The Cal-look Lounge

    Well finally I have someone that is looking to help me with this now 7 years ago bought project. The NSU will be leaving the back yard within the next month.  Plans are to use a IRS transmission with trailing arms and a narrow front beam with rack and pinion steering. Engine for now will be a 2165 cc with the 48 IDA's.  As soon as we get started I will be posting pictures of the project.

    Thanks !
    Frenchy

Looking forward to seeing the pix! That's going to be one cool project! Matt

    Thanks Matt I have been looking forward to get this one going now that I have my 1932 Roadster done I can start concentrating on this project. The wheels are going to be smoothies for now 14x6 at the rear with 12x3 in front should be pretty cool.

   Frenchy

Frenchy,

Sounds like you have a good plan.  IRS and custom arms for the rear is the way to go.  Not much room back there for much else.  It will handle better too.  Who is helping you out with the chassis?

Rick M

       Eric from CE

      Frenchy

May I reserve a ride in advance?

Last time was the mid 70's in the Fiat :D

Good for you Frenchy, looking forward to the updates!

~DR

 

     Jumbo Shrimp ?

      Frenchy

 NSU Prinz or Sport Prinz ??  I owned a Sport Prinz back in the 60's, dead slow car with a freak show motor  ;D

Pic below is similar to mine, (complete with Bertone designed body and without the Wankel rotary)

I had one just like it, same color and year, how cool!

    Next Saturday the NSU will be delivered to a friend that has taken the task to build the rear section as well as the front end.  I will post pictures as we get started.

    Frenchy

good to hear frenchy! don't forget to add it to your website rides.
it would be cool to read a sort of cover story as you progress :)

    We will be adding pictures of progress to the website.


    Frenchy

Forty years ago when I mentioned to people that I had a NSU, the usual response was "Sorry to hear that".

Thinking I had Non- Specific Urethritis and not the car led to some interesting conversations  :D

    Here are a few pictures of the front wheels for the NSU 12 x 3 . The rear will be 14 x 6 big 5 lug. The front wheels need to be welded this is just to give you an idea how they will look.

    Frenchy

   

That sounds awesome - looking forward to pics :)

 
      Yesterday I drove to Eric's house and he is helping me with the build of the NSU. This weekend should have some pictures of the rear suspension. We are going and raise the transmission and the engine at least 3 inches or so. After the rear section is done I will have the rear portion of the car cut like the early buses apron so that we can remove the engine easily. The front will have an early link pin front end narrowed 12 inches or more and using a rack and pinion set up. For the fuel tank I will be using a 1965 to 1967 bus fuel tank. Moving along

     Frenchy

     We are going and see if we can fit a set of 14x6 Porsche alloys.

     Frenchy

Frenchy,

14x6 alloys would look killer.  Have Eric Vaugh in Monrovia narrow some 14x6's for you to 14x4.5.  He did my 15" 6's this way and they turned out awesome!

Rick M

    I have all three of my wheels ready to mount tires on them. I am looking for tires with the sizes as follow 12 x 125 or 12 x 4.40
 Possibly from Europe if I need to.

  Thanks
   Frenchy

   

   This weekend hopefully I will have progress pictures of the car.

    Frenchy

     I had my son Marc help me get the three wheels set up on the vise and weld the centers together. Next will be powder coating them. And next will be to locate a set of 125 x 12 Pirellis or Continental for the front. Next weekend I will have pictures update of the rear suspension.

    Frenchy

Frenchy, I found out that I have a copy of this french Revue Technique at home : n°213 Janvier 1964 with inside : NSU Prinz I, II, III, IV, Coupé Sport.

Let me know if you want some scans of the NSU-related articles.

(http://pmcdn.priceminister.com/photo/833976907_L.jpg)

(http://www.bibliauto.fr/client/cache/produit/342_____Numeriser0007_3177.jpg)

    If you could scan the electrical part for the NSU Prinz. I will probably be using electrical wiring based on the VW . My fax # 1 602 2578684.

