I've attached the gas shock to the door. It'll be really tight for the glass to get by, but there weren't a lot of options. The door will need to be quite a lot heavier than it is for this shock (no idea what pressure it is set at.) It closes, but it takes a lot of force to get it down! I also finished welding the rocker frame to main support structure. I'm now starting to finalize everything...so the car should start to look like progress is being made soon....
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 11-30-2024).]
Thanks Glenn. I started to add some support structure to the top of the hinge frame. That made a huge difference. There is very little movement in the door now!... It feels very solid to the touch.
My new rims are in! They are staggered. Fronts are 19" x 8.5" (15 offset). Rears are 20" x 10" (35 offset). 5x100 bolt pattern.
I plan to use 245 / 35 R 19 tires on the front and 295 / 30 R 20 in the rear. Most likely Pirelli PZeros. They will of course be used with a wide track suspense designed specifically for them.
Great build, one of my favourites I can see why you got a new welder
I love those rims with 5X100 bolt pattern, also great idea with front being 15 offset that will make it a wider track, you're making me think to copy? RBS2 rims are out of date As an option you can get the rear rims made wider at http://www.greensautomotive...and_refinishing.html but I'm sure there's someone out east too?
Great build, one of my favourites I can see why you got a new welder
I love those rims with 5X100 bolt pattern, also great idea with front being 15 offset that will make it a wider track, you're making me think to copy? RBS2 rims are out of date As an option you can get the rear rims made wider at http://www.greensautomotive...and_refinishing.html but I'm sure there's someone out east too?
I appreciate that. Your build is definitely my favorite. RBS2 is an amazing looking car! It has always been my inspiration. I hope to be able to something completely custom like that one day. Mine will always just be a replica....but RBS2 is something unique and special.
Thanks for the link. I've always feared getting that inevitable curb rub on the rims. At least now I know there is an option! I'll look around and see if there is something nearby that does similar work.
All I can say is WOW!!! Looks great. Need to see some finished pics though. I pulled the homemade plywood console out of mine today. The stock ECM is gone and the harness is cut up. Pretty sure that is gonna condemn my 4.9 to be fed by a carb. Gonna drop the cradle out, clean everything up and go from there. Great thread!!!
All I can say is WOW!!! Looks great. Need to see some finished pics though. I pulled the homemade plywood console out of mine today. The stock ECM is gone and the harness is cut up. Pretty sure that is gonna condemn my 4.9 to be fed by a carb. Gonna drop the cradle out, clean everything up and go from there. Great thread!!!
Thanks! It'll be a while for the "finished" pics, lol. But I do try for updates every few days.
Homemade plywood console? If love to see a pic of that!
The door hinge design is working well, but I may have to adjust the angle a little further to eliminate any chance of interference. Of course, changing the angle won't be easy...I'll not only have to turn the bearing assembly, I'll also have make a complete new hinge and move the gas shock. I'm going to hold off a bit, just to see if I can get away without the adjustment.
Now that I have a good hinge design (even if it needs a slight adjustment) I wanted to see if I could get the front end framing (fenders & front bumper) lined up properly. As you can see in the 2nd and 3rd pictures below, the side framing of the front bumper sits out a few inches too far on both sides. The framing originally was created to fit the fiberglass bumper cover as it sat. Without everything put together, it's tough to know the exact shape panels should be. I'll have to cut the framing on both sides and bend it in to match the fenders. The fiberglass bumper is quite rigid, so I'll likely have to make some cuts along the bottom to allow it to be formed to the frame shape.
The hood is going to need some work to make it fit properly. As you can see below, there is a big gap between it and the fender while the hood is sitting in place. For initial alignment, I have the forward corners of the hood clamped to the corners of the fenders. Unfortunately the lines of the hood don't line up with the lines of the bumper. This is the only panel that has really been off to the point that it needs to be cut and reworked.
...of course all this work will have to wait for a while....I'm off to lay on the beach in Cuba for the week....
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 11-30-2024).]
Damn...that is off quite a bit..... Is it possible that the fender is pushed out a little to far? I dont recall if mine fit or not... its been a while since I had the nose on.
Worst case, you could cut a slot into the hood and then angle the outer lip to the right position and then fill in the "V" with fiberglass. This will make the edge stronger then if you just added material onto the edge... I am still working on the inner panel that I am making over from scratch to fit the OEM grills...
