TheSamba.com :: View topic - Front wheel housing/A pillar tool for pinch seam

Tue Sep 15, 2015 6:58 pm

There's a thread that has a picture of the vw factory tool to separate the front wheel housing seam from the A pillar. Can someone please direct me to this.

Thanks in advance. :D

Tue Sep 15, 2015 11:11 pm

Are ya talkin' about something like this . . . http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=512291&highlight=front+quarter+panel+replace
A word of caution for ya as yer lookin' at that thread . . . I found that my flange was spot-welded every 5 inches or so.
I drilled the spot-welds BEFORE I spread the flange apart.

Wed Sep 16, 2015 12:35 pm

Thanks for the reply! For the life of me I could not get the right combination in a search, (pinchweld ,seam separator) and so on. I have the link bookmarked now. I'm hoping I can fab up a tool like that using some broken tools ,a welder and a grinder. It will be a great winter project. :lol:

On my 72 super ,it appears that the wheel housing is actually brazed to the cowl. I don't want to risk damaging the cowl by trying to un-braze it. Any advice on that seeing as you have one under your belt. :?

Wed Sep 16, 2015 2:04 pm

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6939235

If you want the tool, Mika makes a reproduction.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1601529

Wed Sep 16, 2015 9:01 pm

theKbStockpiler wrote: On my 72 super ,it appears that the wheel housing is actually brazed to the cowl. I don't want to risk damaging the cowl by trying to un-braze it. Any advice on that seeing as you have one under your belt. :?

I was working on a '61. I replaced both front quarter panels.
I cut the quarter panel with a cut-off wheel . . . right below the brazed seam.
After I removed the quarter panel, I used the angle grinder to grind away the remains of the quarter panel lip and the braze from the bottom of the cowl.
You need to get it ground down just enough for the new panel to fit-up properly . . . you can then braze the seam again. The '61 also had spot welds near the brazed seam . . . I had no problem putting 3 plug-welds there with my MIG after I brazed the seam.

Wed Sep 16, 2015 9:10 pm

Good thread.

Fri Sep 18, 2015 3:32 pm

I'm going to be putting the same wheelhousing back on at some point. I can't foresee being able to de-braze it from the cowl without heat damage. There is a method for solder where a wire wick is used to remove the solder but I don't think that would work for a brazed joint. Maybe I'll look for a de-brazing video on U-tube.