Topolino

[zbuckster]

I got my Double Dragster kits yesterday and I can't wait to do something with one of them. Well why does the old man have this in Street Rod Forum? I am going to try and build this one as a street rod that looks like an old altered class drag car, or not. I am also thinking of trying to build it full fendered. I will experiment with some fenders and see where it ends up.

So for sure we have this kit.



I am going to use this Ross Gibson Late model Hemi as an engine.



There will be lot's of tire on the back. Iam thinking the tires from the Tweedy Pie or the Revell Willys Coupe.

I have the body kinda mocked up waiting on it to lead me to the next step.



Not much to start with but I wanted to get after it. LOL Thanks for looking all comments and Questions are welcome.

[zbuckster]

OK here are what some of the full fender experiments looked like.

The first is a fenders from a 1929 Model A pickup truck.



Then a set of Ala Kart fenders.



Then a set of fenders from a 1927 Model T.



And then the winner, I think, A set of fenders from the Revell 1932 3 window coupe.



I like this one for a number of reasons. I like the forward rake the body has. The body naturally channels down over the fenders. The interior floor pan, seat and door panels look easy to cut and fit. Plus the work at the rear will be fairly easy.

door panels



floor pan and seat.



Here is what it looks like from the rear.



So this is where we are at this morning. Iam going to build the engine first and then move on to the car. Iam thinking that I may not go the pro street look with this car. Maybe a large tire on all 4 corners. Make it look like a home made turn taker. We'll see where we end up later on.

[Nacho Z]

I agree Buck, go with the '32 fenders. I like them for the same reason as you do, I like the rake. Good luck with this one and keep the WIP pics coming.

[whtchevy]

GO MAN GO!!!!!! what are you waiting for lets get to it LOVE IT !!!!!!!

[tim]

I like the fenders on it, gonna be a nice build!

[zbuckster]

Thought I had better check in with the latest on this one.

I want to start by saying thank you to those following along. I was looking for things to keep this moving in the right direction. I wanted this car to have the touches of a today's style street rod but still have the nostalgia look of a Topolino. So some of things I wanted to incorporate were, Rack and Pinion steering, Mustang II style front end with adjustable coil overs. In the rear I wanted independent suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes. For the Wheel and tire I wanted to have a modern look without going to a band aid tire. Sorry guys I am still not ready to ride that wagon. That's when I discovered this kit.



It gave me all I was looking for, plus a few other things. Here is the chassis mocked up.



So I got all I was looking for plus, the frame is a new design style. Like you would buy from the aftermarket. It also has a hidden master cylinder. The next plus was the fenders fit it perfect. The wheels are like a modern Halibrand knock off. 20 inch in the rear and 17's up front. The 20's are a little large but that's what's out there right now, so we are gonna go with it. Plus the tires are not all the bandaidish.



So all that gets us back to a mock up that looks like this.



So I stuck everything together with Handi-Tak, much more accurate for the mock up. Then it ended up looking like this this.





I got this far on the RG Hemi.



Again this is today's stuff. The Hemi is a 514 inch crate motor so it's aluminum headed. The Hilborn style injection isn't real it is Digital. I will be building fuel rails and such for that later.



The Torquflite 727 transmission makes it all pretty long. I am not sure it's gonna fit. I looked around in the junk yard and found a scatter shield for a Chevy and a 3650 style Tremec Transmission. So we might go that way to shorten things up, or because a 6 speed would make this thing a lot more fun. 6TH gear is .50 to 1 so we can put a good gear in the back and still make the Hot Rod Power Tour. A real high gear cruiser. If it is still to big then I will be looking for a different power plant.



So that's where it is all at. I still need things like a dash and some seats, steering column and do dah stuff. Thanks for looking in. All comments and questions are welcome.

[whtchevy]

You really have the intrest meter go off the scale here ...Loving it .

[zbuckster]

Thanks for the comments and following along.

I bet you guys thought I gave up on this one. No way small person. Over the last week I have been working on finishing the Judge and still working out the bugs on this one.
I am sure you know how it goes when you are doing design work. It seems that every turn brings a new problem to be worked out. I will show you where I am now and explain how I got there. I am sure there is much more to be done before primer hits this one.

