Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#181

Post by Indy510 » Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:14 pm

While changing the wiper cowl area, I chopped the front of the roof a 1/2" to get rid of the reverse rake roof line. I still hate the c-pillars, but that will get fixed later:

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Then I took the body back off:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#182

Post by Indy510 » Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:22 pm

I made two identical plywood shapes that fit the door skins, then clamped them together to start making door jambs:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#183

Post by Indy510 » Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:25 pm

Then I made some wheel tubs that connect the 510 skin to the miata-outline frame:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#184

Post by Indy510 » Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:30 pm

Below the doors is a 1.5x0.75" square tube rocker panel, which helped make the side of the car straight. Then I used an on-sale Eastwood dimple die set to make this filler piece:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#185

Post by Indy510 » Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:35 pm

The old trunk lid I made was never going to look right, so I traded some of my last Datsun parts for another trunk lid, with a poorly shaved lock hole:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#186

Post by Indy510 » Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:40 pm

This time, I clamped the trunk to my welding table and made sure everything was flat when I welded it:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#187

Post by Indy510 » Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:43 pm

Now that I had a trunk with the stock shape and curve, I could start building the widened futo-fab window frame:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#188

Post by Indy510 » Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:48 pm

These two pieces started out as a flat angle bend... then I shrunk them both ways until they fit the shape of the window frame:

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More dimples... I should have used a smaller hole saw, but all I had was the 1-1/2" one I got for the roll cage:

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Last edited by Indy510 on Tue Jan 07, 2020 3:05 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#189

Post by Indy510 » Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:53 pm

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And it fits:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#190

Post by wayno » Tue Jan 07, 2020 4:16 pm

That is the most positive rep I ever gave anyone in my life, talk about customizing, you building a whole new car from scratch almost.
I might have messed up and hit what I thought was positive rep but it may have turned into negative rep, sorry I didn't mean to do that.
“The difference between genius and stupidly is that genius has its limits” Albert Einstein

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#191

Post by DRIVEN » Tue Jan 07, 2020 4:43 pm

This car is still ridiculous and I still really, really like it. Your fab work has really improved over the years. Great work!
When the only tool you have is a hammer every problem starts to look like a hippy.

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#192

Post by Taterhead » Fri Jan 10, 2020 10:59 am

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#193

Post by Indy510 » Thu Feb 06, 2020 11:56 pm

Haha. Thanks everyone.

I cut off the c-pillars last month. They were never going to look 'right'. I think my mistake last time was not having all the body panels mocked up. So, this time everything is still on the Miata:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#194

Post by Indy510 » Fri Feb 07, 2020 12:01 am

I started with a lightly shrunk 20ag angle at the top, to match the roof's curve:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#195

Post by Indy510 » Fri Feb 07, 2020 12:03 am

It still didn't look 'right', so I leaned the other pillar even farther forward:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#196

Post by Indy510 » Fri Feb 07, 2020 12:10 am

I basically finished both sides, but each pillar was 5 separate pieces of metal and had almost no patina left. So, I made a template off the best one:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#197

Post by Indy510 » Fri Feb 07, 2020 12:16 am

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#198

Post by Indy510 » Fri Feb 07, 2020 12:17 am

The first two bends were easy on my super cheap folding brake, but the reverse bend was done clamped to a table -- using a soft hammer:

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Last edited by Indy510 on Fri Feb 07, 2020 1:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#199

Post by Indy510 » Fri Feb 07, 2020 12:20 am

Then I used the same hammer and a sandbag to curve to the flat part:

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Re: Really Ratty Rusty Ruby 510/miata

#200

Post by Indy510 » Fri Feb 07, 2020 12:25 am

But I got carried away English wheeling the hammer marks and made a compound curve where there shouldn't be one:

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