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Post by racingelvis on Mar 3, 2015 18:03:33 GMT -6
I thought i would give a little history of the 3D glass. i think it was around the year of 2000, maybe 2001 the glass was found at a Dennis kirk swap meet in Minnesota by Lee Fredickson and Dale Wanous. If i remember i think snosnake had seen it also there. Lee paid $3.00 for it. $1.00 apiece,...lol. Lee knew i was coming the next day to pick up some fiber glass and he had put it in is building kinda set up. As i walked in his shed, i saw it sitting there and it stopped me in my tracks. i knew immediately what it was, the "3rd Dimension fiber glass". at the time, Lee was there, Dale was there and Vance was there. they all laughed at me, i was speechless. i could not believe what i was looking at. it was in good shape but cut up some. Lee asked if i could put it back into shape and i said I could. So I brought the glass home. i had bought a really weird, heavily modified stripped down double wide front end 73 magnum at one time. I did put that glass on this chassis and it did fit perfect, so this is what i was going to use to whip this glass back into shape. i knew some about the 3D but not as much as i know now. Joe Velanti helped me with some pics and i was able to get some pics over the years before the glass was discovered. way back then i did touch base with Gene and Ted but they had no pics. of the 3D at the time. When gene was inducted into the hall of fame he did give me a very cool brochure of the 3rd dimension. i wanted to reproduce this glass as correctly as possible. fast forward to now days and allot more is known about the 3D on what parts was used and how they where built. pics of how i was able to repair the original glass will be up soon. i will try and up load them now!!
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Post by Rupp Doctor on Mar 3, 2015 19:09:25 GMT -6
Boy that's a great piece of history. Very interesting. Now with all that let's see some pictures of your finished product. Please, please I don't want to make any house Calls Lol Thanks Bill
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 3, 2015 19:46:44 GMT -6
ok, i have tried to load pics since i wrote this. keeps on coming up,...unable to load attachment error. not saying its the board, it might be my internet connection, it does suck around here. i will try later on my way home. i am trying!!
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 3, 2015 22:24:18 GMT -6
Here is the Glass the way it was found. The front of the lower panels have been cut off, the hood was not. The hood is just moved back to match up with the front of the lower panels. note: even though the hood has a big hole cut out of it the back of the hood is intact. the rear of the hood has the correct contour for me to build onto to make it correct Attachment Deleted
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 3, 2015 23:10:27 GMT -6
Here is the glass mounted on the 73 magnum chassis. It has been widened on the same side and the glass fits perfect. As you can see how much of the lowers in the front have been cut off. The back of the panels have been cut up also. as you can see the "right side pod" has not been moved or altered. Attachment Deleted
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 3, 2015 23:16:30 GMT -6
here the glass is starting to take shape. after adding to the front of the lowers and the back of the lowers it now matches perfectly to the hood. "right side pod" unaltered. Attachment Deleted
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 3, 2015 23:26:57 GMT -6
here is the back of the hood. the back of the hood is intact and i was able to follow the contour 100% to make it corect Attachment Deleted
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 3, 2015 23:35:18 GMT -6
all the missing parts of the original glass have now been added and are in place. its ready to come apart and start all the body work Attachment Deleted
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 3, 2015 23:41:52 GMT -6
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 3, 2015 23:59:50 GMT -6
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 4, 2015 0:09:42 GMT -6
here is the extensive work i did to piece this all together. lots of wood and fiberglass and lots of hours. there was enough there to put this puzzle together and make every part the way it came from the factory Attachment DeletedAttachment Deleted
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 4, 2015 0:22:47 GMT -6
here is the inside of the panels. as you can see the panels by the pod areas show the original hand laid glass the factory did. the have not been narrowed or widened. Attachment DeletedAttachment Deleted
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 4, 2015 0:27:38 GMT -6
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 4, 2015 0:29:59 GMT -6
the first pic is the first ever re-poped 3rd dimension. it was my 440 oval racer. the next pic is a few years later when gene bloom was inducted into the snowmobile hall of fame, he is standing by the 440, 3rd picture is my 650 3rd dimension oval racer. that is a real tohatsu 650. not this chassis the one that i built after i ran this one to its end, i was 18 wins out of 24 races in a 3 year span. Attachment DeletedAttachment DeletedAttachment Deleted
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Post by magnumed on Mar 4, 2015 7:07:38 GMT -6
Bill, first of all thanks for posting the pictures. Was the glass thin similar to the hand laid 73 magnum glass? Or thinner if that is possible.
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Post by kronnikracing on Mar 4, 2015 7:19:35 GMT -6
Sweet stuff Bill! Thanks for the pics.
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Post by Rupp Doctor on Mar 4, 2015 7:34:28 GMT -6
Bill,thanks for posting pics,i know what you went through to do this and it looks like you had a lot of time into your 3D hood to get it back to the way it should be. Great photo's of how it was found and to get it back to close to original. Thanks for all the specifics.
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 4, 2015 8:43:37 GMT -6
gerry, it is as close as possible that's for sure. i didn't know a whole bunch about the specs of the 3d back then, but there was enough glass there to build onto and make it as close as possible with out altering or changing any shape or form.
ed, it was very thin hand laid glass but i would say it was maybe a little thicker than the 73 magnum lowers but not by much. i have seen some 73 magnum lowers so thin you could push your finger through. i don't recall it being that paper thin, but it was very thin.
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Post by mcruppin on Mar 4, 2015 10:51:22 GMT -6
Wow, a lot of work in the reconstruction of the 3-D glass. Nice work! Bill, knowing what you know now, would you say the hood was built in-house, or sent out to a vendor back in the day? I was also curious as to the cutout/indentation on either side of the handlebar notch, what was it's purpose? Noticed also that the original hood had the large holes for the nitro ll vents, however your race sleds you opted not to use them. It looks cool both ways, just curious. John....
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 4, 2015 13:02:13 GMT -6
thanks john. i cant answer your question 100% correctly because i don't know for sure but i think the hood was made in house with the lowers. the hood it looks exactly like the lower panels hand laid glass. it looks to me as if the cut out in the back of the hood is maybe to help clear the fins of the motor, or just make more clearance?? in my early years of racing i did not run the 74 nitro 2 louvers, plastic, brittle and hard to find. then i made some out of fiber glass and for the last 3 or 4 years i have been running them. i like the look of them!!
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