LamboClone - The Premier Site for Lamborghini Replica Builders
Build Diaries => Diablo => Topic started by: Thumper on March 21, 2014, 12:27:05 AM
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Here are some random pics of my 6.0 from start to its current state. Major milestones in these pics are getting the wire harnesses all working and ready for gauges and all of the other goodies, first time I fired up the 4.3 Chevy I built, wheels and suspension, and some other things. Went through tons of pictures but these are the ones that stood out so far. More to come on my door builds in a week or so. Woohoo for progress!
Started out with an 86 Fiero that was T-Boned from the junk yard. Never cut a car completely in half, so that was a first for me. Trial fit of the body and my motor.
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Some more...
New seats, Held motorsports Suspension (those guys are awesome!), refurbished/modified, rear struts to a coil over setup, front hood opens opposite (there's no air tank in there any more), and some general pics.
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I'll try to get some real good ones this weekend. Motor needs to be started and ran for a little bit. I'm almost done with the main door frame, hinge, latch and catch, and gas shock for the inner door. Once I get it working correctly, i'll put up some more on how I did it with the 57 Chevy hinges.
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All right, Thumper. ::thumbup Nice pics. It's like deja vu all over again. ::bounce ::LAMBO
Jim
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Thumper...
Very nice. Just a comment. You have a pre 2001 style rear end. If you are indeed building a 6.0 then try to get a 60 rear bumper. Also with all the heald components you spent a pretty penny so do your REPLICA a favor and get the correct lights all around (rear lights, marker lights ect) They are really not that expansive. If you go with truck lights.... they scream FAKE or REPLICA or KIT CAR..... Let me know if you need help pricing it. I might have a set remaining as well both for the 60 setup and the VT setup, they are less then $60 or so each (will have to confirm price)........ JUST MY HUMBLE OPENION
By they way... where did you buy the rear struts and coil over. I am looking for the same setup for my Roadster (I have a 1986 Fiero base replica with a 88 Fiero engine cradle and v8 engine swap going on right now. I am thinking I might as well update the struts and go with the coil over setup) Please let me know.
Thanks
CCIE
Yusha_2000@yahoo.com
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I have the same 6.0 body as you thumper and here are some shots of the rear of the car. I cut off the molded in rear and glassed in a IFG rear end and added the 6.0 bumper. I made molds of the rear and also of the bumper since i have another body with the same molded bumper. This is a great upgrade and will make the car much more valuable and original.
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Ccie here is a rear coil over set
eBay 141173615873
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Thank You Tusabes......
Just bought them...... I hope they will work with my application. I am using a 1988 engine cradle with my 1986 Fiero based Diablo Roadster.... Its in the shop now for a v8 engine swap,CCIE
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i got the coilover conversion from ebay. those are the original struts, just modified a little bit. that other rear looks real good! the one piece mold is a lot easier, but it sure is a dead giveaway. maybe one of these days but for now im just looking to get this thing done. not looking to make an exact replica or nothin but just a fun car.
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If you're going to run the oem front radiator, you will be ok except for the details. If you are running rear rads, you might have a real problem as you will be dumping hot air into the rear bumper and not up and out on top of the rear bumper if you see my line of thought.
Jim
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im running dual radiators in the rear. i made a small fiberglass shroud that directs airflow throw the radiator and all of the hot ait goes through the hole above the bumper. pretty efficient but not an exact look.
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What is everyone using for the inner fenderwells? Just brainstorming here, but I thought about cutting up some black 32 gallon industrial Rubbermaid trash cans. They're not very thick, just about the same shape and would be pretty tough against rocks, etc... Thoughts/ideas?
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The rubbermaid cans have been used many times before
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I got a roll of this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Speedway-25-ft-Roll-Airdam-Body-Extension-Plastic-Black-1-8-Thick-/380876635101?pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item58ae043bdd&vxp=mtr (http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Speedway-25-ft-Roll-Airdam-Body-Extension-Plastic-Black-1-8-Thick-/380876635101?pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item58ae043bdd&vxp=mtr) at my local speed shop. With a heat gun I was able to mold/bend it to fit as needed for my fender wells. It worked great!
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Ahhh thanks! I have access to 4 of the black Rubbermaid cans so I'll go that route. Looks like was on the right track. :)
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looks good man!
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Looking good.
Is that a V8 Archie adapter kit? If so, PLEASE make and install a fore/aft motor mount at the top of the engine. If you don't it will rip out the transmission mounts and break the front motor mount bolts.
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My adapter is from http://www.streetdreamsbyross.com/ (http://www.streetdreamsbyross.com/) and it bolted up perfectly. I am using both lower motor mounts and I was already thinking of using a strut on top like the 4 cyl Fiero's did just for some added security.
