1972 Squareback from Russia

[splodge]

It's been a long time since the last post, but work still going.

We completely rebuilt the rear engine air duct and the air duct sidewalls that make up the engine bay itself;
Installed trunk floor amplifiers;
Welded all the previously removed (and missing) elements of the mudguard and amplifier of the engine compartment;
Cleaned up all seams and welds.
After that, all seams were treated with acid, then with acrylic primer. Of course, everything will be sealed and painted, but you can’t leave bare metal inside (The boiled soil is a wonderful thing, but it burns out especially at the welding point).

In addition to the seams on the side of the engine compartment, the painting of the inside of the engine air duct had to be completed.

Despite the fact that the panels were partially painted before assembly, they touched the welding ground along the joint.

All burnt places on the welding soil were completely cleaned.

The existing paint on the planes was matted with scotchbright, and the air duct was painted according to the scheme:
1. Acid primer on bare metal
2. Acrylic paint 2k
3. Epoxy primer Dupont P7
4. Sealing seams and joints with polyurethane sealant
5. Acrylic paint 2k

We were very happy (no) when we did all this in such a narrow and curved space.
Most of the work was done with a mirror.
It turned out terribly difficult, long and multi-staged.
Quality needs to be expected!

[splodge]

Next step:

After the process of painting the rear of the air intake was completed, it became possible to finish the side air intakes.

The last dust shield was welded inside the left air intake, the shape of which prevented access for painting, and after that it was necessary to paint everything that would be in very limited access.

Further as always:
1. Acid on metal;
2. Acrylic primer;
3. Epoxy primer;
4. Sealant in joints;
5. Acrylic paint;
6. Places of joint and welding of panels - welded primer UPOL Weld2.

Although the donor parts from California are very good, there were also enough places to put a hand on.
To attach these parts to the car, they had to be disassembled on the panel according to the welding points.
But in order to start drilling points, you first need to clean the joints from the sealant, with which these cars are smeared very heavily.
And the sealant is so good, high quality, keeps to the last.

After disassembling the thresholds, it became possible to look inside.
It became clear that they are not new (surprisingly) and there are problems.
In any case, these parts are many times better than what we have and ordering them was the only reasonable decision.
How it would be possible to restore all this from a sheet - of course you can imagine, but it’s better not to

[splodge]

At the same time, I decided to search for color.
Earlier, I had already started looking for a recipe for Avocado green paint.
But the search turned up nothing, no one knew the recipe for the rare Australian paint.

The manufacturer of this paint was Dulux, and I decided to look for contacts of this company.
Dulux in Europe no longer deals with car paints.
Dulux is part of AkzoNobel Corporation, which owns Sikkens. They continue to make car paints.

I contacted Sikkens Russia but they couldn't find any information on the code.

Then I wrote an appeal to Dulux and Sikkens Australia.
But they couldn't help either.
I began to study the Australian paint market and discovered that there is a company called Dulux Automotive, which is just engaged in automotive paints!
I wrote to them and they still have the old archive! Hooray!
Huge thanks to Chris Lee, he sent me the paint recipe and even offered to make a colour card for free and mail it to me! Wow!

Unfortunately, since February 2022, it has been very difficult to send anything to Russia, and Chris did not manage to send the parcel either by mail or by DHL.
Chris sent me a photo of the card, but I was embarrassed to ask him to look further for possible shipments. He has already done quite a lot for me.

With the paint recipe and color card photo, I decided to write to Sikkens Russia again. They were very surprised to learn that I got the archive code and a photo of the paint.
But again they could not help with the manufacture of the paint. Because they don't have the Autosolv base in which the code is written.

Ok, I decided to look for someone who has this base in Russia.
But I didn’t find anything, apparently no one uses it here.

Then I decided to choose the color according to the colour card (I understand that it’s a bad option, but maybe it suddenly works out).
I found colorists and we started experimenting.
Made 3 paints. They all looked like Avocady green, but it still wasn't the same.
We also painted a car door to look what it like.

I was upset and for half a year I forgot about the paint.

After half a year, I accidentally found a friend of friends of friends of friends who lives in Australia
I asked him to write to Chris, in case he hadn't thrown out the colour card yet. And try to send it to Russia.
Chris kindly agreed to help and found it! hooray!

Another 2 months of waiting and I had the card.
The color was very different from what I tried to do myself.
It looks great in the sun and will fit the car perfectly.

Here all colours that we were choose.

With Indoor lightes, the color does not look as cool as outdoor. I'll take new pictures later.

Hope I will choose this colour, but who knows

[Bobnotch]

The clean up and new fabrication look great. Some of that is the hardest areas to work on, on these cars as they're known to have little traps or pockets that are nearly impossible to access.

Hopefully the color you choose is the one you like the best. On my own car, it was Ruby Red, but I ended up doing a color change to a BMW metallic medium blue. I've been happy with it for over 20 years now, and haven't regretted the color change. But then I'm not a purist either, and built my car for me to enjoy.
_________________
Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[splodge]

[splodge]

Disassemble on the panel, it seems that it could be easier?
Until I started taking it apart.
Especially if you want to later assemble a car from these panels, and not demolish them in the trash.

