Project Pistachio - (scratch-built) '64 Fiat 500
 

I've been wrestling with the fact that Schism, while being a great teaching tool for our interns and volunteers, doesn't quite feel like it's "mine". When I am not working with the Team, I have little interest in it, other than designing new parts to create more tasks for them. They're always the focus, not the car. Logic has been telling me to donate it back into the company, and find something I am more passionate about, but what I would do next has been the big question.

I finally made a decision. One of the Team members kept sending me videos of microcars with bike engines, and eventually I caught the bug. I settled on a Fiat 500 (the old kind), but never one to take the easy way out or do what's "normal", I also decided to just build the whole thing from scratch, body included. '64 is an arbitrary number, chosen because I always thought it would be cool to have a hot rod that was born in the same year I was. :rolleyes: It's based on our G-bucket platform, with Fiero suspension front and rear (because it's sitting on the shelf), a 900 Ninja engine, and a small AC electric motor for Prius-like hybrid drive and reverse. I have four huge blocks of foam that will become the body plug, as soon as I finish the model. I'm aiming for well under 1000lbs; like 750 of 'em, if possible.

Without further ado, I give you project "Pistachio":
http://toddperkinsdesign.com/images/...ldpics/001.jpg
http://toddperkinsdesign.com/images/...ldpics/002.jpg
The CAD renderings are rough because I am using a free (Google SketchUp) 3D model of the body to sort out the layout and forms. When I am happy with it, I will model the whole thing over, using this mesh mess as a guide. I could make the meshes render smoother but that just bogs my computer down, with no real benefit. To date: I have rolled the front and rear fascias, scaled the flares up to VW fender sizes, and shaved a bunch of crap. Those are 345-section width rear tires, compliments of our chassis and the relatively narrow bike engine! :unibrow:




The Ninja's gauge cluster looks like it was made to fit over the Honda Accord steering column. I plan to make paddle shifters which will pull cables attached to a lever on the Ninja's shifter shaft.
http://toddperkinsdesign.com/images/...ldpics/003.jpg
http://toddperkinsdesign.com/images/...ldpics/004.jpg


http://toddperkinsdesign.com/images/...ldpics/005.jpg
Hopefully, you can find Pistachio's chassis in the clutter. We're in the midst of reorganizing and all that stuff in the background is stacked and hung on the back wall, awaiting reassignment to a permanent home.

http://picasaweb.google.com/10178361...spFde1VtKvYVw#

some great ideas in this build :thumbsup:

Thanks for sharing that legend! :thumbsup: It was good to be able to compare what I'm doing to a similar idea that sticks closer to the original.

It also reinforced why I chose to do a composite body from scratch - there wouldn't be anything left, except maybe the roof shell (probably because I just haven't made it up that high in CAD yet). :willy: I've read quite a few times on major builds where very little of the original vehicle survived, and I know how far I have to go to have peace with it, so I usually just start modeling. If I had the skills, or time to learn them, I'd roll and hammer this body out of aluminum sheet, but I don't so it will be composite.

I see he has an engine start button too. I am using a Honda S2000 button, which will be mounted where the key tumbler was in the Accord column. One of the biggest design ideas that pushed me towards building this was the thought of pushing that button, hearing the little four come to life, and then pulling the paddles at 11K - like a microexotic! :woot: I am going to try a Flowmaster (original 40-series) and hope it doesn't sound like a ricer fart can. Hopefully, Flowmaster's technology will cancel the right frequencies and bounce the good ones out the back. I had a pipe on my old KZ1000 that had a warm, deep, rich, exhaust note. I ran an open pipe (no baffle) and that pipe was 4-2-1, with a very unique can shape. This is 4-1, but hopefully the Flowmaster will do the trick...

The McLaren F1 stylist built some and did the shell as a clay model from scratch, I'll go look it up

http://www.simod.co.uk/barchetta_595.htm

here ya go
http://www.simod.co.uk/barcgirls.jpg

and these guys too it a stage further
http://www.simod.co.uk/xlr8.htm

http://www.simod.co.uk/xlr8%20chassis%20grey.jpg

http://www.simod.co.uk/xlr8%20chassis%20rear.jpg

chassis looks up to the job, but I'd want a cage in something so light and fast

That's pretty cool. I like the tube chassis, but agree with you - a little more cage would be nice. I insist on it in something this small.

http://www.simod.co.uk/barcgirls.jpg

Are those girls sitting on the grass? Oh, wait....... there's a car in that picture!

1960 Bugeye
 

I still have a 1960 Austin Healey Bugeye at my parents in NW Ohio that would make a great project like this! It started out as a father/son project but then I found my Firebird. Love the idea of this build!! :thumbsup:

Thanks! :) I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I was thinking this morning that something like this has to be a blast to rip around autocross and short road courses in. IIRC, the original Mini was a formidable competition and I'll have a little more power, a little more tire... :unibrow: :yes:

sorry to be spamming your thread with stuff, but DPcars.net schemed up a bike engined mini on their DP1 chassis, looks like loads of fun

http://www.dpcars.net/dp1test/dj.htm

No problem. That's actually pretty interesting, pretty cool. That would be one helluva an old Mini. :yes: