Projekt Hoopty -- new dash done May 19

I wanted it to look like a race car should look, so I kind of podged this together after staring at photos of 917s and other 60s-era racers. The red switches will be for master power to the MSD, for the fuel pump, for the lights and for the fog lights. The keyed ignition is my security device and master power, the middle button is the starter and the second button is the horn. The yellow jobbers are right and left turn signals, from a switch by the shifter where my right thumb will go. Missing yet are the two reds and the blue pip lights; temperature, generator/alternator (whichever I go with) and the high-beam indicator.

Absolutely LOVE the rear end/deck lid/tonneau cover treatment. Very very nice job Cory!! angela

Thanks! You know I really wanted a 550, right?
Truth is, I wasn't aware of the variety of the replicas available to me when I made my decision. I was only looking at the 356s, and I wanted easy access to the engine compartment. I guess I went a little nuts, but there really is only one way to tip the back half, and I wanted to replicate the red 550A on the Thunder Ranch website as much as possible with this.
I'm glad it has curb appeal for a 550 aficionado. I can't imagine a higher compliment!

You need to drill a series of four chamfered holes in the aluminum strapping used for the door pulls. Make it look a little more "race ready" and less Home Cheapo.

But MOST importantly, you have to tell me where and from what car the rear view mirror was sourced. I GOTTA get me one of those. It's a little gem ! ! And dash mounted ! ! ! !

Sweet.

Hey Cory (you fire-fighting, oil-checking, lid-flipping, tonneau fabbing, tube-bending, Emperor-bashing MANIAC!)

Your latest pictures are the coolest yet! Based on technical know-how, I am not EVEN worthy of standing next to the Hoopty project!

As for the door-pull, it'd be a shame to queer-up the lines of your car with anything less than an out-of-the-box (tub) design. Nix the bar-shaped door pull. I respectfully suggest you consider fabricating a half-moon shaped lid that you would put (fiberglass) over the top half of the door handle scallop (indentation), which would allow you to insert your hand underneath to pull the door open. I think you'll understand what I mean. This integrated door handle (color-matched to the car) would maintain the smooth streamlined look of the car. Anyway, just a thought!

On a closing note, instead of brrrmmmm, brrrmmmm, I imagine the engine sound from Hoopty would be more like....BWAAAAAAAAA, WAAWAAAAAA (loosely translated = OUTA MY WAY!)

Here you go, TC.
This is the dash mirror:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chrome-Dash-Mirror-AC-Cobra-Austin-Healey-Bugeye_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42606QQitemZ4639156538QQrdZ1

And here's the one I got for the fender:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Classic-Chrome-Bullet-style-sport-Mirror-New-MG-Cobra_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42606QQitemZ4639196846QQrdZ1

I'm not going to use the fender mirror. Want it? I could use some lights like these if you have any leads:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cobra-Kit-Car-MG-MGA-NEW-Front-Parking-Lamps_W0QQitemZ4638919165QQcategoryZ34207QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I'm just turning into a cheap bastard and don't want to drop the fifty bucks on something I could get at the trucker's supply in LED for a fraction of the cost. I don't need the lights to work. I just want them as place-holders outside of the horn grilles.

Those handles are TERRIBLE. You're right, Jim; out of the box is the order of the day.
Here's what I'ma gonna do. When this weekend's over (and that's why we stuck those on pro tem), I'm going to take TC's advice for the short term and cut some clean, counter-sunk holes in them (like are on the backside of the hand brake lever).
Those will keep until I can take some more of the billet we've got lying around and make them again in the shape of the car's silhouette -- with your half-moon idea as the ultimate goal.
By the time I have the fiberglass experience I'll need to make the 'glass pulls, summer will be over and I'll take the doors off again. I'm going to have to smooth the ten thousand holes in the dash brow at the same time. I need to practice that particular craft a lot more before I do something permanent.
I'll be passing the engineering compliments on to Sartwell, though. He's always pleased when his talents are appreciated -- and I've got to give credit where it's due. I wish I could claim all this techno-wizardry, but it just wouldn't be right. I don't know if I'm responsible for even a third of the hard work -- I just keep dreaming this sh** up!

