jaransonT3 from MI

[jaransonT3]

Over the last couple of days, I got some blocks cut to represent the airbags for the time being and decided to install the rear subframe to check fit and tire clearance.

Here is the subframe with the wooden blocks and sitting on some dollies to let me roll it into place.



Couple of pictures getting it into position under the car.





Got it all bolted up and installed the tires...





Plenty of room for the tires...



Not sure about changing a flat yet...will have to wait until I actually have the bags in to see how much clearance I have with the bags fully inflated.

I also threw together and extra front beam I had around the garage. Going to try to get it installed and get the Sled on the ground for the first time in several years.

[jaransonT3]

Don't want the Sled to end up in the "Old Projects" thread, so I figured I better get out there this weekend and do something to progress her.

I had previously installed the rear subframe with the new air-ride mounts and some solid wooden blocks to represent the airbags at ride height. I installed a mock-up front end so I could put it back on the ground for the first time in years. Then I rolled it out onto the driveway for a few beauty shots...









Of course, I had to do a little PhotoShop work to get rid of the nosebleed stance....





With the front end back in, I decided it would be good to have the steering column back in to make moving her around easier.

Started out by bolting the column in without the ignition switch/turn signal housing. Also bolted in the driver's seat to make sure the steering wheel position was OK. After mocking it up, I decided to line the steering wheel up with the centerline of my eyesight instead of the cutout from the Rambler dash.



I needed to enlarge the cut-out anyway to fit the ignition switch housing so it wasn't any more work to get it where I wanted. So after some cutting and fitting This is what I ended up with...



I had to put a small depression on the left side to clear the turn signal switch. I also have some more clearancing to do around the ignition switch and then I need to weld some sheetmetal to finish off the new cut-out.



Close-up of the clearancing for the turn signal switch....



Close-up of the clearancing for the ignition switch...



And a shot with a steering wheel in place...



Still need to fabricate the column hanging bracket that the ignition switch housing bolts to and finish off the inside of the cut-out, but it looks like it is all going to work out good.

[jaransonT3]

I did get out there and work on her for a few hours this morning. Felt good to be and metal again.

First order of business was to get the garage cleaned up enough to work and get the Sled out in the open for easy access...





Then I filled in the final areas between the dash and the cowl/body....



and finally I spent a little time fitting, welding, and grinding the filler piece for the recess in the dash around the ignition key. Pretty happy with the result....





Progress!

[jaransonT3]

One of my New Year's resolutions is to make steady weekly progress on the Sled. No more taking months or weeks off from doing anything on her. To get the right start on that plan, I spent several hours today on the garage with the propane heater blasting....

Completed a somewhat significant step....I finished the fabrication/modification to the dash and structure to let me mount the steering column. I can now steer the front wheels with the steering wheel from inside the car.

Here are some pictures....

Started out finishing the edges of the cut-out for the steering column...




Added a brace to stiffen the dash.... Works great, BTW.


Then I bolted in the steering column and tightened down the clamp nut at the steering box after setting the spacing to the dash...


Plenty of clearance to the blinker lever...


Plenty of hand clearance...




View from the bottom. Used the stock front mount for the column and a modified rear mount...


Plenty of room to turn the key...


Should have good vision of the gages...


I also got the rear end of the car up on tall jack stands in order to have better access to start the final fitting and attachment of the rear fenders....the final major piece in this puzzle.

[jaransonT3]

OK...time for a progress update!




No really! I actually made some progress on the the Sled today.


I even have pictures to prove it. Seriously!


About a month or so ago I started working with Phil from Metal Spinning Specialties down in New Zealand. I had seen some smoothy beauty rings he made for one of the Type 3 guys over on the Samba. They looked really nice and were a whole lot less labor intensive (for me at least) then welding up all the oval holes in the stock Type 3 wheels to get the look I wanted. The price was very reasonable so I commissioned a set. Well they arrived today safe and sound all the way from NZ. Beautiful pieces of spun stainless. Fit perfectly.

Before:


After: Instant smoothy wheel!


The rings just slip on to the wheel and are held in place by the stock hubcaps. So I had to grab a hub cap and try it out.



....but what is up with that allen head screw in the middle of this cap?

Oh yeah, that's right. I also worked with Phil to come up with a custom one-off bullet for the stock hubcaps. Also spun from stainless steel....



Phil welds a disk inside the bullet with a nut welded to it. Drill one hole in the hubcap and bolt it on. Fits perfectly inside the raised lip around the VW logo.

Here are a couple of other views....





and finally a shot showing them after the install on the Sled.



My plan is to powdercoat the stock hubcaps and the bullets chrome and clear. The stock wheels and the smoothy rings will be powdercoated to match the roof color of the Sled....Mountain Dew Green Metallic. After all that and with a proper attitude adjustment, should end up something like this...



