The Viper's Tale. Lots of Fiberglass Repair

[joescoolcustoms]

I do not know why, but I appear to attract the worst of the worst hacked buggy's. Maybe I am too dang cheap to pay for a good body to begin with.

Any way, I had been watching a buggy for sale for some time that was listed on this site, and close to me. The price kept dropping every month and finally was listed as "Just Make Me a Offer". So, after MOTB '13, i decided to make a 1 hour trip and have a look see.

The fellow who had it listed, I knew, and had bought some VW "junk" off of before. So, I would get a chance to catch up with him and find out why a basically strict Bus guy has a buggy. So, trailer in tow, off I go with wvbowtieman to take a look at it. Now, David has become accustomed to me buying all kinds of crazy crap that usually no other sane person would buy. So, he likes to tag along just to see what's next.

Turns out, this buggy is a Viper and was manufactured by B&N Fiberglass formerly located in Springfield Ohio. B&N also made two other styles of buggy's, the Tarantula, Which I have had one of and took it to MOTB '12) and the Rattler, which one also shows up at MOTB and is owned by Rod out of SC.

The Trantula:

The Rattler:

Well, my friend found out about a ware house being cleaned out in Springfield Ohio that had a boat load of VW stuff and a bunch of buggy stuff. He gathered up a few of his friends and one is another friend of mine who is mostly a bus guy, but has a Sears Rascal he is building and off they go. Turns out it was all B&N's old left over items that is in the process of being thrown out. The second friend who is building the Rascal, climbed into a dumpster and saved a lot of various colors of metal flake still in 10 pound bags. The main friend picked up a large amount of engines, transaxles, suspension parts and, one un-cut, never mounted Viper body and, one almost never cut, but mounted and never completed body, (which I bought).

The first nos body sold pretty quickly. Mine, however, just kind of languished in this site's classified's for months. It had been cut in two, then, 9 to 10 inches cut out and put onto a super short '56 chassis. WTH was someone thinking??? You could sit on the package trey and drive this thing it was so short.

Here I am picking it up and talking to my friend and his son who went to B&N and got it.

(Poor Picture do to camera going bad)

Some more photo's:

This body, and every other I have seen/had from B&N, is super high quality. Very thick at between a consistent 1/2 to 3/4 inch. Very nice exterior gell surface with out air pockets some cheap body's have. So, it is worth saving, but, it will require me to "find" the missing 10 inches of body.

So, I traded around and picked up a severely beaten Sand Shark body that is in very poor shape, but, will give it's life to save three total buggy's I have, (Viper, Franken Manx and a X-body).

Since I have basically collected the needed parts, chassis and other bits needed, time to get started.
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Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

[joescoolcustoms]

Since the body is in two pieces, I need a known base to set the pieces together and then fill in the gaps. Last year I found a very nice '67 beetle pan a PO had restored with new pans and bed lined. Since the body that was on this pan was in sooooo bad of shape, the PO lost interest and wanted rid of the project. The PO had already cut up and recycled the '67 body, so, a clear titled pan is perfect for a buggy build, right? The pan welds are messy looking, but strong. I will dress them up, re-weld from the bottom just to ensure penetration, then seal the seams.

I set the chassis up on my frame jig and got started in shortening the pan.

I built a jig for the table that supports a rear torsion housing, (front is bolted to table) that keeps the torsion parallel with the beam and slides forward/rearward to make shortening easier.

Made the cuts needed. Cut loose the two E-Brake tubes, the clutch tube and accelerator tube. Cut out the heater cable tubes.

Slide the rear section forward while pulling the E-Brake tubes, clutch tube and accel tube through. TIP I typically re-tack, or over tack the front on the E-Brake tubes to their holder. When VW built these, they only lightly tack welded the front of the tubes in. When pulling and prying around on the rear section, the tubes can break loose and cause you all kinds of grief later in the build. I do this while the space is open and easy to get up in there to it.

Check for squareness and weld the sections together. Before I cut this chassis, I measured for straightness and found the original chassis to be off 3/8 of an inch. It is now off 1/32 of an inch.

