Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:55 am
There goes da roof


Forum for Aircooled VW enthusiasts
https://www.aircooledvwsa.co.za/


Wow!!Kudos to you for doing something like this in South Africa...hardtail wrote:First, i am using a donor roof on this project, as i decided to use the american approach, and that requires a whole shiteload of measuring and lining up the panels to ensure that everything fits back the way it should.
i am taking approximately 4 inches out of the whole body, and getting the angles correct has proven to be quite a mission.
i think that there will be a lot more fabrication to come still as i am also installing a set of suicide doors, along with a front axle conversion that is dropping the suspension in front to about 3 inches off the deck.
also, the rear suspension is being raised, as well as getting larger rims and tires in order to rake the chassis and body into more of a hotrod stance.
at this point most of the work and time is being taken up by ensuring that the panels and roof posts, front, centre and rear align.
i am having to section quite a bit of the door and front pillars, as they are wider at the bottom than the top.
also at the rear section there is the question of the side window curves that i have to align.
further, i am aware of the other approaches, but settled for this, as this method was explained with much more detail than i found for other methods.
i am using, air saws, grinders, body files, gas torches and a mig welder to do all this work to the beetle.
i have also sacrificed a few liters of blood, several skin lacerations, split fingers, pinched appendages, and several skull contusions....on the altar of this beetle hotrod conversion....![]()
also tell me what pics you want, and i will post or attempt to get these here for you.
to recap, i bought a virtually rustfree beetle, ripped the interior, wiring, equipment, everything out of it....
then i redid the chassis, all fittings, fixed the battery tray rust, redid all the brakelines, cleaned out and primered all the channels, rubberised the bottom, painted the top....
then i started to strip the paint off the body...by hand....(i must be crazy)...
and now i have the body back on the frame, and spent a week measuring and then took three days of staring at it to get my nerve up to make the first cut....![]()
once i started however, things went quite fast....almost too fast...
so, tell me what ya wanna see....
oh, and for the future, i managed to land a 59 splitty....
it is going to be slammed, and fitted with a airsuspension....
but that is for the future....