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Dan_Lockwood
Samba Member
Joined: October 03, 2023
Posts: 208
Location: Clare MI
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 Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2024 11:38 am Post subject: Sand Rail Hood Mod (Now With Picture) |
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Hello all,
I'm still plucking away on my sand rail "rebuild" and plan on putting some sort of outer lower body sheet panels on and a functional hood.
There's a guy not far from me that has several later Beetle hoods/trunk lids in steel and several in fiberglass.
I was wondering if anyone has done this or seen it, a Beetle hood narrowed up a bit and installed up front on a sand rail?
I'm thinking it's doable and as long as I would have to MAKE a new hood anyways, why not try the Beetle hood and see what happens.
If anyone has pictures of one, please post them.
I found this. Not too shabby at first glance. 
Thanks in advance, Dan
Last edited by Dan_Lockwood on Tue Apr 09, 2024 5:13 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12992
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2024 4:00 am Post subject: Re: Sand Rail Hood Mod |
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Being an old body man I cannot imagine how much time and effort it would take to flatten a highly curved Beetle hood enough to fit the flat front end of a sand rail and make it look good.
I love the simplicity and accessibility of my open sand rail but if I was to cover it in I would buy a couple of tarpaulins of a color that suited me, take them to a tent maker and have them custom sewn to fit. Put eyelets around the perimeter and lace them on for easy removal/access.
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old! |
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BFB
Samba Member
Joined: November 03, 2014
Posts: 1762
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| Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2024 6:21 am Post subject: Re: Sand Rail Hood Mod |
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| oprn wrote: |
Being an old body man I cannot imagine how much time and effort it would take to flatten a highly curved Beetle hood enough to fit the flat front end of a sand rail and make it look good.
I love the simplicity and accessibility of my open sand rail but if I was to cover it in I would buy a couple of tarpaulins of a color that suited me, take them to a tent maker and have them custom sewn to fit. Put eyelets around the perimeter and lace them on for easy removal/access. |
your a bodyman? fuck, I dont want to have that in common with you.. ( J.K. ) and yeh it'd be way more work to flatten the curved hood than hand form a new one. id never followed through but I always thought about getting some sort of thick material , like burlap but thicker , and stretching it over the front of a rail and saturating with fiberglass resin. wouldn't be as strong as fiberglass mat but it should be easier to coat. and you could always use the "burlap" one as a mold or lay some mat over it once it sets. it'd be pretty easy to make some custom panels that way
_________________
Forced induction can overcome a lot of obsticles that gets in it's way
"You are the Engineer and the Mechanic.
Build it your way not the way someone else does it. Their way might not work for you." - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
“ The monkey see monkey do mentality seems to run deep in VW people. "Gene Berg said it was so 30 years ago so thats the way it is" “ - bdkw1 |
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Wulfthang
Samba Member
Joined: August 25, 2018
Posts: 724
Location: Tucson
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| Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2024 8:16 am Post subject: Re: Sand Rail Hood Mod |
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I skinned" my rail with 1000 denier cloth. I laid it out and over, trimmed it and put eyelets in the sides and pulled it all tight. I decided to use a camo pattern because it's easy to fix if it gets torn or scraped. I used a piece of very thin diamond plate for the nose, just bent it to fit snug.
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12992
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2024 5:07 am Post subject: Re: Sand Rail Hood Mod |
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| BFB wrote: |
| your a bodyman? fuck, I dont want to have that in common with you.. |
Sucks to be you buddy! 
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old! |
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BFB
Samba Member
Joined: November 03, 2014
Posts: 1762
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| Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2024 5:14 pm Post subject: Re: Sand Rail Hood Mod (Now With Picture) |
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That thing in OP picture looks like a weird insect eating a license plate snack
_________________
Forced induction can overcome a lot of obsticles that gets in it's way
"You are the Engineer and the Mechanic.
Build it your way not the way someone else does it. Their way might not work for you." - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
“ The monkey see monkey do mentality seems to run deep in VW people. "Gene Berg said it was so 30 years ago so thats the way it is" “ - bdkw1 |
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ORANGECRUSHer
Samba Member
Joined: June 09, 2006
Posts: 2779
Location: West Coast (Michigan's)
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| Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2024 11:20 am Post subject: Re: Sand Rail Hood Mod (Now With Picture) |
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For years I envisioned wrapping my rig in stretch wrap and then laying up fiberglass over it to make body panels. When I finally decided it was time to make a body I ended up using sheets of aluminum. Ended up being so much easier and I think I had around $100 into it. Got it done in a weekend. I'd still like to play with fiberglass, and my spider cracking baja bodywork will probably give me that opportunity. However, the aluminum was great and I don't regret it. I just had to weld tabs to the frame to hold it and put threaded holes in them.
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Brian H.
I may not know everything,but I will try to help if I can
OrangeCrushER Berrien Warrior 2.4L Quad4
LAZY MARY 1970 Baja 1835cc |
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