My 63 Ragtop

63Ragtop NZ · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 8:22 pm Post subject:

Update time, front valance and right fender are pretty much finished

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63Ragtop NZ · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 9:24 pm Post subject:

Then I built this!

I started with these

one for the front

and back

The nice red on is my bro-in-laws so I don't want to weld or cut it. The old one was my mate's that's been sitting outside for several years.
It had been sitting outside in the grass so long one of the old coasters just about fell off with the rust!
The axles were rusted tight as a nuns and the front wasn't a swivel wheel thingy, so chop chop!

and some of the most craptastic welding ever!

and I now have a good base for the rear of the car.

So I was just about to start this thing when I ran into the bro-in-law, his brother had dumped the red stand at his house and buggered off over seas, so chop it up, do what ever you want, it's yours. Awesome.
This meant I could extend the red one to match the old rusty stand and get the center point higher. It also meant i had to rejigger my design.

Next job was to extend the red stand up to the same height as the other one. i was hoping to just weld the extra 200mm 60x60 onto the end of the vertical pipe, but the 60x60 I got was different to the 60x60 of the stand

sorted!

[/list]
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63Ragtop NZ · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 9:40 pm Post subject:

carrying onI welded up the front mount like this.

which goe's here.

and onto the rear one

I just bolted the bar to the shell and played around with it.

hello!

What I did discover when I first did this(above)is that with the length of the rear mount it flexed, alot!
so last night I made up these wee plates to bolt onto the bumper mounts, took the weight off the stand the made these nifty little braces.

much better!

I then welded the vertical part of the mount to the pivoting plate, don't think being sandwiched between 2 plates with 4 bolts holding it together is enough, the first time I rolled it over it was sweet( which was bloody scary) after a couple minutes it made a almighty bang as it slipped, nearly shat myself!

and finished, I have since welded a nut on to the other end so I can lock it in place, so it won't move while working on the thing.
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HUGO bOSS · Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:25 pm Post subject:

Great job!

Looks you are going to have much better conditions now to work under the car...

The pics that aren´t opening:

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63Ragtop NZ · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:17 pm Post subject:

Well this thing is bloody useful!

after moving everything around I can even fit the honda inside, It was out in the pissing rain all last week and I felt sorry for the old thing, had it for ten years now, so reliable.

Started work on the sill area.

a bit of dirt and crap, mainly just surface rust.

Chopped a bit more off to gain access to the many layers of metal that vw stuck in here.

much like the rear body mounts, I didn't really want to do this, but am now glad I did.

what lurks beneath.
gave it a quick going over with the wire wheel

chopped a bit out of the bottom plate, where I could see pin holes on the outside.

getting pretty thin.

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63Ragtop NZ · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:29 pm Post subject:

This must be the trickiest area to fix, I took HEAPS of photos so hopefully I can put everything back in the right place.
Carrying on from the last post, spotwelds! what fun! meters and meters of fun, stuck together every 10=5mm apart. holy shit thats alot of spotwelds!
These ones where not so bad, this is the outside edge of the channel, where the running board attaches.

the inside edge however!

was a fucking bastard of a thing, I don't think they had enough room to get the welder in or something? it was really stuck!

and some where invisible, and then someone had double tapped these ones.

Like I said such fun! The trick I found that worked good for me, was to drink quite heavily while doing this mind numbing work and listen to very loud Motorhead, bad religon etc...

And before you know it the week is finished and victory is yours!

this is going to take some thunking.

another double layer for strength/rust. There was also a scoop that attaches to the hole, it pretty much fell out.

rear end of the channel, you will notice the lack of any kind of heater pipe inside the channel, wonder if this an aussie/nz car thing?

trimmed abit more from the wheelwell to get a better look, hmmmmmmm
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63Ragtop NZ · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:37 pm Post subject:

chopped the last of the rusty areas out and then sandblasted everything.

did this one night, once it was in I realised it was not quite right, I had made the corner a right angle, but it's more acute that on the inside of the channel, nothing a grinder and a welder can't fix though.

this little piece took me about 3 hours of my life.

seems to fit good

I even made the little dent detail ( geek!) using a chunk of metal I had left over from building the spit, which I filed a groove in and smashed with a hammer.

ground it all down and fixed the inside edge. I like to grind the inside as well, not because you can see it, but I hope a smooth finish gives rust less places to get a foot hold

there where also a couple small rust holes on the top edge of the outside face that i was able to fill with just weld.
Hopefully I remember to weld in a new nut for the running board before I close everything up.
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63Ragtop NZ · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:47 pm Post subject:

Replaced some more pin-holed metal

A couple 5cm sections all fixed up.

made this to close the end of the channel

slots in here.

welded

smoothed out

this was a pig to smooth out, the grinder wouldn't fit, so was done with the dremmel, a less than perfect finish, but no rust any more is the main thing!
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63Ragtop NZ · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 11:14 pm Post subject:

Another tiny update guys, don't mean to sound like a wanker, but I'm pretty flippin pleased with this wee thing!

this is what was left of the outer panel that goes at the end of the channel

even though I had it sandblasted so all the rust was gone, this left the metal pretty thin in places. And as this is a strengthening panel I thought it best to put it right.
So I cut it back to were it was solid and had a go at metal origami.

test fitting the rear fender so I get the stud in the right spot, also checking the quarter panel would fit back on top of it, so many layers of metal in this bloody spot.

like this

and welding it together, there is also a wee patch at the top, were it was damaged when I removed(ripped) it.

tidied up

very happy with the fit, took alot of bending and hammering to get this back were it should, I made a bit of a mess of the shape when I pulled it off.

the stud I used is just a old bolt I welded to the back of the panel and then ground the head down as it was to tall.

hope you like?[/img]
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HUGO bOSS · Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2014 10:32 am Post subject:

Top job there! Professional! Wink

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63Ragtop NZ · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:38 pm Post subject:

cheers Hugo, nice it know someone is reading this!
Very Happy

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HUGO bOSS · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 11:16 pm Post subject:

NewTechnicIan · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 12:26 pm Post subject:

One question, do you just love bending your own metal or is it a budget or no good panels available thing Laughing

?
Your metal bending skills are really great, just found this thread now. I'm doing/have done most of these repairs on mine but went for the wholesale replacement option, which has had its pros and cons.
Just popping in to say nice job.
Ian
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My 1679 Engine build.

Dake · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 5:13 pm Post subject:

Man you do some really nice Work.

ConcreteAce · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 7:23 pm Post subject:

Fantastic metal work!
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63Ragtop NZ · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 11:09 pm Post subject:

Thanks guys, I do quite enjoy this work, nutting it out, fiddling around, making something out of almost nothing, plus I'm cheap! Laughing

We can get most things here, and as much as I'd like to buy the $100 lower A pillar in a lovely shade of green, I'll be getting the $40 black ones Confused

ah well it's just a old bug!
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Cabo9302 · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 10:01 am Post subject:

I'd kill to have your metalwork skills! Looking good!

bobnorman · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 11:51 am Post subject:

Agreed, Great metal work. You make it look easy... which I know it's not. Very inspiring, good on ya. Cool

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http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=289807

roy63 · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 6:38 am Post subject:

looks good
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MyBuild http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=571921

Some day when the rust is gone, I will at last found inner peace... (Peace has Been Found)

"Wide awake, and keeping distance from my soul"

63Ragtop NZ · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:10 pm Post subject:

thank you for the kind words guys, but if I can do it, anyone can!
I would never have started if it wasn't for all the awesome rebuild threads on fourms like thesamba.com.

Cool

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