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

Yeah I got a 56 f-100 column and wheel, from Frank..looks like its going to work out famously. the steering wheel would probably be a bit too large for your interior space, but there are others

will have to cut down the length some and find a bell for the top of the column, and a lower support bearring and column drop but other than that its a simple Hot Rod Column..I think you may have seen it the last time you were here.

today im out in the shop taking the body off and working on putting the hole thru the firewall for said column, wish me luck..or stop by if yer bored

the wood is burning aand its up to 35 or 40 right now..one more cup of coffee and im off

 

Thanks for the awesome thread Topokid! Really enjoying this.

 

Spoggie:
Thanks for the site. Great stuff going on there.

Hi Bob:
Car looks great. Come on Spring hurry up.

 

well after a long 4 days, fri,transporting thru the snow, and sat, sun, and monday, remocking the body, which is almost done, i didn't make it to out to the garage tues..plus the big snow arrived last nite, so....hopefully back on track and get Lil Beast finished up on body placement/mock up,,,man the lil sucker has whooped my ass...feel like i been wrestling bears or something...........gotta get this part done so i can break it all down and kill the flash rust!!!!!!!!damn snow coming home..and the cheap camera flash makes everything look rusty red..what's up with that???????

 

time to put that little sandblast pot to work

 

Lookin great! A days work will clean up the rust. Lil' Beast looks happy to be home.

 

got a bit further on the final mock up on the body..going to pull a spring or two out of the Posie Super Slider this week..just seems real stiff...anyone got an idea of how much this will drop the front end???

 

busy at work this week ..good but is keeping me out of the garage...went out tonite just to "Go See" the hot rod....flouresent lites came up slow and i got a un-notied prior perspective of my topo....

basicly wall to wall hemi




just about done moving stuff around, figuring pedal space, floors and firewall..then will get the right rocker replaced with the new and grid out the floor...hopefully a good productive weekend ahead..valentines day..then the wife's birthday on the 16th..no garage time to speak of last weekend either....maybe even get a leaf or two out of the front end finally




rough cell pics.......

 

well i managed to get in a lil garage time tonite..did a bit more wire wheeling to kill some more flash...figure on sending it out and getiting the whole frame blasted once i get it finished....messed around with the vega box and looked at the placement a bit.it looks like it will tuck in there nicely....have to get a pitman arm for it...and the mounting brackets...also need to find out how much a sbc w/pump shaves off the nose...
and i even wheeled a spot on the hemi to keep Dan happy

 

Cleaner is meaner!

 

yeah i'm chompin to get the hemi cleaned and painted..guess i should think of a color .......holding off to pull it and do the deed, working late every day again this week...i did pull out and hold up to the front my Lil John's Stuff water pump..looks like it will center the fan dead nut with the radiator...




going to redrill the crank pulley , it looks like the 3 sbc holes will work on the dodge hemi..just needs 3 more to make 6...also started cutting out some tin for patching ....and came up with some ideas for some of the frame mods...stuff that just couldn't be completed at Kirk's...due to lack of final mock up...still gotta get some springs out of the posie slider...saturday maybe???

needing to get some more funding going, and am ready to have someone true my olds housing....gonna beat the bushes for that up at autorama this weekend.

 

Looking good Mark..I was wondering if you locked your self in the garage..

 

thanks Randy....have been working my ass off all week again..12 + hours a day...so no garage time again this week...but hopefully i'll get out there this weekend a bit.........

 

yeah thats my plan too..The weather and not wanting to waste heating fuel for just a few hours of work after getting home, has made me wait it out for the weekend.
Plan to be up at Autorama Sunday Morning-ish ..and back at it when i get home..
Worked my ass off too this week. and i was also able to score some parts to continue this weekend..
wish you luck Bud..I gotta get up and see this beast

 

If you'll be around, Mark, I'll swing your way to/from Autorama on Sunday. I need to score that trans and if you got any straps or not. I MAY be heading up that way this weekend and can hit Kirk's if needed. Plans are in the air right now. Got to haul hay and got to plow snow!

 

pulled the olds housing out and cleaned off the flash, thru a coat of primer sealer on it...going to try and take it up to get the ends trued this friday...and trimed down about another inch to make it tuck a bit tighter....




think i pretty well have the dash filler panel prety well cut to fit..lots of file work getting it to fit tight down into the raised beaded area..



odered the brackets for the vega steering box also...now i need to figure what to do for a column.....

 

holy shit mark...you been busy!

 

Keep on truckin'

 

The fit on the dash looks really good. Nice Job!

 

well the whole thing is a mess with the flash from bring it home in that snow storm,,,but i've been cleaning peices as i go..the rearend turned out nice, lot of work to straighten out this old olds housing...so many brackets to cut off and re-finish the housing..4 link brackets, wheelie bar brackets and shock mounts...i left the center section as it came, someone did a fine job on the center mount for the Watts link..can't see it under the car, and it might come in handy somewhere down the road...





i'm hopefully able to finally push it and have it roll weekend next.......might not be able to steer it yet, but.....been along time coming....Bob, the dash peice is bowing out abit, but it really does fit tight into the pocket,,,has me thinking about gauges at this point...but getting it welded in and finished is going to be the next task...i also had to fab in the lower right corner of the dash, down by the door, it was missing a peice about 1 1/2" tall and 2 1/2" wide...something Wayne needed for his topo...kinda working with his leftovers ...

last weekend autorama really killed my garage time,,,looking forward to this weekend...

