Fat Chicks n' Mopeds

[fernon]

Another Newbee here with Visions of Grandeur.

Well I went ahead and did it, I finally broke down and bought a Bug, it's been 20 years since I've owned one and I have had a bug up my ass (no pun intended) to get one again ever since I had first seen a Volksrod. The combination of my love of Hot Rods and VW's is hard to resist, and more so the fact that with a Volksrod I can piss of purist in both cultures is an added bonus.

About the bug: this is what she looked like the night I bought her. The bug is a 1972 with early fiberglass fenders and running boards all around, it definitely was an 80's love child, the body has more cancer than John Wayne, Yul Brenner & Steve McQueen at a Marlboro convention, but it does have character. The bug has a 1641 with duel 40mm Kadron carbs so it does have a little power while still being reliable. Other mods are Centerline wheels, fiberglass dash with more gauges than a 747, Scat shifter, Big Wig rear wing and flamed door panels, 2-1/2" droped spindles, front disk brakes, one piece windows and more... Oh, and did I mention the ass end that would make Jlo look like Twiggy and it also sits about 1-1/2" off the ground in the back - speed bumps are fun!!!

My first order of business is to replace the body, I found a 1962 but I am not sure if I can mate it with the 1972 pan (any help would be grateful) if not then I will have to start replacing a lot of body panels and then shave the drip rails off since there is nothing left of them.

She may be ugly but she's mine now...
(Fat Chicks n' Mopeds - Everyone likes to ride them, but no one wants to be seen doing it).
I will keep you informed on my progress and by the way I love the site (been lurking around for a while getting ideas).

[fernon]

New Day - New Body

OK, so I picked up a new body to replace the P.O.S. that is currently residing on the pans, it is a 1962 shell that is in very good shape, never been hit, perfect uncut dash and a smoothed rear deck, one peice windows with extra regulators and glass, a shell that any purist would cream over (I can't wait to cut the bitch up) the only metal that needs to be replaced is a small section of the driver side heater channel, needles to say this is a vast improvement from the current body and I only paid $140 for the shell (The heater channels are going to cost more that the whole body!!!)

Now I have to find a hood and figure out how I want to chop the top I'm kinda diggin that Cappella Chop Top but maybee I'll score another shell so I have more options on which way I want to go with it.

[fernon]

Chop Chop - Fizz Fizz - O' What A Relief Cut It Is.
Sorry, I couldn't resist

So after months of deliberation and the fact that talking about chopping a bug and actually chopping a bug there comes a time to just Cut The Fucker and go from there.

We decided to go with a variation of the Capella Chop and we also decided that it would be a good idea to document what we we are doing since the only reference to doing this kind of chop is a copy of a copy of a chop done in the 70's, needless to say we had a lot of questions and hopefully we came up with some answers which also gave us some more questions.

Enough talk lets see some pictures.
First off here is a comparison of the two bodies, on the left a 1972 Fat Chick, on the right a 1962 future Volksrod... A roling dolly was made to the current ride hight of the Fat Chick so that we had a reference point to compare.



Side View


Rear View


Now you see it now you don't


My son is great for small spaces


My Brother-in-Law - AKA - The Evil Metal Genius
Cutting the fire wall


Here you can see the two blue lines on the back section of the car. The top blue line is where we made the initial cut to the roof and the bottom line is approximately were we wanted the roof to sit when we were done.


Here you can see the cuts to the post


All things in life look better Topless


Relief cuts made to the roof and A pillars to match the pillars to the roof


It's going to be fun trying to fit my Fat Ass in this car.


My brother-in-Law the Master taking some measurements


Fixing the side window


Finished with all the adjustments


Just a thought - Not sure about this yet???


Damn that looks nice...


That's a little windshield


OK here is the little secret that we did not tell everyone when we did the chop, in order for the back end to line up again you need to cut the inner fender well below the fender bolts (see photos - red line indicates where to cut) so that you can draw the rear of the body in so that it lines up with the roof, then just trim off the excess metal from the inner fender well.


Chopped - Side View


Chopped - Close-Up Side Window


Chopped - Rear View


Not bad for a weekend job...
4" chop in the front 2-1/2" in the rear - roof moved forward 2" - B-pillar cut and realigned with body - rear inner fenders cut to align with body sides - I wonder if the engine is going to fit...

