March 63 RHD Notch

[Mid West Dubber]

Great work! Very cool project

[260KMN]

The body mount repair piece turned out ok

So i installed it

I also finished the inner wing repair, which turned out ok too

Thats the right side finally done as far as welding is concerned, left hand rear cooling duct is next.

[260KMN]

Blimey its been a month since i posted, there has been progress but as usual work etc gets in the way.

The left hand duct was looking pretty crusty, so i decided to remove the bits i could. Access was tight to some of the spotwelds so had to grind them out. I had to remake virtually 50% of the duct. The inner wing structure was just surface rust coated thankfully so a couple of small repairs were required.

Repaired as best as i could then reinstalled after rust removal and treatment. Its not show quality but should last another 50 years.

I thought that was it bodywise but then noticed a couple of bubbles in the LH inner wing, further investigation ended up with another repair being required.

For a break i decided to check out the front fenders/wings more closely.
LH one looks repairable with rot in the usual places, think i will get it blasted before doing too much. Its not bad for 52 years old i guess, its in better condition than me whos the same age.
The RH one is too far gone so i need a replacement.

Will try to post more interesting pics next time.

[260KMN]

Whilst i'm away, heres something to keep the thread going, a picture of my other car. Sorry its not a type 3. I cant believe i have owned this since 1994. Looks a bit different now than it did then. I restored it, full body off job between 95 and 04, still looks ok considering its been on the road since 04.
Its a 78 body on a 73 pan and runs a 2007 motor with porsche cooling and brakes.

[260KMN]

Some more of my ex cars

65 1500s in Sea blue, was stock when i purchased it, foolishly i lowered it and fitted repo BRMs back in 2003. Was mostly original otherwise.

Ow! After a land Rover rear ended me i lost interest a bit. The insurance company did pay out for the repairs but it lost most of its soul after the bump so i sold it. its still about somewhere in the UK i think.

I had this back in 86, when i was young and stupid, i paid £200 pounds for it in stock form, two years later and lots of welding etc i sold it for £200. We called it Crusty for obvious reasons. if you drove through a puddle it filled with steam. Was fun tho.I look back fondly at my younger years with Crusty.

My only other type 3 was this 71 square i bought in 2008,

the PO liked red oxide obviously and fibreglass repairs against welded repairs. it wasnt actually too bad structurally but a full resto was in hand.
it was originally that pale blue colour, but i thought pastel white would look good. I even bought a rusty 944 for the wheels, seats clocks etc.
I sold it in 2010, and as far as i know its still about.

I will be back on the 63 soon so will post progress later.
cheers

[260KMN]

Crikey this thread was almost on page 5, work, life etc has been enjoyed so its back to the Notch now.
I have been progressing the resto but its slowed down a bit.
i finally got the engine bay and inner rear wings to a rust free cleaned state so primed them with high zinc grey primer, ready for top coat or stone chip.
RH

LH

and a couple of the engine room

work is once again causing a slow down but will be back on it in a few weeks.

[notchboy]

Lots of work to get there. Looks really nice. That notch hasn't looked better 260KMN
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[260KMN]

After 8 months my birth cert finally arrived.
Apart from the obvious error it clears up the cars early life and shows that numbers match.

I wondered about the fact that it is obviously a 63 but not registered in the UK until 65. A friend suggested that he remembered seeing a few cars back in the 60/70's in his part of the UK, with a similar yellow coloured GB plate on the back like mine.
They were usually ex-BFPO (British Forces Posted Overseas) cars, usually from Germany.
The cert sort of confirms that the car was originally owned by someone in NATO, who presumably then brought it back to UK when they were posted back.

[260KMN]

Its been a while since i posted but i am still plugging away on the 63.
I decided that i may as well try to repair the fenders/wings and see how they turn out.
Started with the better of the two LH.

I removed the bulkhead panel as it needed sections letting in.
Also removed the headlamp bowl to access the rusty bits better.

Lower skin edge before and afters

Top edge in progress

Bulkhead reinstalled and bowl removed

Bowl attachment repairs in progress

I have now completed this one save a bit of filler before paint and am pleased with how it turned out.

Have just started on the RH one so some progress pix to follow.

Rusty

[MonT3]

260KMN, the cars re-immergence is looking good. Keep at it as you’ll get to the end state and be ready for paint in no time. Look forward to seeing the next installment.
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MonT3
67 Squareback
64 Squareback
63 Squareback
Engine rebuild
Trailer rebuild

[260KMN]

Thanks Monte, wish i was at the stage your car is at, its looking great.

[260KMN]

So second update within a week, made a start on the RH rear fender rust

Not too bad for 52 years old, although whilst cleaning the paint off i found a large area of skimmed filler.

Splash area rot

In progress

More

Also while we had a warmish dry day i finally got some pearl white on the engine room and above gearbox area, its been sitting in primer for weeks.It is shiny its just the lighting in the cave is bad.

It will be next year before the body gets paint but so far looking good.
More fender progress to follow later

[ibldrc]

Awesome work!
I appreciate you sharing your journey. I'm just getting mine started, and I have every repair you have done and then some to complete!

[bobnorman]

Nice work, As usual. Very interested to see the lower front fender repair, as I‘ll have to do this once I get back at the car.

Just wondering if there was much to separating the inner bit from the skin? Is it simply crimped on or did you have to remove welds?
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Air does not freeze. Air does not boil.

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

[260KMN]

Hi Bob
There are spot welds on the flange, wierdly the LH wing had 6 the right hand only 4. Obviously the factory told them to spot weld the parts together however you feel is enough.
Some welds are on the upright bit and one was on the top part.
Even after drilling the welds out it takes a few good blows with a dead blow mallet to seperate the two. Same goes for the headlamp bowl, we drilled the welds but it took a fair few whacks to get the bowl to move.
Hope that helps

[Bobnotch]

[Bobnotch]

[bobnorman]

It does help thanks.

That's a pretty big error on the certificate. They made an error on mine, indicated leatherette rather than cloth interior, I pointed it out to them and they emailed me back right away and sent another certificate, got it in a week. I was rather pleased with the service, though I've since heard that wait times are now mental, and service not great. Worth writing them back though...
_________________
Air does not freeze. Air does not boil.

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

[260KMN]

Hi Bobnotch,
Will post some more detailed pix of the front wing/fender repairs during the following weeks, i have just finished the RH rear so wiil post some more tomorrow then i can start on the Bad RH front.
Thanks for looking guys.

[260KMN]

Finished the repairs to the RH rear fender yesterday, except for some filler, it turned out quite nice considering i fabricated the repair pieces.

Back to the rusty RH front now.
Bobnotch asked for some pix of the repairs to this one so i will try to add more as it progresses.
For now heres a few, firstly the starting point, a 52 year old, rusty, but original front fender.

Spot welds in the headlamp bowl drilled out to remove it. A guy at work did this for me as i dont have a 45 or 90 degree drill. Some bad skin perforation here too.

Next one shows the remains of the bulkhead after its spot welds were removed, well the ones that still existed anyway.

The bulkhead itself, will repair this first i think

and finally, for now, the lower outer skin showing plenty of rot.

I will be working on this for a while i think, so don't expect immediate updates, but will try to keep it going.
Cheers Paul