Anybody interested in Alluminium interior bits?

I've got one person interested in Door handles (cheers for the idea mate!)

I'm talking Dials, Guages, Handles, Buttons possibly even the entire centre console.

If so anybody got any spares I can buy/beg/nick (not borrow - The original part is sacraficed in the process)

Let me know and I'll sort something out!

P.s, wasn't sure if this should be in this section or parts for sale - meh. Sure someone will put it right if it's wrong!

Yes, I am interested. Sounds like a great idea.

id be intrested in getting my centre console in ali, match the silver coupe perfectly. how much roughly would it cost?

I havn't started really looking into prices yet, but I'd say we're talking cheap . I have no Idea what kinda prices you guys would expect to pay for such an item, but full centre console (it may have to be in 3 seperate bits to cast - but I'll Heat treat and size to mesh together) will be well under £100, possibly even only half that!

Depends on the qality you want it in, nicely polished to a shine is going to take me a while, whereas a "burnished" finish will only take an hour or so (this may have polishing marks, but actually gives a nice unique look).
A dull blasted finish will take 15 minutes.

There is a possibility of chrome electroplating if there is also interest for this.

Clear anodising is also available for a tougher exterior - making it more resistant to scratching etc.
These options will obviously be at added cost

A very kind Forum member (thank you Siloman) has agreed to donate some bits and bobs for casting trials, so will get pics up as soon as I have these done.

If interest sparks after this then tooling can be made up (which will increase prices but lead time will reduce to 3-5 weeks)

Pics and prices as soon as I've worked it out!

cheaper than a new console from fiat so should be some interest.

Im spraying mine but could be interested in some buttons

i'm interested in principal, but not sure how far from standard i'd like to let my car go. i'm happy doing a few bits and bobs, but anything too radical i won't bother with. great idea though eks, fair play to you, youth!!

I would have to see the result first but would definately be interested in a whole centre console.

hi mate, i would be interested in a few bits depending on seeing the finished test pieces that is.

EKS i would also be very interested in a nice gear surround if its possible for you to do that. let me know mate

I'll look into it niff. I'll have a good look round your coop on Sunday if you're still going to Donny?
Still havn't really got a clue as to what the 20V interior is like as I have the (According to Paul ) inferior 16VT

Gear surround

clicky Link

Alu footrest

More chance of finding aluminium rocking horse than getting hold of these Fiat items

Footrest indeed!

i have seen that gear surround in the german coupe book, i would like something along the lines of that, the footrest is a good idea too.

well im deff want the centre console if it can be done, polished finnish please. do i need to send you the original one? if so i will get second hand one asap... cheers mate.... clive

Clive you have PM mate.

Just to update this topic.

The plastic original components do indeed burnout through the process I use, So it looks like this little project can and most likely will go ahead. Especially on the smaller components.

I havn't yet brought myself to possibly destroying silomans centre console, even though I'm 92% certain it will cast. An update on the price for this, due to the 20VT centre console being an all in one design, I have had to make up a specialist casting box for it, this takes up far more material than I would normally use and so the price is actually going to be around the £100-£115 mark. because of the size of this box I have had to go above ground with it in regards to the system at my work place, smaller items however can by parasited and these things can be done at a much cheaper rate.

It's not much, but here is a first off (unpolished) showing I can indeed cast the original FIAT items


10 points* to anyone who know what it is

As an out of interest - I have also just cast this

50 points* to anyone who knows what this is



*Points not redeamable for anything at all! Other than pride

number 1 is an air vent fin
and mo 2 is a dell pc witha merc in front of it

nice 1 EKS, i may have a spare 20vt centre console if you need one, just checking threw my shed of bits and im sure there is one in there somewhere.

You get 10 points for Number 1 frary, and I'll give you 20 for getting the merc bit, and 10 for the Dell PC. But without a name and year of car the last 20 points aint yours

Niff, I've got siloman's to test which he's donated, I just want to make sure the other bits work before commiting to such a large item, the risk of mis-run and inclusion are too great at this early stage to risk it, however, might take you up on the offer for a second-off trial.
If I manage to get some bits cast this week I'll bring em down to Cosford for the meet to show off

Me too along with interior door handles if they can be done?

