TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:06 pm

I wanted this post to be a poll, but I would have to start a new thread, so I guess I'll just ask for some feedback. Today I cleaned some undercoating & seam sealer off in order to better asses the current state of my heater channels. I was planning on replacing them until the reproduction heater channels I bought arrived at my house. I was pretty disgusted with the quality. I realize there are only one or two suppliers in the world who even make them, so I guess I should be happy I don't have to fabricate some new ones from scratch :roll: . After watching the bug me videos a couple of times, including recently, I'm well aware that replacing them is a lot of work. And that's before you take into consideration that the replacement heater channels will need to be "worked over" in order to make them work. Then there's the fact that every time I open the door, I'll look down on the crappy looking door sills. Looking at my current heater channels, I've certainly seen worse. They do need some repair. Which means cutting, fabricating, welding, grinding, etc. But I won't have to deal cross bracing the doors & door fitment. That's a plus.

The other thing to consider is the original heater channels' metal thickness is .045", while the reproduction heater channels are only .035" thick, pretty significant difference in my book considering these are structural pieces of the car.

Anyway, please take a look at the pics below & let me know what you would suggest I do- repair or replace. Thanks for looking!

Now here are the replacement aftermarket channels:

Sun Sep 11, 2011 6:19 am

well chris your never going to get all the rust thats hideing in the little cracks and its just gonna come back to haunt you once again. So that being said cut the damn things out your new channels look fine whats the issue your having with the new parts? as long as you make door opening supports and have them at the correct opening( put them in before you cut your channels out) its pretty easy to do grind and cut as you go and youll be able to dial it right in} . The issue you were having with the pan holes lineing up with your new heater channels is normal but they should be pretty close if you have to oblong the floor pan so what the washers they give you are huge and they will cover it up

GO FOR IT

Sun Sep 11, 2011 6:30 am

DONT MAKE ME FLY OUT THERE AND CUT THOSE NASTY THINGS OUT MYSELF .

look at how beautifu lyour pan turned the .010 in mat thickness is nothing compared to what is already gone in yours cut them out youll be glad you did

Sun Sep 11, 2011 6:40 am

The floor pans are og, the repop channels don't line up enough to get more than two bolts in them!

Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:12 am

you have to ask yourself what the car means to you if its just gonna be a beeeter than fixing is probally the way to go. If its gonna be more than that well you should do it the right way your call keep me posted jeff

Tue Sep 13, 2011 4:39 am

When i replaced my passenger side heater channel. The bottom of the channel completely fell off. I left my doors on and i put a support piece of angle iron across the door opening. I cut out the old channel with a dremel to help preserve as much good metal i could.

Once the old channel was out I slide in the new channel, lowered the body onto the pan with with the loose channel alined my pan to channel bolt holes the best i could in both channels and started welding in the channel. then took the body back off. I would do 1 side at a time.

Just like the in the bug me videos i built some saw horses to hold the body and i could roll the pan under the body. i have a tiny little 1 car garage.

It does look like your new heater channel is bent. I don't think you want to start with a bent channel. The pan bolts are hard enough to get lined up let alone using a bent heater channel.

I bought mine at CIP1. Like what you said.. The quality just isn't there for body panels.

That's my 2 cents... good luck and get that darn rust out of there!!!

Thu Sep 15, 2011 6:39 pm

I'm with conrad, something don't look right with that repop.
It's never going to fit the pan like that!
keep up the good work man.

Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:02 pm

Ok, so I decided to proceed with replacing the heater channels with the reproduction (aka repop) channels purchased from Wolfsburg West. Let me just say first of all, pay close attention to when Rick Higgins says "cut INSIDE of the solid welds around the pillars". Like an idiot, I cut outside of the welds. I have no idea what I was thinking. Learn from my mistake!

They will not come out if you cut outside of the solid welds. I went back & cut INSIDE the solid weld.
Then I drilled out the spot welds, front & rear:

Used the spot weld cutter:

Cut the rear solid weld:

Drilled out more spot welds:

Look Ma! Not heater channel! Note the 1"X1" angle iron bracing.

OK! Now we're getting somewhere! Initial channel fitment:

Note the area below that isn't painted. That's where I had to remove the carpet hold-down strip. Not only was it on BACKWARDS, it was over 2" too far back :roll: . Garbage channels.

See how it disappeared under the B pillar? Garbage. :roll:

Note the end of the air duct. Yeah, that crap will never fit on the piece it's supposed to go on...
That's as far as I got today. Initial fitment is "poor" at best. As you can see, I have a little bit of fabbing to do, and a lot more rust repair to do :cry: . Check back for updates. Thanks for looking.

Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:12 am

Wow!! Your project is coming along with pro results. I didn't get into the body work part of mine yet. I dread that part.
Heater channels are a pain!
Your pan and engine are outstanding! Looks like something out of Hot Vw Magazine. I need to stop by and check out your ride. And your garage!

Sat Dec 03, 2011 6:33 pm

Any more progress? This thread is a good time 8)

Sun Dec 04, 2011 2:37 pm

19-VW-74 wrote: Any more progress? This thread is a good time 8)

Unfortunately life crept up on me, from a number of different angles, and I have not been able to touch my project since September. :(
But thanks for the kind word, I didn't think anybody was following it anyway! :D

Sun Mar 04, 2012 12:35 pm

Just wondering if you had a chance to work on the bug again, It's looking great!

Sun Mar 04, 2012 3:43 pm

74matt wrote: Just wondering if you had a chance to work on the bug again, It's looking great!

Not recently, but one of the things that has put me off was the poor quality of the Klokkerholm heater channels that I got. So I had hoped to find a pair of originals cut out of a car, but couldn't believe the shipping prices I was quoted. So I finally ordered some new heater channels made by Dansk. They'll be there this Thursday. Hopefully they'll be better quality. We shall see.

Tue Mar 06, 2012 9:54 am

Nice job cutting them out. Get everything clean and tight before trying to weld. You will be glad you changed them.

Tue Mar 06, 2012 9:04 pm

Just found this. Nice pan and chassis! I sure wish mine was that good.

Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:44 am

Beetlebaum wrote: Just found this. Nice pan and chassis! I sure wish mine was that good.

Thanks! But at least you can DRIVE yours! I cannot...

Mon Mar 12, 2012 7:11 pm

FYI my heater channel info was moved to the FAQ here:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503306

Sat Apr 28, 2012 8:22 pm

66busman wrote: So you're up to 3 bugs now? Congrats, you're in the icantstopbuyingvolkswagens club!

Great job on your project.

3 bugs & a bus now :wink: