TheSamba.com :: View topic - Kielbasa's Cal-Look 55

Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:51 am

So about 1.5 months ago, I had my 68 Savannah beige stolen from out of my driveway. That left me without a working vw, which really made me pretty upset. I had one car left, So from this unfortuante event, I pulled it out of its corner, cleaned off all the parts stacked on top, and all the stuff I had stored inside.
I've had this car for about 5 years. I had really big plans for it, expensive plans. thats why I never started to build it, I have been slowly collecting parts. The plan was to do a 3liter (3006cc 90.2x103), and everything else that should go with such a big motor. But since I want a car now, that plan is on the back burner, and ill eventually find another car to fulfill that dream.

This 55 came with a demolished rear, who ever did the rear apron replacement did a terrible job, and with the wrong one at that. Unfortunately I lost the original pictures of the car when I first picked it up, so I can't show you guys.
after pulling and cleaning it out, and looking at the car more closely and doing some research, its a march 55, and noticed the original paint is Iceland green (score!).
The plan for this car now, is building my old 2165 back up and toss on some IDA's. The wheels are called chaparals which are my favorite wheels, they are aluminum center with a steel outer. They are 14s all the way around, but would love to find a set of 15s to go on the back. Buggy bumpers will be front and back. And the original iceland green to be sprayed back on.

So first task at hand was to do a rear clip on the car. Car was hit once before, made the fenderwells a bit wavy, and bumper brackets were rotted away. A buddy of mine was kind enough to sell me his 54 rear clip that was cut all the way back to the firewall. He bought it to repair one of his cars in 97, but never got around to it. Also he technically only needs the apron, and I needed the entire clip, so it works out. The apron piece needs repair since some on had pea shooters pressed up against the bottom of the apron and did some damage.
As of right now, the rear clip is being held on by fenders, I need to do some measuring, marking, and final trimming, in order to butt weld it to the car. I forgot to mention, never in my life have I done major grafting like this before, I'm a welder and metal fabricator by trade, but with heavy gauge stuff, for industrial purposes. So this quite interesting to me, and quite fun, and frustrating all at the same time.

Yes I'm aware rear fenders are wrong, but they are German fenders, that have been flared some time in the 70s. I will weld them up, and drill for the 55 only "eggs"

Sits flush up against apron, can't say the same for the left side, any amount of adjusting doesnt fix, I think decklid is tweaked a hair.

Gap large enough to stick finger between decklid and apron.

Decklid sits further over to the right.

Some of the damage on the apron, looks like I may have to cut the areas out and patch it back up.

Sun Jul 27, 2014 6:32 pm

Didn't get much more done this weekend, did some house stuff instead. I did get the rear clip trimmed and tacked on. There are a few places that need a cut off wheel to slip between the seem because they over lap a hair. The car was hit once before in the rear, so the fenderwells of the car bow out a little bit, when I close them in to meet with the new clip,they become a hair too long. No biggy. I also need to pick myself up some long reach clamps so I can make sure they sit flush with each other when I tack the rest of it in.
one little oops, no idea how it happened, I measured several times, marked it how I always did, ans thr same with the rest of the car, the clip ended up a about 1/4" short on both sides where the decklid seal channel is. When I cut I even purposely cut a hair less them I marked so I can trim the final bit later. Oh well nothing a tiny little patch wont fix.
The mail man dropped off a goody at my doorstep too. The correct style neiman column lock/ignition for a 55, purchased from a member here from poland. Figured a cool neat accessory that will give me some piece of mind since I already had a car stolen.

Notice the gap up by the decklid (oops)

Best buddy stella helping out

Mon Jul 28, 2014 2:28 am

I love where this is heading. 8)

Mon Jul 28, 2014 11:27 am

Thank you. Rear end will be lowered a little bit, I have 28mm torsions, adjustable spring plates, and jaycee retainers. I will build a 2-3" narrowed beam for the front, to get the wheels to fit under fenders with 2 1/2" drop spindles.
I really want to put disc brakes on the front, but I'd want to go wilwood calipers, and they need to fit under 14" wheels. That's been a tricky setup for me to figure out.