[fernon]

Shit's a Happenin'

OK, it's been a while since I last posted, actually a month since I last posted, since that time my life has been a whirlwind of excitement, let's see just after my last update I had the flu, the kind that knocks you on your ass, to give you an idea how bad it was I have never taken a sick day off from work in my life and this put me on my ass for three days, then I was called out on an emergency call to fly out to Los Angeles while I was feeling this way, Let me first start off by saying I have always loved it out in California but you guys SUCK!!! I guess there are so many VW's out there that you just don't know how good you have it for parts, every street I turned down had a VW sitting there just waiting to be molested by some metal hack-in, grease slap-pin car junkie like me, but I digress, let's get back on the subject at hand.

When I returned from Los Angeles I couldn't wait to get back to building the volksrod so without further ado lets get the the pictures.

So I finally got a hood for the ride and started to strip it down, the car already looks a thousand times better with the hood.

Then the task of stripping down the Fat Chick, or as it has been kindly referred to lately as The Onion (with every layer that has been taken off this Piece of Shit car it brings a tear to your eye)

The only reason I bought the car to begin with was for the engine, it runs strong and is a great starting point for the volksrod.

Lifting the old body off the frame.

And now the moment we have all been waiting for, the placing of the 1962 chopped body on the 1972 IRS Pan.

The body fits like a glove, no clearance issues with the motor or deck lid like everyone said there would be, the only thing that I am concerned with at this point is lowering the front end, I know that the Tinbeater front end lowers another 2" but I need another 6" and I already have 2-1/2" dropped spindles, We'll figure something out, we always do.

OK, back to work, with the body off we can start to see how bad the pans really are. Fuck It, new pans and heater channels, I'm not going to spend my life chasing rust, new metal is far more cheaper than my time.

Another layer to The Onion, the tunnel is fucking trashed, time to start fabbing a new one.

Now I just need to cut the other side and drop the new pan in and then I can start cutting up more metal on The Onion.

[fernon]

Grind Master Flash

So its the last day of the three day weekend and I have to say my neighbors probably wish I was dead, between the grinding of the metal, drilling out what seemed like a thousand spot welds and the air hammer ripping up the metal to take out the old pans it has been nonstop all weekend long, but we have new metal in the bottom half of the car and what a difference it makes.

Here is some of the fab work that was done to the fucked up tunnel. Better than the original, my brother-in-law can weld like a MOFO but I am a crazy grindin' son-of-a-bitch, after the bodywork you will never be able to tell. (sorry bug guys no JB Weld or Foam Fill in this car).

It was very easy to put the pans in with the heater channels so that you can line everything up, then after they are welded in you unbolt the heater channels and set the body on, then replace the heater channels on the car one side at a time, I will have photos of that for you to see when we start doing that.

Make sure you use the original spine in the back if you can, it is stronger than the aftermarket pans and it helps lining up the pans, just drill out the spot welds and separate the spine.

One side in, now it's time to fix the other.

More fab work to the other side. (The Evil Metal Genius loves it when I photograph him - NOT!!!)

So here is a recap of this weekend, we stripped the Fat Chick, finally took the cancer ridden body off, replaced the floor pans, did some fab work to the tunnel, sat the new body on, stood back for a moment and said OOOOH - AAAAH then lit off some fire works (maybe we got that backwards???), cut the back shock tower mounts (remember this is a 1962 body going on a 1972 IRS pan), did a bunch of cursing and calculations and made a plan for our next long weekend. Not bad for three days!!!

[fernon]

Time to Turn Up The Heat-er Channels

So we decided to tackle the heater channels over the three day weekend, thus putting all the structure back into the car so that we can proceed with working on the doors. The first line of business was to remove the old channels, we decided it would be best to bolt what was left of the old channels to the new pans so that everything was lined up and then brace the inner doors so that the body wouldn't tweek when we cut the channels off. Working one side at a time we proceeded to cut the heater channels off.

Since this car is in South Florida and it always feels like the surface of the sun here we decided to cover all the holes in the channels since they look like shit and if you want heat roll down a window.

Now that the DOG DICKS are cut off we can start to fab in the holes.

Yes he does have all of his fingers - he's just shooting a semi-bird.

All tacked in and ready for Grind Master Flash.

A little skim coat and you will never tell it was there.

Now the front is finished up.

All welded up and ready to be put back in the car. There are a shitload of holes and strange angles to be welded on these heater channels.

Cutting the inner fender well to replace more metal.

Nice big hole for ventilation.

Checking the fit. Yes we are going for a Darwin Award setting the front of the body on the bar stool, that's OK the Pepsi can is keeping it from falling.

All tacked in and good as new.

Just need to clean up the welds and it will be all done. Notice no holes.

Next thing to do is cut out the heat tubes and close up that hole.

We also shaved the drip rails around the front of the door. Hmmmm I wonder if that means we are putting suicide doors on???