Thanks Phil. Could not be any happier with the pieces. Awesome work!



See I told you I made some progress. Hoping these bits get me completely re-energized to get the Sled on the road. Stay tuned.

[jaransonT3]

Picked up the wheels from the sandblaster today. All 4 wheels clean as a whistle for $80.



Then I got them over to TechShop for some powdercoat. I did the inside and backside in black and the fronts in Mountain Dew (John Deere) Green.



Unfortunately I got a couple of them too close to the heating elements in the oven which turned the green brown. I will be taking them back over on Friday and recoating at least those two.

I also powdercoated the smoothy trim rings.



Instant smoothy wheels....





Add the stock Type 3 hubcaps and my custom bullets and you get this. I still need to powdercoat the caps and bullets chrome.



Only the front caps get the bullets since you would never see them in the rear with the skirts. Plus I don't have enough package space for them under the skirts anyway.



I will be paint detailing the rear caps with green instead of the brown on there right now...just for completeness sake. I am also planning on adding a simple tan pinstripe to the outer rim of each wheel.

[jaransonT3]

So I am not real happy with how flat the original laser cut prototype side trim wings were. Not sure yet how to change it up so I did a little rendering to try to help. Came up with 3 options.

Option 1. The flat version like the prototype...



Option 2. Thicker version with more shape to it. Problem I have with this version is the interface to the stainless side trim...



Option 3. Thicker, more shapely as with Option 2 but the wing extends up to form the end of the side trim.



What do you all thing?

I have also been working on the seats. I got the driver's seat all rewired and the passenger seat just about there. Just need to get the correct switch to finish it up.



I also fabricated a foam filler piece to take up the space left by the side airbag module.



I fit the foam and will be re-assembling the seats with the stock seat covers from the Flex as soon as I pick-up some hog ring pliers and rings...



...at least for now. It is one of the compromises I am going to make in order to get the car ready for the 2014 Invasion. Will eventually re-do the foam and upholstery as I have originally planned.

[jaransonT3]

Got the driver's seat retrimmed tonight. Just need to do something for a lower side shield, a mount for the switches and some rework of the headrest guide sleeves to clean them up since I am not planning on putting the headrests back on the seats. Just about ready to bolt in.

[jaransonT3]

I think I have the design of the side trim wings finalized. I didn't like how flat the first attempt was and it was a little to wide and rounded in side view. So I did some tweaking and made up a foam model of the new design. I am very happy with it.

Here is a comparison between the first (on the right) and the latest (on the left)...



I decided to incorporate the end of the trim into the wing piece similar to Option C I posted the other day.

Here is the new design with the side trim...



and a bunch of different views of it on the car...













Now I just need to decide how I want to fabricate them in something that can be powdercoated to match all the other trim on the Sled.

[jaransonT3]

Thanks for the comments folks. Moving forward with this design. I have decided I am going to make patterns and let Fred at Seaport Casting make them for me out of aluminum. Seaport is the same company I used for the Volksrods hood ornaments.

So, I need to make a matched set of the wings from a material that Fred can use as a pattern for the casting process. I have some high density renboard (polyurethane modeling plank). I cut some different thickness slabs of it on my table saw to make hte various pieces.

It turns out that I can cut the renboard on the laser over at TechShop, so I did that last night. This picture shows my original hand cut mock-up (the green one) and the pieces I cut on the laser including a couple that are still nested in the original plank. I added a small tab to the back side of the pieces. This will be shaped to fit inside the side trim molding to make that interface cleaner. I also had to split the parts to get them to fit on the material I had. I added some simple keying features to help get things lined up.



and here are a couple of shots of the pieces dry assembled. I have started to add the radii and the draft angles to the parts at this point.





Some more sanding and contouring to do and then I need to glue the pieces together, do the finish sanding, and seal the patterns up with a couple of coats of paint. Then I can drop them with Fred for casting.

[jaransonT3]

Been plugging away at small stuff. Too cold to go out in the garage and tackle the body.

I got all the latch hardware located, cleaned and ready for re-install. I cut out new door cards and ordered the green metalflake vinyl for the interior inserts. I also found a pair of "Z" armrests that I am thinking of using. Need to decide what I am doing for the interior door release handle still.

I have also decided to go ahead and use the grey leather I have for the interior. It will go great with the green metalflake vinyl, plus I already have it. That decision did cause me to rethink the exterior color. As much as I liked the Safari Beige with the green metalflake roof, it just won't go with the grey and green interior. Plus I couldn't find a tan or other color for the interior that I liked.

So...I am going to go with a shiny light grey exterior. Will look something like this...



Thinking about using TCP Global's Mesa Grey...



Here is a link...

TCP Mesa Grey

Fiddling with other things like the gage cluster, and seats, and stuff.

