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Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:48 pm

Rome wrote: You have picked a very ambitious project. Congratulations on your progress and determination. Great that you are taking the effort to straighten, recondition and reuse original metal for the rust repair.

While you have the pan apart, consider welding in two 10mm nuts onto the sides of the tunnel so that you can later install lap belts.

If you plan to paint your blue apron and the fenders black, consider using Rust-O-Leum gloss black via spray gun and compressor. With some practice you;'ll get decent coverage. The paint dries to a dull gloss so that it appears somewhat weathered & cloudy to match the rest of the body.

In Jan. 2007 I found the same rear interior panels as you have (green/beige) in a severely rotted Beetle in a junkyard in MA. I bought them just to have as a souvenir. That color scheme, if you get your seats to match, will look very attractive on the black body.

With the various 36hp engines you now have, you'll probably be able to pick enough pieces to put one good one together, based on the "unmolested" shortblock.

Looking forward to updates!

Thank you for your comment. It motivates me to keep going. Actually this interior original color is blue and grey. I have most of the interior parts. Still hunting for seat covers as they are hard to find. The lap belt yes that is kinda my plan but lucky for me i have those parts from the blue 58 that i will swap to my black beauty. Pretty easy for me to do. Thanks for the advice on the paint. I just might do that but i am still considering how to get the patina on the apron, fenders. I am not worry about that right now till i finish the floor pan and the body. I am excited to show this thread to those who are in my shoes and will motivate them.

Wed Feb 29, 2012 3:26 pm

Did a little bit work to the rotisserie. I bought another engine stand from habor freight. The front was easy to bolt on and required no modifications. The rear will need some modifications. Here are some pics to give you the idea.

the front.

my other engine stand. This will give you the idea what it looks like.

I will cut off the pipe and make the hole bigger to fit the frame horn bolt.
My only concern are the engine stands are slightly crooked and so i need to make sure they both are level and perfect in order to turn the pan. One engine stand will not have the wheels on because if i do turn it, it will make it more difficult if i am doing it alone. Just might have to modify the engine stand to make it taller to make this work.

Wed Feb 29, 2012 3:30 pm

Finished the rotisserie. Pics

finished the modification. I had to make the hole bigger...

It looked good but i didnt realize under the second nut was bigger than the thread. Made the hole bigger and works fine now. I did those mods at my welding class.

Looking good. Pretty simple to make since the engine stand basically had everything i needed.

other view

Works great and turns good. Will need a little bit more work on one engine stand.

Wed Feb 29, 2012 4:40 pm

great post and good idea on engine stands!! keep photos comin!

Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:49 pm

update. removed the clutch tube and bought a new one for $8.61. Cheap and strong tube about 7 ft long. Pics

i had to cut the tube in pieces to get it out of the tunnel. Pretty much junk...

bought this few days ago. The tube on the very top of the tunnel

tab in the middle of the tunnel that holds the clutch tube will need to be replace since i broke the tab off.

inside the tunnel. If you look very closely at the bottom of the pic is where the tab used to be.

I had to think and find metal that matches the thickness and found brake tab off the donor to be the same

Finished the clutch tube work. Welded on the tunnel and ready to weld up the holes

cut the brake tab to this and bend it.

before i jump in and weld the tab on i cleaned the area to get the weld to stick well.

tab welded on

welded the tube on the front near the pedal

welded the tube on the tab

last i welded the tube to the very back of the tunnel
Thats all i have for now.

Fri Mar 02, 2012 10:45 pm

Nice little write up. Nice to see another one being saved. Are you going to blend the paint? I hope so, I love a bit of patina. I have just purchased a heavily patina'd '62 from a junkyard and will pretty much be doing what you have done so far.
Have fun with the resto and keep the updates coming.

Regards,

Johnny

Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:34 pm

Finished welding my tunnel. I just have to find a floor pan section since i found out the donor i had is wrong.
Pics of my finished welding.

I decided to cut off the metals that were pretty banged up and replace with cleaner metal.

cut this metal off the donor 58.

more cutting.

before i close the hole i needed to fix the inside tab in the front. The tab was broken and tack welded it up and it was sturdy enough to stay.

I accidently made the top of the tunnel dented and tried to use a stud puller, the metal was just too thick so i cut it off and reshapen it back. Welded it on.

fabicated a piece to weld and cover the hole

looks alot better. Decided to leave it for now and focused on the rear section tunnel.

welded up

went back and put a strip to fill the hole and welded it up. The tunnel job is finished. I will clean it out and pour paint in it. Once the paint is in then i will slosh it around the tunnel to make sure its covered. Thats all i have.

