U.S. Build P1800. LS1 (V8) 5-Speed, Flush Mount Glass Kit

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Originally Posted by Oilline

Whose upper arms did you go for and are they standard length? Did you have to cut out the inner fender aperture to clear the crossmember / upper arm?
Still waiting for my crossmember kit to arrive from Paul.
Cheers, Mark

Mark... I have gone out of my way not to cut the inner fender structure at all, so the aperture is totally intact.. They are a standard length, but they are adjustable ofcourse. I will post some better pictures once I get things measured out and tacked together well enough to set the car back on the ground.

I dont want to give any misleading information at this time, so I am going to hold off on some of the specifics. I have a friend that builds some race car suspensions and he has a computer program that we can put the length and hieght specifics in, then get the control arm traveling arc's and changes in caster and camber during articulation. I literally just got the arms in place last night, but still have to put the other side together.. I also am going to try to make sure what size and offset wheels it will accept right now, becuase I have a particular style wheel I am wanting to use.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

I got the other wheel arch's in today, so I am going to start cutting on the front.. I am actually using the Volvo 122 Rear archse for the front, but the opposing side. They dont offer the front 122 arch's complete, they only offer the lower front and rear section. I am attaching the front a bit differently than the rear, so I can keep alot of the p1800 fenderwork. So, I have trimmed most of the excess off the repair panels, that way I only have what I absolutely need and still blend into the rest of the original P1800 arch.

The fact the car is on the routisserie is killing me, it is very hard to get the perspectives I am looking for in order to get proportions.. I have tried several things, to help me visually in this area, but none are working.. I am working with about a 6 inch ride clearance fromt th bottom of the Rocker Panels to the ground.. I am thinking 5-7 inches is what I am looking for, and should hopefully give enough clearance for exhaust. I will be running shorty headers and enlarging the factory crossmember notching for the exhaust pips, so I hopefully will not have any issues.

Again, I am not using these wheels, and they are not the correct bolt pattern, so I cannot mount them to get the car on the ground.. The offset of the front is Way off also, but they do give me a starting point.. I hope to have a tool here shortly that will pinpoint the exact size wheel and tire I can use... In the renditions, the wheels are a major part of the body and stance, I would like to keep with that theme and dont plan on running anything smaller than an 18 inch wheel.. I plan on trying to dial in 19 inch all the way around, the with lowest profile tire I can possibley get.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Time for the Masking tape update... I have worked in the top of the arch's transition to the fender.. I think it is pretty close, and it was a complete pain in the ass.. The hard body line has to transition into the arch, while the roll of the fender had to blend into the arch radius.. Lets just say it wasnt done in one piece, as I had hoped.. There will be some final jacking and tweeking to the actual fender opening when the car is on the ground with wheels installed.. Right now, it is damn near impossible to get any symmetry from this view position.

Here are the before pictures with the wheel set at ride hieght.. Please remember the offset of this wheel is not correct, and has it pushed too far out.





Here are the after pictures..

[Michael English]

I know you've moved on to arches now, but these exhausts have been troubling me! Agreed inverted they look better in these bumpers, which I like a lot. And OK the rendition uses triangular tail pipes with a plastic looking piece of body kit down there too. Just like the Honda Civic and heaps of other fine but rather routine cars. If your priority is to be very like the rendition then that's OK but jeez the triangular pipes date it. CLASSIC PIPES ARE ROUND. We had what, oval tail pipes in the 80's, square pipes in the late 90's and now we have triangular pipes ... you are about to date this makeover, don't do it, this needs to be timeless!
With a V8 I can see why you'd want pipes exiting at each side ... but the Jag E-type V12 looks pretty damn good with 4 central pipes coming up outside rather than through the rear valance. Or is it so bad to keep a flavour of the prototype 1800 with a pair of central pipes through the rear valance? OK a few others have done it already, but not many, and it does show a token of respect to the wishes of the cars original designer which I think he deserves. I am glad you are keeping a 60's dashboard, love em and am putting bits of it into my 1971 1800.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Originally Posted by Michael English

I know you've moved on to arches now, but these exhausts have been troubling me! Agreed inverted they look better in these bumpers, which I like a lot. And OK the rendition uses triangular tail pipes with a plastic looking piece of body kit down there too. Just like the Honda Civic and heaps of other fine but rather routine cars. If your priority is to be very like the rendition then that's OK but jeez the triangular pipes date it. CLASSIC PIPES ARE ROUND. We had what, oval tail pipes in the 80's, square pipes in the late 90's and now we have triangular pipes ... you are about to date this makeover, don't do it, this needs to be timeless!
With a V8 I can see why you'd want pipes exiting at each side ... but the Jag E-type V12 looks pretty damn good with 4 central pipes coming up outside rather than through the rear valance. Or is it so bad to keep a flavour of the prototype 1800 with a pair of central pipes through the rear valance? OK a few others have done it already, but not many, and it does show a token of respect to the wishes of the cars original designer which I think he deserves. I am glad you are keeping a 60's dashboard, love em and am putting bits of it into my 1971 1800.

I am really trying to keep with the theme of the rendition, and the theme is an updated P1800.. I am not deadset on the tips, and have reduced the size of them, but I am having them made to see if the may work out. I do also like the early Jag exhaust, but I am totally against the round pipe.. I know you say it dates the car, but I want the car to be Updated rather than Dated. Round pipes, would only put it in the same class as the 60's Mustangs and other Vehicle, just cant bring myself to do that...

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Well I got the other front and rear wheel arch put in place today, and it actually seems like they came out pretty even. I will have some final hammer and dollying out, but they are within a 1/16th inch, so that should work out great..

Just noticing in this post how much the Fins and rear Arch has really changed the car.. I have gotten used to the difference now, and it just seems that is the way it always was.. ha ha I guess I need to purchase an original car to keep around and maybe take to shows with me, since we dont have too many of theses at our local car shows and events..


Before







After







Front Before







Front After

[Colonel Froth]

I have to admit that the exhaust area is about the only bit of the original rendering that I'd change. So far this build's looking great, and it's going to look great with whatever exhaust shape you go for. Seriously great. The triangles do SCREAM Civic though. If you didn't look at the rendering and have the Civic exhaust jump out at you then it's not a big deal.

The functionless splitter/ground effects area bugged me too but so far you haven't done anything about that...



And that awful new Corsa too.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Originally Posted by Colonel Froth

I have to admit that the exhaust area is about the only bit of the original rendering that I'd change. So far this build's looking great, and it's going to look great with whatever exhaust shape you go for. Seriously great. The triangles do SCREAM Civic though. If you didn't look at the rendering and have the Civic exhaust jump out at you then it's not a big deal.

The functionless splitter/ground effects area bugged me too but so far you haven't done anything about that...

I am going to try and run with out rear splitter/diffuser, the rear section of the rendition is the only thing that I find proportionally wrong about the renditions.. The rear section was widened or or other features were made smaller to pull of the look... I have some exhaust tips being made, and I am going to see what they look like all alone with the bumpers.

I have some Masking Tape updates.... I have removed the bumps that were in the middle of the fin tops, they were caused by the factory fins flat run, and where I started changing it to a more slope down direction. I I have a bit more tweeking to do on the inside of the fins transition to the trunk lid plane, but that will have to be when the final hammering and dollying begins.

As you can see by the last pictures, this car is full of Curves and Arcs in all direction. Just by reducing the fins, you can really see the slope and arc of the top rear panel and trunk lid. Most of that was hidden by the excessively large fins, which ran at a flat upward plane. All curves, slopes, and arcs, has made it very difficult to blend things in and get things work proportionally. It is way more than just adding new flat cut metal section or just relocating features, everything had to be bent with bends at would make dishing affects, compound curves, ect.

Hopefully the Black Tape show the top flat edge of the fin, and also shows the arch that it is running.. It is completely in the theme of the original fins, just a bit shorter.

Before



After





Before





After

[john h]

Looking fantastic

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Ok guys.. I couldnt take it anymore... Trying to see how this car was coming out proportionally on the routisserie was killing me.. Standing on ladders or off the distance wasnt working at all, it still looked too tall. Now I can work on the Air Dam and bumpers for the front, the routisseries was getting in the way, and the mounting brackets ran right through the plane for the air dam.

I have the car at ride height, and I think the wheel arch's are going to work perfectly. Infact, I think I may need to run a 20 inch rear wheel to fill in a bit more wheel well along with adding the appearance of more meat.