Tow'dlly Me! - My first build with only assistance by Craig

[PowersBuggies]

The gathering of parts continues... today, the wiring harness from Rebel Wire showed up AND the rear bumper was finished being welded along with the Whip bracket. Monday, the bumpers will go to powdercoat when I pick up the wheels.

[PowersBuggies]

Wheels, Rollbar and Windshield frame.. HOME from the Powdercoating.... a little lighter color than my initial plan, but then again, this is an ever changing build.. a few things in the color family are changing as we go it seems. Sometimes, things just present themselves that lend to the overall picture better than originally thought out....

[manxvair]

Looks Great!

[Oz-Towdster]

Keep up the good work

[PowersBuggies]

Engine Update - Case stripped, power washed, next it will be blasted...hopefully painted this weekend.

[PowersBuggies]

May not seem like a lot, but the studs have been removed from the case, and the case has been blasted...just a little more cleaning and the case should look like new tomorrow all clean and painted.

[PowersBuggies]

Major engine progress today! Case primed and painted... Craig rebuilt the heads.... just waiting on UPS to deliver the rest of the new parts...

[Oz-Towdster]

Well it's been a few weeks , your snow is disapearing slowly , so progress should be moving into top gear ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and well we're all waiting for the next instalment

[PowersBuggies]

Sorry to keep you in suspense Oz....
Since my last post I had a day off at home alone last week... first day we had sun and decent above freezing temps. Craig found out quickly what happens when you leave me home alone with all the tools. I began to tackle the Torsion Housing tear down.

Actually continuing work on this today and tomorrow as well. What just "appears" to be rust... is a whole ton of rot on the extremities.... this girl learned the "gentle" persuasion tactic of using the angle grinder with cutting blade! Pretty impressed with myself...first transmission removal and solo at that.

Still more persuasion needed, but I had to share the tools today with Craig...

[PowersBuggies]

Since I am in a holding pattern for a few engine parts and my welder.... I began work on my steering wheel facelift project. For my whole Tow'd design, I fell in love with this vintage steering wheel as it fulfills a specific purpose down the road. Its not fully finished, but almost there. Needed to get a little creative on how to protect the leather and still get to use the sandblasting cabinet! I found T-shirts wrapped it up nicely for this part of the process.

As for painting, I found both tinfoil as well as plastic wrap worked really well to protect.

The custom horn button is just one of the little custom things I came up with for this build.

[PowersBuggies]

Today Tear Down is officially complete!
Needed to call in the "Big Guns" to assist along with the help of the "Sawzall"



....and COMPLETE!

Next stop, taking to the sand blaster that did the hoop frame.

[Oz-Towdster]

Please tell me your going to cap of the front end of the frame horns , ie the dog bone area , and yes i realise that you can't do the same as us Aussies and cut the vin number area right off , ( mind you surely they wouldn't know if you relocated the VIN as bugger me you USA people save that peice if its gold BUT YOU CANT GET AT IT TO READ IT ANYWAY
Anyway great to see some more progress

[PowersBuggies]

Oh that is definitely getting capped off... And OMG you sound just like Craig... Minus the accent! He is going to move the VIN..."Because you can't see it anyways"... just going to have this blasted to get all cleaned up before welding etc.


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[PowersBuggies]

Well.... the Big Guns had to get called in yet again! Was so happy to get this front beam that was in immaculate shape out of Texas... no rot, not bent, even has factory original paint still on it! Looked SO MUCH BETTER than anything you can find in Upstate NY! THEN the tear down happens. Looks were totally deceiving. As I previously showed, I tore down my prior front end that we found out was bent. That went surprisingly quick and easy, no help required. Then came this one! Besides all the banging and profanity that turned the air blue... it was time to haul it up to our "real" garage.... Yes, I had to admit defeat on the one darn shock bolt and front torsion arm. You know the arm removal is bad when a couple of the leaf springs snap and it takes over an hour to remove them. As for the bolt....
Sometimes brute force is needed... notice the torch and hammer in the background as well

...and when the brute force doesnt work.. we drill...

The easiest thing of all... removing the stops

...and NOW ready to leave for the blaster with the rear housing.

[PowersBuggies]

Well the last of the rust is out the door to the sandblaster, so my build is going to be on hold for a short time. HOWEVER, I was majorly surprised today when my shift knob I designed came in.
Probably the only "Girlie" thing that will be in it, but HEY, that's why its my build!