Fat Chicks n' Mopeds

[fernon]

The Dragon's Wing

After punching out a bunch of holes last weekend for the deck lid piece we thought it would be great if we could make an adapter for the Hydraulic Punch Press so that we could also use the Dimple Dies with the press.

Since we can't leave a perfectly good working tool alone, we gave the press and the largest Dimple Die that we had to my Father-in-Law and he brought it to his friend that is a master machinist.

He took all the parts and turned down a new adapter for the Dimple Dies so now we can use the Hydraulic Punch Press to not only cut out the holes but also Dimple Die the holes afterwords.
(Look out... Now we are Dangerous).

We next focused our attention to the rear end of the car, that has been an issue since the beginning. This is where three body lines come together and we have modified the rear end so much that it was easier to fabricate all new panels for the rear end than to use what was there.

First thing was to weld up the three body lines in the rear so that we had a solid piece to work with.

Then we had to taper the inner frame so that in flows in to the piece that we added and then cut away all of the rear metal and start to define the shape that we wanted in the rear end.

Then we proceeded to fabricate the inner lip for the new structure.

Checking the fit of the inner lip. Once this is in you will be able to grab the rear end without cutting your hands and it also cleans up the rear end.

Then it was time to weld in the inner lip.

With the inner lip welded in place you can see how the rear of the car has a scalloped or (Dragon's Wing) look to it. We also like the fact the the carbs are exposed.

Now we can finish welding up all of the other pieces together.

Time to roll it out and have a look.

Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Anti-French

We have been playing around with some ideas for the license plate holder for the rear of the car. As usual we just couldn't use a stock pope nose and bracket on the W-lid and since the whole Frenched-in thing is played out, we decided to go back to our roots and get all nostalgia on your ass.

So as usual we broke out the cardboard and started to play, then the Evil Metal Genius took the templates and started to break all the metal so that we could make the new bracket. Once everything was cut down it was time to weld it up.

From the back it looks like an ordinary tag on the back of the car.

But after a shit load of cutting and punching holes it begins to resemble an old AA/Fuel Dragster parachute box.

The plate will be held in place by L.E.D. Plate Bolts (that will also light the plate) so the plate will float on the back of the lid without a frame.

For the next couple of weeks we will be putting a new kitchen in the Evil Metal Genius's house, so we are taking a little break from the car. But after that we are going to jump right back into it.

Until next time...

[fernon]

WE'RE BACK...

Yes, it's been three (3) months since we have done anything on the Volksrod, but we have been very busy with so many other projects and I have been traveling for work more than usual and I am finally back in town for a while now.

One of the things that we wanted to get done is to fix the passenger side door, since this was the test door from the beginning and we had made some modifications as to how we were going to do the lower rocker panels, so we needed to alter the door again since we did not like the gap at the bottom of the door.



So that meant that we had to cut the entire door apart again and add some material to lengthen the bottom of the door since we are anal as hell about having perfect gaps on the doors.

This is how much we needed to add to the bottom of the door so that the gaps would be even all around the door.


After the entire bottom of the door is cut off.


We had to make a filler piece so that we can begin to tack in the inner door panel back together.


The filler piece is all welded up.


Now ground down. It will eventually get a final weld and then filled with Duraglas


Then it was on to the front skin of the door.


Looks a hundred times better.


Then we wanted to turn our attention to the safety locks for the suicide doors. So after some precise measurements we made a template and began to drill the door for the mechanism.


Then bolted everything into place.


Here is a look at the safety latch in the open and closed position. This will prevent anyone from accidentally opening the door when you are driving.




Then we started to work on filling in the window openings. This will clean up the openings and make the door solid again.




Again, after it has a final weld and Duraglas we can start to smooth it out and have a nice rounded edge to hang your arm out. Looks better already and the door feels very solid now.


After all of that we started to cut away the front rail so that we can start to finalize the lower rocker panel.


Until next time...

[fernon]

How Do You Like Me Now

We only had a few hours to play around with the car this weekend so we thought that we could finish up the deck lid bracket (Shin Cutter 2000) and make the back end more stable.

We began by adding the lower stabilizer bar to the bracket and then make the top piece for the pin to slide into the bracket.


Then we added a curved piece to the side to tie in the top plate to the drilled side bracket.


Then it was time to add the inner plate bracing, but as usual we had to punch holes into it.


A shot from the side. This thing is Evil Looking, you really need to see it in person to appreciate it. We just need to add the bottom to it.