Damn...that is off quite a bit..... Is it possible that the fender is pushed out a little to far? I dont recall if mine fit or not... its been a while since I had the nose on.
Worst case, you could cut a slot into the hood and then angle the outer lip to the right position and then fill in the "V" with fiberglass. This will make the edge stronger then if you just added material onto the edge... I am still working on the inner panel that I am making over from scratch to fit the OEM grills...
That was the plan. First I'll make absolutely sure that the fenders are located in the optimum position then I'll cut a slot allowing it to expand out at the top edge. I'll also be making a hood frame to ensure rigidity and alignment.
Now that I'm all rested from my trip down south, time to get back to work. I walked into the garage, and the first thought was .... It took a few minutes of staring to get my thoughts in line.
I started by adjusting the frame width for the front bumper and then tweeking the alignment. This helped bring the hood edges in line a little bit. I'll still need to cut and rework the hood shape somewhat to ensure it is gapped properly.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 11-30-2024).]
I didn't see you mention where the body came from, I was wondering, since that is some nasty looking parts, I'd be very embaresed if I turned out parts that looked like that, You get a + for the level of effort your putting to make something of it.
I didn't see you mention where the body came from, I was wondering, since that is some nasty looking parts, I'd be very embaresed if I turned out parts that looked like that, You get a + for the level of effort your putting to make something of it.
Joe
The kit car industry is full of fraudulent companies. In actuality there are very few places where you can get really good replicas. If you are looking for finished bolt on panels then you'll be looking for an awfully long time and should be prepared to pay an extremely high price. This kit is actually very good and has much more detail than is commonly seen. However, the method of manufacturing the panels involved CNC cut foam sheets and so you end up with imperfections. I'm fine with that since doing body work isn't a problem and I'm happy to pay much less. Don't forget....this is a replica of a currently produced Lamborghini. They have shut down several companies for manufacturing their cars so it's almost impossible to find body kits for Aventadors. For this reason I won't tell you the name of the company but you can find them on the internet if you look long enough.
Yeah, I'm very familiar with the kit car industry, as a former builder of a very high quality Countach, I know the ups and downs...
A good example, my next door neighbor got a wild hair to build a Cobra, after much research he chose a kit, I warned him to not pay all up front, he didn't listen, got a very incomplete kit on delivery, then the company, Classic Roadsters went out of biz...
I prepped and painted the front bumper framing. There are still a number of fender supports that will need to be welded to it, but the bumper molding will have to be in place so I can get the alignment correct. I should also take a little time to detail the area below the windshield...
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]
I welded together the first part of the passenger side door hinge support (it's just sitting in place in the pic below). I still need to finish welding the passenger side rocker framing into place as well.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]
Got the passenger side rocker framing welded into place and also the main door hinge support. I'll next add cross braces to stiffen the support and begin to put together the actual hinge.
Something has been bugging me for a while... Looking at the passenger side A pillar, I noticed that the angle of the small forward glass didn't match the driver's side... It was significantly off. It took me a while to find where the problem was and I finally decided to remove the old A pillar support and installed a new one. It is within 1° of the driver's side now. Much better.
I finally started working on the passenger's side door hinge. Only managed to get a few pieces put together today, but I'll see if I can get it finished tomorrow.
1° .... come on you can do better then that! ha ha You should be getting close to finishing all the frame bracing soon. I am going to have to get you back over here to help me get mine moving.... seems like I have 50 million other things to do first... Hopefully soon I can get back to it...
1° .... come on you can do better then that! ha ha You should be getting close to finishing all the frame bracing soon. I am going to have to get you back over here to help me get mine moving.... seems like I have 50 million other things to do first... Hopefully soon I can get back to it...
Once I get this last hinge done I think the rest of the framing should go a little faster. All the little adjustments I keep making definitely slow me down. Of course you never notice something is off until the next section is completed...then you get a new point to use as a reference, and you find out the original reference point wasn't enough. You were smart using a tube frame chassis! That will make your build so much easier. I'll definitely be back down for another visit.... I have to steal that Pocher kit you just finished!!!
...ok, life took over for the last few days. The boss had me running around doing chores all weekend. ...combined with a bad cold, I really wasn't overly inspired.