Oh and I've got power door lock actuators, 250 pound struts, and window motor assembly on the way. Should be here any day now so I will be able to get some more pics up as progress is made.
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So yea! My door shocks came in today. I'm a little worried though. I purchased the 250 pound shocks from McMaster and think these might be overkill. I might have to add some weight to the door to balance them out as I'm using Marguard instead of glass. Once I get my window tracks, motors, speakers, latches and gizmo's in there, I'm sure they'll work fine. That's now this weeks project and when I get the inner door frame assembly working correctly, I'll post up some pics.
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So for everyone's amusement....
Just as I thought, I welded the door shock mounts up and figured out the location of the shocks. My 250 pound shocks were so tough though, I could almost hang off the door! Haha Don't remember where I read to use 250 pound shocks, but at least they weren't too expensive. At least I can mock it up and I know my setup is going to work. So just put 2 more 150 pound shocks on order.
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I use 250 pound springs on my front shocks.... ::K
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You should have purchased the "reducable gas springs". That way you could adjust the gas to handle the weight of your doors. They're called gas springs or gas struts and not shocks.
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Here's a couple of pics from today's progress. The 150 pound gas springs work really well and once I get the latches on, the window regulator and channels in, and the frame bonded to the inner door, it'll be pretty strong. Still have a little bit of beefing up of the frame and welding to do, but for the most part I made good progress today. Can't wait till tomorrow!
edit: also got the window regulators in. They're actualy from a caddy deville. Shortened a little. :)
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looking good Thumper, I agree with 01Lambiero, you should really think about modifying the rear bumper, especially if you are going to run rear rads, those openings you have are just not enough for air flow to escape, your car is going to run hot please believe, this is a prime time for you to do the change now then later down the line after paint and body, just a thought...
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So, it's been a while since I've been able to work on my Lambo. But all last week before work and this weekend I finally have the doors working. They are quite wobbly but I need new hinge pins and once I get some more metal and the outer door frame bonded on, they'll be pretty solid. Next step is the door locks (easy), then the inner door panel is going to go on first to make sure I can access everything inside before I bond the outer door panel on. Pretty happy but can't wait until they're solid and don't wobble. Progress!! Woohoo!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkr_tTnRu_Y&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkr_tTnRu_Y&feature=youtu.be)
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Thumper, I saw your video... I agree, very cool!! 01Lambiero, who sells adjustable gas springs for doors? Do you have a preferred Manufacturer? I found this site, http://www.lstechnologies.ca/ (http://www.lstechnologies.ca/) but what I'm looking for is a model #.
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99% we use this
http://www.mcmaster.com/#shocks/=ucpeie (http://www.mcmaster.com/#shocks/=ucpeie) #6465K7
shipping in USA only , no Canada
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McMaster is where I got mine and they ship FAST! Very happy with them and they carry pretty much everything.
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lookin good man, once those doors are done its smooth sailing ;)
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Hey Thumper, the video is real cool and all but just some food for thought, Please make sure and install manual door releases for exterior and interior, If the battery goes dead on the remote or the car, you could be screwed.
Also why is your window regulator and motor positioned more to the rear of the door? Have you tried it with the door glass already? It looks like it will be unbalanced when the window goes up and down…
Also are you going to add any more reinforcement to the door? For reliability and side collision reasons, (God forbid)
Also when you start adding on everything else to the doors i.e. Glass, Both interior/exterior panels, arm rest, upholstery, speakers, side view mirrors, etc… these items will add on weight so just don’t be too surprised if the doors don’t pop up perky like they do now.
Feel free to rummage through my build pics of my doors, there are some videos there too...
Just trying to help bro.
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Sure hope the smooth sailing part is true! haha
I will have a way to get in and out manually in case of a pwr failure via a small hidden manual release on the outside and on the inside a standard style door release. That wouldn't be too cool to be stuck in or out side haha.
The window regulator is actually from an Caddy D'Ville and I had to modify it by shortening it a lot. The only place I could manage to put it was toward the rear of the door and have it work correctly. I would have preferred the center of the door but the windows go up and down in the tracks pretty well. The big issue I had was the piece that moves up and down is larger than I thought when I bought 'em. With it in this position I get the most travel out the window.
Going to put a little more metal in the door to stiffen it up so it isn't wobbly and it'll make it a little more safe as well. Yea, they won't pop up so quickly which is a good thing. They're still a little tough to pull down when sitting in the car, but I think once I get them all built up, the extra weight weight will "feel" right. If not, I'll adjust the gas springs accordingly.
Thanks for the input! I have been pretty much through this entire site and it and its members and pics have helped me out tremendously! I only hope my few pics on here can help someone out in the future. I'll definitely post up some more door pics just before I bond the outer side on so others can see how I did mine.
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So it's been a long time coming with retirement, an Appalachian Trail thru hike attempt, and a little bit of "this is too hard to figure out right now so I'll work on it tomorrow". But lately I've been working on my doors, trying to get this car finally finished. First of all, I got the engine running about as good as it's going to get and took it for it's first test drive the other day! ::thumbup Let's just say the little Chevy 4.3 has way more torque than I thought and left a few (6) tire marks in the neighborhood. Oops. But I've been working pretty much non stop for the last few days on these doors. They are going to be fully automatic with door solenoids and of course the crazy looking universal choke cable is for a manual release from inside. It'll be hidden of course but easily accessible. If you've been following along, I did get new hinge pins and bushings for the 57 Chevy hinges I'm using. They worked for about a day, then the slop came back. So I'm taking them to the machine shop and getting them beefed up and they'll finally be solid with no wobble. Today is all about getting the lower window tracks installed, then outer panels bonded on, and the window test fit/installed. I'm still using RM10 plexi but once it's all together I can eventually get glass cut by using it as a template. More to come and possibly a video at the end of the week. ::beers
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::salute looking good bro! where u from? I'm in Ohio
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Originally from Pee-Yay but right now I'm unfortunately stuck in the Georgia heat. Will be moving back next year though.
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A little time has passed due to unforeseen circumstances, but once again back on the project. Here's the latest in the door building process. Taking the '57 Chevy hinges off and going to beef them up with a new (larger) pin to eliminate the door wobble. Added more fiberglass resin to the front of the door and that strengthened it up significantly. Bonded the outer door shell on. After the hinge is sturdy, adding metal and the upper door, window tracks, and glass. Almost there! Added a manual release to both doors and re-did the poppers for easier replacement in case they fail.
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Looking good ::rocker id love to see more of her
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Here's another from today's progress. Got the passenger door ground down and ready to bond the outer shell on. That'll be tomorrow hopefully. Don't worry, that turn signal is coming off and the correct one going on. Haha
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Here's yesterday's progress. Used a little cardboard as a template, some fiberglass, construction paper, and epoxy to seal it all up. Now to cut out the glass and the front marker lights are good to go. These are originally from a Chevy Corsica and the stock Fiero bulb socket plugs right in.
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Got your windshield cut yet? If my measurements are correct, a windshield for a 99-03 Grand Am or Alero will require only two cuts (one on each side). The 94 Honda Accord requires 3 cuts, an additional one across the top. I'll let you know in a week or two.
Jim
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For now I'm using RM10 but eventually will go to glass. I'm getting conflicting info if RM10 is actually legal or not for a windshield. Please let me know though, that'll be a great help and eliminate any DMV confusion.
So today's progress is the other marker light/turn signal. Got 'em both done and installed. Just needs glass and I should have that done hopefully tomorrow after work.
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Marker light/turn signal glass cut and installed. Starting to look mean. ;)
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Been a LONG time! Quick update, I was actually able to complete one of my dreams!!! I recently hiked the ENTIRE Appalachian Trail (all 2190 miles/14 states (from Georgia to Maine)). I heard about it ~25+ years ago and as the years went by, I thought this could be a reality. And so it was! Anyway, if you like, search youtube for "Chris: Trail name Thumper" and you can see my vids I took along the way. I'm still trying to get a final video with some pics finalized to upload. It took me 132 days, lost 46 pounds!!!, and was the most challenging thing I've ever endured! Except this darned Diablo project!!!
BUT.... I'm back on track and todays progress went rather well. The front trunk is complete except for the weather seal and the windshield wiper control arm (both on order). Next up is the trunk (engine bay), then interior. Engine bay is almost complete. Just needs the holes filled in, latch and catch, some fiberglass work on the lid, and lid bumpers installed. Still thinking a wing would look nice, but that's for later. Then onto the interior. More to come...
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Amazing bro! Absolutely amazing. I'm referring to ur hike! But glad to see the Diablo again!
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Thumper...
A great big congrats to you for the trail hike! I hope you could afford the weight loss and it didn't take too much out of you. That is an amazing accomplishment! Any word on how many people have actually done that?
I like the Diablo too. That front trunk looks good. When people say to me that trunk looks small, I tell them, "Its big enough to hold one set of golf clubs but you have to bend them just right."
All the best on your build.
RT
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Don't they still make "Trail bikes"? Front trunk: Golf Clubs remain at the Country Club. Fill trunk space with Twinkies!
01
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Some pics of the dash build. The 2 small gauges will be replaced with ones like the speedo and tach. They'll be a water temp and fuel gauge. I used carbon fiber wrap and a heat gun and for my 1st ever attempt at working with vinyl but I it turned out pretty good. Except the far right corner, so I'm going to have to do something with that. Now to make a fiberglass shroud for the stereo and heater controls and attempt to cover that too.