Fat Chicks n' Mopeds

[fernon]

Side Tracked
(One Crazy Summer)

Yeah Yeah Yeah I know, It's been forever since our last post but we have been a little busy... See we decided that we have way too many projects going on and we could not focus on getting the things done that we wanted to in the time frame that we were trying for, you know with work, family, life in general and other everyday things that just seem to take up all of our time.

So we decided to be mature... and do the right thing... and stay focused on one project... and see it through until the end... and Ha Ha Ha... Right what the hell were we thinking.

Long story short we decided to take on a monumental task of bringing something back from being literally returned to the ground it came from...

A 1937 Ford Sedan that has been sitting in a field since 1986. The owner took the car apart years ago to do a restoration and abandoned the project. The car was complete and all the parts were in a shed in the back of his property.


It even has a Flathead V8


Needles to say it was a little rough.


So we loaded it up and brought it back to the warehouse to begin stripping it down and bringing it back to life.


First thing we wanted to do is bolt the entire car back together so that we could see what we need to do, to bring it back... Well after several months of sandblasting everything down it doesn't look to bad.




The Evil Metal Genius Saluting...


The dash and the seats were in surprisingly good condition.


Back in for more blasting and we are beginning to rough prime it so the metal doesn't rust away while we restore this.


This car is very Gangster looking... It needs a set of Thompson Machine Guns for it.


We were able to get the engine fired up and running after sitting for 27 years... You gotta love a Flathead... Found an air cleaner at the Sumpter Swap Meet and blasted it and painted it... First Shinny thing on the car...


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

It's Just Two Inches...

So back to work on the Volksrod and we decided to put in a rear seat... The only problem is that we are making custom panels for the rear end to cover the Suicide hinges and they are wider that stock panels.

So like always we have to make everything else a custom fit as well. That means we need to shorten the rear seat by two (2) inches. So we first take the seats apart and then start shortening them.


Then we had to Nut-Sert the rear end to take the new mounting tabs.


Now the back of seat is mounted in place we can start to put everything back together.


We need to get the seats covered but you can see them in place with the side panels... Still need to finish them.




Until Next Time...

[fernon]

It Take Two To Make A Thing Go Right

So we have been saying all along that it only take one roof to do the Fernon Chop...

Well if you really want to do the Fernon Chop the right way you are going to need two roofs...

First take your original roof and do all the other crap that we showed you how to do...

Then take another roof and begin to do a shitload of work...


First mark it up and then begin to cut the center out...


Take the center out and now you have a big hole...


Then cut all that up as well...


Now you have a bunch of little pieces... Throw those away...


Now make a bunch of cool little tabs...


Then weld all of the tabs to the inside of your original head rail.




Then trim the center section a few thousand times...


Until you get the basic shape that you want...


Check to see if it fits... You will do this more times than you want...


Then make a few thousand calculations and plot out your design...


Then begin to drill a bunch of holes...


After that you can take the can cutters and punch them out larger...

By the way the Hydraulic Press is probably the BEST and WORST tool you will every own.

The BEST because it allows you to do stuff like this and the WORST because it allows you to do stuff like this...




Then it is time to break out the Dimple Dies and go to town...

Walla... the worlds largest cheese grater...




Now place it back up into the car and have a look...






Now Nut-Sert the tabs and put the panel back in....


There you have it a one-off custom headliner that takes a ridicules amount of time to create...

Now we need to do a final trim on it and clean it up...


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

When The Dust Clears

So for the past two weeks we have been getting all of the major body work done to the interior of the car making sure that all of the panels are cleaned up and filled in so they are ready for final prep before paint.

Since we are not running a typical headliner you will see all of the metal inside so you can't half-ass it, you don't realize how much a headliner and all of the trim pieces cover up all your mistakes.

So we begin to work on the rear interior C-pillar to clean it up. First we grind down all of the welds.


Then we begin to apply several coats of Dura-Glass to fill in all of the big areas.


Then it's time for Body Filler then sand then more Body Filler then Sand then... well you get the idea.


We also took care of the B-Pillar post at the same time.


Then after hours and hours of sanding the rear sides of the interior are ready for final prep and paint.


Then we started to work on the A-Pillars since we had to modify them during the chop.


Again after lots of grinding, filling and sanding the front section is ready.


We began to strip down and fill the inside of the trunk.


And now it is ready for final prep and paint.


We then turned our attention to the one thing that was going to take the most amount of time... The dash on this car has a multitude of compound curves along with flat panels and on order to make everything look right we had to fineness everything to give off the subtle curves.

Again first off we began to grind everything down.


Then it was on to several coats of Dura-Glass.


After that it seamed like endless coats of Body Filler and sanding to get everything as smooth as possible.


