New project 1969 Fasty

[gavs]

Hey beetlejc, really loving your work!!

something I looked into for the heater channels and others on here with a lot more knowledge will have much better informed opinions, but with the heat inside the heater channels, I don't want any kind of internal coating that might break down, run, melt etc. in the cavity especially during winters here like we are just coming out of! This is why when any of the aussie brick-on-wheels restorers I know tell me to use fish oil, I just shake my head.

What I am using is this: http://www.eastwood.com/ew-hi-temp-internal-exhaust-coating-w-extension-tu.html

I can get it through our local eastwood supplier too which is good, although they do enjoy their aus dollar mark-up

Also, for any work needing a press-brake or bending-brake, have a look around to see if you can track these down over there: http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/V052

If you get a few of them together you could make up a real handy press-brake for yourself just using a workshop press....

[beetlejc]

Those are some great ideas, sir! That vise brake, in particular.
I'd seen that Eastwood Interior Exhaust coating once or twice before and kinda had a "what the..?" moment but you raise a good point about not wanting anything in there that might break down or even give off fumes when heated.
Thanks for the encouragement.

[beetlejc]

The driver side rust repair is complete!

I'm pretty happy with the way the rocker area turned out. Lots of learning happened here!

The inside part of the heater channel turned out pretty good overall but I'm not as happy with it. The welding could've been better. It was pretty hard getting a piece with 4-6 corners smoothly blended into the rounded part there at the footwell. On the bright side, the wiring harness fits neatly into it's groove.

Next, I'm onto the passenger side where I'll be replacing the whole heater channel and rocker.

[Clatter]

[chickenoodle]

Good work, its good to see someone that's clearly not a "pro" having a go. Proves its possible to newbies like myself..

I have a few of the same spots your repairing to do, not as bad luckily but this is a great help.

[beetlejc]

So, here's what I managed to salvage when I removed the heater channel and the rocker. This is an internal shield, I guess, that goes between the rocker panel and the heater channel. Kind've the cheese in a rocker-heater channel sandwich.

After several attempts, tacks, cuts, re-tacks, here's the rocker isntallation. It's kinda weird in that it seems to have a twist and/or because the door curves both up-down and front-back and by pushing/pulling the rocker, I can change the gap. The gap is a little tighter at the leading and trailing lower door corners than in the middle.

For the record: That old cotton sheet/dropcloth I tossed over my interior seems to catch fire a lot. Who knew?

[Bobnotch]

[MonT3]

You’re making great progress in dealing with those rockers. I’m sure you test fitted the inner and outer skin to ensure you don’t have any gaps on the lower lip of the underside once they’re put together. I had that problem. It didn’t dawn on me to test fit that piece as I made a bad assumption on the aftermarket outer skin being the exact size as the OG. My pieces didn’t match up so I got creative and added a little. Can’t tell I had that now. The work there looks good, keep it up!
_________________
MonT3
67 Squareback
64 Squareback
63 Squareback
Engine rebuild
Trailer rebuild

[beetlejc]

MonT3, I seem to have the problem you're describing. The lower inside lip/edge of my heater channel doesn't go all the way down to the bottom of the rocker. I'm assuming you just added 1.5" of material to close the gap.

On the up side, I've got the heater channel measured/prepared/drilled (MIG spot welds) and seems to otherwise be a good fit. -Waiting to weld it down.

The scary side: I've got to completely rebuild both areas of the body at the leading and trailing edges of the heater channel.

I started last night by cutting out a body bolt that had broken off during disassembly. It was easier to cut it out (1" x 2.5") and weld in a nut I cut out from the old heater channel. I had to do something similar on the driver side.

That old heater channel just keeps on giving and giving...

[MonT3]

[beetlejc]

So I was able to add the extra material to the lower edge of the heater channel...sort've semi-flanged about 4 ft of a 3/4" strip to it. Not terrible and it'll never be seen but it added a bunch of labor.

I don't really have a good picture of all that work but this one shows the heater channel in place:

Adding the heater channel filled in some "knowledge gaps" in my head about how I was going to approach repairing the rusty areas at both the leading and trailing edges of the heater channel.

You can see in these pictures how it gave me something to "hang my hat on" for those repairs. -kinda gave the remaining fixes some body rather than just a void to be filled with sheet metal.

I positioned the channel by dropping the body down and tacking it in place. Once I raised it up, I double-checked by triangulating the body-pan bolt holes. Strangely enough, the rear-most heater channel bolt hole came up about 3/8" off after welding in place. The front-most bolt hole was still spot on so I left it alone.

[beetlejc]

Well, I've continued to make forward progress on this bugger of a passenger side heater channel (etc etc) replacement.

The leading fender well area closed up real nice

The trailing area found me wrestling with a whole bunch of super thin metal that turned into a huge Pandora's Box. It finally sealed up after a fair bit more grinding than I would've cared to do. I think I might have fared better if I bought the full length heater channel replacement.

