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Has anyone deseamed their Bugeye?

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zirk

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I'm considering deseaming by Bugeye. Has anyone done it? Does anyone have any words of wisdom?
 
I've seen it done, and didn't think it looked good at all. It would be easy to do if you wanted to though. Just grind the top of the beading off, and lead and finish the remaining seam. Then lead the rocker and A post seams and you're done.
Jeff
 
I have done it to PIECES, my Bugeyed nose 73 Midget.
Cut the seams off, grind out the joint as best as you can without cutting off the fenders. Weld a 2" wide sheetmetal patch over the seam, fill the edges of the new metal with gorilla hair filler as a first coat. finish off with regular filler. You sort of match the existing curves to the new metal.
It's been over 6 years since I did this, no rust, no cracks, and only another Bugeye owner will know you removed the seams. PIECES sits outside all the time and the original beads rusted to a point where they were blowing off the car at speed. Thus the deseaming. I am glad I did it.
While you are welding and patiching a bugeye nose, pick up some 1/4" steel rod and weld it inside the wheel lip of the fenders. It stops the cracking due to the flexing from opening the bonnet. I do this to all my Bugeye noses. No one ever sees it and you can use it to pull the fenders back to their original shape so they don't flare out past the rockers. Have a helper pull the nose forward as you weld the rod inside the wheel openings.
A great little trick as long as you are not going concours.
 
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