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Sun Jun 27, 2010 2:32 pm

loooking good man!

Thu Jul 01, 2010 5:03 pm

Cleaned up the dash. It actually looks pretty good now, especially the incredibly rare pop-rivitted sheet aluminum radio delete plate.

Thu Jul 01, 2010 10:32 pm

Hell man, i have a radio delete plate, its the same color, but with some rust. Also have a saphire I you could put in there! Cause you could get robbed of that super rare radio delete :D

Fri Jul 02, 2010 5:37 pm

Thanks for the offer but I think I am going to stick with the pop-rivit plate. This car has received a lot of "unique" repairs and modifications over the years that I am going to preserve as they are what gives the car it's own personality. The somewhat cobbled condition is sort of what attracted me to it in the first place and I want to keep a lot of it. Some would say I'm screwed in the head.

Fri Jul 02, 2010 6:59 pm

I hear ya man! cars with characters are bad ass!

Mon Jul 12, 2010 1:05 pm

Progress has slowed a little due to almost daily rain for the past 2 weeks. I patched in the other side of the floorpan and have started the right B-pillar/heater channel rust repair. I was a little unsure about what to do with the heater channel rot because the air inlet was badly rusted on both sides. I finally decided for ease of repair to fabricate panels without the inlets instead of trying to repair the ruined inlet tubes. It was much easier that way. Living in Texas, a heater really is not that necessary anyway. Now I am just going to have to research what needs to be done in the engine compartment to properly bypass the heater while not causing engine cooling problems.

The floor.

Rust cut out and inside of heater channel painted with Rustoleum.

New heater inlet delete panel welded in. Now to finish the upper area and then on to the lower few inches of the outer quarter panel.

Sun Jul 25, 2010 1:16 pm

Finally worked on the bug again for the first time in a couple of weeks. After 11 days straight of working outside all day in the Texas sun, it's hard to come home and break out the welder. I got more done on the left B pillar patching today. It is alright for a panel fabricated with a 2x4, a cinder block and a claw hammer. Good enough to be covered by the seat anyway. It is nice to not see that big rust hole anymore.

Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:20 pm

Well, I finally finished the interior welding work on the right side B-pillar area. Time for the left outer lower quarter area.
From this:

To this: Just needs some finish grinding.

The heater was removed for ease of repair. The inlets to the heater channels were very rusted as well as the lower areas of the Y shaped pipes underneath the rear seat. I know that this car was definitely a candidate for full pan/heater channel replacement, but it was in the best interest that I did not remove the body from the pan. Other members of the family were not too thrilled that this car came home at all, and it would have been curtains if I tore it completely apart.
More rusty splendor!

Mon Aug 02, 2010 2:20 pm

I noticed that I never really explained myself as to my goals for this little guy. So I will now attempt to convey my plans for my 1966 Beetle, which I have come to name Sylvester. I was wondering if some of my not-so-correct metal repairs were putting people off, if anyone even reads this thread. I can sum everything up by saying that I simply want to give the car a second chance at life. He obviously led a pretty hard life as most old VW's did and was put to rest in a field in 1990 at 24 years old. Oddly enough, it was a chance occurance that I even came to rescue him. I was rebuilding the front suspension of my old Honda Supercub (step-thru) scooter and went to an acquaintance's house to use a parts washer to clean the suspension arms. We got to talking and come to find out he has this old VW he wants to get rid of. One thing led to another and the '66 was coming home with me about a week later. Sylvester was beat, and I knew that from the beginning. The way he looked with his flat tires, mismatched front fenders, missing front bumper, and googly ill-assembled headlight, he was begging to be rescued and returned to the road. Almost every body panel has some amount of dents, damage, and crudely repaired damage. To me this is the story of the car and I don't want to erase it but continue to add to it. Unfortunately there were some structural rust issues, and a few more that have been uncovered since. This has to be addressed because I hope to enjoy many more years with the him and do not want him to turn to dust too quickly. My metal work has been performed with a minimum of tools consisting of a claw hammer, a clamp and a few assorted pieces of old 2x4's. Actually that is the extent of my personal metal fabrication equipment and I wanted to see if I could make do with the very little that I already possess. To me, it just feels right in keeping with the spirit of the car's past. However, once I get to the mechanical side of things, Sylvester will be treated to the best things I can afford. Also things like window and door seals will be genuine VW because he will definitely spend time outdoors and the last thing he needs is cracked leaky window rubber to restart the rusting process. He will remain at stock height. This is not my idea of a restoration, more of a resurrection. Hopefully after his little parts-box 1200 finally reawakens, I will be able to write many more pages into his life story.

Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:28 pm

Inner area repaired

Outer quarter repaired. Just needs a little patch at the back along the fender lip

Tue Sep 07, 2010 5:31 am

The right rear fenderwell area is fixed. Now on to the right lower door hinge mount area. The rear wheel tub area was also starting to split away from the inner quarter panel in about a six inch long area that I had to reweld. Must be remnants of the old accident damage to the right quarter The left side has almost identical, if not a bit worse, cracking in this area too, but fortunately the left is rust free. Just more resulting scars from the rough life that this old VW must have led.

Mon Sep 20, 2010 3:24 pm

Here is what has happened the past 2 weekends.
First I fixed the right lower door hinge area. A screw broke off in the plate inside the A-pillar. I bought a replacement panel for the whole lower A-pillar but it was complete crap. I ended up only using the inner screw plate (after modification due to holes being improperly placed) and a few tiny 1" square sections. What a waste. Funny because it was the same manufacturer as the floor pan patches which fit great.

Today I welded in a new section where the right front bumper bracket goes throught the body. The original was too mangled for me to repair. Just need to grind and make some holes for the bracket to pass through
Before:

After:

Tue Sep 21, 2010 4:48 pm

Today I finished grinding the front patch and cut out bumper holes. Then I welded up the holes that were cut out behind the right quarter window. I'm guessing they were left over from a CB radio antenna. The right side is getting close!

Tue Sep 28, 2010 2:16 pm

I finished off the lower right door post area and reinstalled the door with some new screws. Then I could reweld in the area of the fenderwell that I had to remove to fix the door post. Here is an overall shot of the nearly completed right side.

Tue Sep 28, 2010 10:12 pm

Nice work......I love 66's

Wed Sep 29, 2010 8:24 am

supercub wrote: All welded up!

What do you have your heat and wire speed set on? Gas?

Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:41 pm

Quote: Nice work......I love 66's
Thanks. I like the 1966 as well although I was not specifically looking for that year, just any pre 68 for cheap. I really wish it still had the 1300 in it though instead of the replacement cobbled 1200. The car is going to be far from pretty but should be solid. I like how beat up and dented it is. I have no intentions of restoring it, just getting it back on the road and as reliable as possible.

Quote: What do you have your heat and wire speed set on? Gas?
I usually use B or sometimes C (when the panels join with no gap) and anywhere from 4 to about 6 on the wire speed. These settings give me good weld penetration. That is with a Lincoln welder. The gas is set at between 20 and 25 psi.

Tue Oct 19, 2010 5:00 pm

Left side inner quarter/heater channel rust is now repaired. Also had a pleasant surprise that the ill-fitting driver's door was simply caused by a misadjusted striker plate.

Tue Nov 09, 2010 6:21 pm

Here's some work from the past couple of weeks.

Repaired left lower quarter panel as well as some metal behind it.

Cut out and replaced rusted out area of the package shelf. I was able to borrow a bead roller to run some beads to strengthen the replacement metal which looks as if it may have been part of a washing machine or refrigerator earlier in life. It looks far from factory but it's nice and strong.

Rot courtesey of generations of mouse pee.

The transaxle actually looked suprisingly clean looking down through the hole.

All welded up.

Sat Nov 13, 2010 4:05 pm

Great progress, i am in the process of replacing my rear floors on my 66 also, they are in bad shape... any tips?

keep up the good work and updates :D