Front tunnel Rust and drain treatment help!

[BMFBMF]

Hi Folks,

So I'm pulling this thread together as I've been squatting on some other threads and want to stop hijacking them😉.

The back story. My beetle has very little rust as it was always in a dry salt free place.

I looked in the tunnel recently and from the pedals back the tunnel has very little rust.

However in the front , from the trough back is a different story. The master cylinder leaked in 1996 and I think this is the result.

The rust comes up to this trough in the front of the tunnel, just behind the pedals and stops there.

Does anyone know where the depressions on either side of the trough lead to ? I think that they lead nowhere and can not drain out?

On a different thread Cusser by chance posted this picture of a later super beetle, with a drain hole, seemingly there just to drain this trough...

I'm wondering if you folks can help me with two questions.

I'm planning to make some kind of a steel scraper on the end of a steel rod and get it in there to loosen up as much rust as I can (being right hand drive Ive got two pedal holes and the gearshift hole to reach through) and then to suck the rust out with a shop vac.

After that I'm planning to hit the rust with rust converter and then with cavity spray. Tring to get as much as possible along the sides of the trough as far as I can go

Do you folks have any better ideas, the scraper thing does feel a bit gynaecological....

Lastly, should I drill a hole here and then put in a drain nipple like the rear drain hole, here... ?

I can see why VW put the drain hole their later.....

Thanks for any inputs you may have !!!

Cheers

BMF
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-----Slava Ukraini-----
1971 Stock South African Beetle 1300 : My mom's european "Thin Chick" spec. Completely stock with torsion bar front, swingaxle rear, smooth hubs, single MC, 40 mm shoes, 31PICT3 carb and 5 bolt drums all round, currently Running a 1976 SF:AS engine with the original SF:AD engine overhauled in a box, waiting to go back in one day.

[Buggeee]

Sounds like an excellent plan to me.
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1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[Starbucket]

Brake fluid absorbs water so it held the water there to rust through. How about a round or square chimney brush and white vinegar to remove the rust before the rust inverter?

[beetlenut]

The brake fluid ends up in the bottom of the tunnel, and spreads into the bottom of the arms of the Napoleon's Hat. It eats the metal from the inside out.

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scrapyards are for quitters
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[DesignBuild]

Brake fluid is glycol and will eventually dry. If you want to get rid of it I would wash it out of the tunnel with something strong like Pinesol and very hot water maybe with some ammonia water added. The ammonia water is alkaline and will remove oils. Use a pressure washer and wash the entire tunnel in preparation for a rust proofing material.

Is this car a Super or a Standard? You could jack the rear up and pressure wash the tunnel pushing the junk out the front of the tunnel. Then allow it to dry or blow air into the tunnel with a ducted fan of some sort. The Supers have a rubber drain valve of sorts at the rear of the tunnel. You could add one to the front and use the same rubber plug that would be at the rear. You could use a rust converter but a rust proofing compound would work well too. Rust proofing compounds have wax in them so when they dry there is a waxy coating that remains. It is similar to the stuff you will find in new cars. If you got a pail you could do your entire car not just the tunnel. If a pail is too much sell the excess to friends.

Texaco used to make a Rust-Proofing Compound but since Texaco is no longer in business it may be packaged under the Chevron label. It is not like POR-15 products. Chevron does package such a product Rust Proof Compound L. Same as the Texaco stuff it seems. It isn't the black undercoating. It is designed to be put into the cavities in motor vehicles, places where moisture can collect. Here is what I found in a search," Rust Proof Compound L is a proven performance calcium soap of an oxidized wax, which is cut back to 60 % solids using a +72°C to +80°C flashpoint aliphatic solvent. It is formulated to meet the requirements of MIL-C-16173D-4 and associated specifications for automotive cavity protection." Sounds like just what you want and need.

[beetlenut]

Eastwood also makes a good Internal Frame Coating spray that I used on my tunnel.


https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-internal-frame-coating-14oz-aerosol.html
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scrapyards are for quitters
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[Starbucket]

I like woolwax.com undercoating.

[BMFBMF]

Hi Folks, thanks for the input.

One question I'm i'm stumped on before planning the whole redo is what is happening on the channels to the side of the tunnel. I hope some of you who have taken beetles right down have an idea.

Here's a picture I stole form SAMBA, what's going on on either side of these holes?

Is that channel just open to the firewall of the car like this? Through that hole visible in the firewall can I have direct access to the inside of that trough?

