You gotta bead roll the steel or it will drum. Flat unsupported panels are not strong.
Either that or weld some angle steel at intervals.
^^^ What @Stan Galat said. Very nice work! What kind of steel are you using (regular, galvanized, etc)?
Thats why I chose 11Ga. And I’m going to use a couple crossmembers on each side
@DannyP posted:You gotta bead roll the steel or it will drum. Flat unsupported panels are not strong.
Either that or weld some angle steel at intervals.
11 ga is crazy thick. He'll be fine.
@Michael Pickett I was going to use stainless until I priced it—Wow prices have went threw the roof so just regular steel. Galvanize you cant weld if you like your lungs.
Decent lungs are good to have..... Cross members, figure your seat mounting measurement for your cross member placement... but I'm sure you already know that :~) I just did a similar dune buggy flat floor using 1/8" x 2" flat stock under the floor at the seat mount holes for additional rigidity.
@Stan Galat posted:@Former Member- I gotta' know - what's your line of business? I'm seeing some nice stuff and skills not recently acquired.
No guff, those tools and skills have been honed 
Good on you Arden, one of my best friends is called Arden but we always called him Butch.
@Stan Galat posted:11 ga is crazy thick. He'll be fine.
Geez, what are you building, a sports car or a battleship?
If it were me, I’d weld some tabs to attach panels made of Plascore aluminum honeycomb. Stronger, lighter, corrosion resistant.
https://www.plascore.com/honeycomb/honeycomb-cores/
But I’m not so I’ll shut up and watch.
@dlearl476 Have you ever seen what happens when steel and aluminum touch for 10 years and get wet maybe once or twice? It's not pretty. The aluminum turns into aluminum oxide powder.
11 gauge is just under 1/8”, and 5 lbs a square/foot. Certainly not going to need much bracing, maybe only under the seat mounts.
Thanks Rick, I never realized how thick(and heavy!) that stuff is.
Original Bug floors were like 16 gauge, right? The repops maybe 18 gauge?
@DannyP posted:@dlearl476 Have you ever seen what happens when steel and aluminum touch for 10 years and get wet maybe once or twice? It's not pretty. The aluminum turns into aluminum oxide powder.
There’s coatings for that.
@IaM-Ray That’s pretty cool that was my late brothers name Butch.
@dlearl476 posted:There’s coatings for that.
Yes, I know that. But after a while, coatings wear off and aluminum oxide happens.
Honeycomb panels are probably a little above a replica's pay grade, no?
@DannyP posted:Yes, I know that. But after a while, coatings wear off and aluminum oxide happens.
Honeycomb panels are probably a little above a replica's pay grade, no?
Years ago I wanted to build some furniture. I got a sample pack from Plascore, which included a 1’x1’ 1/4” piece like the photo above. It was treated with that light green anodizing like you see on a lot of aluminum.
In the 20 years since I got it, it’s bashed around in my tool box, in and out of boxes, been used as a surface plate for sanding and measuring. There isn’t so much as a scratch in the anodizing.
But if corrosion is your worry, they also make a sandwich with FRP surfaces and an aluminum core. Given that the floor of my Spyder is pretty much a single layer of FRP, I imagine it would be more than sufficient for a Speedster pan.
@Former Member - I still wanna' know, so I'll ask directly: what is your background and line of business?
You've got skillz.
@Stan Galat posted:@Former Member - I still wanna' know, so I'll ask directly: what is your background and line of business?
You've got skillz.
He said he’s in the sand and gravel business. 
He even tagged you. 
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By golly he did. And yes, thanks for noticing - I am quite hard of hearing, even with hearing aids.
... but don't feel bad at all. 
@Stan Galat No Worries Stan I’ve got hearing aids too! I just got back from my shop I thought I go down and grind some of the Powder coating off of the chassis for welding on Monday. That all went fine but then I switched directions my fuel tank came in so I thought drop it in and see how it fits. Well 3 hours later after cutting and sanding fiberglass and a little grinding on the tank I lost the BATTLE no way was it go into fit! I still couldn’t close the hood! I came home defeated! When I got home I immediately got to my computer and noticed I ordered the oversized tank 12.5 gallon instead of the regular size tank. I hope that fixes the problem!
Lessons learned: #1 Don’t be so Stubborn
#2 Ask you guys more Questions no matter how Trivial the my seem
@Former Member, don't feel bad, Stan has learned to ignore what I write, too. 😄
On the 12.5 gallon tank fitting, it was a seriously close call even on my old IM chassis. It took some creative hammer work on the passenger side of the tank before it seated in the trunk. I suspect your new and improved chassis is different enough make it impossible. I'd bet you are right and the stock size tank will fit. Good luck!
Got the body sat down on the chassis after lengthening. Pretty happy with it!
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Nice!
I agree with Stan. Very nice!!! What size are the wheels and where did you get them?
@Lane Anderson They are 17x 7” Smoothie’s from Airkewld they came with the chassis when I bought it. I like them but they are Heavy
I did get the floor panels cut and fitted not welded in still need to make two filler panels and my tunnel I think I am going to make it out of 14ga.