The dash is now ready for us to do the final prep and get all of the custom trim pieces in place before we paint it.






You can see the clean transition from where the vents were into the dash.


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

7 Year Itch

So it's been a while since we have posted anything here, and it's not because we have been slacking off. We have been a little busy with a multitude of other projects and just life in general.

We spent the first half a 2014 putting the Evil Metal Genius's 1937 Ford Sedan back together so that we could get back to work on the Volksrod.

If you recall from earlier post this is how the car looked when we first found it. A sad pile of parts rusting away in a someones back yard.


The engine, like everything else on this car was a mess.


But Slowly we began to bring it back to life.


After a new Offenhauser manifold with two Stromberg carbs, custom aluminum head covers, electronic ignition, custom headers and a slew of other things it's starting to look like an engine again.


We will still tear apart the entire engine and overhaul it when it is time to finish off the car.

We also put the car back together to see what was missing on it so that we know what else we needed to get before we begin to tear it apart to do the metal work on it. Big difference from when we first pulled it out of the field, but we still have a long way to go.






After we put it all back together we rolled it back into the shop so that we could get back to work on the Volksrod.

Well back to work on the Volksrod and we have a lot of work to do since we are finishing the body work on the car. We spent the last four (4) months doing nothing but spreading body filler and sanding it off, spreading more body filler and sanding more of it off. We have used seven (7) gallons of body filler (yes 7 gallons) on this car and probably sanded off 6-12 gallons of filler. but the results are a body that is so smooth it looks like it was sculpted from a single piece of metal.

We put the car back up on the higher frame so that we could work on the sides of the car a little easier.






After everything was sanded smooth we shot it with an epoxy primer to seal everything up until we do a final builder primer and shoot color.


You can see how the doors wrap around and become part of the body, again no windows in the doors to go with the smooth look and feel of the car.




Now that the bottom half of the car is done we can start to work on other areas of the car.




We wanted to finish up in the interior of the car while it was still up on the high stand and easy to work on. The back end took about three (3) weeks to grind down everything and fill panels. Since everything is going to be exposed on the inside we had to smooth out everything inside as well, including the little tabs that run along the side of the back window to hold the headliner in. There is so much work that had to be done to the inside that is normally hidden when you put a conventional headliner in.


Then it was back to work on the dash, doing a semi-final finish. We still need to prep the dash for the trim pieces but it is starting to take shape.


Removing the defrost ducts really helps the smooth look of the dash.


We still need to work on the custom headliner / cheese grater but we will do that in the coming weeks.


Then it was on to the hood. I picked this hood up at a show years ago and it wasn't in the best shape to begin with but after several weeks of tweaking and twisting we began to get it back into shape, little did we know that it was once hot pink - Oh I love the 80's.


After a ton of body filler and sanding it starts to look looks a hood again.


One thing that we have been struggling with since the beginning of this build was the windshield wipers, yeah we knew we had to cut them down and make custom blades but that wasn't the concern it was more and aesthetic thing. Once the car started the smooth look it was a no brainer they had to go. So as usual Cut, Weld do a shit load of body work and then someday Drive... (LOL)




We then moved our focus to the back end with the custom air intake vents. Yes take a sheet of metal and add a bunch of dimple die holes that stiffen the metal then shape it to a curved body, what can go wrong. After a bunch of grinding it was ready for body filler.


You can also see the roof (or as we referred to it as the sea of tranquility) since it had so many craters in it. Lets just say the roof was beaten like a red-headed step child to get the dents out of it and then a ton of filler and sanding to get it smooth.


The panel had a lot of building to get it all straight and smooth but the results came out better than we expected.


Here is the body in it's current state. The body work is 90% done we just need to go over every square inch and do final touch-ups then wet sand the car then shoot a builder primer, sand it out again then shoot color. But before we shoot color we need to marry the body to the chassis again to make sure everything is right. It is best to do it now because once color goes on we do not wan to start cutting the car apart then.












Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Surfin' Safari

So we have been working on the safari windshield for a couple of weeks now and the fame for the most part is done, so we began to focus our attention to the hinge issue. We did not want a piano hinge that you can see from the outside so we had to create a hinge that would be mounted from the inside.

Since this is a 1962 body that (well lets just say has been heavily modified) we just couldn't buy a safari kit and adapt it for our needs, so we began to draw out and test some designs and we came up with a hinge that is recessed into the top header panel and swings out to clear the body as well as the windshield rubbers.


We set a test windshield rubber in place to make sure the hinge clears.


With the hinges held in place with clekos we can now cut the hinges down to size and then we will begin to build the tabs and adapters so the hinges can attach to the frame.




We cut the windshield rubbers and set them in place so that we can test fit the windshield and set the tabs up for the hinges.


