jaransonT3 from MI

[jaransonT3]

OK, here are some pictures from about noon on Thurday. Brian and I get the rear bumper assembled and hung. We also added some side trim to it temporarily. Check it out....















Tomorrow I am going to try cutting the windshield some more. I am also going to get the car all black.

[jaransonT3]

Just a real quick one. Here is a picture of the Sled at the Type 3 Invasion yesterday...

[jaransonT3]

Some progress today...sort of. (I guess some explanation would be good with these....must have been really tied last night when i posted this.)

Anyway, I had the Sled out at a local hot rod show over the weekend. Just on a trailer but she was there. I got lots of confused looks....a "is that a Studebaker?" questions...lots of "what is it?"s and a ton of compliments on the look and work so far.

I also managed to pick up a couple of new bits of her.

I scored this H-D gage bezel for $5. I think it ties in nicely with the gage pods on the dash and will make a slick center console piece. I will probably paint it rather than leave it chrome....



I also picked up a complete set (plus one extra door piece) of stainless steel side trim for a 53-54 Chevy. It is just a bit bigger than the stock early side trim on the Type 3 and it has a really nice profile. I have it upside down on the car right now relative to the orientation on the Chevy, but I like it better that way. It also has the really nice gentle taper to a sharp point at the rear. It looks sweet. I just need to shorten the pieces appropriately and use the extra door piece to finish the cut ends. Just need to get my buddy Glenn to TIG them back together.










You can also see the air intake grill "teeth" that I have been collecting. They are the front bumperettes from a 65-66 Mustang. I have two more coming in the mail that I bought on E-bay. That will make a total of 8. I think I will end up using 7 on the car.

They will be notched in the front and back so they sit a bit lower in the opening.

The other progress is that I have her back home in my garage so that I can continue the fabrication work on the body. She had been sitting at my buddy's place since the Type 3 Invasion 3 weeks ago so that we could look at the airbag installation. But we never got around to it so I brought her home.

[jaransonT3]

Spent the most of the day working on the Sled. Started out by cutting the windshield down.



I used my Harbor Freight 4" grinder and a diamond cut-off wheel. I also clamp the garden hose to the bench adn let the water flow over the cut as I went. It worked great. I have a few chips in the edge that I want to polish off. Just need to get the right stuff for polishing the edge. Here are a few more pics.







I have a little bit of trimming to do to get it to fit just right, but I think it will work with the regular seal.

I also banged the nose back into shape after yanking it out of whack putting it back on the trailer at the Invasion...



I also started shaping the "teeth" for the air intake.



and I started repairing the floor pan under the battery.





More tomorrow....

[jaransonT3]

Had someone over on the Samba ask me a great question about the Sled. I thought it would be good to post over here too.

Originally Posted by TommyBoyGomes

bravo! Just curious, how many different cars donated parts to this project?

Great question!

Let's see....so far....

70 Fastback - body shell, chassis and drivetrain
71 Fastback - bolt-on body panels except rear fenders
66 Square - windshield and rear fenders
49 Mercury - rear bumper
53 Ford - front bumper
67 Buick Electra - rear fender skirts
50 Ford - dash panel
53 Chevy - side trim
50-51 Plymouth - license plate light
65-66 Mustangs (4) - grill teeth
HD Motorcycle - center console pod
and sheet metal from at least two other Type 3s that had been parted out.

I think that is it......for now. :twisted:

[jaransonT3]

I haven't been doing much of anything with the Sled in the last few weeks because I have been moving into my new house and garage. Will be a few more weeks before I can get back to it in earnest. My goal is still to be able to drive the Sled to the next Type 3 Invasion in June of 2010....so I have my work cut out for me.

Anyway, I did manage to score some great trim rings for the wheels last weekend. A fellow Type 3 nut knew I was looking for some and find these at a swap meet and got them for me. (thanks again Greg) They don't quite fit perfect. The inner diameter is just a little bit too small for them to sit all the way onto the wheel. I am trying to figure out how to hold them in my lathe or on a rotary table on the mill so I can open up the diameter about 1/4". I really like them so I will figure it out. Then I can clean them up, polish them, and re-stripe them.

Here are some pics.....

[jaransonT3]

OK....been way too long that I have been away from the Sled, but I finally got out in my new garage and got it organized enough to work on the Sled. The unseasonably warm weather the last two days has helped.

So....here are a couple pics of the new garage.





I managed to get the Sled up on my cheapo Harbor Freight wheel dollies.