Then we decided to play around with the tail lights. Since we are using 1937 Ford LED tail lights we had to make a custom bracket to mount them. As usual we just could not make a simple bracket. So we started by breaking out the cardboard and playing around with some ideas, then it was time to take a piece of metal and start making our new bracket.


After some hammering it begins to take shape.


A little welding.


And some grinding.


And now for a test fit.


After some fine tuning we have a new mount for the tail light. Kind of looks like a jet engine for an airplane.


You can see all of the inner cuts and multiple compound curves that were needed to be made for the bracket.


Then it was time to set it on the car and have a look. We like the way it came out, now the only problem is that we have to make one for the other side.










Until Next Time...

[fernon]

The First One Was Easy...

After spending the week in Connecticut doing some repair work in a mall, I was able to get back in town to work on the car again. I finished most of the grinding on the rear deck lid support bracket and then I began to work on the drivers side door frame that needed to be filled in. I still have a bunch of little things that need to be welded up on that side before we can hang the door back on.


Then the Evil Metal Genius was back to work on making the other tail light mount.


After some welding and grinding he had made a mirrored matching bracket for the tail light.


Then it was time to mount the tail lights and make sure that they were even and level so that they look right from the back end of the car.


They came out really nice and now we can start to work on the rocker panels for the bottom end of the car.

Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Patches the Clown

We spent the entire weekend patching in little panels everywhere on the car. We are at the point where we need to finish off all of the major fab work on the body before we pull it off the pan for the last time (LOL).

Cutting out parts of the body to patch some of the holes.


Welding in a new panel to fill the hole.


Also added the front piece to fill in the rocker panel, since the inner fender well is not covered by the fender we wanted to roll the panel in to follow the body line.


Did the same thing to the driver's side.




Again all of the panels have been filled in including the original hinge area, this makes a nice solid clean support to the heater channel. We will also cut away the front pan and make a neat cover for it so that you cannot see it.


Then we finished filling in and cleaning up the hinge area of the driver's side door.


Welding up all of the little holes on the driver's side door and adding more support to the hinge pocket on the door.


Starting to look a little cleaner, it will have one more go through once we start to do the body work, we will take everything apart and fill in all of the remaining holes that we may have missed and then smooth out all of the metal before we Duraglass and then Bondo the living hell out of this car.


Then it was on to replacing the windshield area of the car. there were several areas that had been replaced by the previous owner that really needed to be done the right way, so I began by cutting out all of the areas that needed to be replaced.


Then we began to make replacement panels for the areas that were cut out.


Set in place to make sure they fit, you can see that we also put in the holes so that we can spot weld the dash face just like the factory.


A little welding in the panel.


Then it was on to the tricky piece to replace, the corner has a tight radius to conform to.


So we broke out the shrinker and began to shape the metal piece to fit the area.


The piece bent to the shape of the area before it was trimmed to fit.


Set in place to be cut down to fit.


After all of the trimming to fit the area that was cut out.


Again adding the factory spot weld holes. Yes we are very anal about specs.


Then the piece is welded in to place.


Now it just needs to be ground down.


The windshield area is done and now we are ready to make the safari frame to go into the opening.


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Rock & Rolled

We spent the last two weekends working on making the drivers side lower rocker panel for the car. We wanted to make it so that it could be unbolted from the car using the existing holes in the heater channel's for the running boards.

We began by making a steel U-channel so that we could shape it to the body lines and then measure out all of the holes so that we can punch them out of the U-channel.


After all of the holes where punched out we began to dimple all of the holes.


Then we began to make the brackets to hold the panels to the car.


We had to add a piece to the rocker panel so that it will follow the body lines since the body dives back after the door panel.


Then it was time to weld it all up and grind it down.


It came out really nice and it is very sturdy, you can see the brackets that are used to bolt the panel to the car.


Once this is all finished it will be attached with stainless bolts and the inner rocker will be blacked out.


You can see the rockers were made to wrap around the rear end to follow the body line, this makes it nice and clean.


We like the way it came out... now we need to make the other side.






That's all for a while now since I will be on the road for the next three weeks for work. I will be in San Francisco from Oct 8 - 13 and Los Angeles from the 13 - 21 and I will be at the Pomona Swap Meet on the 16th so if anyone wants to hook-up let me know...

Later...

