making an Abarth replica bonnet (hood)

[murrayarnold]

Hi all.
I want to make an Arbath styly bonnet. No money for a new one, lol. I can fabricate the 2 vents at the front of the teardrops with reasonable ease. I plan to cut out the front and invert.
The dificult bit is fabricating the 2 lamp pods. I also am not sure of what donor lights are suitable as these will obviously determine the diameter.
I would start this by creating a template from heavy card until I had what i needed then transfer to sheet steel.

So thats my plan but if anyone has done simmilar or maybe has a template I could use ect I would be gratefull of the assistance. Thanks guys.

Oh one mor thing. I was thinking of fitting lights in the body either side of the grill. Any ideas for that. I have attached a photo of what I want to do for anyone not sure.

[mdrburchette]

I can't help you with your fabrication, but I'll be watching with interest. I think the Abarth Spiders are just plain mean looking!

[ga.spyder]

At a recent vintage car meet,I met a guy with a MGB/GT.He had 3 sets of running lights,plus his headlights.Having owned a B/GT and other Lucas vehicles,I asked him if he could even keep the car running with all those lights on.He said ''No .I installed 2 extra batteries in the trunk for lights''! Gotta love it.
Craig

[azygoustoyou]

You could go to a motorcycle salvage yard and get a couple headlight casings and weld them to the hood.

[manoa matt]

The original Abarth hoods were made of fiberglass, why not make it out of that. I've also been thinking about making one. I was going to use a spare 2L big bump hood as the template. Invert the front 3-4 inches of the bumps and give it a coat of wax then cover it with fiberglass resin and cloth. I'd also like to rig up a solenoid or choke cable to close a set of flaps that cover the hood openings in case it starts raining while driving.

No additional lights for mine, just the bump cut outs and the rear cowl vents if possible. I think if you want lights I'd start with a standard 5 inch round light. If you make it out of fiberglass then you can make a light housing mold from just about anything. Either make it intrigal to the hood mold, or as a seperate mold and pop rivet it on.

Here are a few additional hood pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimes_fiat/3529852362/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimes_fiat/3529041167/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigtimes_fiat/3529041169/

[kilrwail]

There are two- and four-light pods manufactured for rally cars. They typically just bolt them on, but I'm sure they could be molded in. I can't find a link for you on a quick Google search, but they're out there.

[manoa matt]

I guess one of the easiest options would be to get an extra set of headlight mounting buckets from a Spider and build the housing around that.(I've got an extra set) Whatever you fabricate must allow for some adjustment of the lights so you don't blind other drivers or get in trouble with the law.

[kilrwail]

Here's a link to the stuff I mentioned...

http://www.roadraceengineering.com/lightpodinfo.htm

[Tappy]

you can buy the headlight inserts from guy moerenhout :



or a complete fiberglas bonnet :



or one of you can buy it and use it for a mold ?

[baltobernie]

That's a wicked-looking front-end presentation, Murray!

I might go with 5-1/4" lights for the bumper to continue the theme with the hood. Six lights looks just perfect; any more you'd be confused with a Stratos ...

[bonezrx8]

Well if there was enough intrest i know a guy down in Rialto,CA that would make that fore you. he makes custom bodykita,hoods,and fender flairs. he may be in to doing something like that.