Psychographic

Thank you all for the comments. Sorry no V-10 for this ride, I like the off beat look of the slant six. I did build a big honkin' turbo for it though. We are now in present time on this build. A new roof is on along with the filler piece along the top of the side door cut out, and the sunroof from a Street Fighter has been trimmed for a fitment.

Recovery time's over, get back to work batboy!

I moved on to the interior while I pondered the roof. This is all that is left of the stock tub. I tried a few configurations on the interior and came up with a single center seat from a Street Fighter. It's a trailer queen, who needs extra seats? Starting on the dashboard.

When I cut the gullwing door, I noticed the roof had sunk quite a bit. I set the body outside in the summer sun to speed up the filler, I guess it got too hot and warped the top. So I cut it off. This gave me plenty of access to do the interior walls. This wound up be a blessing as I had no idea how I was going to finish off the inside. The roof is gone and the interior walls are going in. I built ribs along the inside of the body similar to a real van and used them to space out the walls. I still have to do the back wall.

There is your problem. As enamel dries and starts to cure the addition of the solvent with the second coat attacks the curing paint. This can happen even with reducers and mineral spirits, although as they aren't as hot as LT. You need to recoat once it tacks, or wait until the paint cures (not dries).

When did you apply your second coat?

The roof is attached and it's really looking like a van. Now we need a way to get into the back of the van. It was at this point I realized there was a problem and I had to take a considerable step backwards, this wound out being a very good thing as you will soon see.

Sort of. The entry to the cab will still be through the front, but I have attached the lower part of the door to the windshield and the whole front flips up. There will also be a (hopefully gullwing} side door for entry to the cargo area.

She's getting there. A little engine detailing, some fuel fittings and throttle linkage to a fantasy fuel injections setup. I still have some bodywork to do on the intake tube.

Thanks Doc What is a CBP? I cut the back of the camper off to use as the back of the van body. I cut 1/4" tubing in half lengthwise to make the curve from the sides to the roof. I also cut into the rear roll pan to drop it some more. The side filler panels are fitted. And a roof.

Another of my favorites as a kid was the Deora. How someone had the vision to make something so beautiful out of an old A-100 is beyond me. This is another started and stalled build, so I'll be catching you up and finishing it in real time. I believe this was started in July and is about a months worth of work so far. The initial idea. First modifications, shortened the body 1/2" behind the rear wheelwells, filled the headlight and grille areas, a ground effects kit and lowering. The front suspension is from a Silhouette, the rear is scratchbuilt.

The front shocks and springs are done. I could never get the new bottom "sheetmetal" to line up with the top as well as I would like. I was afraid that I would lose all of the work so far, by not being able to mate the two halves correctly. I'm happy to say, the body is one piece and not as bad as I thought. I used Weld-On #16 to glue it together. I first masked along the edge of the top to save the paint and went to it. I did have a fitment problem with the nose on the bottom half, I decided it was best to break it off, do the adjustments and then glue it back on. The first round with the filler. The nose reattached.

This is a very cool idea, I'm following this to see where you go with it. It's hard to tell from the pics, did you narrow it also? It looks like there is a seam down the middle of the roof.

There is both a build and finished thread on the Vette called Bi-Polar, in case you missed them. You might also like the Silhouette I've got in the build forum. Be on the look out for my Deora van, and the sectioned Ala Kart that are coming soon. Oh yeah, I also have a 55 Chevy COE and a chopped Street Fighter started.

My plan is to paint and assemble the top half of the body, the glue the halves together, finish the bodywork and paint the bottom. It will be a 2 tone with a pinstripe to break the colors. Time for some color. It's a nail polish with a urethane clear. That brings us up to the present. From now on posts are as I'm building.

As the original taillights were part of the trunk , I need to make some new ones. I also made some exhaust pipes that will come out the back. I redid the hood too, I changed the lip to a hump.

Thanks for the comments. The interior painted and ready to go, minus the steering wheel. I can't decide between a normal wheel or the custom one from the kit. You can see it now has a new trunk. After looking at it so long without the trunk, the stock one looked out of place to me.

What everyone wants to know, "what's it really going to look like?" The answer,

The original interior tub was one piece, when I got done it had 18 pieces. I added foot wells which IMO looks much less cartooney than just the round tub of the stock version. The seats cut out, a rear deck added and the console has been reconfigured. After lots of cutting and fitting, we now have an interior that might actually be somewhat comfortable.

What's an OPI color? The paint on this is Dupont 131S primer, Absolute Purpleen over a custom mix black basecoat. The clear is a Nason Urethane.

At this point, I had cut the front wheels and tires in half. I took the cut rim pieces from the front wheels and glued them to the outside of the rear wheels to make them deep and wide. To assure I got a good straight cut on the tire, I first cut across the tread to the where I wanted the tire narrowed to, then cut that with a pair of kitchen shears. What this left me was two hoops with a cut across them. At this point the tires were not glued together, so the tape is holding the tire together for the time being.

I did, and it made my brain hurt. Some more progress, the frame is narrowed in the rear, stretched in the front. More progress on the front end.

Joe, if you take something "Over the top" and then go Over the top with it, do you wind up in a fourth dimension? I think that might even scare Grandpa.

I made up a triangulated 3 link for the rear suspension. To go with the Street Rod look I wanted for this build, out went the A-arm front suspension and I'm building a straight axle for it.

It's not a Viper, it's a 65 Corvette.