volvo p1800 into ferrari 275gtb spyder: v12, 5spd, tube chassis

[TDW]

Wow! Lookin' good!

Seconded! Fantastic build....and documentation....thank you.

Sooooo many skilled, talented builders out there....I feel very fortunate to have access to this site that lets their art be shown.

Keep up the great job....and the updates!

[Bloozberry]

Wow! Lookin' good!

[275NART]

[275NART]

[275NART]

[275NART]

[275NART]

I have been working on the car here and there, removing undercoating, seam sealer, patching holes, seam welding etc. I'm hoping to get all the bare metal prepped and shot with epoxy primer soon. Recently I completed the ford 8.8/coilover conversion and here are some photos of that.

[Bloozberry]

This is obviously a long overdue update.

(Understatement of the year.)

Glad to see you're back at it! I for one am looking forward to more (timely) updates!

[275NART]

This is obviously a long overdue update. I was presented an opportunity to have nose and tail portions of the car 3d printed... yes, 3d printing part of the body buck! I bet this is the first time you will read that. While 3d printing full scale may not be an economic solution for building a whole car, there are a lot of opportunities to print detailed parts or molds (very quickly). I didn't even consider this earlier on in the build, because I just didn't know printing in this scale was possible. The massivit printer prints something like 1foot per hour for something of this size- it's nuts, and puts my rinky dink desktop 3d printer to shame.

While I could use these printed parts to build sheet metal panels directly from, I will be bodyworking and painting these printed pieces and pulling splash molds from them and will build the sheet metal from a fiberglass part instead.

After slicing to my liking, preparation of the model and printing was done by the sign connection in Gastonia, NC on their Massivit 3d printer and anyone who's serious about printing larger parts should definitely be talking with them.

[275NART]

nice work so far. How close will that body fit to your chassis? does the 3d model have to change in some areas for it to fit? If you need help designing the rib form in cad i can help you with that or i can even machine you negative molds for your body for rapid prototyping.

I have seen some of your work here on the forum and it's fantastic. I am planning to do the body in aluminum so I can build the large portion of the body buck, but I will likely be contacting you to cut the nose and tail sections as it will be easier to capture the detail, plus, a fiberglass nose and tail will be nice wall art for my shop after the body is complete.

[ncrazyballa]

nice work so far. How close will that body fit to your chassis? does the 3d model have to change in some areas for it to fit? If you need help designing the rib form in cad i can help you with that or i can even machine you negative molds for your body for rapid prototyping.

[275NART]

I'm hoping the wire buck will turn out something like this:

[275NART]

A little update here, A lot has been going on for me but I have some progress to report. Doors have been cut down and roughly mocked up. I will need to build back the jams and door frames.















A friend scanned a scale model I have and is working on scaling and figuring out how to slice into 2d sections so I can build the buck from it. I have a few ideas how to translate the sections to wire, either using a projector, plotting it on paper, or CNC in cardboard or plywood. This part doesn't have to be pretty as long as it's accurate. The nose and tail sections will likely be CNC'd in foam to capture all the detail.

[275NART]

I took the car to a friend's shop who does roll cages and traded him some welding work for this. We bent and tacked some 1 5/8" down bars to connect the A pillars to the frame rails. It's surprising how much this changes the look of the car at it's current state. Even though these bars will not likely be seen once the body is on I'm pleased with the design, clearance, and finished look. It also gives me something to build the radiator and bumper support from- I'm thinking I may make that removable so the engine is easier to remove and install later. I will be finishing the welds on the down bars soon and will seal up and epoxy prime the front end, firewall and floors. There's a little surface rust starting to develop, especially after transporting the car in this humidity, and I want to nip that in the bud before it gets out of control.

[275NART]

I like how you weld. Do you use a MIG welder? I want to learn how to weld like that. The past I weld it all come out chicken pox.

Thank you for the compliment! This is a TIG weld on the axle but I also mig weld. I am still a beginner but I learned quickly by spending a few days with a friend of mine who does it for a living. If you can take classes at community college or a weekend workshop I recommend doing that. There is a big learning curve for the technique and gaining coordination but the most important things for TIG welding are cleanliness, visibility, a proper fixture to hold parts, and being comfortable. The weld settings and torch setup can be figured out pretty easily. Generally I use an oversize #14 cup and gas lens when welding steel so I can have the electrode stick out 1" or more. With aluminum a #6 or #8 cup and gas lens. It "wastes" some gas but is worth it to get nice welds.