The Fake Jaguar Thread

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Today I got my new gas tank support stripped, sanded, and ready to weld in place.

Then I made a couple 1/8” frame gussets that notch in under the new crossmember, right where the frame kinks in on each side.

DAE822E4-0E36-4171-B452-FA60F1399901.jpeg


I prepped the floor and crossmembers for more sheet metal welding.

I’ll get all that stuff welded in place tomorrow.
 
I got these little gussets welded on today.
8C68F471-B894-4261-9385-911424CE2C96.jpeg


I think that tank of “bad gas” was actually wet gas.

The new gas worked crappy, then ok, then crappy, then ok.

I laid out all the gas hose to slope downhill, then purged the hose 15 seconds. Problem solved

I would have done more, but today was Christmas tree shopping day. I got a lovely tree but the trunk was 1” too thin to bolt into my stand.
F43C4D0A-9810-4E79-917D-FC7257F474EB.jpeg

I ended up making 5 little “shoes” for the clamping bolts from scrap tubing.
DD03D573-7D04-4DD4-96FE-36088F552216.jpeg

Problem solved.
 
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A very early Good Morning from The Gateway to the Sierra.

I spent several cold hours out in the boatyard, cleaning up my VW chassis, rolling it back over to hit the ugly spots with a grinder. Scraping, wire brushing sanding and feathering paint is nearly done on the bottom side.

I want to put some more spot welds on the pan. About 50 more.

I am praying the weather will get dry enough to paint before it all gets rusty again. I still have a bit of minor welding on the topside first.

I’m not used to wearing gloves just for sanding, but I am much more sensitive to cold weather now, than when I lived on the muskeg, in Baudette, at the Northwest Quadrangle.

That’s farther north than 3/4 of all Canadian people live. I didn’t realize at the time why the only TV shows we ever got were some variety show from Winnipeg, with Stompin’ Tom Connor, and then Hockey Night in Canada.

I prefer the local warm weather, hitting 54F yesterday. Here’s hoping for continued warm weather. The paint I bought wants 55 min. I will heat the paint and the metal before I try to spray, but first it gets etched.
 
Ulu said:
I got the last 24 crossmember to floor pan welds on the bottom, fixed a couple bad welds, and started stripping off the bad paint. It sounds solid with no rattles.

View attachment 284881
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I know a Cruise Ship Director that's looking for a new act for the next cruise to the Bahamas.
Two things: Do you know any other tunes? And, can you get your steel drum down to the
docks before midnight tonight? :bigboss:
 
It hit 56 today and it’s going to be warmer tomorrow. Possibly 67 and even 69 Saturday.

Then 100% rain Sunday, so time is on my side.

Today I got some more cleanup done on the pan and the fuel tank support and I put down about 30 more small welds.

Then I rolled the chassis back over so I can finish welding the seat rails down to the pan.

But I still have a couple little gussets I have never installed, and I need to get those in too.
 
Today was the first of two Christmas dinners at our house. Her family was tonight, and in two days, it’s mine.

I still managed to cut some pan bracket reinforcement bars and get them welded in.

I also got some more rust cleaned up. It was a lovely day in the mid 60’s & it looks like prime painting weather tomorrow.

But there is still more welding needed on the fuel tank support. I need to make some more crossmember gussets too.
 
I finished up the forward welding and finished up some little gussets at the mid crossmember. Then I started making these tubular gussets for the top of the frame.

54284595-378E-4D33-BEE1-6DB2636F9834.jpeg


Here’s the driver’s side setup, still in navy gray paint.

EB03BD59-9DC8-4D9A-A666-AE83935FA6A8.jpeg


That one is now finished & stripped, and I have started cutting the other one.

Unfortunately, I ran out of argon before the welding was done, so I had to go shopping. Still no paint was applied, and tomorrow will bring rain. ;-(

It will also bring my kids and grandkids for early Christmas. :)
 
Today I made the last gusset, and they are now welded in.

C8A180B0-5A5B-41BF-8144-E4FB8F05EB1B.jpeg


11014E72-F06F-4475-B263-9562BE041AB0.jpeg


It stayed warm until sundown, so I flipped the frame upside down, gave it a cleaning, and shot 40 oz of satin black. I’ll do the top later, because of the weather.

8D73FBF0-FE3B-4A34-98D8-9651E8BE7388.jpeg


A18A5735-85B9-4113-AF60-F082B42B4366.jpeg


It’s raining, but somehow I just barely managed to beat the rain. The finish won’t be great, but at least it won’t rust up during assembly.
 
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Ulu said:
Today I made the last gusset, and they are now welded in.

View attachment 285239

View attachment 285240

It stayed warm until sundown, so I flipped the frame upside down, gave it a cleaning, and shot 40 oz of satin black. I’ll do the top later, because of the weather.

View attachment 285241

View attachment 285242

It’s raining, but somehow I just barely managed to beat the rain. The finish won’t be great, but at least it won’t rust up during assembly.
Click to expand...
It looks very cohesive now.
 
We had some pretty good rains here, but we’ve had several sunny days now and everything has dried up beautifully. It was almost 65 today in the boatyard and I decided that it was time to paint the top of my chassis.

I had the chassis all flipped back over on a stand and I cleaned up the whole thing, getting it ready to paint. I was on the last few little plug welds that needed grinding when I got sloppy with a grinder and knicked my brake line. The one that runs through the tunnel. Dangblangthegoshdarnblanketeeheck!

Well no reason to continue painting when I was just gonna scratch it all up leaning over the chassis to put in the new one. I’ll go to the Volkswagen shop tomorrow.

So maybe I’ll go play some blues on the new guitar to make me feel better.
 

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