 

You were all over Autorama. You didn't look like you were upset with missing the garage time AND you found 2 shops to do your rear end...which seemed a bit forward to me but hey, it's Detroit!!

If you'll be around Friday (shoot that's tomorrow) I'll come get that shifter from you. Let me know what's up with your column and we can look at a few things while I'm there. I've got some of the lower shafts and I may have a spare AD truck column you can use for a start. We'll just need to get someone to turn down and A-dapter and mill the bottom flats then you can make a mount.

 

Danimal picked me up a nice column from Enjenjo for the topo.abd then Eli dug up a nice cup for it...out of a 40's ???? gm...stripped and sprayed it....then bud from work came over and we located the body into it's final position...spent tonite stripping off the last of the flash on the roof and primer sealed it and measuring body location so as to be able to keep it where it is while removing a couple of springs out of the front...front tire height will drop about 3/4" and springs should bring it down almost an inch or so..or so i'm told....fiat pedals are looking pretty good, have to match up with master cylinders ect...have room to tilt the nose now, car setting about 3" lower then before...hope to hear word on the rear end tomorrow..

what is common for flooring ribbing??1"x1"?? 3/4" x 3/4"??? square tubing??the main floor is under 3'x3' square...figure 16 gauge for the flooring itself.....

 

I've seen a lot done with 1 x 1 tubing.

The wheel cup is from a '54 Chevy truck.

 

damn if i can remember ...ya got too many trucks for me to remember with my old agedness...

i was thinking 1x1 just for the extra strength...i have enough room for it with anything less then 1 inch for the rubber mounting part...1/2" or 5/8" i'm thinking for the rubber"isolators"..right now i have 2" at the lowest part of the door opening to the frame...and the spring removal up front should add more room....i'm real close to getting ready to try and fire up the old century welder out there and see if it is ready to go back to work...or if i'm going to try and find a liner for it...have to still get some stock to make spacers for the spring removal...bitch is i have to have a MRI done sunday, and the momma is off saturday and wanting a Big Daddy day...so...this weekend is looking a bit bleak for Lil Beast....maybe a friday nite thrash on the front end???....gotta find some spacer stock

the front is at an all time low

 

You have GOT to get some better pictures.

Use your mud flaps with a hole saw to make your spacers! That'll be all the thicker you need. You're NOT going to have a Lexus ride anyway (though the throttle may stick and the brakes not work but it'll be fun all the same!)

How thick stock do you need to replace the spring? Can't find any at Tractor Supply? Just cut up one of those old Model A frames you've got laying around. You're not going to do anything with them anyway!

Court's B day is tomorrow and Edie's is Monday so I don't know what my plans are yet.

 

yeah one of these days i'll send my good Kodak digi in for repairs...love that camera.......

blew apart the front end last nite to strip, paint and reassemble..dropping 2 leafs out of the top..see where that puts the nose at....



i need to figure out what should be greased and what should be anti-seized for re-assembly....going in for that MRI for my knee here in a bit...hopefully i'll get the axel assembly stripped and painted today when i get home...maybe even back up under Lil Beast before bedtime...

 

... I was just checking out your thread. I am usually only on the HA/GR thread, the junior stock thread or the parts for sale thread. Today I decided to expand my horizons. I am a huge Topy fan. I went the the Goodguys Indy in 1997 and there was a guy there selling a steel Topy on a modified T-bucket frame that I seriously considered but I couldn't bring it back because a friend and I had driven out in my Miata (roadster complete with Mooneyes decals ) The plan was to put a built rotary engine in it and call it the Wankelino, however when I got home he had left a message on my service (pre cell phone days) that he had been given an offer he couldn't refuse. I have checked out the offerings from Rod 'N' Race now and then and dreamed buy life has a way of kicking you in the XXX ...ummm, rear !!!

Anyhow, I am a fan and will be checking back ... Thanks for sharing

 

What happened with the MRI? You working on this Sunday? I'm running a frame up to Waterford and will have my trailer empty on the way home. If you aren't doing anything to the Lil Beast, I'll load it up and take it off your hands! We already know it will fit.

 

you would say that...damn typical goat farmer...then ya would probably wanna cover it with angora fur....and call it "Danny Boys furry lil mousey"

I'm off sunday, looks like i'll be standing shotgun out by the garage till you get home

my doctor, she said, bakers cyst that ruptured...i have to go in and see her this week i guess...was too busy this week , i ran 100 amp service out to the garage underground ...still have to do the connections into the main panel at the house and then i can start wiring the garage...hopefully the century mig i have will run propperly with good amperage flowing to it..if not then it probably needs a new liner...if so, then maybe you should load up Von Rigg Fink's mig and just drop it off over here...i know it'll fit....then i can start welding in the floors and getting ready for SINS OF STEEL......

got the front Super Bell axel assembly all cleaned and painted, anti-seized and greased...gotta do the hairpins and then i'll need a hand getting it all pulled back to the required 6-7 degreese ...rearend should be done today or first of the week..shortened a hair, new bearings pressed on and wheel studs..ya find me any Radir cheater slicks yet?? i did win these off evil bay for the slots........

 

My Mig went bye bye

it was on loan from Ron free storrage free use kinda deal..im bummed its gone...but ,he needs to get to building his
i am working on another rig right now I hope to have the time and money to get it up and running soon , its fairly portable too.

I will keep you posted.

She's looking good Mark

still not done with my tank mount...too dam many distractions and other shit i need to do.

If i get a chance i will try to stop by and see if i can get yours running right if you cant find the trouble

If not, and the stuff is small enough i can take it to work and weld it up there