I had to change the back of the frame on the Phantom Vicky kit. It wouldn't let the body come down far enough in the very rear. I trimmed a section off the floor board and then put it back on at an angle. Then I had to move the rear cross member ahead about 1/8 inch. so it ended up looking like this.



When I tried a power train mock up there was no way the Torqueflight transmission was going to fit. I am even having my doubts about the Ross Gibson Hemi at this point. I know they are 1/24 TH scale but man that thing is big. Anyway I dug around in the junk yard and came up with a 3650 series Tremec trans. This is the 6 speed that is used it Vipers, Vettes and Mustangs. Also found a Lakewood scatter shield. Put both of them in the bleach to remove the chrome and ended up with this.





Then to get it into the chassis I had to move the cross member back 5/16 of an inch. After doing that I found the Lakewood scatter shield was to big to go between the cross bars, so I found a smaller bell housing and painted it red to replicate the Lakewood scatter shield.



This at least let me get the engine and trans into the frame rails and settled into place.

This was the next problem. I thought it would look neat to have the alternator hanging out one side and the power steering pump hanging out the other. Again. noway small person. They were hitting the fenders.



So I cut them both off the front cover and then found a small alternator that would fit tucked in down low.



I one quick slice of the Exacto Knife we now have manual steering. It could be a bear with the weight of the hemi up front, but we will live with it.

OK next problem was getting the hood off the valve covers.



Also the oil pan seems to hang down pretty low. I decided to get out the Handi-Tak and do another full mock up. That way I could check the oil pan clearance and fit the hood at the same time.

That got me to here. You can see how I trimmed the hood. I wanted to keep as much of it there as I could.



That didn't work so I ended up trimming the rest away.



One more photo. This one shows the view from the front during the mock up. I love it.



So now I know the engine will fit, have a tranny that will work and have the stance set. Now I can go back to doing the body work. I need to get it to fit a little better in the rear around the fenders. If things go right I will have the Judge finished today and then I can go full speed on this one.

Thanks for looking in. All comments and questions are welcome.

[goodguy56]

Buck,

You have yourself a winner right here. That is 1 SWEET build. Keep us updated as I am NOW glued to the screen to see your interpretation of this rod...
Nice work so far.




8-)Rick

[68chevy]

EXCELLENT can’t wait to see this one outstanding job

[zbuckster]

Thanks for the comments guys. They make it way more fun.

I want this car to be as close to drivable as I can get it. I feel that way about most of my builds. I want to put everything on it that a real car would have.

I Started to polish the injector tubes. I wanted to get them all set on the engine so I could cut the hood.



After doinking with it some it came to me these are just not right. Way to tall. The front injector tubes stuck up as high as the roof.



So it was back to the ferrule assortment to see what was there. It turned out that the biggest one fit over the injector on the manifold perfect. They are way shorter and look better than the white metal cast ones.



As you can see the body is in working primer. Here is what I did on the rear end. Where the body meets the fenders.

Before


After


I know the body work needs to be done but you get the idea.

I needed to get the headlight thing worked out. Figured since it was a street legal car they would be nice to have. Here are 2 ideas I decided not to use.






The final way I went was like option 2 but with a smaller headlight. To start the interior I built a back firewall. Here is the rough fit.



Then got a 32 dashboard cut down and fitted.



Door panels from the Revell 32 Ford 3 window fit great. Had to heat and flatten them a little in the back. Had to shorten them by about 5'16 but the door cracks line up perfect.



Got the body work finished and the body,fenders,hood and nose sanded and into white primer to be painted.



The decided that a car like this should have a rollbar. I was going to put a full cage in it but there just wasn't room. Here's the rollbar and junk yard seats.



Finished roolbar



Then as a tease here is the nose in final color.



Then just before I took the body and fenders into the paint booth. I decided this car needs a recessed license plate. So I added one. Oh well a little more body work to do.



So that's it for now. I will update again in a couple days. Any comments and questions are welcome. Thanks for looking in.

