LocostUSA.com

wow All I can say

Dude, once again chill out. I'm not jumping on you for who you are or calling into question your skill set.
I'm also NOT saying that you're immature or not an adult, all I am pointing out is the tone inferred from the choice of words has a lot to do with how your statements are perceived.
There is no non verbal communication from the written word. ... and that aspect is very present in face to face (or aural) communication.

Personally I know that I have gained a lot of additional knowledge from this forum (despite having some 30 years experience as a fabricator and starting my racing career in my teens on. .. wait for it... FIAT'S ) and hope that I have contributed over the last few years in my efforts to encourage and enable others to achieve their desires.

As the forum heading says "Learning how to build Lotus Seven replicas...together!"

_________________
"There are times when a broken tool is better than a sound one, or a twisted personality more useful than a whole one.
For instance, a whole beer bottle isn't half the weapon that half a beer bottle is ..." Randall Garrett

Hold on there oldejack! There are folks out here who admire Fiats. They make the perfect automotive training ground. They're simple and easy to work on, parts are cheap...and they break continually so that you get an advanced education in a hurry. I know from experience...my first car was a 1968 Fiat 850 coupe. Bought it in 1st year university, didn't get to drive it to school until 3rd year. By then the whole car was rebuilt. It taught me the golden rule "Never leave home without an extra set of points and bus money in your pocket! But did I learn? Nope, second car was an 850 spyder, 3rd was an X1/9, then a 128 wagon, then a 128 coupe, and on and on. Today I still have a '59 Fiat Abarth 850 and my locost's donor was a 124 spyder.

Sorry to interupt the bickering and hijack the thread into Fiat talk.

Bill

_________________
Bill H
Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Oh no the dark side!!!
I gotta admit I still have a warm spot in my... heart yeah that's it, for Fiat's the 850 in particular.
I've had a coupe and a convertible, boy what fun. Having to pull the plugs and squirt oil down the cylinders to do a warm start on a fresh rebuild, weekly carb readjustments, carrying a block of wood instead of a jack because they're so light you can pick up one corner without straining, lifting the motor off the trans and hand carrying it to the bench, getting flagged for exceeding the noise limits at Laguna Seca. ...... 817 (ultimately 930) cc's of angry Italian hamster power
Figured out that's its possible to engage in, well umm, teenaged pursuits in the back seat of a coupe THAT was interesting to say the least. Yeppers, fond memories.
I'd still like to find a 600 and convert it to a Toyota 1ND-TV drivetrain for a service vehicle. ... probably double the output at a whopping 88 hp!

_________________
"There are times when a broken tool is better than a sound one, or a twisted personality more useful than a whole one.
For instance, a whole beer bottle isn't half the weapon that half a beer bottle is ..." Randall Garrett

Damn, I missed a fight

Oh.. I don't think you missed it... we simply got side tracked by Fiat stories!

Fond memories of those little cars! I learned to drive with an X1/9 at the tender age of 14! Could just reach the peddles and shift! Just like an over grown go-kart!

Two weeks later the owner rolled it.. yes, he rolled an X1/9 onto it's side.. slithered out of it... rolled it back over and drove it home. Poor little thing was never the same again.

Always wanted to find another one but could never find one for sale at anything less than ludicrous prices.

Anyway... back to the "argument"!

Cheers!

KS

_________________
Check out Firearm Finishes & Coating for options to ceramic coat your Locost parts. Hundreds of stock or custom colors including Chrome and Clear Coating options now available! High Temp options for hot bits!! Plastics too!!

Never become a pessimist. A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events.-Robert A. Heinlein

But wait! There's more!!!

I owned a 78 Fiat Super Brava. Bought it new. Good lookin' little car, five speed, DOHC four banger. We soon named it "The Torque-Less Wonder" because it wouldn't get out of its own way, but once you got it wound up it would SCOOT! Great top end on the little buggar, and it sounded good! Handling wasn't bad, and nice looking interior.

There were two problems, one of which was the car's fault. The first problem was that Fiat pulled out of the US market shortly after I bought the car. My local (southern West Virginia) dealer went totally AWOL. I ordered a set of heater controls from him shortly before they took down the sign and disappeared. Never got them, and couldn't find any other parts for love nor money anywhere. (We didn't have the internet back then, Children...) Window cranks broke, door handles, the electrics were abysmal and the damn thing leaked oil like the Exxon Valdeze (which likely wasn't built yet) and I could NOT get new gaskets or seals.

The second problem was that that little beastie rusted like you would not believe! Fender lips went away, leading edge of the hood, corners of the trunk lid. Hell, the drip rails over the window rusted and the bottom of the GLOVE BOX rusted out, for cryin' out loud!!! Unbelievable.

As I recall, I traded it for a sliding window in my '80 Ford pickup.

OK, what were we fightin' about??? I got here late...


JDK

_________________
JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

I seem to recall that European steel was really bad in the mid-to-late 70s. Early 70s cars were much better. They could've built your '78 with steel that was already starting to rust.

You missed my post about Pantera's then ...







Hmmm, I know, you pretend to be my wife asking; "what's on the TV?" and I'll answer; "dust".

Okay, got to represent here. IMO Panteras got a bad reputation for rust because the cooling system was horrible and tended to leak all over everything. The overflow and header tanks in particular sat right over the rear suspension pickups, and unless you did something about it, they dribbled coolant on the sheet metal whenever things got too hot, which was often. My dad's Pantera was a daily driver for years, then sat in a garage for another dozen years before it was brought back to life. It's still running, mostly all original, and has very little rust.

back to tubes and clamping, personally i try to use "v" blocks if i can, but the trick with the wood, as with all things will be logged in the memory banks for later use.

most of the briliant ideas for how to do things comes from seeing someone use a particular method in the past, both right and wrong, i'm old now but i used a method to remove a bearing from a blind casting last week that i was shown when i was 17 and it worked.

all ideas are good! at least someone is thinking, and if it doesn't work, it may do for something else at a later date.

i bought my wife her first car a fiat 850, after about a year she said that it wasn't very powerful especially in the cold, then, to my amaisment, i discovered that she was using the choke in the winter, now that sounds normal but wait, she was using the choke all winter and by the time spring came, she had washed the bores and diluted the oil to the point that the engine was scrap.

her response was that her sister told her to use the choke in winter but omitted to say just for starting, so it wasn't her fault.

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

That reminds me of a story when I was living in england where a little old lady came into my mates garage in her morris 1300 ..it was fouling plugs and no one could figure out why..until the time she was picking it up after new plugs were installed..and to the amusement of the mechanics ..pulled the choke knob out and hung her handbag on it ..