I then take the section that was cut out and make a lay over piece to cross the welded section which drastically increases the strength of the shortened area. This tunnel section I used also has the blind seat belt bolts already in it, Bonus! I cut a relief in the tunnel so the blind nut can sit in flush. I also drill several holes that later get rosette welded to add strength.

Then weld the overlay all around the perimeter and rosette weld the holes. Also, I weld in a patch over the two heater cable access holes. This is a common area for cracks to start.

Where the thin pan floors are joined at the shortening cut and the Napoleons Hat areas, I lay over some strapping and weld in for additional strength. I have seen buggy's that crack in these two areas.

Some flapper sanding wheel dress up and the pan is ready for re-coating in bed liner.

Now that I have a known base, I can start the fiberglass work needed to put the Viper back together.
_________________
Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

[joescoolcustoms]

With the body bolted down on a known surface at a known length, I can measure the missing areas and see just what needs repaired/modified.

As with every other buggy body I have had, the rear has shrunk and no longer fits a pan. They have all sat 3/4 of a inch inward of the pan edge.

So, I cut and modify the body to fit properly. This also allows 3/4 inch per side more seat room in the rear of the seat. On some seats, that is the difference between fitting and not fitting.

I cut the body from the bottom up to the package trey. Use a board to pry apart the base to the desired shape, use ratchet binders to ensure it is square. Then use a 4.5 inch angle grinder with a flapper style sanding disc to tapper the fiberglass to a knife edge. Taking it to a knife edge leaves very little left to repair on the inside and less finish body work to do later. I tape up the split area with just old fashioned painters tape.

Then I cu the pieces to repair with before mixing any resin. Kind of makes it less messy for me. I start out with narrow pieces that just cover the gap and onto the fiberglass about 1/2 inch. The next layer is a little wider, then wider, then wider and so forth. This puts the layers in on a taper fashion and closely matches the tapering I did with the grinder, and is less to grind off later.

I usually only lay down 2 layers to start just to get a more solid surface. I typically start out with the woven fiberglass because it saturates the resin quicker and takes a form better than the mat fiberglass. I like using 6 ounce woven fiberglass. Once that first 2 to 4 layers sets, I will re-sand with a 40 grit disc on a angle die grinder to give a "raw" surface for the continuing layers to bond to. I then finish up the repair with the mat fiberglass because it builds up quicker and looks more like a chopper gun finish which helps hide the repair in the un-finished part of the body. I have been told that you should only lay in 4 layers at a time, so I have always followed that rule.

Once set up, pull the tape from the inside and now the repair can be seen. Very little left to finish on the "pretty" side.

A little dress up work left to do, but the body now fits the pan.

_________________
Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

[BIGMIKEY]

The unfinished side of that body looks sort of "dry" I can see fibers sticking out. Does the resin evaporate over the decades? My Deserter has that same condition in various spots on the body.

Mike T
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BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[didget69]

Lookin' good, Joe! I see that you definitely have 'the itch' when it comes to buggies...

bnc
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I never found the need to impress people with any mechanic certifications, trophies or track wins... unless it was for Mom to post on the refrigerator door.

[joescoolcustoms]

[joescoolcustoms]

[joescoolcustoms]

Since I know what the gap is between the front and rear sections of the body, time for Itch Fest 2014!

Two very important things to remember when doing this work, proper tools and proper personal protection.

Tools are simple for this task, and most of the fiberglass work involved. Angle Grinder with a "flap" sanding disc. (can be a sanding pad on a drill or other similar tools). I like 40 grit disc to get the job done. I also use a angle Die Grinder with Roll Loc sanding discs. This tool takes a lot of work out of the initial shaping and sanding. Again, 40 to 60 grit pads. Also, but not required, I like my 3 inch cut off tool. Makes cutting quick and a good "roughing" in tool. I also used a Saw-Saw to make the large cuts on the donor body side panels, but many other tools work just fine.

For personal protection, hiding your skin is very helpful. Protecting your lungs is MANDATORY!! I use a Tyvek, disposable gloves and a good quality dust mask. A respirator can be used if you have one. I do not show eye protection, but it too is extremely helpful. This is one task I like to do in the colder month's. No fun being sweaty and covered in glass dust.

