Retrovans MeFusco Beetle Truck Project

[freddiebooysen]

Herman

Very nice indeed

[nbturbo]

Nice build. I can’t see from your pics if you’re tray has a flat side to bolt the rear mudguards up to.I made my rear guards in glass. I made the mould using 2 Beetle front guards. Cut them in half,joined the 2 back halves together to give me a continuous curve. Cut the mounting flange off( leaving about 20mm to weld to) then rolled a piece of flat 150mm wide to join it all.Bogged, sanded and used it for a mould.

[nbturbo]

[retrovan]

Thanks,

Did the front fenders in a near similar way, but used spandex.

No do not have flat fixing on the rear as it a flatbed car carrier, and the mudguards inside are very close to the wheel tracks ( and bulging hub caps from the 1952 Beetle) and the outside very near to max. overall size allowed.

Have however made the rear from Oval fenders with sheet welded in to allow it to be square and still be able to bolt off.

Do however have other restraints to you as its not a straight forward add on, but a new think and trail and error build.

Nice going, Why not start a Project thread, and we can all keep up with your progress.

Herman

[retrovan]

So I did some work today till the Argon Gas ran out.

Cut and welded in the air vents (gills) but due to lack of space, They are a bit nose up.

But thats fine by me as I like them like that,

still needs to grind but can only do that when I have the Argon gas so I can weld where its ground away.

Fitted the side skirts and welded in the Rear fenders. just hope my tape measure is correct as I just get the hub caps past the fenders when in the loading height.

When I have it all together, I will do a Beetle fit on top of him,but need to extract it out the workshop,

which will be a pyn as the MeFusco is as wide as the garage doors, and the driveway is as wide as the length of the MeFusco.

So it will have to be "man handles"

Happy with the look in both body down as well as body up positions, as the wheel sits nicely in the fenders.

Busy drawing up the Cab steps, as well as the rear fender step to finish off these two areas.











Here is a sneak preview of what the shape and final MeFusco will look like once all is said and done.







This next time

Herman

[retrovan]

OK ....
The question was if Herman's tape measure was full charged or was it running on flat batteries.??????

The questions were, ..

Can MeFusco get out the garage and into the drive without destroying buildings or fenders ??

Can the 1952 Beetle get onto the back of MeFusco...??

Will the beetle fit past the back fenders with or without the hub caps ??

Well we tried, and we .......

What you think happened....

we have photo's of this attempt to share with you once you have had your thoughts ....

Till later.

Herman

[Cyndi Kritzinger]

I THINK IT'S AS TIGHT AS AN ALLIGATORS BUM BUT WORKS.

[Haans]

With a blob of vaseline anything is possible !

Haans

[AlanH]

I think it was well calculated and fits as expected.

[retrovan]

Thanks for your confidence guys, But the 3 of us where sweating as its not easy to measure the options as you go along.

( Me , Myself, & I )

So yes we had to manhandle the MeFusco out and parallel to the driveway.

This you would have seen in earlier photo's that my driveway and garages are 90Deg. to each other.

The Mefusco is only 400 mm shorter then the width of the driveway.

Got her lined up and got the Beetle out of storage..... she looks like a barn fine already.

With her front track being wider then the back due to disc brakes, the two channels where made with both wheels being at there edge, either inside or outside.

Happy to report she drove on very easy and fitted like a glove.

Did all the flex measurements and they all within the required flex spec. so extremely happy.

Hub caps cleared and both units fenders missed each other with a bit of clearance.

Man, are we happy. I was truly waiting for some "Oh " moment, which I am glade never happened.

So without more talking, here are some pic,s of this here operation......





























Thanks for your support and encouragement, you all helped make it happen.

Now that this headache is over, I can get the last bits of bodywork done and get her to paint.

Herman

[AlanH]

Respect, you really are moving.

[Pine]

Awesome work!

[Terry Phillips]

Looking good there Herman.
I have not been following the build all along, can I ask how you are doing the drive train,is the engine going to be like a Beetle with a reversed crown wheel in the front.

[Tony Z]

amazing job, well done
they really are looking great together

[retrovan]

Looking good there Herman.
I have not been following the build all along, can I ask how you are doing the drive train,is the engine going to be like a Beetle with a reversed crown wheel in the front.

It will be driven with an 2lt type 4 bus motor, via a type 4 bus gearbox into OPEL McPherson struts onto the front wheels.

The motor and gear box are still in the same orientation as if they where in the bus, ie, gearbox in front with motor behind all under the cab.

So it will be VW aircooled motor , gearbox, front wheel drive.

If you have time go back on this thread and you will see the drive train fitted before the body was fitted.

Herman