jaransonT3 from MI

[jaransonT3]

Stock headlights will be mounted recessed back a little bit from stock and then concave beauty rings wil be used to trim out between the headlight lenses and the fender.

Kind of like this.



Just Photoshop, but you get the idea.

[jaransonT3]

Finally got a break in the weather and got Sophy's new interior in, so I can get back to the Lead Sled. Made a little progress today. I got the outer filler panel welded into the roof rail area above the doors on both sides. Will add the inner pieces tomorrow after the Michigan Vintage VW show and I will be one step closer to getting the roof welded back on. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Dancing.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Dancing.gif[/img]

Here are a couple of pics.





You can see how much I moved the roof forward from these since the back of the filler patch is where the b-pillar used to be. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

[jaransonT3]

For the time being there will be no side glass. I am welding the tops of the doors shut and since I didn't widen the roof, but instead am going to roll the body out to meet it, the glass runs would need to be curved and thus the glass curved also.

I will be making some clear vinyl snap-in storm curtains or something like that just in case of really bad weather or if I have to leave it overnight in bad weather.

I think you could still do side glass with teh windshield moved forward. It would just require a small fixed pane on the body or an oversized framed piece the door that hangs out front. I am sure the door would still swing. Of course not all of the glass could be roll-down.

[jaransonT3]

No real progress as I had planned. Got way too hot and humid here the last few days to get out there and work on the car, but....

I was inspired by Maxx's Type 3 paint schemes in another thread and decided I needed to do one of the Lead Sled. Here is the basic plan for now....



and some some variations...









Opinions???....I am sure you each have one or more.

[jaransonT3]

Thanks for all the input folks. Still not sure what I will do paint-wise. I do like the shorter trim and longer sweep of the paint break line that was suggested....

OK, finally got back out and worked on the Lead Sled today. I started out by finishing the reinforcement and welding of the a-pillars, including shaving the seal flange since it won't be needed.



Still have some grinding to do, but they are all set. Then I started willing in the cowl area left open after moving the windshield frame forward.



Still have the center to do. This will be the part of the new dash and will be a great canvas for some pinstripes.

Then I got to a major milestone for the project. I tacked the roof back on the car!! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Dancing.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Dancing.gif[/img]







Now I can start creating all the new sheet metal to tie the c-pillar to the body and for the rear cowl/vent area. Of course I still have lots more welding and filling to get the roof finished, but it is welded back on the car.

[jaransonT3]

Hope so. Wouldn't want you to break anything if you fall down.

I actually worked on the Lead Sled today!!!! Inspired by attending Steve Meet and wanting to roll a slammed and rodded car and have a large canvas for my stripping, I got back at it. Wow...it had been nearly a year since I last posted progress on it!

I had played around with the idea of extending the rear fenders a few weeks ago in order to alter further the proportions of the car. Make it more "sled-like". So I started by cutting the forward 2" off the rear fender (the blue piece in the photo below) and the forward 7" off a donor fender. Then I tacked them together. Here is the result.



This makes the whole car 5" longer...all hanging off the rear end.





I still had some daylight let so I cut out the patch for the fender skirt area and got it partially tacked in.




I will have to move the wheel opening forward the same 5", but I was going to be reshaping it anyway. Something like this...



I plan to form a raised and returned lip on the wheel opening similar to what is on the production wheel opening.

Still have the other side to do, but it felt good to be cutting and welding on her again.

What do ya all think?

[jaransonT3]

For now I plan on just using the stock Fastback decklid as in the pictures. Just lay it down more like the Notchbacks. Again about where it is in the pictures. I "think" the curve on it will work. If not, I will reskin it with a bit smoother version. Will have to wait and see. Lots of fabrication work on the rear end still, before I worry too much about the decklid.

Dual antennas......nope.
Curb feelers......definitely not.
baby spots........nope.
Lakes pipes...... i like, but not on a rear engined car. too fake.
wide white.....definitely
spinner caps......probably not.....just painted stock wheels with baby moon caps, maybe smooth chrome beauty rings.

Glad you all still like the project. I am getting excited about it again. Plus my kids go to their mom's on the 17th...for a couple of months over the summer.....lots of car time then.

[jaransonT3]

Picked up a cool license plate light housing at the BilletProof swap meet today. I think it is going to be perfect for the sled.