We also finished machining the cog logo for the hood. Now we just have to put the finish on it.


Again the car looks pretty clean with the cowl smoothed out without the windshield wipers.


Until next time...

[fernon]

A Visit From The Left Coast

So as usual we have been a little busy making custom parts for this build since we can't just buy something and bolt it on. We have been going to a couple of different shows looking for parts so that we can complete this build but as usual nobody has what we are looking for, so progress is slow, but I was able to pick up a couple of things and also had some people ship me out some items so we are slowly getting back on track.

We had a visitor (or should I say Car God - MarkH) stop buy a couple of weeks ago when he was on vacation with his family and we were fortunate enough to be able to shoot the shit for a little while. I have to say that MarkH is one of the nicest people that I have had the pleasure of meeting, and if you ever get the chance to hang with him for a little while and pick his brain you are in for a learning experience... It is always nice to talk to someone who knows their shit.

So back to fabricating the Safari Windshield. We nutserted all of the brackets into the header panel and got them set-up for the hinges.


We also installed a small oval rear view mirror into the headliner so that it sets high enough in the car because the factory mirror wound up setting in the middle of the windshield since the car is chopped. We will have to fill in the factory mirror holes and clean up that area.


Then it was on to making the custom brackets so that the windshield can slide open and close. Everything is still in the rough stages and we need to redo the windshield frame bracket but you can see some of the custom made pieces like the turned down billet spacers and knobs. The slide bracket also has a notch in it for driving mode (yeah we are that anal).


checking all of the tolerances along with the windshield rubber to make sure everything fits right.


Fully Opened








Driving Mode








Closed


You can see how the brackets set flush with the dash when the window is closed. Yes way too much engineering went into this windshield frame but it works so nice and it looks like it came from the factory that way.


Until Next Time

[fernon]

Pop-Outs Rev. 2

So as per usual, like everything else that we have done while building this car, we have had to do it twice or more, so why would building a set of pop-outs be any different.

Lets face it, we post the progress of the build here and everyone is always wondering how we make all of this look so easy. Well, the truth is, we have built and re-built every part on this car so many times before you actually get to see the final build process. partially because we are so anal but also it is because that this is a custom car and you cannot just pull things off the shelf and bolt them on, so there is a lot of hey, lets try this and see if it works. I cannot express to everyone enough to not get discouraged and always try something a different way if it does not work the first time or second or well you know what I am saying.

So back to the pop-outs. We initially built these in several pieces and then had the Tig Welded together because of the tight radius but that failed miserably. So we needed to find some more pop-outs that we could cut down and reform.

After buying a small village worth of pop-outs we began to create jigs to form the new pop-outs. This is also the process that we used to create the Safari Windshield for the front of the car.

First off we made a template for the window opening.


As you can see the size of the chopped window is considerably smaller than the original so we are going to have to do some heavy modifications to make it all fit.


We begin by first straightening the original pop-out so that we can reform it around the new buck. Then we begin by clamping it to the buck and forming it around the template.


Slowly the channel is formed around the template until it begins to take shape.


After beating it around the template and several new cuss-words are spoken, you begin to have a new pop-out for a chop top. A very important tip about doing this. Make sure that your template is cut right the first time because once you straighten the frame and re-bend it, the aluminum channel hardens and it is almost impossible to re-bend it to the buck again (go ahead and ask me how we know this)


After everything is all bent up we had to mill out and re-tap the new holes for the brackets and do final assembly.


The spring hinge is all drilled into the frame and set in place.


We also set-up the rear pop-out hinge. We just need to pick up the right screws for this and see if it all fits in the car.


So, there you have it, a rear pop-out for a 4" chop bug. now we just need to strip it down, sand out the imperfections and then polish it, add glass and so on and so on.


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Urge Overkill

So we decided to take a little break and play around with one of the Big Block Motors that we had laying around. Just one of the many projects that keep us busy. We needed to drop in a new cam so we broke out the super high-tech cleaning ram and began to get the motor prepped for the new cam.


After everything was cleaned up it was on to installing the new cam.


After the new cam was installed we decided that this motor needed some serious fucking horsepower.


OK... Maybe it's a little Overkill!!!


Lets step it down just a little with a smaller blower. This one should keep us from killing ourselves.


This is just for mock-up we still need to add the carbs on it and that will raise the intake even higher.


OK, so back to our regularly scheduled program.
The rear pop-outs are now all put together and installed back onto the car. They came out real nice and they work great.


Since the roof has been chopped 4" the pop-outs look like they actually pop-out more than the stock ones.


Definitely gives the car a nicer profile.


You can see how far they actually pop-out from the body.


And the mounting inside the car worked out just like factory.