It looks to me as though the sides of the trough away form the tunnel might be lower and a better place to drill a drain hole (green circles instead of the red circle...)

I'm going to try to get the hose tof the cavity spray all the way into the cavity but trying to understand what's there first.

Cheers

BMF
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-----Slava Ukraini-----
1971 Stock South African Beetle 1300 : My mom's european "Thin Chick" spec. Completely stock with torsion bar front, swingaxle rear, smooth hubs, single MC, 40 mm shoes, 31PICT3 carb and 5 bolt drums all round, currently Running a 1976 SF:AS engine with the original SF:AD engine overhauled in a box, waiting to go back in one day.

[BMFBMF]

Hi Folks, spent lots of time googling to try and understand what's going on (its obvious I've never removed a body from the frame or played with the napoleons hat.)

Its obviously from this image that the napoleons hat is sealed except for the brake cylinder holes. I will be able to wire brush the inside of the napoleons hat on the brake pedal side and spray in cavity spray fairly easily. I'm considering making a hole on the other side (red circle ) to get access and then to do the same , inspect, clean and treat. Do you folks see any downside to that?

I'm suspecting that I can shove an endoscope from the pedal side over the top of the tunnel inside the napoleons had and see what is going on inside first, if its not bad I can probably get a cavity spray nozzle through there too.

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-----Slava Ukraini-----
1971 Stock South African Beetle 1300 : My mom's european "Thin Chick" spec. Completely stock with torsion bar front, swingaxle rear, smooth hubs, single MC, 40 mm shoes, 31PICT3 carb and 5 bolt drums all round, currently Running a 1976 SF:AS engine with the original SF:AD engine overhauled in a box, waiting to go back in one day.

[doug bugg]

I've used a few different undercoating products in a rattle can and have had the best luck with this...

https://www.harborfreight.com/12-oz-surface-shield-rust-protectant-59634.html
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"Knowledge is Good" - Faber College

[BMFBMF]

looks much better after I managed to attack the inside with a steel brush on the end of a bent metal tube. I then rust converted it and will now hit the whole tunnel with cavity spray and forget about it for another 50 years.

Drilled a hole in the passangers napolean hat and shoved in an endoscope, was not bad at all but got the same treatment. Removed the master cylinder to also attacjk the drivers side inside of the hat.

PS also raplaced the petrol pipe bung (and some silicone on top of it to make 100% sure) , I think that was another source of water ingress.

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-----Slava Ukraini-----
1971 Stock South African Beetle 1300 : My mom's european "Thin Chick" spec. Completely stock with torsion bar front, swingaxle rear, smooth hubs, single MC, 40 mm shoes, 31PICT3 carb and 5 bolt drums all round, currently Running a 1976 SF:AS engine with the original SF:AD engine overhauled in a box, waiting to go back in one day.

[BMFBMF]

Decided not to drill another hole drain hole in the front....
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-----Slava Ukraini-----
1971 Stock South African Beetle 1300 : My mom's european "Thin Chick" spec. Completely stock with torsion bar front, swingaxle rear, smooth hubs, single MC, 40 mm shoes, 31PICT3 carb and 5 bolt drums all round, currently Running a 1976 SF:AS engine with the original SF:AD engine overhauled in a box, waiting to go back in one day.

[jinx758]

BMFBMF ...



I winced when you said you were gonna drill a hole in the tunnel &/or bulkhead thingy.
Those are the main spine & structural support for the entire car. It'd be ok to weld it back up, I guess.

Treat it well & one less thing to worry about.

Best to you... stay safe

jinx
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[BMFBMF]

Hi Jinx 😉, there are already 6 holes in the drivers side napoleans hat or "bulkhead" (two rather large) so I was not too worried about it! Rather stop the rust.

Later beetles had that drain hole and its jst in th ebottom tin, I might revisit that in the future but I will keep an eye on it. Wih tthe hoile in the passagers napoleans hat its easy to shove an endoscope into the napoleans hat and also into the tunnel itself through the trough at the bottom.

👍
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-----Slava Ukraini-----
1971 Stock South African Beetle 1300 : My mom's european "Thin Chick" spec. Completely stock with torsion bar front, swingaxle rear, smooth hubs, single MC, 40 mm shoes, 31PICT3 carb and 5 bolt drums all round, currently Running a 1976 SF:AS engine with the original SF:AD engine overhauled in a box, waiting to go back in one day.