Ty's VW RatRod Beetle Project Car

Ty's Volkswagen Beetle RatRod Project Car

Volkswagen Beetle RatRod Project Car -- Click on each image to view full-size

Step 1: Rust Prevention

Ty's Beetle is a daily driver vehicle that has to survive hot NY/NJ summers, cold NY/NJ winters, snow, rain, salted roads, potholes, and other zany drivers on the nation's highways. And all this with a 30-year old vehicle. To that end, selecting something solid was a must, but, the other goal of the project was to keep the cost low therefore, as much as possible needed to be reused. So we worked with what we had. The first step is to beat the existing rust on the target vehicle. The entire care was stripped down to the shell, and any visible surface rust was treated with a product called Rust Bullet. Anywhere that the metal was eaten away by rust had the area cut out and replacement metal was welded in. Fortunately; that wasn't that bad on this car.

The silver areas in the wheel well show where Rust Bullet was applied. Right at the edge where the door should meet the body, rather than replace the metal, a body filler known as Metal To Metal was applied. This is also silver, and is an aluminum-type body filler, much stronger than ordinary bondo.

Although the project was done in a mere 8 months, there were stages of priming and painting to keep any rust away from the car, as this project was done from January to July 2006, and in the early stages, the Garage was damp and cold. Ty was also curious as to what the final result would look like, so, liberal amount of spray paint were used out of the can as preliminary treatments while we worked on the vehicle.

The paint itself is a special John Deere tractor paint. The black is called Blitz Black and MUST be used in conjunction with it's special yellow primer. The blitz black paint was a special "satin" texture to it that makes it kind of look like black primer for that "Rat Rod" look. However, because the black paint is slightly porous due to it's texture, the primer is essential to seal the metal and prevent rust from forming under the paint.

Whenever possible, we wanted to reuse pieces from Ty's older Beetle, a white vehicle that was simply falling apart from use and abuse over the years (remember that it's a daily driver, and has seen constant use for 30 years). However, the doors and the rear decklid were the only use-able metal left from the white Beetle. As the car has been involved in an accident, we could not re-use the fenders (which were pretty rusty regardless). Although we were taking pains to keep the build as cheap as possible, in this case, new sheetmetal was required for the passenger-side front fender. You can also see that yellow primer was sprayed inside and out, along all the edges of the car. Also, Rust Bullet was applied to areas of the floorpan, in an attempt to prevent rust creep. The orange paint is the car's original color.

Here, the rear decklid was test-fitted from Ty's older Beetle, and Jaime inspects the engine. A temporary engine was placed in the car to make it easier to move around. After the car was painted, we would take the engine and trans out of Ty's car and put it in this car. This is Ty's second Engine and Transmission - and the tranny is a "Freeway Flyer", with the taller fourth gear which allows for easier Highway speeds without putting a huge strain on the engine. Both engine and trans were good from the white beetle, it was the body that was falling apart. Still, the engine has about 150,000 miles on it, so, post-project, Ty needs to consider getting a new engine after about a year.

From this view you can also see the Rust Bullet applied to the edges of the floorpan. Anywhere we had sanded away visible surface rust and/or appiled any kind of body filler or treatment to the outer metal was primed and painted with John Deere paint as preliminary work, and to build up layers of paint where we weren't sure we would get good coverage when the final paint is applied.

Step 2: Body Work

Here we all participated in Bondo'ing up the car. Visible in the photo are Bob and Jaime, in the process of sanding and smoothing the bondo BEFORE it gets hard. Bondo (and just about all body filler type products) is mixed with a hardener, and goes on with the consistency of pudding. However, when it starts to get hard, thats when you want to start sanding (when it's about the consistency of dough), lightly, but with a 40 or 80 grit sandpaper. You don't want to press hard or you'll get deep scars in the bondo and then need to re-do it. You just want to start getting off the uneven top layer of bondo.

As it gets very hard, switch to 100 grit and continue sanding with an orbital sander. You need to featheredge where it meets the metal and get everything nice and smooth with no bumps or valleys. You need to run your hands over where you are sanding and feel the whole thing. And do not stay in one area for too long, move over the whole surface of the car and feel it as a whole, try and imagine the shape you want and create that shape -- if required, build up layers of bondo in succession until you have what you want.

One warning though for all this is to work in a well-ventillated area and wear a mask. All that sanding kicks up a lot of dust and chances are that more bondo will wind up on the floor than on the car. Don't worry, this is normal. In the end, you want just enough bondo on the car to cover any obvious dents and depressions in the metal. You don't want lots and lots of bondo on the car anyhow, as with lots of abuse over time it will crack if it's on too thick.

After body filler is applied and sanded down properly, the whole car is given a sanding down so that it will be ready to accept the first real layer of primer in preparation for the paint.

