I might have a hookup on some AutoLoc (www.autoloc.com) gear and wanted to get some opinions on the highly radical mods I plan on doing.

They make a lambo door kit, and the rep there assured me that it can work on an Elco door, which is a hell of a lot bigger then your average rice burner door. So I'm thinking about doing it, but backwards. Suicide lambo doors. Can you dig it?

Also the hood and bed lid will be power opening, but opposite their normal direction. Guess I'm trying to keep with that reversed theme.

I also plan on doing a roll down rear window, like a Honda del Sol. Anyone ever done anything like that? Hope I'm the first.

Since the car is going to be channeled approx 2" I think I'm going to reskin the entire rear end. Bye-bye tailgate. All the taillights will be flush mount LEDs, so hopefully when they're off you won't even know they're there.

Would 15"x3.5" in the front and 18"x12" in the rear look too wild? I want that bigs and littles look, and that's the narrowest/widest rim they make in the style I want.

Oh yeah, I'm not forgetting my hot rod roots. The theme of the car is iron crosses, and there's still a 400hp NA plus 100shot 350 under the hood. No swirlies or murals in the paint job, just good old classic black.

I know most of this site is fairly conservative, so am I going to get blackballed because of my insanity?

Very radical endevor, hope you've got some deep pockets and know lots of people with some major customizing experience, ingenuity and skills. 8)

I think it will work out fine, and should turn lots of heads. I especially like the suicide door idea, as well as the roll down rear window.

Please be sure to post pics along the way, and "God Speed"

I know most of this site is fairly conservative, so am I going to get blackballed because of my insanity?
I for one think doing anything out of the norm is neat. As long as it's not cheap and/or stupid(i.e. making your bed lift up on hydrolics and spin around,ect.).

I had a '79 Camaro that I took the hood and reverse hindged it(ala Corvette). The one thing I found with doing that was a lot of people liked it and thought it was differant,but they didn't care to look to close at my engine bay that I spend hundreads of hours on,they just wanted to look and see how I hindged the hood. Very annoying to say the least.

With the hood,I'd suggest using fiberglass(due to weight) and make sure you have support on either side cause with the heat from the engine,they tend to flex if left open at a show. This is what mine looked like:Camaro hood (http://coldbastrd.cz28.com/images/camaro22.jpg).

The hood will be cake as it's pretty straight along with the bed cover. Those doors on the other hand are going to be a tough one. Your going to need some meaty hindges to handle the weight of the door. I came up with a hindge system that I made some ROUGH sketches of:side view (http://members.aol.com/coldbastrd/door1.jpg)

top view (http://members.aol.com/coldbastrd/door2.jpg)

Sorry,they are very rough but I think you get the idea. With that setup,when you open the door it would drop a few inches to allow the door to swing away from the body which would be about 5 inches. Then be able to rotate up. You'd have to weld on some flat stops on the bearings to stop the door when you get to the stop points where you want it to be. I think if you did straight tubing comming out of the body,you would end up with binding and bending problems. Either way,with the weight of the door,it won't be an easy task to open and close. I'd suggest fiberglass there again but I'm not sure if they make fiberglass doors for Elky's.

BTW,there is NOWAY that AutoLoc hindge kit will work on your doors. You can get them,but you'll just be pi$$ing your money away. The Lambo's body(i.e. roof line and fenders)is contoured so that the doors don't hit anything on thier way up. With an Elky or whatever import,you have to kick the doors out away from the body and then up. Not an easy task when you consider the doors weigh something like 100 lbs. each.

The rear window would be a mess if you went rollup. You'd have to make tracks and use a regulator that you'd have to hide. And don't forget weatherstripping to keep out the water. If anything,I'd go with a popout setup like those used on the 68-72 Vette's and 02-up Avalanches. It just pops out and you store it in a compartment right below the opening.

Good luck with it all.

As long as it's not cheap and/or stupid(i.e. making your bed lift up on hydrolics and spin around,ect.)

hey, you saying you dont like the hydrolics on my car?? that hurts man :(

hey, you saying you dont like the hydrolics on my car?? that hurts man
Well if it looks like this (http://www.nopi.com/pf2002/ShowTrucks-Suvs-Vans/other/B2000-Blue-with-Hydraulic-B.jpg) and raises up 10 feet in the air and spins around,then yeah I don't like it. :P

And opps I spelled "hydraulics" wrong. Somebody slap me with a tuna for that infraction. :cry:

Thanks for the replies.

I wasn't planning on going super crazy until I got the hook-up (read: trading parts) from AutoLoc. I have one of the best fabricators in AZ as my cousin in law and he was the one who came to me about body dropping my El so I'm not too worried about making stuff work.

Was going to use the hinges from the split hood kit to do the hood & bed lid, and they make a dual power tonneau kit I was going to use to lift them.

For the rear window I'm going to steal the tracks and weather stripping from an 80s Suburban and use a flat glass power window kit. It's no fun if I have to get out and pop out the glass, this is a show vehicle, it needs to do its thing at the push of a button.

