Rip VW's 27 T Coupe Project

[RipVW]

Ok I will make this room or thread exclusive to the T coupe project. I post a couple pictures  from time to time and a bit of problems areas  

All of the preliminary info is in my new guy thread so check there first..

Currently I am "Trimming the top of the frame rails" so the flat bottom of the T coupe will set flat on the 32 style frame. The frame starts upward from the long flat area and it rises 3/4 of an inch from level up front so I trimmed the backbone of the frame to give me another 10 inches of flat area to set the body on. I should have caught this when I was laying the initial rails and done it then but then Hind sight.  

So Yesterday I pulled the motor and trans out to give me access to both sides of the frame rail. I also slid the body about 2 feet rearward on the chassis to facilitate access for the trim job.

Today I confirmed my measurements and with cut off disk in hand I proceeded to trim away.


Ready to pull the motor and slide the body back.



A rear view of the T.



I like this profile



The trimming in work. Ruler illustrates how the frame goes up in the trim area





Still needs some work to even things a little then I will cut some filler to weld back in the hole. That is as things go smoothly.  

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of??

[RipVW]

Ok not a lot of forward progress. Had some things to do Sunday and dodge a landslide so I didn't get into the shop!  

What I have done is test fit the body and I am real close to good fit of body to chassis, especially the front. However we are not without problems. The T body is flat bottomed from the front to the back. There is NO provision for the body to set on the rear of the 32 frame.  My answer to that was to remove the T body subframe from just behind the doors back. I then got some 1"X4' box tubing and made me a wooden buck and bent this box tube over the contour of the 32 frame in the back. It was a long process of building those box subframe rails but I got them done and it looked like I got the angles right! Now the front of the body is setting like it should so when I lower the rear of the body to be level the subframe it don't fit! the subframe rails are hitting the frame about halfway up the wheel arch area where the frame goes over the rear end. It looks like I am going to have to cut the rear subframe mods off and re arch them to clear the chassis. It is not something I want to do but I sure ain't going to mess with the 32 chassis.  

So this is how it is going, one day moving forward then Back up a couple a days then move forward. Today I spent the day on a few honey do's so didn't get to look at the fit or formulate a plan so if it warms up in the morning I will go out and take a look but I also need to get the front of the chassis closed up where I shaved the frame so I have a complete solid surface to work toward. I have 1 cover piece already just needs to be shaped a bit and I need to cut the second piece with the plasma and shape it. Then in and welded. Then it is back to the rear to solve that cluster.  

My new shop heater works great however when the temp falls down in the lower 40's F my hands don't work all that well. We are into a few days of mild weather but only low to mid 40's F and maybe even a little snow inland on Next Sunday.. No heatwave expected.

No photos for public consumption this time but maybe next entry.  

[jaybee]

Sounds about right. Once you start modifying things there's a real cascade effect. I really dig the car though.

[idrivejunk]

Thats certainly true.

This is a good area of the build on which to take your time and check yourself and the car. She has to sit like you want.

Its going to be a rowdy little rascal, no doubt.

[RipVW]

Thats certainly true.

This is a good area of the build on which to take your time and check yourself and the car. She has to sit like you want.

Its going to be a rowdy little rascal, no doubt.

Yep slow and steady this time. Last time I was a little pressed to get the body ready to travel. Ahh the best laid plans.  So I put a little time out in the shop but not all on the T. a good amount of time was spent resetting the smoke detector in the shop. Twice that little bugger went off today. I have a smoke detector in the shop and has been good so far but today I was cutting some steel with the plasma and I had it strapped to my workmate 500 portable bench. I guess I got to close to the wood of the table and burnt about a 10 inch long part of the table. It didn't smoke much and went right out so imagine my surprise when about 5 minutes later the smoke detector goes off.  by then the wife was there all worried that I was burning the place down. My shop detector is just above the man exit door and she is waving a broom trying to get it to quit. Then she goes and gets the stepladder steps up and hits the reset button.  Ahhhh silence was golden. The wife leaves and less than 2 minutes later the * thing goes off again.. She comes back out and made me open the 2 big roll ups for a few minutes before she put the sensor back.  This time success was had!

So about all I got done was cut the blank strips of steel for the frame mod area and cut them to length and put a 90 degree bend on one end.  I positioned one plate for fit and next step will be final adjust and weld that up. Then when the other side is done I can move the body back into position and figure out these sub rails in the back.  From now on this is slow and steady and no jumping around of doing something temporary I am aiming to get all these parts playing harmoniously and no more reworking the same thing twice!

