Thread: New Member with questions

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Got to have something to drive.............:

thanks

Steve

There are probably more out-of-business manufacturers than there are still doing business... There are just so many companies that have made 32 and 34 bodys there is just no way to know unless someone recognizes one detail or another...

The engine mounts on your chassis look very similar to the Chassis Engineering chassis on my 32... The more photos you can post the better the chance someone might recognize a detail that gives away who the manufacturer is...

Any idea on when this project was originally started, it might give us some clues. By the looks of the chassis color and the square headlights bolted to the frame this car might have been started more than a few years ago..

Dave Brisco

Originally Posted by Texascuda

Do you know of any old kits that are not produced any longer.

Yes I'm think 5-6 yrs ago, when I get the paper work it may clear up alot of things. I get some good pics and post later, plan on get the car on jack stands to get under for pics.

Steve

Someone who knows fiberglass bodies (and that wouldnt be me) should be able to recognize the firewall in this car. It is different than most so it should be a good place to start.

Steve: The car really seems to have some generally good construction techniques on it, but I just noticed something in one picture that I think I would address if I were you. It may be just the temporary way it is set up, but the steering seems to have a lot of twists and turns in it with all those u joints. Possibly putting a rod end support in the system will make it function properly, and that may be already part of the system that just isn't installed yet in the pictures.

I've never used u joints to route steering until this car I am just building now, so I am not an expert, but I am pretty sure from everything I have seen and read that with this many u joints you need some supports in the system to carry the twisting motion and convert it into smooth straight action.

Some of the others on here will be better able to tell you about that, but I just wanted to mention it in case it was an issue. Look at the picture he posted guys, and see if you think something more needs done.

Don

Itoldyouso is right. I didnt study the picture very well and it is difficult to tell from the angle of the picture, but if you have more than two u-joints between the column and the box, you need a support to keep the u-joints from binding.

Steve, i have to agree with Don on that. you could either make a bracket and use a bearing or use a hyme joint. IMHO i would put it between the two universals..

Harmon

I look at that tonight, I'll get better pics.

Again I want to thank everyone for your help, I'm green at this but willing to learn and listen to suggestion.......

Actually, the picture you posted on page one of this thread is pretty good. I shrunk it down when I posted because it was too big and made my computer screen get out of whack. But if you look at that picture on page one it shows the angles pretty well.

I don't know if the previous owner put all those u joints in there to clear some exhaust or what, but I think he could have shortened up the first shaft (the one on the steering box, and made a smoother transition in the system. It would have also gotten that one u joint further away from the frame rail, and probably put less strain on the input bearing on the steering box.

Like a said, I certainly am no expert in u joints in steering systems, but it just seemed to me that the system has the potential for a lot of monkey motion in it set up as is. Could make for a very ill-handling and unsafe car.


Don

Well I had someone look at the steering and it should be reworked, also found out it;s Minotti body, does any have a link or phone number got Minotti?

Steve

Bingo. I knew I had seen that firewall before. Yeah, it is a Minotti body, was built right here in my backyard in Naples Florida, about 50 miles from me.

As far as I know they are out of business, but they built a great body when they were doing it from everything I heard. If that is what you have, you are lucky, as the fit and finish was supposed to be top notch. I friend of mine did fiberglass fabrication on VW parts (Stu at Creative Car Craft) He did some of the work for them on molds and stuff if I recall correctly, and he is a perfectionist. He did my firewall and dash on my '27 and the work was amazing. I think they went out of business because of factors not related to problems with the product. Everything I ever heard was very good. In fact, I think they were building the bodies too good an couldn't compete with the cheaper ones.


Glad you are getting the steering straightened out. That is real important.

Don


PS: I just called 411 and there is no listing in Naples for them anymore.

Minotti went out of buisnuess maby a year ago or so, but they were good bodies.

Thanks for trying Don, I need the grill insert so I was going to call them and ask about that. I want to make sure the insert fit the glass trim. Also I was told the chassie is TCI.

Regards,

Steve

I think there were some posts on here recently about some problems some members had with TCI welds breaking or something similar. Please don't hold me to that, but it had something to do with the way the engine mounts were afixed to the frames or something of that nature. I could be dead wrong though.

Why don't you put in a seperate thread about "Any problems with TCI chassis" or something like that, and see what you get. My memory tells me there was insufficient gusseting on the mounts, but my memory is not the best sometimes anymore.

I just want you to have all the info you can going into this thing, because you seem like you are trying to do all the right things with the car.


Don

If my memory serves me right, Minotti got their start by building the OUTLAW bodies for them. They wanted to have more control of their quality and profit margins, so they started Minotti. I do know they were on the high end of price, so you may have found a bargain on the body.

Again, I know very little when it comes to fiberglass, but Minotti was top quality. You are fortunate if it is indeed a Minotti body. Their should be minimal amount of prep work necessary before paint.

As for TCI, I never bought one of their frames, but I have fell victim to their chassis components and have replaced them with more "sturdy" competitive products. I would recommend studying the frame very well before final assembly, especially the gussets as previously mentioned. From all I have read, TCI once had a solid product. But due to high production output, they seemed to have lowered the quality rather than holding to their original concepts.

If it makes you feel any better, they have sold lots and lots of chassis. So if it were widespread, they would be out of business by now too.

Just take it slow and inspect heavily and you should be good to go.