Onto something a bit more fun...the ragtop.

This one creeped me out a bit but I'm planning on using the sheet metal I removed to fill in the front bumper support holes and the rear valence behind the bumper. It's all ginked, cracked, ripped and rusted and I think it would look good 'smoothed' over. I think I saw an image of one young fellow who did domething like this in another post. Anyway, it's got that compound curve that should fit in great in both these areas if I'm careful.

[beetlejc]

I decided to go ahead and finish closing up the front trunk/spare tire area. (bumper support brace holes) You can see that the old girl has had a rough life if you look at some of the scars along the fender mounting holes. When I found this car, someone had ingeniously decided to bondo all the fenders straight to the body.

It looks like I could tap out that upper corner a bit more before finishing with any body filler...

This is kind've a dismal picture of the rear fairing but its basically mangled more than I'll be able to repair. I've laid out some tape a few times to test cut lines.

The replacement piece was cut from the piece I cut out of the roof for the ragtop. It was a real challenge because it curves in three different directions. (but thus retains some rigidity) I welded in an additional strip behind it and along the lower edge for more stiffness. It's also an inch or two shorter than the original piece but the single exhaust cutout is still there in the original location.

The whole thing should look substantially better smoothed over front and rear...or at least repaired!

[MonT3]

Coming along really nice. Keep at it. Like how you repurposed the sheet metal and made your lower apron from it. Looking good man!
_________________
MonT3
67 Squareback
64 Squareback
63 Squareback
Engine rebuild
Trailer rebuild

[Bobnotch]

You're making great progress. Nice work. The rocker/heater channel work looks killer.
_________________
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

[superalex]

can you post some more photos of your rear apron?

mine is all crooked and your solution crossed my mind for a few times but as it is a distintive part of these cars i'm a bit affraid of doing such a mod

[beetlejc]

Thanks for the encouragement, gentlemen. (as always)

Superalex - I'll take a picture of the rear apron tonight before dark. -straight on from the rear should show it pretty good. I'll try to post tonight or tomorrow..

-Just a couple of minor updates today. I'm trying out some rattle-can undercoating. ("Professional Grade" from Lowe's) How does this look? I'm pretty happy with it. This is one complete can but I think another coat would make me happier.

I took all weekend to line up the hood. I had to enlarge the hood mounting holes a few mm's. It was not the original hood and the fitment was always off.

This is a problem area that I'll have to fix. I just cant let this slide. I'm thinking I might just cut the crease of the body line in the leading edge of the fender and then pinch it together. Any counsel here?

[beetlejc]

Here you go Superalex. More rear apron.

There's something that I'm still pondering: a good "edge" solution since I don't have the means to properly roll or fold over an edge. I thought maybe I'd get some rod/bar stock to weld into the lower/inner edge. It might add some needed rigidity and give me a nice rounded finish.

[beetlejc]

With the body raised, looking in on the kick panel in front of the voltage regulator.

According to Bentley, one of these should be a power supply relay for the fuel injection and the other is a relay for the rear defogger. The wiring diagram only shows the relay for the FI (68-70) and the defogger relay technically doesn't show up until '72 from what I can see.

The one with the print had a heavy gauge wire on it (+, probably direct to battery) and the other had no wires at all. I'm not fuel injected anymore (PO) so I wont need that relay but I'd like to fix the rear defogger if possible.

So, which is which?

[beetlejc]

Crappity, crap crap. (This is going to be a long one)

I was told when I bought the Fasty that it had a stock 1600 in it so I began preparing/buying parts for this 1800cc build listed here:
http://www.aircooled.net/1800cc-vw-engine-no-machine-combo/

I've bought everything:
L3 heads machined to 54cc (not cheap)
74mm CW crank
Lightened flywheel
88mm slip-in jugs/pistons
W100 Engle cam

I expected that this combination would make a nice, peppy upgrade.

I've torn down the engine to the "short block" I intended to take to the machine shop today

AS41

and found this:

Mahle pistons that measure about 90mm+/-. 90P34 was imprinted inside the piston. This was a pretty big clue that this was NOT a 1600. Without knowing the stroke, I'd only be guessing at 1776, 2007 or 2110 based on this chart and assuming 90.5mm pistons:
http://chircoestore.com/tech_articles/?p=163

Then there's the heads:

Clearly, these are big valve heads already machined for the bigger jugs.

So, I've got a hodge podge of mixed parts: I've got all new parts for the 1800cc build but a case & heads machined for something larger.

I could reuse the old pistons, jugs and heads but I'd have to fork out lots more cash to get those back into shape. I could find another unmolested case and proceed as I originally intended but that's also another cash outlay. (and, sadly, kind've a let down, now knowing that I have 90mm pistons and some big-valve heads)

Are there any thoughts, opinions, ideas, or shoulders to cry on out there?