VW Bus Sidecar build

[Bullyboy]

after riding my old Mongoose with the sidecar for a couple years I decided to build a new sidecar to go with a new Kona.

I started with some 6061 for the frame this time to shave some weight off the old steel frame design.

 

[Bullyboy]

the sidecar is a bit of a process for baking the blank for the sidecar shape. I start with styrofoam and some wood shapes for the rough shape.

first layer

second layer

some shaping

starting to look like something

now it looks like something

 

[Bullyboy]

adding the rib to the body.

adding the telltale nose detail

the form painted with latex, beside the original sidecar, a little size comparison

I wanted it to be big enough she could lay down when she was tired

 

[Bullyboy]

now for some sloppy work with epoxy, 'glass , and carbon fibre. The last sidecar had several layers to get the stiffness I wanted, this time 2 layers of biaxial carbon fibre added quite a bit of stiffness without the weight

1 layer of fibreglass, 2 layers of carbon, 1 layer of fibreglass and dacron on the top to smooth the whole thing out. The dacron strips off after and leaves a finish that is ready to add more layers.

then you get to melt the foam out of the inside.

just had to set it on the frame to see how it looked.

 

[Bullyboy]

the boss approved of this new design

cut in some tail lights

started bodywork, and cut in some headlights

fill , sand, fill, sand and on and on.

my shaping block so I could get all the ribs the same shape.

had to throw some high build primer on to see how things were going, after a while all the patches start to confuse things

and more guide coat to see where we need some attention, back to sanding again

 

[bficklin]

Beautiful work sir, you are indeed very talented.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Really nice work!
Did you vacuum bag the carbon layers?

I have done some fiberglass work helping build a catamaran, but never played with carbon fiber.

 

[Robertk]

Yes great work!

 

[Bullyboy]

Did you vacuum bag the carbon layers?

.
I use Dacron sheet on the top of the layup, you can squeeze out a lot of excess epoxy and get a nice compact layup

 

[Bullyboy]

I was tired of sanding and filling, so I spent a couple hours poking holes in my frame, for a grand total of 2 ounces difference.

 

[RustyGold]

Outstanding

 

[Bullyboy]

More sanding and patching, at least the repair spots are getting smaller.

Added trim around the windows as well

 

[Bullyboy]

220 &400 grit , it’s getting closer , we’ll see after the primer dries

 

[KJV]

 

[LukeTheJoker]

So very cool!

 

[NoControl]

 

[Pushie Pirate]

Man that is so cool, super well done!

 

[93EXCivic]

Awesome sidecar.

 

[Bullyboy]

shot the base silver today, this was just the first dusting, we'll let that sit for a week and we'll shoot the flake with the cannon and candy over it. the windows on the front look funny but we are adding tinted pop outs over them and we didn't want to lose strength by cutting too much. I just wanted some air movement inside for the kid

 

[LukeTheJoker]