Hey Cory!

I can't imagine you even have time to dream (sleep) with your work schedule AND your other Kelly work schedule on project Hoopty?

Have fun at Carlisle, my brutha, and have a safe trip!

Jim, I can't really remember more than three times when we've sat down and drawn anything up for this entire thing. It's been a strange trip through form-follows-function as the chassis developed. Now, we're finding ourselves designing the outside to look like what the guts (ours and the Hoopty's) tell us looks right for the era we're attempting to pay homage to.
We do look to the books, from time to time, but most of this has just been tripping down the rabbit-hole. The cool thing is that everything has worked out mathematically, which is something we're being deadly serious about.
And the engine, presently, sounds like the gentle noise of dust hitting aluminum. Very relaxing, and yet nerve-wracking at the same time.

Hey TC!

That looks like something I once wore to an Oakland Raiders football game!!

OK,

HATE to say it, but you need to scrap that dash entirely and gract in one of these:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/TeamEvil/f1f039d3.jpg

Tach in the center, oil temp and pressure on either side and switches and idiot lights in the holes above.

It's from a '57 Chevy . . . who would have thought that there was SO much Audi concept car in a mid-fifties Chevy gauge plinth.

The steering column would sit perfectly in that little saddle area beneath it.

TC, damn, man!
Where were you with that 26 hours ago, when we started nibbling aluminum!?!
It is cool, though. Did you make the one in the picture, or is that an original Chevy bit? Looks like white metal to me.

..oh, TC, I forgot to ask if you're staying high-and-dry from the soaking you guys recently got from the rain?

Hope all is well!

Ditto on hoping all is well after the rains and bad weather. Is Kingston anywhere close to Easton or Lynn?

Pictured is the original Chevy piece, I'm MAYBE heading off to the local yard early next and try to grab one out of a '59 Chev. They are just as "Audi" but extend a bit more towards the passenger side. Someone mentioned that the metal dash, under the padding, on the MGB, was a pretty tasty piece as well.

Over-all we made out pretty well during the recent soaking, especially considering that Easton is just a few towns over. We're a coastal town so there were some swell-tides and the river over-flowed it's banks (the banks are reinforced with stones down to the bed) and the dam failed. But it's more of a tourist/wishing well kinda dam and fails EVERY year or so.

Everyone's yards flooded, but not the streets except for some of the ones closest to the cranberry bogs. They're really more like causeways between the bogs and holding ponds anyway, so it's expected.

Thanks much for your concern. For the most part, the coast did OK.

Some more photos. Not enough to make a new topic, but these were the also-rans from yesterday. The "dash done mirror on" picture is a little higher resolution than the one I posted earlier today (up the thread) but it's the same shot as was there this morning. I saved the image again and it updated that photo automatically. (Thanks, Theron!)

Glad you checked in, Mel! I was schooning one last time before I hit the hay. I'm going to keep the mirror for now, but since it's an accessory and there have to be 5,000 different mirror styles out there, I'm going to keep my eyes open until I find one.

I'm also looking at an artificial horizon for the passenger's side of the tach. Whaddya think?
http://ails.arc.nasa.gov/Images/Simulators/jpegs/AC96-0223-3_a.jpeg
But only until I find an AutoMeter speedo that matches the tach itself. ...

Sorry Cory, but that side mirror has to go! You need to fab-up some that looks like those rear scooooops. Not as long but as aerodynamic. Loooookin good bro...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-356-911-912-NOS-Radborn-fender-mount-mirror_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33649QQitemZ8066230817QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Think about incorporating the mirror right next to the edge, if not right on the cowling. It will keep the body clean and should match up with your door handle when you figure that one out.