Rust2Rods 1967 Air Ride Beetle Journal

[legotech7]

Just caught your last post. That's how I lifted mine. The only mistake I made was to use a chain to attach to the hoist and around the roof. Put a couple of little dings in the rain gutters, but have fixed since then. I think your method looks like it might work better and will try it. Things you have to do when you have no help, but it works for me. I will ask though, the bolt you used, was it the type of bolt with the large kind of eye that screws in the wood and then you screwed a longer bolt through the hole on the end of the boom and a nut to link it all together?

You can see the chain I used, won't do that again. still learning

The body looks clean. Do you have to do any metal work on this body?

Everything looks good, keep posting and thanks........

[Rust2Rods]

legotech7 - The bolt is just a regular "carriage" bolt. You know the kind with the rounded button head. It's a large bolt just sandwiched between the 2-2x4's. If your really worried about it, you could put a nut and a washer on the inside of the boom. I never do. Never had a problem. But I am also very cautious. It's used more as a "locating pin".

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[legotech7]

Thank you man..........

[Rust2Rods]

Legotech7 - Yeah there's some metal work. It's minimal. The body is almost completely rust free. The package tray has some thin spots on one side that were blasted through but the metal is not "weak". I am deciding on cutting it out and welding in some patches or just skim coating it with panel bond top and bottom. Again, it's mostly pin holes. Only other metal work would be the dash. I am going to close up the center vent on it. That's really it other than some dents and dings....
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Check out my project journal here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=477711

[legotech7]

Cool beans... looking forward to your updates......

[Rust2Rods]

Well thanks to Everett here on the Samba, I have got the journal fixed with all the photos properly linked again.

So I just wanted to once again thank Everett for allowing me to fix my journal and for having the website.
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Check out my project journal here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=477711

[legotech7]

Any updates on the air ride?

[Rust2Rods]

[VolkDubz]

great link

[legotech7]

Its been awhile, any new updates on the build? Mine's on hold for a bit. I picked up a 70 c10 and I've been playing with that for a while, but I'll be hittin the bug soon enough.......

[VolkDubz]

I love seeing all these rustorations

[Rust2Rods]

Hey all... I know it's been a while since I've updated the page... Don't worry. Still working on it.. Just have been busy with work. I travel for a living with the job and I do, and recently I had to go to Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Virginia for about oh... almost 2 weeks. That took up some time, plus with the weather being nice, and I bought a motorcycle let's just say that I am saving the body work for the winter months. You know, it's cold out so all that movement should keep me warm, plus with it being cooler out I can get more done with less sweating. (that's my story and I am sticking to it...)

For those of you that have been following along, my cousin Andy moved to Texas (who happened to been my partner in crime when it comes to paint and body) so when he stops down, I manage to sweet talk him into helping me out. Well earlier this month he stopped here in Wisconsin for some family matters and was here for almost a week. In his spare time, he came over and checked out what I had did to the shell thus far and did some hammer and dolly work on the front where it was hit, and got most of the body straightened out. The roof, well now...that's another story. It's pretty wrinkly, but nothing terrible. Just a lot more time will be spent there... I knew this was going to be the case when I stripped the body down and found a lot of spots of filler. Some of the stuff was worked out, other stuff was left alone to prevent oil canning....(that's another subject.) So here are some photos of the progress of the beetle shell. Enjoy!

Body on the rotisserie that I built earlier in the journal. As you can see it's just right for working on the car at a comfortable height.

Start of the process of doing the shaping from all the dents and warps. From the looks this car may have been in a hail storm and or someone may have been sitting on the roof... Either way, it's better than rust!

Opposite side, here in the front you can see where some of the metal shaping has been done to try and repair some of the wrinkled inner structure that was never really "fixed"....

And here's the 1st layer of filler that has been applied. All sanded and shaped. You can see cousin Andy prepping the area for the next section to be done. All in all there will be 3 sections of the roof (left, middle and right) that will be filled, then 2 more layers with the final layer being a glaze, then the roof will be re-primed and ready for paint.

I will post more photos as things progress....hang tight!
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Check out my project journal here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=477711

[legotech7]

Good deal, the body is looking good. I'm sorta stuck on the metal work on mine.Came across a 70 c10 pick up, and have been playing with that for a while. Needed a carb kit for it and waiting for it to come in, so I can finish that and will resume on the beetle next month. Lot to do, and not enough time.

Glad to see the progress............................

Here's my little distraction........

