fiberglass questions

RACER H-4 · Post by **RACER H-4** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 6:34 pm

i am thinking about getting a fiberglass everything but i want to have the whale tail on the decklid and i want it to be perminent and to look like its one piece

is it possible to make it apear as one piece with a little fiberglass work?

im going for that mullholleand look i think it is called, i think that just looks b!^<(-)en and it looks like its functional as well

thanks

Kubel Nick · Post by **Kubel Nick** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 7:22 pm

Yes but no.... You can mold fiberglass pretty easily but if you're planning on molding a 'glass spoiler on a metal engine lid I wouldn't recommend it. Metal expands differently then 'glass so sooner or later you'll start seeing ceracks where the two meets. I say just find a fiberglass lid with whale tail as one piece, they make them like that.

RACER H-4 · Post by **RACER H-4** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 7:34 pm

im gona make everything i can fiberglass
doors, all fenders, deck, hood, and anything else i can glass and leave the support structure metal, and im gona have a 6pt cage and weld tubing from teh front 2 pts on the cage to the middle ones for side impact protection

im basicaly gona make it look like a race car inside and out

Kubel Nick · Post by **Kubel Nick** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 7:10 am

I hope this isn't a street car. Like I said, just buy a lid with soiler as 1 piece instead of molding the 2 together. Will save you some time.

Even with the roll bar, fiberglass explodes on imapct when it passes it's structural limit when sheet metal bends instead. The 'glass door sold for race use are made for lightweight and not too strong (low impact strength). If you're serious just buy a fiberglass body.

SteveE · Post by **SteveE** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 8:49 am

Mulholland look you say? Sorta like this?

This car has fiberglass front airdam, trunk lid, all four fenders, running boards, VeeRossa side panels, rear deck lid and whale tail. All from Creative Car Craft www.creativecarcraft.com But I agree with Nick, on a street car the steel doors although heavier are a lot safer.
Better than steel, fiberglass will flex without any real damage when you bump into something at very low speeds, (useful for parking lot encounters), BUT in a hard impact fiberglass WILL shatter. That's why I prefer the idea of having that steel shell of the passenger compartment all around me. As for the one piece whale tail/deck lid You can glass the two components together, but it's a LOT of work to get to look right, and Stew at CCC recommends against it. Reason is, on a part like a deck lid that moves and flexes, the "relatively" heavy whale tail cantilevered out on the deck lid will eventually crack at the bond point with the deck lid. Better to leave them as two pieces bolted together, so they are free to flex and move relative to each other if they need to. If the fit is good, as on the CCC deck lid and whale tail, you won't notice the difference. Go to http://www.sounddomain.com/member_pages ... _id=216911 or http://www.onlineshowoff.com/index.asp? ... me=abug2nv to see more about my car. BTW this IS my daily driver, but I also do a little autocross racing in it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 4:51 pm

I'm also building a mulholland I searched what seems like forever but finally found a one piece whaletailand deck lid for 175 bucks in the misc section a friend tried to mold together a lid and tail after going from summer to winter to summer it looked like crap lotsa cracks and splitting keep looking you'll find one

mez · Post by **mez** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 8:05 am

Yeah, I'd think it would look like crap if it had a whale tail. if you want an ugly white trash car why don't you just buy an ugly white trash car? get an old camaro or something...

SteveE · Post by **SteveE** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 9:36 am

mez wrote:Yeah, I'd think it would look like crap if it had a whale tail. if you want an ugly white trash car why don't you just buy an ugly white trash car? get an old camaro or something...

Hey Mez...check your fly, your personality is showing!

mez · Post by **mez** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 10:58 am

SteveE wrote:
mez wrote:Yeah, I'd think it would look like crap if it had a whale tail. if you want an ugly white trash car why don't you just buy an ugly white trash car? get an old camaro or something...
Hey Mez...check your fly, your personality is showing!

Check my brain, you must mean - that's where my good sense resides; or check my neighborhood, perhaps, because in small town SC there are plenty of rednecks doing white trash stuff like that to their cars. Of course, those cars aren't VWs because most of the white trash prefer hondas or camaros. Just because your personality comes from your pants doesn't mean that everyone else's does too. My point is just that if you like a car that looks like that, you shouldn't buy a VW. It makes just as much sense to buy a Camaro and try to make it look like a Beetle. I'm not going to buy an Econoline and fiberglass it up to look like a Split Bus and I'm not going to buy a Volvo and try to make it look like a Squareback. If you want an ugly car, buy an ugly car and save yourself a lot of trouble.