So, we have been keeping the color kinda under wraps for the past seven (7) years but today you get to see just a hint of what we are playing with as far as the color goes. The color is called Verde Chiaro Green and it is a modern twist on the classic VW Mango Green. We are very pleased with the way that it lays on what we have shot so far and the color has a tendency to change depending on how the light hits it. So without further ado, here you go.








As you can see where we started from, the lights like everything else on this build have come a long, long way from what they started out as.




I even had the original B-L-C Headlamp Tags reproduced so that everything looks like it is brand new.


You can also see that the headlights have LED turn signals built into them in order to keep the front end as clean as possible.


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Green Machine

Well after seven (7) years of cutting, welding and more body work than any car should ever have done to it it was time to lay some paint.

Before I go any further, I have to say that the Evil Metal Genius has gone above and beyond anything and anyone to get this car to the point that it is at, and has spent the last week killing himself to get the car ready for paint. I cannot express my gratitude enough for everything that he and my father-in-law has done on this project.

This car started like any other project that everyone else has done but it took on a life of it's own and became more than a car build, it became a way of spending time with my brother-in-law and my father-in-law, two people that I have the utmost respect for. The time I get to spend with them swapping stories, busting each others chops and just getting away from all of life's bullshit will always be far more valuable than any car that we build. Again, I just want to say Thank You... Now back to the build...

First the car was shot with several coats of epoxy primer and then several coats of builder primer to get everything as smooth as possible. Then we taped it all up to get ready to shoot the base color on it.




Then it was time to shoot some color.


This car looks bad-ass in flat, and there were several discussions throughout the entire painting process of just leaving it that way.
(and this is were we just should have stopped)


The base laid on the car really nice.


After that, everything went to shit really fast. While shooting the clear we used a medium reducer like we were supposed to, but since we live in South Florida and we are like 20 miles away from the sun the clear was drying as fast as it was coming out. So after shooting two coats of clear, we let it dry and came back to wet sand it and we got it dam near perfect. We then proceeded do some touch-up on some areas and airbrushed the base color in those areas before we re-shot the clear with a slow reducer in it so it would flow better. As soon as the clear hit the car everywhere we touched it up it stuck out like a sore thumb. So we had to strip the clear off and re-shoot the base again. So after shooting the car for a third time here are the results.








This time the clear laid on like glass.




After un-taping everything the car came out better than expected.


The interior came out nice and clean.


Then we started to chip-guard the rear end and undercarriage.


Once we black out the inner panel the dimple die holes will pop out in the vent area.


The black really sets off the green on this car.


We also chip-guarded the inner panel of the front end. We still need to black out all of the dimple die holes and the inner trunk area before we install the panels. One step at a time.


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Time to See the Light of Day

So here we are. The moment of truth. We are about to lay it all on the line. The time has come to roll the car out into the sunlight and see if we are a hero or a zero.

Much to our amazement the car came out better than we could have ever imagined. The camera has a hard time trying to capture the color since it has a tendency to change with the ambient lighting around it. But it definitely is GREEN!!!









The Dash really pops with this color and is going to look really good once we finish with all the details.


After a quick look to see what we had been working on for all this time, we loaded the body on the trailer and brought it to the Evil Metal Geniuses house so it can be buffed out and prepped to go back onto the chassis.

Then it was back to working on the rest of the panels for the car. We still have a lot more painting to do before we can begin to put the car back together again.

First thing we wanted to work on was the headliner so we could get it out of the shop. It takes up a lot of room that we could use to work, so time for it to go.

First thing was to strip it down to bare metal and then shoot it with an epoxy primer.


Then shoot the base on it.


Then the clear. This thing really pops when the light hits it, Too bad the car sits so low that 90% of the people that ever see this car won't even notice it unless then hang upside down to look up.


Then it was on to the rocker panels.


You can see side by side the rocker just shot in base and then with the clear shot over it.


We then wanted to shoot the rear tail lights the same color as the body so we stripped them down and shot an epoxy primer on them.


Then finished them, now they match the headlight buckets.
[IMG]http:/iwww.smartliteusa.com/vw/2015/06-07-15/IMG_2549.jpg[/IMG]

Until Next Time...

[fernon]

What's Behind Door Number Three

So as usual we spend an entire weekend working on the doors sanding, filling, prepping, making sure that everything is perfect you know, the usual stuff that we do. We shoot the base and it lays perfect, not a flaw in the color, we stand back, pat ourselves on the back and say what a wonderful job we have done, life is great, can't wait to shoot the clear and see the finished doors... And this is where we should have stopped...

This paint color is next to impossible to shoot, it has some sort of pearl in it so that when you shoot the clear on it, the paint gets all funky and blotchy, to the point where you need to wet sand all of the clear off and re-shoot the doors again and then the clear lays right. With that being said we will never be able to do any touch up with this paint, you get one shot and that is it.

