1972 Squareback from Russia

[splodge]

We continued work on the front wall of the cabin.
You need to clean the panel in front of the windshield.
After all layers of paint were removed and all traces of corrosion were cleaned from the outside of the panel, the entire panel was treated with Permatex rust remover.

Various panels that needed to be replaced were also dismantled and will be sandblasted.

After sandblasting, all panels were coated with acid primer.
The flanges along which the parts are welded were covered with weldable primer.

Then the repair and preparatory work began

[splodge]

Now let's move on to the thresholds.

We decided to restore the ventilation system pipes.
But just in case, the original pipes were sawn in half and sandblasted. What if they come in handy!

Next is the difficult task of preparing the sill panels for final assembly.
The internal surfaces of all panels, which will not be accessible after welding, were painted.
Since all parts were coated with acid primer after sandblasting:
1. Acid primer is covered with 2 component acrylic primer
2. Then Dupont P7 epoxy primer
3. And then painting with acrylic paint
Before painting, in a number of places the panel joints are treated with polyurethane sealant.
The process is multi-stage and labor-intensive
But welding bare iron is not our way.

[splodge]

One of the most common causes of rotten thresholds is clogged drains!
The donor panels were from different cars and were slightly different.

Now we move to the front wheel arch area.
The part is complex and we don’t have a donor one either
There is nothing to do, we make templates, cut out blanks, make equipment for stamping (individually for each side)

Next we move to the back

And front again

[splodge]

Then there was a lot more welding work, which would take a very long time to describe. And a lot of photographs. I'll post some of them

After that was a lot of little work.

Then there was a lot of work on little things, which I won’t bore you with (But believe me, the work there was difficult and done perfectly )

And now we start the final steps of the most complex body work.

[Scotty D]

The thread that keeps on giving. Unbelievable attention to detail.

[Mike Fisher]

A lot of rust to repair, but you say it's 1 of 15 in Russia.
You have your paint gun working, so "your over the hump" on metalwork?
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https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[Bobnotch]

I love it. So many hidden details are exposed for others contemplating a restoration of their own car. What you call the sills, are actually the heater channels, and you've opened them up for everyone to see what's inside. Thank You for that, as most here don't know what's inside.
Granted you're really digging in deep and this will be like a new car once done. About the only thing different that I would have done would be to make the top of the hump in the front trunk removable. As you can see it's a rust collector, along with catching leaves and dirt (the cause of the rust). Volkswagen wasn't worried about it, as they didn't plan on these cars lasting as long as they have. That area is a common spot for rust on 71 thru 73 cars.
I do like the color you sprayed on the back of the dash though. Looks good, and not a real common color that you'll see. Nice job on it so far, and it should look fantastic once it's done.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120