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

been busy over the 3 day weekend.,,friday i hung out in the garage..saturday, i hung out in the garage till the mama got home...then it was time to go fireworks shopping with the mama for her and her grand kids...steaks on the grill....fireworks in the back yard after dinner....
sunday i hung out in the garage..till then moma got home and cooked her famous stuffed sausage mushrooms.more fireworks out back....then i went back and hung out in the garage till midnite....like i said, i got tired of working on pedals and flooring and steering and....so i broke out the wizz wheel and ....the pics tell the story....fitting and laying out for the cuts...no fancy measuring just located the insert at 6 reference points from the factory...
this is how it started out.....

 

one of my younger buddies from work kept stopping over about once a week when i was installing the flooring ribs and other chunks of square tube evrywhere...we talked about the roof hangin out...he was worried i'ld get the frame work done to the body and the roof not fit well....well, that definitely wasn't and issue...i think it went good...first un-chop or chop for that matter i have ever done...nice how 2 diffenet roofs built in different countries interchange so well....

pics of the the welding ...butt welded, hammer fromed as installed...the front of the car roof was dipped about dead center...the donor roof came off a topo that was retrived from the bottom of a cliff in germany..( thanks Wayne!!!!)........so it took some beating..still have a bit to do , got too late for beatin tin.......

 

Now that looks Damn Nice!!!!!!! It must be a real good feeling to see the top closed in with such a nice fit. I hope you slow down a little because your making me look bad.

 

Looks really good with the roof on it, nice job. I wish mine had the steel roof instead of the rag top.

 

thanks guys, it really is a whole differnet car with the roof back in it...also low production numbers for hard tops in the earlier years...was a very scarey over the weekend cutting and fitting and welding it in...every 10 seconds i was stopping to make sure i wasn't screwing it up......got to finish the second round of filling in the second pass of welding across the front...and finish welding the left rear lower today...

all in all it went good, both the roofs have been though a good deal of abuse...but still they went together really well....memory serves, i think Wayne said that he pulled the yellow donor car up from a 200' + cliff that was a dump over in germany..which also caused concern due to the 2 roofs having been built in different countries at different times....lots of minor dents...and the front of my roof in the car was dimpled down in the middle front....so we'll have a bit of dolly work to get it back to "show room" condition...i get enough done today, i'll shove Lil Beast out the door and try to finally get some decent pics....

Wayne, you were definetly right about the rain gutter along the roof edge......

 

I certainly hope you get better pictures next time you shove the Beastie out doors!

 

ya could of left me that nice camera ya got..ain't they illegal in china??????? besides, ya know when ya get back, you're gonna come see me and bring it with ya.....

 

Great work, keep it up. Will be killer when finished! Love the Hemi.

 

thanks for the good words!!

the roof being there now has jumped my motivation factor to a tingling all time high!!!
i attacked the roof cause i hated staring at the void in my topo...it was built as a factory hard top...and i knew it would take some hammer work to straight out the donor roof section...
well i can't do much tin beating after i get home from work..down side of living in "the city"...and i knew it would take me a few days to get the roof welded in...thats why i did it over the holiday, 3 of the hottest days of the year...the dolly work is something for fill in work ...do a lil here, a lil there....

...so today i finally got around to ordering the last 3 peices for the steering column to the gear box..figured new was better/safer then used here...and i heated the stock topo pedals and got them about right..dropping it off tomorrow with my buddy old Bob at auto zone to see what will be easiest/best master cylinder for the brakes to use..
and i talked to one of the owners from a radiator shop that wants more of the truck buisness at work today about fabbin my rad for Lil Beast...said to bring him the mock up i have.....told him my best price was about $250 so far..said he could beat that...

so now i need to start looking at what it is going to take to peice some headers together..got an idea of what i want, but .......i know nothing about building headers, so.....

any luck i'll be able to turn the wheel and the tires will react by the end of the weekend........clutch system, rad, brakes.....glass..............................the list is getting shorter

 

The list is getting shorter...the BS is getting taller!!

I'll bring a camera and an Eli if I ever get home from China...12 hours time difference sucks AND I can't head your way in 45 minutes to see Alfie.

There is a guy near me with quite the metal fab shop. Do you, or anyone else, have a template for the manifold plate? I think he could probably duplicate a pair so you could start from there with those pipes for mock up at least. I'll think on it and see who I know with an EDM if you can find some 3D data on those flanges. SOMEONE is bound to have 'em.

