TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Jan 16, 2024 6:35 pm

First order of business today was to take care of all the small rusted ares on the inner panels so we can start welding on the exterior skins. I got the the skins coated with some weld through primer so there is no raw metal being trapped. I also located and drilled the holes in the rocker skin in order to be able to attach it to the convertible inner rocker support panel. We also got the inside rear rocker panels all closed in. Once all that was done my son went onto the exterior skins staring with the lower front fender. While he was doing that I filled in a large amount of cancer spots and drilled holes in the nose skin , nostrils and headlight buckets. When I finished that I went back onto fishing up all the details on the rear lower fender panel.

Wed Jan 17, 2024 5:55 am

Clean as usual 8)

Antoine

Wed Jan 17, 2024 6:34 pm

We got the lower fender repair all wrapped and moved onto tacking up the rocker skin and rear fender panel

I needed to get creative to remove the sag in the door sill first and then I was good to go. Once I final fit the rocker skin and tacked it place I moved onto final fit and tack of the rear fender panel. My Son is only part time and works just a couple or few days a week and with have found a good rhythm where I make the parts , fit and tack them in place and he comes along and welds and metal finishes them. So once my duty was done I moved onto the lower front firewall area. I whipped up a quick and dirty hammer form and it was off to the races. 😜👊

Thu Jan 18, 2024 12:22 am

Digging these photo dumps. Great work!

Thu Jan 18, 2024 8:24 am

What a beautiful legacy. I have to say your photos are really great. I can’t seem to get enough of seeing the anatomy of these beautifully designed cars, and the way you include some of the other cars in the shop, the Porsche….you can see the lineage….so cool….maybe someday for me, I’ve been dreaming about it for over a decade… keep up the good work!

Thu Jan 18, 2024 1:38 pm

I truly appreciate you guys encouraging me and supporting this thread

😍👊

Thu Jan 18, 2024 1:51 pm

Wish my Ghia cab had been as nice as this one to start with. You will have this knocked out in no time. :D

Thu Jan 18, 2024 6:23 pm

Thu Jan 18, 2024 6:27 pm

^^^ Thanks for the vote of confidence Mr Loren, I would agree… ^^^ this one should go pretty quickly over all. It has quite a few troubled cancer spots scattered throughout, but that’s the name of the game so I’m feeling optimistic.

Your whip definitely needed a fair amount of love but it’s felling groovy now 🤩

Thu Jan 18, 2024 11:26 pm

I had given it some thought and realized some folks maybe interested in the explanations of the metal shaping process I’m posting pix of? I would be happy to take the time to freely give the knowledge that was so generously passed on to me from my metal mentors. ⚒☑️👀🕊🤍

Fri Jan 19, 2024 1:46 am

WrennMetallWerks wrote: I had given it some thought and realized some folks maybe interested in the explanations of the metal shaping process I’m posting pix of? I would be happy to take the time to freely give the knowledge that was so generously passed on to me from my metal mentors. ⚒☑️👀🕊🤍

Yes. Of course we'd be interested. Please do

Nicholas

Fri Jan 19, 2024 7:17 am

I will start...

What is "metal finishing"?

Is the green tape thing a pattern? Why isn't it made of cardboard or metal?

Why are there what look like relief marks on the pattern but they are not cut out?

Fri Jan 19, 2024 9:44 am

⬆️ That’s fantastic fellas, happy to explain. I will dive into on my lunch break ⬆️

Fri Jan 19, 2024 8:32 pm

Hey folks…. I was able to finalize the first stage of the metal finish and shaping on the lower rear quarter panel. Once I started to final fit it to the car I quickly realized how bad off the taillight opening and surrounding area was. I ended up cutting out the taillight housing mounting bracket to repair it and to get access to surrounding areas for correction. When trying to fit the taillight I discovered the body line was way off from a previous repair. At first I thought it was the top
hole that was off. I reshaped the body line and filed the body line back into its proper shape/position. There was a lot of hand dolly work around the entire area of the open to get it ready to accept the tailgate properly. Once I was happy with all that is was able to final fit and tack in the lower fender panel. I got it fitting real well and tacked into its final resting place. That’s a wrap for this rotation. 🤩👊

Fri Jan 19, 2024 10:04 pm

VeloMikey wrote: I will start...

What is "metal finishing"?

Is the green tape thing a pattern? Why isn't it made of cardboard or metal?

Why are there what look like relief marks on the pattern but they are not cut out?

Hey Mr Mike. I love everything about the way you approached this. To me
this is what the forums are all bout. All of us sharing, learning , and engaging.

I will be looking for folks to reach out the way you did and ask about things that interest them. Thanks for that Mr Mike , very cool. Great questions to by the way.

So metal finishing has many forms….

Particularly in this situation it was the final steps after the panel is welded in and it started with grinding the welds down about 80 percent using the edge of a small cutting blade once that was done I use 2” 36 grit roloc disc on and angle sander to take the welds as flush as I can get them without taking away metal on the surrounding metals that I just joined together. After that I switch to a 3” 60 grit roloc disc to lightly blend the welds and the materials, being very careful to take off very little more metal then necessary. Once that’s done I add lay out ink to the panel to use as a guide coat and then using a vixen file I file the panels and what litt is left of the welds to just about as level as it can bel, the lay out ink tells me where and if their are highs and lows that need to be addressed to reach the desired finish I’m after. I do what’s necessary to improve on the panel one last time if i feels it’s necessary , then the real “finish “ starts. I begin with a DA sander with 80 grit sand paper and then change to 100 grit once everything is blended to my satisfaction then I use another DA with a red Scotch Brite to get the final result you see in my photos. All of this takes quite some but I’m getting faster at every year.

Yes Mike , the green tape is a pattern. I made it about eight years ago , the reason it is tape is because if you use it in a certain way directly on a good panel it will keep the shape of said panel when removed . The trick is to do at least three layers in opposite directions. When this particular pattern was made it was made to shape a panel I needed for a project I had at the time. The relief cuts you see dictate where I will need to shrink the panel to get the shape I want. When the pattern of tape is done on the good panel I was trying to duplicate I pulled it off the car once I made the cuts it lays out flat so I could transfer it to metal.
Another popular way to do this is with butcher paper, when you fold the tucks of the paper to contour and the panel it tells you almost exactly where to shrink, the paper is a cheap and simple way to make a paper for metal shaping.

Great questions man. I appreciate the engagement 🤩👊

Sun Jan 21, 2024 8:48 am

I have been an a production and didn’t get around to posting this photo.

This one is the panel tacked in and the taillight are bottom now lined up in place. The curved metal strips you see are what I like to call kontour keepers. They will help keep the original shape in the panel while my son does the welding. The original material of the fender liked to bow inward and these and the new panel will help it behave. 😜👊

Sun Jan 21, 2024 10:57 pm

Thanks for taking the time to explain us more and sharing the pictures !

Antoine

Wed Jan 24, 2024 9:54 am

Your most welcome my friend….🤜💥🤛

Wed Jan 24, 2024 12:08 pm

I see a professional approach and execution. Great, I'm waiting for more. Maybe someday I'll be able to do that too :))

Mon Feb 19, 2024 4:52 pm

Making good progress on the Kab

With only the top of the rear quarter left to weld that’s a wrap on all the welding and grinding to do on the lower half of the driver side. Tomorrow I will transition to the passenger side. 😎👊