Retrovans MeFusco Beetle Truck Project

[lowlight]

Herman keep going

[retrovan]

Thanks guys

Have cooled down a bit, can now concentrate on the job at hand, '
Thanks Jaco and others that phoned and talked me down,
As you said, be the bigger person and stand down.

Now we can go all out to get this here truck as far as possible, maybe even make George ???

Good thing I have a number of split personality's, Can make a whole gang ........



Just hope that others are inspired to complete their projects.

Till the next update.

Herman

PS;- MARK, sent you an PM about parts...

[Dawie]

Good to see progress with YourFusco/ Coccinelle. Imagine that you had various thoughts about having edges of mudguards reach over to cover front wheels. Like widening cab by adding section in the middle. But then strut uppers would interfere/ be inside cab.
Or spacing out complete fender towards sides, adding metal where it reaches cab. But the edges would be too high/ large vertical gap between wheel.
With stretched outer of fenders, closely spaced headlights, maybe it would look something like Messerschmitt KR200 from the front.
Nice to see you still have the Fleetline.

[retrovan]

You quit right there Dawie.

This has run through my mind a lot, with all the compilations possible.

The starting criterion was that it should not loose the Beetle curves,

should have droopy eyes but only two. (still want that face illusion)

should have the front and back resembled as close as possible to the original beetle shape

With the body widened, it would have lost its weirdness and become un-cute.

So if I follow the tape line as per the above picture, I should cover most of these requirements....

BUT...

This we will only see when the fender is shaped and in a single colour.

What you think ?

Herman

With regard to the Fleetline, and Fastback, I was pissed off and did not think things through.

NO they are here to stay, not sure where we will pack them, as the Bay is on its way back home with a new wardrobe.

[Terry Phillips]

Build more Garage Herman.

[sean]

Thanks guys

Have cooled down a bit, can now concentrate on the job at hand, '
Thanks Jaco and others that phoned and talked me down,
As you said, be the bigger person and stand down.

Now why would you stand down if you did nothing wrong?

Please Herman, just stop this bulshit, you can do whatever you want, if you going to stop having an interest in your cars because of me, then clearly this hobby is not important to you.

Please prove me wrong if you did not take a oval beetle and weld a split window into the back.

It is clear from all your recent posts that you are still on about this topic and my opinion, so please rectify it.

PS. I enjoy reading your thread on building your trailer Queen transporter.

[retrovan]

.

[retrovan]

.............
With stretched outer of fenders, closely spaced headlights, maybe it would look something like Messerschmitt KR200 from the front.

.............

It will be difficult to name an "look-a-like" but the basic droopy face look I want is something like the DKW Schnellaster, also known as the DKW F89 L

With a bit of Chevy & Ford trucks as well...







Herman

[73type2]

How about playing around with your ideas on a basic 3D computer program? That will reduce some of the cutting, grinding and re-welding.

[retrovan]

How about playing around with your ideas on a basic 3D computer program? That will reduce some of the cutting, grinding and re-welding.

What !!!... and spoil the fun.....

The nice part of doing it this way, is that nothing is fixed, You start with an idea, then as you progress you think of something else or it brings a image or modification to mind that you would not have thought about during the design on computer, and then you go in an different tangent.

The engineer in me is applaud by this method......, but the creative me is loving every second.....

Have a 3D design package, been designing new products for work for the last 25 years, but this is an whole new experience, like it comes to life by each change, and each step so the personality starts poking its nose out during the creation. The inspiration was an art drawing, the completed thing, who knows ??



Herman

[retrovan]

As I am busy with a lot of different small things that hopefully will intertwine when done,

There is not much to show for work done .

Did however fit the bonnet, or hood or whatever depending where in the world you are,

The original bonnet hinges will not work as they will protrude into the cab by a sizable amount,

So another way had to be found., the only way would be to fit external hinges, but as only the old English cars had them by the ton, I went out shopping.

Found me a pair that work just right., any guesses which car they come from??

The reasoning behind fitting the bonnet was two fold, 1st, the car body was in a crash before and is way out of shape and 2nd,

the gear hockey stick sits right where the bonnet catch is, so that had to go...

There is no clearance for the gear shaft to move, so a plan has to be made.

With a lot of pulling, pushing and swearing, the front nose kinda centralized and the bonnet fits snug

so just to give you a prelude of the look we are building towards, here you go,,,,,





Till next time Thanks for looking

Herman

[retrovan]

With all the smaller things going on and bending sheet metal for the fenders not much to show right now, but did finish the engine compartment so now the covers and other parts can be build over the engine chamber.

Need to do some sound proofing below the cover as well as above to reduce the sound to a deafening thunder.



Think she will be nice and loud when running at top revs. Will have to see.

So here just a taste, no more...








Herman

[retrovan]

Pre-pairing the shift rod for the gear lever installation, and as the gearbox now sits infront of the gear lever, the shift rod pocket has to be turned around.
So with an cut. a prep and a weld, we turned her around till she was facing the right way.

The hockey stick side, was also an issue, as the pipe was made for linear forces, and not angular forces,

The thin tube had to be reinforced to take the pressure, so an insert was turned to drop in and be welded with a pin into the side wall of the rod.

Not sure what I am on about, well it will become clear when the gear rod, lever and couplings are all in and fitted.

You will see from the photo, of the gear rod clearance I was on about in the nose of the truck.....

Till next week...

Herman

[Haans]

Which of the three is the genius !!!

Regards Haans

[retrovan]

Being Sunday night again, and having battled the whole week and weekend with this gear system,

Its just about there.

As we do not have a floor or tunnel or bulkhead for the peddles, we had to make it in a single unit.

But..

The floor had to go in 1st, and had to be sound proofed before going in.

We once we had all the parts lined up, we went to work.

The number of times I had to take out the tunnel assembly for something else is uncountable.

So how did you do it I hear you all ask, well the turn around systems will not work, as the gearbox and motor is still in the same direction all be it in the front.So using these other systems would have turned the shifting around...

So a new system had to be brainstormed and parts got to modify to make it work as standard.

Bought a Golf 2 steering knuckles, coupling and cut it to bits. Use one half for the top twist coupling, and build a new VW gearbox coupling but with a spin pin so as to be able to take up the twist needed to go from 1-2 to 3-4 to R.

The length of the shaft was a hit and miss issue as I would either have 1&3 or 2&4&R but not at the same time.

The floor is in, the tunnel assembly is in the gear lever shaft is in, (still needs setting) and now we can get the steering in ....... .

So now its time to sit on the couch and wait for the next stint in the workshop.

Feet up ...

Herman