If you want to see more detailed pictures on how this is going look at my off site gallery.

public.fotki.com/zbuckster/model_car_build_up/topolino/

[z24dude]

coming along nicely, can't wait to see it finished.

[zbuckster]

Thanks guys for all the comments and questions. This is a head turner no doubt. So the good news the engine is almost done, just needs fan belt and radiator hoses, starter w/battery cable and headers. Also I got the fenders,hood and body into color. Then when I was clearing the body I dropped it. I let the clear dry and tried to sand it out and re clear but no way small person. It is now in the CSC. Some of the pictures I show this time will show the body in color but that is before I cleared it and dropped it.I have also decided to add all the plumbing for as full brake system, battery cables and fuel lines to the chassis. There will be two fuel lines a supply and return.

So where to start. As I said at the start, I wanted to build a street rod that was modern with it's technology but a classic "I am a Hot Rod body". So I started withe the engine. For the injector tubes I used wiring ferells. Then I built an injection system using craft beads and craft wire. The fuel system is like a direct port digital fuel injection. I made the injectors from Red seed beads. I have no idea what size they are I just went with the look. Then I made fuel rails from blue anodized craft wire. 20 guage. The fuel lines for supply and return are craft wire. It is called braided tiger tail. It comes in different sizes these are .018". The fittings are wire crimps and seed beads.

So this is what all that looks like.



I have decided to leave the valve covers Black. I was going to Alcad them but the black looked so good with the body color I stopped right there. LOL

Then I added the distributor and spark plug wires.



I couldn't find a coil that looked right so I scratched one from spruce.



So when the dust had settled and all was done it looked like this.



I test fitted it into the chassis and found the 2 fuel lines to be stiffer than I wanted and in the way. Always pushing the engine away from the firewall. So I used the next size up wire crimp and made a bracket to run them through. Problem solved plus it points the fuel lines out of the engine bay at just the right spot.

This picture shows the engine mock up, hood fit, etc.





So That's where I am at the body is in the CSC. Everything else has been cleared. And I am looking a big pile of stuff that looks like this.



That is a test body that is painted and cleared. The rest is craft paint and flocking. Iam trying to pick my colors for the interior and on the outside the running boards and the soft top center section.

I will be back in a couple days with another update. All questions and comments are welcome.

[z24dude]

What is the color you are using on this project? Looks good on it.

[zbuckster]

The paint is Dulpi-Color. Orange Mist Metallic. The part number on the can is 8800503. I hope this helps. Thanks for asking.

[goodguy56]

Buck,
You have this on it's way to being a HEAD TURNER for sure. Glad you went with the NO headlight bar option as it makes the front end appear lower & much cleaner.

Keep at it & Keep us posted!!!


8-)Rick

[whtchevy]

This baby ROCKS BIG TIME !!!!!

[zbuckster]

I was looking around on line and found a picture of a stock Fiat Topolino. They were built from 1936 to 1955.



And now they plan on bringing it back in 2010. Here is what the new Topolino will look like.



Just thought you might be interested. You don't see many stock ones at all. The article said only 540,000 were built from 36 to 55.

Chris the two Topolinos that got me started on this build are these 2. The red one was at the Goodguys last year. It is powered by a small block Chevy. TunePort Injection, 4L60E trans. Very Sweet. I talked with the guy. He said since he built the car he and his wife are a lot closer when they go on a rod run. He said it is so tight that she won't make a long trip with him anymore. Once was enough.This car is a 1936.



This one showed up at the Unfinished nationals last year. This car is a 1939. It is powered by a 4.3 Chevy V6. The guy spent 4 years making it look like a 1941 Willys. Dude it is wild. You would have to see the car up close to understand.





I looked at building the Willys. Iam not saying no. I am saying my skills will have to improve a lot to make it happen.

I want to thank everyone for following along. The comments, questions and input are always welcome. This site has a lot of real car guys that know what it takes to build a real car. What works and what doesn't. So Iam always listening to what you have to say.

