75 Spider West Coast Tour - DIY Spider Bits

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Andyblahblah
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Your car is a: 1975 Spider

75 Spider West Coast Tour - DIY Spider Bits

Postby Andyblahblah » Wed Apr 13, 2016 4:35 pm

Hi All,

This is probably going to be a weird thread, so my apologies beforehand. I'm leading a pretty cool project this summer, which will result in a tour from San Diego to Seattle in a 1975 Spider that (fingers crossed) will be sporting some 3D printed and 3D designed upgrades.

(TLDR: Teach high school kids 3D modeling and greasy car stuff to get a 124 ready for a big road trip. Or the other way round)

To start, I work for a company called Autodesk - specifically with a free product called Tinkercad - http://www.tinkercad.com . This isn't product placement, but...Tinkercad is a browser-based 3D modeling software that's super simple and easy to use for non-engineers who just need to make a thing, either for 3D printing or even some manual processes (stay tuned). I'm always trying to use the technology in weird ways, which I think make the opportunities of 3D printing more available to people who need it, but don't know it. We've seen thousands of 3D printed tchotchkes or non-functional parts the last couple of years, but my professional and wrenching lives have been pretty mutually exclusive - unless you count my commute. A few months ago, I came across a post on the FS forum where someone was 3D printing some bits like a seat belt hoop and got me to thinking...

(last year: https://blog.tinkercad.com/category/tinkertour/)

I managed to get ahold of a 75 Spider a few months ago after a couple unsuccessful attempts. It's a (mostly) runner, bad paint and tires, needs body work and interior, etc... The PO did some creative bumper 'repair' and ruined the original bars, now the turn signals are hanging by their wires, the grills are gone and the center console is AWOL. As you all know, most of these bits are available from eBay or within the community and I'll certainly be hitting them up. But, theres an opportunity for customization in a few places and I suspect it's possible to use the products I work with.

My friend and shop-mate is a teacher at a local high school and they have a 'class without walls' program where the students can get out and do stuff in the community to get some different life experiences. Fortunately, most of them were completely stoked when he asked if they had any interest in helping out with an Italian sportscar - which was only a little misleading :) So we met with the kids and had a brainstorming/ideation session to look past the paint and tires to figure out how to maximize the road trip essentials - snacks, storage, tunes and a navigator - by customizing the design.

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(not Tinkercad, but first attempt at visualizing it)

They had some great ideas, including hidden usb ports, some body mods like bumper eliminators and even some creature comfort modifications like LED interior lights and drink holders. Here’s some snaps from the first day.

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Over the next few months, I'll be working on the Fiat with the help of the kids. I even told them the extent to which I was going to exploit their free labor and they didn't balk. In addition to the design and mods, they're anxious to get busy sanding, painting, learning electrics, tuning, and other upgrades.

The main projects will be 3D printed turn signal bezels that have some tricky electronics, radiator grills that are water-jetted with custom designs, hood and trunk badges with custom logos and fully custom center console, with phone holder and USB ports. The center console is going to be the interesting one. I am about 78% confident that I can create a 3D model, laser cut cardboard slices and stack them as a buck and use it to cast fiberglass. 78% confident. Here's a similar project we did a few years ago: http://www.instructables.com/id/Carbon- ... -Techshop/

The current plan is on July 18, my friend, the teacher, and I take off. I'm going to ship the car to San Diego (from San Francisco) and cross our fingers as we hop from city to city up the coast doing workshops on the products that we use on the car. I'd like to meet up with some other Spider folks along the way, and I'm working with a couple of dealerships to maybe have a meetup to check out the 2017 version. I know the campout in Bend, OR is around that time, I'm hoping to be in the area by then.

If you all have suggestions or must-stops along the way, please let me know. I'd love to answer questions about 3D design/printing or set up an impromptu slalom course somewhere along the way. I'll be posting updates regularly here, but it'll be a bit of slow going until mid/late May, when we start a full time push of work on the car.

Stories like this seem to work best with a beginning, so here's the car as I picked it up.