[Rust2Rods]

I know, I know... it's been a while since I had updated my journal. Part of it is because cash is a bit tight at the moment. Another part is I kinda lost my motivation on it. So I had enlisted my cousin Andy to come down and kick me in the pants to get going on it once again. He sparked some new interest into it for me and got me rolling with it. Also showed me some new tricks...and some better ways to stuff I kinda knew how to do. He also got a plan going to get this thing completed. The hope was to get it done this weekend, but some family things came up for him (which I totally understand) and wasn't able to put the time in as he had wanted and some things took a little longer due to the temperature outside. But overall, a lot of progress was made. Here goes...

Shot of the work on the roof. There was a lot of waves in the metal. The filler is pretty thin. Just enough to level it off and make it look nice and straight

Another shot of the roof. I am guessing in its life there may have been someone on top of the car or something transported that cause some of the dents and dings in it. We will take care of that... any major dents or dings were worked out in the metal. The filler is just to level it off.

Next was the antenna hole. This was pretty messed up when I got it. We cut a piece of metal out for it, welded it in, sanded it flush and used the filler to "level" it off.

The defroster center vent was removed. This will be a summer car and won't have heat anyhow.

While waiting for some of the other stuff to cure or set up, work started on one of the doors. There was no rust on this door what so ever, but there were some pretty good dents and dings in it along with a wave at the bottom and and the edge of the door. Filler will level these off nicely.

I will be removing the 67 rear apron and putting an early one on for the rear decklid you see to the left of the car's body in this photo.

Andy spotted a small stress crack in the edge of the inner wheelhouse. When welding it up, it pretty much vaporized. I will have to cut out the weak, thin fatigued metal and patch it up.

I just can't get over how clean this body is for being a '67. It was blasted top and bottom, inside and out... I can't wait to get this thing in color.

More progress on the door. Sanding has started and there will be another layer of filler to make sure it's nice and straight.

So I have ordered up a new front apron and some fender weld nuts to replace some missing ones from the body. I will remove the 67 rear apron and replace it with one I got from a 58 oval. Keep in mind, I'd take a lot more pics of the work, but really photos of spreading filler and sanding most of it off is pretty boring. I am sure most of you reading this know how to sand...
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Check out my project journal here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=477711

[Rust2Rods]

With the holidays, I have been home enough to do some work on the beetle shell. I decided that I was going to run an early 60's rear deck lid. So, I gathered up the parts I needed to do the swap. I picked up a 58 rear clip and a 62 deck lid that I got from my neighbor earlier in the journal. So yesterday I spent the day getting the 58 rear apron off of the clip. Didn't go too bad, but the metal was pretty thin after me working it and was a bit work hardened and was starting to crack here and there. So I called it a day. Went out to the garage today. I made some backing plates to reinforce the mounting edge of the apron and also made some changes to make it removable for pulling the engine. I've been asked in the past how did I do this. So here goes...

Here's the victim. It's the OG 67 rear. I don't care for that year deck lid so let's change it!

Here's the apron. Notice it has RPL written on it. Yep... means replace.

Here's where the work starts

Close up of the spot welds (man those Germans must have gotten paid by how many spot welds they did in a day)

First step is to center punch each one of the spot welds. I am using an automatic center punch. No hammer needed. Just push.

I am going to use a drill bit about the same size as the spot welds. These are made by DeWalt. They are auto centering drill bits. I usually use a spot weld cutter, but they are 3/8" in diameter and that leaves a HUGE hole in the panel your removing.

You don't want to drill all the way through. Just enough to get past the top layer of metal. I have been able to "feel" just as it gets through...

You will do this to ALL the spot welds. Keeping in mind those crazy Germans also like to do "double taps" sometimes you can't see those... Start by prying the metal apart. I started using a screwdriver.

Once you get it started you can move to some heavier tools. I have the air hammer set on the lowest setting. Just enough to "pop" the spot welds apart.

Here's a hidden "double tap"

And we just keep working at it.

Now to the inside. Yep, there's some in here too. Now...if your just wanting to reuse your original apron and make it removable, then you can carefully cut this area away using a cut off wheel. Since I am changing the apron and wanting to save this to re-sell it I am going to drill it out. There are more spot welds here. 5 in total per side.

On the outside of the apron, there's a spot weld right here and the top is welded to the body. Luckily this side was already cracked from me working on the side.

Now the inside is drilled out and pried away from the body.

And here it comes off...

And it's off....

There's a little damage near the top from the air chisel and that damn hidden "double tap"

A shot of the inside. I went through in a couple spots with the drill. It's okay. I will weld that up later.

And the other side. Not nearly as bad.

Here's some of the work that I did to that 58 apron.

So here's a shot with the early 60's deck lid and apron.

And closed.

The next entry will show how I made the mounting pieces for the apron...
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Check out my project journal here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=477711

[Bashr52]

Are you going removeable?

[Rust2Rods]

[dubjeep]

[Rust2Rods]

[lyrikz]