Bulldog's Choptop Updates - Page 39 - Cut-Weld-Drive Forums

**purplemyth** · January 23rd, 2012, 02:14 PM

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I can SMELL the bondo way over here!

It's looking Great!

oh, so, is it dun yet?

**hotrodheb** · February 4th, 2012, 07:14 PM

Took a break from body filler and got to do a little bit of fabrication today! For a while we have been trying to find a good way of holding the decklid down that didn't include the use of a bungee cord. Fast forward to two weeks ago, and while flipping through a Speedway Motors catalog, I came across the key to making it all work. These small snap lock latches turned out to be absolutely perfect. Matt ordered up a pair and the Fedex man delivered them today. After a little bit of head scratching, here is what I came up with...

The latch and mounting cup.

The pin, with cup mounted on the decklid bracket

The latch portion itself... yes, this is all it is! About the same size as a quarter! The center portion is the release button.

The whole assembly latched

Body mounting bracket for the latch

Tacked in bracket and latch mounted

Decklid bracket and pin tacked in

Now I just need to duplicate the brackets for the other side... Luckily I traced the brackets before I welded them on!

**grumpy** · February 4th, 2012, 07:53 PM

looking great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hotrodheb

Luckily I traced the brackets before I welded them on!

not so much luck as experience i think.

**purplemyth** · February 4th, 2012, 11:32 PM

I like those! Cool idea!

Turbo Punk · February 5th, 2012, 04:56 AM

Nice!!

**bugdust** · February 5th, 2012, 02:53 PM

Nice!! Looks good. I will have to check those out if I ever get around to building a volksrod.

notched · February 9th, 2012, 09:37 PM

A friend of mine used those on his Baja. Great solution!

mkparker · February 10th, 2012, 06:06 AM

I like 'em a LOT! Great work and nice find Rob!

**hotrodheb** · February 13th, 2012, 11:26 AM

Didn't get a lot of time out in the garage this weekend, but I was able to fabricate the mounting plate for the MiMod display. I first designed the plate on AutoCAD, printed it out full scale and cut it out in cardboard to double check all the clearances. Everything looked great so I then tansfered it to some 1/8" steel and started cutting it out. Once it was all cut out and smoothed, I clamped it in the vice and made the bends. And now it is in a box waiting to go to the post office. This bracket will be fiberglassed onto the LCD display before the whole thing is shipped back here.

notched · February 13th, 2012, 02:21 PM

I'm sooooooo glad that Matt decided to keep going forward with this build!!

BullDog · February 13th, 2012, 02:39 PM

You and me both. Its coming along again and my health has improved enough to get involved again. I've been relying on others help for over a year now. Without Robs help and patience I would have never gotten this far. It would have ended up as another sold or scrapped, unfinished project. I've learned a lot over the process and it all still comes back to one tidbit of wisdom... "Its only Metal" Thanx Walt!

And if I was to do it again... stick to a plan and budget, unless you have the time and money to go nuts. Having someone close by to slap some sense into me would help I think... when I decide to add another time consuming and or expensive piece to the puzzle.

Thank you Rob, for all you've done!!!

Flipper_1938 · February 19th, 2012, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hotrodheb

Took a break from body filler and got to do a little bit of fabrication today! For a while we have been trying to find a good way of holding the decklid down that didn't include the use of a bungee cord. Fast forward to two weeks ago, and while flipping through a Speedway Motors catalog, I came across the key to making it all work. These small snap lock latches turned out to be absolutely perfect. Matt ordered up a pair and the Fedex man delivered them today. After a little bit of head scratching, here is what I came up with...

The latch and mounting cup.

The whole assembly latched

Now I just need to duplicate the brackets for the other side... Luckily I traced the brackets before I welded them on!

Those latches look neat!

Have you had a chance to play with these? How secure do they grab the pins? How much misalignment will they tolerate when you mate the two parts together?

**hotrodheb** · February 19th, 2012, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flipper_1938

Those latches look neat!

Have you had a chance to play with these? How secure do they grab the pins? How much misalignment will they tolerate when you mate the two parts together?

I have put quite a bit of pulling force on these, and the are very secure. And as far as the alignment goes, the pin is a ball end, so there is quite a bit of fudge factor. Probably gives at least 15-20 degrees of angularity in any direction.

anthonymaye · February 20th, 2012, 05:22 PM

Really cool idea always impresive work

**hotrodheb** · February 28th, 2012, 10:50 AM

Since the Daytona 500 was rained out Sunday, I decided to get some work done in the garage. The inner door to the engine area (remember the turbo and carb are behind the fan shroud) was built a long time ago, but we never came up with a good way to latch it down. Well after the great success with the latches for the decklid, I went with the same latches for the lid. After fabbing up some brackets, measuring, remeasuring and drilling, this is what I came up with...

**hotrodheb** · July 21st, 2012, 07:29 PM

I know it's been some time since I have updated this, but I have been working on the bodywork here and there between all the kids weekend activities. As of now, the whole front end, the dash and now the driver side (RHD) is all done except for some fine tuning. I also fab'd up a pair of brackets to hold the digital display up where the rear view mirror usually would be. Still need to weld them into place, but I need to make a trip to the hardware store first.

Brackets...

Door and quarter panel mudded up...

And after some sanding and some spot filling...

And fully sanded...

Just need to go over it with some finer sandpaper and they will be ready for primer/sealer.

BullDog · July 21st, 2012, 07:37 PM

Thanx Rob... looking great! those pics made my week.

**hotrodheb** · July 21st, 2012, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BullDog

Thanx Rob... looking great! those pics made my week.

Gonna be working on it tomorrow as well if you get bored and want to help or just watch! And once the other side is done (hopefully by next weekend) I'll need to get some guys over to help lift the body up so I can shorten the body cart. That way I can work on the roof easier!

**d3ghia** · July 21st, 2012, 10:06 PM

'bout time for an update!

I wish I was closer.....I would definitely be over to help out!

**tattooed_pariah** · July 21st, 2012, 10:21 PM

is it done yet?

:P love seeing updates in this thread, such an amazing build...

notched · July 25th, 2012, 10:18 PM

Bodywork is coming along!

Bugula · July 26th, 2012, 06:18 AM

Awsome build. Do you have any pics of the chop process?

mkparker · July 26th, 2012, 06:30 AM

Looks great Rob!! Always nice to see updates on this one!

BullDog · July 26th, 2012, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bugula

Awsome build. Do you have any pics of the chop process?

a few but it was a chop to begin with. just cleaned it up and went with early windows. roof skin was slid back a little to give it that subtle wedge chop look, although the chop of about 4-4.5 was retained with the earlier windows it looks lower with smaller windows.

go to chapter 1
http://frankensteinvw.com/index.php

Bugula · July 26th, 2012, 09:54 AM

Thanks, cool site too.