I don't know what it is off of, but it fits the look I am going for. Will likely influence a bunch of the other trim on the car....like bumpers and such.

What do you think?

[jaransonT3]

Well, I made some more progress on the sled this weekend. I got a bunch of the left hand rear fender rebuilt. I still need to cut out the fender vents and fill them solid. I also have to finish the rest of the mounting flange for the fender.

I also got the rear deck lid frame cut and in position. I still have to make the transition pieces between the body and the decklid frame. And of course, I need to duplicate all the fender work on the right side. Check out the pics.

[jaransonT3]

So, I made some more progress tonight and took some pictures....

These are the filler panels I worked on yesterday.


and today I left work a little early and worked on the rear decklid. I liked someones suggestion of a recessed or frenched license plate spot on the decklid, so....

I cout out the recessed area on an old Squareback liftgate and sectioned it to the right width to match up with the license plate light trim piece that I have.

I cut a matching hole in the decklid and got it all tacked in place. I am liking the results.





The light housing ends up a little proud of the main surface of the decklid. I plan to add a small raised bump to match the contour of the housing and then fade it into the lid. Should end up looking sweet.

[jaransonT3]

Got a few hours with the Sled this evening. Started the fabrication of the decklid blister to smooth in the new license plate light housing. Got the support pieces tacked in place and the new skin formed and ready to be welded on.





Still trying to decide if I will go in and cut out the original flat skin under the blister or just leave it there. My welder doesn't seem to like welding the edge of one piece into the flat surface of another.

I will probably rough cut out the skin, tack the new piece in place and then come back and dress the old skin back until I can get a butt joint and then fully weld it.

[jaransonT3]

Glad you all are liking the project so far. The tailight will be staying on top of the fender and it will be a stock, all red, early Type 3 taillight lense. The stock lense (as opposed to the European flat lense) gives it a little more fin-like appearance and fits with the rest of the car.

The rear valance will be reworked a little to even out the gap to the re-positioned decklid, but nothing else.

As for flipping the taillight....just doesn't work for me. Besides, a big chunk of the lower half of the fender is going to be wrapped with a bumper of some sort. The bumper will also cover some of the rear valance panel.

I am trying to keep a few things about the car (granted, not very many) obviously Type 3 so that someone that knows Type 3s might recognize it for what it was. But I am hoping to really confuse the rest of the world.

[jaransonT3]

So I did make some progress over the weekend. Nothing really new and exciting, but I did manage to get the new decklid shape for the license light welded in. I did end up cutting out the original decklid underneath it to get a butt weld joint. Worked out good. I know the welds are ugly.....that is what the grinder is for.





I also managed to cut out the original fender vents and tack in a filler panel.

[jaransonT3]

OK...here is my concept to fix the rear tire/wheel access and clearance issue. Cut a curved wedge out of the lower half of the fender in front of the wheel arch. Hammer form a filler panel that has a radius on the outside so that the lower rear portion of the fender blends into the filler panel. The inner forward edge of the filler panel meets the fender at close to a 90 degree angle. Kind of hard to explain.

This will move the lower rear of the fender out a couple of inches at the bottom giving me some clearance. It will also give me an additional bodyline detail that I can accent with the chrome trim.

Something like this......



Yes? No? Let me know what you think.

[jaransonT3]

Anyway......I really liked the concept drawing I did last night so I thought I would play around tonight with making a patch panel for the extra bodyline.

I started out with a flat piece cut out of an old hood. After laying out the shape of the bump I started hammering it over a couple of different body dollies clamped in my vice. A few relief cuts and lots of hammering later, I ended up with this...



I was liking it and it didn't take as long to form as I thought it would, so I laid out some cuts on the fender and got out the cut-off wheel...



then I clamped the patch panel in place...






I have lots of triming and fitting to still do before I weld it in place, but I am liking the look of it. And it really does help with my fender to tire clearance issue...


Before this change, the back of the fender opening was tight against the tire. Now I have a couple of inches of clearance.

[jaransonT3]

I agree. Here is a quickee rendering to remove all the different patch panel colors and lines. And I went ahead and slammed it properly too.

[jaransonT3]

Trying to make sure I don't fall victim to the CBoM curse, I went out and spent a few hours with Jane tonight.

I got the relief cuts in the fender bump welded back together and the bump and fender trimed to fit and then I got the bump tacked in place. Looks like it is going to work good.





