Dallara & K24: Recovering From OffRoad Experience

Getting to a simpler resolution of the nose would be a good alternative. The simpler and clearer extension of the original forms would be cleaner and less fussy. Particularly around the headlight openings and so on.

I personally would go with less front spoiler, more like the light blue one.

Another alternative would be to make the spoiler a distinctly different part, much like your sill extensions. This is a bit of a more modern approach but would extend the conceptual direction you created with the sills. It could be a sacrificial part that could be more easily replaced and who knows, there might even be a Volvo part you could scavenge to serve the purpose🧱 A urethane or polypropylene/polyethylene part would be more resistant to the inevitable impacts with a raccoon or some other unyielding mass along the way.
 
Getting to a simpler resolution of the nose would be a good alternative. The simpler and clearer extension of the original forms would be cleaner and less fussy. Particularly around the headlight openings and so on.

I personally would go with less front spoiler, more like the light blue one.

Another alternative would be to make the spoiler a distinctly different part, much like your sill extensions. This is a bit of a more modern approach but would extend the conceptual direction you created with the sills. It could be a sacrificial part that could be more easily replaced and who knows, there might even be a Volvo part you could scavenge to serve the purpose🧱 A urethane or polypropylene/polyethylene part would be more resistant to the inevitable impacts with a raccoon or some other unyielding mass along the way.

The original has a pretty hefty spoiler - with less rake to the nose. However, I'm not sure I want that now :D


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Chopped off a good couple inches, figured I better just get on with it. I just drew a line that I felt was appropriate.

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The above view is making me think maybe '69 Camaro-esque treatment? Tuck the fenders back in on themselves?

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Taped on the piece of the spoiler I had cut off - just to get a sense of the spoiler line as it was

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Sectioned the Volvo bumper, will need a bunch of work to make it fit

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Something like this - but set back further after I cut some more away. I still have the fibreglass sections I cut from the Targa to use to rebuild the flat sections of the nose between the grille & headlamps, etc.,

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The problem is how to resolve the line of the fender ridge where it should merge with the nose & the front section

Right now it's a wide flat. No practical way to pull that fender ridge in. I'm thinking marker/directionals need to be reworked also. Big mess all over right now :D

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So I may need to cut the fender back further so I can round it into the nose, and get maybe more rake down to the spoiler, or I have to add a little back to the ridge.... I'll have to make some cardboard mockup panels

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This one has a fairly wide section outboard of the headlamp recess..

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Push the nose drop corner edge outward to meet the fender crease, I think...

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When you get to the spoiler, I would suggest mocking up a plug and pulling a mold off of it. That way if it gets damaged in the future just make a new one and bolt it on, also make the mounting points on it weak enough that if hit it will be jettisoned and not pass any damage on to the car. In our area there are speedbumps that I can't drive over at all with the Miata and it's not that low.
 
When you get to the spoiler, I would suggest mocking up a plug and pulling a mold off of it. That way if it gets damaged in the future just make a new one and bolt it on, also make the mounting points on it weak enough that if hit it will be jettisoned and not pass any damage on to the car. In our area there are speedbumps that I can't drive over at all with the Miata and it's not that low.

I like the idea of a modular unit, the problem is that the fender forward lowers merge right into it - so, either I'd have to cut off the fender 'skirt' and build a spoiler that travels across the entire front, or live with the fact that even if the middle is sacrificial, the fender corners will still be an issue. In light of that, I'm tending towards just unifying the spoiler with the fenders as it was, just to keep the lines cleaner.

"mocking up a plug and pulling a mold" - not sure how I would go about that - I will have to research a little.
 
Worked some on the nose after work - after I got a second coat of green on the house front

Cut the grille surround off what was left of the fiberglass spoiler.

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All that will be bonded together & merged into the fenders. Along with fibreglass panels around the headlamps back into the fenders

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The underside will have some reinforcement, just to keep the contour from dropping

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Sry to hear of your misfortune.... Have you given any though of constructing a foam "Buck" then just glassing over it? At the least, it would be structurally sound if merged properly. Would also give you a chance to form it to exacting dimensions before the glass is applied. Just my 2 cents.
 
Sry to hear of your misfortune.... Have you given any though of constructing a foam "Buck" then just glassing over it? At the least, it would be structurally sound if merged properly. Would also give you a chance to form it to exacting dimensions before the glass is applied. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the advice. I'm planning on using the sectioned Volvo bumper - it is way more flexible than a fibreglass panel and in the event I do damage it again, I can easily get another bumper cover :)

Today I had time to cut back & weld the left inner headlamp cover panel - 1st layer of bondo done

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Also cut back the nose corner to meet the fender crease

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2nd skim coat

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Puts some primer on it to protect the exposed metal - still have to cut back the rear edge

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Next I need to cut back & weld the outer seam.
 
One thing that would help would be getting a bit of the fustrum the original body had as the transition from the side to the front of the car. The kit you had created a lip versus allowing the front edge of the car to continue. It seems there are the two different fronts on the kits, one like the original Dallara and the other which has the protruding lip and a hard angle transition from the side to the front.

