scratch built Mazzer roadster

OK, I lied. I just found some more photos to post.

Clyde, cutting a sheet of .080" #6061 aluminum to make the cover panel for under the transmission and drive-shaft on a band saw.

Aluminum panels to cover the center, bottom of the car (under trans and engine) for streamlining and chassis rigidity. They're being held in place here by temporary quick release fasteners called clecos. The panels were more permanently with flat-head stainless machine screws.

Front lower A-arms in preparation for disassembly, media blasting, primer, paint, new ball joints and hardware.

Chassis in rotisserie after media blasting in preparation for primer and paint.
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Rear sub-frame before final disassembly for media blasting, primer and paint. I also rebuilt the brake calipers. The differential was gone over with a cursory inspection, new out-put shaft bearings and seals, new pinion seal and a finned aluminum rear cover with a new gasket. The half-shafts received new U-joints. The hubs received new bearings and seals. The shocks are a set of old Konis with temporary ride-height maintaining spacers. They'll be replaced soon. Most likely with a set of externally adjustable VariShocks with new springs. I'm still waiting to see how much heavier the car will get before chosing a spring rate. Right now the car weighs about 2,000 lbs assembled. The brackets on top of the sub-frame anchor the roll-bar braces. The new, longer inner fulcrum shafts for the lower control arms also anchor the bottom of the sub-frame to the chassis. The upper shock bolts also connect to the chassis.

Modified Quattroporte header after media blasting in preparation for JetHot coating.

Exhaust header primary pipe extensions after media blasting in preparation for JetHot coating.
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Did some more work on the aluminum nose yesterday. It's close to being ready for a skin coat of filler to hide minor imperfections, then primer and paint. The nose still needed some baffles inside to help stiffen it and direct hot air from the radiator out so that's one of the jobs I did. I still need to add some stiffening members in the area behind the front tires but that needs to wait until the nose can be fitted to the car again. The two baffles were made from .048" (1.2mm) aluminum sheet (3003 H14). Most of the body is made of 3003 sheet It's basically pure aluminum and is easy to form. Higher strength alloys were used in other parts but only where radical bending and forming wasn't required. For example, 6061, a popular alloy for a lot of parts, will crack if bent at a sharp
90* angle.

Paper (thin cardboard) templates were made, traced out on aluminum sheet, cut and bent. The tops of both baffles required an arched flange to conform to the curves of the outer skin. These were hammered over a piece of 3/4" (19mm) plywood with the correct curve cut into it. The baffles were then riveted in place (flush rivets in the outer skin) on iether side of the radiator outlet duct in the top of the nose. You can see a lot of seams on the back side of the nose. This is due to me chopping it up several times and changing it earlier in the project. I'm still not totally happy with it but it's time to just get it done.
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Thanks Russ.

 

Thanks, Pete. More photos:

When I assembled the suspension on the chassis I basically threw the front suspension on there just so the chassis could be mobile. Since then I've been spending a little spare time here and there to set it up a little better. Early on in the project I bought a set of urethane bushing for the front control arms. I didn't really like the way they were engineered though. The Energy Suspension brand urethane bushings sold for Ferraris have a steel sleeve in the center that the urethane bushing rotates on with a little silicone grease and that seems to work OK. These bushings here came with coaxial steel center sleeves. An inner sleeve that the bolt passes through and another sleeve around that, which fits tightly in the center of the bushing. Basically it was steel rubbing on steel which didn't seem like a good idea. I wanted longer inner sleeves anyway so I machined a set from drill rod and bought a set of bronze bushings to ride on the inner sleeves. Except for having to cut the bushings to length, they fit perfectly. The sleeves were a bit more complicated since the outside diameter of each one had to fit in a 5/8" bushing and the insides had to fit a 12mm bolt. Each length had to be custom sized to fit the mounting forks on the chassis and they all vary a little bit. A lot of futzing around for a seemingly simple job but it's coming along. I'm looking forward to attaching larger pieces to the chassis so I can see it grow again.
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Thanks Mark. It means a lot coming from you!

 

Thanks Kenny.

Been throwing parts on the chassis as I found them hanging from pipes and lying on shelves. It's nice to have the feeling at least, that these parts are going on for the last time.

Installed original Quattroporte front sway bay. I think it might be just the right size for this car but we'll see. The rubber isolators attached to the sway-bar mounts are supports for the rear of the radiator (which lies almost flat). I managed to mount only one Brembo caliper - didn't have enough bolts for the second. The extra nuts on the forward A-arm bolts are there for attaching the front sub-frame which supports the radiator and clam-shell nose.

I didn't buy shocks and springs yet so that rusty bar is holding the chassis in ride height position for now. The castle nuts came with the new ball joints and tie-rod ends. I'll replace these with nylocs at some point but for now everything comes apart without wrenches. The right side of the sway-bar was left disconnected to keep the suspension free moving in case I need to disassemble anything on the front suspension and for alignment.

Tilton brake and clutch master cylinders and pedals (one MC is actually a Wilwood and is completely interchangeable with the Tiltons) This set-up comes with adjustable brake bias. I have similar pedals and MCs in my 308 and they're very nice for fine tuning the brakes. I sprayed chip-guard on the forward floor panel since it'll be getting plenty of wear and tear.

The elegant accelerator came out of the donor car. I just removed the rubber pad, drilled some holes in it and painted it silver to sort of match the other pedals. The steering column came from came from the donor car too. The steering wheel is temporary.

It's a little lost here between all the black chassis tubes but I installed the parking brake lever, shortened linkage and cables (also from the donor car). The intermediate lever was mounted horizontally under the donor car but works well here in the vertical (sort of) position.

I made the fuel surge tank out of a section cut from an aluminum drive-shaft. The aluminum fuel tank sits just above the differential, once installed. The spacer tubes on the old Konis maintain ride height until the new coil-overs go on. The brackets on top of the rear sub-frame, near the ends, are for the roll-bar braces.

The paint on the suspension doesn't really look this sparkly. The photo flash did that.

I also installed brake hydraulic pipes in the back. The rear suspension sub-frame is attached to the chassis with the upper shock bolts and the lower control-arm, inner fulcrum shafts.

I'll probably attach a few more mechanical parts but the next step is to rivet the aluminum interior panels in place and then to install the exterior body panels. The engine and trans will not be going in for a while since I need to do some work on them yet.
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Thanks George. You're welcome to stop by but we're a long way from Georgia! My oldest daughter went to school at SCAD, so I know the trip well.

 

Thanks for the enthusiasm. Actually, if I was going to start a car company,with someone like Mark or by myself, I would want to go after the X Prize. Boring, I know, but it would be a great challenge and if it worked out I'd (we'd) have the funds and facilities and equipment to build all sorts of wet dreams.

 

Thanks. It's too daunting for me too but I'm too dumb to give in. Seriously, it IS way too much effort but I really feel like I'm in the home stretch now. The hard part is done. I just need to re-assemble it and finish the body/paint work.

 

Thank you for the compliment and the in-put but I don't think you have any idea how much more work is involved in getting a bare aluminum body all polished and presentable. You're not the first to make that suggestion and I HAVE considered it but I'm running out of ambition. I'm going to be boring and paint it a nice red.

 

The mesh design centers for the wheels were chosen because they hint at the wire wheels on the original 450S. I didn't want to build a replicar but I did want to do a more modern representation of the car this engine's forebearer first appeared in.