[fernon]

California Dreamin'

It is good to be back home after a long couple of weeks working out in California. I did have the opportunity to meet up with some fellow Volksrodders and as always had a great time with them.
When I was in San Francisco I was able to hang with HotrodHeb and Bulldog and actually see Frankenstein in person, you boys are doing some great stuff with that car, Matt that motor is going to be a monster and Rob I can't wait to see you start on your project it's going to be epic. I also met up with Gixxersixxerman and his dad when I was at the Pomona Swap Meet and if you guys need anything let me know.
I have been very fortunate to be able to meet a lot of people on this Forum in person to either just B.S. for a while or Bleed on their car, either case everyone that I have meet has been top notch and I cannot express how great the people are in the Volksrod community.

I wanted to jump back in to the car again and finish off the drivers side rocker panel. First thing was to break and cut down the panel to fit the car. Then we began to mark out the hole locations.


After that we can put the pilot holes in place so we can punch them out.


Then it was time for the hole punch and then dimple die the holes.
(Yes this is still my favorite tool).


Now the panel is ready for the extension to be added and then fitted and mounted to the car.


In order for the extension to be added we needed to add a flange to the panel so that we could weld them together.


After everything was welded up and the mounting tabs were added to the panels and the panels formed to the body lines we mounted them on the car to have a look.




Next weekend we are going to go over the entire car and put together our parts list so that we can go to the Turkey Rod Run and do some major damage. We are getting to the point where we need to take the body off the chassis and start to do the final welds on everything.

Until Next time...

[fernon]

Filling the Gap

We jumped back into working on the front cowl of the car, since we stripped the car down to bare metal we discovered that the previous owner had done some typical VW repair work to the cowl of the car using a combination of JB Weld and fiberglass, so I broke out the cutting wheel and started to remove all of the bad metal to be replaced.


Then it was time to start to weld in all of the metal panels that were made to repair the cowl.


Now the cowl has been repaired the right way and all of it's structure is put back into it.


Then it was time to tackle the drivers side of the hood. We have been fighting with the fit of the hood ever since we installed it. The gaps that are around the hood have been typical VW gaps 1/2" on one side and rubbing metal on the other, so we began to cut the hood apart and make it fit right. You can also see here the top gap that is all over the place.


We started by cutting a new corner into the hood so it wouldn't hit the edge.


Then we had to add a new lip to the edge.


Then we began to add a gap rod to the one side of the hood to fill in the gap and make it even.


Now the gap around the hood is even and once it is filled in and sanded down it will look like a hood should on a car with even gaps all around.


After that we began to tear down the car and make a list of parts that we need to look for at the Turkey Rod Run in order to finish of the car. Hopefully we can find everything that we want there so that we can jump back into this thing and get it on the road soon.

Until next time...

[fernon]

Where's The Beef?

So after three (3) days at the Daytona Turkey Rod Run we finally got back home and are now trying to recover. We had a great time as usual and I was able to score a ton of parts for the Volksrod but I also dropped a butt load of cash at the same time.

I was able to find a company that made aftermarket trim rings for the BLC headlight buckets that I have and I also picked up the steal braided headlight wire looms for the buckets as well.

One of the scores that I came across was a full set of Centerline rims with brand new tires on them that I got for next to nothing. The rears are 15" x 10" with 30" x 12" Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/R tires (I just priced out the tires and they are going for $300 a piece) and the fronts are 15" x 3-1/2" with a set of 165's on them, I'm still not sure if I like the way they look, It's a lot of tire in the back, don't get me wrong they are very aggressive looking, but holy shit that's a lot of tire. If I don't like them I will have no problem selling them but I couldn't pass up the deal.
(you can see the difference from the original tires to the new ones below).

Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Brake Rattle & Roll

It's been a while since we worked on the V-Rod, we have both been pretty busy with work and other projects that we just did not have time to play around with the car.

I did have time to order all of the brakes and some other parts for the car so we spent the weekend installing the new braking system for the Volksrod. Since everything else in the car has holes in it we decided to continued the theme into the brakes as well.

Unpacking the big bad drilled rotors. All of the rotors were drilled for a Chevy bolt pattern (No adapters on this car).


We started with the rear brakes since we were converting from drums to disk.


We removed the drums that were on the rear and installed the new heavy duty disc brake adapter plate.




Then we slid on the new drilled rotors.


After that it was time to install the new calipers and pads.




After that it was on to the other side and then stand back to have a look.


We also decided to re-mount the shock towers back on to the trailing arms since we flipped the trailing arms before to get rid of the camber in the rear end.