Interior door handles are an almost dead cert.

I'm thinking of tooling up door handles, heater vents and surrounds, buttons and dials. This will give a superior surface finish to casting from original items and obviously, won't have to waste original parts.
This cuts down on the amount of my lunch times polishing

This is sounding good Dan.

Cheers Simon,

As an Update - originals will be cast next Wednesday.

I am going to make some silicone molds for Heater vents and assosciated bits, Door handles and indicator stalks as first offs.

The heater vent surrounds can be machined, this is much easier than trying to cast them, and probably works out cheaper. We have an in house "state of the art" (10 years ago) machine shop, so no problems there )

The centre console is still worrying me.
Simon do you want this back? or are you ok with me going ahead and possibly destroying it?
I think that with some careful cutting up into 3 sections it is feasable (and negotiates around my £85 big box fee! and that's on Mate Rate), but it's your stuff mate, don't wanna mess around if you want it back.

Dont worry Dan i dont need any of it back.

they were just spares i had knocking about so feel free to do what you need to do.

Now you've really got me interested.

I've got a spare set of stalks that I was going to refurb due to non-self cancelling. Do you have a lead time and ballpark cost for these? Also, do you need my spare set as a "mould" or whatever?

Oh and if you need a test mule for these, mine's a daily driver with lots of town driving so they'd get a good workout.

aha, hook line and sinker eh MABR?

I've got some off Siloman - just trying to work out how the lil devils come apart in an easy enough way to cast, these will be lost in the process.

SO! If you want to donate your spare set, that would be excellent for making the silicone mould (so you'd get your stalks back, almost unmolested )

Edit to add answers to your other questions -

Ballpark figure, early stage - £25/£30 for the pair, price drop if orders keep coming
Lead time - once I've made the tooling (won't be til after christmas now) about 4 weeks after order placed til you'd see bits.

I will keep this thread updated as and when new developments occurr. But next stage is to get some tolling put together (stage one - remember to order silicone!)
Once tolling is done things can really start to roll

Thanks for the speedy update (removes hook from mouth ).

In that case, I'll send you my old set which should be off this weekend (MOT time ) so can you PM me your address and I'll get these over to you?

Ballpark price is fine too.

No worries, You have PM.

Damn - should have gone higher with price

MOT time for me soon aswell, never put the old girl through myself - worried? YUP!

indicator stalks sounds good

interior door handles would be sweet. Can you do the brushed aluminium finish?

What about the heater knobs? Can these be done?

i'm loving/hating the sound of this in equal measure. i'm trying to keep my plus standard looking - how can i do that with all these cheapish sexy bits being made?

The door handle first off is going through as we speak - cast on Wednesday.

I will have some photo's from these, and will do a selection of finishes I can manage myself. (I'm no professional pollish master general!)
Brushed shouldn't be a problem. Down the length of them would look pretty nice I think!

Pretty much any polished finish can be attained by sub-contracting them out, of course, this increases cost. But these will be somewhat tailor made items so I'll try to accomodate peoples needs/wants.

Heater knobs - No probs! Reasonably easy part to cast, can be tooled up to avoid sacraficial process.

can always cast them in Ally and then paint them black for you

That way, it'd look standard, but you'd know, that hidden under the baggy jumper, and loose jeans was a sex bomb only you knew about

if it looked good enough and was quite discreet i'd still have em anyway - just to spite alan and sandy

Brushed ali for me!Well done eks. Look forward to seeing some of this.

i'm intrested in door handels and heater nobs , i'll keep my eyes on this for the pic's .

Door handles sound good to me .

Baz

Door handles and knobs in le grey?

Dan,

Maybe could look at these Zonda indicator stalks.

Or did Pagani pinch them from Fiat (well apart from the alloy end piece)

Wonder if the Zonda has the non self cancel fault since they are straight from Fiats parts bin.

How dare you Simon!!!

