My concept for the general Vee

[jakejakesnakes]

Looks really cool, good luck with it

[ONETYPE]

I got a oval clip for 150 + ship pm me if your interested

[Double D]

The car looks like a very solid platform to work from........keep up the good work in the "man cave" btw.... post plenty of photos as you do the chop!

[Palepainter]

Well the mancave was busy today. It was a one man show, but this not being my first time at the rodeo, it wasn't too bad.

The door was sprung bad and the edge where the door skin meets the hinge needed flattening. So I made a piece of wood that set on top of the rivets inside giving me a great support to bend the doorskin back to its spot with a couple wacks with a flat hammer.

Started off with getting the driver door aligned properly before I started cutting. I had to replace a lower hinge as it had been sprung bad and there was no longer a gap in the front of the door. Not sure of the best way to deal with it, I called my bro Matt Howard at www.deluxecustoms.com .





Above you can see the bad jam gap.


He advised me to insert a small 7/16 socket into the jam. Placing it right over the phillips door screw. Then you close the door carefully not to crush your fingers. You need to adjust it this way incrementally to not go too far the other way. You can feel it make its changes. You can prob see from the pics better than I am explaining.


So with the adjustment, here is the results. The door will soon come off and finish welding now that I got the Mig set up and running smoothly.



So now it was bracing time, I went with 1x1 square thick wall steel. I had to run the brace from rear door jam drivers to Readdoor jam pass side at the right position so I wouldn't have to remove it to do the hardtop and remove the b pillar.


I took one of the frontal pictures and checked the chop with photoshop before I started cutting.

I was happy with the visual vote of conidence, and it was time for a beer and move on. I took out the verniers and measured around the A pillar to determine where I would get the best results cutting. I found the narrowest and most uniform point on the post and marked it. Then I measured 2.2 above and below that point. Then I checked multiple dimensions at those two points to determine how much relief would need to be applied vertically to the post. It really wasnt that much.




After I had measured, I cut a row if vinyl on my plotter exactly 4.5 inches and threw it over the marks trying to keep it as perpendicular to the post as possible.

I busted out the Sawzall with a 6 in metal blade. A good sharp one is advisable. Finished with a cut off wheel to clean it up a bit.


Then I just hacked through the c pillar leaving the b pillar untouched until I had the back done. This way it wouldn't bind the blade doing the complex cut. I simply drew a line from the furthest part of the curve in the rear glass and split it right down the quarter just above the fender body line.


Then it was time to hack through the b pillar and get it ready for alignment in the front. I cut through and then moved the entire section forward so I could see how much it affected the rear section. It moved ahead approx 2,5 inches. Hopefully a 36hp doghouse will work with clearance.

Above you can see the main cut full welded. The rest tacked. I will prep the rest of the metal when I am ready to fully weld.
Here is how the rear is looking after it has been roughly moved into position. To remove the 2.25 inches, I simply marked the bottom with tape after I had the front into position. I measured the distance off the edge of the top piece then removed the material from the lower rear quarter. It will take just a minimal amount of clean up on the firewall in the back.

I am going to set up the back tomorrow and start welding it up.


Below you can see it clamed up with the relief cuts in the upper roof section. I will be finishing up all the welding tomorrow.

[Palepainter]

All in all this was exactly the way I cut my 39 ford. I can not imagine doing a chop any other way honestly. This is going to be a breeze to simply drop the rag top section in it and do a bit of hammering a little mud work. It certainly was the way to work by yourself. Over all drop was 4.5 in the front and 2.25 in the rear. I will start the hardtopping tomorrow and getting rid of all the be pillar. I will compensate for chassis strength with a 6 point cage in the future that I will be mounting my 50 cal to through the ragtop. :)

[Palepainter]

Finished the outside section on the driver side rear. Came out pretty clean with a bit of contemplation with a Guiness. :) I tacked the roof section in the center of the car on the firewall keeping the roof section on center. Then I peeled out the backside of the rear quarter panel so I cound get in with a hammer and a dolly. Heading over to the passenger side now. Then on to the b pillars and the hardtopping.

[notched]

I'm diggin' your concept. Progress is lookin' good.

[tattooed_pariah]

Originally Posted by notched

I'm diggin' your concept. Progress is lookin' good.

that's an awesome graphic!

[Palepainter]

Thanks guys.

I got the passenger side done today. I will show you a couple pics of the slices I had to make in the rear quarter and how I had to sew it all back together. It really was a matter of putting in the relief cuts and working and trimming away as you moved towards the rear deck lid. I used a contour guide to check progress matching from side to side.


