Got started on the Buck using 1/4" cold rolled steel rod, It's daunting at first not knowing where to begin and what lines to lay down. Got started with some random numbers, "throw a straight line 4" out adjacent to the chassis, that aught to be enough to fit the exhaust". From there the side barrels could be put in place and then you've got a tangible foundation.

Used these to figure shapes and measurements, making the dimensionally accurate drawings was very worthwhile as numbers can be pulled straight from the page and eyeballed onto the car.

Manufacturers spends millions developing a design, modeling, clay, etc. They don't understand the true power of masking tape and paper.


There are a couple things to change but overall Super satisfying to see your own designs take shape

Start to finish, mostly in chronological order . Of course its not done but it's over the mountain peak and winding down to easier details. I'll stop spamming yall with the Suburban dumps after this one.



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On our Previous installment of Paperbags:


Scrapped and rebuilt it while mirroring everything to the opposite side. The fenders got pushed up and forward, roofline came down a couple inches at the back, and pushed the lower bumper in.



Taillights will be from a 70's Toyota pickup then flipped sideways. The price is right, period correct-ish, jdm yo.

As far as copying both sides, not much technique to it other then to make one line, mirror it to within a couple mm and carefully measure where they welded in. The big question are the wheelwell lines that by nature of bending on more then one axis cannot be mirrored. Did my best using templates, measurements, and somewhat verified their similarity as all the mirrored lines fit into place within 1/4-1/8" variance side to side.

Example of the process:

Line was mirrored from the RH side so it should fit snug to the yellow mark.

1/4" off at the body to door jamb line, so reweld it clocked further out.

It took forever, and likely a little off but I'm confident it's within the 1/4" variance. I'll make templates and recheck the important points before committing to the panel.

I'm now the proud owner of a 92 Miata, sadly an automatic but $2200 out the door after headed to the dmv and paying for the smog.

First things first, its been sitting for a while so the brakes for sure need replacing and likely the tires too. Interiors in good shape minus a missing peice on the center console.


Only driven about 30 miles and already blown a rear shock

Put the top down and drove to the coast on a little curvy road, wow! I see why people love convertibles. Handlings pretty good though not amazing as the internet might lead you to believe, similar in feel to the jcw mini. Nice and precise

Feels like I made off with a tremendous deal, very excited.

Problem: Old window trims have turned to dust. Solution?

Day 1



Copy the curve using a paper template, trace that onto some 18ga steel, find centerline, then run that through the beadroller.

Day 2

Mass production!


There are 4 unique curves to the windows so I labeled them on the body A-D then made all the curves at once (2 of A, 2 of B, 6-C, and 6-D)

Day 3

Rolled a bunch of straight lengths into a wide sheet then cut them out using the dandy snip snips. Afterwards they get cut to length and shaped into a tighter curve.

Day 4

Make the second frame, and mark/cut the opposite sides corners to match finished examples.

Day 5



Make the last 2 frames

Day 6

Make inner tabs for each corner that hold the outer trim tight to the body along with making the L shaped mount brackets to bolt in.

Day 7


Finish weld all the joints and tabs.
With thin metal that has nothing surrounding it theres nothing to absorb the heat so they warped a bit. Still they bolt in the same after some fiddling. (Backside looks a bit sad as the welds are deliberately cold)

To show my incredible efficiency as an engineer, there are 20 individual parts per window trim. (Original was 1 stamped part)

Next step will be epoxy primer over the bare metal, install them on the body then finishing bodywork. (Trying to install these after paint would be a very bad time)

Made the first iteration of the fronts wireframe.

Similar to how the rear went I'll tear the wire buck down and tweak things as I copy it over. Currently the centerlines a little too pointed and there's not much resolution around the fender, but paper says I'm on the right track.
Also no rubbing at full lock, though it probably will under compression.(little more form over function by keeping the wheels relatively flush with the body)

WHY ARE THE SEATS SO SMALL

In my efforts to not daily the world's loudest truck, I find my head against the pristine cloth top of this Automatic, 109k, Mx5.

Cars driven a handful of times in the past few years so the brakes are shot, tires are shot, and the trans feels a little snappier then it probably should. In any event a grandma owned, "low" mile example for 2k sounds good to me, we will see how it shakes out with the smog Monday.

As usual with my premature posts, fingers crossed.

Fuel Tank Continues!

18ga steel is being used throughout because its what I had but really 16ga would've been much better. Especially these mount plates should've been thicker.

Things were okay at this stage.

Filled the tank up with water and the baffles did their job of slowing fuel movement side to side pretty well. Flash rust was not a concern because the tank is going to be etched and sealed, seeing the baffles in action was arguably more important. The walls were welded twice in an attempt at being water tight.

The mount plates were welded all the way round on the inside, the plan was to weld the outside too but the heat distortion threw the entire panel way out of whack. It took a few hours with a torch and Mallet to bring it back to flat-ish. As you can see there's still lots of distortion but it's going to be covered in sound deadning and under a false floor anyways. What I should've done was strengthen the panel prior to welding, a few bead rolls combined with some horizontal bracing would've gone a long way.

Started work on Rear frame and roll Bar mount today.

On the 3d modeling front; A fellow oppo from our lurker sect led to someone who was interested in helping. Not much to say about how thats going yet but here are some scale diagrams.

Selling the Cheby led to a crisis of realizing I really do need to own a truck for work and around the house stuff.

Spent time sifting through all of Craigslist in a 300 mile radius with the parameters of Manual, Truck, preferably v8. Nothing was in my price range but decided to send a lowball offer of $2500 on this 84 f250 6.9 4mt listed at $3500.

Success! Previous owner was clear about its issues and had all the paperwork in order. Yesterday was 4hrs of driving each way and the truck felt great. Just got back from the dmv and it's in my name and ready to go.

Lots of little things to fix but none are drivetrain related, granted I know nothing about the diesels of that era other then they sound good.

Finally setup the rear suspension so it can roll around and look pretty.

As far as what itll look like, it should have slightly thinner wheels and the rear will have about 3" less width. Using some guestimation ive mocked up a profile of the body if I use a beetle A and C pillar with extensive modifications in between.

Still tons to do but its getting there

@theturbochargedsquirrel Mud accumulator

@tripper Best looking Generation of the Modern 911's, Good luck!

Walter begins his morning powernap

@exage03040 I picked s2k but didn't see the price. Golf R because an old Honda isn't worth 40k

@whoistheleader So cool, it'd be fun to restore one if these.

@studystudystudy That was a good series, that Z's somewhere on one of my harddrives still!

@jminer Yeah it made sense at the time.
I think we will get a little more comfortable if/when a member comes along that starts pushing the envelope. (An AtlasVp, Honeybunchesofgoats, or HondaBro)

@poor_sh turn it over by hand and listen/feel anything wrong with it internally.(does it really bind up in one spot more then it should for TDC?) Sounds like it could be more catastrophic then just a HG.

@davesaddiction "Far fewer shitposts here, seems like"

Having politics seperate makes it clear that FP is risk adverse.

Old oppo was alot more anything goes which likely helped foster more freewheeling attitudes. (Net positive imo) might seem like a minor change to section off a topic of discussion like that, but it informs how the fp is no longer a place to crack jokes that might piss people off

@dtg11 This is a good plan if you can find anything for a reasonable price.(which do exist, both my cars were bought under $2500 in the last year and are worth $3-4k in the same markets)