So much for being bored, eh?!

 

got a line on these ........1 3/4" tubes...with studs $125....i been roouting thru that box of bends....couple there that would work for strting at the flange...and curve it out enough to clear the frame...but those are the ??? distorted ?? bends (brain dead here).......lost for the word...but i am still at the point if i have to raise the motor a 1/2" for easier clearance, it wouldn't affect any part of what i have done...and i have that 1 1/2" tubing i mocked up for showing basicly what bends i'll need...might end up loking for some 1 3/4 tubing, that way it would be to scale...

got the parts for the steering ...didn't like the angle of the u joint so i ordered another to replace a straight coupler i has planing for at the vega box...looking like a 40-42 degree angle on the column.. so 2 ujoints, 1 at s box and other at base of column split it to 21 degreese each.. ....going to install support for dd shaft, even though it'll only be about 8-10" long...

now i need to figure out a nice looking column support...

 

TK,
I've been quietly watching your build and you're coming along great. Nice to see someone making some good progress. I know you have to be getting excited. Keep up the good work. Love those Topolinos.

 

thanks!!!!! ya got some sweet tin yourself!!! ya it's all new to me, these early style hot rods when it comes to building one..never tried it before... excited??? man i find myself just stareing at it and trying to imagine what it will be like to finally drive it....built quite a few cars over the years, but nothing like ever pumped my blood like Lil Beast does!!!!!!!!

still got alot to do, and on a poor Hamber's budget...getting down to the last few peices to collect for it, and naturally they are the last big money items ...alot more work then i thought it would be almost 2 years ago when i started collecting parts and working on Lil Beast...

wouldn't have been posible if it weren't for the Hamb and some really great folks here........thanks again to all...and to those who have unknowingly shared their knowedge here as well...and to Ryan for making this place happen.........

 

1 3/4" should be around 44 mm. I'm pretty sure I can get that out of the scrap bin after I'm home! What kind of lengths are you talking? Sometimes I can get them in 2-3' sections if they are the end of a stick at the bender.

If it is just the opening that you are having issues with, I can size them on the ID/OD machine. Just have to make sure I've got time. It'll make it straighten out for those last few inches so we need to make sure we have spares for set up.

Stop staring at it and get wrenching!

 

well got not much done today...lazy sunday...Justin from work, guy worried about the roof fitting, stopped by...was going to take a couple of pics, had Lil Beast out of the garage for some cleaning and moving shit around..he bugged me to fire the hemi up..asked if i had heard it outside of the garage yet..and i hadn't..till today,,,he made a cheap vid...was on the verge of storming...1st not spark to coil...2nd vid choke on cold start...and ya can see i been beating dents over the weekend...

sorry i haven't figured out how to embed these yet....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvBIE_8QkPM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWnO5gw2aC4

 

Dang, can't watch the vids in China...I'll just have to come over this weekend or something!

 

like i said, cheap camera vid....but hey ya can hear the hemi ...

well Dan, maybe this will work for ya

.....

 

My brother just delivered a 1947 Fiat Topolino project to my shop that he wants me to do for him as a Street Altered style. I am going to do all the chassis work starting with the pieces that he has gathered to date. Am looking forward to doing it. Not only because it's a neat fun project, but because it's for my brother. Aplpreciated what I see you doing to yours.

1gearhead

 

Don't forget, we need pictures...lots of pictures and a cool build thread like the Topolino kid has here. Good luck and keep us updated on you and your brothers progress.

 

I know what a project like this takes. I am working on a 1957 escort,The truck version of an Anglia. The car was raced in 1974 , appearing in Car Craft mag. Stripping the 7 layers of paint,unwiring the most hacked up electrical system . Rebuilding the most unique drivetrain I have ever seen.
Chevy V8 connected to a chrysler 727 coupled to a pontiac transaxle
out of a 1963 tempest all behind the driver. Wheelie bars consisting of leafsprings with casters. It looks like you can see lite at the end of the tunnel . My car is the Beast from the East. www.thebeastfromtheeast.com

 

That sounded great. Looking forward to seeing the car

 

i bumped the choke the wrong way and ya can hear it loads up...Justin quite flimin just about the time i got it unchoked and cleared out

 

YouTube must be blocked. Just get a blank screen. I've heard the heart of the beast before and makes my tail wag. Why do you think I keep asking you about those A parts? I want to hear MY Hemi bark!!