Above gives you an idea of how much was taken vertically out of the rear section. I removed all the foam in the rear section so I wouldn't burn the place down. I measured the height both sides from identical positions and made a mark for how far down to bring the rear quarter and set before tacking.

Above you can see the two relief cuts I had to make in the rear sail panel. This kept things flowing as it all tapers out before the rear decklid. I had to move everything up about a 16th of an inch on this side, so I had a bit of gap to tack up.

As I worked back towards the deck lid, I trimmed and hammered and welded as I went until I had everything tacked together about half in a part. Then I started to come back in and fill.

You can see it mostly stitched together here. I had cleared out the inner panels so I could get to the welds while they were warm. I continued to hammer on the panel with the dolly on the outside to streth the seam back out. Every now and then a few strikes with out the dolly backing was needed.


Here you can see the inner panel peeled back to access the seam. You can also see how nicely the fire wall lined back up with the top edge of the vent area under the window.


And finally the rear shot so you can see how easily things lined up. I will wait until I get the motor back in to figure out how I will be skirting the areas on the side under the deck lid.

Over all, quite happy with the results. Only a few chunks taken out of my hands, but that is par for the course.

[Palepainter]

Oh ya...My wife took this one for me after she helped me put the rag top back in.

[tool2]

I feel your happiness at the stage of cutting and pasting. Your ride has that apearens your looking for. that is always a good feeling. A dead friend always told me if you dont find the time to finish you never will. keep it up, looks good

[Palepainter]

Has anyone seen one of these for a Beetle rear glass.

[briancustoms]

Wow, talk about a very methodical way of measuring and planning. I just cut and eyeball and hope it turns out decent. Looking forward to more progress.

[HeidelbergJohn4.0]

Originally Posted by Palepainter

Has anyone seen one of these for a Beetle rear glass.

Back in the early 80's yeah. Haven't seen one of them for anything in years, let alone a bug. I liked the aluminum ones that mounted inside more. Cleaner look, same function.

[Palepainter]

I found some with 3 or 4 louvers still in production actually. Pricey though. Hoping to find an abandoned one. Chances are slim.

[Palepainter]

I started to work on the B pillar and the rear section on the drivers side. I checked the differences in contours along the sides with my little friend here.

Then I cut up the rear side window frame relocated it to its rough position. I also had to realign the door window frame as well. Then I tacked the rear side window frame where it attched to the upper quarter panel. Then seen how far I needed to bring down the front section in order to get it to line up with the door. I have a bit of tweaking and tacking to do tomorrow eve. I wanted to stop and get away from it for the eve to evaluate where I am before I go any further.

Here is the shot of it mocked up and then the computer enhancement to see how it will work out. I am considering getting rid of the drip rail all together. But not sure.

[Palepainter]

I made a new sail panel with a cardboard template and a plasma cutter. I used the cardboard and the cutting guide. Cuts fast and clean.

Then I took it over to the english wheel to make some long passes across the length of the metal. This gave me the compound curve I was looking for to get a nice smooth transition off the back of the quarter panel into the roof under the drip rail.

I had to do a few checks with the curves then put it through the wheel a few times. Trying to get it to fit nicely with out having to force it into place. I tacked it all up and and need to make a decision on the rail at this time before I head into the door area. Not sure yet. I think this is a good time to go back to capping off the door jam area.

[Palepainter]

Sitting here looking at the photos, the drip rail doesn't look bad in it's stock location. Opinions?

[Unkl Ian]

I like it with the stock drip rail.

[briancustoms]

I'm with you on the drip rail, but I'm also wondering if that's because it follows the line of the new sail panel? Once you blend that panel in will the rail look out of place? It still follows the upper body line though so that might help.

Where's John? He is the photoshop master.

I think maybe a better side view of the whole car might help see it better?

[detroit73super]

John's probably photoshopping my project as we speak....or not....

[Palepainter]

I photoshopped the rail in above kind of following the new opening, But I do not like the way it ends in the middle of the car. It is either stock or with out it all together. Not sure, gonna contemplate this eve.

[KQQL66]

G'day... I'm sure your Idea for the General Vee is Great from the other replies but I cant seem tio find a Picture of it... am I missing something? I'd like to see it!

[KQQL66]

Ok Ignore my last as soon as I posted it all of the Pictures and your concept became visable, what can I say WOW I think its Awesome... I must admit you have a great eye for style and it looks to be coming to life very well.... I am currently lookin at building a military themed volksrod as i'm in the Australian Army and have an interest in these vehicles I really like Military rthemed cars and bikes well done and I will be keeping a keen and interested eye on your project all the best with it all.

[tool2]

Looks like one of them frenchy cars. or like pepi le peu