Will try to get it fully welded tomorrow and start on the new fender lip detail.

[jaransonT3]

OK, some more new stuff fabricated today and yesterday evening.....and with pictures this time.

If you remember, I am moving the engine cooling air inlet from the fenders to the rear cowl between the back window and the decklid. This area of the car started out the weekend as a large hole...


I made a hammer-form to shape a flange on some sheet metal...


Clamped a trimmed up piece of sheet steel to the hammer-form...


and preceeded to shape the flange over the hammer-form with lots of blows from the body hammer...



Took the clamps off and have a roughed in part that fits pretty decent, but doesn't have the right curvature to follow the cowl area when looking from the rear of the car...



So I borrowed a buddy's shrinker/stretcher...

What a cool piece of metal working equipment.

A little bit of shrinking of the newly-formed flange and I pulled just enough arch in the part to match the rear cowl...


And a couple more shots of the two pieces.



Need to trim them up and get them welded in, but I am liking it so far.

[jaransonT3]

OK, here are the pictures I promised.

I started out by welding up the back of the new air intake that I had forgotten to weld earlier.


Then I started making the inner drain pan/air ducting for the new air intake. Got it about half done.


Couple of pics with it sort of in position. Need to add the rest of the flange and trim it all to fit. Then need to add the connectors to the existing ducting inside the fenders. Note the double angle to allow water to drain. Hope I can keep it all down hill into the fender drains.



Here you can see the existing access hole for the fuel injection brain that I plan to use to hook into the fender ducting. I will add a similar hole on the other side.


Not real exciting stuff, but it is some more progress.

[jaransonT3]

Went to a flea market/swap meet today. Mostly household stuff, but I managed to score a pair of 1967 Electra 225 fender skirts for $15 and a Model A (?) rearview mirror for $5.



I plan to use the skirts to form the shape and contour of the rear fender opening. Here is a pic of one taped in place.



I think I will need to shorten it a few inches to get the proportions right for the Sled. I want to retain the chrome trim around the opening. Fortunately it is two pieces and I should be able to simply trim the long rear piece down to match what I take out of the skirt overall. They will not be removable, but welded in-place. I am basically only using the trim and the "skin" of the skirt.

[jaransonT3]

Got to spend some time with the Sled today.

I got one of the fender skirts shortened and tacked in place.



Here is shot comparing the original fender skirt with the modified one. The two rectangular white pieces are the sections I took out. First cut wasn't short enough so I took some more out. Total about 6" removed. Still have to shorten the chrome trim strips.



Here are a couple more shots from different angles. I am really happy with the way it turned out so far.




And a shot of all of my Type 3s and my garage.

[jaransonT3]

Well....spent another few hours this evening with the Sled. Get some more pieces of the air intake ducting fabricated.



Made one piece and then cut it on a diagonal to end up with two symmetric pieces. Worked pretty good.



Next step is to make the pieces that connect these two with the main duct/tray.

Little bit at a time.

[jaransonT3]

OK, here is the progress I made on my "sick" day yesterday.

I modified the other fenderskirt to get it ready for grafting into the RH fender.



I also did some more work on the air ducts.







Not the most exciting stuff, but it all needs to get done.

[jaransonT3]

Not really. I did manage to get my Squareback, Sophy, over to her new garage home and my 69 Square out of the garage. As soon as I can get home before dark (no working headlights) and get it over to the garage, I will bring the Sled into my current garage and shoudl be able to work on it some this winter with a space heater.

I did make a serious score for the Sled this weekend. I always pictured the interior in red vinyl, but a friend that works for Eagle Ottawa Leather made me a killer deal on these....

4 dark grey and 1 light grey full leather hides for....






















$55 each!

So the Sled will be getting a two-tone grey leather interior at some point in the future.

Now I need to revisit the concepts for the exterior color.

[jaransonT3]

Hey! Anyone remember this car?

It was near 40F today with bright sunshine and little or no wind, so I put my longjohns and flannel shirt on and went out and did a little and !

Started getting the RH rear fender mods underway. I filled in the louver intake area and started filling in the old wheel opening and got the Buick Electra skirt tacked in.





Still need to finish the wheel opening filler, make and graft in the new bodyline in front of the wheel opening and need to build up the inside of the extended rear fender/fin....

...but it sure felt good to be out making sparks again.