So on to the real reason that you are here, Pictures....
Here are the doors all prepped and shot with builder, ready to lay on the base.


As you can see the base lays on perfect. Once again we should have left the car FLAT the color looks BadAss when it is flat.


You can see the custom paint stand that we made to shoot the doors, it worked out great.


After stripping the doors down and re-shooting them they came out really nice and the color does look really good in clear.


OK, so back to building this car. We went ahead and put on some sound deadening material to the roof to reduce the noise and heat a little.


Then we blacked it out in order to get it ready for the headliner.


After that it was time to run the wiring harness for the tail lights and interior light before we put the headliner in. Once again we wanted to unmercifully mess with peoples head and hide all of the wires for the car so that you can't figure out how anything is wired or working on the car.


The wiring harness has a custom loom that ties all of the wires together.


All of the rear wires are in place and we now just need to tuck them in the sill so they can't be seen.


Then it was on to putting the headliner in. This was a make or break part of this build since we have to put it in before the car gets put back on the chassis and the only way to do this is through the front windshield opening. So with everything taped off so that we do not scratch the paint we carefully installed the headliner.


Then we began to install some of the trim.


You can see some of the little detail that we will be incorporating into the car.


All of the Stainless Steel Button Head Hex Screw will have Custom Red Anodized Conical Washers on the car. Just a little contrasting pop of color on the car.


And In the unlikely event of a loss of cabin pressure, panels above your seat will open revealing oxygen masks. Reach up and pull a mask towards you. Place it over your nose and mouth, and scream. (Sorry we just were a little bored and where having some fun)...


We also finished the custom mount for the Tachometer and set it in place.




It came out nice and again a contrast to the color of the dash.


A quick shot of it lit up as well.


We even installed a new interior light and made sure it works.


After that we began to install more sound deadening material to the rear panels in order to get them ready for the panels.


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Buffy The Volksrod Slayer

We spent some time on Saturday trying to finish up the doors so that when we are ready for them we will just need to buff them out and put all of the hardware back in them so we can bolt them back on the car.

We put the sound deadening material in the doors, this really makes a huge difference to the doors when you open and close them, the doors sound more solid.


Then we blacked them out so that they will be ready for the custom door panels.


After that it was on to hours and hours of wet sanding the clear to remove any imperfections and then buffing it all out to a mirror like finish.


The paint looks like you can swim in it after being buffed out.


Then it was on to the dash. We spent a lot of time buffing the dash out and a lot of hand buffing as well in order to get to all of the different angle in the dash to pop out, but it came out great and we where able to finish up with the molding as well.


Again clean and simple with a little bit of rage.


We have spend a great deal of time and have tried very hard to build a custom car that does not look like it was customized.

You can see how the final dash just flows. From the removal of the defrost vents to the bus pod rolling into the original lines of the beetle dash it all just comes together and most importantly it looks like it came that way from the factory.


This final image is an end to a very long process and also the beginning to the next chapter. We no longer need the custom raised stand anymore.


Stay tuned for next weeks adventure...
If all goes as planned - SHIT's About to get real...

Until Next Time...

[fernon]

So That's Where That Goes...

Well, that day has finally come, when we see if everything that we have been doing for the past seven (7) years is actually going to work.

We loaded the body onto the trailer so that we could transport it from the Evil Metal Genius's house over to mine. I have to say that following behind the trailer watching everyone almost snapping their necks trying to figure out what was on the trailer was pretty funny.

Once at the house, we unloaded the body and set it on the ground.


Then we began to get everything ready to mount the body onto the frame.


With the body setting on the frame we began to bolt everything down. This is one of those moments where we had to make a leap of faith since we made some modifications to the body and also the frame since they were separated for the past couple of years and we were not sure if everything would line back up.


Believe it or not the only thing that we had to adjust were just a couple of openings on the body since we made all of the mounts not taking in consideration for the pan seal gasket (and also the fact that we put a 1962 body on a 1972 I.R.S. chassis). So as usual we made our adjustments and moved on.


With everything bolted down it was time to add the rocker panels and then drop the car back down on the ground. It's starting to look like a car again.


We still need to lower the rear end quite a bit so that it doesn't look like a Baja.


Bolted the headlights on to make sure all of that lined up as well. Still need to wire up the buckets and figure out the inner mounts, but that will happen when we wire the rest of the car.


The rear lights came out pretty nice with the mounts.




Set the inner panel in place just to see how it looks. The logo is actually raised from the panel less that 1/16" so it looks like it is floating.


Then we installed the steering shaft.


The steering column was then set in place. You can see the polished shaft so that it stands out inside the column.


