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Eric, my name is Dave and I live in Ohio. Again, thanks for the welcoming comments. Eric, my name is Dave and I live in Ohio. I live reasonably close to Doug Hines' shop, which is one reason I chose his kit. Doug also offers a quality product, and is a pleasure to do business with. I went through about 15-20 sawzall blades. After trying several, my favorite was one called "The Torch" made by Milwaukee. Costs a little more, but lasted the longest and went through about anything. 66Bat, my plasma cutter is on the small side, a Hypertherm 30. It's advertised to cut up to .25'' steel and severe up to .50", I think. I found out that more isn't necessarily better when it comes to "turning it up". If the setting is too high, it seems to leave more of the spattered metal sticking to the underside of the cut.

Chris, we met at the Cinci car show two years ago, the one where your car was next to Speed McQueen. I think yours was the first replica I ever saw. It made quite an impression on me; here I am trying to build one for myself!

Good discussion on removing the roof. Yes, Mark, I approached things slowly. It took about 20 hours to strip the donor chassis enough to roll it under the fiberglass body. And another 11 hours or so trimming before I had all the metal off. I figured its better to leave original steel intact if possible than to cut it off and weld it back on. I would like to give some credit here to Amazzen's project. I referred to his pictures quite a bit. In fact, you will probably notice a few similarities from my build approach relative to Paul's (The approach, not the finished product. My bat will have some interesting features, but will not approach the level of detail that Paul is building!) Particularly the idea to use the lift to raise and lower the body. I live out in the sticks, and don't have a lot of folks waiting around to help lift the body on and off. I know a good idea when I steal one

Eric, is there a way to preview your posting, and then go back and correct something without losing everything? When I hit the "back" button, I get the "operation timed out screen" and have to start over!


Before rolling the chassis in. With a well-placed chair and an Ipod full off Bat-music, I wasn't sure I even needed to finish it!



I later had to remove more of the rear quarter panels.



More of the firewall and the entire rocker panels were later cut off. All this surgery was necessary so that the body would slide up and down over the chassis.

I started out mounting the rear of the body on four posts welded over the rear axle. Locating the body relative to the chassis took some time, but I think I got it right. My Lincoln rear axle was off center by about 3/4'' to the left.



A better look at the right side rail. I had to add a second spacer of flat stock because I got the height wrong the first time. I think I will need to add another spacer before I'm done. My Hines body is pretty strong, but supporting just the lip of the trunk allows the "fins" to sag somewhat. I recommend supporting the fins first, and then adding the trunk lip supports. Live and learn!



The right front support, from the frame "horn". The bolt picks up the existing rubber mount. The square tube will be welded later to a metal plate epoxied to the body (this is the left side)....




I used 3M DP-190 epoxy to adhere the steel plates to the fiberglass body in several locations. The stuff requires a special applicator and nozzle.





DP-190 makes a good bond between steel and fiberglass, on the order of 1500 psi in shear strength. The trick is to properly prepare the surfaces. Both the steel and fiberglass need to be abraded, and then several acetone wipes until completely clean.



Apply the epoxy to both surfaces, and throughly wet them out using a squeegee to spread the glue. Join the surfaces with a clamp overnight.











Properly applied, the epoxy is very strong. I will not 'glass in these plates. Other areas, where the gaps are too wide, I will need to 'glass the steel to the body.

Interesting question, Chris. I think I can answer part of it. My experience is in aircraft composite construction. Carbon fiber/epoxy is the typical matrix for aircraft, but the basics should apply to fiberglass/polyester, which I think is what most of our bats are made from. Metal is attached to composites by either being mechanically fastened (rivets or threaded fasteners) or glued (usually epoxy). The secret to longevity is to keep the stresses low. If mechanical fasteners are used, cracks will eventually show up in the fastener holes, because the loads are all concentrated in the holes. But using glue spreads the loads over a much greater area than just the fastener holes, so it will usually last the longest. The 3M epoxy I used on just one 8"x 10" plate will hold 120,000 lbs, which is quite a bit more than the chopped-strand fiberglass is good for. There should never be an issue with the attach points where the metal is joined to the fiberglass with epoxy, provided the gluing process was correct. And there-in lies the rub; the joint is only as good as the surface prep! I have no experience with the metal enclosed in a wet lay-up technique. Maybe someone can offer some advice/experience?