Gothic Kustomz

OK, now that you have done the easy stuff, now the fun begins, the placement, first off tape that door to the body, make sure you have the same opening all the way around, good and tight now, you don't want that puppy to move, when least expected: Next set you socks over the lil leg's, ok sleave's, somethin like this, then just a lil drop of super goo, let it set up, just for a few, then I take the door off, to make sure I didn't glue the leg's in the sleave's, let it set up real good now, then slip the door back into place, yes tape it again, then, set your hinge in place, do the drop of goo, let it set a few, then remove the door again, yea I know long process, now when it's all said and done you should have something like the last 2 pictures: now your door will sag, and it will be at the top, just tweak the top leg a lil, gently you will be ok, cut your door sleave's about 1/4 inch long, longer if you need them, just remember once cut, you pay, if you have to cut them shorter:

Whew, ok now on to the bends. Now I can't exactly tell you the bends, so I'm hopping the pictures will help you thru this process, becouse each build is different, each efect you want can be different too, sooooo.... Your first bend should look like this: Now my second bend is alway's at a slight angle, I dunno why, but it works for me, you want to get this as close to possible, it must clear the door jamb, you don"t need the door to swing so wide, just a good indication that it open's in the direction you want: Here's the rest, try to get it all straight, and even as possible, but you can always tweak it later too: Now, I use super glue to tack it into place, then I use this stuff 5 min epoxy, this stuff is great, oh and try not to get anything in the hinge hole, it suck's: Anyway you should have something close to this, and I cannot stress this more, TEST FIT, TEST FIT, TEST FIT, I dint care if your eyeball's are popping out of your head becouse of all the test fitting, DO IT AGAIN!!!!, believe me you will like the results, and it's allot less aggravation in the end......

Morning guys, It's 7 am here in Az land, the weather suck' s again today so no primer on the nasty 9, yeasterday i was feeling ill, so i didnt get to post, nor did I get much done, but here is some work.. Now I like to use piano wire and small aluminum tubing, to make my hinge's, some use, brass, hollow Q-tip tube's, and even paper clips, so you can use pretty much what ever you have at hand, I get my tubing and piano wire from my local Ace Hardware store: I then cut 2 piece's of tubing about 7/16th's of an inch long, debure them, or smoothe the edge's, and make sure the hole is clear, now I use a miter box, and a saw blade to to this, it's a handy lil booger to have around, I also scratch build my own header's when need'd, and my own distributors, some people will just lay the tub out and cut it with a excto blade, by rolling to, an fro: I then cut 2 piece's of the piano wire, 1 inch an 7/16th's long, now you can cut this longer, up to how your going to fit the hinge, and you can allways trim it off later: Slip the wire thru the tubing like so: Now I got this nifty lil smooth mini needle nose pliers from Walmart, it came with 4 other tools, it's nice to have when you need to make the bends, oh yea, in the jewlery section:

OK, now for the hinge's, this will have to be done in sections, and I hope it will be easy to understand, first off, is the spacer, as you can see by the curve of the door, whoa!, needs to be fill'd with something, soooooooo, I cut a 5/8ths of an inch long piece of about .060 inch plastic, about 5/16ths of an inch wide, give it a good sanding to get it as close to the curve of the body, it will pay off, and super glued it to, the inside of the body, about 1/16th of an inch, just inside the door frame, the reason for the brace, is to have a level playing field, and it give's a flat surface to attache the tube to: Side note here gang, be sure to test fit the interior tub, yes befor you cut the door pannel's out of it,you want no obstruction, check before you super glue, the brace in, other wise, you wont like the results.....

Morning guys, here is a shot of the finish'ed trunk lip, with a lil file work it looks good, this isn't great, but after a lil mud an paint it will look great, next will be the suicide door hinges, now I dunno if everyone know's how to do them, an I'm not the expert, but it is the way I have found most easy for me to do them, especially with the way there is such a curve to the body....

OK, here you go, this is the way I do trunk lips, they don't have to be very wide, I first cut a 1/4th wide, strip of .010 plastic sheet 2 inches long, X 2, I then mark a line about 1/32 of an inch, then super glue the strip, to the line, inside the trunk, I do the 2 side's first, now when you do the top/front of the trunk, you will have to see how far it is between the 2 side strips, there all different, after it's all said and done, it will look all blocky, you will have to file it to what you need, to give it that right look, be sure to check, and recheck, the way the trunk fits, because it's gotta sit flush,and smooth:

OK, here you go, this is the way I do trunk lips, they don't have to be very wide, I first cut a 1/4th wide, strip of .010 plastic sheet 2 inches long, X 2, I then mark a line about 1/32 of an inch, then super glue the strip, to the line, inside the trunk, I do the 2 side's first, now when you do the top/front of the trunk, you will have to see how far it is between the 2 side strips, there all different, after it's all said and done, it will look all blocky, you will have to file it to what you need, to give it that right look, be sure to check, and recheck, the way the trunk fits, because it's gotta sit flush,and smooth:

OK1 here we are, I will do the trunk lip, and show pic's of it going down, now after you cut out your panels please make sure, you remove the lip that will show up on the underside, it makes attaching from inside so much easy'r, and gives you a level playing field, when it come's to hinging....

