be taking out the radiator core i figured some bracing was in order to make sure things stayed in alignment. a little scrap steel and some unused frame studs and i was in business 

here is the miata after its corectomy

i had taken the front clip into the garage prior to removing the core support, you may remember that the front end of the fiat was one piece. no removable fenders or anything, so after some clearencing i hung the clip from my hoist so i could test fit it as many times as needed without effort.

anyone asking what they need as basic tools for their garage.... you NEED a hoist.......