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Sun Mar 05, 2023 11:21 am

Spent a few hours removing the remnants of the old inner dogleg

I assume thos is part of the B post that joins onto the dogleg?

Also, this is a drain hole, yes?

Where's the water supposed to drain out?

Tue Mar 07, 2023 3:04 pm

Cut into the front valance tonight while I had a spare 10 minutes:

Seems like those cavities have got full of crud over the years and water seems to drain into them and that's what's caused them to rot.

I need to cut out the outer panel without going through the inner so I can weld it back up... :?

Wed Mar 08, 2023 6:16 am

Mr Margaret Scratcher wrote: Cut into the front valance tonight while I had a spare 10 minutes:

Seems like those cavities have got full of crud over the years and water seems to drain into them and that's what's caused them to rot.

I need to cut out the outer panel without going through the inner so I can weld it back up... :?

patch it!

I also done that, it is fun!

i also drilled little holes to reach the cavity behind the dimples from outside after closewelding the front.

-Christian

Wed Mar 08, 2023 7:11 am

Huetti_1989 wrote:

patch it!

I also done that, it is fun!

i also drilled little holes to reach the cavity behind the dimples from outside after closewelding the front.

-Christian

Just scrolled back on your thread to check it out - I think I'll do as you did and zip across the outer panel with a disc, un spot weld and repair off the bus rather than trying to do it in situ

Sat Mar 18, 2023 3:38 pm

Some goodies arrived from Alan Schofield:

Inner and outer driver's dogleg plus A post/Valance bracket, and an outer cab floor repair section for my '67 single cab:

Mon Mar 27, 2023 4:57 am

Cleaned up the B post area:

had a couple of areas to flatten where the spot welds had pulled the lip of the long panel:

Test fit:

Seems tight around the diagonal part of the opening - think the whole panel needs to shift backwards.

It's also bulging outwards:

I think this is from how tight the panel is - a bit of tapping to flatten the B panel/long panel lip improved things a bit.

Mon Mar 27, 2023 5:02 am

Started trying to remove this A-post / front valance bracket:

Is there an easy way to do this?

I'm using a combination of a seam buster, spot weld drill, and also trying to cut the bracket, as I'm not going to re-use it.

Mon Apr 03, 2023 4:28 am

Started on the A post, cutting out the rot so I can get to the headlight support pane:

That gives me good access to repair this rot here:

I'm using Fitzee's Fabrications cut n butt method, so this patch is tacked on over the top of the hole:

And then I cut along the edge at a 45 degree angle, and weld flush as I go:

Fully stitched:

Dressed back:

(Well almost, sunset marked end of play for today)

Tue Apr 04, 2023 1:04 pm

Decided against patching the A post after all:

Chop chop!

Thu Apr 06, 2023 12:26 pm

Okay, so it's only clamped in, but there's something very satisfying with seeing this panel butted up nicely acriss the top where I cut the old one off:

Mon Apr 17, 2023 3:29 pm

Seems my the gap in my dogleg gets tight along the diagonal, but there is a bit of movement in the door what with the A post hanging free. The gap along the rear of the door gets narrower as it goes down, whoch supports that, so I'm hoping I can wedge it in place befire tacking the dogleg to set the gaps correctly

Before I do that though, I think I need to repair the long panel, as it's easiest with the dogleg off (else I'll have to cut and weld onto the curved lip on the B pillar.

Had a dig in to see how bad it is:

Not really surprising, as I could see the rivets from inside:

I welded the A post on to feel like I'm making some sort of forward progress, but have been advised my wire speed might be a bit high. I'm going to practise further on the cut iff old A post, as well as new bits of sheet steel.

Wed Aug 09, 2023 2:38 pm

Marked where my replacement panel comes to:

Marked where the vertical posts are, and drilled out the spot welds:

Zip zip!

The spot welds were weak enough that once the sill/rocker was cut free enough to move, a bit of wiggling just broke it free:

Inner rockers seem oddly solid:

I have a problem though - I can't see the spotwelds at all where the side panel is attached to the vertical posts...

Also, I need to remove this lip here that goes round the B pillar in order for the panel to fit into place, but I don't want to cut that further up than I'm going to cut the replacement panel:

Which brings me to my final question - I bought the 350mm high replacement side panel, which looks like it's roughly high enough to end right in the cavity of the horizontal support that runs along the inside - can anyone confirm this?

