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Sat Jun 01, 2024 7:36 pm

I am going to start another build thread as I have two main projects going at this time. My other build thread is "56 Old Speed Euro DeVille Influenced Build". I like the variety of being able to jump back and forth between these two projects.

I am starting this new thread as I could use some help about how to correctly return my car to stock condition. I started this project last year. The first part of this thread will be to catch up with where I am today.

I decided to attempt to return the car to stock because the older I get the more I appreciate these cars in their original state. I also find the hunt for the correct parts to be intensely interesting. If you have knowledge of the correct parts for stock VW Ovals then this thread needs your help.

The previous owner named the car Gerry (short for geriatric). I have kept the name going.

Gerry is an April 55 with a three-fold ragtop with heart taillights and semaphores. I believe this was the last month that the Ovals came with these three attributes

Here are some pictures of Gerry:

I always like to begin with the end in mind. Here is my inspirational picture for Gerry:

Here is a copy of the Birth Certificate. It came with White Walls!

So far here are the things that I believe are incorrect on Gerry with respect to the factory stock configuration:

Fenders
Hood
Front Seats
12 Volt everything (Alternator, Wiper Motor, Horn etc.)
Visor
Missing Passenger Arm Rest
Engine (current 1776)
Chassis (current 1961)
Transmission (current tunnel)
Brakes
Emergency brake
Color of Gas Tank
Interior Color
Bumpers
Steering Wheel
Running Boards
Incorrect Position for Taillights
Hub Caps

Does anyone see anything I missed?

Here are some of the parts that I have accumulated for this reclamation project:

A Feb 1955 Chassis with original pans with no rust through spots (although there does appear to be a bullet hole in the battery tray). I am planning on building this pan from the ground up and then moving Gerry's body over.

Here is a correct hood for Gerry. I spent a year looking for this hood. Five bolt holes with three on the drivers side (one for the prop), no triangle and four tabs for the emblem.

Original rear fenders with the mounting holes for the heart tail lights.

Correct front seats.

I had Rancho Performance Transaxles build a split case transmission.

I hired Jeff Gagnon in Oregon to build a correct drum-to-drum front end. (This is an example picture from his Samba ad. I will post a picture of my actual beam when I get it.)

Lastly, I have two June 55 engines. I am hoping to combine them together along with other missing parts to get one correct engine.

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Sat Jun 01, 2024 8:55 pm

Crikey Tom, you are a stickler.

Looks like you love a fight, good luck and the fact that you are starting with such a nice car will make it way easier I reckon.

I love Hearts, Ribs and 'Phores, my favourite.

Sun Jun 02, 2024 7:04 am

US spec car for '55 should have egg lights instead of hearts.

Sun Jun 02, 2024 9:29 am

I am in this same camp!

The heart lights stood out like a sore thumb, but you have it on your list. The rest of what I saw was also on your list. The passenger door hinge pin looks odd. Maybe it needs a mirror or? The door panels are not right. But I think you already know that. You have an earlier decklid, maybe 53 or earlier.

Looks like a GREAT starting point! The front beam looks like it has 58 drums on it or even later. They look really wide for a 55, but I also know that the camera and the computer can change the ratio of photos, so I could be talking out my ass!

Looking forwards to an update! Between the two cars, you are going to be broke purchasing the correct parts and way too busy finding those that are needed!

Sun Jun 02, 2024 1:43 pm

i55 wrote: US spec car for '55 should have egg lights instead of hearts.

Thank you for bringing this up.

I did some research and found this Wolfsburg West post.

https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/wired/wired_08_01/wired_08_01.htm

Here is the relevant paragraph that seems to apply to my car:

"April'55 - May 2, 1955 (chassis # 1-0871206) U.S., Guam, and Canadian market cars, there are two possibilities. Your car could have the red convex plastic lens taillights and semaphores, or it could have the optional flashing turn signal package with the larger glass taillights and "bullet" style front flashing directional indicators."

I do have a June 55 with eggs and bullets, and I have an extra set of egg tail lights that I could use on Gerry.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Sun Jun 02, 2024 1:53 pm

VW_Jimbo wrote:
The passenger door hinge pin looks odd. Maybe it needs a mirror or?

