We'll I got through probably the biggest hurdle in the build (at least in my mind). I was sorta sweating out having to shorten the chassis but it was the first thing to get done on the long list of things to do on the buggy.
Now I've only done this one other time, and I didn't do any of the welding back then. When we finished that one, it was strong, but I'd be rather embarrassed to show people pictures of the tunnel when we got done. It worked but it looked like a hack job.. With this in mind, and the fact that I haven't done any appreciable welding for the past 7 years.. I was a little worried about the impending work ahead..
Long story short it turned out great and went off without a hitch despite several roadblocks along the way and my miss-estimation of how long it would take
On to the good stuff!
First thing I did was weld two legs to the bottom of the tunnel on either side of the section that I was going to cut out. Gearing up...
I cut the top out of the tunnel to survey what needed to be done, and to use the scrap to practice a little welding on to get the voltage and wire speed set on the mig welder. I figured if all else fails with the welder, I could at least still tow it home like this as opposed to cutting it all the way before brushing up with the welder..
Here you can see my stair step cut and one of the legs I mentioned earlier
I'm fortunate enough to work at a place that has a big shop with all the tools I could possible need at my disposal (plus the generosity of the shop guys with letting me borrow their personal tools too!)
My buddy Armondo gave me a hand with the heavy lifting.. Eventually he had to take off, and hats off to my wife who helped me prop up the chassis on its side twice more..
Marking the cuts on the bottom..
By doing the top and bottom first, I could set the chassis back down and cut out the sides (the easy part) last
The tubes where a huge pain.. getting the spot welds (no so spot'ish IMO) broke on the e-brake and clutch tube is a chore..
So we got busy and forgot to take some pics here.. but got all the tubes freed up and the chassis pulled back together. I ditched the small fuel line in the tunnel (it was pretty rough and giving me lots of trouble).. I'm planning on running stainless along side the tunned on the opposite side of the brake line. During all this we found out that all of the welds for the clutch tube were broke, so that got added to the list of things to fix.
Any ways.. tackin it back up
A little grinding action
Its whole again!
Did a little more fill work in some low spots...
More grinding.. (that little 6" grinder sure got a work out)
The little ridges on the bottom gave me the most trouble. Here is a pic before they were filled
Working on the bottom
Action shot
Now that that was done.. on to fixing the clutch tube. Saw a recommendation on the samba to use a hole saw at an angle to cut open a flap (worked excellent IMO)
Bend her open and retack the tube to the support bracket
All done.. Here is some finished shots outside
This is junction with out any sort of filler on it.. still a little rough from the grinder.. but when we prep the chassis, I'll probably put a little filler on there to smooth it out. Came out great IMO..
Other side
Now both of us were anxious to get home and try out the body.. The chassis sure did look short so I was hoping that my calculations were correct and I didn't cut too much..
It fits!
Good side shot.. I think I finally talked her into letting me drop the front some.. just too nose high for me
And here is a good shot of the finished bottom
Enjoy!
My wife is going out of town next week for a wedding that I won't be able to make it too.. So I've got plans for my after work activities to do on the buggy. More updates to come soon!