RACER H-4 · Post by **RACER H-4** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 11:14 am

i not only like the look, i like its functionality.

airdam keeps the air from under the car, wing on rear makes a nice table for u and ur GF or wife to eat off of, but it also helps the higherspeed handling of ur car.

dont tell me im wrong because i just woke up and im always rite in my own little world

JC-ATL · Post by **JC-ATL** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 11:36 am

While I've never been crazy about the Mulholland look, there's a couple things about SteveE and his ride that you have to respect. And a note: I don't know SteveE, but I've seen him and this car around these boards quite a bit.

1. He actually has made some attempt at performance mods, rather than just trying to make his car look fast. According to his site, he built and maintains the 1776 in this car himself.

2. He did all the body work on this car himself, and while I've seen a lot of these kits look like they were done by 4-year old crack addicts, the craftmanship on this one is evident.

No matter what your personal taste in the various custom Beetle "looks" are, good work done by the owner will always get some respect from me.

Kubel Nick · Post by **Kubel Nick** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 11:46 am

"If you want an ugly car, buy an ugly car and save yourself a lot of trouble".

Different people has different opinions. Don't force yours on them so harshly

Just because you don't like it doesn't mean everyone's suppose to hate it as well.

Keep it clean guys

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 6:04 pm

mez wrote: My point is just that if you like a car that looks like that, you shouldn't buy a VW. It makes just as much sense to buy a Camaro and try to make it look like a Beetle. I'm not going to buy an Econoline and fiberglass it up to look like a Split Bus and I'm not going to buy a Volvo and try to make it look like a Squareback. If you want an ugly car, buy an ugly car and save yourself a lot of trouble.

You must be amazingly arrogant to presume to tell people what they should and shouldn't drive and what they should and shouldn't do with THEIR OWN PROPERTY. I don't recall reading that you were elected arbiter of all things relating to automotive style. You know, if you don't like my car, (or anybody else's for that matter), unless somebody specifically asks for opinions, why don't you do everyone a favor and just keep your opinions to yourself. Racer H-4 didn't ask for your opinion, nor did anyone else involved. This was technical discussion about something that probably should not even have interested you. But you saw fit to grace us all with your enlightened opinions. Even if they were in no way constructive or even particularly on topic. As my mother always said "If you can't say anything nice...Don't say anything at all." I sense that you are one of those VW "purists" for whom anything beyond stock is an affront to your sensibilities. I, on the other hand, love any VW, from rusty beaters, to classic showroom restorations, to dune buggys and baja bugs, to wild customs and kit cars, and can appreciate each type for what it is, and the efforts involved. Since you obviously hate my car, whatever you do DON'T GO TO http://volksrods.com/forums/index.php?act=idx. Your head would explode!

SteveE · Post by **SteveE** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 12:06 pm

As something to add to this debate, the picture that I post was taken by the world-renowned automotive photographer Ron Kimball at the 2001 Kelly Park show. Surrounded by hundreds of the finest examples of Volkswagens on the West coast. Ron approached me and asked if he could photograph MY car. It was one of a few that he chose to photograph that day. (And no, I didn't pay him to photograph it! I probably couldn't afford it anyway.)
Mr. Kimball doesn?t waste his time photographing junk or UGLY cars (he spent almost ½ an hour photographing my car that day), quite the opposite, he has photographed some of the rarest, most valuable, beautiful and exotic cars in the world. And ulitimately his (and people of his credentials) opinion(s) of my car mean a lot more to me than yours does Mez.

If you don't believe me go to http://www.ronkimballstock.com/index.as ... site=rkcar do a search by image ID# and enter AUT 23 RK0511 01 you'll see the shot above on HIS site. My car has also won two trophies (a first and a second place) at cars shows so far, and it wasn't entered in the UGLY CAR catagory.

jus'buggin · Post by **jus'buggin** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 6:27 am

really who cares what people say about your car....it yours. I get crap all of the time because I own a super. I still love her. Who cares what other people think.
White trash? naaaaaaah.
white trash would be putting a type R emblem on it and a fart can exhaust.

That look isnt for me personally but it is still a BADA$$ bug. I think you did a great job on it.

JMO

Brant
wait wait wait before we rule out white trash....Do you have all of your teeth? or Do you live in a trailer park with your mom?