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Thu Nov 03, 2011 12:55 pm

G'day. I'm curious about assembly quality. Yes I know our bays are in their 30's and 40's but there are some things that had made me wonder if my bay is a bit "special" or if assembly quality was usually questionable.

Examples: The spot welds on the spare wheel well were poorly done and misaligned. Many had popped and some just went off the edge.

Blobby, poor welds. These seem to be everywhere. Like the B pillars where they join the floor. Right side it's broken free, left side is cracked up and probably broken. Also the little triangular tab between the C pillar and the floor at the back of the sliding door hole is not attached to the floor at all. Looks like the weld never took.

There are bits of welding wire hanging off around the place too. Where the welding was done for the front seat bases there are still bits of welding wire hanging out of welds that they just painted over.

Pretty sure there's more, but you get the idea. Is this normal?

Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:04 pm

I've never noticed that before

Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:30 pm

Nor have I, Friday afternoon before Xmas break or Monday morning after Octoberfest perhaps?

Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:09 pm

The assembly quality of any and all my VW's far exceeds that of my Dodge trucks of the same vintages. I just welded up a bunch of bad spot welds my new to me '90 Dodge cab the other day. Dodges factory solution had been to fill the resulting gap with caulk with had dried and cracked over the years.

The only welding repairs I have ever done on a VW have been when I was replacing battery tray and wreck damage or rust. I have had to repair no bad factory welds of any kind that I can remember.

Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:38 pm

Wildthings, the build quality of your Dodges sounds really questionable. I know the Falcons made here have some interesting quality issues. Pretty much they will totally fall to pieces but still somehow keep chugging. The 1990s fords actually had an unaddressed issue where the clutch cable would saw through the guide and the firewall. I had a manual Falcon. the clutch pedal fell off. It pivoted on a big pin. Single shear. The pin came off. looked like the welds around it had only actually penetrated the bracket for a couple of square mm.

Anyway back on topic. Maybe someone here knows the deal with my bay. I know that they were manufactured in Germany but assembled in Australia. What does that mean exactly. if it was an Aussie production line I could understand it especially if it was a Friday afternoon build. IIRC it was a September build according to the "real" VIN. Still not sure what the other number all Aussie VWs have breaks down to. Possibly by sheer coincidence mine translates to a 1974 type 2. It would add some credence to my idea that it was built with a mix of '74 and '75 parts, and wiring from neither. The diagrams are good as a rough guide only.

If I get around to it I'll take some photos later. Can't show the spare tyre well because in a move of questionable sanity I removed it and put a sealed plate on there instead. At least it let me get to the rubber bit in the vapour line, push out the caved in panel a bit more and repair the cut in the side (PO accident). One day I might reattach it. It'll just take a lot of filling drill holes and some plug welding. At least it'd be done right.

While I'm asking, is the hand brake cable supposed to be rubbing on the brake booster? it has a plastic sleeve on that bit and everything looks right, but, seriously?

Thu Nov 03, 2011 5:03 pm

I can see a quality difference through the years. for example, parts fab'd in 1968 that remained the same through the life of the baywindow to 79 seem to show signs of the fabricating machinery wearing. stamped parts show this well, but you can see it in many different parts. only stands to reason, assembly machinery wears too, and im sure they didnt replace the factory every year with new. maybe hans' arm was getting tired of spotwelding spare tire tubs :P - no robots back then right?

Thu Nov 03, 2011 5:18 pm

RatCamper, as far as I can see from the documentation I have the CKD kits shipped from Germany were basically the output from their presses and machine shops. They were then all welded together here and the mechanics assembled, sourcing local glass, wipers and various other bits and bobs over the years.

The quality of the assembly definitely deteriorated over the years. My high mileage '72 bus was more solid and better put together than the '75 I had later. CKD production ceased with the '76 model. '77 on were full build imports.

cheers

Greg