OT plastic kit car

[Ulu]

There’s an echo in my iPhone dictation program.

[Plymouthy Adams]

you lucky it was only your knees you banged up...them and the T-birds had that sweeping curve in the door a the windshield lower corner.....them little sporty cars are still out there and a dime a dozen....real steel also....lol

[Ulu]

 

2 hours ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

 . . . them little sporty cars are still out there and a dime a dozen....

 

You must like it in the land of OZ buddy!

Junker MGs with solid bones and a salvage title are bringing $4k-5k here. Nice running pretty ones with cancer underneath are fetching $10K up.

 

Now the SS100 style car is the epitome of all such small, old sporty cars in my mind. I'm in love with the style.

Not the original car. This one is generic enough I can both keep it up, and customize it with impunity

It's also a gas to drive.

 

2 hours ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

....real steel also....lol

 

 

Don't be a bigot buddy. I remember how they sneered at Plymouths.

 

If plastic was good enough for Ed Roth, It's good for me.

I have a plastic boat from 1976, and it's still in action.

(Well, after the Covid lockdown. Lakes are still closed.)

 

 

 

 

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

been around a few of the glass kit car and have never been impressed in areas where hinges are mounted for any long life or good fit...if I were to entertain a glass car...…………....Beck 550

Edited May 12, 2020 by Plymouthy Adams

[Plymouthy Adams]

yes in some accounts prices a re bit more in line to realistic here where I am at although they still start off in the near reaches of ionosphere....I bought a complete rolling AH Sprite, complete car, by rolling I mean with air in the tires...rough about the edges though for 250.00  Hard to pass cars up at this price...the twin carbs are worth at least half of that in used condition...

[Ulu]

Anybody who buys a spridget here for $250 and doesn’t have $10,000 to throw after it, might as well just put their 250 in the toilet. That will buy them a pretty and drivable car but not a show winner.

 

But then that may be even more true in my case. Watch me put $20,000 and 400 hours into this car over the next few years. LOL

 

This car is truly no different as far as the quality of the door hardware, and particularly its attachment, is concerned. It all sucks totally by design, and the installation did not improve matters.

 

But that’s a moot point since I am going to mold the doors solid to the car. Anybody who cannot get in and out of this car with the doors closed probably shouldn’t drive it either.

 

I still have to deal with the hinge on the hood, which is ghastly, but at least the two little chrome hinges on the engine cover were done OK and adequate for that job.

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

you going to  have to work a lot of issues that should have been addressed in the making of the kit prior to the sell....sadly very few kits are truly engineered for long term service it seems...just getting a straight gel coat that would not be astronomical count in hours to get flat would be a miracle in and of itself.  Las glass product I bought was a set of skirts for the P15 spent quite a bit of time getting the coat on them nice.  I primed them and put them away, I do not think I will ever install them, or the lake pipes, or the exhaust cutouts and a few other odds and ends.  But....I still have two more P15's here so what do I know?  I am not knocking the kit car completely mind you, they fill a niche in the hobby that would other wise be totally void....but a few extra dollars in production time and added technique would go a long way for service and value. retrofitting and glassing in strengthening plates after the fact makes for a bit of bulk but can firm one up very solid right down to a thud in closing the door.  I am sure you will have a number of hours here and maybe less money than you think going out if you do your own work that is... to me, that is where the 'own' in ownership begins...and the fun continues from that point.   The little car I am currently deep into was a kit car being shipped to foreign port as a CKD (Complete Knock Down factory kit)  about 30 years later the guy I got it from took it apart and returned it to almost a CKD status car...I got boxes upon boxes of parts, and the major components sitting on four special made roll about pallets...I can say this...he kept it all together nicely and knew where every part was stored at his facility.  Small parts bagged and tagged.  I will have gone over every bit of this car inside out and beneath when finished...one bit at a time and the elephant will be consumed.

[Ulu]

It sounds like a fun project. 

For now the SS will look good enough for a street car, but it needs structure. I am thinking to reinforce the steel structure, but the fiberglass will get reinforcements all over, inside where unseen. It will need two bulkheads of glass or metal.

 

It could use tubing but I am not set up to do tube frames.

 

When I said I might spend $20k, this means designing a custom roll cage frame and having it built to my drawings. Also some chrome work & engine swap possible...

