Neil's Aventador build (Page 31/77)
Neils88 JAN 31, 07:32 PM
It's been a week since I posted. Very little progress, but I finally got most of the imperfections out of the hood and got a little paint on it to protect it. The paint will all come off later when I'm ready to paint the whole car properly. I'll tackle any last imperfections then.

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]

RCR FEB 01, 07:53 PM
<jealous> ( With our weather, the only thing I got to do was hang new lights in the garage. Now I can see how much work I need to do.

Looks great, Neil. Just a thought as I was looking at your pic, Would plasti-dip have worked as a temporary seal, yet still peel off relatively easily?

Bob
Neils88 FEB 01, 09:13 PM

quote
Originally posted by RCR:

<jealous> ( With our weather, the only thing I got to do was hang new lights in the garage. Now I can see how much work I need to do.

Looks great, Neil. Just a thought as I was looking at your pic, Would plasti-dip have worked as a temporary seal, yet still peel off relatively easily?

Bob



Thanks Bob. That's a good question!? I've never used plasti-dip. How fine would I have to sand to ensure it doesn't stick too much? Maybe someone has tried it.
Neils88 FEB 01, 09:28 PM
Now that the hood is put aside for a while, I turned my attention back to some metalwork under the hood. The first thing to be done is to create a new structure that will protect the headlights. I removed the remains of the Fiero headlight protective shield (1st pic) and have started to fabricate my own to cover the larger area. The height of the plate needs to be low enough to account for the size of the headlight housing, but not interfere with the front vent grills. The large opening visible in the 2nd pic will be built up to funnel air up to the small side hood vents to ensure their isn't a pressure build up under the hood.





[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]

Neils88 FEB 02, 07:27 PM
I have the passenger side headlight shielding completed now. The lower plate slopes forward and there is a drain slot on the forward edge. The rear inner corner vents up towards the rear (side) hood vent.





[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]

Neils88 FEB 03, 08:50 PM
Got a little side tracked today. The tire pressure sensors that I've been waiting for (for almost two months!) finally showed up yesterday. My tires have been sitting at the tire place for more than a month waiting for me, so I finally got to take the rims in to get the tires installed.

Here's what the stock rims look like...



yuck...

Here's what the new rims/tires look like...







(of course this is with the car lowered so that there is the correct gap. The good news is that the rear tire lines up with the axle perfectly, so no body adjustments are required. The front tire is only about 1/4" off, which is will be easy to fix with a little adjustment to the front bumper. So I'm definitely happy with the alignment. Now that I have the rims/tires in place, I can make the measurements and order the widetrack suspension. The fronts will require a 4" width extension, and the rear will require a 3" width extension (per side, obviously). The front suspension will also require a drop of about 1 1/2", which isn't too bad. Now for the bad news....the rear requires a drop of 4" I'll call Arraut Motorsports tomorrow to discuss this with Richard.

As for those tiny brakes (10.75")...hmmm .....gotta go.... I'm guessing 13" as a minimum. There are a few options here, but I'll worry about them a bit later.



[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]

355Fiero FEB 05, 03:48 PM
Neil;

Looking good.

With your rear end needing a lowering of 4", how much ground clearance will you be left with for the floor pan and engine cradle etc.? When I did my 355 replica lowering, I ended up with about 3" ground clearance which was going to be a problem.... Might be worth a look under there to confirm.... You can move the strut tops outward with no real issues but your control arms will have a significant upward angle to them to get the car down 4".....

Cheers and keep up the great and entertaining work.
Don
Neils88 FEB 05, 05:05 PM

quote
Originally posted by 355Fiero:

Neil;

Looking good.

With your rear end needing a lowering of 4", how much ground clearance will you be left with for the floor pan and engine cradle etc.? When I did my 355 replica lowering, I ended up with about 3" ground clearance which was going to be a problem.... Might be worth a look under there to confirm.... You can move the strut tops outward with no real issues but your control arms will have a significant upward angle to them to get the car down 4".....

Cheers and keep up the great and entertaining work.
Don



I'll have 5 inches of clearance all around, which is close to the stock Aventador. I will be actually raising the top of the strut mount (top of the tower) up by 2" and then using coilovers that have up to ~2.5" of adjustment (I'll only be adjusting them down about 1.5 - 2"). I've been very careful to make sure clearance isn't an issue anywhere under the car. The rear rims raise the back end by about 2".

[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 02-05-2016).]

Neils88 FEB 05, 07:16 PM
Today's work... Started to do the matching metalwork on the driver's side.





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Neils88 FEB 06, 05:55 PM
Finished the driver's side headlight shield.







[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-02-2024).]