Frame Head Replacement

[nick.falconer]

I have a damaged frame head on my chassis and I have managed to get a chassis with a good frame head but the rest is bad.

I want to swap the frame heads over. I have found a panalbeater that will do it, but I would like to remove the two frame heads myself and just get him to weld it up as to save as much money as I can.

Here is the good frame head:

The red circles are where I have found welds and the yellow is possibly one, not too sure. Are those all the welds with the same on the other side.

Also what is the correct tool to use. I have tried looking, but not sure if I should use an air hammer or grinder to remove it.

Thanks

[benny27]

you do not have to cut at the welds. take your old frame head and cut out all the rust then cut the good frame head to fit.

when I did mine I went all the way up to just be for the shifter.
you can cut it with a grinder with a cut off disk.
make sher to measure a LOT

post up a pic of the bad frame head

[nick.falconer]

Here are some pics of the bad frame head:

That is the bad side. It is also twisted slightly

The reason I want to just cut off the spot welds is because that is what I have been told as the spot welds on the two chassis should match up pretty closely. Which should make it easier to weld back on. Also that is the only damage. Also this is for a beach buggy so it shouldn't matter if it sits slightly forward or back, just so long as it is square.

[Bob Kaufman]

I am a new member with a 1970 vert I am restoring. Aside from the usual floor pans, heater channels and body rust I discovered that the frame head probably requires replacement. Having read a number of comments in this and other sites I came across VW's Plan 670, frame head Jig Assembly. Also the 12.71 Publication Korjaustyot, tyyppi 1, A20.2 which I believe is not German but Finnish. Have any members constructed such a Jig assembly and is there an English translation of the publication? Although helpful comments and pictures appear throughout many threads I am reluctant to start the replacement without more information. Any help from a member would be appreciated.

[T8kitease]

I replaced my framehead on my 70 and made my own jig. I just duplicated the beam which is 2" O.D. tubing and some scrap square tubing with a central mounts tacked to the lip along the side of the tunnel near shifter.

Check out my thread for some other views. Hope this helps out. Good luck!
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Matt

70 Beetle Resto
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=450346

[gorbur]

Did a very similar replacement. I didnt have a donor frame so cut the frame head only off of an aftermarket assembly. I wanted to minimize the lighter tin in favour of keeping as much of the original German steel as possible. The original is easily cut with a thin cutting disk (2" and 4") its delicate but doable. Alignment is the most critical. I made a jig to keep it parallel to the rear tortion bar tube. The tricky part was to set the negative caster (didnt have those pics) . Hope these pics help you.

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73 - Ghia Cabriolet, currently under resto
76 - Type1, 1776, full restomod

[Bob Kaufman]

[T8kitease]

Thanks for the kind words Bob, Sure, shoot me a PM and I'll sure try to help!
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Matt

70 Beetle Resto
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=450346