You have an earlier decklid, maybe 53 or earlier.

The front beam looks like it has 58 drums on it or even later.

Hey, Jimbo, thank you for looking in on me.

Good eye on the passenger door hinge. The passenger mirror was in the box of parts that came with the car. I was able to get it back on.

Very interesting that it could be a 53 decklid. What do I look for to tell the difference?

Sorry about the front beam picture. I took that picture from Jeff's Samba ad. He is building the beam right now. I do not have it yet. I will edit my first post to state that the picture is an example of his work. I will post a picture of the actual beam when I get it.

Thanks again for your help

Sun Jun 02, 2024 2:55 pm

The plate attached to your decklid for the spring is triangle shaped like the early lids. Sometime in 1955 they changed to rectangular shape like the later deck lids.

I’d keep the decklid as is…

Sun Jun 02, 2024 6:03 pm

super cool car! glad to see your gonna keep it stock! I also think yours should have eggs, they ran from late 54 to April of 55 on cars imported to the US. also your decklid is the correct "Big Spring" decklid, late 52-55.

Mon Jun 03, 2024 8:50 am

txoval wrote: The plate attached to your decklid for the spring is triangle shaped like the early lids. Sometime in 1955 they changed to rectangular shape like the later deck lids.

I was under the impression that the change to the rectangular deckled spring bracket started in model year '56 (builds started in Aug '55). The decklid that came with my March '55 has the triangular spring bracket.

@Jim - was there any other deckid differences between '53 and '55.

Mon Jun 03, 2024 10:48 pm

Gerry had several issues that needed to be resolved in order to make him road worthy. The first thing I decided to fix was the semaphores. The original semaphores were only partially working on the drivers side, and the passenger side had a melted lens. When I was looking for someone to fix my semaphores, I kept reading about Matt Ross in Canada. I had a great experience working with him. He did a great job for a reasonable price.

Here is what the semaphores looked like when I received Gerry:

Gerry was converted to 12 volts during his restoration 18 years ago. I think the reason for the melting semaphore was a resistor that was not working any longer ( I am planning on reverting him back to 6-volt):

I changed out the resistor while Matt was working on my semaphores.

It turns out Matt restored these same semaphores 18 years ago during Gerry's previous restoration.

He restored the pistons and the coils for me:

Here is Matt's finished semaphore restoration. Really happy with the final result.

Next I worked on de-rusting, sealing, stripping and metal working the chassis in preparation for paint.

Tue Jun 04, 2024 2:36 pm

Got any plans for the engine? My 54 rag could use a upgrade. Lol

Wed Jun 05, 2024 12:11 am

13axle wrote: Got any plans for the engine? My 54 rag could use a upgrade. Lol

Yes - I will be selling all of the parts below the body. The engine, chassis, front suspension, rear brakes, transmission, etc. It may be a while before I get to that point but I do not need Gerry's rolling chassis for my other builds.

Wed Jun 05, 2024 12:26 am

13axle wrote: Got any plans for the engine? My 54 rag could use a upgrade. Lol

Thanks for checking in.

Yes - I will be selling all of the parts below the body. The engine, chassis, front suspension, rear brakes, transmission, etc. I do not need Gerry's rolling chassis for my other builds. However, it might be a while.

Thu Jun 06, 2024 11:46 pm

This post will be a little long but it will catch this thread up to real time.

Next, I started to strip, seam and metalwork the chassis

Before Front of Chassis:

Before Rear of Chassis:

Before Tunnel: (not too bad)

My favorite rust dissolver is Rust911. This is a non-toxic biodegradable solution that I have been using for the past 6 months on both of my projects with great results.

Here is Rust911:

If the part is small enough like the spring plates, torsion bars, or spring plate covers I use a soaking container for the Rust911.

Rust911 Soaking 70-Gallon Container (I have several different sizes widths and depths for the different parts):

The chassis does not fit in any soaking container so I made a soaking sprinkler booth with 15 sprinklers. (I discussed this more in my other thread if you want more details)

The Rust 911 fluid returns from the sprinklers to a 27-gallon container at the front of the booth. A pump returns the Rust911 solution to the sprinklers.

I ran this booth about 2-4 hours per day for three weeks.