Thu Jul 31, 2014 8:18 pm

So will you get any insurance payout for the stolen car to help you with the 55? 8)

Thu Jul 31, 2014 8:58 pm

I wish, unfortunately I was only under liability. My insurance wouldn't issue full coverage for cars older then 86. I wasn't worried about wrecking since I didn't drive it every day, and wasn't expecting to be jacked. Live and learn.

This car has been quite pricey to start piecing together, insurance money would have been nice.

Sun Aug 17, 2014 9:36 pm

So i finally got a chance to work on it this weekend. I finished welding the rear clip on, and grind off most of the welds. I need to pick up a set of body hammers and dollies so i can straighten out the fender well.
I also took off the decklid latch, to fix a couple large cracks behind it. I forgot to take a good before picture but it turned out pretty good, i can get away with no filler in the area once i get body tools. Been using weld through primer for all the overlapping pieces, seems to do its job.
My next step was to shave front apron bumper holes, since im going buggy bumpers, and found that the entire front apron has atleast 3/16 of filler on it. Then i found a terrible sight hinding underneath. More work for me to fix.

[URL=http://s.photobucket.com/user/ezkiel/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20140817_172338_zpsd60fhtbe.jpg.html][/URL

Fri Aug 29, 2014 3:16 pm

Nice job on the deck latch! 8)

Fri Aug 29, 2014 3:54 pm

Thanks man! I have no idea why there were so many cracks underneath that thing and they were spiderwebbing too. I drilled the ends of every crack, then went to town with my mig.

Sun Sep 28, 2014 11:06 pm

Been doing some work here and there. The hinge was broken off at some point, and someobe did a very poor job with his welder. Other hinge was tweaked and a couple spot welds broken that i had to repair. Fixed some other broken spot welds that seem to happen on alot of early lids. did find a bunch of the original iceland green though

Sun Sep 28, 2014 11:16 pm

Also did some work on the hood. Filled up some holes from someone adding volkswagen emblem on the nose. Also fixed a crack. Surface rust is really on there, i dont want to send it out for blasting ($$$) so i may try some phosphoric acid. Started banging out some dents here and there. Hood has some waves in it as you can see. Takes time
i also have a stud welder on order so i can get a little more into work on the body fenders and doors

Also picked up some jamar front brake kit (works with 14" wheels)

Sun Oct 05, 2014 9:26 pm

Did some work on front right fender. Still needs some more rust repair where it bolts to the body, and keep working at a nice size dent near head light bucket. Kinda a tough spot to work on, not able to get hammer dolly work there, its all stud welder, and heat/shrinking. I am not sure how much better i can get it with my limited tools and skills. I also need to fix a crease /crack on outer lip, and correctly shave turn signal hole someone added at some point.

Big dent

Tue Oct 07, 2014 3:25 pm

More fender rust repair.

Wed Oct 22, 2014 10:20 pm

Finally got some free time to do some more work on the fender. It's a 54 fender that some one back in the day added a turn signal on top then some one else shaved it by welding a plate from underneath then filled it over with body filler.

Sun Nov 02, 2014 7:09 pm

I got tired of working on that front right fender, I moved to the rears for now. Steel flared fenders, lots and lots of bondo I had to grind off, 1.5 lbs to be exact. I still need to weld up tail light holes and and put the 55 only lights in the right spot.

DIY fender flaring tool ;)

Thu Nov 06, 2014 7:09 pm

Back to the front... I tried fixing the Crack and kink without patching. It did not work out very well. Found that a 70s rear fender matches up pretty well. I used the driver fender to make a template of the curve.

Thu Nov 06, 2014 8:03 pm

Nice work on the fender . . . looks much better! I think you would have had problems if you had worked with that kinked-up mess instead of cutting it out.

Thu Nov 06, 2014 8:26 pm

Thanks blitz. It was far worse before I started working on it. The while section was bow'd out and stretched. Can't wait to finish this fender and be done with it. Then I can keep on going on the rears and start the driver front. Shave the bullet, and figure a way to remove the gnarly undercoating. Kinda lagging on that fender because I rather find an early semaphore fender and save a bullet.
I've tried heat and scraper on that under coating with no luck, unless I get it too hot where I'm afraid of messing with the metal. I may try mastic remover, heard that works.

Fri Nov 07, 2014 12:09 am

Great work!!. I still have some welding to do on my oval.

Sat Nov 08, 2014 9:10 pm

Nice work. Keep plugging away