So it Starts. My Countach Diary...

[Fast Eddy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fast Eddy]

I Built a Prova countach back in 88-91, and around this time AFI poped up on the market. There were many spin off companies splashing molds of the Prova, due to its accuracy (word was Prova Designs had molded an original car). It's my belief that AFI Splashed a Prova, but put an upward angle to the entire front clip. I believe this was done to avoid damaging the front spoiler on curbs and inclines. They had a great product, but changed the look by doing this, and eliminating the wheel arch join lines. Keeping close to the original design parameters such as length, height and wheel base when replicating will render better results in over all appearance! I realize some donors may vary a bit though. (Just my thoughts)! Gumby, Gad to see you making it correct! Cheers

[gumby69 Member Find all posts View Profile Close gumby69]

Fast Eddy, that's interesting info. All the dimensions were bang on, but the style was off. My guess was ground clearance too, but no offense to those guys.. (they obviously worked really hard on these..) it's fugly with the upturned nose.

I checked the dimensions on my engine cover relative to Lambolex and I was at 100 and 175. At least it's consistently off by an inch.

I know there is that one off Rod Stewart targa top Countach with the smooth flares, but I never liked that look.



I also found out there were two versions of the front wheel arch. (I poached these images from another thing I found online, so my apologies if that is not proper etiquette).



I like the subtle one much better, I think I will go for that look.

Thanks again for the input.

Gumby

[Fast Eddy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fast Eddy]

Nice pics. I didn't know about Rod's car. I hope I didn't offend anyone by my soap box stand in my previous post. I'm just passionate about that I suppose! I thought I would post a pic of my Prova from back in the day. My friend now owns it.

[LamboIllinois Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LamboIllinois]

The flares on the blue car are from a later model year like 1983 to 1988. The red flare is seen on a 1981.

[Fast Eddy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fast Eddy]

Perhaps they enlarged the fare to avoid the odd debris thrown from the front tire and hitting the rear flare causing rock chips. I know from experience! Notice my mud flap add-ons in the pics above! (sorry for the poor quality, these are pictures of old photos).

[LamboIllinois Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LamboIllinois]

The red plexiglass has M5 thread tapped holes that don't go all the way thru. Use M5 studs (headless bolt) to attach red plexiglass thru the aluminum plate into the body, fix with washer/nut. Tail-lights clamp onto aluminum plate. The embossed square plates seem to be more common. Tilted pattern is better. Gaps in body are sealed with dull black urethane adhesive.

[gumby69 Member Find all posts View Profile Close gumby69]

Provas are awesome. The only two issues I ever saw with those were the rake of the roof and the thickness of the edge next to the windshield. (too fat on the prova) those are little picky though. It's fine how it is.

One thing I loved about this car (the AFI) is that the frame is round tubing. It just looks so much better than square 90 degree corner stuff.

Here is the image detailing the changes I am going to make on the rear of the car. (Good on the left, and current on the right)

Since I am kind of broke right now I can get all the planning out of the way and feel ready when I pull the trigger...


picture upload

I also put the correct taillamps in on the image.

Peace,

Gumby

[Lambolex Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lambolex]

Countach roof mods

hi Gumby, I fixed the roof on mine as its a Prova copy, I cut the A pillar at the bottom, and then the area where the roof joins behind the door, above the quarter window and through the gutter behind the roof then lifted the roof up about 50mm at the front, you just gotta make sure the windscreen glass still fits lol, that change makes it look much better, and its then 1070mm high as its supposed to be , I just need to mod the tops of the doors and its done the roof mod only about an hour to sort it. Also as my windscreen was wider than what the local builder used I was able to remove the 20mm strips of fiber glass done each side of the windscreen

Does anyone know why the Prova or copies of them, need to have a section ground out of the front door where it travels past the windscreen, I have seen it on several and wonder if its something to do with the horizontal position of the hinge, on my body the door jam angles in towards the centre of the car with about a 10mm slope, although in the build manual it suggests packing that with fibre glass filler until level, I suspect this slope is the cause, any thoughts anyone, Fast Eddy did yours have this problem.

[gumby69 Member Find all posts View Profile Close gumby69]

I did a quick hinge position study on the 3d scan I made, and I can see why they return the door straight once you get near to the hinge corner.



the straight cut dives under the fender and the rest rises above, So it seems to be a delicate balance between hinge position and that flat. Get it off a little bit and you have those crash problems.



If you don't, it crashes... (hence my guess as to that odd cutout). the hinges on my car are one of the oddest things. They are mounted on a big U shaped arm and swing way past the fender. It's one of my "Must fix" issues.

[gumby69 Member Find all posts View Profile Close gumby69]

I think they wanted the body to be removable easily for working on the engine, so they mounted the whole door hinge assembly to the door frame. (very flimsy, lots of wobble) so I can't reference my car on that fix. The one good thing it did, was remove the need for that return, which you don't see on my car.



That's all I have for now...

Peace,
Gumby

[Fast Eddy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fast Eddy]

Provas are awesome. The only two issues I ever saw with those were the rake of the roof and the thickness of the edge next to the windshield. (too fat on the prova) those are little picky though. It's fine how it is.

The A pillar posts are indeed fatter on the Prova (3/4" as I remember). When installing my original windshield I cut them down and let the glass overlap it so that the windshield was next to the door like OEM. See pic 1 above.

[gumby69 Member Find all posts View Profile Close gumby69]

The red plexiglass has M5 thread tapped holes that don't go all the way thru. Use M5 studs (headless bolt) to attach red plexiglass thru the aluminum plate into the body, fix with washer/nut. Tail-lights clamp onto aluminum plate. The embossed square plates seem to be more common. Tilted pattern is better. Gaps in body are sealed with dull black urethane adhesive.

Thanks for that. That's exactly what I was trying to figure out.

[gumby69 Member Find all posts View Profile Close gumby69]

Well, there has been lots of acquisition going on... The real problem with these cars is finding all the appropriate parts. At least the journey is fun. Especially when you realize how many Fiat and Alfa parts you can use for a fraction of the cost. I have begun to make a new body for my car. I have a background in Fiberglass and it was always a sin to use chopper gun and poly in my world. That is what I seem to find exclusively in the kit car community. (I'm sure it's just a cost thing). So I have been making all the new parts out of high-temp epoxy layups with high quality cross woven cloth. It's been going pretty well and the insides of the parts look amazing. Bummer it will never be seen.



I have more to post, but I had a few minutes and I thought I would post something. It may re-energize the project for me.

Thanks,
Gumby

[Don Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Don]

Looks good Gumby;

How much of the body are you going to rebuild? Most of it or just some of the parts that were bothering you?

Cheers
Don

[gumby69 Member Find all posts View Profile Close gumby69]

Don,

The more I get into it, I feel like complete new is the way to go. We'll see if I am out of my mind as I get into the project more.

Gumby