Then it was on to the front end of the car. since we already had disc brakes up front it was a pretty easy swap out.

We did not order studs when we ordered the rotors because we wanted to get everything mocked-up before we got a final measurement for the studs. So we took out the studs that were on the front rotors just so we could set the tires on the car. Like usual nothing is easy so we broke out the torches and heated up the rotors to remove the studs.


Old disc brakes on the front end.


New disc brakes on the front end.


I really like the way the brakes came out. We are getting close to removing the body so that we can start to work on the inside and then begin to do the body work on the car.

Until next time...

[fernon]

Bulk Head Adjustment

Back at it again, just got back in town early Friday morning from doing some work in Kentucky, then at 4 a.m. Saturday morning we drove up to Daytona for the Daytona Spring Fling (it's the second part of the Daytona Turkey Rod Run) then woke up Sunday morning and drove down to Ft. Lauderdale for the VW Show n' Shine, after all of that we decided to get back to the house and start working on the Volksrod again (busy weekend).

One of the things that we had to do before we pull the body off is to finalize the placement of the fuel line coming from the new tank to the frame since we have a door that covers up the frame work.


So we pulled the door of and began to mark it up so we could start to cut it up.


Then we made a piece to add to the body so that we could add a bulk head for the fuel lines.


Then we began to cut the piano hinge and then the door so we could run the fuel lines into the lower half of the car.


Now we have a place to put the bulk head and run the lines without interfering with the door opening.


We even added a support frame around the opening to match the frame that was already around the door (yeah we are anal as hell). When this is all finished it will have a rubber seal around the entire door and the trunk will be protected from the elements and usable.


Next week we will pull the body off the frame so we can finalize everything on the frame, pull the engine and transmission, and start to really move forward on this thing.

Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Hoppity Friggin' Hop Hop...

So the time has come to separate the body from the pan so that we can start to get to work on the frame and finish the lower end of the car.

Since the body will not be on the pan for a while I thought I should roll it out and take some shots of it before it's gone. I spent most of the week stripping everything off the car and unbolting anything that was not needed on the body.

So lets roll it out and have one last look.
(the car looks like a model)










A couple of shots of the Suicide Doors.




And now we start to separate the body from the pan. (Everybody is channeling their car, we are lifting ours)


The body finally separated from the pan.


Now we load it up on to the back end of a pick-up truck (yes we are rednecks) and get it ready so that we can store the body.




Say goodbye for now.


Roll the frame back into the garage and get back to working on it.






Now that's how you brace a beam extender.




Started to Mock-up the brake lines. As you can see the old ones were pretty messed up. We will bend up the new ones and make it all look good again.


Old crusty fittings and lines.


After they have been cleaned up and a new set of steal braided lines.


Next we are going to pull the motor and transmission so we can start to finish off the repair work to the tunnel and do some final welding on the brace and beam extender.

Until next time...

[fernon]

How to Build a Volksrod



O.K. Now what do I do... So we started to strip down the car so that we could flip the chassis over and start to work on the frame head and tunnel. We started to lay out everything as we took it off so that we could tag it and bag it so that we could continue to work.


We pulled the engine and transmission and got that mounted on the stand so that we could work on it a little easier later on.


After everything was stripped off the car we de-greased the pan and then pressure washed everything off of it so that we could start to work on it. First thing we needed to do is to replace the bottom of the frame head and then work back from there. You can see here how bad a shape this was in.
(Remember it's only metal)








We have a new bottom to replace the one that is there and then we will fab up all of the rest after that is in place.


First thing is to remove the one that is there. So we start cutting and drilling out the spot welds so that we can get a good clean surface to work with.


After a lot of work we now have a pile of rusted twisted up metal.


Now we can see how much more we need to replace to rebuild the structure to the front end.


Here is a shot of the inside of the tunnel, you can see the tubes for the clutch cable, throttle cable and fuel line. Some minor stuff to fix in there and then we will buz in a new bottom plate for the tunnel.


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Tunnel Vision

We spent most of the weekend blowing up 5 different regulators on the big welder trying to buz in the beam, beam extender and beam brace so that we could finish them up and get them ready for paint, later on we wound up buying a new regulator and decided to work on something else.

Then we tore down the rear trailing arms and began to sand blast them to get them ready for paint. After that we decided to finishing up the bottom end of the tunnel.

