sgellis |
Sat Nov 16, 2024 3:29 pm |
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Bulkhead done! Well mostly.
This panel has been a fight. I should have built a complete panel. Would have been much faster.
Anyway it is mostly welded in. Happy with how it came out. Still needs a little work but now that it is attached in place it will be easier to fix the last little issues.
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ddutch |
Sat Nov 16, 2024 4:32 pm |
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It is now possibly even better and more ''correct'' than how it left Wolfsburg some 70 years ago. Those ribs look factory original and it probably feels good to have some original metal in there as well, even though it took more time. Great to see the body taking shape with this upright panel. |
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Huetti_1989 |
Sun Nov 17, 2024 1:25 pm |
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I love this thread, this is a dream Build!
-Christian |
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sgellis |
Sat Nov 23, 2024 1:40 pm |
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Started the cargo floor frame today. I already had all the parts made. Just needed media blasting.
Took a bit of work to get all the spot welds in. I had a bunch of 8mm rod to make custom electrodes.
I will drill the rockers and plug weld then spot weld after.
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Huetti_1989 |
Sat Nov 23, 2024 3:51 pm |
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How do you get enough pressure at the spot weld with that long arms?
I have trouble with that in the past, are you doing testwelds and take them apart?
That frame looks so unbelievably clean man!!!
-Christian |
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sgellis |
Sat Nov 23, 2024 7:00 pm |
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Huetti_1989 wrote: How do you get enough pressure at the spot weld with that long arms?
I have trouble with that in the past, are you doing testwelds and take them apart?
That frame looks so unbelievably clean man!!!
-Christian
Don't really trust the spot welder so I test often. With the long arms I use both hands to clamp. Also hold it on for longer than usual. And only a few spots at a time to allow the arms to cool. Short arms work much better so I try to do most with them. |
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j.pickens |
Sun Nov 24, 2024 5:16 pm |
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Spotweld porn right there. This bus is coming along rather well. |
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sgellis |
Thu Nov 28, 2024 7:08 am |
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Cargo floor frame done except for some weld from below that will get finished when on a rotisserie.
I plug welded the rockers on. The spot welder doesn't work well on the thick metal of the I beams and jack points. Also this is a high stress area. Would love to have a real spot welder for this but cant justify the cost.
After plug welding and smoothing of the welds I went over with the spot welder to give a correct look.
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sgellis |
Sat Nov 30, 2024 5:09 pm |
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Starting on the front floor. Been looking forward to this bit.
Printed out my drawings full size to check accuracy. Came out quite good. Few miner tweaks and a few short ribs and a hole was off. I need to look though my rusty scraps and see if the dimmer pressing is there. I may have just guessed at the size and will need some dimensions. Also need to check the edge at doors. That will be the same width as my 64.
And made the floor supports.
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Two Glove Boxes |
Sat Nov 30, 2024 10:10 pm |
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Very cool and great work! It's always so impressive to me to see how many new ways we come up with giving these classic treasures their new life. |
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djfordmanjack |
Mon Dec 02, 2024 11:38 am |
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the original floor remnants laid out over the CAD drawing are just fantastic ! like archaeology ! :D |
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scarabee |
Tue Dec 03, 2024 6:17 am |
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@sgellis: It's amazing what you've done with this project. I use it as inspiration when tackling mine. |
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sgellis |
Wed Dec 11, 2024 2:48 pm |
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Started the front floor.
Built a die to press the ribs. Used 3" channel with bolts as alignment pins. The bolts worked well as they held the panel in place while pressing. My press did a great job on a test with 20g but with 18g I needed to press about every 6" to get a nice sharp rib.
The side panels have different terminations than the other panels so pressed them first. Happy with how the ribs look and they match the originals quite well. There is some variance in the original ribs.
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Ring-Free |
Thu Dec 12, 2024 10:32 am |
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Great work. :thumbsup: Maybe you will soon need a green color if you make all the pieces so proffesionel. :lol: :wink: Or blue, which is not yet available on the market .
:?: How much difference do you have between the female and male piece? |
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sgellis |
Thu Dec 12, 2024 11:00 am |
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Ring-Free wrote:
:?: How much difference do you have between the female and male piece?
2.5mm gap for these ribs. Male is 17mm wide, female is 22mm. Both have a small radius |
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sgellis |
Fri Dec 13, 2024 7:38 pm |
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Side panels fitted. Happy with how they are coming out.
Used a step die in the bead roller for the step. I clamped some angle to the panel to run against the die. Made a perfectly straight step
Used a tipping die for the back lip. Worked ok but needed a lot of dolly work to get it correct. I should get an electric drive for the bead roller. Not easy cranking it and freehanding.
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Huetti_1989 |
Thu Dec 19, 2024 2:13 pm |
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Amazing floor!
What shrinker are you using?
-Christian |
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sgellis |
Thu Dec 19, 2024 5:18 pm |
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Huetti_1989 wrote:
What shrinker are you using?
-Christian
A very cheep one.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0BXCGST1B
It does work quite well with the foot peddle I made. I have to change the jaws between shrink and stretch but not a big deal. I couldn't justify a good one and this one is better than most of the cheep ones available. |
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sgellis |
Sat Dec 21, 2024 2:14 pm |
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Another panel fitted. Still needs some work.
Pressed the shifter lump with 3D printed dies. I was concerned it would not work well with 18g and the shallow bend but came out great. The reinforcement panel fits up nice with the same pressing.
I messed up some rib terminations buy pushing the panel too far into the shrinker. I will just re-stamp the ribs.
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sgellis |
Sun Dec 22, 2024 1:33 pm |
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Center floor panels done. I was worried about the damage I did with the shrinker but was able to fix up the ribs nicely.
Did a test press for the headlight dimmer. Came out great. Mine was completely missing but from photos of original metal it looks correct. Now I can try pressing it into the floor panel.
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