Thu Mar 15, 2012 5:48 pm

updates

see the holes? I will weld them up and redrill them but more cleaner holes

fixed up the pegs because the rust was getting to them.
bad news on the right side pan. I will need to replace 1/4 rear pan

stripped the front seats.

horse hairs look pretty decent so i will reuse them.

old covers

new seat covers and door panels

Thu Mar 15, 2012 5:50 pm

More pics of rust repair. Focused on the rear apron

used hammer to fix the panel back in place.

made a template

cut a metal off the blue 58

fit is good but i wish more tight gaps on some sides.

weld is ok just some holes i need to fill in. I learned that if the gap is tight all the way around you will be able weld beads on it and cleaner weld. less time grinding the welds... Next time i will do better.
I ordered a new quarter floor pan and it supposed to be thick like original but we will see.....

Sat May 12, 2012 4:12 pm

Johnnylongtime wrote: Nice little write up. Nice to see another one being saved. Are you going to blend the paint? I hope so, I love a bit of patina. I have just purchased a heavily patina'd '62 from a junkyard and will pretty much be doing what you have done so far.
Have fun with the resto and keep the updates coming.

Regards,

Johnny
I am not sure. Pretty much i am just looking for a pair of black patina'ed rear ribbed fenders then i wouldnt have to worry to paint them.

Sat May 12, 2012 4:32 pm

alright it has been a while since an update. I have been cleaning up the chassis and got new quarter pan for the passenger side. Worked on the rear apron as well so pretty much working slowly. Here are some pics of what i have done.

cut the pan to match the old pan since i am doing butt weld. It will be tricky and i have it welded on but i am not done yet.

old pan

a little peek at my welds on the pan

Got alot of parts from WW. Mostly seals and parts that needs replaced.

My gas tank out of the 58 surely did make a great birdhouse in the farm.... Pain in the butt to clean up but the inside was just solid and dry. I will seal it anyways since its over 50 years old.

it will needs to be cut up because the metal is wrinkled up. Too many holes and im just wasting my time trying to preserve it. I will wait til i get the new rear panel then i can go ahead and cut it up.
My 36 hp case. Cleaned up really good

Sat May 12, 2012 4:35 pm

drilled off the part of the apron

my other apron off the black beauty. That section on the blue apron is rusty so i decided to swap the black piece to the blue apron.

I just need to weld it on

Thu May 24, 2012 4:53 pm

More update to the rear apron.

welded up the holes on the lower section apron before i weld them together.

finished welding up the pan however i will grind the bottom because of missed welds on the gaps and weld again til all the gaps are filled up.

welds look good, middle of the pan, it is popped up so i will need to get a torch to heat up the metal then cool it with water to make the metal tighten up more to get rid of the popped up areas.

my welds

A little update to the decklid.

hinge section is off

I will be doing a little modifications to the hinge to make it look like 58 type hinge section.

Thu May 24, 2012 4:57 pm

Alot more welding

see this tab? I am modifying the 66 tab to this but i am not done yet

I just need measurement on the tab so i can copy it as exact original.
Welding the pan is finished.

Rear apron is almost finished!

test fitted the apron and it fits great and exactly where i wanted it to be.
Thats all i have for now.

Thu May 24, 2012 5:50 pm

wow, great work so far. This is an awesome thread to follow!

Wed Jun 06, 2012 6:44 pm

Well not much update but been working on the pan. I must say im disappointed with the quarter pan i bought. They are just too "Flexy" and quality seems not as thick. So ill buy a complete right side pan from WW and it will be easier. Im not happy to go back again but i will be happier at the end than attempting to preserve originals. Rear panel will be the same thing. I ordered a new panel with bumper bracket from Wolfparts and its on the way now. So hopefully with my decision things will go faster.

Sat Jun 16, 2012 10:04 am

pic of the right side pan off. I drilled the spot welds off to save the pan for later.

Got the WW pan for the right side. I must say i am super pleased with it even though it has some minor details that are different from OG pans but however i am satisfied with it. It fits right on like a glove.

got the pan welded in. Had a little mistake at the start because the pan wasnt sitting on the tunnel fully so i had to drill out the spot welds then push the pan down. Better now and i am not yet done with welding the pan, need to weld the carpet pegs and battery hold down clamp and bolt for the battery hold down, jack point.

Also look what came in the mail...

very impressed with the quality and it is THICK. its from wolfparts. i will buy from them again.
Thats all i have for now.

Wed Aug 01, 2012 9:23 pm

Wow thats a lot of work. good job

Sat Sep 15, 2012 7:31 am

Thanks Sventinker
More updates. Too long since the last update.
The panel is cut off

Next i had to trim and get the panel to fit but however i messed up with the gap. It was too big so before i go ahead and do something about it i fit it with the fender in place to make sure its where its supposed to be at. Now panel is welded in place and gaps are filled with metal strips

Some other parts i worked on.

36hp case cleaned up by ACE from Utah. Thanks ACE

Finally i found a good rear bumper for my 58 from local. I am excited and it took me a while to find a good looking bumper.

Sun Sep 16, 2012 8:53 am

I thought ill go ahead and ask if anyone has any rear ribbed fenders in black color, please let me know. I am still searching. Thanks