ABARATH SP 1000 tribute build

Good news! Molds delivered this morning. Pictures later today.

Great news, can't wait to see the pics.

Well I have good news and I have bad news. I received 2 crates and I unloaded them. But, I am missing the whole front of the car and 1 door. I called the person I purchased the molds from and he told me that the freight company had picked all of them up. I called the freight company and they told me that they shipped all of the molds they had in the 2 crates. I called back the seller and reminded him that he had told me that part of the molds were in storage at a separate location. That's when he realized that he had not given all of the molds to the freight company. So, now I will be waiting a couple more weeks to receive the rest.

The molds are straight and true and are thick. The surfaces will need some touch up. I am hoping to do some work on them and lay up parts while I'm waiting for the rest of the molds to arrive.

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Looking good John. I can't wait to see the first parts coming out of the molds. I would not be opposed to a small flare like the one on the Dino to accomodate a stock NA Miata track width.

Since we may be able to utilize a FWD Mazda drivetrain I just had an evil thought; a KL-ZE would bolt in. But would 200hp in this car be a total deathtrap?

In reply to mblommel: if the chassis is good then it shouldn't be a death trap, my car weighs 680 Lbs and has 175 HP and it's not unstable at all. actually a fun car to drive. I don't think 200HP is too much for this size car. However I don't think I would give it to an inexperienced driver to learn with. :)

The chassis will be good.

jmc14 wrote: The chassis will be good.

I was counting on that!

I took a couple of quick measurements. From the rear axle center line it is 30 inches to the lower back of the cockpit bulkhead. At valve cover height it's around 28 inches. It looks like the Hyabusa with the Mini Diff will fit. One advantage of having the Hyabusa mounted longitudinally is that the exhaust and is on the side. Chet is checking to confirm the over all length of the Hyabusa/Minidiff combo.

I think that most FWD drivetrains will fit. I believe that the rear deck is tall enough to clear most if not all reasonable engine options.

The body width at the top of the rear wheel arches is 63.5 inches. The diameter of the rear wheel opening is 26 inches.

The cockpit width is 35 inches. The basic frame will be this width with outriggers to support the side pods. Obviously the frame will wrap around you. You will sit in it and not on it.

Tomorrow I'm taking the molds to my fiberglass guy and meeting with my frame builder. I'm also picking up the 2000 Protege that I purchased for the transmission. I have a space frame that I built that has NA Miata drivetrain and suspension bolted to it. That's in the trailer as well. I'll be leaving that with the frame builder and he will dismantle the Protege. I wish that I were able to do the work. But, I will be at the frame shop during the design stage.

Having fun.

Does that model of Protege still have a BP compatible engine? I don't know enough about Mazdas. I thought the last gen changed to a different engine family.

35" wide cockpit? that's narrow, I'm 21" wide at the shoulders that leaves 14" for a passenger? That might be a deal breaker. does that make the doors a foot thick?

I should have said 35 inches at the hips. In the attached picture you can see how wide the door sills are. The distance between the door sills is 35-36 inches. The shoulder area is considerably wider. But, I think that I might have to make the seat on my side an inch or 2 wider and narrow the passenger one.

I'm not sure about the transaxle/engine compatibility. The car I purchased was very cheap and it was in the same small town as both the chassis shop and fiberglass shop. I thought that it was worth it to find out. [URL=http://s1143.photobucket.com/user/jmcbigbelly/media/fiatabarathsp1000interior_zps09a7eb2e.jpg.html][/URL]

Looks great! When I see this thing I cant help but think it needs a real nasty rotary in it and a beefy VW bus trans. And I know thats old school tech but decent power in a light car that screams and its a pretty proven combo that keeps cost waaay down.

What is the width of the seats, "hip room". Is there any way to widen the lower cockpit? I would like to be able to put the driver seat on sliders instead of having it built in. We have a 10" difference in driver height.

A bit of bad news. The seller of the molds had told me that they were in good shape and ready to produce parts. A thorough inspection today revealed that this is not true. Every one is damaged from parts adhering to them and not releasing properly. I would never sell a part produced from them in their current condition. To repair them is going to take some time and me writing a pretty big check.

-The frame will have 5 point seat belt mounts.
-The fiberglass seat tub does not need to be used. It will be possible to mount other seats and use a track system.
-Looking at the cockpit, the sill width and the fiberglass bulkhead surround, I believe that the width of the cockpit at the hips can be widened quite a bit with out changing the outside dimensions. In the overhead cockpit picture you can see how much the sills extend into the cockpit. I think a good 4-5 inches overall can be gained. Maybe I should look at splitting the molds at this time and add a few inches of width in the middle too.

Nothing worthwhile is easy.

Bummer about the molds.

About widening the body, I'd just be careful. I think you can really change the look of a car by making what seem to be very small changes to one dimmension. Not saying you should or should not, but to just be thoughtful about it.

rcutclif wrote: Bummer about the molds. About widening the body, I'd just be careful. I think you can really change the look of a car by making what seem to be very small changes to one dimmension. Not saying you should or should not, but to just be thoughtful about it.

Agreed. Small changes can really throw off the entire look of a car. Just put a Caterham and a Locost side by side.

Really sorry to hear about the poor condition of the molds. So, what's the fix? Mold a part from the damaged mold, fix the part and then make an all-new mold from the new, repaired part?

I'm having a friend of mine photoshop the body with small flares. I think that it will look good and would be the easiest way to go.

