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Tue Mar 04, 2025 2:23 pm

Today i iron out the dents near the welds on the roof and sand it.

Then i cleaned the workshop and thinking about the brake problem on the early bay...

And the next steps on the Barndoor

-Christian

Tue Mar 11, 2025 3:18 am

Back from holidays and I just checked here..wow!! Awesome progress Christian, it is looking fantastic!! I am impressed how good you are making the weld disappear, I definitely need to learn from you!

Keep us updated, Grüße
Antoine

Sat Mar 15, 2025 4:19 pm

TRS63 wrote: Back from holidays and I just checked here..wow!! Awesome progress Christian, it is looking fantastic!! I am impressed how good you are making the weld disappear, I definitely need to learn from you!

Keep us updated, Grüße
Antoine

Thank you Antoine! Come over with some beer and i show you some skills if you show me yours!

The last few days have been very stressful trying to get the early Baywindow Single Cab roadworthy again, hoping to use it every day throughout the summer. But now, finally, back to the ’52 Panel.

I fabricated and welded in panels to connect the dashboard support to the B-pillar, ensuring everything is strong and solid again.

-Christian

Sun Mar 16, 2025 2:27 pm

Next litte but difficult patch next to the a pillar done:

-Christian

Sun Mar 16, 2025 5:09 pm

Unbelievable!

Sun Mar 16, 2025 10:19 pm

Buggeee wrote: Unbelievable!
x2!

Wahnsinn! :shock: =D> =D> =D>

Tue Mar 18, 2025 8:01 pm

nice work.

Wed Mar 19, 2025 9:49 am

Huetti_1989 wrote: Today i iron out the dents near the welds on the roof and sand it.

-Christian

I was looking at this picture of the roof and wondered if it would help you to cut out a larger part of the roof, just above the cargo doors, where it seems very deformed and folded. Maybe you could release some stress in the whole roofpanel by just removing the most deformed part of this area? It shouldn't be to difficult to make a suitable patch with your skills or even to reform and straight out the original roof metal on your English wheel and put it back in place? Great work, as usual, on that A-pillar and the pieces around it!

Fri Mar 21, 2025 1:34 pm

@ddutch:

Thanks, i will try to cut the roof and weld it back, we will see if any of that will work!

Glad that you guys like it as much as i do!

I weld a patch on one cargo door, for the inner door frame structure, same as the side wall inner reinforcement (different then >55) i need to find a company here witch can bend me that thight hat profile.

Not much to show here, only a ton of bending and shaping of the rear side and the "new" final door with a early window frame (thanks Erich!!!)
When i take the door apart i found a spare extra nos screw falling around inside the door.. =)

Everything still need a lot of work but for now i love the result on that gaps!
-Christian

Sat Mar 22, 2025 4:02 pm

And as everytime, two steps back:

After all around is straight i cut out the poor remains of the dogleg and the outer two parts of the b-pillar to reach all that damaged areas.

-Christian

Sun Mar 23, 2025 3:06 pm

Struggling around with the inner kf b pillar, of course as all the parts it would need some work, but with that little patch i need i decided to build my own lower part with the later nos template:
And there are some little differences in the years of course.

Next little patch: the vertical wall to hold the pillar in place in the lower area.
-Christian

Sun Mar 23, 2025 3:23 pm

I love how you tackle this b pillar repair which is rarely or hardly ever seen. Like you, I do not believe in accuracy of repro panels. especially when they are already spot welded together. Fixing your og inner b pillar and moving and adjusting where it has to be, and then adding the outer layer to get everything solid.... way to go. Superb job Christian !

ps, I love the shot of the folded over lip of the channel that holds the cargo door seals (second to last pic). The factory original pillars show how uneven and probably hand hammered these areas were originally. something you hardly see, unless you drill out spot welds and remove the outer sheetmetal.

Sun Mar 30, 2025 12:50 pm

djfordmanjack wrote: I love how you tackle this b pillar repair which is rarely or hardly ever seen. Like you, I do not believe in accuracy of repro panels. especially when they are already spot welded together. Fixing your og inner b pillar and moving and adjusting where it has to be, and then adding the outer layer to get everything solid.... way to go. Superb job Christian !

ps, I love the shot of the folded over lip of the channel that holds the cargo door seals (second to last pic). The factory original pillars show how uneven and probably hand hammered these areas were originally. something you hardly see, unless you drill out spot welds and remove the outer sheetmetal.

I’m really happy that Klassic Fab keeps making high-quality panels. Their parts fit great, and I’m glad they’re still in business! That said, I’d love to have more tools to make my own panels—fabricating parts myself is something I really enjoy.

Günther, I really appreciate your eye for detail! These early cars have some truly crazy features.

Sorry for the delay over the last few days. Big thanks to everyone here for keeping me motivated to keep working on the Barndoor! I recently picked up another ’52 Split, which has been keeping me busy—and will for the next few days as well. But this time, it’s a Beetle! Another project added to the list of ones I want to finish.

Right now, I’m working on the B-pillar, making progress step by step.

Here’s one off-topic picture, and then we’ll get back to this panel…

-Christian
I continue the detailed wirk on that lower b pillar:

Mon Mar 31, 2025 2:59 am

Awesome !!! Do I see a sunroof in that 52 split bug ? Nice !

Yes, all of those early details of make-do design and production are part of the fascinating things in restoring barndoor buses.

Mon Mar 31, 2025 1:59 pm

@günther: yes, but its a later short sunroof. I need to find a year correct large one...

Finished the lower area of the b pillar and start to fabricate the next patch for the top area:

-Christian

Wed Apr 02, 2025 8:22 am

very impressive work

Thu Apr 03, 2025 1:30 pm

zuggbug wrote: very impressive work

Thanks man!!

And weld the top patch in place.

Make a small panel where the wall meets the pillar.

Start to think how to repair that outer pillar parts if it's possible.and finally found a metal shop to fabricate the inner door and sidewall reinforcements!

-Christian

Fri Apr 04, 2025 2:05 pm

Beautiful blending work!

Sat Apr 05, 2025 2:29 pm

Two Glove Boxes wrote: Beautiful blending work!

Thanks ma, i give my best!

Startes the next piece, the outer pillar lower area.

In the last step i made a mistake because my shrinking dies are to big, the metal moves fron the flat surface so the result is a ~3mm smaller pillar in the lower erea, not good.

I also burt a hole through the sidewall while doing some heat spots there. Not my day...
-Christian

Mon Apr 07, 2025 1:29 pm

Fixed that fail on the b pillar with a patch in the patch what get me space for good metal bending:

-Christian