Author Topic: Update #18  (Read 8679 times)

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Offline Geoff

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Update #18
« on: January 10, 2006, 11:51:43 AM »
For this update I have a bunch of things to cover but none are finished :blink:

First off is the Windsheild frame.
Here is a shot of the frame in a almost finished state. I still need to sand and polish the frame and instal the glass. It moves out aprox 4" from the frame allowing the hood to open fully without contacting it.



Here you can see the latches used to operate the window. I wanted something different (not like the bus safari) but keeping with the VW theme. I used two pop out latches from a 66 bus, these attach to the dash and articulate up and out in a smooth motion. Mounts were needed to attach the latches, these were welded onto the frame.

A bus safari window seal was used to make it water tight....yeah right. Anyway it looks like it should seal fairly well.



This turned out to be a fairly simple build once the wooden jig's were made. I think most could do this and come out with the same or better results.
One word of caution. If you plan on doing this to a sedan window, remember that the upper two corners are rounded more than my vert window. This will make the window move away at the top of the frame(to me that looks kinda ugly) If you only open it as far as I did it may be ok.

I sanded and polished the side frames and they look very nice! I can't wait to get the front done.

I also did a little  work on the rear wooden bow.
I needed to make a custom bow for the roof to staple to.  I started with a card template, then cut 8 strips of Birch and clamped the first one to the car then glued the next pc on. A few hrs later I added the next and over the Christmas holiday I had them all glued into place. I used a lot of clamps to hold the shape (Thanks Gary!)




Some of these are a little blurry but you get the idea. Here you can see a flange that will bolt to the bow. The bow will also bolt down thru the cowel.


End flange shown.


Once it was roughed into shape I gave it a quick sand, This is how it looks now. It's not finished but I'm happy with it so far (First time ever trying something like this, I think my grade 10 wood shop teacher would aprove)




The rear window frame came in last week, I have looked all over for one that would fit the look and Gary mentioned one he had seen before. With a little surfing the web I found this. I think it will fit the look just fine.


The front wheel arches were next on the list of things to do.
I wanted to give the look of a 30's ford with the bodyline that wraps around the fender line and into the rocker area. I will not be running the body line along the bottom but rather blending it into the rocker.

The first pic shows the oval tubing I bent to fit the shape of the opening. The bend is much more complex than just a curve as it also is on a inward angle. It took a few trys but I got it.



a little welding



a little grinding...



a little filler to see how it looks..


Next it was onto the trunk area... first coat of filler.





To cut down on making a dust mess in the shop I found it better but much colder to do the sanding outside, Brrrrr!


All this bodywork is just roughed in for now.

This was the door that  had a new skin put on in one of the first updates. It needed a fair amount of filler to get it straight.




Well that's it for this update.
I'll post another  covering the rear fenders and such soon.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2006, 11:53:51 AM by Geoff »