I believe that I can get the cockpit significantly wider by narrowing the sills to the same width as the top of the cockpit at the doors. This would not change the outside look of the car.

The molds can be repaired. I would repair them first and then lay up good parts. When damage was done to the molds someone used body filler to repair them. The work was not done well. And, they did not re apply tooling gel coat to the molds after the repairs. Bondo does not react well with the lay up gel coat. So, the surfaces get worse and worse. Some of the molds had big chunks of Bondo that had been pulled out duct taped to the molds.

If I was going to widen the body I would do a quick clean up of the molds and lay up a part. I would modify the part to fit the car. Then split the molds lay them on the widened body and make a new center section to the mold. Then the entire mold would be reworked and re surfaced with tooling gel coat.

I've been looking at the Hyabusa option. The purpose built diffs for the Hyabusa with reverse are expensive. The Quife unit used in the Radical has a recommend service interval time of 50hours.
There is room in the car for mounting the Hyabusa longitudinally. The ideal diff ratio is 3:15. The 2003 and up Cadillac CTS has an aluminum independent LSD diff available with a 3:2 ratio. I checked ebay and the prices for them are reasonable. From $200 for an open diff and from $350 for an LSD version. Why not connect the Hyabusa to the Cadillac diff? For reverse us a small automatic trans ring gear mounted to the diffs pinion input and use an electric motor for reverse. Having the engine longitudinally mounted makes the header/exhaust system easier and moves heat away from the rear of the cockpit.

Just thinking and having fun.

A quick update. The bonnet mold finally left Orange, CA today. It should arrive next week. It's been an ordeal to get these molds delivered. I'll be glad when the bonnet arrives.

I wasn't sure about the compatibility of the Miata 1.6 and 1.8 engine to the 2003 Protege transmission. I know that the 1.6 engine came from the Mazda 323. I also know that the Mercury Capri from 1989 - 1994 used the Mazda 1.6 with the 5 speed FWD. I think that the 323/Capri transaxle may be the way to go. A quick check of the Capri specs show the width at 64.6 inches. The Abarth is listed from 64 to 65 inches wide. My rear mold measures 63.5 inches but it may have pulled in a little. I'm sure that I could spread the body by an inch. I'm very hopeful that the Miata/323/Capri mechanicals will fit with out modifying the body. That would be cool.

I found a 1991 Capri on Craigs list with the 1.6 and 5 speed. It has 125,000 miles on it and a new top. The seller says that it doesn't have a spec of rust. I purchased it sight unseen for $400. I'm picking it up next Wed. It will be good to have a complete car. I can get the shifter, brackets, rods, axles, and engine and trans mounts. I will also be able to compare the oil pan and oil pick up tube to the Miata version.

[URL=http://s1143.photobucket.com/user/jmcbigbelly/media/mercurycapri1991_zps3d97bff2.jpg.html][/URL] I think that there may be a number of people that would like a Miata based build. They can sell the Miata trans, driveshaft, and differential and easily pay for the 323/Capri transaxle and parts. This would be a pretty inexpensive way to go.

The Capri is close to the chassis/fiberglass shops that I'm using. I'm thinking about picking up the molds, bringing them back to my shop, doing a quick clean up, and lay up a body myself. I need the body to build the final frame and I'm anxious to get going. I'm feeling pretty good so I might give it a go.

I love driving my Miata's. I've wanted to build my own car based on their mechanicals for awhile. I have tried adapting several different bodies to the Miata parts while keeping the stock Miata layout. But, I have never found a look that I was really happy with. The Miata's tall engine, cowl, and pretty far forward seating location all resulted in a body that was too tall in the front and looked like it was rising from the rear to the front. I prefer a low cowl and bonnet, and flowing lines into sexy arched hips. A car with Miata suspension wrapped in a sweet Italian 60's mid engine racing body seems perfect to me.

My photoshop friend has had the flu. So, I don't have a photoshop of the body with small flares yet.

Some of the best reading on GRM as per usual. Thanks for sharing.

jmc14 wrote: I found a 1991 Capri on Craigs list with the 1.6 and 5 speed. It has 125,000 miles on it and a new top. The seller says that it doesn't have a spec of rust. I purchased it sight unseen for $400. I'm picking it up next Wed. It will be good to have a complete car. I can get the shifter, brackets, rods, axles, and engine and trans mounts. I will also be able to compare the oil pan and oil pick up tube to the Miata version.

Awesome. You know that means somebody could also find a Capri XR2 donor for cheap factory turbo POWAH!

...OK, its only 30 more HP in stock form, but opens up some interesting B6T options.

I picked up the Capri yesterday and took it to my friends chassis shop. I was happy with the purchase as the car is virtually rust free. I took some quick measurements and I believe that there will be plenty of room for the transverse engine set up.

I picked up the molds from the fiberglass company. I brought them back to my shop. I'm going to do a quick clean up of them and lay up a body. I was surprised to find that the bonnet mold had been delivered during the day. So, now I have a complete set of molds and I'm ready to go. I'll start on the body on Monday.

I believe that the molds I have produced the 21 car pictured below. It's the only picture of an Abarth SP 1000 that I've found the has the fiberglass windshield insert and fiberglass side panels that replaced the full plastic windscreens. The molds for those parts came with the molds that I purchased.

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Awesome! Great work. I can't wait to see your first body.

What does the frame/chassis usually look like on these things?

That's one of the better looking windscreen styles I've seen

MrJoshua wrote: What does the frame/chassis usually look like on these things?

heres a pic shewing some of the original chassis.

Tim