I had to modify the front ones since the tire just wanted to roll right off of it.



... and I even managed to do a little and today. Worked on finishing one of the rain gutter areas that still needed finishing...



Still have some more organizing to do, but at least I can get out there and do some work on the Sled now.

[jaransonT3]

As promised, here are the pics from this weekend and tonight's work.

I originally planned to build a tray, duct it to the opening for the fuel injection brain, (large rectangular opening visible in some of the pics) and then into the normal Type 3 ducting to the engine. This got complicated because of the decklid hinges.

So I came up with an alternative that I think is even cleaner and I can still have the FI brain in its original location if I want.

Anyway, on to the pics....











Lots of welding and some filler panels still to fabricate, but I am happy with the results so far.

[jaransonT3]

Still too dang cold here to get out in the garage much....so I did a Selecta of the Sled to post over on the Samba Type 3 Selecta post. Figured I would post it here too.

[jaransonT3]

Did a little more on the Sled today after spending part of my garage time adding some more 20amp outlets in the walls. I spent my time today working some more on the ducting for the cooling air intake. Getting closer....





and here is a composited shot of the interior of my garage.




More tomorrow.

[jaransonT3]

Got some more done on the Sled tonight...finally a halfway warm day. Got the air intake duct all roughed in and mostly welded up. Little more welding and lots of grinding to go. Supposed to be near 60 tomorrow, too.











Small steps....15 more months to go.

[jaransonT3]

Had a really nice weekend here in SE Michigan. Besides getting Sophy out and cruising around for a couple of hundred miles (boy did it feel good to be driving a Type 3 VW again. ), I manage to spend some time in the garage working on the Sled.

I got the air intake ducting all welded up and tacked into the car.









I still need to finish welding it all in. Then I will clean it all up, do some wirebrushing, and coat it with MasterSeries (order tonight from Chuck). I also plan to run a fillet of paintable seam sealer along all the edges before final paint.

Once it is coated with MS, I can cut and weld the pieces that seal off the old opening to the vents in the fenders.



After that I can weld the rear fenders on and get going on finishing some of the other areas of the car.

[jaransonT3]

Between trying to get a bunch of artwork done this weekend, I managed to get out in the garage and work on the Sled for a few hours.

I got my Master Series from Chuck this week, so I am trying to finish up some areas of the Sled so I can try it out.

The dash was close so I spent most of the time getting the final holes patched in and everything welded up and ground down. Just about there. A little more grinding to do...









I also spent some time getting the roof to header fully welded and ground down.





and finally...got some more welding done on one of the rear fenders. Still lots of grinding to do here...



Might get to Master Series the dash later this week.

[jaransonT3]

Got a few hours in the garage with the Sled today. Worked on bottom of the c-pillar. Started with this, but was not happy with the "lines" of it...



Cut out some of the old stuff and cleaned up some of the edges...



Cut a couple of new patch panels from the original blue fastback roof and got them tacked in...









The black sharpie line is what I intend to carry around as a body line at least up to the gutter. That crease continues the one that goes across the rear immediately under the rear window. I am pretty happy with the results so far. This has been an area of the build that I have been avoiding for some time.

[jaransonT3]

Got some time with the Sled this weekend.

Worked on getting the other C-Pillar extended down to the body.







Also managed to start striping some of the paint.

I also spent some time with my girlfriend's brother getting all the front fender, door, and body lines to line up and got everything bolted down tight.









This is in preparation for getting the rear fenders welded in place in the near future. Now that these are all lined up, I can line up the rear fender and welded it in. Then at least I know there is one position of the front fenders and doors that I can get to to line everything up once I am done.

[jaransonT3]

Alright, been busy with lots of other stuff lately (just out the artwork thread), but got back to the Sled tonight for a little bit.

Did a bunch more paint stripping and grinding to get to this...



I also did a bunch of around the side window/door opening top. I was not happy with the way the outside radius of the top of that opening changed along the length...



so I had a couple of channels brakepress-formed by a buddy...



(I highlighted it blue in Photoshop so it would show up better) These will give me a nice consistent outer and inner radius for the top of the door/window opening and will raise the beltline just a bit making the chop look a little lower.

The issue that has me thinking right now is that I have to put some planview sweep in the channel to get it to flow with the side of the car. You can see how much here...






So the question is how do I go about adding in the sweep without destroying the radii and the smooth flat top of the channel?