Here is the inside structure for my 15-sprinkler booth:

Here is the completed booth:

This is the chassis in the booth. The tube inside the tunnel has a 360 degree sprinkler that I would move 2 inches every hour of soaking. It did a great job of removing the rust inside the tunnel:

We did some paint stripping on the chassis prior to putting it into the booth, but here is the front of the chassis after being in the booth:

Here is the back of the chassis after being in the booth:

I then started the process of sealing up the chassis from future rust. I first went after the tunnel. First I removed all of the cables and brake lines, which luckily came out without issues. I then pressure tested all of the chassis tubes to see if any had any holes. They were all very sound so I started with the sealing process.

I used this paint gun to coat the channel:

I first put one coat of Owatrol Oil inside the tunnel. I really like this product. It flows really well and came out of the seams. This is product does not need to be flushed with water and may still do a fair job of sealing off future rust. Here is some information on Owatrol Oil:

Here is what the tunnel looked like after spraying with Owatrol Oil Tunnel:

I then sprayed the tunnel with two coats of Owatrol Primer. Here is the info on this primer:

Here is what the tunnel looks like after spraying with the Owatrol Primer:

Lastly, I applied two coats of the Owatrol Marine Aluminum coating. Here is the information on this coating:

Here is the tunnel after coating with the Owatrol Marine Aluminum:

Next, I wanted to seal the seams of the chassis by injecting Owatrol Oil and Epoxy Primer into all of the seams

I injected Owatrol Oil into the seam. I waited 5 days for it to dry and then I injected this thinned epoxy primer into the seams:

I used this syringe and the paint gun listed above to shot the Owatrol Oil and Epoxy Primer into the seams:

Here is what the sealed seams look like:

I next needed to remove the spring plates and torsion bars.

Spring Plate Before:

After releasing the spring plates I measured the angle for future installation.

Spring Plate Measurement:

It was not easy to remove but it finally came out.

Spring Plate Removal:

I soaked all of the smaller parts in Rust911 and then blasted them clean in the media blasting booth.

If you look closely, you can see the fairly large dent on the passenger side pan:

The top of the pan is almost done. Metal work is still in progress and I started welding the patch for the bullet hole in the battery pan:

Next, I want to finish the metal work, welding, torsion tubes, and the bottom of of the chassis.

Fri Jun 07, 2024 8:50 am

Nice work and write up! Love the tent!

That torsion bar will come out of the torsion arm. Lots of rust holding that in there! Worst case is you will need to remove the outside cover and then press the bar out. Then (the hardest part) is fabbing up a circle large enough to fit inside when dimpled and small enough to be smacked down flat, as it enters the groove! Tip: it is the same size ID of the splined interior of the arm when you have a 3mm dimple. Super easy to install! Be sure that groove is spotless though!

Sat Jun 08, 2024 1:24 pm

VW_Jimbo wrote: Nice work and write up! Love the tent!

That torsion bar will come out of the torsion arm. Lots of rust holding that in there! Worst case is you will need to remove the outside cover and then press the bar out. Then (the hardest part) is fabbing up a circle large enough to fit inside when dimpled and small enough to be smacked down flat, as it enters the groove! Tip: it is the same size ID of the splined interior of the arm when you have a 3mm dimple. Super easy to install! Be sure that groove is spotless though!

Hey Jimbo - thanks for checking in.

I remember that end cap maneuver from your build thread. You have crazy fabrication skills. Luckily, I was able to remove the torsion bars from the spring plates. I clamped the torsion bar into a vice with my aluminum jaw covers. I then "tapped" on the spring plate with my 3 lb. hammer and it actually came off fairly easily. This chassis lived a fairly charmed life. The overall rust for a Feb. 55 chassis is pretty good and other than the big dent I am working on now, it is in pretty good shape.

Mon Jul 29, 2024 9:25 pm

I am a little behind on my postings for this project. I will post every few days until I catch up to current.

After sealing the tunnel and the seams, I wanted to clean and seal the torsion tubes. Here is what it looked like before I started. Not too bad:

I found this dryer vent cleaner on Amazon. It worked really well.

It has several shaft sections but I only needed one mounted on my drill.