Wed Aug 09, 2023 11:18 pm

i used the high one on my panel (no interior panels to hide the welds) and it worked perfectly

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...;start=200

scroll down

Fri Aug 11, 2023 3:24 am

karl h wrote: i used the high one on my panel (no interior panels to hide the welds) and it worked perfectly

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...;start=200

scroll down

Interesting - and that panel is the right size to fall right in between that support, yes? Nice!

Fri Aug 11, 2023 3:41 am

Started to tackle the inner front valance on my lunch break yesterday
Resigning myself to the fact that I wasn't going to get the outer layer off without completely mangling it made things a lot easier - the old grind and tuna can twist method instead of trying to drill out a load of invisible spotwelds

Bottom lip removed:

Top part removed showed the rust went further up than I thought:

At this point I was 99% sure I was going to just buy a replacement panel, for the sake of £90 I wouldn't have to faff about making up repair pieces, especially as the other side told a similar tale:

But then I decided to have a look and trim a bit further up, and made the decision to remove the rusty section and at least have a go at repairing it - after all, I was going to have to drill all those spotwelds out anyway, so I could still decide to abort the mission and replace it all:

Fri Aug 11, 2023 3:05 pm

"I've had enough of your lip, sunshine!" (Does any of that phrase translate well across the Atlantic?)

and cleaned up:

Tacked onto the vertical patch:

(The holes are drilled where the original spotwelds were so I can weld though in the same location - I figured that made more sense than trying to fill and clean up where I''d drilled them out)

I then welded all along the seam, trimmed off the excess, and welded along the backside too. A bit of grinder action got me to here:

(Might need a bit more cleaning up...)

I then turned my attention to the absolute Swiss cheese aftermath of trying to remove the A post support bracket:

I have a *long* way to go in terms of my non-destructive spotweld removal skills, but it was easy enough to trace round the flattened piece of metal emmental and make a repair patch:

Whilst cutting out this holey piece, I was annoyed at myself for slightly nicking the A post with the gutting disc, but then realised that I still needed to cut back and replace the forward-most half of the A pillar, and actually I'm not sure I could have done it without removing the end of the valance anyway - don't you just love it when you accidentally do things right after all?

I'm not welding the two halves of the A post together just yet so that there is scope for a a bit more movement/adjustment.

Sat Aug 12, 2023 9:29 am

Made the ribbed outer patch today:

6mm drill to act as a form:

Welded along the inside join:

(I have trouble getting the weld to sit consistently right where of interior faces join)

Also welded along the back of the join, which cleaned up very nicely:

I dressed the inner edge of the inner repair panel to allow the outer panel to be able to sit flush:

Copied the slot from the opposite side using the 'Masking tape and grubby finger' technique:

This part scrubbed up pretty well:

But I'm still wondering whether or not I dress that weld back, as it's never going to be seen once the outer valance goes on...

Finally a bit of bonda to protect the inner valance while I get things done:

Sat Aug 12, 2023 1:56 pm

I would be afraid of welding on that rattle can stuff, try to weld on perfect clean metal, it is much more easy.

Metal bending looks better and better!
Try to make it as one pice next time, only thing you may need is a cheap shrinker.

Your Car getting more complete every day, thats nice!

-Christian

Sat Aug 12, 2023 6:51 pm

Huetti_1989 wrote: I would be afraid of welding on that rattle can stuff, try to weld on perfect clean metal, it is much more easy.
Yes I'll be using a wire wheel where the edges meet and a drill bit to clear out where the plug welds will go

Huetti_1989 wrote:
Metal bending looks better and better!
Try to make it as one pice next time, only thing you may need is a cheap shrinker.

At some point I think that is the way to go- less welding and grinding!

Huetti_1989 wrote:
Your Car getting more complete every day, thats nice!

-Christian

Yeah, thanks! Feels good!

Sun Aug 13, 2023 12:07 pm

Got out there again today, got the inner patch of the inner valance in:

Still needs a little more cleanup.

Also removed more of the long side panel.

Lots of crud in the A pillar:

These pillars are basically intact, but this one will need repairing.