38 Fiat Topolino build

[22dodge]

Nice.....

Maddog, the car is coming together nicely.
The hi tech bar napkin drawings are cool, I am still in pencil mode.
Keep working at it, I am learning from your problem solving and enjoying
every step of the proccess. '22

 

[Gastrick]

Those CAD designs are really interesting maddog. I have a typical 4-link in my Anglia (also a small car) with urethane bushings. I'm pleased with the way it works. It hooks well and behaves nicely on the street, and I DO drive it. I have a panhard bar that's pretty short and the side arc is not enough to worry about on my car even though everything is arranged pretty tightly. I only have 18" between my frame rails, a packaging nightmare. It seems simple enough now, but there was lots of head scratching and napkin drawing during the project.

 

[Gastrick]

Hey maddog, I wonder if one of these cars is yours

 

[donsrods]

Every drag race nut in the country just drooled over their computers looking at that picture of brand new Topo's. Wow.

The internals of your Ute look really nice Bill. Well done and professional. Might have to steal some of that for a future project.

Don

 

[maddog]

Hey maddog, I wonder if one of these cars is yours

Wow, I think you're right! Mine is the 3rd one back that no one is working on.

Don said he too uses the hard poly bushings with no problem. Sometimes I make things more difficult than they have to be.

After all that, I am thinking I will put the shocks in a more conventional location and just use a panhard bar. I do want to drive it someday.

Thanks everybody for the comments.

 

[maddog]

I figured out how to work on the car in a small shop without puting the body on the shop floor taking up more space and stopping something else from being done and getting frustrated and putting the body back on the car without doing anything and them wishing the body was off the car so I could work on it.

Does that make sense?
Can anybody relate?

Its a Rule winch from the marine industry that is reversable. Rated at 3300 lbs, I think it can handle it since I can stand through the open top and carry the body around by myself. Its maybe 100lbs.

I can now raise and lower the body by myself and maybe, just maybe get something done.

I have done a couple other things - welded up the bars for the rear end - got a spring pack for the front axle - scored some old cast aluminum valve covers and bead blasted them (they look great) - and bead blasted my tunnelram intake - also made the parts needed to hang the front spring from the wishbones.

Today, I printed the drawings with dimensions for all the brackets for the 4 bar to hang the rearend.

I'm stoked!!

 

[Bonehead]

Be careful, I saw a body just like that in a roadrunner cartoon, except it was an anvil.

Thanks for the pictures, build continues to look great.

 

[22dodge]

Hanging in there !!!

Looks great, Mad Dog, coming along nicely.
Good idea on the winch for body lifting, I use my engine hoist with the same straps.
Not much weight involved, just akward to do it by yourself.
Keep those photos coming... '22

 

[maddog]

I have put on and off the body about 10 times now, by myself. What a big deal. It has unlocked the gridlock in my shop and the Topo project.

The frame has been on the welding table now for 4 days. The rear cross member is done (4 3"holes sleeved with pipe and welded up and the lower part of the driveshaft clearence hole). The front cross member is in the process of being remodeled now that I have the front spring and I think I know what it needs, we will see.

Monday my Tig welding coach (30+ years as a welder at the Budwiser plant) is coming to the shop to coach me on some big fat tig welds for all the components of the front and rear suspension. I thought it best not to just tackle it like I do some stuff, learning along the way. This way, I can trust that they are as strong as they need to be.

I also bought a shear (Pexto 37) That should help the sheetmetal side of things. It sucks not having a shear. Like everything else, if you are gonna do something, you end up needing all the stuff to do it. It takes up some valuable floor space, but its needed.

I know, I know, pictures soon.

 

[Tripper]

Awesome!!!

Maddog,
Dude... that BB looks *really* looks good in there! Gonna be awesome!

BoB

 

[35Mastr]

Its getten there,But you know that we need pic's.

 

[maddog]

The frame is mostly welded up. Still have a couple crossmember and some more tabs and whatnot, but its off the welding table.

I have one problem (yeah, just 1 ) The heim joints at the rear of the split bones seem to bind when twisting the front axle. If I move just one side up it will only travel 4 or 5 inches before binding. Keeping the axle level, it moves up and down no problem. Not sure why, but I bet one of you have had this problem.

 

[22dodge]

Nice Job........

The frame looks great, maddog. Very nicely done.
Sorry, I can't help with the binding problem though.... '22

 

[bob w]

4 to 5 inched of independent lift on the front axle seems more than adequate to me. Translate that into body lean and it is quite a bit. With split wishbones, that is about all you can get without reashing the bind point. This is where Unkl Ian joins in with his vast experience.

 

[maddog]

Thanks 22 and Bob.

Ohhhhh, Unkl Ian, where are you?

 

[Bonehead]

I was thinking the same thing. Seems like alot of travel. On the other hand, I have 28 inches of travel on my rock buggy and it does not bind at all. Is it the track bar?

 

[wrecker55]

Thats commin out real nice maddog

 

[maddog]

I was thinking the same thing. Seems like alot of travel. On the other hand, I have 28 inches of travel on my rock buggy and it does not bind at all. Is it the track bar?

I dont know what you mean "track bar"

Its just the front axle, 2 bones, 2 heim joints, NO spring. When I travel just one side it goes into a bind that is limiting the travel. If I pop the pin out that connects the bone to the axle, the bone will move all over the place with no bind at all.

Kind of got me stumped. Some kind of strange geometry going on that I just dont get yet.

 

[Bonehead]

Sounds like the pin itself is binding, one going one direction, one going the other. I don't see what you can do about that. But it sounds like quite a bit of travel.

 

[greasy bacon]

Bind

Is your hiem on the frame end of your bones able to rotate . Ive forgot to use spacers and had trouble.