tiny...aka 1958 lloyd

[69.5CUDA]

yeah now scrap 1000lbs off of those #'s(or more)..what was it 1tenth in the 1/4 for every 100lbs?

finished pre-braceing the car and was able to cut it off the jig..talk about a fearfull moment..if the braceing wasnt good i was in for a world of problems....started at the back and cut my way forward....the rear didnt moove..i was happy..the middle sproinged up 1/2 inch...hmmm it was forceing the rear down..second mid 3/4 inch and up went the tail even more..cut the far fronts off and it too went up 2 inches..car not fully level but within 1/2 inch front to rear much of wich i suspect is the factory rake and the sheer amount of material removed from the rear of the car

next step of fear time to jack it up to pull the jig out....i belive the car is actualy just as stiff or a lil stiffer than it was befor i started all of this..no need to fear it stayed stiff and square FAR better than i had even hoped

99.8% of the fat has been trimmed...some of the rocker panels are still needing to be cut but will be replaced with boxed steel anyway..and a little bit of the front floors around the rockers is comeing out

monday im rolling it up onto the trailer and running it down to the 5$ scales and see what she currently weighs in at so i can put my ideal weight hopes and fears to rest

rolled it out to clean the shop floor and re-presurewash the newly exposed aareas in hopes of staying cleaner and keeping the floor cleaner LOL.....rolls and steers soooooooooooo simply

while plasmaing the front innerfender/firewall posts i got a HUGE back blast from the plasmacutter....lets just say my middle 2 fingers are burnt pretty bad...the cold air outside kept em from hurting...now that im inside its like there litteraly on fire and swelling nicely...ive gotten back blasts befor but not this badly..i was down in the very bottom corner and the only direction the blast could go was back at me

78 inches of wheel base and under 10 foot in TOTAL length....tonight or tomaro ill start dissasembling the lloyd body and start figureing out how im hanging it and where i can and need re-enforcement for the body

im 99% positive that i WILL be widening the fender line the full length of the lloyd 2 inches on each side ..2 reasons..first off to keep me from needing HUGE flares second i think a lil bit of fat fender look would do wonders for the body lines.....only hard part will be sliceing the doors

 

[a12bee]

You've already chopped it _and_ welded it back together?

 

[69.5CUDA]

ohh yeah...i did it that fast probably a total of 8-12 hours total into the FULL dissasembly cut, weld, re-enforce, ..even the jig itself...probably had a good few hours of that just sitting back and stareing at it plotting my next move

unlike most guys who have to plot it all out in cad then re-work and check the design multiple times...i shoot from the hip and use the image in my brain.......measure from all angles cut, re-mesure, weld, remesure, re-enforce, and make mor mesurements during the re-enforcement to make sure nothing has shifted

its funny i have this sneaky hunch i make this look WAY easyer than it probably is...the way i see it its just a 1:1 scale model and ive done this stuff toooooooo many times in 24/25th scale ...wich i find its actualy HARDER in plastic..hmmm?

walked around it checking measurments tonight after presurewashing it...its EXACTLY 78 inch wheel base(exact lloyd size within 5mm)..total lenght from end to end is 10 foot on the dot...the match fit to the lloyd is spot on even tho the lloyd is 11 foot end to end..i just need to add 1 foot of trunk space to the milly framework....

a little look back..i measured the milly from upper front door hinge to the rear door striker post mount ..came out at 71.5 inches...soo on my white board i put down 51.5...what did it come out at after welding and re-enforceing...51.5...every measurement i did befor even moveing the milly into the shop stated that the engine and wheel and suspension locations would be close to perfect fit for the lloyd once cut.(only issue was posible rad space).......ive got 1 issue to fix and thats i forgot to compensate for the clutch bellhouse on the transaxle, the unibody around it needs to be cut out and re-done in a lower profile thicker steel or im going to have some HUGE seat issues

the proof is in the pic dates wich the digi cam puts on every pic

 

[68R/T]

