Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

Hey Tim.....Some Kiwi fairly close to you would probably be able to knock out that Tank in fairly short order....give me a yell and we`ll get together on it....

Blownfuel---Thanks so much for all those pics....I`ve been looking at lots of stuff on them. Have managed to find some things I like...

Got back from my Crosley Steering Box expedition just before dark. Got One, and have the other one half out. If the weather is decent tomorrow, I`ll race over there in my Lunch hour and finish getting the other one out....They both turn and feel good, but look nasty...We`ll see what we get...

 

I'm envious of those seats so if, by any chance, when the blue moon is up, and that fat lady has sung, you decide, no, you package them up and airmail them to me thanks. I wonder how much wider the genuine '27 T is compared to the '23 Fibre Bodied T is as you don't have much room between those seats do you. I like you fuel tank also and the size is right for long distance cruising.

 

Kiwi Paul,
That is extremely generous! We'll have to work out a deal- possibly need help with my br*** radiator shell as well when the time comes.

Larry,
Your fuel tank and bomber seats look awesome! Nice work! 17 gallons will be nice, too!

Whip,
I measured my front and rear width. Can't get my propane heater to stay lit so it's cold as ____ out here! Not that bad, but not cozy like I like haha. Ok, front width is 59" to the outside of the tires. Since they're 4" wide each, that makes it 55" to the center of each tire in front. The rear is 64" to the outside of the tires, and since they're 9" wide, that makes it 55" to the center of the rear tires, also.



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Larry, I posted my opinion on the seats on your build thread.

 

Larry, your whole car looks the cats whiskers right there/ That front overview is off the scale!! JW

 

Brynk,

If I remember right, the Disabili-T had a built Model A motor (banger)with an aluminum head on it. (Just went back and looked.......so much for my memory! It has a Model B engine wit a Serr Miller overhead conversion.) Thanks for the kind words about the pics guys. It was just a basic little digital camera, and it most definitly didn't like the lighting in the halls. It refused to focus with or with out the flash, so I eventually ended up manually focusing it. Miss my Olympus, which tecnically still works, but the catches the the battery compartment door latch into broke.


Kiwi,

Your welcome. I tried to take pics of all the major things I would want to see if I was building a car, figuring that's what everyone else on here would want to see. I'm curious to see how the Crosley box thing works out for you, I have considered one for my FED project before, but may have finally gotten a line on the correct SPE box.


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Thanks Tim for freezing your privates for me, says me sitting in my lounge with the air conditioning going full noise as it is so muggy here in Auckland NZ. Heck I'm surprised that the width's are identical as just looking at your avatar, the front end looks wider then the rear. Shows how deceiving camera angles etc can make a car look wrong or right.

 

Larry
I find no fault with your Roadster P.U. The A grill shell even fits. Love the bomber seats and their upholstery is just right. It's starting to take on a racy look. Seems like it's taking on your no nonsense personality. A skull anyplace on it would be out of place. Well maybe a little aluminum shift knob. Just kidding. Or am I?
Gary

 

Gary....Sounds like you are feeling better.....Maybe Larry should invest in a `**** Tail, 8 Ball shift Knob and an old Leather Jacket........He`s a baaad Maan.....don`t `c`ha know....

 

Hey guys,
I just thought I'd revisit my taillight situation and provide some inspiration for my direction I intend to go. Dave Lohr (Littleman) on here has an awesome Model A pickup (a**** many other awesome vehicles). He reworked a pair of '32 taillight brackets for his truck, and I thought they looked really slick. I sent him a PM one day to confirm that's what he'd done, and he replied saying yes and gave me a brief description. I'll post some pics of my progress from my phone here in a bit. Here's his truck in all its awesomeness:

 

So, here is some progress on that idea. First, I eyeballed a mock up of the bracket and marked where to cut it. Then, I hacked it to pieces- no turning back now!



Then I measured how much room I had for a mounting flange, and I transferred that measurement to some 1/8" steel plate. After some cutting, drilling, filing, and sanding, I had these little guys:



I made some marks where I wanted to put the flange, then noticed my bed sides have a decent amount of a curve in them.



Next, I put them in my vice and persuaded a matching curve into the flanges.



After that, I transferred the mounting hole locations to my body with a transfer punch.



The next step took awhile, and I think it still needs a bit of tweaking to make it "flow" from the back view, but I'm pretty happy with everything else thus far. No laughing at my welds! They will be ground down and sanded smooth eventually, but I ran out of time to make noise last night. I got one side done- one to go!





Need to rework the curve in the fake tailgate to match the curve of the bezel...