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I normally don't care for large rims on classic bodied Speedsters, but those do look nice. Heavy is not so good, tho'.
Yeah I was pretty surprised when I took them off to be honest with you. I had another builder tell me that he was going to get a set of them till he felt how heavy they were. I thought he was just trying to sell me a set of his rims but he was right. I like the looks of them so I think I will use them for now.
@Former Member, you didn’t happen to weigh the floor before you put it in?
@LI-Rick No I didn’t. I figured It still might be the same as a VW pan base car. I know I used heavier steel on the floor but I don’t have the heavier center section of the VW pan. My thinking might be all wrong but we shall see. When the weather gets a little better around here I going to bring my Superwide down here to the Gravel pit and weigh it on my scales and before I send the body off to get painted I will weigh the GT to see how close they are in weight.
@LI-Rick if I get time tomorrow I might pull the floors out since their not welded in yet and see how much they weigh. You got me wondering. I let you know.
@Former Member posted:@Lane Anderson They are 17x 7” Smoothie’s from Airkewld they came with the chassis when I bought it. I like them but they are Heavy
@Lane Anderson posted:I normally don't care for large rims on classic bodied Speedsters, but those do look nice. Heavy is not so good, tho'.
I agree, they do look good, but yeah, they're probably pretty heavy. It would be nice if Greg made some 16" Vintage 190's as well; at least then there'd be more tire choices.
Exactly my thoughts. 16's would be perfect because there are more tire choices but the wheels aren't so large as to look out of place on a classic. These 17's look good as well, although some don't.
Of course all that goes out the door on a flared car. Then you can do pretty much whatever you want.
@ALB posted:It would be nice if Greg made some 16" Vintage 190's as well; at least then there'd be more tire choices.
Arden, this all looks really super!
@ALB, I agree. A 16 X 6" Vintage 190 wheel would be really nice.
The smoothies are a 3 piece wheel I think. They offer up a lot of offset and width possibilities. They used to make them in 15" and 17" and now only 17", but they never made a 16" :-( One of the reasons I am going with the AirKewld brakes on my build is the ability to switch to a Porsche or Chevy wheel bolt pattern without a large expense or much fuss. Then someday I can get these (assuming my savings account ever recovers from stage one!) in a 16 X 6 with custom offset to fit up in the stock fenders.
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@Lane Anderson posted:Exactly my thoughts. 16's would be perfect because there are more tire choices but the wheels aren't so large as to look out of place on a classic. These 17's look good as well, although some don't.
Of course all that goes out the door on a flared car. Then you can do pretty much whatever you want.
@Lane Anderson I have 16 x7 and 8 and they run a little on wide body (not super wide body). Was thinking of 17 also.
@JMM (Michael) posted:Arden, this all looks really super!
@ALB, I agree. A 16 X 6" Vintage 190 wheel would be really nice.
The smoothies are a 3 piece wheel I think. They offer up a lot of offset and width possibilities. They used to make them in 15" and 17" and now only 17", but they never made a 16" :-( One of the reasons I am going with the AirKewld brakes on my build is the ability to switch to a Porsche or Chevy wheel bolt pattern without a large expense or much fuss. Then someday I can get these (assuming my savings account ever recovers from stage one!) in a 16 X 6 with custom offset to fit up in the stock fenders.
Those Dunlop replicas are stunning. More at home on an lightweight E Type replica, but still.
I think for the money I’d get Technos, though. (Who am I kidding? I can’t even afford 190’s)
Question: I’m wanting to get hydraulic brake and hydraulic clutch pedals with remote Reservoirs anyone have a brand that they prefer?
Arden, do you mean not VW stock pedal cluster in the tunnel?
If so, these are hard to beat from Greg at Vintage, his Spyder setup.
The pedal covers are OMP. Clutch master is Wilwood 5/8". Brake is 20.7mm(I think), works great with the airkewld 4 wheel discs. It's bigger than the 19mm most have, which is fine for front disc/rear drum.
For a reservoir I use the later Bug rectangular plastic one, and 2 hoses to feed the dual circuit master. The clutch is integral to the master. For slave use a 7/8" Wilwood pull-type.
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@DannyP Thats what I been looking for!! Thanks Danny
@DannyP posted:Arden, do you mean not VW stock pedal cluster in the tunnel?
If so, these are hard to beat from Greg at Vintage, his Spyder setup.
The pedal covers are OMP. Clutch master is Wilwood 5/8". Brake is 20.7mm(I think), works great with the airkewld 4 wheel discs. It's bigger than the 19mm most have, which is fine for front disc/rear drum.
For a reservoir I use the later Bug rectangular plastic one, and 2 hoses to feed the dual circuit master. The clutch is integral to the master. For slave use a 7/8" Wilwood pull-type.
Does Greg still have any? CNC closed up shop a year or so ago and that’s who made the ones I got from him.
But thank for posting that pic. It inspires me to get my OMP footpads installed.
Word of warning: The only thing I don’t like about this set up is that I lost the space under the clutch pedal that was nice to stretch out my leg because of the design of the OEM cluster mounting on the center tunnel.
I used a Tilton triple reservoir mounted on the front bulkhead to feed them. (Super Beetle and Wilwood masters)
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