First we wanted to run a new stainless steel fuel line inside the tunnel, so that required several hours trying to get the old one out and then run the new one in the factory brackets (again, yes we are anal as hell).


Then we decided to brake out some of the high tech tools that everyone seems to think that we have. Since we cut away most of the front tunnel we had to fab up a new one and we just could not throw in a flat piece of metal so we started to make a new tunnel piece. (notice the ultra cool tool that we are using, yes that is a welding tank).


Then I start to cut down the metal (on our ultra cool work bench) so that it can be manipulated more.


Then we put the piece into the vise and form the edges to match the bottom of the tunnel. After that we do a test fit and drill a shit load of holes for the spot welds again.


Then it's time to weld everything back up.


Add the front bulk head piece and then stand back and have a look.


You can even see the bow of the original tunnel match up with the new piece that we made.


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Trailing Behind

We spent all day Saturday doing the final welding on the beam extender, beam brace and the brackets on the beam to hold the beam brace, also we made a new gusset for the headlight brackets to re-enforce them for more stability.

Since we flipped the trailing arms we had to modify the shock towers and bump stops so that we can weld them on the the training arms. After we drilled out the old bump stops we were able to install these cool bump stops .


We also had to add a new hole to the trailing arm so it could be bolted to the spring plate.


Now everything bolts up the way it should and clears everything.


Then it was back to work on the frame head. So now that the bottom is on we needed to tackle the front issues. You can see what needed to be replaced so we proceeded to cut out sections of metal and replace them.


Welding in the new plate.


You can see the one side done after we made a curved section to fit in the beam area.


Better than original, now we need to finish the other side and then fill the rest of the holes that we find.

Until next time...

[fernon]

More Work On The Frame Head

So it was back to work on the frame head. The other lower side needed to be formed so that the beam would fit in and then welded and ground down.


Then we needed to make a piece to fill in the gap, you can see the curved piece that we had to make in order for the beam to fit in place.


Now the front is all welded up, ground down and finished.


Then we proceeded to work on the body support for the frame head. We had to cut away the bad metal so that we could replace it.


Then a piece was made to fit in the area and then welded in and ground down.


After that the top piece was needed to be made for the bolts to pass through.


After that a set of spacers were made so that the panels do not collapse when tightened to the body.


Then we started to finish off the trailing arms so that they can be painted. After flipping the shock towers and bump stops we ground down everything and then we began to add the body filler so that we could smooth everything down (yeah I know, it's under the car and you will never see it) but the trailing arms are as smooth as a baby's butt and you can not see any weld seams.


Then I spent most of the day grinding down and finishing off the steering column. After everything was ground down I shot some primer and then several coats of Satin Black, then polished the inner shaft. - (Ma Deuce)


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Back in Black...

After a long hot summer... it's finally cooled down enough here in Southern Hell to go outside and work on the Volksrod again. It's been a while since we have done anything on it with the heat down here and our busy schedules with work and life in general we just could not find the time to get anything done.

We spent the last couple of weeks doing a lot of busy work on the car getting it ready to put the chassis back together for final assembly.

We finished up the other side of the frame head that needed to be replaced so that the body could be bolted to the chassis.

We had to cut away all of the bad metal so that we could get in to the area and then make a set of spacers to go in to the channel so that the frame head does not get crushed when you tighten down the bolts and then rebuild the frame head again.


After that we did all of the final welding and grinding down of all the welds and bad areas of the chassis. Then it was time to strip down the entire chassis so that we could get it ready for the next step.


After that we filled in and smoothed down the entire tunnel and prepped the chassis for paint.

Then we began to Seam Seal the entire chassis so that we did not have to worry about water or the elements rusting the chassis.


We Seam Sealed the entire chassis just like it came from the factory.


Now the chassis is ready for the first process that we are about to do to it.


We taped off the tunnel and then proceeded to Rhino-Line the pans and chassis so that we did not have to worry about chipping the paint and giving the entire chassis a little more stability.


We were a little skeptical about doing this process because we weren't sure if we were going to like the way it turned out, but with a lot of prep work and getting the chassis ready to apply this we have to say it came out better than we expected. The pans and chassis have a sandpaper feel to them and the tunnel is as smooth as glass.


You can't even tell our patch job for the front of the tunnel.






You can see how good the frame head turned out after all of the work to rebuild it. (Those are water droplets on the bottom of the frame head not rough areas).