 

For now it'll keep the VW chassis, with improvements.

 

[Ulu]

Due to various family issues problems with the Covid virus and other projects on my table, it has been nearly a year since I did any serious work on the kit car. Part of the problem is that our DMV has just recently started making appointments for out of state car inspections, and I have been waiting all this time to get a title and registration and pay my taxes.

 

Anyhow, I finally got back to work on it, and I decided to strip almost everything from the chassis. I wasn’t going to do this on the first go around but I decided that the whole car was put together so out of alignment that I could not stand to look at it.

 

 

All the lamps came off, then steering column and fenders.

I was very lucky and none of the bolts were very rusty. 

 

I really didn’t wanna crawl under this to re-wire all the instruments and switches. Let’s get it off!

Here the front fenders and valance are quickly gone. The steering column bolts were peened over, and I just snapped them with a long breaker bar, to remove the column. 

The left fender (which has a hole for the steering column to pass through) is cracked a little there, and I will have to do some serious repairs with epoxy and glass.

 

I used the engine hoist to remove the front body shell assembly. It was not very heavy, but it was too awkward for us to easily pick up over the cowl.

 

 

By standing up the nose of the car, I am able to also stand up (or sit on a stool) and rewire the entire instrument panel without squatting, crawling,  or banging my head on the clutch pedal.

Below you can see the brake master cylinder in its original location. The pushrod was extended back about 2 feet With a piece of steel tubing, to hit the new pedal location. This welding looked a little more substantial but I will probably re-make the whole pushrod assembly anyway.

 

That black rectilinear monstrosity, made of hardware store angle iron, is the frame which supported a 12 gallon poly gas tank. I am getting a smaller tank and it must go.

There was a surprisingly tiny amount of weld holding it to the floor pan, but it did have a modestly successful weld to the tunnel. It was no match for a pneumatic cut off wheel and a little chiseling.

Here it is now removed, and you can see the small pile of rust on the floor, which I knocked out of the frame while chiseling some very poor/tiny welds.

At least they weren’t huge ugly welds.

[Ulu]

This is the only real rust on the chassis and it isn’t bad. (Edit: oh how wrong that was!)

All the wires and wiper motor readily accessible.

 

The pitman arm hits the frame in a full left turn.

The left tire hits the swing arm in a full right turn.

Nothing hits the steering stops.

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by Ulu

[Plymouthy Adams]

good start.....sounds like you have most of you targets areas picked out and lined up to address.  

[Ulu]

Here the cowl and battery tray have been removed, showing the huge hole thru the pan.

Some views of the welded appliance which extends the chassis about a foot. If you are unfamiliar with the construction of the Volkswagen bug you will probably find it difficult to make sense of this. The whole front axle assembly including the steering comes right off of the chassis with just four 13mm bolts. Four more hold the beam axle to the appliance.

I leveled the frame & started stringing it out to see where it is bent, and to establish body lines on the frame.

I put some breaker bars on the axle mount bolts to tighten them before making any measurements. They were all quite loose. Two were so loose the lock washers were visibly uncompressed.

 

 

[Tooljunkie]

Quite a task, but from what i see its in good hands now. 
i remember doing some work on an mg many years ago. Back when i knew absolutely nothing. It needed a few repairs so owner could sell it. 
 

Today i could entertain the thought of owning one. I do like the style of the roadsters. 

[Ulu]

Thank you Tooljunkie,

 

This is the easiest car I’ve ever disassembled. It’s plastic so nothing is really rusty except a little bit of the Volkswagen frame, and it’s been stored indoors for 30+ years so almost none of the plated bolts were rusty.

 

Also it is extremely simple because it has nothing much except lights, horn and a windshield wiper motor, And Volkswagens were just extremely simple to begin with. They have about half as many parts as a P15 by my estimation, And many of the stock bits are long gone.

 

Lucky for me, because my garage is filling up with parts as I work. I’ve been shoveling fenders & panels out to the work shed to get them out of my way way.

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

lots of people never understand the remark about laydown area needed when working ANY car.....you must have room to work and room to store removed panels (doors, fenders, hoods and lids) then we have drivetrain storage also...bit heavier and bulkier to move about.  

[Los_Control]

7 hours ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

lots of people never understand the remark about laydown area needed when working ANY car

Is a common term for construction also ... you just need a place to store materials, Is a term used & discussed for carpenters when first arriving on a new job site.

