Once again, a half-car pseudo-teardrop

[groys02]

Some more work done... inching up on getting the primer gun out.
[1] Added a much-smoother 'fillet' of regular filler over the earlier waterproof filler, where the upper half-doors meet underside of drip rail.
[2] Built up regular filler around the perimeter of the spare tire well... hopefully, I can sand this down into a fairly smooth radius now.
[3] Decided that if I was going to be spraying primer, it would be a good time to remove the outer handles on the back doors. Got screws removed, with a little fiddling around, but so far can't get handle shafts to slide out of latch assemblies, on either door. Took latches loose, so I had room to spray penetrant along the square shafts, and left them for now. May try torch heat on shafts tonight or tomorrow to help break rust bond.........
Hopefully by the weekend, I'll have gotten things sanded smooth, and primered much of top and front.

[JasenC]

The joys of working on old rusty stuff, I know it well. The easy access on door hardware always makes it fun, that's what the young kids are for, their bones are still bendy lol. We used to put my buddies kids on this stuff with their tiny 7-10 yo hands.

[groys02]

Amen, Jasen!
Working on old cars is a love/hate relationship, regularly.
On my first car, I needed to change motor mounts to a different style, and a key nut was inside a frame rail, and my hand & wrist would Not go in there... recruited my son, at about age 7, to hold that one wrench in place to finish the job.

[JasenC]

Love/hate is right. I drove $100 betters most of my youth, spent many of my weekends wrenching on them so I could get to work on Monday lol.
No more betters, but still drive old rigs, my GMC is an 06. Duct tape and bailing wire no longer gets you home, now it's a $200 tow to the shop followed by a $2500 repair bill for something simple.

[groys02]

Ah, yes, the "good old days".
Times where "I got by with a little help from my friends."
In this photo, in the process of moving my wife-to-be and daughter-to-be to my new place [me in foreground]... stopping en route to pick up my project-car and bring it along [from my parents' garage]. Had already stopped once to get the makeshift tow hitch re-welded on the '55... and before taking off again with 49 English Ford in tow, adjusted the valves on the '55, along with the wheel bearings.
I think my parents were glad to see me go...........

[groys02]

Got the rear door handles off... lots of sanding yesterday & today... surfaces not nearly perfect, but smooth enough for now, as I need to get the 'raw' surfaces primered--so that I can give it a rest for a bit. A few other things I need to attend to, very much including wrapping up some of the wiring work on the Anglia.
Good Lord willing, I'll be shooting etch-primer on it first thing in the morning tomorrow, followed by 2-3 coats of regular catalyzed primer.
So this afternoon I masked off a few bits that I didn't want primered, draped the wheels & tires, got the car cover back over the Anglia in the next-door bay [where the exhaust fan is, to carry the overspray away], and topped off the compressor's oil & cleaned its intake filter.
'About as ready as I know how to be.......

[groys02]

.....and the next day, we have primer! Auto-body folks might call the work so far a 20/20 job, as in, "Looks good from 20ft away, or at 20mph."

[JasenC]

The primer brings all the little imperfections to light for you to fix

I was running around work today with a pan of drywall mud after the primer was done the other day.

[groys02]

Jasen--true enough, lots of little things are more obvious.
But at least the raw surfaces are mostly protected now. [I hate rust even more than electrical work.]
I'll be taking a break from this project for a while now... need to finish up the wiring on the Anglia that'll tow this little fella around some day, so that it's finished & functional enough to satisfy the insurance bean-counters, and I can buy insurance & start driving it more.
I will definitely return to the teardrop, but might be mid-to-late fall.........

[JasenC]

Don't forget to drop by now and then while you're working on the Anglia.

[groys02]

Will do, thanks.
And the little camper will be in my thoughts a lot... ruminating.
It may take me a couple months to decide on how to make a ceiling for the teardrop that's both pleasing to look at and insulated---don't want the sun to bake a hot metal roof just above my head when out in it.
Once upon a time I'd purchased a set of approx. '70 Ghia taillights to graft onto the Anglia... now I'll likely put them on the back end of the teardrop instead. So there's that to plan out & ruminate on as well. Oh, and some kind of back bumper...............

[groys02]

Various car & camper projects shuffled around. Teardrop project back in main part of shop.
Proceeded to fit one of the 70 Karman Ghia taillights to the driver's side... still a filler panel to make for the area just below the 'new' VW light assembly, but so far, looks okay to me, and beats ordering taillight lenses from England for the original. Also, bigger & brighter taillights with the V-dub unit.
Original taillight base on righthand side of teardrop.........

[groys02]

'70 Ghia lights fitted to modified rear corners.
Rot in lower trunk corners repaired & primered.

Next up: Fasten to "rotisserie" and primer & paint frame... seam seal... undercoat?

[groys02]

I don't suppose there's much call for a rotisserie when building a more normal teardrop camper, but it sure will be handy on this project. Having sat for a while, the raw steel frame has a fair bit of surface rust to be scrubbed off before I can proceed with priming.
I also have a few odd bits to weld, that I couldn't handily get at earlier... now I can.
Once that's done, I can primer the frame, and my steel filler panels here & there... and then seam-seal... and then paint the frame.
Feels like progress. [Rotisserie is just a pair of engine stands, with some steel tubing & angle fabricated for attachment points.]





Even understanding Center-Of-Gravity pretty well, this last picture looks scary to me........

[groys02]

Been a while. Some progress, by fits & spurts.
Sealed plywood flooring pieces... 2 coats of oil-based stain & sealer, held to floor with recessed machine screws, caulked all around bottom framing.

And finally got light angle-iron framing in for galley, and covered that with plastic sheet with aluminum skin on both sides... don't know what it's properly called... it came from a warehouse surplus auction, via friend-of-friend. It's a fat 1/8" thick. I'll cover it with either self-stick floor tiles or Formica later, and trim around the edges of it oak strips. It's approx 33" x 36", and a little over 10" clearance between it & trunk lid at front, a bit over 10" below, where my feet will go. [[color=#004080]and I'll lose some of that clearance once padding/mattress is in place] Room at right of galley platform for a good-sized battery & electrical odds-n-ends... room at left of galley for several gallons of fresh water to ride.


Today I hauled it into town to the local elevator to get an idea on weight, before putting it away for a few months. 720 lbs... which will rise some as glass is reinstalled later, and it's finished off inside. So, easily 800-850 lbs when done... I'd hoped it'd be a little lighter, but it is what it is.