The shafts glow in the dark, which helped see inside the tunnel during the cleaning process

Here is the tube after cleaning. I ran the cleaner back and forth dry a few times and then a few more times after soaking the tube with carb cleaner. A lot of stuff came out.

After reading how to seal the tube on The Samba, I decided to use the 3M Cavity Wax Plus. I am nervous about putting something on the internal splines that would interfere with putting the torsion bars back in. The Plus version of this cavity wax does not harden. I am hoping that this helps when I try to re-install the bars. I will let you know how it goes.

Here are the applicator wands that work with the cavity wax.

Wed Jul 31, 2024 9:26 pm

Here are some better pictures of the hood and fenders that I found that were appropriate for my April 55. The taillight holes in the fenders are correct for hearts but this car is supposed to have eggs. I will have to see how the holes are different and make adjustments if needed. These parts, especially the fenders are pretty crispy

I soaked the fenders and hood in Rust 911. I then mechanically stripped them. I should have stripped them first before the Rust 911. I found a lot of rust under the bondo, which was applied directly to the metal.

After stripping them down, I sprayed and injected Owatrol Oil and then Epoxy Primer into the hood bolt area and the under the seems of the upper hood support.

Lots of metal work and welding needed to get them to the next step.

Fri Aug 02, 2024 10:53 pm

This is my second chassis that I have worked on. Our neighbor's son, who is studying to be a mechanic, comes over to help me some of the evenings and like almost all of the build threads on here, I have very little help. On this chassis repair, I spent weeks working on dent removal. I had to keep turning it over to work the dent from the other side. I was wearing out my helpers so I decided to build a chassis rotisserie.

I used a couple of Harbor Freight engine stands. The uprights on the stands lean back so I had to cut off the uprights to put them back on straight. I added an extra 6 inches to the height so that the chassis could fully rotate over the stringer that runs between the stands.

I used a 1/8-inch steel plate to attach the back engine stand to the transmission mounts.

The front part was more difficult. I used the stock front beam mounting bolts. The front mounting point on the chassis is at an angle. I had to cut the engine stand mounting tubes to offset the mounting point angle. The trick is get the front and rear mounting points to line up so the chassis can easily turn. I should have made this rotisserie earlier. It has been really useful.

This chassis had what looked like bullet hole in the battery tray area. I have had a lot of trouble welding this hole. The metal in this tray seems strong enough to keep but the uneven thickness of the metal was difficult to weld. I kept blowing holes in the thin part of the battery tray, even with a copper bar behind the weld. We finally were able to get our third attempt patch to weld in without significant blow through holes. Unfortunately, when I was grinding down the welds I created several big holes in the thinner areas. I had to go to my 4th attempt.

I was having a hard time finding the thicker areas of metal in this battery tray. I ended up taking a small drill bit and making holes to find the thicker areas of this tray. Maybe someone has better way to find the thickness that they can share.

I ended up with this hole. I applied a couple of layers of tape to the bottom of the hole. I then cut it out with a razor blade. This was used to make the patch.

We decided to teach ourselves TIG welding to try and get this fourth patch in. TiG welding like a tight seam

It is not pretty but were able to get the patch in without any blow through holes. I stoped the grinding process here because I did not want a repeat of my last over-grinding experience. I may work on this some more later.

Jeff Gagnon delivered my drum-to-drum front beam, including the steering box rebuild. Working with Jeff was great. He went out of his way to find period correct parts, including many NOS parts for my build. He has been doing this for a long time and he knows a lot about how to build a period correct beam. It took a while to find all of the correct parts, especially the ball joints with the installed zerks. He was able to bring this down from Oregon to my house on his way to make some deliveries in Southern California. I asked him to build a couple of period correct rear drums next.

Fri Aug 02, 2024 11:22 pm

Looking great!

On the weld bead finishing. I use my 3 inch air grinder. I stack 3 at 3” discs together and then remove as much metal as I am comfortable with from the bead. I then plug in another air grinder that I have a Rolex setup on. I screw in an 80 grit disc and sand the rest of the weld smooth. They come out perfect everytime! On a few of the welds that show, I will also take my 12 inch Mill file and take several more strokes off.

That’s my metal finishing regiment to perfection! Hit me up if you want more info or have questions.