Also installed the shifter that matches everything else in the car.




Then it was on to putting a seat in just to make sure that all of this would actually work. (yes my fat ass actually fits in the car )


We also made the switch console so that we can add all of the controls. we still have some modifying to do to it but it will be tucked in between the two seats so that the dash is completely bare except the center gauges. Clean & Simple.




I also finished my cooler for the car. A little creative licensing.


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Frickin Frackin Damn Engine

So when I originally bought this car I bought it for two reasons, 1. I needed a good chassis with a Vin number to build upon (we wound up changing everything on the chassis because it was trashed ) and 2. It had a strong running motor (or so we thought ).

Well, well, well, why would this be any different than anything else on this car that we have had to deal with. First we wanted to check the tolerances on the engine and also pop one of the heads off so we could confirm what size engine we were dealing with and as usual the engine was not the size we were told it was to begin with, but that really did not matter because once we started to check tolerances we noticed that the crankshaft end play on the engine was so far off the we had to completely trash the block.

How far off you say, well normal end play should be between .003" and .005" the end play on this engine was 1/4", you could literally see the crankshaft move back and forth and up and down. We were amazed that the engine didn't grenade when it was running in the car.

Here is a shot of the original block that we had to trash - I will probably make some art out of it.




Luckily the Evil Metal Genius happened to have a single port engine laying around in the back of his shop so we proceeded to tear into this thing.

Once again nothing can be easy, as we begin to tear in to this engine the heads and jugs were seized up so bad from setting outside for so long that we wound up breaking them to get them off the block.

We made a blast booth and proceeded to blast the block so that we could start to rebuild it.


Since this was a single port engine that uses 10mm head studs and we were putting dual port heads that use 8mm studs we had to mill down the two center studs to clear the carb risers.


With all of the studs in place we can move on to getting ready for the new jugs.


We are putting a set of 87mm jugs to make this a 1641


Then we proceeded to lash the valves.




Then dropped the rockers back in.


Then the new set of valve covers.


Dropped in a set of adjustable pushrod tubes.




Then started to work on the top end.


Test fit of the new pulleys.


Got rid of the electronic fuel pump and installed a mechanical one along with an electronic ignition.




Then we began to test fit the new tins.




Got all of the carb linkage set-up.






You can see the alternator strap has been given the hole treatment as well.


As you can see here that the tolerances on the crankshaft are now perfect.


Then we began to do a test fit for the fuel lines in copper since it is easier to work with when you are laying things out.


All of the fuel lines are going to be run behind the fan shroud so that you do not see anything from the front of the engine.


We had to fab up a piece for the doghouse vent so that it would be a solid mount to the tins since this is not going to be setting in and engine compartment.


Then we tore everything apart again and shot color. I really like the way this thing turned out.




Stainless steel lines run along with high end compression fittings.


The contrast of color really works well.






You can see the alternator cover pops out against the fan shroud.




We were going to drop this into the car and fire it up but as usual we checked the clutch and lets just say we had to order a new one, so maybe next weekend we will drop it in.

Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Spaghetti Western

Time to see how much wire we can cram into this thing and make it all work.

We picked up a Rebel Wiring Harness years ago before they made a VW wiring harness so we have to modify the harness for our application and since we are not doing anything the normal way as usual, it really didn't matter if it was for a VW or not.


As you can see it is a F@¢!*%# Mess and we are not doing a standard wiring job since we want to place the master fuse block under the seat instead of the trunk.


This means we have to run wires back and forth for throughout the car and everything gets pulled into a console that sets between the seats so that there are no switches on the dash.


Pulling what seems to be miles of wire to run back and forth so that everything works. This is going to be fun.


We finally cut down the new tie rods and installed them so that we could finish up the steering on the car.


We also re-located the remote brake fluid reservoir so that it sets higher than the rear calipers so that we do not have any issues with the rear brakes.


We also blacked out the inner trunk area so that we could start to mount the inner panels.




Again you can begin to see the little details like the washers for the panels.


We were able to finish up all of the wiring for the front end of the car (lights brakes, etc.) and get it all wrapped up and set in place.


It is pretty clean in there with all of the wires wrapped up and mounted, now we just need to hook up the horn (green wire) and the front end will be done.


We also finished up the back seat panels and got them mounted.


You can see that the one side will have the battery disconnect switch.


Well I am off to Los Angeles again for a couple of weeks so there will be no updates for a while, but I am going to be going to the Pomona Swap Meet on Sunday so I am sure there will be some new and unusual thing for the car the next time we work on it.

Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Holy Shit It Fits...

We finally put the motor back in this thing after installing the new clutch. So far everything fits so now we just need to finish wiring this thing up so we can fire it up and see if it actually works.






