TheSamba.com :: View topic - 1960 beetle trying to separate body from frame

Wed Sep 24, 2025 3:06 pm

Hey there,
I recently purchased a 1960 beetle and I am trying to take the body off the frame. I have the entire rear separated, all the underside bolts out and the two bolts tot he front of where the gas tank was. I have it slightly hanging in the air and jacked in the back, but it wont' separate. After searching it think I found the issue. Where the front of the body (front of gas pedal) overhangs the frame there is black underbody spray. I scraped some of and found some new metal that welds the body to the frame. It is pretty tight in there to get a cutting wheel or drill in to get through the welds. I started to cut through the new metal to separate body from frame but thought better and wanted to ask here.

Looking at images, it seems like the frame head has about a 1 inch height above the flat horizontal triangular piece on the front of the frame.

Hoping someone could confirm my thinking and advise

how to best deal with the welds. Thanks!

Matt

Wed Sep 24, 2025 4:35 pm

I assume that the 60 is just like all of the later models with respect to that area (the Napoleon Hat). That is, it just sits on a rubber gasket and is not normally welded to the pan. I guess someone wanted to secure it with weld.

Why do you need to remove the body? The car looks pristine from that photo. The reason I ask is if you are trying to repair any part of that Napoleon Hat may change your method of attack. For example if you are needing to replace some of the floor pans, you can sometimes cut through the pan near that junction and then have better access to those vertical welds. Sometimes you can twist off metal at the welds without too much difficulty.

If you have cut through already, I'd just keep going. So long as you can re-weld that area and grind down the welds to "hide" it I guess it doesn't matter where you cut it.

Alternatively, try a small cutting disc on a Dremel to see if you can get closer to those welds. It looks like it is not a continuous weld but a number of small length welds.

Have a look here to see if any of these photos helps you with your repair.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php...t_dir=DESC

Fri Sep 26, 2025 6:02 am

Hey thanks for the response. I should have thought of a Dremel. I am going to try that. By my estimation it looked like the top of the hat on each side- where I am trying to cut is about 1 inch from the bottom. Does anyone know the exact height? How far in from the edge can I cut towards the center of the care before I hit the curved part of the hat?

I bought this bug from some one down the road who knew it was in a barn for the last 40 years. He disassembled the entire thing sent it to the paint shop. The put in floor pans and heater channels, did a decent job and a decent paint job. The frame itself was not really touched. Nothing major but looks old and tired. Since EVERYTHING is already off the bug I thought it made sense to pull the body and clean up the frame area. Does the following make sense to people:

- sand blast the frame- including the black pain on top and bottom of new floor pans?
-What sort of paint of finish is recommended to be put on the frame and pans?
- I do not have a big budget and am torn between spending the money on a new front beam or refurbishing the OG. If I am sandblasting, okay to blast the front beam or will the material ruin it?
- This car has 44,500 miles on it. I was surprised by how much grease/ oil is all over the tranny. Can this be blasted off or will that cause trouble and any thoughts on why it would be so coated? I put the shifter on and it seems to go in all gears pretty easy.

Thanks all,
Matt

Fri Sep 26, 2025 2:18 pm

I think your course of action here depends on what you want in the end. As you have found out, the shop put pans and heater channels in, but in the front portion of the chassis it appears they did some patching and welding where needed and not as the factory did it. If you want to now go back to factory original, it is probably going to cost you a lot of time and labor to get it there. It looks great from the outside, I would just patch that area up and drive and enjoy it. As for sand blasting, I would say no, just clean up areas that need it and prime and paint even with a brush. Enjoy it and try to avoid it turning into a money pit.