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And here's the first project - I modeled the front seat mounts in Tinkercad. I might have done this with a pencil and paper, but it's nice to see all the cuts you need to make in real time.

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Last edited by Andyblahblah on Thu Jun 02, 2016 2:06 am, edited 10 times in total.
1975 Fiat Spider
1978 Fiat 128 2D Sedan
1964 GMC Handi-Van
2003 Toyota Tacoma
A bunch o motorcycles

baltobernie
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Re: 75 Spider West Coast tour AKA: I love my job

Postby baltobernie » Wed Apr 13, 2016 5:12 pm

Good luck with your project! It's great that you can get young people interested in our old cars.

You've set a pretty aggressive time budget. Will you be going over the mechanical and electrical bits while the artistic stuff is going on?

I'll be driving in the other direction in August :D

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Andyblahblah
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Your car is a: 1975 Spider

Re: 75 Spider West Coast tour AKA: I love my job

Postby Andyblahblah » Wed Apr 13, 2016 5:56 pm

Thanks Bernie

Don't remind me re. time, I'm already a little nervous. I've done a shakedown of the car already on my own, new fuel pump, some wiring corrections, etc.. I think it's a manageable project, will just require some late nights on my part. I'll use any excuse to stay in the shop, and some of my wrenching friends will jump in and do some dirty work.
1975 Fiat Spider
1978 Fiat 128 2D Sedan
1964 GMC Handi-Van
2003 Toyota Tacoma
A bunch o motorcycles

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lglade
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Re: 75 Spider West Coast tour AKA: I love my job

Postby lglade » Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:27 pm

Let me know when you'll be in Seattle. I live just 15 minutes north of downtown.
Lloyd Glade- Mukilteo, WA
1984 Pininfarina Spider Azzurra
1962 Fiat 500D - wife's car
2015 Subaru Outback
2017 Ford Focus RS

narfire
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Your car is a: 1980 124 spider
Location: Naramata B.C.

Re: 75 Spider West Coast tour AKA: I love my job

Postby narfire » Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:35 pm

Bring your passport. Lots of cheap stuff in Canada now.....Great Fiat roads on Vancouver Island....
Chris
80 FI spider
72 work in progress
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klweimer
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Your car is a: 1982 Spider 2000
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Re: 75 Spider West Coast tour AKA: I love my job

Postby klweimer » Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:49 pm

Good luck with your project. Can I come work for Autodesk and drive around in old cars? Engineers are all familiar with Autodesk, makers of AutoCad, the first CAD package most of us ever used. I was actually a big fan of AutoSketch. I think it's great to get kids involved with anything that involves working with your hands. This is a great forum, with lots of good advice, and even more opinions...:D Keep us posted.
Kirk

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Andyblahblah
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Re: 75 Spider West Coast tour AKA: I love my job

Postby Andyblahblah » Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:59 pm

narfire wrote:Bring your passport. Lots of cheap stuff in Canada now.....Great Fiat roads on Vancouver Island....
Chris


Heh, we actually talked about starting in Tijuana and going to Vancouver -though I don't think we'd make it to the second stop if we did that.
1975 Fiat Spider
1978 Fiat 128 2D Sedan
1964 GMC Handi-Van
2003 Toyota Tacoma
A bunch o motorcycles

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Andyblahblah
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Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2014 11:32 pm
Your car is a: 1975 Spider

Re: 75 Spider West Coast tour AKA: I love my job

Postby Andyblahblah » Wed Apr 13, 2016 8:02 pm

lglade wrote:Let me know when you'll be in Seattle. I live just 15 minutes north of downtown.

Sweet - my wife and I were just there this weekend to look for a place - we're moving up next month!
I'll still work in SF, so will be back a lot over the next few months.
1975 Fiat Spider
1978 Fiat 128 2D Sedan
1964 GMC Handi-Van
2003 Toyota Tacoma
A bunch o motorcycles

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Andyblahblah
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Your car is a: 1975 Spider

Re: 75 Spider West Coast tour AKA: I love my job

Postby Andyblahblah » Mon Apr 18, 2016 5:09 pm

We had our first full work day this past weekend, got a lot done.