So, the passenger side hinge really hasn't progressed much beyond the cross piece that goes between the two bearings, and the first angled piece.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]
I finally got the holes drilled for the pillow blocks and then aligned and welded the passenger side plate into position. I also cut the driver side plate off its support structure and realigned it. When I had originally aligned it I was really more focusing on getting the plate at as high an angle as I could while remaining centered on the plate support structure. Of course, this ended up with a maximum angle of about 10° (since the fender gets in the way of the plate when it sits at an angle). Looking at the car from the front I had a little voice in my head telling me that the door was too vertical. It had never occurred to me that I could offset the plate towards the center of the car and then add some additional support. This jumped out at me while I was installing the passenger side plate. This extra offset enabled me to reach the desired angle of ~20°. This should make the door swing out sufficiently so that the door glass doesn't make contact with the roof "lip" that is just above the door as the door opens. The downside is a slightly more complicated hinge to account for the offset, but that's a small price to pay for a door that works properly.
Today I added braces to both door hinge support plates. Now that the hinges supports are finished I've started to work on the front fender supports. These run from the door surrounds to the front bumper and provide a surface for the fenders to sit securely on (not shown in picture). The fenders will most likely be attached to the supports with screws so that the panels can be removed as required.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]
The first fender support is in place. It's a compound curve, with the end shaped to go around the headlight. The fenders are quite stiff so I likely won't need too much more fender framing other than securing the fender support near the middle to ensure no deflection or vibration.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]
The main inside fender supports for both sides are now complete (driver's side is seen in the previous pic). The next step is to tie these to the front bumper supports just forward of the front tires. Unfortunately I was sick all weekend so I wasn't able to get that started. Today I also took some time to start lining up the rear bumper and rear quarter panels. I'm not quite ready to build the rear framing, but I wanted to get the panels in place so I can start planning it.
I added the first transverse fender support. This ensures the main fender support is properly stiffened and sets up a great spot to connect on outer fender support that will run back to the door hinge, providing an additional stiffener. The downside is even something as simple at that little transverse support takes me about two hours to make and put in place. Good thing I'm not is a rush to finish this build.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]
Today was a little bit more productive. I finished the passenger side transverse fender support, and then started work on the driver's side outer fender support. In addition to supporting the fender, it also provides additional structural support to the door hinge plate.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]
Front fender supports are more or less complete. Just need to finish a small link above the hinge plates that will complete the securing structure. I'll also use that to mount a rubber stopper that will limit the travel of the door hinge before it makes contact with the fender.
I still need to build a trunk and some isolation panels to go below the lights to keep rocks, water, debris, etc from damaging them.
The hood mostly lines up now, just some minor adjustments to be made. The outsides of the front bumper molding still need to be drawn in to match the bumper framing.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]
I did a fair bit of work today setting up the rear bumper and quarter panels. I ran into a small problem with the passenger side quarter panel. No matter what I did, it just wouldn't line up. After some measurements, I discovered that the roof line at the rear of the passenger side was about 0.5" higher than the driver side. This likely happened when I was going through the longitudinal alignment issues of the roof several months ago. I really wasn't paying much attention to the height as I was getting the roof back in place. The slight increase in height is almost unnoticeable, but clearly had a huge impact on the rear quarter panels. I've now removed the roof panel and realigned the framing. I put everything back together and confirmed that the alignment is corrected. Then I decided to remove the roof panel again.... I realized that there are a lot of little tasks that really should be done with the roof off (such as setting up the seat belts and framing for the rear glass, etc), and although I really wasn't in the mood to work on any of them right now, this is probably the last time the roof panel will be able to be removed.
I finished all necessary work with the roof removed. With the roof put back in place I started the framework for the rear end. The first step was to get all the panels aligned. This time everything went together easily which was nice to see. Next, I'll build up the frames under each panel to ensure they stay in position and aligned. I will have to separate some panels that were molded together as a single piece. They could be left together, but I would like the panels to appear separated as they do on the real car. Also, a portion of the bumper molding needs to be removed and fiberglassed to the rear fenders.
Here are some pictures to show how things are coming together.
[This message has been edited by Neils88 (edited 12-01-2024).]
I also finished welding the rocker frame to main support structure. 
I'm now starting to finalize everything...so the car should start to look like progress is being made soon.... 
It feels very solid to the touch.
I can see why you got a new welder 
to copy?
It took a few minutes of staring to get my thoughts in line.
You were smart using a tube frame chassis! That will make your build so much easier. I'll definitely be back down for another visit.... I have to steal that Pocher kit you just finished!!! 
Good thing I'm not is a rush to finish this build. 