Step 3: Prime and Paint

Here's the car in our "paint booth", which is really just a walled up section of the garage where we can spray without getting paint all over everything else. Cardboard has been inserted in all the windows to prevent overspray from getting paint on the dashboard, steering wheel, or anyplace else on the inside we don't want the primer to go. As you can see from the tailpipes sticking out, the temporary engine is still inside the car. At this point we have swapped in the rear decklid, and the doors from Ty's white beetle and they have been prepped with the rest of the car for primer and paint. Ty was driving his white beetle with two orange doors. The reason we didn't use the original doors was that the windows didn't work.

Ty's Beetle is a daily driver vehicle that has to survive hot NY/NJ summers, cold NY/NJ winters, snow, rain, salted roads, potholes, and other zany drivers on the nation's highways. And all this with a 30-year old vehicle. To that end, selecting something solid was a must, but, the other goal of the project was to keep the cost low therefore, as much as possible needed to be reused. So we worked with what we had. The first step is to beat the existing rust on the target vehicle. The entire care was stripped down to the shell, and any visible surface rust was treated with a product called Rust Bullet. Anywhere that the metal was eaten away by rust had the area cut out and replacement metal was welded in. Fortunately; that wasn't that bad on this car.

Ty's Beetle is a daily driver vehicle that has to survive hot NY/NJ summers, cold NY/NJ winters, snow, rain, salted roads, potholes, and other zany drivers on the nation's highways. And all this with a 30-year old vehicle. To that end, selecting something solid was a must, but, the other goal of the project was to keep the cost low therefore, as much as possible needed to be reused. So we worked with what we had. The first step is to beat the existing rust on the target vehicle. The entire care was stripped down to the shell, and any visible surface rust was treated with a product called Rust Bullet. Anywhere that the metal was eaten away by rust had the area cut out and replacement metal was welded in. Fortunately; that wasn't that bad on this car.
Ty's Beetle is a daily driver vehicle that has to survive hot NY/NJ summers, cold NY/NJ winters, snow, rain, salted roads, potholes, and other zany drivers on the nation's highways. And all this with a 30-year old vehicle. To that end, selecting something solid was a must, but, the other goal of the project was to keep the cost low therefore, as much as possible needed to be reused. So we worked with what we had. The first step is to beat the existing rust on the target vehicle. The entire care was stripped down to the shell, and any visible surface rust was treated with a product called Rust Bullet. Anywhere that the metal was eaten away by rust had the area cut out and replacement metal was welded in. Fortunately; that wasn't that bad on this car.

