Volopini Project
The perfect Russolini!
Russell built this car as a fun project which kept him entertained over the last 12 months or so. This car is modelled on a Volopini hence his version is a RUSSOLINI!
It was built in the spirit of what FJ`S were about so no Hayabusa!
There is a large quantity of The Bolt Shops nuts and bolts in this car and there are so many left over, enough to build another car to use them all up!
The Car: Volopini (nickname RUSSOLINI)
The chassis is along traditional lines with two large bottom tubes and an upper structure to hang everything else from. For simplicity, a Mazda MX5 rear subframe was used as that was the exact frame width to fit inside the body work
Body:
The body mould was made using foam, custom wood and many buckets of energy. Russell has taken some `insurance` moulds from the buck should he ever need to re-create any panels
Motor:
1300cc Toyota 4k with a high-performance cam, electronic ignition, skimmed head, twin 40mm Webber `copy` carbs, Custom inlet / exhaust headers attached to a standard Toyota 5 speed gearbox
Wheels:
Sitting on Dunlop pattern steel wheels with 175 60 14 tyres.
Driveshaft:
Corolla shaft cut and mated to an MX5 UJ on the MX5 diff head.
Suspension:
Front suspension uses MX5 front upper arms and custom-made bottom arms identical to original dimensions
Shocks:
The front shocks are inboard Harley Davidson Quad bike units. Steering rack is MX5.
Diff:
Was moved 165mm to the right and the axels cut accordingly. The diff is LSD by pure luck. In a move to look more traditional, he used a transverse leaf spring just like the old cars with a pair of very short shocks, so it looks quite traditional.
All work was carried out in Russell’s workshop with lots of help from his cat!
The car has also been built to current Motorsport regulations so it can be raced in a suitable class.