Man time does fly. I can't believe it's been almost a week since my last update. Alot has happened since the last one. The body got stripped and repainted and cleared with no problems. While the body was in the CSC I got the interior colors worked out. The door panels and seats are painted. The engine is completely done. The fitting of the radiator hoses was a real trail and fit deal. I finally got them to fit just right. The front suspension is all done. I used springs from a transmission shift kit and aluminum tubing to build the front suspension. Will do the same in the rear. So here are the pictures of were we are at.

Here is a couple shots of the interior as it is now.





here it is with the body off. I don't know why the door straps look green. They are really brown. Done with a brown gel pen.



Here is the full body mock up.



Front suspension out of car.



and in the car.



Been working on the rear suspension and have it to this point.




So that's it for now. If you want to see more there are almost 500 pictures here.

public.fotki.com/zbuckster/model_car_build_up/topolino/

What is left, Well The rear suspension has to be finished and the ride height set. Then some type of exhaust will be added. So far I have found no headers that will work. I do have 3 sets of manifolds that don't look all that bad and may be doable. brake lines need to be added to master cylinder and then run on the frame. So that let's you know what I will be up to.

All comments and questions are welcome. See you next time and Thanks for looking in.

[Nacho Z]

This is looking great Buck. Thanks for keeping us updated.

[roadhawg]

Ok, I have to be honest here....in the beginning, I was thinkin' "nahhh....this won't look right with fenders"......but I must say, you have made a believer out of me! This thing is fantastic! Can't wait to see more!

[whtchevy]

;DEverytime I open this page I am blown away at how it changes everytime for the good ...Keep up the great work I will be watching till the end.

[snapper]

I have really enjoyed looking at all your wip pics and reading about your process - great problem solving. I like the stacks on this thing.

[Eddie]

WOW!!
Thats amazing!
I can't wait to see the finished product.

[zbuckster]

Thanks for the comments. I thought I would update this build. I was fitting it together to locate the engine for the last time and dropped the nose. That isn't so bad but when it landed it chipped the Dulpi-color lacquer that I had on it. Thought I could feather sand it out and fix it but NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway the nose is in the csc and my grand daughter and I are doing a prepaint 1958 Impala. That will keep me going until the nose is ready to paint again.

Here is a shot of the final front suspension. I did alter the wheels to tuck more of the tire under the fender, but more on that later.



With that done it was time to get the rear suspension set into place once and for all. The aluminum pegs are there for alignment. They will more than likely not be there when it is finished.





The rear shocks are not final. The large tube will be glued up when it is done.




With that out of the way time to add brake lines. Here is the rear end with all the line added. The small wire crimp is drilled to .016 to add the flex hose between the body and rear end.



Front brake lines all done.





This shows the front flex hoses for the brakes. Also the steering rack.





Rear brake lines run. Another crimp bead for a fitting. Not sure about the sizes on these crimp beads. I think they are number 1's. This is the smallest one I have found. They can be drilled. I find a seed bead can't be drilled.



Got the drive line made. Drive line ends from the Vickie Phantom kit and the tube is 3/32 Aluminum tube.



Here is a picture of the mock up to make sure everything will fit.



That's it for now. I'll be back in a couple days to update again. All comments and questions are welcome. Thanks for looking in.

[Gary Kulchock]

I've been watching this build for a while now, and all I can say is WOW! ;D

Beautiful work.

[zbuckster]

Thanks Gary that means a lot.

Thanks to everyone for the comments. They always make it more fun.

It doesn't look like a lot has happened since my last update but really y quite a bit has been going on. The chassis is completely done. If the wheels weren't glued in place it would be a roller. I guess it is a slider now. I made the exhaust system out of .093 solder. That scales out to about 2 1/4 inches. I tried .125 solder but it was to big. It didn't look right on the car. The battery cables are run and the fuel lines are done. So here is what all that looks like.



The exhaust tips are wire ferrules the same size as the injector tubes. I wanted to breakup the back end a little. It was very wide and blank.



This photo shows the final location of the headlights. I painted the buckets body color and left the trim ring chrome.





Yes the nose is back in primer. I dropped it. When it hit the floor the Dulpi-color lacquer chipped big time. I thought I could feather edge sand it and repaint it, but no. It was a different color. In to the CSC it went. It's back to body color now.

