Bodywork Phase II had to have been one of the most excruciating experiences of my entire life. And I did it voluntarily. It was all done in the summer of 2003 and the average temperature in my garage, converted to paint booth, was 110°F. So after more than a hundred hours of application and sanding of body filler and glazing putty, here is the body ready for primer.
The unwary prey is about to be shot.
Rather feeatureless in gray, isn't it? A lot more sanding was done after the primer was applied.
That gray still doesn't go well with L91 Atlas White.
That's better, L54 Marina blue completes the color scheme.
It was about 4am when I rolled the body out of the booth. Night time was when it got below 95°F., cool enough to paint.
The next night I painted all of the fenders, doors, accessories, etc. I guess the neighbors didn't like waking up with a hangover because the fire marshall showed up as I was about to do the last coat of clear (about 8:30am). Fortunately, I talked him into giving me another half hour to finish. Unfortunately, I had to rush the final coat, and it shows. But not from far away, which is as close as most people will ever get to seeing my limo.
Just a recap of the evolution of my rear quarter windows.
Did I mention how painful and difficult all of that detail sanding was?
But it was worth it to make it look factory.
Yeah, this is my favorite part of the body.
After a week of letting the paint cure in my oven of a garage, it was back on the pan time. My wife hadn't figured out how to work her new digital camera yet, so the color is off.
One friend told some others that I was having a party, so plenty of help was on hand. Thanks Brad!
It went back together like a dream.
Hey, lets put some doors on while everybody is here to hold them up.
Wow, the paint lines even match up!
The first passengers, too bad there isn't a motor back there.
Mid window close up.
Right quarter window close up.
At the end of the summer, this was the state of my car. It went into storage while I went away to graduate school.
And here is the most recent bodywork done over the Christmas break of 2004. Custom glass and seals were made for the mid and quarter windows and installed. As well as the rest of the fenders and shiny chrome wheels with 3/4" whitewall tires.
Coming up in March of '05 will be the rest of the door windows, custom running boards and European style bumpers. As well as various bolt on accessories.
NEW PHOTOS BELOW - JULY 1, 2005
In March, I fabricated the running boards. I started with 4" C perlin used for metal buildings. The rolled edge was exactly the shape I wanted and the metal was of a heavy enough gauge (14ga.) to last a long time.
The process required several fittings to the car to get the profile cut just right. I then welded some 1/8" x 1" flat stock to the profiled edge. This was drilled to match the mounting holes.
I painted the undersides black to match the floorpans. The tops were left primered and covered with rubber.
I used round ribbed rubber runner mat to cover the running boards. I got it from McMaster-Carr. I glued it to the boards with silicone. I had to use a wire wheel to heavily scuff the back side in order to get a good bond.
Some shiny new accessories that bring the look of completion.
On March 25, 2005, I took my wife for a ride in the limo. She was the first passenger to ever ride in the back. I drove it a total of 10.4 miles before I had to head back to school.
I came back at the end of May to put the finishing touches on for my sister's wedding. Getting 4 pieces of running board trim without the running boards turned out to be quite an ordeal.
I also fabricated mounting brackets for the Euro style bumpers. Once those were mounted I spent what little time I had left screwing on little pieces for the interior.
I did plenty of driving around working out the bugs too.
When I took it to the local VW shop to get the wheels aligned, I managed to blow out an oil cooler adaptor seal. That was a huge mess to clean up. Fortunately, they let me use their shop space to fix it. And my wheels were within tolerance. Not bad for a tape measure job in the driveway. I also scored a couple of last minute pieces I needed.
Here she is after the wedding trip. Ready for another washing. The road grime on I-35 was intense. And the bugs are, of course, naturally attracted to her.
All told, the accumlated mileage is now at 803.1. But with new seats, that wasn't so bad. She finally spoke to me after 4 years and told me her name. Lorna.