Then we began to do the final welding and fabbing to finish up the beam extender support. We added caps at the ends of all of the tubes to close them and also threaded the bottom so that we could bolt the support from the bottom of the chassis.


After everything was welded up it was time to blast it and then get it ready for paint.


Then it was time to finish off and paint it.


I spent a lot of time cleaning up and blasting and grinding down the transmission to get it ready for final assembly. It came out really nice and I replaced all of the mounts and all of the bolts with Stainless Steel to make it POP a little. It's hard to believe this is the same transmission that we started with.




Then We tore down the rear trailing arms and completely rebuilt them. They came out really nice and are ready to bolt back on the chassis.


Here they are with the rotors mounted on them.


Then we started to work on the front beam, we tore it down and pulled everything out of it so that we could do the final welding on it and then grind down everything and get it ready for paint. We still have about a week or two of work on that thing though.


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

The Eagle Has Landed

We have spent the last couple of weeks feverishly working on getting the chassis back on the ground again so that we can begin to work on the body, so without further ado here is what we did.

First off we had to finish welding up the beam again since we did the cut and turn we found a couple of little pin holes that needed to be welded up so that we did not have any grease leaking out of the beam and ruining the paint job.


Then we grounded out all of the welds and then sandblasted the beam to get it ready for paint.


After that we filled in all of the imperfections before we shot the beam.




Then it was on to cleaning up parts and making them look good again. Here is a before and after look at the dropped spindles.


We had to get the disc rotors set up to put on the car so we took out the bearing packer and proceeded to pack the bearings with grease before we put them in the new rotors.










Then it was on to taking out all of the spring leaves, keeping them in order and greasing them up. We had two broken leaves so luckily we had another beam that we could steal two leaves out of.


After that we had to put all of the leaves back into the beam and get it ready for final assembly.


Attaching the control arms.


Then the spindles.


Then the rotors and calipers.


Here is a before and after of the headlight bracket that we molded into the beam.




We also ground down all of the welds and joints on the beam extender to make the sides smooth.


Here is a before and after of the front end. We used Grade 8 bolts on everything. I still need to order a new set of tie rods to cut down and run the front brake lines to finish off the front end.








We also ran the brake lines to the rear of the car. I need to do something with the pedals, I have a few ideas also I am going to change the shifter to something that goes with the car a little better.




Here are some before and after shots of the rear end. Hard to believe it's the same chassis. We ran all new cables, lines and covers to the rear end.








I still need to install the rear axles and adjust all of the cables.


I did get to play with the E-brake handle - I like how it turned out.


Here are a couple of shots of it on the ground.






Until Next Time...

[fernon]

I Walk The Line...

Well back to work finishing up the chassis. We needed to make a couple of brackets in order to install the rear brake lines so we grabbed some steel and proceeded to cut, drill and shape some cool little brackets.


Then we were able to tie in the flexible rear brake lines to the hard lines. I will replace the rubber flex lines with a steel braided lines so it looks better.


We also were able to install the new rear axles after we packed them with grease. What a difference the new axles are, the old ones were so bad we practically had to cut them off.


Then after a thousand little bends we ran the front brake lines to finish off the front end.




Until Next Time...

[fernon]

It's an Inside Job

So now that the chassis is pretty much done we decided to start working on the body since this is going to take a lot of work to get it to the point that we want it.

The chassis is at my place and the body is at the Evil Metal Genius's Lair... He built a killer stand to set the body on that is tall enough for us both to stand up in with shelves on the inside to place power tools and also a place to mount a vise so that we don't even have to leave the inside of the car to do metal work.


First thing was to make a panel for the top of the fire wall. Like always we just couldn't weld a piece of steel there and be done with it. The Evil Metal Genius made a special die to match the rear fire wall grooves and then began to form the panel to fit in place.


Then it was on to tackle the inner rear C-Pillars. You can see here that the gap from the body to the roof is pretty significant.




Playing around with several different ideas from making filler panels to reforming the entire inside we decided to step back and approach this in a logical way... Cleco the panels together and weld them.




The answer was so simple and made for a clean transition.


Make several little filer pieces and wallah there you have it a finished rear C-Pillar. No Muss... No Fuss... and with minimal welding it will be easy to clean up and make it look factory.


Then it was on to something that bugged the shit out of the Evil Metal Genius from the beginning... The front defrost vents on the dash...


After a little beating, shaping and forming we now have a smooth top dash now we just need to clean it up and again it will look factory.


