Need advice re: Crosley (Page 1 of 2)

how big is the crosley? I'm having memory troubles and seem to be mixing it with the Nash Aeroflite car someone posted here a long time ago. I -DO- have a 98 CVPI sitting in storage stil, (i think) and If it were me I'd probably peel it down to the floor-pan, update the cage, and slap the crosley's body over the top. We're actually in the process of getting rid of it, but could be useful to another lemonhead.

EDIT: I just googled it, Nevermind on the CVPI chassis, waay too big. It would probably drop pretty easily onto a chevette chassis. Minitruck idea like an early 80s toyota pickup would probably work fine.

If my time was super-limited I'd probably just get some barstock and replace/reinforce the current framerails/engine mounts, use that to mount the cage up, throw in other safety gear and get the motor & brakes working OK. straight axles and jeep flathead just spell reliability to me. It'll be slower than dirt but it's Lemons!

a Chromley?

If the existing frame isn't too rusty, keep in mind that welding a cage to it is going to massively stiffen it.  So it might be "flexiframe" now, but a big 1/8" thick DOM tube frame welded to several key points is going to make it "stiffyframe."

Hmmm....a 3 cyl 2 stroke would fit in there and motivate it well.

Someone fetch me a Crosley

This is precisely the plan for the SIMCA. My MR2 dwarfs my SIMCA, and the SIMCA is a freaking 4-door. Those French must have been damn emaciated after the war.

Yup.

French Fries?
French Dressing?
French Toast?

I'd think you could get pretty fat on a steady diet of foie gras, stinky foot cheese and wine...

As someone with experience in the epic build and also familiar with Crosleys (thought I was going to die in one),  my opinion is that you don't have enough time.

The Crosley was a turd when it was new, and the stock now rusty chassis is beyond redemption even for slow IOE material.  Newly rebuilt Crosley brakes on a hill are responsible for my second scariest vehicle experience (after nailing a tree with a formula car).  So going with what is under that lunchbox of a car is, in my opinion, out of the question.

So it's a shell on something else.  The problem is the Crosley is really really tiny and stupidly narrow.  So any OEM type chassis that you could want is going to be wide enough to make it look borderline-stupid, and have a wheelbase that is much too long.  The labor involved in chopping up a mini-truck chassis to make it fit, or just making your own ladder frame that ties a set of miata crossmembers together is going to be about the same.

The real time disappears into everything else.  The sheet metal, the pedal assembly, new floors, the steering, wiring, where the hell do I put a gas tank, ducting the radiator, scrounging yards, and on and on and on.

I'm the last guy to want to discourage such a build, but I gave myself 7 months of almost every weekend.  I got laid off 2 weeks ahead of BFE and spend every waking moment (with help!) working on the car.  It still wasn't done.  There was easily another 12 hours of 8 or so skilled heroes thrashing on the damn thing at the track after I became a zombie.

3 months isn't enough, no matter how you decide to do it.  So go ahead, just don't start using anything stronger than caffeine.

Edit: sorry for the longwinded $.02, I just developed a bit of a twitch when I read "3 months"

Oh hell, I didnt even catch the 3 months part.  As another memeber of the stupid suicide build club I'd say not just no, hell no.

I wont say the same things Rich said but its all true and very much applies to our build as well.  I blew 40 hours a week or more on building this car for 6 months and barely got it buttoned up.

Thanks everyone for all the input.

Sadly, with my skills, $ and time it looks like the whole thing will have to be on back burner for a while.  I'm working a full time gig and going to school at night -- thus the summer break timing.  Continuing pay driver status for a while is fine. . .

Fortunately, I have plenty of storage so it's no problem keeping it around.