NS F355 Project (Page 29/73)
Yarmouth Fiero AUG 17, 07:36 PM
I'm pretty sure Don did all that work already. My yellow windshield is a model of our extended glass and it suits it very well. I think even the air vents in the hood have been moved forward as there is plenty of room between it and the rear edge of the hood.
Yarmouth Fiero AUG 17, 07:42 PM
Also Fieroguru, you had mentioned about the front wheel opening being about 1" too high. I notice that the front quarter panel has been raised about 1" by extending the mounting flange. I will have to check Dons notes to see why this was done. I suspect it was so the the doors and rockers would all match the lines on the car as you move rearward. That is why it appears like there is alot of room between the hood and the windshield.

Edit: sorry for the long pictures. I have to stop turning my camera on its side.

[This message has been edited by Yarmouth Fiero (edited 08-17-2013).]

355Fiero AUG 18, 02:34 AM
Yarmouth Fiero.

Panels are looking good on the frame. Too bad they look so terrible with all the duraglas on them. They need to be primed to get a decent image of them and the lines. The front hood you have is my old one. The new, grey gel coat one is actually a better option really.

The front clip mounts were redone because I didn't like the way the old ones were shaped. I took some Fiero fenders and took some quick molds and made new mounts. The height of the front fenders are the original height though. The front wheel wells were always high on the car. I lowered the rears down an inch or so when I straightened the body line out but the fronts were always too high. Made me have to lower the front down quite a ways.

I would see about maybe looking at lowering the wheel wells down a bit....

Good luck with getting everything lined up.

Cheers
Don

[This message has been edited by 355Fiero (edited 08-18-2013).]

Yarmouth Fiero AUG 18, 04:53 AM
Hi Don

The panels look great and except for the chassis interference around the doors, which we knew about in advance, they literally just sat right in place. It was very exciting to see my car with a body on it for the first time since I stripped the original Fiero panels off it. I've seen Blooz's coupe a few times and was always amazed at the shape of the 355 body but there is something about the spider that makes it look so damn wide and low........ I love it.

I think Blooz is stopping by this afternoon and we'll go over everything and make notes along the way. I have taken a ton of pics as well just to record the baseline before we dive into the body work.

Thanks again Don.
Yarmouth Fiero AUG 18, 07:58 PM
Well Don, I took your advice and removed my transverse frame and roll over hoop for the body fitting today with Blooz. With that new structure out of the way, the rear body section slid right up over the firewall like you said. We reviewed all the panels today and came to the conclusion that the rear end is pretty damn good and will probably be the starting point for our panel developement. I think Blooz managed to convince me that we'll be cutting the bottom off the doors to suit the rocker panel and doors skins as you have them. He reassured me it would be a "piece of cake".

With regard to the front end, we didn't manage to come to a solution yet with regard to the wheel well opening. That is going to take more time.

Here is the rear body moved all the way forward without the rollover hoops.
fourpoint9 AUG 18, 10:06 PM
Have you considered a F430 spider look?





Like this




------------------
fourpoint9
modifiedfieros.com

[This message has been edited by fourpoint9 (edited 08-18-2013).]

Yarmouth Fiero AUG 19, 07:05 AM
Thanks for the very cool photoshop fourpoint9. I infact did use that style as inspiration for my hoops. Although the final shape was dictated somewhat by the pipe bender die. I do like the image you have posted though. I will definitely give it some thought. I do have to take into consideration that the rear deck I have shown this weekend has to also accommodate a coupe style as Blooz and I will be sharing moulds and his current roof and pillars will have to be bonded to whatever deck shape we end up with. I will probably make some changes to the rear deck that Don supplied so that it can be moulded easier. There are a few reverse curves in the flange that would house the convertable roof that I may have to alter. But I could certainly see a style similar to what you have shown.

Thanks for the inspiration and taking the time to photoshop.
355Fiero AUG 19, 07:07 PM
Yarmouth Fiero;

Blooz is right, cutting the bottom off the doors and welding in a new support brace for the rockers is quite easy. That was one of the easier parts I did.....

As for the convertible top areas, I added the convertible top mount lip to the original sail panel areas after everything was there. I would add in a filler piece to fill in the area under the convertible mount lip so that your convertible top area mold will slip right off. As for Blooz's hard top fitting on, the convertible pieces I grafted in are put in pretty much in the same place as the old roof came off so if you lay the roof section on to the rear clip when all in place, you can trim the roof sail panels a bit to fit to the top of the rear fenders, and then fill any gaps if any, and mark where the roof mats to the top of the rear clip. Make a mold barrier at that mating point so you can make both roof and convertible mold pieces in that section. I can visualize it in my head and it make sense so far. The convertible lip along the top of the firewall should be pretty close to what the roof will need as well. Not 100% at that though....

Pieces looking good overall though.

Cheers
Don



quote
Originally posted by Yarmouth Fiero:

Well Don, I took your advice and removed my transverse frame and roll over hoop for the body fitting today with Blooz. With that new structure out of the way, the rear body section slid right up over the firewall like you said. We reviewed all the panels today and came to the conclusion that the rear end is pretty damn good and will probably be the starting point for our panel developement. I think Blooz managed to convince me that we'll be cutting the bottom off the doors to suit the rocker panel and doors skins as you have them. He reassured me it would be a "piece of cake".

With regard to the front end, we didn't manage to come to a solution yet with regard to the wheel well opening. That is going to take more time.

Here is the rear body moved all the way forward without the rollover hoops.
Yarmouth Fiero AUG 19, 07:35 PM
Thanks Don

Blooz was just here and we had a chat about the parts and which direction to proceed next. We are feeling pretty good about the whole process. Then we packed the panels up in his trailer and he drove away. But if I close my eyes really tight I can still see my chassis covered with a body. I guess he didn't want me getting too attached to them yet...ha-ha-ha

I think my next steps will involve finishing off the top of the windshield frame, welding in my transverse frame and capping my B pillars. Plus I have a little welding to do to cover up the chassis extension on the passenger side. There are a hundred little tasks to complete this fall.

I did get a good measurement of the front fenders so I can work on my suspension drawing and get my control arms ordered. I'd love to have this chassis rolling before winter so the boys can push me up and down the driveway.
Bloozberry AUG 19, 08:15 PM

quote
Originally posted by Yarmouth Fiero:
I guess he didn't want me getting too attached to them yet...



Got that right.