Maybe I need to get me an Escort. I had the US turd version in college and we jokingly called it a Race-scort. That one is FOR REAL!

 

I'm back. Too hot to work on much, though! You getting anywhere??

 

just got home from TA...special request...follow up on ac from 2 weeks ago..these are done for free unlees issues is found...but most of my "special requests" are great tippers...$50 today for this one

going to see about triming the steering down abit more....got all the last peices yesterday from column to box...lots to deal with..small area..smaller area due to 3 pedals...and clearing the baby elephant .....don't want to cut either or side too short....
and of course there's still plenty of hammer work left on the roof...getting close to starting to also usw the dollys and smooth it out..mainly been just working on getting the contour right ..gotta remember this donor roof was at the bottom of a cliff...in the dump...in germany..and extracted in 69'...so it was bombed quite a bit over the years....

still is a nice roof though...and it''l come around.........

right now i'm looking for a center dump exhaust manifold for it...like i have on the right side...one of these on the drivers side will clear the steering ...and save me some cash for awhile on having to have headers built.........which would get me that much closer to being able to take Lil Beast for a test drive.....

 

I bought this kit from Jegs ($109.00), they are made for a sbc (they don't come with flanges) but after cutting a few of tubes, and welding them back together they worked real good for my sbf altered.
http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/31883/10002/-1?parentProductId=1128235

 

i want to build something similar, but without collectors,,,,have all 4 pipes the same length and have them stair step under the car ..paraelling each other.......with curves similar to the second tube in your picture...

 

well once again, the headaches of daily life have gotten in the way of progress on Lil Beast....not much garage time last few weeks, but i did manage to finally get in a couple of hours over this past weekend,,,,

drilled a couple of locator bolt holes and unclamped the body and checked to ensure it was still true and square with the frame....figured out the flooring patterns for the passengers side and what to do for the trans hump...decided to make the front section of the hump removable to save space for the pedals,,,,making it high enough to unbolt trans and bell was eating into the pedal area too much..hell there ain't no spare room there at all....changed a few bars in the rear seat area, to make more room for the cages main hoop...which helps keep the gas tank area bigger then a peanut.............

then last nite i started assembling all the steering parts i been collecting for too long...did final aligment of steering gear box and all steering tubes, drag links ect...had to drill a 3/4" + size hole for the support joint for the DD shaft...used my 3/8's 45 degree angle drill and one of those damn step bits....thought i'ld never get thru the boxing plate..no room there with the hemi hoggin the area...went to the other end and tached the column in place....picked up a new borgenson double u-joint from jville_hot_skater here on the Hamb...made clearance aroung the column shaft and pass the hemi for exhaust perfect!!!thanks dude!!!!!so at the end of last nite, i had the topo jacked up in the front and taced everything together for the steering....and it turns soooo smmooooothlyyyyyyyy....barely 2 full turns with my micro mini 11" metalflake steering wheel and it is at full turn from centered...great to see the wheels turn ...finally!!!

so now i have to hook up the old stick welder Bob gave me that was his dads...and burn it all together..permenatly.......and then i'll be at a true roller status!!!!!!!was hopefull to do a crude test drive on the weekend of the end of the second year/beginning of the third year of this project...which is just 4 weeks from now,,,but don;t think it's gonna happen..never spent so much time trying to get a rod togeher in all my 54 years...but i'm having fun....just can see the end down the road, but just got too many issues side tracking me!!!!!!

 

Rockin and Rollin Mark

I know what you mean about life throwing ya curves..just keep pluggin you'll get there.
I worked all weekend on mine, now on to other things in the build

It will get there, left ya a voice mail

 

let the jack down tonite, ....turned the wheel...with just a few tack welds holding the box on, and i forgot that none of the ball sockets was tight....it still turned really easy, standing outside the car ..with one hand...i was impressed...i don't have any experience yet with this style front end setup....i also have a ton of engine/trans set back...one of these days i scale it ..hopefully on both ends...steering in Lil Beast is easier then it was in my sbc blown vega wagon...grunted to turn the wheel outside the car..amd it went 2680 on the scales.both setup with vega style boxes...although i do have the Jegs vega version, for cars under 2200 lbs...but it feels great

time to go hook up the stick welder