The PO didn't do me or the wheels any favors by sloshing on some red paint, so I set up a small blast booth and took them back down to the bare metal - I'll dress up them later. We also started stripping trim and chrome to start sanding. The body work is going to be a project, but it's looking pretty good so far. Long way to go, though.

I also started taking measurements for the digital fabrication part, I should start modeling things this week.

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Last edited by Andyblahblah on Tue Apr 19, 2016 3:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1975 Fiat Spider
1978 Fiat 128 2D Sedan
1964 GMC Handi-Van
2003 Toyota Tacoma
A bunch o motorcycles

pwilliam
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Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2012 4:30 pm
Your car is a: 1972 124 Sport Spider

Re: 75 Spider West Coast tour AKA: I love my job

Postby pwilliam » Tue Apr 19, 2016 12:41 am

I live in SF and work for an architecture firm in FIDI, a few blocks from Autodesk. I'm on the corner of Battery and California. Let me know if you need a hand! I drove my '79 cross country from Rhode Island almost 2 years ago.

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Andyblahblah
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Your car is a: 1975 Spider

Re: 75 Spider West Coast tour AKA: I love my job

Postby Andyblahblah » Tue Apr 19, 2016 4:05 pm

Nice - that makes me feel better.

I'm going to have a big build day on Treasure Island in mid-May and have a gang over to help with little bits after painting. The more hands the merrier, at the very least come show off your 79. Funny enough, 2 separate Spider owners have stopped by to say hi in the last couple weeks.
1975 Fiat Spider
1978 Fiat 128 2D Sedan
1964 GMC Handi-Van
2003 Toyota Tacoma
A bunch o motorcycles

pwilliam
Posts: 174
Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2012 4:30 pm
Your car is a: 1972 124 Sport Spider

Re: 75 Spider West Coast tour AKA: I love my job

Postby pwilliam » Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:02 pm

Yes, it should make you feel a lot better. I did it in nine days with an untrue drive shaft, broken motor mount, a misalignment for 1k miles, and a fried alternator for two days. Seriously, if my car made it - probably almost anyone's can =)

I may not be showing my '79 off, but perhaps a '72 - fingers crossed. The '79 is becoming rust laden, sadly - however the interior is gorgeous.

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Andyblahblah
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Your car is a: 1975 Spider

Re: 75 Spider West Coast Tour - DIY Spider Bits

Postby Andyblahblah » Thu Jun 02, 2016 2:26 am

After many many many hours of sanding and body work with the kids, I was able to get a few coats of Oxygen Blue on the Fiat. A little more green than I expected, but I think it's going to look good. It's always so nice to hit a big milestone like this after slogging away and hating your past self for getting you into such a dumb project... again.

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Sooo glad I left the top white.

I'm also working with the folks on the Fusion 360 team to design a center console with the custom bits. I should be able to laser-cut the cardboard for the fiberglass buck in the next couple of weeks. More to come.
1975 Fiat Spider
1978 Fiat 128 2D Sedan
1964 GMC Handi-Van
2003 Toyota Tacoma
A bunch o motorcycles

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joelittel
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Re: 75 Spider West Coast Tour - DIY Spider Bits

Postby joelittel » Thu Jun 02, 2016 9:53 am

Looking good.

Sorry if this was previously mentioned but where did you get the 3d model of the Spider?

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Andyblahblah
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Re: 75 Spider West Coast Tour - DIY Spider Bits

Postby Andyblahblah » Thu Jun 02, 2016 8:30 pm

There's a company called TurboSquid that cranks out 3D models of everything. I saw it in their gallery and couldn't resist.

Here are the OBJ files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/a6tt25u68hanq4d/Fiat%20124%20Spider%20Collection-Files%20OBJ.rar?dl=0
1975 Fiat Spider
1978 Fiat 128 2D Sedan
1964 GMC Handi-Van
2003 Toyota Tacoma
A bunch o motorcycles


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