Just watched a video (http://www.autoloc.com/quicktime/LamboCOM.mov) of the lambo door kit on Autoloc's site, looks like it kicks the door out at least 12". I'm going to be getting the delux kit, which uses linear actuators, not gas shocks, and they make linear actuators that handle up to 800lbs, so I'm not scared.

Thanks again for the positive feedback. I told a few local gear heads my plans and they think I've been brainwashed by the ricers.

I like your ideas...

i like all of your ideas. you might wanna with a different size rear wheel width. i don't think the 12" wide tire is gone to fit. but i could be wrong so just check your measurements.

i like all his ideas lol itll look cool once finished how much is that price tag upto anyway? :lol: im really interested.

I think its electrolux at A1 Electric . com that makes three different lengths of power rams for the bed lid or the Tail Gate (assuming that you have a tailgate and imagination) or even the hood.

Go with it! Hey its your truck. I doubt that the 18" X 12's will fit on the rear without tubbung the rear end. THe back axel will have to be shortened by about 4" overall maybe even 6" and either you'll need to shave the frame or do a full tub job. I never cared for shaving frames it seems to me that that would make them weak and and less stable in launches. But hey, its your ride.

I'd change to a Corporate 10 bolt rear end or a 12 bolt chevy rear. The Fab 9s are heavier and absorb more power than the 12s so overall you'd be a little slower with that as opposed to a 12 bolt. Or that is what I have come to uderstand about the two.

Good luck.

It should prove interesting to say the least!

ASU Camino, you sure you're not part of the James Gang! :D

I like the idea's and creativity. I've never done or would not have the ability to even consider such a massive project.

Just curious. With so much extensive work to be done, do you sketch out, even in rough form, what your trying to do? If so, maybe you could post a rough draft of it???

I like the idea's and creativity. I've never done or would not have the ability to even consider such a massive project.

Just curious. With so much extensive work to be done, do you sketch out, even in rough form, what your trying to do? If so, maybe you could post a rough draft of it???

I'm putting some power rams I got from A1 in the bed for my lid. I like their switches better and the prices are a little better but they don't have all the stuff that AutoLoc has. Basically I got their power window kits, some power rams a tailgate lock actuator, a Hood lock actuator and some of their switches that are lighted (Chevy calls them Opera Lighted Switches)

I plan on detailing the bed compartment. I got the carpet kit from Honest Charley and the lighting I'll be doing myself, no kits, the sound box I'll build my self along with the storage for the spare and jack. The Storage box behind the seats in my 80 will have stereo and other items for the inside so Jack and spare will have to be re-located.

Nothing that opens backwards or splits down the center. Its not all that hard just have to collect all the parts and have a little imagination and some mechanical abilities.

8O great ideas was planing on doing the same kit on my doors but hinging from the front. I plan on doing about mid may if you get done before me let me know how you like that kit. iI allredy did the roll down rear window took a weekend to set up and another to trim it out best mod I have done thus far, next to the 580hp big block.

ElkyPete u got some links to where u got your stuff? im interested in the shaved door and the truck bed lock/open/close

8O great ideas was planing on doing the same kit on my doors but hinging from the front. I plan on doing about mid may if you get done before me let me know how you like that kit. iI allredy did the roll down rear window took a weekend to set up and another to trim it out best mod I have done thus far, next to the 580hp big block.

You have any pictures? What did you use for tracks and weather stripping? Thanks.

I like the idea's and creativity. I've never done or would not have the ability to even consider such a massive project.

Just curious. With so much extensive work to be done, do you sketch out, even in rough form, what your trying to do? If so, maybe you could post a rough draft of it???

I do have sketches, but they're of the other areas, front end, rear end, dash, behind seats, center console, ect.

Sadly, the stuff changes every day because I'm always thinking up something better. I had this idea to have the exhaust come out of the bed in a reversed Street Scoop (to match the one on the hood) but people want too much for street scoops on e-bay nowdays and I'm not sure if people will like it. Then I was thinking of making a custom scoop for the front and back, but I really like the street scoop. Kinda tough to mess with perfection.

I just took some aluminum u channel and made two tracks that went down the outside edges of the glass and used some genric push in u shaped weatherstriping I found at auto zone I think its for fords (yeah I know) then used a motor out of a areo star and glued the track onto my stock glass have'nt had any fits from it yet. I cant get ,my server to let me upload any pics,but, I am working on it.

need me to host your pics?

I just took some aluminum u channel and made two tracks that went down the outside edges of the glass and used some genric push in u shaped weatherstriping I found at auto zone I think its for fords (yeah I know) then used a motor out of a areo star and glued the track onto my stock glass have'nt had any fits from it yet. I cant get ,my server to let me upload any pics,but, I am working on it.

Your 74 has flat glass, correct? That makes it 900 times easier. The rear window in the 5th gen is by far the worst piece of automotive glass in existance. It's super expensive (I think I paid $700 for my replacement when I put my head through it in an accident), and super hard to tint (most tinters wont do it or wont gaurentee their work). I'm pretty much having to chop my frame out and build a custom one.

If you have the part number or UPC on that weather stripping could you share it with the class?