    Thanks
    Frenchy

I'll check this  ;)

Frenchy, tomorrow I will have access to a scanner so I will be able to make a copy of electrical wiring diagrams. ;)

   Here is my fax # at work.  1 602 2578684


    Thanks
    Frenchy

I don't have a fax, I can send it to the e-mail of your profile ?

     OK that will be great.

     Frenchy

    For the NSU engine I am building a 2165 CC I have a 78 MM crank I won a few years ago at the Berg rally and was donated by A J Sims. Berg heads big valves turbo cam with bronze lifter bore modification 1.4 CB rocker arms. Full flow with tall 48 IDA Webers and cross bar linkage. Lightened flywheel from CB with a Kennedy stage 2 pressure plate. Scat fan shroud with welded fan. Distributor Bosch 010 and the exhaust will have to be custom built to fit the engine compartment.

     Frenchy

What's the deal I thought you promised pictures! ::)

    The person who is working on the car is out of town until next week so hopefully next weekend I will take pictures and post them.

    Frenchy

I sent you the wiring diagram in high def., let me know if you need something else (there are parts about steering, suspensions etc...).

    Not too much to speak of but this is the only progress done last weekend with the holidays made it difficult to do any type of work on the car. This weekend should have the rear trailing arms done. I was told that by mid summer the car will be a roller. So these are the only few pictures I took last weekend. The transmission shown here is the one that Dean Lowry had in his super beetle Bonneville car when he started on building his car the trans is stock. This week I will be working on the cv joints axles cleaning them and ready to shortening them to the proper lenght. I decided to install CB disc brakes in front.

  Frenchy

 

Totally Tubular !
 ;D

Hey Frenchy,

Did you ever contact Eric Vaughn about narrowing some 14" FUCHs alloys for the front of your NSU? He is so accurate that one of my wheels was a perfect balance with the tire mounted on it...NO WEIGHTS!  His workmanship and welding reminds me of Sil's.

Rick M

      Rick

     I will use the 12x3 front rims for now with disc brakes. I have all three wheels ready to go only need the tires for them.

     Frenchy

can you fit 12" wheels onto the CB disc brakes?

interesting project, keep up the good work!

  I should be able to fit them with no problems. You can see the first few pictures at the beginning of the post where the drums fit with no problems on the inside of the wheels.

  Frenchy

    I have a few pictures to post I took yesterday. We will install the fuel tank in front instead of behind the driver seat much safer. I will post more pictures as soon as I have more.

 
     Frenchy

   

   Here a few more pictures of this past weekend. I will have to buy diffrent tires for the rear as they are to tall and are rubbing on the inside of the fender well. I have now 185 x 14 I will have to go to a lower profile. We just have the front tire under the fenders to see how far in we will have to narrow the beam.

   Frenchy

   

That looks bitchen Frenchy.  Super cool looking little car

Looks mean ;)

Nice!

185x14 looks phat!  ;)
i think 165x14 would suffice and not rub...

Perfect stance!

Another car for the Lemons show! pretty cool.

Hi frenchy looks great. Just a idea, How about opening wheel arch's to match wheel diameters ? Would that help with tires rubbing ?

    Danny I am going and buy 165x14 instead I like the fact that the tires are sitting way inside.

    Frenchy

That looks Awsome. Whats the wheelbase on that?

What setup is the front end going to be ?

Cheers
Rob

Also incase anybody wants to do the same but in the UK :

This car is going cheap ..

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C202607/

    Rob

     I will have link pin front end with a rack and pinion steering. As soon as we have the front set up I will post pictures.

     Frenchy

Frenchy --- I was able to get a 205 60 15 under the Fiat --- only had a 12 inch IRS axle but it fit LOL -- Get the BIG tires in there bud

Getting ready to do another 600 for a friend --- this is getting good LOL

    Fiatdude

    How long were your irs axles on your Fiat end to end ?

    Frenchy

That looks excellent.

