Where I'm at so far...

[Mikey]

Word, you gots some mad fab skill up in hur!

(Nice work. )

[yetibone]

Originally Posted by Mikey

Word, you gots some mad fab skill up in hur!

(Nice work. )

Yeeh foo!

Thanks Mikey. You know, I never was any good at doing sheet metal, and bodywork, but this stuff hasn't been as bad as I thought it would. I'll lay down the primer, and do the finish bodywork, but I'm still gonna get a buddy to do the paint.

So far, the only things I haven't done myself were the machine and balance work to the engine, repair to the cylinders, and some TIG welding to the crossmember, and suspension braces. The only other thing I plan to farm out besides the paint, is the seat upholstery.

[Mikey]

Originally Posted by yetibone

Yeeh foo!

Thanks Mikey. You know, I never was any good at doing sheet metal, and bodywork, but this stuff hasn't been as bad as I thought it would. I'll lay down the primer, and do the finish bodywork, but I'm still gonna get a buddy to do the paint.

So far, the only things I haven't done myself were the machine and balance work to the engine, repair to the cylinders, and some TIG welding to the crossmember, and suspension braces. The only other thing I plan to farm out besides the paint, is the seat upholstery.

Building stuff like my car is why I'm in school for welding. I'm practicly welding a whole new top on to a 1947 Split. I wasn't very good with sheetmetal and body work, but My skills are improving. I was nervous about welding the grill in my car, I didn't want it to end up looking like crap. But I figured the worst I can do is funk it up. Then I'll just have to fix it. Turned out better than I thought it would. We just got a TIG Machine. I love it. I still haven't used it on my car yet. But I think I see a SS exhaust in my future.

[yetibone]

Nothing happened today that was worth taking pictures. I welded up the trim holes, and antenna hole, removed the body from the pan again for stripping, and found some more hammer and dolly work to do. To my dismay, the bondo in the right rear quarter in 'bout 1/4" deep in a spot . I woulda replaced the whole quarter pannel had I known. Oh well...I enjoyed shaping the rear apron, so mabye I'll dig this too.

I added a flat gusset to each front control arm strut rod where it bends upward. After some thought, I decided 1/8 inch thick steel square tube notched, and butt-welded together may weaken over time so I welded another 1/8" gusset flat over the bend.

Tomorrow, I gotta call Bilstein about shortening the struts 1.75". Lucky me, their east coast facillity is only about 100 miles away from me in Mooresville.

[yellow73]

Joe,
The car is coming along really well. I love the way the muffler looks.
Keep at it you are inspiring us to do more...

[yetibone]

Thanks Nigel. It came off of a '02 Toyota Tundra. I had to put a quieter muffler on that truck for a customer who just bought it used. I'm not sure who makes it, but the entire catalyst-back exhaust was pre-made for the truck out of stainless steel. What I salvaged should give me what I need to make the rest of the works for my Bug, and then some.

Last week I sent the Bilsteins back to Bilstein for 2" of shortening. Were it not for the internal bump-stops, I'd have done it on a lathe myself, plus, there's that lifetime warranty thing...

Nothing worth firing up the camera for today. I pulled the rear hubs, installed 100mm wheel studs, and the 2" spacers, re-indexed the rear torsion bars back to their stock position, and did some grinding on the bottom of the spring plates to make clearance for the sway-bar links.

On the front end, I changed the position of the master cylinder by drilling new mounting holes horizontally across from each other, like an early bug, made an aluminum plate for the mounting bolts to go thru on the interior side of the Napolean's Hat, and utilizing the vertical boss on the front of the 930 master cylinder to bolt it to the framehead just behind the left front control arm.

I applied aircraft chemical stripper (non-military grade ) to the body this morning after power washing the whole shell clean. I did all the other stuff while waiting for it to work in. Really didn't have ideal conditions for the stripper to work as it was sunny, and much of the stuff dried before it could work its way under the paint.

BTW, Nigel, on some parts of the body, I got down to a layer of yellow that'll hurt your eyes in direct sunlight!

[yetibone]

Finished knocking most of the paint off the outside. Still got the center of the roof, and 4 sq.ft. on the right side to do, but ran out of stripper on Sunday . The chemical stripper worked OK, but took more applications to dig in than on Sue's Bug, and her's had an extra layer of paint, 2 blues, and a purple. Mine was only 2 yellows .

Anyhoo, I'm not gonna strip the interior, just rough it up, and 2K prime it. Wheel wells will get undercoated, and left black.

On the exterior, I found 5 places with bondo. 3 new places on the roof to go with the two on the right door and rear quarter. There's some spots on the front decklid that'll need work, so I'm gonna hammer and dolly everything before applying any primer, and filler to keep the extra weight off.

[NO_H2O]

Git-it man. When it comes time for high-build primer go with Evercoat Slick Sand and a gun with a 1.8 - 2.0 tip. You will not be sorry. :agree:

[yellow73]

That is (was) some bright yellow paint!!!!!

[yetibone]

Originally Posted by NO_H2O

Git-it man. When it comes time for high-build primer go with Evercoat Slick Sand and a gun with a 1.8 - 2.0 tip. You will not be sorry. :agree:

Exactly. My Binks #7 came with a 1.8. :agree:

Originally Posted by yellow73

That is (was) some bright yellow paint!!!!!

Yeah it is!! Almost made me have to wear some when I had it out in the driveway scraping some of that stuff off!!

[yetibone]

Here's what was under the wad of bondo. Crunched all the way into the B pillar.
The resulting bag of walnuts was after a little hammer and dolly work. jhelgesen turned me onto the idea of using a smooth stainless steel disk on my grinder to help shrink the metal up a bit.

After doing what I can with that, I'll be priming inside and out in the next week or two.

[NO_H2O]

I had much the same problem on Ryan's car on the drivers side. A shrinking dolly on the inside and smoth hammer on the outside was what I used to get it close. then a skim coat of mud and 3 coats of Slik-Sand high-build got-er-done.

[yetibone]

Originally Posted by NO_H2O

I had much the same problem on Ryan's car on the drivers side. A shrinking dolly on the inside and smoth hammer on the outside was what I used to get it close. then a skim coat of mud and 3 coats of Slik-Sand high-build got-er-done.

Yeah, that's what I've did this afternoon after some D&C on Sue's Bug. Took it for a drive to get some sandpaper, just to inspire me.

Found out the flat side of the dolly will shrink it, and the rounder side will stretch it a bit.

I think I'll be saving the Slik-Sand for last. I'll etch prime it first (after the hammer work), then mud it, then 2K prime it, then block it, then prime it, then block it, then prime it, then block it, then...

One day, I might make a car out of this heap.

[NO_H2O]

I did the dolly work, epoxy prim, skim coat, 3 coats slik sand at one time (won't shrink or crack and cures harder than 2 Carrera GT payments), then blocked it out. Came out great. But you better get your blocking done in 2 days or it will be much harder to block after the Slik-Sand cures out.

[yetibone]

Originally Posted by NO_H2O

I did the dolly work, epoxy prim, skim coat, 3 coats slik sand at one time (won't shrink or crack and cures harder than 2 Carrera GT payments), then blocked it out. Came out great. But you better get your blocking done in 2 days or it will be much harder to block after the Slik-Sand cures out.

AAAAHHH,.. :agree:

I apreciate that tip. I'll definately save that for last.

You know, I hadn't even thought about using a sealer... What we used on Sue's car went on just hours before the basecoat. I not even sure who made the stuff we used, but I think it was Akzo-Nobel, same folks who made the color, and clear.