It's a feature, not a fault

Occusing Fiat, I don't know, next you'll be telling me the handbrake isn't very good or some other rediculous accusation

Doh! Completely forgot about these!

Eks, do you think a mirror finish on the door handles could be achieved at home, or is it something you could do easier (if you have polishing tech at your disposal)?
Would chrome plate work out cheaper, compared to the graft of finishing?

Wish I could forget about them sometime Superfly - becoming a ball ache

I can get them polished through one of our sub contractors, but it would work out cheaper to chrome it (it's not as expensive as people would like you to think!)


This is an example of the finish we get from our polishers (Petrol cap off a Spyker)
But you're talking big money for that!

If you want the ultra shiny look, I'd suggest chrome.

Hi mate If there's any bits you need donating i'l send them to you for a discount later

just send me a list, would be interested in the badges being in alloy and the gear knob reverse pull, coin holder, what about the ashtray door?

Hey what about the seat recline knobs
and these hard as he'll to get speaker rings and rear light rings. Hey what about a honey x front grill? Ooh that would look sweet!

Good call,reverse pull!

There was a time when we thought we might get to see an alloy/chrome H-plate......

http://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=637380&page=1

That's cool, although if you do tool up for them instead, the finish may well be good enough for me to polish up at home anyway.

I'm a fan of the idea of chrome too though

How did the first one come out?

@ TheAudioGuy - I'll certainly be in touch regarding parts as and when I need them mate! Discount will of course be applied for your generosity

Ashtray door, coin holder and seat recline are probably a gooer if people want these. Don't know about the reverse pull as I aint seen one!

Basically, I will tool up anything with interest of more than 10off - it's just gunna be too difficult trying to source that many original plastic parts. - there is always going to be the risk that something goes wrong and the parts doesnt work, and I just wouldn't feel comfortable messing with parts people needed!

I will cast spares "At your own risk"

Basically for one or two offs for custom work, I can accept almost anything up to maximum size of 10"X7"X5" provided it is plastic or rubber.

I am surprised at the interest - and the wide range of things you people want - demanding bunch aintcha

Await propper first offs cast Wednesday, quick polish and I'll post up pics.
Hope to get some in situe if and when Simon is available and lets me loose on his coop (I'll let you do it mate, I can fix one thing and break 4 others in the process!)

Meanwhile, still scratching my head over those damn indicator stalks

The reverse pull would be great for 20vt owners as i havent really seen one thats isnt damaged,made of flimsy rubber that just gets picked at.

We are a day early people!
And nothing to get excited about

The parts HAVE cast, but the plastic has reacted badly to the extreme temperatures I've subjected it to and burnt off before it melted out - this has given, frankly, a shocking surface finish.
Didn't wanna lie to ya all! However, I now know that these parts will cast if I tool them up, and the surface will be beautiful once tooled!

So we've gone from this

To this


I'll polish up and see what we get, I'm disheartened that the OM stuff has come out badly, but encouraged that when tooled, they are well within my range for casting!

If you get the alli bits right your have a great opportunity to sell on eBay and the forum

indeed - acroos the many motorsports disciplines the potential is huge!!!

Ok, I'm gunna say - epic fail on casting the door handle
During polishing half the bloomin casting fell off due to a gas inclusion

Still promising in a way though.

Vent looks quite good


and some buttons worked rather nicely aswell!


Watch this space!

Shame about that door handle, but yeah, a complex shape and thermoset plastics will always cause problems.

You'll need another one now won't you...?

Do you think the bit at the back could be made solid and drilled/machined instead?

And Ecks, another one to consider, the vent surrounds...(not with the vents too, though!)

Mate I'm loving the vent! To be honest the buttons too, with a drimmal polish wheel and fine 3m rubbing compound and braso, laqued, these will look so sexy!

If you need a handle let me know

Superfly - I'm working on the vent surround, unfortunately as it is a big somewhat complex shape I am having to very carefully, with my trusty hacksaw,a knife, and a whole lot of patience (I'm running out on the last one!), cut off the front face, cast just that and then stick it back onto the plastic back.