Half done:



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You nailed it Tim, looks good. JW

 

Gary, I just read your post asking for more pics of my rear axle setup. As it turns out, I need to tidy up my brake lines and redo my panhard bar mount, then sand everything smooth for powdercoating. So I'll be posting some pics of that in the next couple of weeks if all goes well.

 

I know it's stupid, to propose a different Idears, when you made such a nice set up already.

But, maybe somebody else would like them.

http://vwnettet.dk/bb-media/pictures/2/8/119582/maj2010 004.jpg

They are dual function and there is a reflector in the glad it self. And by dual function it uses a light bulb with two wires inside, so you can have running lights and stop light. It was normal customs to run then with a indicator function in the red, that was common over here before 1965. They ran white indicators in front, orange on the side and red in the rear.

If one flip them on he the side and put them above the bed, with the housing, it would double your chance if being seen. No guaranty if drivers are texting.
Or put them in the "tailgate" like ships, looks era correct, but offers a Reflector in the lens for better visibility!

 

Maybe chip got a handle on where to get them, him being a ex-VW guy. With the pressure on VW, more then the ex part

 

Volvo, I'm not sure what taillights Chip is using in his bucket, but they look somewhat similar to the ones in your link. I like the snowflake reflector in those you posted. Pretty neat looking - thanks for sharing.

 

**** Paul it sounds like your talking about me. And I am feeling better. Don't forget the red and white wire wrap,stickers my friends send me, (yes I've affixed one already),celebrity signatures,club plaque,advertising license plate surround. Am I that gaudy guy?

Tim I love your taillight setup now. Glad you were able to use the 32 brackets. They were some of the most beautiful lines Ford people ever designed. Second only to the 15-22 T cowl line. '23-25 weren't quite as nice but still beautiful.

Tim I think you misunderstood me I said I wanted to see a little bit more of your diff. What I meant is I'd like to see you raise the back of the body an inch or two. But even if you don't I love the big Kim Kardashian ***.

Gary

 

Oh yes Tim, much better on the tail lights and thanks for not taking offence when I mentioned it. I like how you adapted the '32 arms to work with the body and lights and agree, a lttle thought plus work, can make a tremendous improvement.

 

Hey gang, I'm back in the land of the living... For the most part. Spent the day hauling Judy around to doctors offices to see if we can get her past her problems, and all of them wanted to work on me too... Wrong! I'm going to do some dinner here in a bit, the I'll sit down and do the thrilling conclusion to my Tonneau cover write up.

 

Hey, Chip. Something to consider if you're still debating the whole snap hold-down thang: You've been at the Pavilions all day long with lots of worthy admirerersrsers...er...fans! checking out the new paint and noting how neat the radiator cap is ("Marge, did you see the ELEPHANT on that thing?!?!"). You go to get in and drive off to the sound of triumphant applause and you put your hand on the side of the body to hoist yerself in and your palms touch the heads of the snaps. The ones that have been hanging out all day. In the sun. In P-hoe-niks (actually, Scottsdale, but we won't quibble on details). In the summer.

Wouldn't you really rather have hide-em?

 

Dang, Nitro....that is a really good point!
Chip may have a hard time explaining that his arm wasn't soaking in Poison Ivy!

 

Sadly, my grasp of the VW world these days is not what it once was. I find myself any time I am involved in helping with one quoting wholesale prices and suppliers from 1986.... MUCH different these days. The tail lights in your link are '56-'61 Beetle standard stuff, but I am almost betting that they are some sort of LED replacement shown. Trust me, the stockers ****ed rocks! Even with the reflectors in good shape and the car converted to 12volt they were dim at best.

I was waiting for someone to wonder what my taillights were! They are a simple egg shaped LED tail light from Speedway that the guy I built the car for just sort of hung back there willy-nilly. I actually moved them to where they looked correct and were proportionate to the car. They look a lot like '39 tear drops until you start really looking.

 

Something comes to mind, just have to ask, knowing for years looking at pics of Ivo's t , The Lighning bug and Himsl's t and a few others. I have seen pic's of two of them at the strip, racing in movies and running in videos on the street, I just don't see how they stay cool? or do they? I see no fans? caps lower then the radiator and hoses? just can't figure that out.
If I am out on a hot day it makes me want to add an electric fan and it's only a 283?

 

NAH gang, I think I had epiphany the other day on how to do the back... More to come on that.


Back to the balance of the tonneau!

The other day I showed you guys a picture of the corners sewn and the tonneau resting on the deck of the car looking somewhat "tonneau like". I mentioned that I didn't take any pictures of the insides of the corners... I lied! this is what they look like sewn. Simple straight seams, nothing more. I swear, anybody can do this stuff, so don't be afraid to try it!

