OT plastic kit car

[Ulu]

I barely touched the fenders, but I got the rear body bolted down well, inside the cockpit. It still just lays on the frame at the tail. The kit “mounts” were never installed

 

I made two more struts to pick up the rear subframe at the bumper bracket holes to the shock towers. I also made what we would call a Monte Carlo bar, to connect the rear shock towers.

 

I spent some time cleaning the steering shaft, and it is damaged and crooked. I should certainly make a new one.

[Ulu]

The steering shaft wasn’t just crooked, it was cut!

I don’t know if somebody cut this on purpose, if it was a damaged piece of material that the builder used without noticing, or if he damaged it at assembly and then just ignored it. I have no idea what happened here but this gash was made with a tubing cutter and it goes 2/3 of the way around the steering column.  Look closely . . . At the worst part it nearly penetrates the tube.

 

 

[Tooljunkie]

Sure looks like a track from a tubing cutter. All that comes to mind is what was that guy thinking? 

[Ulu]

No clue buddy. I don’t think a whole lot of thinking was going on when they put this car together.

 

But such is not today. Today a lot of thinking went on as I reinstalled the windshield wipers and the windshield.

I finally got the firewall secured to the cowl enough to stabilize the body well. It’s just one small stretch of epoxy putty, and in the end there will be full perimeter epoxy filler, resin and fiberglass cloth.

 

I got really tired of not having a proper prop rod on the front hood and so I manufactured one today along with it’s little hook clip and storage retainer clip. I made the storage retainer clip out of a small plastic covered cable clamp, which I reformed by hand to act as a clasp. I put a couple layers of heat shrink tubing on the rod’s end to prevent it from rattling when stowed.

 

 

Anyhow, after a year and a half of owning this car, it sure is nice not to have a rope tied onto the hood!

[Ulu]

I needed some temporary front floorboards. These galvanized panels were cut and formed from an old washing machine. Here I am attaching the first one.

 

I installed the fuel tank today and did some custom fuel line work + located the batteries and battery cables.

 

[greg g]

You aren't welding galvanized are you?  Fumes can be problem real quick.

 

https://www.cmac.com.au/blog/5-things-to-welding-galvanized-steel-safely

[pflaming]

Looking very good. When I have my empi Sportster finished and legal, we'll  have to go out to lunch together.

[Ulu]

2 hours ago, greg g said:

You aren't welding galvanized are you? 

The floor pans are just screwed in.

 

The 1.75” round tube was electro-galvanized, but I knocked the zinc off the ends before welding.

 

I used to work for a company that MIG welded galvanized tin studs. The fumes are pretty nasty. They just welded right thru that zinc. No precautions except big shop fans.

 

I delivered weldments to a hot-dip plant once. I sure wouldn’t want to work over a tank of hot zinc all day. Hot acid etching . . . Nasty business.

[Ulu]

2 hours ago, pflaming said:

Looking very good. When I have my empi Sportster finished and legal, we'll  have to go out to lunch together.

Did the frame ever get welded back together?

[pflaming]

     No, but before we went east. I used a come along and squared the body, that brought that break back together as it should be. 
    We really enjoy the beauty of Maine.

[Ulu]

I couldn’t sleep at night with those cloth straps on my fuel tank. Today I made some nice steel straps.

 

 

I also trimmed the mile-long battery hold downs, & decided to remove the anti-sway bar. It’s ugly, and I won’t need it. The front it looks a lot cleaner without it.

[Ulu]

Tonight I installed a stout ground strap and cranked the engine over for a bit with a dry fuel system. WooHoo! The venerable boxermotor spun over like a champ. It's gonna start right up next time.

 

. . . . unless it leaks when I add the gas. ? Then I will fix the leak and try again.

[Ulu]

I did some rough calculations today and I have removed over 30 pounds from this car, plus the carpet and upholstery.

 

Here I am adding some more lightness to the steering column bracket.

 

 

It got trimmed shaved and six new holes in it.

[Ulu]

I crawled around on the floor with the grinder for an hour today and added some Lightness by shaving things off the chassis. Four long bolts and several screws, Plus the 2’ flanges from the hood sides that used to have the job of supporting the floor pan so it doesn’t fall through under your feet.

The hood sides now have 4 feet of attachment to the bent steel floor. It used to be the 2 foot flanges were Attached to the floor, with a few carriage bolts, and the last 2 feet flew through the air.

Here you can see that there are no more Volkswagen flanges sticking out underneath the front fenders.

 

Of course I knew they were there when I bought the car because they showed up in the first photo I saw. I looked at the picture and says, Yep that’s a Volkswagen.

 

 

 

[Ulu]

I added two big rubber body mounts under the rear tub, on jacking screws, above my new rear crossmember. I used two fat urethane skate wheels, which should be 100% silent. They also cost 5x as much as typical body rubbers, but hey, this makes it more custom.  