AudioGuy - cheers for the comments, I too am loving the vents, and they are about the only thing compatable with 16v and 20v interior. Soon as I'm tooled up I'll be sporting some

@ both superfly and AudioGuy, yes, I do require another handle. I think that's the drivers side one I've wasted above, I have the other side unmolested to tool with.

Thanks to everyone for the interest, comments, ideas and support.
Think I'm going to be busy over Christmas making a mess of the spare room with silicone.

im well impressed with the buttons and vent mate, keep up the good work

Cheers niff,

You missed a good meet at Cosford - where the hell were you?

been in hospital, only got out yesterday, been a diabetic since i was 8 and been having a few problems with it recently. thats why i have not been on the forum in ages. bit gutted i missed it, drove the car this morning for the first time in a few week, took me half hour to get into it, it was frozen solid. then i got to the petrol station to fill up and the cap was frozen solid, the joys of coupe ownership.

You have PM mate

I had the same at petty station last night - had to embarrasingly ask for some hot water to get the damn cap open.

Took me 2 hours to get into work today (it's only 7 miles) after digging myself a pathway from back of house to main road - dedication!
Ok I actually spent most of the time sat on the forum - but there was a bit of digging at a few points.

Back on topic - anybody interested in Brass? Our brass alloy polishes to a beautiful gold colour in case any of you are feeling particularly tacky this time of year

is that me who has a pm. not got it yet?

eerwh gold! no thanks lol

Any updates?

Currently playing with Silicone molding stuff.

3 failed attempts, but getting better

keep us posted

Will do

Suffering an awful affliction of "Post New Year Bone Idleness Syndrome" at this current moment in time.

But it will go ahead.

Quick Update, mold making attempt take 9,081,386 (maybe not that many) is a success!!!!!!!

Waxes can now be made and so first lot of Heater Vents should be available within 2 weeks

good man

Amazing what happens when I get off my bloomin lazy ar$e and get on with it.

Sorry for the delay to all those that were interested, amazingly my life outside this forum took over for a bit (I've got friendies everyfink now ya know!!) - but normal service will be resumed as of........



NOW!

Another supporter here - keep up the good work - especially the door handles

any news matey?

any news?

Hi mate - sorry, this project took a little bit of a hiatus as I only get to work on it on my half hour lunch break at work.

This half hour has currently been spent in the following way
- 2 minutes to go to shop
-3 minutes to eat lunch
-5 minutes of despair at state of my car
-15 minutes trying to diagnose car
-2 minutes of wondering why I'm not making ally bits.
-2 minutes for ablutions
-1 minute spare - generally relax.

As an update - the silicone tool I made was an absolute piece of sh.........................ocking work. It moves around too much when wax is put in it, so the whole bloody vent has a huge "crack" line around it

I'm currently painstakingly inserting tiny pins into it to hold its shape but not loose the ability to remove wax.

The silicone moulds are not as easy as I first suspected! Much like a 10 minute job on the Coupe!

Sorry for pi**ng everybody off with this project It is still going ahead but I want everyone to realise - this can only happen during my half hour lunch - I do like to eat and have a cigarette as well as faffing about.

ok

Bigger breakfast and nicotine patches. Just a thought.

Unpaid overtime? Weekends, evenings ... you can't get the staff nowadays .. Eks! come on!

Nicotine patches just don't cut the cake! (That's what knives are for - but I'm not allowed them anymore!)

What is Breakfast? I am unfamiliar with this concept!




I think that might ruin my stealthy antics in putting these through on the sly, they might cotton on if they see me hanging around work after hours - also - I'd be locked in. Although there is a vending machine stocked with fattening junk food, and a coffee machine - I'll be fine. You are quite right to point me out as a dirty slacker patch - I'll get right back on it as soon as I can!

any news ?

This is on indefinite hold people.

I really do apologise that this is taking so long. It's been problem after problem as I try to learn how to silicon mould and now have run out of both materials and money (patience somehow still holding up though)

Financial situation is borderline "Coupe gotta go" so forgive me that this hasn't been my top priority.

Sorry for dissapointing all those interested