95% of what I know about fiberglass came from three people. Chris, monomanx, Tom, tjkustoms and Vince, surfnc. All state the same thing, you have to have clean fiberglass to start with. That is where the angle grinder helps. As seen in this photo, the body is thick and quality. To make a good, long lasting joint, it needs to have fresh exposed glass and be tapered to a knife edge, then built back up.

That is a lot of Glass Dust on the ground!! A hard rain storm hit about 10 minutes after I finished and carried the pieces into the garage cleaning off my driveway for me, (and the neighbors vehicles, hehehe).

_________________
Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

[didget69]

[Dale M.]

Chassis/build/welding table/dolly is fantastic.... A must if you are going to do more than one car!

Dale
_________________
“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns" - Thomas Jefferson.

"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
============================================================
All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[andygere]

Joe, you are the man when it comes to buggy build and restoration processes. Super impressive, and I learn something on every post. Your recent one got me thinking about some techniques that you may already know and use, but in any case are worth sharing. I didn't come up with any of these, but learned them along the way building kayaks, surfboards and snowboards.

1) liberally coat arms, legs, ankles, anywhere the itchies tend to occur with a thick coating of baby or talcum powder, and rub it into your skin before you suit up. If you plug your pores with a friendly powder, there is much less itchy effect from the dreaded glass powder. It works!

2)When laminating, layer on two or three disposable gloves for each hand. As a glove gets contaminated with resin and glass fuzzies, it's much easier to strip off the outer glove than to put a fresh one on.

3) Wear a good quality respirator and change the cartridges as necessary when using polyester resin. Make sure you get a good seal, and test the seal regularly. A good test is to open the cap on your can of acetone and if you can detect the odor, your respirator is either poorly sealed or the cartridges are spent. DO NOT stick your nose over it and give it a good snort, just uncap and breathe through your nose.

4) Protect your eyes always, but especially when adding MEKP catalyst to your resin. Slow and careful is the way to handle these dangerous chemicals.

5) For some repairs or laminations, it may be easier to wet out the glass cloth before laminating it. You can make a simple wet out table with a quarter sheet of plywood covered with poly plastic sheet. Cut your cloth, wet out with resin, then squeegee excess resin out. Roll cloth up on section of PVC pipe, then unroll onto repair area and tack down with your squeegee or chip brush. This will yield strong repairs and minimize floating of the glass. This can be especially helpful with doing a vertical lamination where it's tough to saturate the glass without making a good mess. Use a grooved roller to work the bubbles out between layers of wet glass to get a strong bond.

6) You can save a lot of sanding by trimming cloth overlap, drips, etc. with a sharp single edge razor blade once the resin reaches the green stage. Anything you can do to remove this material without sanding saves time, abrasives and dust.

7)For somewhat finer grinding and sanding, I use an orbital sander hooked up to my shop vac. This really helps to keep the dust down, and the sanding disks stay sharp a lot longer, and clog a lot less.

I can't wait to see how this body restoration turns out, it's a pretty daunting prospect to put two halves back together and get a good looking result, but I have no doubt that it will happen.

[vdub411]

Very cool score on the buggy bodies. I don't suppose you guys found any of the original seats or any other original parts that you are selling. Now that you identified my buggy (Rattler) the rebuild begins.
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1975 Baja Bug
1972 Type III Fastback
B&N Rattler Buggy
SandRails Coming Soon!!!

[joescoolcustoms]

didget69, Itch Fest 2015 is coming right around the corner.

Dale M., you are correct! It also saves the back a lot of grief.

andygere, Thanks for those tips! A few I already use, and some I am going to try on some future buggy's.

The body is prepped and I have cut the section needed out of the donor body. Time to start putting them together.

In doing this type of work, there is not one "have to do it this way" way, but several. The key is to have clean glass to work on, good resin and a plan to make it to the end of the project. It is not hard at all, just consumes time, can be very messy depending on your technique. The way I am doing this body worked well on my 11 piece Puzzle Manx, so, why change my personal technique?