 

I have been fighting for body alignment and exhaust system clearance, plus trying to form some rear body mounts where none previously existed. I cut out all the damaged area where the muffler rubbed as well.

 

Here's some bits of the burnt cardboard mailing tube half, inside the fiberglass hollow-form body reinforcement, that was riding directly on the muffler.

 

 

This extended across 90% of the rear facia and half of it was in direct contact. There was 10" of charred cardboard inside the damaged area. Where I clouded in yellow is half the hole worn thru by the seam in the muffler.

 

 

All of that is now gone and I have nearly 1.5" clearance from the exhaust to the body now. The whole exhaust system will likely be changed in the future, and I will do that before adding new reinforcement.

 

I won't be using any cardboard or paper-mache' in the engine bay!

 

But this same method was used on the front body walls and front hood as well, and I won't remove that. I will probably give it another coat of glass and paint it.

 

Meanwhile I have removed all the rear body bolts and cowl mounts, and I am trying to get the body straighter before I mount the rear fenders.

 

[Ulu]

Fenders and running boards are all mounted solidly. It could all be a little straighter, and the final trimming is still not done.

 

Still no rear body mounts.

 

All the wiring is complete except wiper switch, horn button, and ignition switch. Blinkers look strong. All lights look great. Annoying euro-horn must go some day.

 

Gauges are still unsecured though. Just plugged thru holes in the body. There were never any brackets installed so I need to make some. Fuel gauge was tested and works OK. Panel wires aren’t loomed yet.

 

Backside of the panel looks pretty ragged, with wood chiseled haphazardly to mount the original wiper switch. (Hole still unfilled by the new switch.) I used black heat shrink, but I used white heat shrink on all the black ground wires, to make them easier to spot.

 

Every termination and splice on the car is tinned and soldered.

Back of fuel gauge shown: I used all ring terminals.

 

Some day this car will get repainted and get a wood panel overlay and some upholstery around the instrument panel. Then I will make the brackets to fit.

 

 

Edited November 27, 2021 by Ulu

[Ulu]

Yippie! Today it started and ran, but I did not drive it. I just poured some gas in the carburetor and ran it a little bit in the garage. It revved up and it idled down ok. Nice!

All the wiring is complete but there are 3 terminals I did not solder yet. Just crimped. Also there is no switch panel and I have four switches just hanging loose under the dash.

I only have one seat in the car and there's no doors yet. But it’s coming together fast now.

[Ulu]

Random pix . . .

 

 

 

[pflaming]

YOU are doing great work. Will be quite the vehicle once it is completed. 

[Sniper]

I dunno about your state but here in TX when you build a car like that you need to have receipts for stuff to get the title on  a kit car type build.

[Ulu]

This is true in California for “special construction” vehicles.

 

BUT, I didn’t buy a kit. I bought a complete, running, titled car from South Carolina.

 

I gave the DMV the receipt and they were fine with that. They just have to see the car assembled to give me a title. Or so they say. We’ll see what happens when I go to the DMV again.

 

Today I have to mount my new switch panel, tidy up the wiring a little more under the dash, and get some rear body mounts on this thing.

 

I’ve got a large selection of rubber bushings to play with, but I think I might just mold these from scratch out of polyurethane.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Ulu

[Ulu]

Instrument and switch wiring is done.

 

 

 

The seatbelts we’re mounted to the sliding seat tracks, which is really hokey. I remounted them to the subframe, and tried to install the seats.

 

The seats were mounted crooked as hell, and the driver’s seat is tilting into the door, so more adjustments to come. I knew this would be an issue when I first removed them. The brackets are all wrong.

 

[greg g]

Seat belts should NOT be fastened to chassis or sub frame.  If the body components seperate from the frame, you don't want to be fastened to the frame.while the body components pass by you.  At least that's the conventional wisdom applied to metal bodied cars.

 

Never thought about fastening beltswhere to  in fiberglass cars.  Where do belts fasten in Corvettes?

 

Maybe I am full of hot air, but some research might be in order.

[kencombs]

I've read that seat belt attachment warning too.  And in some cases it seems plausible, such a little t-bucket or 'A' roadter where the body and frame are drastically different weights and skimpily attached to one another.  Early Mopars are much more robust along with most full sized cars of the era.  My feeling is that if the body and frame separate, one has much bigger issues than seat belt attachment!

 

On the subject VW based kit car, who knows?

[Eneto-55]

An automobile seat is not nearly as heavy as the body - obviously - but if the seat comes loose in a crash, even with the belts fastened to the floor of the body (not through to the frame), it's still not going to feel real good having that seat try to go through you.  This is off-topic here, of course, but that's one of the reasons I want to replace the seat tracks on my P15, and then have the belts fastened to the seat frame, not the floor.  But of course the seat must also be very securely bolted to the floor.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Eneto-55