I had to offset the trans a little to make it fit nice, but one axle was 11.5 and the other was 12.5. I had bus CV's in it. Look at the 20 sec mark and you can see the setup I had orginally in the car -- using the modified stock arms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uki344VRGDE

What a shop !!! How many projects do you have going on ??

Is that a King Midget in the background?

And what brand, or who made them?

P-

Mark has about a Billion projects at this time -- some on a faster track than others LOL -- currently a Henry J is on the fast track


I think you are looking at the Isetta -- about what time frame is it your looking at???


I got them from the guys at CarCraft in Riverside CA -- they hooked me and they were very nice pieces -- I was really happy with them and never asked who made them

Here is the Henry J -- Mark does great work -- before and after

[attachment=1]

[attachment=2]

Crap Frenchy -- sorry for the hijack

    Once we have the rear suspension figured out we will measure the lenght of the axles  and have them cut and sleeved for extra strenght.

    Frenchy

No its not an Isetta.  It's blue and at 46 seconds into the video.

damn Donny, It has been a year and I didn't see your post -- I'm sorry --- It is a Crofton Bug (sp?) they had Crosley engines in them

HEY Frenchy --- Something for you to drool over


http://medford.craigslist.org/pts/2925081359.html

LOL!  Just like my first car...(but in worse shape). Decent quality small car with a freak show motor. Kinda rare....super rare with a Wankel Rotary.

If anyone is interested in that NSU, it's in the town I live in...

    Eric is working on the NSU a little bit at the time they just had a baby girl back in December 2011 and Eric is taking care of the family soon he will be getting back to the NSU. The engine is all build and the wheels are ready to go once I have the car home.


    Frenchy

That is a nifty project you have there.

I do not believe that I have ever seen these cars before.

It will be fun to watch evolve when you get it home.

Yeah it's a Crofton Bug...Made  back in the early sixties...With Flotation tires. they could be. used for Colf course work..When we were at the The Navahoe or PIE  freight terminal picking up machine shop stuff, in Denver, Just happened to be right at the dock where a big ass  wooden crate was sitting... Couple of guys showed up  from the Golf Course with a light green Chevy pickup with adark green golfer silhouette, opened the crate, fiddled abit, fired it up and  put acouple planks down on drove it right up into a standard longbed Chevy..apache..found out later it was based on the Farm-O crosley..

Hey Frenchy what color you going to paint the NSU.

    I was thinking Aquarious blue which is the same color as the new beetle convertible ( light blue ) I will post pictures of the wheels done.
                                   
   Frenchy

The blue sounds good, I think a bright color will suit a smaller car.

??????

(http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss306/Fiatdude/Panic9-08a.jpg)

Hey guys

NSU's, Fiats........ You sure your n the right place...  ;D

Only funning have a few of my own ongoing but far too scared to post on the lounge  ;)

Good luck with the projects

Russell

Ps boom boom, why you worried about colour, you haven't even started yours yet......

    Thanks Russell I cant wait to have this one on the road just been patient. But while I am waiting for some of the fab work to get done I have another project going on my 1929 Track T Roadster. See you at Bug In.

    Frecnhy

Frenchy, will do can't wait.

see you in 3 weeks

Yes your right Russ the NSU is not started. ;)

I like what Frenchy is doing with his one, so would like to know what he up to with it. :)

    Once the front and rear suspension are done my part will go fast.

  Frenchy

How you doing the front end.

      I have not decided possibly A arms or maybe link pin beam narrow 20 inches with a rack and pinion.  I will post pictures of the front wheels with tires and the engine is done 2165 cc

     Frenchy

   Well this friend who was working on the NSU does not have the time to finish this project they just had a baby girl back in December of 2011. I am now looking if someone here would like to take this project otherwise I will go ahead and do it myself after I have the 29 Hot Road well ahead of completion. My problem is the space in the garage to work on it. We are looking to be moving from where we are to another city near by and making shure that the next house will have property with a shop that will be big enough if not we will be adding.

Frenchy

Can't wait to see it as a roller!

Rick M