Experimental

[growler_south]

The Piazza/Impulse is a nice shape with some incredible attention to detail- Isuzu didnt cut many corners bringing Guiguaro's design to production.
They did, however, stuff up a few things. The doorhandles are particularly irritating, puncturing the otherwise smooth wedge-shaped panel below the keyline. And the door lock cylinder! slapped on below the door handle. Originally the Piazza was to have concealed doorlatches like the early Fiat Uno, but I guess Isuzu had a whole box of I-Mark handles to use up.



So I'm moving them. Keeping the original handles, but shifting them up so they interrupt the keyline rather than the panel below. I'll be deleting the door lock. (I'll use the remote, and should the battery go flat I can use the tailgate lock.)



I think the result is far more in keeping with the car's '80s futuristic look, and since Ive got a couple of spare doors to practise on, I figure why not?

Comments

Re: shaved or frenched, I can't remeber.

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

Shaved. Frenched is when you sink something (usually lights) below/flush with the panels surface. Piazzas already have frenched indicator lights :-)



Remote door poppers are illegal here- you have to have some form of externally operable handle or button in case of emergency. Which doesnt address the issue that if the door is LOCKED then the external handle is inoperative anyway, but thats legislation for ya. Many shaved cars extend the door lock linkage up past the window rubber, and put an interior lock knob on it. Press down on the knob to open the door. But its tacky and nasty. I could use a solenoid and hide the button on the wing mirror, but I kinda like the semi-stock look of having the original doorhandle.

I dont need to create the indentation- I've already got one :-) I'll use an Edma hand nibbler to cut around the existing indentation, cut a new hole of the right shape higher up, and weld the old indentation in where I want it to be. There will be some minor fussing with the keyline, getting it to blend smoothly, but nothing I havent done before. Then I'll just make up a curved panel to fill the hole where the doorhandle used to be.

IMAGE DELETED

Kinda hard to see in this shot, but the fuel filler cap, and its matching indentation, on the right of the rear deck was originally from a Rover P6. I had better shots but they went when my laptop got nicked.

ACTUALLY hang on!! Ive got a backup CD here at work...




OH MY GOD.
This is too funny.

Look for my next post.