We even put in the gas tank to make sure it still fits as well. We still need to run the fuel lines from the tank but at least we can get an idea of were everything is now.


I am going to have hours and hours of fun cleaning the tank and re-brushing the aluminum.


We added a rubber top strip to the panels for a tighter fit to help them from rattling around in the car.


Then it was back to wiring up in inside of the car.


The center console is going to get shot body color and it will hold all of the switches to control the car. It will set back in between the seats so that it in not that visible when you first look into the car.


The running lights and headlights are all individual switches instead of a single pull switch along with a center mount turn signal switch with indicators in the console.


The car will have a push button start so there is no key. The safety switch rockers are labeled and I still need to add the rest of the indicator lights in front of the start switch (high beams, oil light, alternator light).


We need to finish up the wiring and then we can make everything all neat in the back fuse block area.


Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Yeah, That Just Happened

I am just going to leave this here... It's Alive!!!

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO
It's Alive!!!

Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Bälle Tief

Here is to A new year and a new start to finishing things up.
After my many travels these past couple of months between work and going to shows (Pomona Swap Meet & The Daytona Turkey Rod Run) I was able to pick up some great parts for the Volksrod to finish it up. It was also a great Christmas for parts as well.

One of the things I was able to get was a custom Euro Plate for the Volksrod.


My Father-in-law and the Evil Metal Genius really outdid themselves with this present. All of the A/N fittings to finish off the fuel system.


The A/N fittings are black and red and the fuel line is a black steel braided line.


They came out really nice and work great on the car.


We are running #6 lines on the car so we put in a larger fuel filter, this way if we ever decide to make a monster motor with a supercharger we won't have any issues in the future.


The Evil Metal Genius also got me these awesome Velocity Stacks for the carbs. We finished hard lining the motor and you can see the motor is pretty clean with out a lot of lines and wires running all over the place.








We finally mounted our Volksrod plate so that we can properly represent...


We also finished installing the inner panels for the trunk area.




Then after endless hours of refinishing the tank we dropped that in as well.








You can see all of the lines in place. We need to change out the bulkhead connectors because we weren't happy with the way they were working out but they are on order and will be changed out soon.


After several hours of buffing we installed the hood and doors and got all of that aligned.




Even the little details under the hood (that no one will ever see LOL).


I installed one of the seats so that we can start to make adjustments for mirrors and door panels.




We also lowered the rear end so that it does not look like a baja any more.


And now for some random car porn...














Until Next Time...

[fernon]

If it Quacks then it's a Duck...

After a long week in Albuquerque installing new ad displays in the mall, I get back home and we jump right into finishing up the fuel system. We added a vent coming out the back of the tank in copper to give that still look.


Then we tightened everything up and put in the access panel with the raised KDF logo so now the trunk and front end are done...


Then we went around and made sure everything was tightened up and finished wiring everything and then fired up the motor.
Well we just couldn't let it sit there.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO
Maiden Voyage

Well after we took it for a spin we discovered that we have absolutely no travel in the rear suspension and therefore the rear tires ate into the paint on the inner fender well.


You can see the green paint on the tire.


Needless to say we are going to have to raise up the rear end again so that we have a little travel in the rear without tearing things up too bad. So this is the last time it sets like this.


Until next time...

[fernon]

Crack a Few Eggs to Make an Omelet

I know it's been a while since our last update but I have been traveling nonstop for work and have not had any time to work on the car, it's not all bad though, I have been bouncing back and forth between Florida and California for the past couple of months and I did get a chance to go the Pomona Swap Meet when I was out there so at least I got to do that.

So a few months ago we had ordered our custom Green Leaded Glass for the car and it had been delayed for over a month it seams that the shop that was making it kept shattering the glass because of the tight radius corners. Well I get a call one day and they said the glass was ready so I went to go pick it up, it was absolutely beautiful, the green coloring of the glass was a work of art, I couldn't have been happier, the glass looked really good except for the edges, it looks like they had cut them with a chainsaw but I could live with that since it will be hidden in the frames.

So we prepped everything and began to install the glass into the Safari window frame and the Pop-outs. The Safari windshield went in place without a problem and then we heard a little crack, just a small hairline crack in the corner vary hard to see, I could live with it so we moved on. The Pop-outs were a little trickier to install but we did it with no issues. We set all of the frames off to let the gaskets set and came back about an hour later end every piece of glass had a major crack lines going across them in several directions. The glass was a total loss. So after several new cuss words were invented and a major hit to the wallet I decided to walk away from the project for a little while, luckily work kept me busy and we had the Evil Metal Geniuses 1937 Ford along with several other projects to work on.