Next stop, the trunk:

Just about ready for primer, for the most part:

OK, first order of body work done, the smoothing, it will be a roadster, so the top, will come off close to last, becouse it would be to flimsy, till I get the glass in, of course it will be in the weeds, some kewl wheels and tires, if I can get them....

OK, this is gonna happen fast, so you have to keep up, as you can see, it's a caddy, a nice one too, but we're gonna do some nasty things to it, to make it look oober kewl, so keep up with the build, things are gonna happen fast, I hope, it's plan'd, the math is work'd out, the saw is ready......

My poor baby after her dip, look's so naked, the piece that broke should be just about ready to come out, anytime now, I decided not to take it all to the bone, then again the brake juice, help'd with that choice too......

Don't you just hate when this happens, you open a perfectly good, new kit, and the door's and trunk deck fall off, I do....

I must say I am very impress'd with this kit so far, very little clean up, such a minor mold line, I almost miss'd it all together, no real flash to speak of, over all I think I will have fun with this one.....

In lue of Tainted Love new life on the shelf, well for now, I bring you Shock'r, take a good look, this is supposed to be the way she is to look, ummmmmm, yeah right , not in Gothic Kustom'z world, all I do know is she will be slammed to the ants back, from there who know's, but, you can bet I'll post it all the way, hehehehehehehehehe.....

Sorry for those that were fallowing this build, and it didn't seem like allot of you, well it has been shelved, yes, the cowell broke during buffing, so paint has to go all the way to the bone, but it will be better this trip, so hang in there, Tainted Love is not dead.....

Just a peek before bed, nite, nite:

Whew, got the frame just about done, some fill in work, got rid of the twist in the frame, only to have it appear in the front now, radiator core support should fix that, here's some pic's:

OK, seem's I'm having issues, sooooooooooo, we have replaced Fordzilla, yes, she is behind the shop for now :sad: and in her place I introduce you to Nasty 9, a Thom Dannels '39 wagon rod, I think, dunno really just found the body in a box, and the saw took over from there so far the frame is almost done, will post those up soon, the body is in great shape, sleeper is perfect, she will have all the stuff the '53 would of had but power'd by a 527 CI, I hope, oh and the frame on the '39 is actually wider then the '53, which work'd out perfect for the rollback bed frame, besides I just thought it would look kewler, then the '53, here take a look, yeah I know the frame has a slight twist to it in the pic, but I cant find it on the rod, I'm hoping it will smooth out when I get all the cross members in, I dunno tho....

Ok, I lie'd here's the engine for Tainted love, part's pak 427, scratch built dizzy, wire's 30 gauge, from Radio Shack, resin 1250 dominator carb's, Moroso valve cover's from the part's box, tranny from the '65 Lincoln kit, air cleaner's from ???

OK, well here she is dress'd in lady of the night Black Pearl, plus this will be the last mock shot till assembly, bet you guys are glad about that, here you go,

Not a good shot here, looks as if I'm gonna have to brake out the photo booth, but here's a shot, after last coat, now for the finale minor scuffing, and smoothing, then gloss.

I dunno man, it just aint working, if I knew what the problem was I wouldnt be asking..... Really can't see the pearl, ohhhhhh, but it's there, and allot of it, anyway this is just the first, the inside will be painted Black, I will take some outside shot's in the morning before it rains, still have to fine wet sand this, no the hood paint didn't crack there on the corner, it was where the gator clip was, yeah duh, even used flash, I thought for sure the pearl would show up, man does it ever in the sun....

OK plastic phreak's here you go, I was thinking to myself, hmmmmmm self, your gonna have a tandem rear axle under this Zilla, it's gonna be long, it's gonna haul cars, but there is something really disturbing here, the frame looked to WEENIEISH!!!, is that even a word? dunno, ask Homer Simpson, so here we go will this be the beginning or the? i will have to do this all by eyeball engineering should be load's of fun, more as we progress.. .