(Project) Boat tail-4 Door Sedan VW Mk2 (1990 Jetta GL)

[JethroBodine]

Brucepic- the welding, rear seat and window removal, chickenwire, and lights were one day( 10:30am to 7:05pm with a half hour lunch break. Fabric/resin the next day after work. The painting was another day after work( before the rain).

Rokeby- Where can I get one? My favorite Dungeon Master passed recently and forgot to tell us where the last bag of holding that is holding our last cloak was located.

Sven7- No tufting 'till smooth, this is just to get the thread started while I still remember what was going on and when. I chose a more complicated path than your anal Probe( awesome job, by the way!) The bottom is open, right now, but will be worked on tomorrow after work. Going to be aluminum as is the rest of the belly pan.

I've already been questioned by 4 different people if it is an electric car.

[Sven7]

Originally Posted by JethroBodine

Sven7- No tufting 'till smooth, this is just to get the thread started while I still remember what was going on and when. I chose a more complicated path than your anal Probe( awesome job, by the way!) The bottom is open, right now, but will be worked on tomorrow after work. Going to be aluminum as is the rest of the belly pan.

Oh, sounds great! (The Probe already has attached flow, otherwise I would have made a boat tail. ) I can't wait to see this in aluminum. It's gonna look sweet.

[Tango Charlie]

AeroJetta in the making. Sweet!

[brucepick]

One full day's work and a couple (long?) evenings - very impressive!!

Impressive regardless, in fact.

[JethroBodine]

The resin was about 3 hours and painting was less than an hour( and it shows).

Worked on the belly pan tonight.



Here is the sheet aluminum about to be put on under the frame.

One of the things I found out tonight is that a single layer of fabric will NOT stand up to this winter as I cracked what I have now fairly easily. More layers are in my future.



Left side about to be screwed on, air saw in the background. I used self drilling, hex head screws, as with the rest of the belly pan( benefits out weigh the penalties at this point).



Side view for now.



Tail fully enclosed underneath. I still have a couple panels to put on after the wheels and to enclose the end before I can move on to the floor I'm going to add for cargo/sleeping when camping( similar to the Anal Probe's.

Tonight was another 3 hour tour, and tomorrow night probably will be as well. I'll try to get final angle of the exiting belly pan. There is a small lip at the end to, hopefully, give good separation.

Kind of noisy, at this stage, but better than this morning. I used .23 gallons of gas on the way to work this morning which is on par with some of this summers' runs, but not a record( .2 gallons for the 20.45 mile run). I've been averaging .29 lately. The trip home( after dark) was .44 gallons and I've been seeing over .5 gallons regularly. The cooler weather is seeming to be offset by the tail. MUCH more testing and further finishing will tell the tale.

[JethroBodine]

I started working on the rear wall for the tail on Tuesday night and a friend at work started replacing the alternator in his V6 VW Corado. Wound up helping him more than working on my own rig, so I settled for a duct tape/cardboard wall with cut outs for the lights and a hole behind the license plate for light nut access. This will act as a template for the final wall, whatever that might be.



Rear opening with light assembly inside.



You can just barely see the access hole behind the plate. Gray silicone is sealing it for now. The outside is not sealed, I figured that it would help hold the plate in place.

Still using about .23 gallons on the commute to work. Thought I was going to have a record trip this 44 degree F. morning( sub .2 gallons), but ran into traffic on the last 6 miles.

[blownb310]

Holy cow I did not see this coming! Way to jump in with both feet Ken. Love it!

We're going to have some fun on October 16th.

Mike

[JethroBodine]

Whew! Do NOT put a tail on your car unless you like talking to people. Almost every time I stop somewhere, someone asks about my car. I'm trying to get my answers concise and interesting, and keep their attention long enough to pique their interest. Most are interested in the mileage, as in," You REALLY gettin' 63 mpg in that because of ...that...thing?" Always answering "Yes", one young lady replied, "That's better than my Mom's Prius.". I'm getting to meet some really cool people.

[JethroBodine]

Worked a bit this weekend. Got the rear end shaped and the light cutouts made, still need to drill the holes and weld the sucker on( no pics yet).



Did a bit of filling. Bought some car care, all cotton "diapers" @ $2.99 for 6. Cut one open( they are folded in thirds and stitched together) and used it to seal the remaining left side hole and smooth the transition.



Left another sewn up and used it to fill the tail a bit. Ocean State Job Lots had resin for $10/gallon, no glass cloth. I'm taking back the $27/gallon I bought last week.



While they were hardening, I took a chunk of TUFF-R insulation that I had kicking around and shaped it into a filler/overhang for the tail end. I think with shaping and sealing, this will add a good separation point for the top line of the tail. Speaking of which, anyone know if this stuff is OK to use with regular resin? Maybe I'll ask in a separate thread.



Added a little metallic blue camo and ready to ride, again.

[Tango Charlie]

Originally Posted by JethroBodine

anyone know if this stuff is OK to use with regular resin?

Nope, polyester resin will eat that stuff up. Gotta use epoxy resin.

Or paint the foam with some latex house paint first. Then you can use the polyester resin on it.