Here is a pic of the filler panel for the front frame rail



a sneek peek of the rails to be railroaded.


The other rail.


Till we meet again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RipVW]

I haven't posted any updates on the TCoupe front.  I finished the mods to the front of the frame and got the body better positioned on the frame. I worked my way back and am working on the malformed rear sub rails. I now have both rails setting in the correct position at the end of the flat part of the frame where it starts up over the hump, and I have clamped the sub rails to the frame there.

Both sub rails were off significantly on the rear bump up in the frame. I don't know how I missed the mark so badly.  So I re mapped the rails where they needed to be and proceeded to heat the sub rail I built and re form it over the frame hump.

reforming  the sub rails, I did this by tying a cable to the end of the sub rail and  to a come-along and hooked that end on to the framework of my lift  I put tension on the rail and pulled it down to put a strain on it in the right direction. I then got out the acetylene torch and heated and reformed the bends already created.  When I would get part of the rail in place I "C" clamped the rail along the frame. I then moved on to the next bend and heated and pulled some more with the * along. I have the drivers sub rail almost where it needs to be so when I get to that point, I will do the same with the passengers side rail.

This sub rail deal has taken way to long to solve. I am still not out of the woods yet but things are looking better. as soon as I can finish anchoring the body completely, I can move forward on brake pedal assembly and steering column. When those parts are installed I can finally finish up the firewall and build the floors.  So with some frustration behind and I am sure more are on the way I am looking forward to another "Finished Part" of the build.

The weather has been on and off warm then cold here so it keeps me out of the shop when the high is only 42 and low below freezing. I have the radiant heater which works somewhat after about 43 degrees but the tools and parts in the shop become almost painful to grab!  Because of the cold and my intolerance to it, I have missed some good winter hours and am hoping for an early spring! This getting old is really sucks...  Oh I understand others cold weather they are working thru I mean -30 is * cold so to all of you working in the cold My hat is off to you for getting anything done. (I hope my head don't get cold with no hair or hat!

So about a week of downtime for me this next week, it is expected to be barely above freezing here all next week. Time for some interior "Hunny Do's" and maybe even make some smoke in the electronics lab....   Sorry No pictures..

[39deluxe]

Interesting build. I hope you get some warmer weather soon.

Tom

[RipVW]

Interesting build. I hope you get some warmer weather soon.

Tom

Yeah the weather is a big factor for sure. I am actually going out to the shop tomorrow and observe a few ideas. It is supposed to be almost 50 deg F so it might offer a couple of hours of thoughtful observation and maybe even some rerouting of the sub rails.

Besides the cold, I have been distracted over the development of some automotive transportation difficulties.  I use a wheelchair for 90% of my getting around and as such I have a van that has a wheelchair lift. The van is a 2008 Ford E 150 with the 5.4L V8. It has been a good vehicle but I have had it for 13 years and it is showing it's age. This last year it has been a slew of electrical problems and mysteries and last week it is sensor problems in the oil pressure system.  The oil light will light randomly but the gauge stays rock steady. This was the last failure I am putting up with from the ole gas guzzling hard steering lumbering beast.

So I have a friend that has wanted this van for a while now so I called him up and told him about the latest in the van adventures, and before I could say anything else he made me an offer I couldn't refuse so I sold it right there problems and all.

Now i scramble to get something to replace my van and something that can also carry my wheelchair.  So after a lot of research and a ton of test drives I found my replacement van and just picked it up yesterday. I have got a 2021 Ram Promaster City van. Nice little semi compact van with a gas sippin 4 cylinder coupled with (Get This) a 9 speed automatic transmission. The 4 puts out a mind numbing 178 hp and about the same torque.  I had to drive a hundred and twenty miles to pick it up and so far I am pleased with an initial 24 mpg on the way home in it. It is amazingly zippy for a tiny little normally aspirated 4 banger.

I have to go to the outfitters to get a new wheelchair lift measured and ordered for the rig in the next 2 weeks and then about 2 to 3 weeks to get the new lift installed. Looking forward to a new lift as the one in the Econoline was always malfunctioning and causing problems. The new lift will be rear exit instead of side exit so it will be more compatible with the variation of Handicapped parking spaces.

Now that the new rig task is out of the way I can get back to the rear of the T and get that wrapped up. man o man look at me gettin stuff done. hahahaha