Volkswagen Beetle RatRod Project Car -- Click on each image to view full-size
Step 1: Rust Prevention
	Ty's Beetle is a daily driver vehicle that has to survive hot NY/NJ summers, cold NY/NJ winters, snow, rain, salted roads, potholes, and other zany drivers on the nation's highways. And all this with a 30-year old vehicle. To that end, selecting something solid was a must, but, the other goal of the project was to keep the cost low therefore, as much as possible needed to be reused. So we worked with what we had. The first step is to beat the existing rust on the target vehicle. The entire care was stripped down to the shell, and any visible surface rust was treated with a product called Rust Bullet. Anywhere that the metal was eaten away by rust had the area cut out and replacement metal was welded in. Fortunately; that wasn't that bad on this car. The silver areas in the wheel well show where Rust Bullet was applied. Right at the edge where the door should meet the body, rather than replace the metal, a body filler known as Metal To Metal was applied. This is also silver, and is an aluminum-type body filler, much stronger than ordinary bondo.
	Although the project was done in a mere 8 months, there were stages of priming and painting to keep any rust away from the car, as this project was done from January to July 2006, and in the early stages, the Garage was damp and cold. Ty was also curious as to what the final result would look like, so, liberal amount of spray paint were used out of the can as preliminary treatments while we worked on the vehicle. The paint itself is a special John Deere tractor paint. The black is called Blitz Black and MUST be used in conjunction with it's special yellow primer. The blitz black paint was a special "satin" texture to it that makes it kind of look like black primer for that "Rat Rod" look. However, because the black paint is slightly porous due to it's texture, the primer is essential to seal the metal and prevent rust from forming under the paint.
	Whenever possible, we wanted to reuse pieces from Ty's older Beetle, a white vehicle that was simply falling apart from use and abuse over the years (remember that it's a daily driver, and has seen constant use for 30 years). However, the doors and the rear decklid were the only use-able metal left from the white Beetle. As the car has been involved in an accident, we could not re-use the fenders (which were pretty rusty regardless). Although we were taking pains to keep the build as cheap as possible, in this case, new sheetmetal was required for the passenger-side front fender. You can also see that yellow primer was sprayed inside and out, along all the edges of the car. Also, Rust Bullet was applied to areas of the floorpan, in an attempt to prevent rust creep. The orange paint is the car's original color.
	Here, the rear decklid was test-fitted from Ty's older Beetle, and Jaime inspects the engine. A temporary engine was placed in the car to make it easier to move around. After the car was painted, we would take the engine and trans out of Ty's car and put it in this car. This is Ty's second Engine and Transmission - and the tranny is a "Freeway Flyer", with the taller fourth gear which allows for easier Highway speeds without putting a huge strain on the engine. Both engine and trans were good from the white beetle, it was the body that was falling apart. Still, the engine has about 150,000 miles on it, so, post-project, Ty needs to consider getting a new engine after about a year. From this view you can also see the Rust Bullet applied to the edges of the floorpan. Anywhere we had sanded away visible surface rust and/or appiled any kind of body filler or treatment to the outer metal was primed and painted with John Deere paint as preliminary work, and to build up layers of paint where we weren't sure we would get good coverage when the final paint is applied.
Step 2: Body Work
	Here we all participated in Bondo'ing up the car. Visible in the photo are Bob and Jaime, in the process of sanding and smoothing the bondo BEFORE it gets hard. Bondo (and just about all body filler type products) is mixed with a hardener, and goes on with the consistency of pudding. However, when it starts to get hard, thats when you want to start sanding (when it's about the consistency of dough), lightly, but with a 40 or 80 grit sandpaper. You don't want to press hard or you'll get deep scars in the bondo and then need to re-do it. You just want to start getting off the uneven top layer of bondo. As it gets very hard, switch to 100 grit and continue sanding with an orbital sander. You need to featheredge where it meets the metal and get everything nice and smooth with no bumps or valleys. You need to run your hands over where you are sanding and feel the whole thing. And do not stay in one area for too long, move over the whole surface of the car and feel it as a whole, try and imagine the shape you want and create that shape -- if required, build up layers of bondo in succession until you have what you want.
	One warning though for all this is to work in a well-ventillated area and wear a mask. All that sanding kicks up a lot of dust and chances are that more bondo will wind up on the floor than on the car. Don't worry, this is normal. In the end, you want just enough bondo on the car to cover any obvious dents and depressions in the metal. You don't want lots and lots of bondo on the car anyhow, as with lots of abuse over time it will crack if it's on too thick. After body filler is applied and sanded down properly, the whole car is given a sanding down so that it will be ready to accept the first real layer of primer in preparation for the paint.
Step 3: Prime and Paint
	Here's the car in our "paint booth", which is really just a walled up section of the garage where we can spray without getting paint all over everything else. Cardboard has been inserted in all the windows to prevent overspray from getting paint on the dashboard, steering wheel, or anyplace else on the inside we don't want the primer to go. As you can see from the tailpipes sticking out, the temporary engine is still inside the car. At this point we have swapped in the rear decklid, and the doors from Ty's white beetle and they have been prepped with the rest of the car for primer and paint. Ty was driving his white beetle with two orange doors. The reason we didn't use the original doors was that the windows didn't work.
	Ty's Beetle is a daily driver vehicle that has to survive hot NY/NJ summers, cold NY/NJ winters, snow, rain, salted roads, potholes, and other zany drivers on the nation's highways. And all this with a 30-year old vehicle. To that end, selecting something solid was a must, but, the other goal of the project was to keep the cost low therefore, as much as possible needed to be reused. So we worked with what we had. The first step is to beat the existing rust on the target vehicle. The entire care was stripped down to the shell, and any visible surface rust was treated with a product called Rust Bullet. Anywhere that the metal was eaten away by rust had the area cut out and replacement metal was welded in. Fortunately; that wasn't that bad on this car.
	Ty's Beetle is a daily driver vehicle that has to survive hot NY/NJ summers, cold NY/NJ winters, snow, rain, salted roads, potholes, and other zany drivers on the nation's highways. And all this with a 30-year old vehicle. To that end, selecting something solid was a must, but, the other goal of the project was to keep the cost low therefore, as much as possible needed to be reused. So we worked with what we had. The first step is to beat the existing rust on the target vehicle. The entire care was stripped down to the shell, and any visible surface rust was treated with a product called Rust Bullet. Anywhere that the metal was eaten away by rust had the area cut out and replacement metal was welded in. Fortunately; that wasn't that bad on this car.
	Ty's Beetle is a daily driver vehicle that has to survive hot NY/NJ summers, cold NY/NJ winters, snow, rain, salted roads, potholes, and other zany drivers on the nation's highways. And all this with a 30-year old vehicle. To that end, selecting something solid was a must, but, the other goal of the project was to keep the cost low therefore, as much as possible needed to be reused. So we worked with what we had. The first step is to beat the existing rust on the target vehicle. The entire care was stripped down to the shell, and any visible surface rust was treated with a product called Rust Bullet. Anywhere that the metal was eaten away by rust had the area cut out and replacement metal was welded in. Fortunately; that wasn't that bad on this car.