Nova Beetle ('72 Super)

[swhitcomb]

Wow that's a lot of metal. I'd attack it one section at a time. That's why I've been doing on my car anyway. I'm hoping to get the drivers side channel in by the end of the weekend. I have some small patches to do in the area it welds to 1st, then it'll be in.
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My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

[Merovex]

Thanks for the tip.

I did a little shop clean-up today, and made sure I can roll the chassis in-and-out. There's still some clean up under the B-pillars.

With the front firewall out, I seem to have better access to the parts of the front that led the tow trucker to say, "there's nothing to hook onto here."
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NoVA Beetle '72

[swhitcomb]

There should be a loop on the frame head to hook on to. May have rusted away.
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My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

[Merovex]

Removed the spare tire well.

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NoVA Beetle '72

[Merovex]

[swhitcomb]

No. It's there in your last photo. Loop welded to the frame head. It's there specifically for a tow truck.
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My 71 Ghia Been in my family since 1980
My Patina 66
My 74 Ghia
07 Boxster

[Merovex]

[Merovex]

I've been idle due to cold temperatures of late. Yesterday we had a warm spike that I took advantage of. I have not welded it in yet, but managed to fit the spare tire well, as seen in the photo below. I followed the advice in the following two links helpful.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7614699
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=944997

What worked was beating the heck out of the sides to get them past the dimensions of the quarter panels, then beating them back into place.

Goal: I will eventually be replacing the two quarter panels. As you'll see upthread, I have removed all of the chassis/body joining metal and am in the process of returning it.

The Spare Tire Well is sandwiched between the Front cross member (firewall, whatever) and the body piece above. With the new spare tire well metal in place, I can now proceed to connect the Front Crossmember up into the body, but not sideways into the quarter panels.

Then, the heater channels and rear crossmembers...after repairing the lower A-Pillars. By that point I will have replaced most of the metal I removed (except for the front apron missing in the photo) and can proceed to work the quarter panels.
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NoVA Beetle '72

[green1303]

It's impressive that you are taking such a deep dive for a first restoration project. When you completely disassemble a front end, it's helpful to do one side at a time and make sure that the hood closes without a gap, etc., before you weld. Precise measurements between the struts are helpful too. The frames of reference get lost.

As an example, I hit a deer about 15 years ago, crunching my original hood, left front fender, and part of the left front quarter panel. We bent the quarter panel back into shape and replaced the bolt-on parts. That left door didn't close as smoothly as it should after the deer hit, but I didn't think much of it at the time. Last year, I used the Bugstuff door braces when I replaced my heater channels, and I noticed that the left one needed a lot of encouragement to fit. To make a long story short, my left A pillar was slightly bent, and my door hinges were bad, with too much play in them. I should have used the door braces rather than the doors to true up the body before I tacked the heater channels in place. Now I have a new left A pillar and quarter panel off an Arizona donor clip, and my doors close nicely.
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1973 green Super Beetle

[Merovex]

Alas, family funding priorities have scuttled this project. I will be looking to part out the car.
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NoVA Beetle '72

[green1303]

Lots of people have had to stop work on their projects for awhile, until they had more time and money. I looked into restoring my car in 2008, but it was too much at the time. I started the work in 2014. My build has involved 600 hours, not counting the time to source the parts, and 338 parts, not counting the spares. I should be done by the end of the month, and I am really glad that I saved the car.
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1973 green Super Beetle