Now, with that over sight corrected, let's get back into binding this beast. As I said the other night, the binding is just a strip of material sewn face to face with the outside of the tonneau, then rolled under and sew from the outside. that sounds kinda complicated, and I can make it more so by introducing actual sewing terms into it, but I won't. Now normally, this strip is just wide enough to roll under and "catch with the second seam from above. I saw an opportunity to make my life easier at the same time.

See, tonneau covers are usually folded and cut so that the areas around the edges where the snaps will go are doubled over, to add strength, then bound. What I did was cut my binding strip wide enough that it would also serve as that "doubler" when it was folded under. You'll see what I mean in a moment.

So, I measured the three bound sides of the tonneau, added them together, and came up with the need of a binding strip that was 92" long, and 2" wide. The longest single strip I had left was 84".... Bummer, I was going to have to splice it somewhere. So here comes a tip... Thing like that make me nuts, and the cover is pretty much visible all the way around, so hiding it was sort of out of the question. Where to put it then? I stuck mine in the middle of the p***enger side, where I wouldn't see it every time I walked up to the car! It's also sort of hidden by the fact that you notice the cool pie crust slick and American mag before you see the very fine seam! Hidden in plain sight - just takes the time to think it up!

So, the strips cut, the details figured out, it was time to sew an 8 foot long straight seam... Oh joy! in doing so, it looked a bit like this....



The tonneau in this case is right side up, the strip for the binding face down. The pressure foot of the machine becomes my guide all the way around. Making straight seams is what makes or breaks a trim job, period, so getting this right is about as important as it gets. Keep the edges straight and together, and guide the whole mess off the edge of the foot.



Okay, I started this on the p***enger side so I could position my splice where I wanted it, and about 20 minutes of slow, steady sewing I had it covered, and on to the truly nerve wracking part, turning the binding and doing the outside seam.



Here it comes! I next flipped this strip around the bottom edge of the tonneau, and pushed it back up and in so that the back sides of the tonneau and the strip were together. Ready for the tough stuff! With about 10,000 cloths pins, I set off. The idea here is to sew just above the roll that the binding creates without catching the roll with the needle. Sure, easy! Did I mention I locked the dogs out in the yard? Ya, I did, and shut the TV off, and put some music that makes me happy on the computer... This is not the time or place for distractions.



Again, I started from the p***enger side front, but this time to help keep the weight of the tonneau on the sewing machine's cabinet. Any weight hanging off the side has a tendency to shorten the s***ch length and makes it harder to guide what you are doing. About a half hour later, I let the dogs in and made a Gin and Tonic... Success!

 

So gang, from here I have to admit that I got a bit impatient. I didn't photograph laying out the snaps, installing the snaps, or stretching and stapling the front edge of the tonneau and fuel neck binding. I swear to you I will in the next day or so, especially 'cause the snaps are kind fun with the right tool. Suffice to say it's simple to do.

It also looks like I will have reason to redo the staples... Not scheduled however. See, we had an unusually wet weekend this last few days. My car spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday under it's high tech blue tarp protected from nature's wrath. Saturday night, my buddies, Nick Flores and G***ersteve informed me that I had been sick enough, and convinced me I needed tacos at a neighborhood cart, reportedly manned by a senorita muy fair! I pulled back the tarp, only to see that my awesome craftsmanship on the base board was a was a complete waste! The polyurethaned base board was warped like a potato chip! Looks like I'll make one out of something a bit more stout, and paint it instead of polyurethane.

The young lady with the cart had been replaced with an actual storefront that looked like it had been there for the last twenty years or so. Damn good tacos in a shady atmosphere, lacking a beautiful girl... Oh well!

 

I'm liking that bed cover a lot,nice work.

 

Thanks Dana!

 

Them were some good tacos...

 

every time i open this thread, i think to myself "just move the model A project back into storage and you could build a T so much sooooooner"

 

Daddylama,
It's funny you say that. When I was around 17 or 18, I attended a local show in Boise, ID (while I still lived there) called the Northwest Motorfest. The theme for that year's show was T buckets. They were presenting and showcasing them as "The Beginner's Hot Rod". Obviously, most of the guys on this forum are well beyond beginners (except for me haha), but I took notes that summer, and this is my first complete hot rod build. I'm approaching the end of my 3rd year actually building, and I probably collected parts for 5 years or so. I didn't work on it solid over those 3 years; in fact, I walked away from it completely three times- twice for a few months and once for 6 months. Someone on the HAMB said, "This is supposed to be fun. If it's not fun, take a break." Those were wise words, because I definitely needed a few breaks!

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