The Fake Jaguar Thread

[Ulu]

The desk.

I started scratching around on this, and you can see that the gray and red paint is flaking off. It appears they sanded this desk on the outside, before they shot the red primer.

BTW I have shot zinc chromate before, when we built a boat trailer back in the 70s.

 

[Kevin B]

That is genuine baked-on World War II army paint. It’s much different than the paint on my modern army things. The red primer and gray paint was applied over it, and it is not a baked on factory finish. It was probably shot out behind the motor pool.

In the war, they weren’t concerned about a show finish, so there’s no leveling primer or sandable primer under the green.

I believe they just hit the metal with a phosphoric acid wash as a primer, because there’s no color under this green except the faint black of phosphated metal.

That WW2 paint probably has chromate in it to make it stick good.

I programmed machines (primitive industrial robots) out at Vendo where they made vending machines. During the war, they made airplane parts and they sprayed this paint out there which is very toxic. They also did various electro plating operations.

All that stuff got into the ground water, and they did expensive steam injection for about five years. Eventually, they brought it all up out of the ground, so they could dispose of the highly toxic zinc chromate and hexavalent chromium etc.

That property became valuable as the town grew up around it, so they sold it and moved to a different county.

When I put the 40 Ford hood on my bug I took it to Earl Schibe to paint it. The hood was ABS and manufacturer said to put a layer of zinc chromate primer first. Schibe didn't have any so dad found some and dropped it off. It was 1975 but it seems like it was greenish gold, seems like it was semi transparent.

 

[Ulu]

It is more yellow than gold as I recall.

Anyhow, it all gets stranger. The interior parts of this desk didn't get the same attention as the exterior.

The interior surfaces are all army green, covered with red primer, then gray.

The exterior was all woodgrained by a painter at some point. Then red primer and the grey, just like the inside.

 

[Ulu]

This photo was taken at night with artificial lighting, but I think you can see the painted woodgrain.

Up close it looks like somebody scuffed it with fine sandpaper, but maybe did not degrease before primer.

But, what I said about the paint job being done out behind the motor pool? It always looked like it too. But who cares about the paint job on a free desk?

 

[Ulu]

Nothing going on yet on the SS100. I did reclaim this lovely bit of tubing from the awful Brian Wind trainer.

This had chrome on it but once hit with sandpaper I realized it was nothing like chrome. No copper or nickel. Just a gleam for the showroom.

These aren’t welded yet either. I had a toothache and wasn’t in the mood.

I hope to do it today.

(EDIT: The previous data was posted in the wrong thread. Now corrected.)

Ok, I finally welded up my little plates.
They will need some finishing up, but the welding went well.

Tacking up.

Welding done. I welded the corners too.

I decided to offset the holes for various reasons.

 

[Ulu]

I bought a new roll of brake line and a roll of fuel line . . . so another $100 is “invested”.

I have to install them both in the tunnel at some point. It should be easier before I do all the main frame welding.

Before I approach that I must add some weld nuts behind the tunnel closure, and trim the tunnel straighter.

Meanwhile, another vintage shirt becomes a paint rag.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I use the kids' old shirts for garage rags. Sometimes it's sad when I pull one out that I remember.

 

[Ulu]

My youngest is 41 now, so that happened 20 years ago for me. ;-)

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I'd have to live to 92 to see my first born be 41. I'm calling that a long shot.

 

[Ulu]

I decided that #10-32 screws would be enough for this. The plate allows over 4 threads, so weld-nuts won’t be necessary.

Marked-up mock-up of possible crossframe. Blue is the frame channels. Yellow hatching indicates 16ga filler panels. Yellow bit at top is a body mount. Yellow box with circle is steering column support with clamp.

 

[Ulu]

I'd have to live to 92 to see my first born be 41. I'm calling that a long shot.

My #2 granddaughter has had 3 miscarriages. Otherwise I would already be a great grandfather. I have 4 more grandkids over 21, so it could still happen.

 

[Kevin B]

Ulu, when these kits were sold new, were they able to be a simple bolt on? I know you are improving yours using your engineering background. I guess my question is could an average Joe have just bolted the body on and been on the road?

 

[Ulu]

There were lots of simple bolts, but welding was definitely required to build his car from a stock Volkswagen.

You had to cut holes for the pedal assembly and the stick shift and you had to move them back and weld them in a different position on the tunnel.

Two windows were cut into the tunnel to allow access for assembly and modification. Those had to be welded up.

The shifter rod had to be shortened and welded back together.

The brake pushrod was cut & lengthened with a piece of pipe welded in.

You had to cut the Volkswagen seat risers away from the floor pan.

There was no provision for the heater and you had to make that stuff yourself or just take the heaters off which is what I did.

A gas tank was not supplied. You had to buy one and build a frame for it and weld it to the chassis.

Several bits had to be cut off of the axle so you could rotate the steering gear into a new position.

The steering column was lengthened with tubing and welded at one end.

There’s probably other stuff that I am forgetting because I didn’t have to do it.

 

[Kevin B]

There were lots of simple bolts, but welding was definitely required to build his car from a stock Volkswagen.

You had to cut holes for the pedal assembly and the stick shift and you had to move them back and weld them in a different position on the tunnel.

Two windows were cut into the tunnel to allow access for assembly and modification. Those had to be welded up.

The shifter rod had to be shortened and welded back together.

The brake pushrod was cut & lengthened with a piece of pipe welded in.

You had to cut the Volkswagen seat risers away from the floor pan.

There was no provision for the heater and you had to make that stuff yourself or just take the heaters off which is what I did.

A gas tank was not supplied. You had to buy one and build a frame for it and weld it to the chassis.

Several bits had to be cut off of the axle so you could rotate the steering gear into a new position.

The steering column was lengthened with tubing and welded at one end.

There’s probably other stuff that I am forgetting because I didn’t have to do it.

So it wss pretty involved. I imagine all those kits like the Bradley GT and the Porsche 356 speedster were the same way.

 

[Ulu]

Very much the opposite in many ways.

My car was lengthened with a bolt-on appliance. The driver moves to the back seat position.

Those cars were all shortened by cutting the pan in half behind the front seat. Usually about a foot was removed.

In both cases cables and wiring and brake lines change, but in different ways.

 

[Ulu]

I had to slot out the screwholes a bit, and then my plates fit perfectly.

The top two screws fall very close to the tunnel edge. Here it literally hangs on them.

It needs to rise slightly like this:

There I am mocking up the black tubing.

 

[Ulu]

I finally cut these tubes and started mocking up my crossmember assembly on the bench.

The long tube is 29”. That is the width of both footwells plus the 5.5” tunnel. Footwells are about 12” wide each.

 

[Ulu]

Rain, rain, rain . . .
No welding going on here.
Just hiding out in the boatyard.

Smokeless vortex hobo stove version 4.2a. This one will eat fuel fast.

 

[Ulu]

I finally made fillers for the crossmember.
They came from a used welding cart that had become my bicycle cart.

I must knock off some paint before welding this up.

 

[Ulu]

This is the plate from the HF welding cart as I cut it.

Crossmember is all burnished & sanded in the necessary areas & ready to weld together.

I took off all the black enamel paint, but I left most of the red polyester powder paint.

I will probably decide to sand the rest of that off tomorrow before I tack this up. I don’t want to smell the fumes when I set it on fire.