So after a little break from the Volksrod and walking in the garage time and time again with the car taunting me I decided to jump back into working on it again. I ordered a new back glass for the car since we never had one when we got the shell and I could only find one place in the whole country that had a back glass for a 1962 VW Beetle so I ordered it and then I went and picked up a 1/4" x 4' x 6' sheet of Makrolon Abrasion Resistant Extruded Polycarbonate to make the windows out of, this sheet cost more that the leaded glass but it is a bad-ass material and I can cut it myself and it won't break or crack.

We installed the rubber gasket to the rear glass and also inset the rope so that we can install it.


We also installed the rear carpeting for the car. This is the only part of the car that will have carpeting.


It took us a while to install the rear glass but it finally went in and it looks really good.


It took me about a month to clean the frames from the gasket material that we put in them, that stuff was nasty and the inside track of a Pop-out frame has several ridges inside that makes cleaning it a real Effin Joy. Then we proceeded to install the Safari and Pop-outs, much easier and they came out better that expected.








Here you can see the custom made mechanisms for the Safari windshield. We also installed the new cover for the steering wheel it has a nice texture finish on it and has a better feel to it.




We also installed the custom rubber gasket trim for the trunk and also finished cleaning up in inner trunk area so that part of the car is done.






We made a custom copper vent line to vent the gas tank (it looks like it's part of an old still).


And here is just some random shots of the car with the windows finally in. Now we need to get working on the interior.














Until Next Time...

[fernon]

By The Seat Of Our Pants

So we have been putting this part of the build off for over a year now, once again we push ourselves into uncharted territory and see if we can do something ourselves that we have never done before.

It is time to upholster the rear seat, unlike metal where we can beat it into shape and if we mess up we can cut it apart and start over again, with this we only get one shot to get it right and just to make things even more challenging we had to narrow the rear seat for the custom side panels that we are going to be making.

First we start with stripping down the old seats and cleaning up the frames and re-painting them, then we hog-ring a double layer of burlap over the springs to protect the foam from the springs.




Then we wrap the foam and hog-ring that to the seats.


With the foam tightly pulled around the frame we are ready to install the cover.


We had to modify the cover for the custom tabs that we put into the frame to attach the rear seat into the car.


The cover is stretched over the frame and padding. It doesn't look to bad we just need to set it outside in the heat and let it expand and then it will tighten up around everything.


Here is the bottom seat after everything was heated and reformed around the seat. It came out better that we ever thought it would.




Then we started to install the custom back panel that we made for the rear seat. We had to install black fabric behind the holes so you can't see into the back inside of the seat.


Then some final dollying around the panel to make it look better.


With everything put together we installed it into the car to make sure everything still fits.


We have been asked several times about what we did in the rear quarter panel when we did the chop since the body and the roof do not match up in the rear when you chop the roof. We had to do more than usual because we were not installing a traditional headliner that will cover up most of your sins including removing all of the tabs that hold the traditional headliner in place. After a bunch of metal work and body work the rear panel looks factory.


Speaking of headliners, here is a shot of the whole headliner installed into the car.


And here are some more detailed shots of the custom Safari Window hardware installed.




Until Next Time...

[fernon]

It's Been A While

I don't even know where to begin, a lot has happened and a lot has been done since the last time I posted on this Forum. The Volksrod for the most part is done (OK, it will never be done LOL) but I have finished a large majority of the things that I wanted done to the car and I have been driving the living shit out of it ever since.

Unfortunately I have not been documenting the final stages of the build like I was before because I just wanted to work on the car and not stop every five seconds to document what I was doing.

One of the last things I documented was the inner panels for the rear seat section of the car.

After working on the design for the panels I began to layout the design on the outer panel. The rear panels are made in two pieces, the inner panel is steel and the outer panel is made from 1/8" brown board (peg board without the holes).


Then after all of the cuts were made to the outer panel I sealed the inner steel panel so that it would not rust.


Then I wrapped the inner steel panel with a perforated black vinyl and the outer panel with a weathered tan vinyl to match the seats (wrapping the vinyl around the curves and into the holes was a nightmare).


Here is a close-up of the two materials together.


This is what the panels look like installed into the car.


I have made many changes to the car since I started to drive it, too many to list and had several set-backs and horror stories happen along the way. I will save you from all of the boring text that nobody reads anyways and leave you with pictures of the car.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce to you...
The Fernon Chop...











































Until Next Time...

[fernon]

Here is a short video of the car running. I need to find some time to do a proper photo shoot and make a decent video for the car.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO
The Fernon Chop

[fernon]

BLA BLA BLA VOLKSROD

Had a rare day off and took advantage of it. Here are some recent shots of the car. I still need to do a real photo shoot of the car but I was out running around with the car and snapped these off.









There are still some things I want to do to the interior but I did change out the steering wheel to a drilled out aluminum Sprint Car wheel.