I couldn't bring myself to spend five hundred bux on a notchback so..

The frame work is 1x1" thin wall square tubing, the piece between the window and the "hatch" is also fiberglass. The flat fiberglass is off an old shower, I wish both sides were smooth- at least the top side looks good though. With everything said and done this setup must weight at LEAst 25lbs. less than the stock hatch.

The glass guy had a scrap piece of smoked double pane safety glass which he cut to fit for 40bucks which I thought was pretty good deal. Theres' still some body fill/sanding to do where I added the "lip" abnove the window.





edit- pic in my sig is from before I added the second fiberglass panel and frame work, the new window actually sits at 90*

 

what the hell, do you have more pics of the car, ive never seen anything like that .Hope you like it cause it will be a point of controversy .

 

i assume you are doing it this way to make a mold right? then fiberglass a good quality one??

 

looks to me like it's not a mold, i think he actually wants to use what you see in those pictures as the notchback.... i'm curious to see what this is gonna look like...

 

The batterys died in the camera before I could take anymore pic's. I will take more when I get ready to prep and paint the car, here's something else i've been working on..


Spartyon -I don't plan on molding the pieces that are already fiberglass. I do plan on making the ?spoiler-base-plate? out of fiberglass (whatever that thing would be called). It's the white steel section at the top of the second pic. that the latch bolts on. Figure there's a few lbs. of weight to be saved there.

Just to clear things up about the interior, I do care what it looks like- just not very friggin' much LoL. I'd rather spend the time working on the exterior of the hatch, make it smoother, maybe find some trim to go around the rear window, cover the hinge area and basically make it look like it came from the factory this way.

 

is your time worth nothing

looks like you have a lot of hours in the notch
wouldn't it make sence that after time and materials you have more than 500 dollars it that thing

therefore you could have gotten a REAL nothch cheaper and it would have looked 10000000000000X better

 

I can't judge because 1. poor angle photos, 2. not finished. When its painted and what not then I'll be a ***** and says it looks bad, but right now I think it has potential to look good and come out nice. Thats alot of fab work, hopefully you finish it up well and make it look nice. I think the pride in a job well done is well worth the amount of time you put into it, but only if its well done!

 

When its painted and what not then I'll be a ***** and says it looks bad
Well it's good to see some humour carry over from April fool's day, wait.. unless you were serious.

 

interesting....gotta see the final thing all painted too though.

-chillen

 

That's what I meant. If its ugly after painted and everything, then I'll say that, but I'm not going to bash a project becuase an unfinished one looks like it could use some more work.

 

I think it looks very promising. People rush to judgement on progress pics too much... it's like you have to wait until you're 100% finished to post pics on here if you don't want to get flamed hard. Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing the final result.

Also, what do you want the front nose to look like when it's finished? I can't figure it out from the pic

 

i was not trying to flame him i just like the way real notchbacks have the hinges up top like the factory ones on the glass but if he likes it more power to him

also when its finished if i like it i will be the first to say so weather i like it moe or less than a real notch

maby a raised section down the middle would help but thats up to you

 

I'd like to see a picture from behind at an angle... kinda like the first pic but futher away

 

I actually like that design.

I'd like to see more pictures of this too.

 

I think he did a pretty good job

 

I think he needs more fiberglass.....got a ways to go.

 

I think Thats a sweet Ideal. I like how the bumper is going to look . I wanna see more pics of that. Good work man.. And anyone can just go buy parts. But when u make them the car when done will not be like anyother notch back.

 

I give you credit for stepping out of the box; I think it looks good and when its done I'm sure it will look even better. I'm also pretty interested in that bumper.

 

Thanks for the inspiration to finish this sucker and for the compliments so far. I should have some update pic's in another couple weeks, I don't get to a computer/internet that often.

The bumper now has a center inlet about 6" x 18" straight shot to the radiator, brake ducts would be nice I just don't have time for all these ideas right now as the car's scheduled for a few legs of the power tour!

Here's some more pic's of the work I've been doing (sorry not any more of the hatch). - you can see how the 'glassed bumper was made flatter and lowered about an inch...

http://www.81x.com/83fbody/Techno
http://www.81x.com/83fbody/interior

-Ben

 

Cam man u like to weld lol.. Looks good. what are the plans for the inner fenders? Like to see it when all done. What color u going to do? Do u have some kind of mold were u could make more of the bumpers. Cuz i know people would buy them. U know what would have looked pretty sweet. Were the lights filling that in so its like the 91 92 birds. And buting the turn sigals in the bumper. Just a thought

 

1983Fbody,
I hope this turns out good, because I like your idea better than the stock notchback. The factory piece is just a notch/hatch stuck on in place of the hatch, and looks the part of something that was stuck on as an afterthought. Your design, however, makes the back window part of the body which should, if done well, make the your notchback more stock looking than the stock notchback!

