Well today I finally ripped the back wheels back off to notch the spring plates and fit the shocks. I read a heap of posts on volksrods.com from people who were freaking out about how to notch them and how long it takes....oohhhhh....so hard. I cut mine while they were still fitted. How f'ing lazy am I? : )
Anyway, I figured you'd all like to see the fully detailed show car suspension, so here it is : )
It's all done in two pack. Meaning it took 2 cans of spray paint to do all the suspension : )
I also thought I'd take him for a bit of a drive. I took a couple of shots of him out the front of our place first, just for a different background.
After the pics were taken, I couldn't help but take him for a spin up the road. He's a bit bumpy as they're not lowered shocks, and there's an ignition hiccup in there that went nuts whenever we hit a bump, but it was fun cruising up the road in Sid for the first time.
Dirtbag, when you were a kid did your bedroom look like that one from Toy Story with all the toys dissected and the bits made into some freaky yet cool toys??
If beetles had feelings they'd get nervous near Sid 😵💫
Hi bajachris. Don't worry about asking me any questions, I've asked waaaaay sillier questions that than : )
The notch in the spring plate is there because I've lowered it as much as I have, the spring plate was hitting the metal above it, which goes to the top shock mount. Now I've cut it (spring plate) so there's more clearance there, that's all.
The lower shock mount is totally stock. I do need to get shorter travel shocks front and rear because of the lowering, but because I am both lazy, and a shocking tight ass, I haven't done that yet : )
This is looking so cool. I'm normally not a fan of the volksrod because they are all flash and "look at me" but yours is just...... welll....... freakin cool. It is unique, will look awesome cruising and you have managed to pull it all off on a budget. I reckon the little spray bottle of water trick with the new/old paint job looks way better than some ridiculous flamey hot rod paint job. Great work mate. Can't wait to see it at a show 🙂
haha no all are welcome. Plus it is always good to upset a few of the oldies. Plus it is good for something a bit different to come past when i'm on the gate. The show itself is on the 23rd of May 2010 with a supersprint at wakefield on the 22nd. All the details are on the club website
I bodged up some headlight mounts today, so that was exciting.
I ran out of oxy so wasn't able to heat the flat bar to bend it so I cut it half way through and then bent it in the vice. Once it was at the right angle I welded it up. Yay.
Here's just a few more pics with the headlights fitted. It looks really weird to me, as I'm used to seeing him with no lights.
I've also fitted the rear indicators. I think there's a pic or two of them as well.
Theyre m/cycle indicators.Loads of different ones to choose from at any bike shop.
Try bike wreckers too,usually $20 a pair give or take coupla bucks.
Lovin Sid mate,very cool. Talented people like you give me the shits....only coz ive never welded before and dont have a shed that wont catch fire at the slightest spark!
Oh, and i dont have a vw at the moment.
Today I mucked around with the idea of some cycle guards. I always said I'd never bother as rego was gong to be a pain, but I can't help myself. I still have hope of getting my Beam extension design ADR approved one day. Anyway, I rolled up a bit of steel and ran it through the english wheel for a bit, then shrunk the edges to give it a bit of shape. I don't want them to be too "round", as they'll stand out too much. The flatter they are the closer I can get them to the tyre.
Well I've had a few PMs and such regarding the english wheel and shrinking etc. So here's a couple of pics to show what I'm on about. I took some pics while I was making one of the rear guards.
One question that I was asked a couple of times was why I didn't just leave them flat on top. Well, I took a pic of the rear guard after I'd got the profile right on with the tyre, but before I'd done any shaping. It looks crap!
So, the next step was to roll it around for a while in the english wheel.
The way the english wheel works is as the metal goes through these two rollers, it gets stretched from the pressure. The shape of the rollers determines how much. Basically, whichever part of the sheet metal goes through these rollers will be raised. That's why it's so important to go over it and over it, to get it smooth.
The english wheel I have has a variety of bottom rollers. If I want to crown a large panel like a roof skin off a newer car that doesn't need a lot of curve, I'll use one of the rollers with the flat surface. If I need a much tighter curve I use one of the rollers with the rounded surface. When I did these guards I started with the most rounded roller, and finished with a fairly flat one to level it out.
The main reason I started with the rounded bottom roller is because this metal is zincaneal. (spelling???) For best results with an english wheel it's better to use black/mild steel, as it shapes much easier.
Once the panel had started shaping up, I used the shrinker/stretcher to pull the edges in a bit more. This machine has 2 jaws that when the handle is pulled either pull or compress the metal, depending on whether you have the shrinking or stretching jaws in place. Very handy for making curved angle pieces for around window frames etc. I use this thing all the time. Don't know how I ever survived with out it. Once I'd finished with the shrinker, I ran the whole thing through the english wheel again to smooth out where I'd shrunk.
Even though it doesn't look like there's much dish in the panel, there is about 15mm or so raised in the middle. This photo with the straight edge shows what I mean.
Well here's Sid with the guards just sitting on the tyres. I think they'll be OK once they're black. I'll probably rotate them around the tyre to the rear a bit more, but I couldn't get them to stay on the tyre for the photo.
Once I've made the brackets to mount them, the guards will have to sit a bit higher off the tyres than they are now, but even so, I don't think they'll be too obvious from side on. Seeing as each one only took about an hour from cutting it out of a sheet of metal to sitting it on the car, I think they've turned out OK.
English wheels rock, I've got the same model, resonably cheap and the things you can do to repair panels and make things such as guards is endless.
One question, I've been looking at getting a shrinker and I was wondering if you would go for a deep throat model or can you get away with most things on that model shrinker?
By the way Sid is really comming up great.
Hey glencsiro. Yeah, it's not a bad english wheel. It has a bit of flex, but it was easy enough to take that into account when rolling with it.
As for the shrinker, I haven't had a situation yet where I've needed anything other than what I've got, but if you can get/afford a better one, then go for it.
Get me one too please : )
Loving this build up. While its not my cup of tea, I certainly appreciate the skill and effort, and of course the results. Fantastic work and great to see you doing it yourself.