I securely bolt the two pieces of body back on the shortened pan and use plywood as a backer and stabilizer to hold the body pieces straight during lay up and curing. I use drywall screws and screw the plywood to the fiberglass. After it cures, grind down to the heads of the screws and remove them and the plywood. Resin will stick to plywood, so, something that the Polyester resin will not dissolve needs to be used as a barrier. I have used duct tape, saran wrap, aluminum foil, aluminum duct tape and this time I tried wax paper. All have worked well for me.

The fit of the donor body was not dead on, but close enough that a little cut here, and a shave there put it right in the ball park.

I like to pre-cut the glass I am going to use, and some extra so I can be sure not to waste mixed resin if possible.

Then the laying of the glass is done on the tappered side of the panels. I lay in 4 layers, let cure, hit it with the small angle die grinder to rough the surface and lay in 4 more layers, repeat, repeat as needed.

The passenger side was hacked in worse shape. The "builder" had started to put the body together, cut the body and twisted it to conform to the new shape it would take, They used a metal mesh in the repair. I had to remove all of the PO's work so I could know what I have and not build upon a potential bad bond.

One of the worst things to do is to move to body filler at this point. This is a glass body, fill it with glass. In any area that is lower than 1/32 inch, I will fill it in with another layer of glass and resin, grind and repeat as needed. Here I am laying in some slivers of glass in low spots to get it very close to contour. (Also note, in the picture you can see the rough edges where this body was popped out of it's mold and not finished before it was cut)

After several lay up and grinding sessions, the body is super strong. I lifted the body off the pan so I can flip it and work the underside. I measured the body before un-bolting and after. It did not move any that I could measure.

The body is roughed in really close and just about to the point of switching to Cabosil mixed with resin for final fiberglassing. The dark spots in the photo's are the low areas that need more glass layered in.

I will work the body edge lip to lay in some more glass to get it straight. A little glass filling on the inside of the tub is needed. The outsides of the body are as straight as the rest of the body and really look and feel good, then once coated with black bed liner, the repair will not be detectable.

Since I have another project coming Friday, this project will go on hold for about 1 1/2 month's. Nothing new, it has been waiting since November 2013 to get this far.
_________________
Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone

[joescoolcustoms]

[Dale M.]

Plug for a mould.... Personally I would hang seat on wall for nostalgia....

Dale
_________________
“Fear The Government That Wants To Take Your Guns" - Thomas Jefferson.

"Kellison Sand Piper Roadster" For Street & Show.
"Joe Pody Sandrover" Buggy with 2180 for Autocross (Sold)
============================================================
All suggestions and advice are purely my own opinion. You are free to ignore them if you wish ...

[joescoolcustoms]

[clonebug]

[auslander]

Your build threads are so informative and detailed, keep up the good work. Please put that bad ass Baja next on the list for a redo, would love to see what you do with that
_________________
Zombie
Wandering...Have you found what your looking for?

66 POS Bus
69 Class 11 Beetle
71 Cat-Look Beetle
64 Old Skool Baja
74 "Swamp" Thing

!!! F**k Cancer !!!
Time's Tide will Smother You
"You can't throw a rock in Long Beach without hitting a tweaker" Steve Tucci

[Londog]

It's been almost two months! How could you keep us waiting like this!?!?!? But seriously, hope everything is going great for you and yours! Top notch build as always.

[joescoolcustoms]

Ha Ha Ha!

Everything going good. Just been distracted, as usual.

Ben building this since January 8, 2015, another buggy with doors. Now no doors. Early Manx I, Full pan based chassis build, complete roll cage and custom bumpers. Roll cage went to Powder coat this morning, and bumpers to Chrome shop this afternoon.

LOTS of fiberglass repair yet to go. You can see the full build on the Manx Club Forum. Free for anyone to sign up on that forum.

http://www.manxclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=3365

Once this one is done in about 3 weeks, the Viper will make is way back to the garage.
_________________
Bad News Racing 2018 NORRA 1000 3rd in Class
Best Day Ever Racing 2022 NORRA 1000 2nd in Class and first All Female team to complete the race

Everyone is gifted. Some just do not open the package.

Looks like it was painted with a live chicken,polished with a brick and buffed with a pine cone