 

Strange. I am very curious to see progress pics!

 

I'll get some better pic's this weekend, probably won't get a chance to do any more work tho- up to my ears in other projects with the car.

 

wow, what the hell is going on under your hood! You're really going nuts on that thing. I still can't figure out how your bumper will look... I'll just have to wait for more pics.

 

Okayy folks, here's another one of the trunk... keep in mind she's unfinished-



And a pic of the frontend... looks like a pissed off fish doesn't it? lol-

 

just want to see how this turns out. on the effort!

Oh yeah, what are the headlights from?

 

'03 and newer sunfire. I like how the lights look just sitting on there, once the hood and bumper is molded around them should look nice. Maybe someone can photoshop the opening in the bumper, I'd like to see a longer, thinner openeing that's not as tall? anyone? please?

 

the notchback is looking pretty good to me. I'm not as enthusiastic about the front end. I just think the body lines are too square and sharp to get curvy or non-rectangular headlights to look right. I do think a longer thinner opening would look better though.

 

man u are the man. If that comes out good. The front does look kind differnt. I feel sorry for u have to sand all that dam fiberglass. I hate mess with that stuff. I think the front would look good with that bumper and the stock lights.

 

wow that is starting to shape up nicely...keep it up

 

I dont like the front end, looks totally out of place The notch looks alright cant wait to see it painted.

 

i personally like the front, looks kinda like a nascar in a way... not too bad, keep us posted

 

Body work is almost done, should have it painted and more pic's of the notch real soon.

 

This oughta be good.

 

What did you do to that poor thing

 

WEll, the work is utterly impressive, but I don't like the design much... At all..

That said, pretty great fabrication job.

 

I just dont see the reasoning here, you didnt want to spend 500 bux to get a factory hatch according to your first post....but you have spent at least that by now in materials, not counting the man hours.

Unless of coarse you just happened to have a 55 gallon drum of bondo laying around.

I give you a thumbs up for wanting to be different, but glad its not my car or my wallet you are using for this project.

To each his own man..............

 

I'm so interested in the notchback part of this project, the fish eye lights aren't my taste though. Good luck finishing it up.

 

 

This is one of those love or hate looks, I think. I was wondering in the beginning if this would get finished, or not. I am really wanting to see the finished project. I never knew what those ebay scoops would look like. I saw them and I wanted to get them a few times, because of how much cheaper they are than a raII hood. I wish there was a way to extend them down, or make them look a little more complete. If I knew how to fiberglass, I might just try to extend them a bit. Just mount them closer to the nose, and build back on them.

You actually have them, so what do you think about the possibility of doing that. What do they look like at the back. The difficult part would be shaping the curve on any hand made parts, and trying to keep the same angle that they have. I have never been a fan of the notchbacks, but I am a big fan of anything DIY. You should get plenty of respect for the task that you are undertaking. Do you still think you will be done by the power tour date? I don't remember when that is, but it looks like you still have a lot of work cut out for you.

What are your plans for under the hood. Are you going to shape some new fenderwells, or modify the old ones you cut out? Also, what are your plans for the car to justify the roll cage. That thing looks nice. Did you make that yourself too? Do you have any idea how much your bird will weigh after all of this? You cut out a bunch, but you added a lot too.

What wheels are those?

Your pics bring up plenty of questions as to what your plans are. Good luck finishing it up. Just make sure you keep us posted! I think a lot of us are wanting to see more.

 

This pic above by Engineboy sums it up for me. Awesome car.

 

with all of this work and the looks of the interior( basically none and a very larger roll cage with no dash) i take it this car is not for road use. great fabbing tho i take it thsi is a car for something like dirt track or highly wreckable autocross. congrats on the work.

 

I dont see why someone would devote all those hours to build something that would have the possibility of getting destroyed in under a minute. Most dirt track racers I know make their own body pannels out of cheap sheet metal and repalce the whole body on a yearly basis because of the amount of abuse they take.

Maybe he is making a show car

 

Is there anything else on this car? Any updates? I'd love to see how this thing turned out!

 

I'm scared but interested aswell.