MadaboutKitcars

Towed , that looks so much better ...I didn't have too much of an issue with your previous one , but that is so much nicer ...as you say D24-esque , which is cool ... asymmetric wing scoop next ?

Been thinking about it. I still don't know what they were for though...

Nor me ...if the one that was at Goodwood a few years back returns , I will make a point of trying to ask the owner , as its been bugging me for years !!!

Mr T - Hard to believe you have been on the road for 4 years!

Nice job on the bonnet, and I'm impressed you are making a buck/mould.

Good luck, Paul.

Looking good.

Looking more like a D24 scoop.

I to have wondered what the wing scoop is for, did think of adding it to my build when doing all the alterations.

I think its going to look great much more subtle. Good work

That's looking really neat.

So much better, well done for being brave and cutting up a finished car to improve it.
It will be well worth the effort.

Thanks everyone, it is beginning to look much more original than my 'wide' scoop.

That wide scoop had started as a nice, narrow opening to take an original style scoop about 40mm high, just to clear the rocker cover. It then needed widening on one side to clear the dynamo and engine top hose, and on the other side to both centre the scoop on the car and clear the front carburettor.

Then after many cups of tea and much staring from all angles and beard scratching I lowered the bonnet at the front to get the wheels looking 'right' in the arches. That meant that the sides of the scoop had to get a fair bit taller too.

The side bulge was added to clear the front corner of my alloy air box that was part of the methanol injection system, while the secondary scoop was added purely for decorative effect, as were the aluminium louvres towards the back of the bonnet.

What I ended up with looked okay, but it wasn't how I had envisaged it so it's mildly bugged me ever since.

Over the course of the last four years I've made a few changes under the bonnet which have now allowed a slimmer, more original looking scoop to be created:

The dynamo was 'rolled' down and a new bracket fabricated so it's out of the way completely;

The methanol injection system was removed - even though it really worked when it worked, as the engine isn't mega powerful the small quantity of methanol/water mist required meant that the nozzle was so fine it kept blocking despite the filters in the plumbing;

I've raised the rear gearbox mount by 20mm, which dipped the front of the engine down by 10mm (that mod copyrighted by Phil J);

I cut the elbow off the thermostat housing hose connector which frees up a surprising amount of space to the side of the rocker cover.

Taken together, those changes have removed a lot of the obstacles under the bonnet and mean that only the rocker cover and the very edge of the top hose need clearance now, and the new scoop is taking shape nicely.

As for the wing scoops on the original D24's, the answer may well be lost in the mists of time. Only two of the six built survive and no two look the same in period pictures.

Lancia clearly believed in developing their cars on the track - including hacksawing the roofs of the D20 coupes when the drivers complained that the cabin was too hot - and the rows of solid rivets holding the wing scoops on suggest that they were added after the bodies were finished by the coachbuilder.

Additionally, there are a number of 'continuation' models out there that were built in the 80's or 90's (using original engines and factory blueprints), which have wing scoops but may or may not have the additional widgets beneath that they serviced.

I guess a visit to the Lancia museum (if I can work out where it is) the next time I'm in Italy is on the cards to try to find out more.

Oh, and while I was looking for details of the continuation cars I came across this article about recreating a Lancia D50 -

https://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/recreation-lancia-d50-grand-prix-car

How the other half live...

Oh my, I love the D50 and often wondered if it would be possible to build a "look-alike" - but that build is in a different league altogether.

But

Back to your car - yup, love the new scoop - much cleaner looking. And love how our cars can be subject to this on-going process - so much more fun than a rep-mobile

wing scoop was for brake cooling

Looking great!I just love changing/improve things on the car during the years.

Gr.Rob

Progress report - I got the new scoop arrangement all smooth and blended in to the bonnet and sprayed it with etch primer by Friday afternoon. It's great this retired business, I actually have the time to get on with stuff!

Next step was to give it a coat of rattle can paint followed by a dozen coats of mould release wax polish then take a splash mould ( I think that's what it's called) of the whole centre section of the bonnet. But...

Before applying the paint I stood back and took a long look at the new scoop arrangement and there was just something that didn't look quite right.

It took me ages but it slowly dawned on me that there was a slight, but annoying mismatch, side to side, in the height of the edges of the raised section ahead of and alongside the new centre scoop.

After a lot of checking with a spirit level and steel measure, I worked out that it was down to the curvature of the original bonnet not being even between the wings, and the width of the raised section exaggerated what is a relatively small difference into something noticeable.

So, I cut the centre section out and started again. It's still a work in progress but it now looks 'right' to me from all angles, which it just never has done before - my original wide scoop sort of evolved as it went along and even though the perfectionist in me wanted to cut it out and start again, the realist in me said if I did that with everything I wasn't 100% happy with I'd never get the car on the road.

So, it now looks like this -





It's definitely going to stay that way once it's had a bit more work and I've moulded and bonded in the complete new centre section, and there's the added bonus that I'll now be able to have a roundel on the nose just like the original -



The donwside is that I'm no longer on schedule to finish the current revamp before Stoneleigh, so I'll be driving over in my modern tin-top

That's a shame about stoneleigh. I was hoping to see your car there. Wonder if any other owners will brace the weather?

LOOKING GOOD TOWEDY ...

Discrepancy in the bonnet side to side ....? surely not !!

Maybe your Lazer level was out of balance on the day you did the bonnet eh Gary ?

I seem to remember that was the day I realized the knotty string wasn't evenly spaced ....

Mr T - Well, if you are going to start chopping things about, you might as well get it the way you want it.

Good Luck, Paul.

PS
With a bit of luck both our cars will be painted before we finally meet up.

Let's hope so!

Progress has been slower than hoped for, partly due to some unexpectedly freezing cold weather and partly due to a week out with a bad back.

I have managed to spend the last few days working on the bonnet though, getting through five kilos of filler getting the curves right, which has also resulted in a slightly lower profile scoop -

Before


After


Before


And after


And from a few more angles






Nearly ready to take a mould from then laminate the actual new centre section, as this one's all chicken wire and filler under the surface.

Towed ...A gazillion times better !! I think that looks spot on ......I can tell you now - I never liked the original scoop ...

That does look rather good.

Great work. Looks much better.

Agreed ! As my sons would say. That looks sick.

Dave