I have access to a shrinker/stretcher but it wont reach the central flat of the channel. I have hammers and dollies and can make wooden hammer forms of required.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

I am willing to split the channel into two separate angles and weld them back together if that is the best approach.

[jaransonT3]

I found the piece of the shrinking die I was missing yesterday and I got out in the garage after work yesterday and got the outside half of one side of the door/window opening shaped and tacked in. I am very happy with the results.









Going to work on the inside of this opening tonight and then I get to try and make the other side symmetric....fun, fun, fun.

[jaransonT3]

More progress!!

Jill's "little" brother Nate and his family came up to the house this afternoon to help me with the Sled project and to have a little BBQ and bonfire. We got a lot done. Amazing how much faster it goes with an extra set of hands. (Thanks Nate)

We worked on the door tops some more. Even got some in-actions shots thanks to Jill.

"Little" Brother Nate taking some paint off the roof...


Doing some more cutting and paint removal...


Nate asked me about the original doors and stuff and so I grabbed the cut-off door top to show him and realized this makes a great shot to show just how much I changed the roof and windshield frame...


Got the inside pieces of the LH doortop tacked in...


Including the taper to the rear of the window opening...





Nate did a bunch of paint striping for me along with some great help on the fabrication stuff...

We also managed to get the RH side piece cut and shaped. Little more tweaking and they can get welded in.

[jaransonT3]

I managed to get out in the garage tonight for a few hours. Got the outer sections of the RH door tops tacked in place. Need to wait until the shrinker/stretcher gets here in the mail (Thanks for getting that out to me so quickly Mike) to do the inner pieces. They still need to be formed. I also did some paint stripping and weld grinding.

Sorry, no pictures tonight. I will get some in the next day or two when there is more to show.

[jaransonT3]

Some updated pictures from the recent work on the Sled.

















...and finally, I was at the Michigan Vintage VW Festival this weekend and saw a Ghia with a color I just love for the Sled...



NEPTUNE BLUE. Very cool color and will make a good background for all the pinstripes.

[jaransonT3]

Even with all the other stuff going on, I managed to get out in the garage and spend some time with the Sled project, too. Got the front bumper overriders drilled and tapped for the slightly larger bolts and got them bolted on.







I also started to do some more close-out panels in the inside.






Small steps...but they all have to get done.

[jaransonT3]

Holy Crap! 50,000+ views.....


...guess that will happen ona project that has been going for more than 3 years...

Anyway, I managed to get out in the garage for a couple of hours and clean up a couple of spots on the sled.

These are the holes that I started with at the back of the passenger door and the top of the b-pillar.





and after some , , and grinding.







Yes it is a small step....but one that needed doing.

Planning on getting back out there tomorrow morning before heading down for a 4th of July picnic/party. Felt good to be out there again after not touching the Sled in close to a month.

[jaransonT3]

Got a little more done....still filling in holes. I think I am procrastinating tackling the rear fender to body and c-pillar area. Anyway...here a couple of pics. Lots more welding and grinding to do on these patch panels.

Started with this big hole on the c-pillar inner.


...and ended up here for now.





Getting there....slowly, but surely.

[jaransonT3]

Jill's brother Nate and his family stopped in today to hang out and Nate helped me work on the Sled. First time in a month or so that I have done much of anything on her. Nate spent his time stripping more paint off. Thanks for the help, man.



Roof is half done and he got the tops of the RH front fender and door stripped.

I spent my time filling in a few of the many holes left to fill. I started with some around the laid down decklid frame...



You can see the completed filler panels here and the next hole I tackled....



The large inlet for the vents on the fender wont be needed so I did some trimming around it and then fabricated a filler piece for it....



and with it fitted...



Realized in time that I should MasterSeries the inside of the air duct before welding this panel on, so it is just loose for now. I had one other hole in this area that need filling. My original plan for re-routing the cooling area was going to use the access panel hole for the FI brain....so I had duplicated this hole on the right side...



I ended up going a little different route with the cooling air so this hole is no longer needed. Cut a patch panel and welded it up.



A little more grinding and this side will be ready for the MS and then I can weld the large close-out panel on. Need to do the same to the other side.

It felt really good to be back out and

[jaransonT3]

Got out and spent a couple of hours with the sled tonight. Spent about half the time stripping more paint off and then started filling more holes.

Started filling the inside of the top of the a-pillar on one side.

Stared with this....



did some trimming...



and cut and fit a patch panel...



I got it tacked in place too, but forgot to take a picture.

I also started doing some work around one of the rear fender to body to roof joints....





Still a long way to go there.