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Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:56 pm

Today I ordered the rebuilt adj beam (50/50 adj) with dropped spindles along with the beam extender and brace from Dbug41. Went to HF on my lunch to buy a sawzall... and busting out my sketch pad. I hope to have the front end off this weekend so as to be ready when my stuff arrives.

Do not hateth the saw of the noob... just bathe in the beauty of what he creates!

Just pics of where I am starting... picked up the rusty rack shortly after buying the car, me likey!

Had slight tap in front, apron pushed in slightly, qtr panels with small wrinkles, and hood slightly misaligned. Brazil rust bumper up front, OG rear bumper with 68 seats (gonna lop off the headrest)

Mmmmmm velourrrrr *hurk

Brazilian rust bumper already off...

Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:06 pm

I'm ready... :twisted: and waiting..

Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:13 pm

A few skinned knuckles later (I hate the friggin bolts on the running board and fender) I got the front fenders off and felt crappy... crappy that I had not realized that when I bought it the light tap in front was a bit harder than I thought. The good news is... I am way less afraid to cut the qtr panels now since they are boogered up... it was meant to be volksrodded :D

I am going to sell the SB12's and the complete fenders now.

Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:59 pm

I'm with ya. Thats a fuckin nice car to start with. SawZall is a great vrod tool choice. :D :D :D :D

Tue Jun 26, 2012 7:40 pm

sawzall action pics please :lol:

Wed Jun 27, 2012 7:37 am

Awww mannnn....sittin on pins and needles!!! :shock: :shock: :shock: :twisted:

Wed Jun 27, 2012 8:04 am

I was advised to wait until I got the parts in BEFORE cutting... so maybe this weekend? Well there are other things I can be doing, I need to chill my inner "Edward Scissors Hands"

Wed Jun 27, 2012 8:24 am

All right calm down....there "Edward".. Measure twice...cut once.
Good choice to wait.
But if you have a good front apron... its got to come out anyway.
You can cut it out leaving the surrounding sheet metal for the next owner to drill out.
That is if you plan to go "Apronless" .... :shock:
well you know what I mean.. :lol:

If your're not sure... Simple..

Safety first GOOD jack stands are a must
Disassembly... Start removing your current beam, and clean up the surface for your extender. You're gonna need more bolts, washers, and nuts for your extender, so may as well start getting those rounded up. You'd want those to go all the way through the frame head, so plan ahead for your frame head support. Depending on your set up, as all are different 5- 5.5 inch long 1/2 inch diameter Grade 8 bolts, washer, and nuts. That means youd have to drill out the frame head. You may have to wait to see what you receive to get an accurate bolt length..

The path to cutting starts with the first stepping stone of disassembly young grasshopper.. :twisted:

Wed Jun 27, 2012 8:42 am

AHAHAHAHAHA... ya called me young! :P

Apron looked fine from above until I removed the bumper and started examining the hood latch issue. The apron is pushed in badly on the bottom (looks like they hit a high curb and that is what caused all the crinkles)

I was figuring on cutting around the edge of the hood opening and keeping the latch in place and then add some bracing later... dunno, pretty damn clueless right now... not that most be could tell that from my normal cluelessness.

Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:26 am

"young" = "learning"

Wait to cut then.
With a 8 inch extender the steering box is literally a smidge behind a normally closed VW hood.
It will even hit the hood ocassionally...... its that close.
That means you "can" leave some of the outter sheet metal of the apron to use.
Once you get it all lined up you'll see exactly what I mean.

Tue Jul 03, 2012 3:45 pm

Found this on my doorstep today...

I have a few choices I want to paint it. The rebuilt beam is a gloss black and I want satin at best, and I am not sure I am staying with black...

Got a bum universal joint on my right stick (sprained wrist) but hopefully that won't slow me down too much. I have Thurs-Sun off, curious has to how much I will get accomplished and how focused I will stay. Wish me luck I am gonna need it! :P

Tue Jul 03, 2012 4:43 pm

TequilaSunSet wrote: Found this on my doorstep today...

Lucky dawg. :D Keep us posted.

Thu Jul 05, 2012 3:52 pm

Slept in and got a way late start... got the most front end stuff off (excluding the the beam itself) drums, shocks, steering, tank etc... all taking a lot longer since I wasn't sure what I was doing. Example, trying to twist the fuel gauge cap off instead of popping the cap off :oops: and the front dust covers from hell that would not come off. All I have left is a tie rod and the beam bolts themselves... going back out into the garage a bit later when the cooler breezes come in to get the beam out, and to paint the brace and extension.

I had a friend crawl out from inside some bracing... the widow bitch and her children are now in the that great big web in the sky. Feeling lucking I didn't get bit.

Thu Jul 05, 2012 11:14 pm

black widow cold hard chillen 8)

Fri Jul 06, 2012 1:19 pm

Finally got the beam out (I am so damn slow)... now I am pussing out and debating on the first cuts. I want to keep as much as possible and preferably the lip for the hood with latch in place. Any pics of how you did are appreciated... I'm still searching the web.

Fri Jul 06, 2012 1:57 pm

Most dont leave any latch plate area.... but you can... and I've seen a few executed quite nicely. Either leaving just the portion that catches the hood, (curved area), or the entire apron front area.

Start by cutting out the lower apron floor, and the area where the washer bottle/brake fluid reservoir are to begin fitting your extender.
I started by using a string from the area where the top beam rests in the frame head to figure out my fist stopping point to cut. Remember the extender has some drop built in it so it will be higher than the stock beam...
Basically you just want to start fitting your beam extender first...
Then you can figure out how much metal to remove to place your beam back in, leaving as much apron/latch area and side quarter panels as possible.

You will later have to deal with the steering linkage and the body metal that has to be removed for stock VW linkage to operate..

Quit your sniveling and start cutting already... If you really want to experience a Volksrod... you're gonna have to make some drastic cuts ya know....

Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:05 am

OH NOESSSSSS

First basic/hack cut made, clean up/trimming to come later with new gas tank support and recess area. The heat has been fugly so I got up early this morning to get it out of the way.

Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:12 am

Ummmm... 8-[

What happened to leaving the apron and latch?

Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:24 am

VOLKSWAGNUT wrote: Ummmm... 8-[

What happened to leaving the apron and latch?

Qtr panels and apron boogered, crinkles and alignment probs with the latch from the get go. So now I have a new idea(s) :D

Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:16 am

Perfect....
Thats what a VolkRod is all about...
Merging the creators ideas and personality into it.

Something was telling me you'd change your mind about the latch.. It's just too easy to hack it gone... and move on.
I looked at keeping the latch portion of the apron myself.... but then decided to keep it simple.