 

Is also important in car restoration. It takes a lot of space to blow a car apart & still have a working area for the project. Same time try to keep it organized to make some sense and find things or work on them outside of designated project area.

 

I simply do not have that space. Why I work on front end first, when is all put back together then work on the rear end.

Brains are important also .... remember where all the parts go ...

I would end up with doors & fenders spread around the yard rusting.

[Tooljunkie]

Im in the middle of repowering my 51 Fargo. It poses many challenges. The room i have to spread parts out is plentiful,but in the heat of the day it gets pretty unbearable. 40x80 steel quonset. Moving steering box is next. Not as easy as i hoped. 
 

[Los_Control]

Just now, Tooljunkie said:

The room i have to spread parts out is plentiful,but in the heat of the day it gets pretty unbearable. 40x80 steel quonset.

That is a total new issue that fits here ... While My area is small, I have a chance to cool it with fans.

 

 

 

[Ulu]

You guys have no idea how lucky I am here in the desert. It was 105F today, but I still laid glass & epoxy without a sweat.

 

My garage walls are insulated with both fiberglas and styrofoam, and the ceiling is insulated with rock-wool, 12" to 18" thick.

 

I have an exhaust fan, two 3-speed ceiling fans, and best of all, I have a 5 ton HVAC that air conditions the whole house and garage!

 

I upgraded that from a 3 ton about 2005, then I put in the ceiling, LED can lights, and insulation. What a difference!

 

I also have a workshed with all the yard tools and ladders etc, plus a smaller one with all my wood working and electronic stuff. That keeps all that stuff out of the garage, which is a major blessing. My only regret is having no boathouse, and my boat is outside, under an awning, covered in a tarp.

 

 

[Ulu]

On 6/3/2021 at 7:37 AM, Plymouthy Adams said:

lots of people never understand the remark about laydown area needed when working ANY car.....you must have room to work and room to store removed panels (doors, fenders, hoods and lids) then we have drivetrain storage also...bit heavier and bulkier to move about.  

This is true, and my garage is already packed in all the corners with engines and transmissions, and various car parts for my old Scout 4WD & the P15 coupe.

 

Every now and then I clean a spot in the garage for some purpose and my wife decides that’s where the stuff she wants to put out of the house needs to go.

 

So I put up a nice 10x12 tool shed, and hung some starfish and unicorns on it, and I told my wife it was just for her.

 

?

 

And that was a great day of progress in my quest for a workable garage.

 

 

[Ulu]

Looking from underneath you can see the left tire rod, and the steering shaft penetrating the fender through a ragged handmade hole.

 

The fender is cracked there right at the very weakest spot, And of course it cracked from corner to corner.

You couldn’t see it in the photo so I put some red on the crack digitally.

[Ulu]

I ground the surface down a little to clean glass& raked out the crack with a pick. I then aligned the edges & clamped the fender between glue-proof poly sheets. I soaked the cracked area with glue, and after it cured I added a small glass patch with epoxy. The crack still shows thru 

 

I cured the epoxy 2 days, before feathering the patch and adding one 10x as large with more epoxy.

 

That snail trail across the black paint was where the blinker light wires were glued to the fender and painted over.

 

[Ulu]

The VW has the front shock towers right about where you’d want to brace the underside of the fender, and the real metal SS does have fender braces  about there.

 

The towers line up about with the fender lamps (blinkers), and slightly aft of the hefty headlight spreader bar. (Bar already removed here)

There is plenty of room to mold a plastic under-fender stiffener, and brace both it and the spreader to the shock tower with a small bit of bracketry.

 

I will permanently cast wires for the blinkers into the fender stiffeners.

 

Volkswagen steering is much like the P-15, in that you have one short tie rod & one long tie rod, going to a Y shaped Pitman arm. I would seriously like to change this over to rack and Pinion steering, especially since the steering gear shows a considerable amount of wear on the worm and nut.

 

I’m betting that there’s a kit out on the market right now that I can just buy to do this.

[Dan Hiebert]

Was gonna refer you to the Samba forum, but I see you've already checked in there.  Good site, but members can get rather snarky sometimes.

[Ulu]

I was a moderator on six or seven different forums and still to a couple.

 

You get to live with a lot.

Edited June 12, 2021 by Ulu