[jaransonT3]

Had one of those eureka moments today with the interior door panels. I was really struggling with what to do with the interior door release handle and armrest. I knew I wanted a green metalflake insert in the panel and I have always liked the Type 3 "Z" armrests.

My eureka moment was to flip the "Z" armrests from side to side and mount them upside down.

Then I took the new hardboard panels I cut out yesterday and laid everything out in full scale. I came up with an insert design that I really like and lets me use the stock Type 3 door release handle. Yeah! One less thing to fabricate.

This is the full scale mock-up...



and a little Photoshop to show it all trimmed out...



and with it in context in the car...



Best part of this plan is that once the green metalflake vinyl shows up in the next day or two, I can get these panels built up and ready for install. I plan to continue the green metalflake insert into the rear quarter panel.

...once the car is painted and ready for them of course.

[jaransonT3]

Took my first crack at sewing up the pleated inserts for the door panels last night.



The Juki Industrial Walking Foot machine at TechShop is going to take a little getting used to. I think one of the panels is useable, but the first (middle) seam on this one got away from me a bit.



I am going to make up a couple more sets of materials and have another go at it. Definitely got better as I went along.

I also have all of the new hardboard panels cut and prepped. The routed pockets on the back of the panel are clearance for the clips that whole the whole thing into the door.



I got the 1/8" foam backer glued to the outer pieces and the leather cut for them. As soon as I have two good pleated inserts I can assembly it all together.

[jaransonT3]

Took another crack at stitching up the door panel inserts today.



I am really happy with the results.



After sewing all the straight pleat lines, I marked and stitch around the perimeter of the insert shape.



And then trimmed them both up.





These trimmed panels will get glued and wrapped to the inner hardboard substrate. Then the leather wrapped outer hardboard substrate will get glued to the inner and the leather wrapped over the outer edges of both.



The z-armrests will also help hold it all together in the center when they get bolted on.

I need to get some DAP Weldwood Landau top adhesive before I can start assembling. I have a couple of options locally. Hope to pick it up tomorrow.

[jaransonT3]

Picked up a gallon of DAP Weldwood Landau Top Adhesive today.



This stuff is great. Strong smell and highly flammable so I did the build up of the door panels in the spray booth at TechShop with the ventilation on.

I managed to get both door panels trimmed up.















Of course I had to see what the release handle and the armrest will look like on them.



I still need to steam out a few wrinkles, wrap the armrests with the grey leather, drill the mounting holes for the armrests in the panels and modify the bracket that grabs the tab on the door inner panel. I am very happy with the results!

[jaransonT3]

Still plugging away on some of the small stuff. Hoping to get into the garage and do some welding on Sunday.

The patterns for the side trim wings are in primer. A little more sanding and some top coat and they will be ready to go to Fred for casting.



I have also started the pattern for the grill teeth. I am planning on having them cast as well. I am thinking of just keeping them simple. Not sure yet...



and tonight I made a rough mock-up of the design for the steering wheel trim bar...



It is a stock Type 3 steering wheel with what will be a custom, cast aluminum trim bar/horn button. The bar will be fixed to the wheel. The recess in the center will have the horn button.



The bar will bridge the center of the wheel. I am planning a simple black center cap and will fill the channel for the original horn ring. The risers for teh new trim bar will be molded into the wheel and painted to match the rest of the wheel.





Pretty happy with the design and scale of it. Not to just make a pattern suitable for casting...

[jaransonT3]

I completed the rear quarter panel trim cards this weekend. Same basic design and procedure as with the door cards.







I even through a couple of the panel clips on and put them in the car...



I like it! Of course, I still have to steam out the wrinkles and modify the door handle strap that hooks to the inner door sheetmetal. Getting close though.

[jaransonT3]

SPent a few hours on the Sled today.

I got the headlight trim rings trimmed to fit inside the eyebrows on the fender. I decided to go with the stock (just trimmed) rings and headlight location rather than the inverted trim rings and recessed headlights like I was originally thinking. I think they work nicely.

I also welded up the last few holes and did some hammer and dolly work and some grinding on various spots. The front fenders are now ready for some acid etch and then a quote of MasterSeries on the inside and epoxy sealer on the outside. Then then it will be muddin' time....at least for the front fenders.

Here are a few pictures....

[jaransonT3]

I updated the my renderings for the Sled last night. They both now reflect the latest design and color direction. Now I just need to get out in the garage and make it look like this...

[jaransonT3]

Have started chipping away at the Sled To-Do list again. I got all of the welding and grinding and bumping done on the front fenders. A couple of days ago I acid etched the inner surface...


then I broke out the MasterSeries...


and got a couple of coats on the inside surfaces of the fenders.


Next step on them is to acid etch the outers and then got all the surfaces in a coat of epoxy primer. Then they will be ready for the final mud work and finishing.

I do need to drill the trim attachment holes to the right size on both fenders before shooting the epoxy.

Progress.....slow for sure, but progress.