News is that I bought a new tub, and I'm starting a new progress thread for it. I have pics forthcoming too.....

Here's my previous build thread.

Here is the new beastie. The goal for this one is to make it somewhat nice; unlike my current car. My current car is going to be turned into a track something; maybe PCA; or maybe Lemons. Maybe both, which should nicely annoy my local PCA.

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Right on Fiid!

Very cool! I'm definitely in for a work day. I can bring my hammer and dolly for dent bumping. Or maybe a little welding.

Or even better... the actual motor swap.

Or maybe all three.

+1

Glad to see your still kickin it 914 style Fiid!

Missed you, Fiid

Aww. You guys rock.

I've been working on dents and welding up holes in the new tub... progress is slow; however. This is a big project.

I've been working on hammering this dent out. I think the backend has been hit before. I'm planning to weld up the badge holes and go stealth with it.
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The rear decklid, btw was toast, so we made these wings out of it for our lemons car....
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The PO had riveted panels in to cover up rust, so I removed all the rivets and am in the process of welding in new peices of metal where rust used to be. There's a few other places where the car has been cut and I'm putting it back the way it should be. I'm aiming for nice, tho, not concourse; so I don't mind a few weld seams here and there.
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I must have missed something. (Probably have missed a lot of things in my life.) But... You race lemons? I thought that's what demolition derbys were for.

It's a race called the 24 Hours of LeMons. Basically; you track prepare a sub-$500 car (you get to spend more than that on safety gear) and race it; endurance style for about 16 hours or so (about 8 hours per day over a weekend). It's a lot of fun; and a bit cleaner than a demolition derby; but not always *that* much cleaner

http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/

I've been working on Fiid's new chassis and I thought I should update this thread for him, since the body is almost ready for paint.

Cleaned up some previous patching.

We completely removed the engine shelf, since it's worthless in a watercooled car. Once this is painted it'll look like it was never there.

More patching holes...

Nice work... you know how to build and save a nice car!

More tomorrow...

The first big custom project was to clean up the rough-cut front opening and then weld in diamond-punched steel. This ain't your hardware store expanded metal. Each little leg had to be welded and ground, but this stuff almost perfectly matches the stock engine grill. I used another 914 as a press-mold and formed the expanded metal to exactly the same as a stock 914.

Replaced sections of the seal channel.

Got a little more work done. I'm not sure if anyone's reading this...

The driver's side door jamb had been crushed and a new fender 'installed'. It was pretty crappy work. So the fender came off, a replacement door jamb installed and then the fender was reinstalled correctly.

The front air inlet turned out so well, we decided to use the same treatment on the fender outlet holes.

Finally, a minimalist approach to radiator mounting. Two tube sections were welded on the bottom, and two small brackets on top are all that's needed. And there is very little modification to the chassis. The radiator is off of a modern VW and is the same unit Fiid is using in his current setup. So we know it works.

I like that mesh covering the holes. That probably preserves a good part of the strength of the sheet metal.

Do the little strips of mesh burn through easily when welding?

John

The legend continues. keep us posted.

Not with the TIG welder.

Mark- is the engine shelf just spot welded on?
Thanks.

Yup the sides are, but the front section isn't. It's part of a bigger piece.

Since someone posted about the fender openings causing stress cracking of the inner fenders, we added these support braces from 1" DOM 0.120" tubing. A single 20° bend keeps them tucked against the wall.

That's it for the front end. Now to work on the back...

From Fiid's previous build thread (the 'mockup' car) there was some interference between the turbo and the rear trunk. Easiest and effective solution? Cut out the rear trunk.

This is the old car. On the new car, we took a different approach.

The process started out the same. Cut a big hole in the back.
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The we pulled a section from a parts car and welded that in. This is the upper-most portion of the area between the shock towers, just reoriented horizontally. This gave a nice smooth curve and maintained all the factory ribbing.
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Then a section from the rear trunk floor finished it off. This is the section that rusts out on most cars. The 'knockout' holes don't serve any purpose here, but it lends some originality and interest to this area, so we left them.
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Here is the same area media blasted to bare metal.
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Since the original metal between the shock towers is a boxed section (two layers) I created a second layer below to reinforce this area again and maintain the strength.
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Then a quick spritz with my new Wurth adjustable seam sealer gun gives it a factory finish.
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Awesome!

Art work

"Then a quick spritz with my new Wurth adjustable seam sealer gun gives it a factory finish."

What kind of sealer gun? Need one..

nice
very original
and custom

Not cheap, but it works pretty well.

Mark -
What are you using to bend the DOM ?
I need to do something similar in my car, but either need to make the investment in a tube bender, or hire someone to do it...
Just wondering what the costs would be... ???

http://jd2.com/



Buying the mandrels really adds up. I might be able to loan my mandrels out, depending on what projects I have going on.

Very nice indeed !!