I found some info on the Lloyds and a slew of other microcars here;

http://www.microcarmuseum.com/tour/lloyd-alexander-kombi.html

 

[69.5CUDA]

yeah one of the few museums id love to walk thru..been thru there web site a few times

anyway..not much done today...well nothing worth much...
fully dissassembled the lloyd body and hung some of it from the ceiling and did a loose mock up to help the mental imaging.....still planin on loading the ?frame? up on the trailer and scaleing it tomaro

 

[69.5CUDA]

well a lil more mock up...was going to hit the scales but forgot its a holidy :wtf:

anyway i mocked up the "fat fender" look that i think i will follow thru with..2 inch extension of the main fenders..but ill have to do some thinking on the door hinges i think

 

[jodaddy1]

yo with all the fabing you're doing make this part easy. Split the lloyd down the middle and widden the sheet metal don't mess with the doors or jams. looks great so far. so where you gona put the 4cyl chrysler motor at??:toot:

 

[69.5CUDA]

i had considered widening the body..but frankly dont like the idea much..still may widen it a lil but i think i likt the "fat fender" look better...had to go get me a pair of plumb bobs so i can start acurately positioning some of the body

 

[69.5CUDA]

well without a welder im pretty much stalled till i replce it or get lucky and find parts.

i did however sell a trans and bits(mopar 4spd) to a friend and triped over a 3rd spare 58 ford grill that gave me an idea..fliped over its got the lines to look good...im not sold on useing it just yet but its growing on me very fast..and has the shape that i had planed on opening the fenders up to anyway....still would get frenched in like a 49 merc tho...obviously it would need to get trimmed WAY down in higth but thats no big deal

and no thats NOT rust its just dirt..the grill is aluminum and is coated with the same bright stuff ma mopar used...needless to say it shines right up like new...try to imagine it cut off at the top of the bumper line

 

[69.5CUDA]

in my run to the wrecker last week i found that im limited to 3 hood styles under 100$..now if im willing to pay more ive got a MUCH wider search out of allamericanclassics

localy i can get either this 49-54? chevy pu hood for 50$

this international style hood for 55$

or for 100$ i can get this style 54? caddy hood

OBVIOUSLY none of these hoods will fit and will all need to be choped channeled sectioned rolled ect, ect, ect, ect...but they all give the basic lines that i want...idealy a 49 merc hood is where i would start..but im afraid to know what all american wants for one

 

[a12bee]

That grille would look good.

 

[mr340]

That Caddy hood is bigger than the Lloyd!!!!

 

[69.5CUDA]

true but its the lines im after more than anything

unless someone wants to send me an english wheel for xmas

 

[thecarfarmer]

I've always maintained that the US car companies can build good cars.

But we're not the only ones.

That little car's a keeper!

we love to think our old iron was built VERY well ..and it was to some standard..but ive never seen such craftsmanship on an amreican car..EVERY panel was painted first then assembled..even some cover plateing skin work was made just to cover black painted areas with body colered panels...

 

[69.5CUDA]

lil updateing......with the holidays and WAITING for xmas presents that im 90% positive my wife bought that i NEED as well as shopping its been SLOW cold work

anyway i choped out ALL 4 of the wheel wells and have played with re-placeing them in better locations...i have also made some better mounting tabs off of the alfa chassis to the lloyd body and the body is 100% square on the chassis and firmly mounted in a few spot(all bolted)

in a min i will get and post some pic's of the 4 inch widening im woking with

 

[69.5CUDA]

and heres how it sits right now....let me know what you guys think of the 4 inch widened fender size...personaly i think it makes it look MUCH more late 40's early 50's

 

[69.5CUDA]

and 2 last shots to get the feel

 

[a12bee]

You put 4" to each side? Have you been keeping track of your hours? For the fun of it.

 

[69.5CUDA]

You put 4" to each side? Have you been keeping track of your hours? For the fun of it.

keep track of hours...uhh..no..but im sure the hours arnt that high

 

[a12bee]

No, you seem to move pretty fast.