Project rediculous

For those of you who weren't around in the 4gcelica.net days, I've been working on my project car for a few years now. The idea is a totally one off custom body and interior, with all the work being done myself, or with the help of a buddy. Not everything is working out perfectly, but I'm learning alot, and the car is looking pretty cool.

Anyhow.. for those who want to see the status up until now..

http://www.garbled.net/tim/album/celica/index.html

As for the status update, we spent all day today hand-bending a 90' bend in a sheet of 18ga steel which we have tacked onto the passenger door. The idea is to eliminate the lower curve of the door, and make it drop straight down. I'll post pics of that later, when I get a chance.

For anyone who has followed the project in the past.. currently, the molds of the body are complete, and the foam has been removed from the body. Right now the current task is to weld some steel parts onto the body to do the few peices that are just too hard to do in FG. Once this steel is in place,then we make the body, and fit it on. woot.

Quick teaser of what the body is supposed to look like:

 

Heh... yeah.. it's making progress. Lots of work still left to do.

Just FYI, the final body will not cover the rear wheel. It was just easier to make that part flat and cut out the wheel wells later.

 

A few updates.. I'm just posting a few pictures here. I have updated my website, and it has alot more pictures. The most recent stuff is around page 24 and 25. (see my SIG for the addr)

In the below pic, you can see how we made the door modifications. Note the nice curve in the rear bottom corner of the door there. Still have to finish weld it.



In this pic, you can see how we have begun to fill in the rain-rails. The car already has a much cleaner look, and we've only just started.

 

I posted another pic of this rear window mod to the photshop forum, but I thought I should update this post as well.. Here is another view of the rear window on the celica, pretty much done.

 

Sides similar to a Ferrari Testarossa, but without the fins down the door. Rear side windows from a Bugatti EB110, rear end similar to a corvette, and a hood of a Ford GT40.

Basically, kind of a supercar look.

 

The "speed holes", as I affectionately call them, are semi-functional. I'm actually going to use them to cool and vent the amplifiers in the back. They are real pipes, and they lead into the trunk, but they don't provide any kind of downforce, or brake cooling, if thats what you are looking for. However, I mostly did them for the look.

On the Eb110, I think they are either engine air intakes, or for the radiators.

 

As for the water, the plan is to put a drop pipe in so there is a U and a small drain at the bottom to avoid getting water in there. It should be fine unless someone sticks a hose in it.

As for wanting to see it done, me too.

 

The hinges were a grand for the pair. Welding them on was pretty trivial, but cutting away at the body to make room for them was a pain. They are "GT Factory" hinges.

I don't intend to really let people play with my doors. I'll probably hook linear actuators to them to auto-open/close them.

As for the engine.. I'd really love to swap it or play with it in some way, but in reality, this project is taking long enough as it is. I think right now I'm just trying to finish everything I've started, and not start anything new on it.