The conical fustrum was what Gandini used at the front corner of the Runabout to make the transition from the side to the front which was quite elegant.

This is like your parts were:

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These other images show the shorter nose and transition to the original front contour.

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One thing that would help would be getting a bit of the fustrum the original body had as the transition from the side to the front of the car.

The conical fustrum was what Gandini used at the front corner of the Runabout to make the transition from the side to the front which was quite elegant.

These other images show the shorter nose and transition to the original front contour.

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So, this more rounded top corner is the fustrum, correct? Had to look up the term. That may take some work to achieve. I'll have to cut back the ridge I created & see if I can round it out

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There's an Alfa Romeo logo on this X1/9 (beautifully done BTW but... ?)

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Now, an X1/9 with a Busso V6 - yes please!
 
Yes it would require a lot of work.

In a previous post you had mentioned pulling the fender sides inward or creating more of an arc on the sides to pull the front in.

By the way I do like your Camaro idea, something I have obviously never seen on an X. Creating all those finished surfaces would certainly be some work. There were some Italian cars which took that approach in the early sixties. I will see if I can find some images of them. The first generation Camaro is among my favorite American cars to look at.

The gray car does have a Busso, I will see if I can go back and find the other images of that car. Very nicely done car, not a fan of the LED headlights as they look almost stuck on, beyond that quibble it is a beautifully executed car. Ok I am not a fan of the rear deck hold downs but beyond that :)

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Simpson Design is a guy/company that modifies Miatas, there are a couple of his designs which approach the recessed grill headlights down low quite well (they are take offs of some Italian designs). His process is pretty interesting: https://www.simpsondesign.net/process not the most efficient but we all develop a way of creating and this is his.
 

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Simpson Design is a guy/company that modifies Miatas, there are a couple of his designs which approach the recessed grill headlights down low quite well (they are take offs of some Italian designs). His process is pretty interesting: https://www.simpsondesign.net/process not the most efficient but we all develop a way of creating and this is his.

Interesting read. Looks like very high level craftsmanship all around. I don't care for the overall styling in most cases - it's weird - many of the detail areas look really good - then looking at the car as a whole - not so much. I think I'll stick with the basic design as intended (no camaro nose treatment), and just get the fender/nose transitions as best I can.
 


Might not hurt to reach out to Cascu to see if they offer just the front valance... Yes?

Thanks for the links. I sold my Serpent Auto spoiler (1st link, all the red car pics are mine) to Odie :D

Greenwood can make me a replacement spoiler - the Cascu version would also need much work to remodel.

I'm just going to go with the Volvo bits. Has the upside of being flexible should I curb it.
 
Worked on the nose some after work. Cut back the left fender corner to round it off as best possible. Worked on bring the nose taper back closer to stock. Cut back & cleaned up and bonded the center nose section, after much back & forth with varying filler elements

Put tape over the mess to help see the revised corner flow

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....compared to right side

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I feel like it's moving in the right direction.

Test fitting the center section. The nose needs to flow cleanly into the vertical

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I was contemplating bonding all the center pieces together prior to bonding to the upper nose, but decided against it - still too many variables with the vertical tie pieces and the lower section, that will connect to the spoiler in either a permanent or removable fashion.

Bonded in place, with an additional thin fibreglass strip (from my targa weight reduction) cut to fill the small taper gap above the modified nose section

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The vertical line of the fender may need to be cut back on more of an angle, as it descends to the spoiler connection. I will figure that out once I get the inner verticals resolved.

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I may keep the defined separation from the nose top into the vertical area - I kinda like it
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Done for the night.

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It's like a "live" show. The sun just goes down and you already post pics of your car in the dark... You are making some progress. And at a much faster rate than myself!
 
There's an Alfa Romeo logo on this X1/9 (beautifully done BTW but... ?)
Now, an X1/9 with a Busso V6 - yes please!
Yes, lt has a 184 hp (according registration) Busso V6. It is driving in Sweden and passed MOT with the Alfa engine and breaks from Fiat 132. Unfortunately I never got a chance to see the car IRL. Maybe the owner is a member of this forum?
 
Still working on the various nose pieces. Got the spoiler plastic-welded at the center cut, grille surround bonded back together at the right tear, supported with brackets and bonded to the spoiler

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Bonded the torn fender tip back on, so I can cut most of it back off later - I need the inner edge to bond a flange to (as I did with the right, below)

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I thinking now I will try to make the spoiler/grille surround a removable element, if I can get a clean connection where the fender/spoiler meet

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put a light coat of filler to resolve the irregularities in the nose-to-vertical-panel. No practical way to maintain a perfectly even groove/ridge where the two meet as I had considered.

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Worked more on trying to cut the fender corner back to get the 'fustrum' Karl explicated. Maybe a little too hard - I popped the bond on the left. Had to clean up & rebond after this

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Looking better - you can see it's much rounder above the fender crease line, so when this is filled back in, I should have a better contour flowing into the nose

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Didn't try to seam weld this - there was no cracking on this outer side seam, I just don't want to redo this again

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Gabriel REALLY likes the plastic bag the honeycomb grille material comes in

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