So with the chassis as a slider and on it's wheels and tires it looks like this.







So time to start on the top parts. First is the carpeting. The color is Golden Brown Flock. When you put it on it looks like this.



Everything all cleaned up and the roll bar put into place.



Started working on the seats and the 5 point harnesses for them. I went with the blue like Simpson belts. If keeps the blue theme from the plug wires and injector tubes going.



And that's where it ends for now. I will be gone out of town until Monday afternoon so I wanted to update before leaving town.

Thanks for looking in. All comments and questions are welcome

[zbuckster]

Hey everybody. I am still here. Just have been busy and haven't posted lately. The Topolino is finished and I will write the NMA when I am done here. I wanted to answer the questions and show how I finished it.

Thanks to everyone that followed along. John the interior is really easy to see. I will show you a couple pics.

When I last posted it was at the point on doing the seat belts. So here is how the Pro-Tech 5 points look when done. I decided on the blue to keep the blue trim theme going.





This picture shows the door panel, glass, dash, steering column and pedals in place.



Here is a through the top look.



And the last one.



OK guys that's it for this one. You can see the finished deal at the NMA. Thanks for looking in and a special thanks to those that followed along and took the time to comment. I know how easy it is to be a lurker, I do it myself.

As far as what will be next. I am not sure I have three projects that I want to move onto. See you there.

Almost forgot. If anyone wants to see a more detailed buildup follow this link. There are over 600 pictures there on this one.

public.fotki.com/zbuckster/model_car_build_up/topolino/

[zbuckster]

I don't see a separate forum board for finished builds so I will stick this here.

Thanks to those that followed along. I had a great time. This is a good board to build at.

This was a long build. It was one of those that started as a idea and then went out of control. It started when I got the new release of the AMT Double Dragster kit. I grew up watching Fiat Topolino's charge down the drag strip. So I didn't want to build an altered class Topolino like everyone seems to do. I had seen a full fendered stock bodied Topolino at The Good Guys last year. It had a small block, 700r4 etc. This got me to thinking about building a big motored street able car. Something like you would see at a Rod Run Anywhere, USA. So I started messing with fender sets. After trying six or so sets I found the Revell 32 Ford 3 Window coupe fenders would work and not look half bad. Plus the 32 would donor a frame and suspension also. Then I added the Ross Gibson Hilborn Injected Hemi. The late model with the distributor up front. The early style (dist. in back) doesn't have a water pump, alternator the things you need. I thought I had enough to get'er done. But discovered the AMT Phantom Vickie kit. This kit had a new style 2x4 tube frame, Mustang II style front suspension, rack and pinion steering and 4 wheel disc brakes. Plus it has a newer style wheel. A knock off of the old Halibrand Slat Flat Wheel. 17's up front and 20's in the rear. The Revell fenders fit the chassis like it was made for it. The floor board from the AMT kit worked with minor trimming. Now we are talking. Everything I wanted and more. I wanted the injection system to work like units I have seen at car shows. They look like the old stuff but really are a digital fuel injection system. Each tube has an electrical injector in it. So I scratched the injector's from "Seed Beads" and craft wire. Also used craft wire to add the whole brake system from master cylinder to brake calipers. Then added battery cables. The springs for the suspension were made from springs out of an Automatic transmission shift kit. The shocks are scratched from aluminum tubing. The interior door panels are from the Revell 32 3 window Ford kit. The seats are junk yard. I have no idea what kit they came from. The 5 points are Pro-Tech. The color is Nissian Orange Metallic by Dulpi-color. The interior is craft paint Light chocolate and Dark Ivory. All that and 2 months work and it is a done deal. I hope you enjoy the look see as much as I enjoyed the build.













You can find mode finished model photos here.

public.fotki.com/zbuckster/model_car_gallery/hemilno-fiat-topolino/

Model build up photos can be found here.

public.fotki.com/zbuckster/model_car_build_up/topolino/

[68chevy]

You did an out standing job. The car looks great I love the color glad to here that you enjoyed building it. That the fun of it.

[zbuckster]

Thanks Chip.