Silver Beatle - She's now with an old friend!

[S. Heisley]

Perfect doors?! The good fairy sprinkled good luck dust on you; you live right; and I'm jealous!

Seriously, ya done good.

[aggie79]

Thank you again for keeping motivated with the nice comments.

Not much has happened on my build since the last update. I'm fortunate to not get sick very often - once every five years or so - but something took hold of me in the middle of September, and I missed two weekends of build time. By skipping the Loyd Park (rainfest) outing last weekend, I did get a few things done.

My mantra lately has been trim work, sealing, trim work, sealing, etc. Where my hatch abuts the lower edge of my galley floor, I installed "P" shaped weatherseal.



I then capped the lower leg of the seal with some aluminum trim to give it a finished look.



Then it was time to finish up the door trim. I'm using double seals at the doors - interior door surround and seal to for the inside weatherseal and t-molding and seal on the outside of the door for the outside weatherseal.

I was dreading trying to fit the t-molding, but the first and second pieces went on okay.



The first cuts were simple 45-degree miters. After that it was time to figure out how to fit the miters where the arched top part of the door met the two vertical sides. After a lot of trial and error, inspired utterances, and teeth-knashing, I got it done.



One door down - one more to go.



If the pattern holds true on other parts of my build, the second door will take about 1/4 of the time the first one did.

Gig'em, Tom

[planovet]

Looking good Tom. Should be ready by LCG!

[Rlowell]

Looking real good! Glad to see you back at er!
Rod

[Lookfar]

Tom, I believe Mark is right. I'll be looking forward to pic's of the SB from LCG.

[2bits]

Nice progress Tom! My T molding trim went exactly like yours (and the second door went alot faster!

I am totally stealing the "P" Seal for the bottom of the hatch too! I've been using the stick on stuff with minimal success, thanks! You're teaching now buddy! Did you order it from somewhere or is it a box store item?

[jss06]

Aswome work. I hope my body looks that nice when its done.

[aggie79]

Thanks everyone.

Today I finished fitting the t-molding on the second door. I then removed the trim from both doors, applied sealant, and reinstalled the trim.

Next up were the fenders. They had been painted, but I wanted to apply undercoating on the bottom side. I masked off the fenders and then sprayed the rubberized undercoating.



By then it was late afternoon. Thomas (2-bits) came by to check on my progress and help motivate me to get this thing done.

After some contemplation, we decided to pull off the protective plastic on the aluminum at the front of the teardrop to get an idea what it's going to look like.



I'm happy with the way it looks. Thanks for coming by Thomas!

[S. Heisley]

Yay, Thomas 2bits! It looks good, Tom!

[2bits]

It was good to hang out with you again Tom! I just HAD to see what it would look like with some of that protect-o-sheet pulled off and I was only there for a little while! I don't know how you held out so long! haha It looks REALLY good and this weather is a great motivator too eh!! Thanks for the goodies too!

Oh here is a pic of the hasp I installed as "insurance" to keep my hatch closed that we talked about. I had to look around to find one with enough reach since the part that screws into the underside sticks out a quarter of an inch. You might not have that problem since yours sits closer. It's not a shin knocker either.



Oh and not to thread jack, but my floor AC exhaust hole stayed totally dry while driving up to Loyd park in the rain the other day, so that was cool for me. I just saw it in the pic and thought I'd say something... back to the beetle

[Lookfar]

Bump... How's progress Tom?

[aggie79]

Bump... How's progress Tom?

Hi Butch,
How's your build going?

For me, it's been s...l...o...w going.

After Thomas came by, life seemed to intervene. My wife and I did take this past Saturday off to see the Rangers versus Rays ALDS baseball game. (The outcome wasn't so hot, but the weather was gorgeous, the energy in the stadium was incredible and the traffic wasn't too bad. We had a great time overall.)

I did work on my trailer lighting - it's almost done - and I have finished almost all of the aluminum trim work which has taken way longer than I thought. Although it seems to be fading fast, LCG is still my goal.

Take care,
Tom

[Lookfar]

Mine is coming along, though I've taken about a week off to help my brother rennovate his bathroom. A worthwhile project; my sister in law is happy.
I'm feeling more/less confident that I'll be campable by month end, but that might be a stretch. If so, I'll toast all of you at LCGV and probably wish I hadn't cancelled my reservation.
You are doing such a nice job with the SB, I don't know that I should be allowed in the same campground anyway.
Oh yeah, I grew up in Tampa, so I'll pass on the comments on the game. Too bad they can't come up with a football team.

[starleen2]

NICE!

[aggie79]

I'm still making the push to be campable by LCG V even though the date is fast approaching. Can't make the trip without trailer lighting, so I started my electrical work. Previously, I had installed conduit below the teardrop from the front bulkhead to the galley. So, I started pulling wires, and pulling wires, and...



I've not had good luck with trailer wiring in the past, so I am going overkill on the teardrop trailer wiring. A separate power and ground is run to each light. All the trailer lighting "meets up" at the galley bulkhead. I'm using terminal blocks for each leg of the trailer wiring.



Next up, it was time to start drilling holes for the trailer lighting.



I finished the side marker lights at the front and the rear tailights.





Once I get the clearance lights and rear side marker lights installed, I'll try everything to see if it works.

Gig'em!