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

To Hell and Back Again

Well boys and girls it's been a while since our last installment of the Fernon Chop Show... I have been on the road the past two months for work and I feel like that Johnny Cash song... I've Been Everywhere!!!

But while I was on the road the Evil Metal Genius was hard at work getting a lot of the body work done. After using almost a gallon of Dura-Glass the passenger side is ready to start smearing Bondo on it.


The door is all filled in, no more hinges, door handle indents or patch panels, it is ready for a coat of Bondo to smooth it all out.


You can see how the rear C-pillar is all filled in and ready for final Bondo work.


I got back in town just in time to drive up to Daytona for the Spring Fling Car Show on Saturday to find parts for the build. We wound up finding some great deals on parts for the other projects but not too much for the Volksrod, so Sunday we loaded up and headed over to Ft. Lauderdale for the Show and Shine VW Show and we were able to pick up a set of pop-outs that we thought would look cool on the car...

As usual we just can't slap a set of pop-outs on the car we have to modify them for the Chop Top...


So we begin to cut them up all the while laughing to ourselves thinking about all of the VW purist that we just encountered with their stories of how valuable these things are...



Throw it up there for a test fit after tweaking the corner.


Then we broke out one of our many tools that everyone seams to think we have so that we could check the radius and then proceeded to shape the back end.




After shaping and forming for a while we were able to make a pop-out frame for a Chop-Top. It's amazing how close to the original shape of the window we were able to maintain when we did the chop and also how much smaller the windows are.




Then we popped it into the opening to have a look... Not to bad and we only have one little place in the frame to weld up. Once it is all welded up it will look like it came from the factory.

Just one more thing that people will not notice at first glance... but will make you go HMMMMM....




Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Fillin' the Gap

We spent most of the weekend trying to finish up the front end of the car so that we can start smearing mud. We had a couple of panels on the lower half that we wanted to patch-up and then we started to work on some more little details that no one will notice at first glance.

One of the things that we wanted to do is get rid of the body seam at the A-Pillar so we started to grind down the area.


Then we welded up the seam so that we could start to fill it in.


Now that it is all welded up we just need to clean it up.


After it is all filled in we can start to Duraglass the area and make it look good.


Next we wanted to reshape the lower panel that we made for the front end to give it a little more subtle curve.


Then we began to rough up the front inner well so that we could begin to Duraglass the area.


With the first rough coat in place we can begin to block it out and then it's on to smoothing everything out with Bondo.


Until next Time...

[fernon]

Inside Out

So before we start the body work we need finish off some of the inner panels so that we can get all of the mounting tabs welded in place and finish up any inner welding before we start smearing mud so it doesn't lift.

So as usual we broke out the cardboard and started to play with some ideas for the inner panels.


We wanted to make panels for the inside of the trunk area to cover up the sides of the trunk and the back of the dash to hide all of the wiring. We just couldn't use one of those plastic dash covers, so we decided to fab one up.


Then we started to lay out the design that we wanted on the panel.


After that we knocked a bunch of holes in it and then dimple died the panel.






We made some tabs on the top of the panel (after we took this photo) to secure it and give the panel a little bow so the panel now follows the top curve of the trunk line.

We also made side panels and began to mount them to the inside of the trunk. After we get everything mounted we will make a kick-out panel to cover the shock hinge for the hood and then we will punch a bunch of holes and dimple die the panels.

This should clean up the trunk area real nice and then we can get started on the interior panels, since we made suicide doors we need to make all custom panels for the inside in order to cover all of the modifications that we made.

[fernon]

Junk in the Trunk

We wanted to finish making all the inner panels in the trunk area and get everything mounted so that we can start working on the next project.

We needed to mount the rear panel so we began by cutting off the original mounting tabs for the panel so that we can make our own.


Then we made some new tabs and nut-serted the tabs so that we can screw the panel onto the new mounting tabs.


Then we fabricated a bunch of mounting tabs for the side panels and then welded them in place.


After all of the mounting tabs were in place we got to work on fabricating the inner panels to form to the trunk area.


Then we started to punch a bunch of holes in the panels.


After we punched all the holes and dimple died the panels we mounted everything up to see what it would look like.






You can see the kick-out panel we made to clear the hood hinge and shock tower. The shock lines up perfectly in the center of the front hole when it is all mounted up.


Now I'm off to Tucson, AZ for a week to go do some work in a Mall and when I get back I think we are going to go pick up a new project...

O' you got to see this thing...

Until Next Time...