Parsing thresholds is a horror. Heavy like death metal.
They consist of three layers of panels, inside of which there is an air duct, its fasteners and mortgages and amplifier of the front pillar of the doorway.

Everything is thin and requires the most sensitive handling.
The number of welding points is more than you have seen the stars in the sky. Each must be drilled and divided.

Next, we start working with the arch reinforcement.

Door glass was dismantled and removed.
Since the work has moved closer to the doors, it has become unsafe to leave glass in them.
Getting welding on the glass is not good at all.

The next step is to begin the process of removing the outer sill panel on the vehicle in order to fit the donor outer panels into place.

The body inside is reinforced with spacers, which, as practice shows, work great and the body retains its rigidity, nothing moves anywhere.
But extra precision won't hurt.

[splodge]

Moving on!

The first step was to fit the right threshold panel.
All mates and the necessary attachment points for self-tapping screws were made.

When the threshold was fixed and some reference points appeared in space, it was possible to start work with the central part of the body, which includes the front ends of the spars, the rear wall of the cabin, which forms the front parts of the rear arches and the transverse reinforcement, to which the rear part is then joined.

After the semi-spar was repaired, they began to work on the sidewall base panel, which passes into the rear arch. To begin with, we cut off everything rotten.
Views as usual - PEGI 18+

We take a donor panel and see that here, too, there are holes not provided for by the design.
So you need to cure before installation.
Template >>> blank >>> trim >>> weld >>> trim >>> we have a panel ready to trim.
Work with this element took place even before sandblasting, and the panel was already trimmed and fitted, it was decided to clean it by hand.
After stripping, treat with Prematex rust remover.

Meanwhile, problems begin along the edges of the arch panel - we decide to open it.
Rust inside.

We arm ourselves with brushes and remove rust.
On the panel itself, which is part of the arch, you have to replace part of the lower edge.

Well, then we get to the California bodyparts!
We could take the parts to sandblasting, but we have thin bodyparts and a bunch of small parts.

When sandblasting, parts can be warped and responsible sandblasters will never sand the outer body panels.
Because these panels will go in waves.
Large planar parts plus sandblasting - equally curved parts.
In our case, it is a little easier, since the parts are not planar and the internal elements of the body structure.
But at the same time thin-walled.

and then sandblasting.

[heimlich]

That's nice work. That should keep you busy during the winters.
_________________
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Not all parts are made the same. NOS OE/OEM parts made mainly in West Germany, Early Germany, and Early Brazil are where VW produced the best quality parts and best fitting products.
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Restored Distributors Available (<--Click here)

[Bobnotch]

[splodge]

Before the donor parts were implanted, they had to be repaired.
The parts in the central part of the body required the most attention.

We continue to work with the left spar at the rear. We consistently replace the panels with donor ones.

And then we move on to the front, otherwise the sides will not be repairable.
The parts are a complex form of stamping, with embedded elements welded inside.

In our case, the situation was complicated by two factors:
1. Donor parts from California were sawed in preparation for shipment and the cuts were not very convenient or successful.
2. In this area there was a factory brass solder, which had to be chewed out, which is not convenient.
But what can you do, you have to weld it back.

And here is the result:

Let's move on to the middle section again:

We begin work on removing holes from the rear of the threshold.
Be sure to try it on the car to make sure everything is correct.

After the threshold panel is adjusted, you can weld the parts of the rear threshold panel.

[splodge]

Let's move on to the rear wall of the cabin.
The back wall panels were also sawn in half before being shipped from the USA.
In order to correctly connect all these panels and not make mistakes with the size and shape, a piece of the original amplifier was cut out, cleaned of welding seams and remnants of the panels welded to it.
And so we got a basic element that made it possible to orient the rest of the details on it.

After a lot of work, a wonderful event happened, almost the Soyuz-Apollo docking, namely the initial fitting of the donor back wall.
An indescribable feeling when factory beauty appears in place of rotten horror.

Now it's time to fit and secure the back wall.
Before this you need to weld any extra holes.

And as always, everything is not so simple
The native wall and the donor wall are made from different stampings.
The difference is small, so a little hammer work and everything fits together.
This means you can start welding.

The next big task was replacing the thresholds.

[splodge]

Adjusting and preparing parts of the thresholds for integration.

And now it’s time to tackle the most difficult part of the thresholds - the internal elements.

And a little horror:

[splodge]

Gentlemen, I need Your help!
We started to explore engine and restore exhaust system.
But I had some questions about exhaust: what kind of muffler will fit my car?
My muffler looks like this:

But i am not shore that it is from my type of engine.
i have twin carb and Eberspächer system, and i want to save heater system.


The engine is assembled for fitting and troubleshooting.
Some parts were mistakenly painted by the previous specialist, but they are faulty and need to be repaired.
And also here is some photos of engine:

[heimlich]

What are you needing for the muffler? Is it the part number for a new one?
_________________
www.vwnos.com [email protected]
Classic Brands. Classic Quality.
Not all parts are made the same. NOS OE/OEM parts made mainly in West Germany, Early Germany, and Early Brazil are where VW produced the best quality parts and best fitting products.
5% Off your order with coupon code: 5%OFF
Restored Distributors Available (<--Click here)

[splodge]

heimlich, part number will be great!
or maybe someone have it for sale in good condition.

I found some ads, but I don’t know which one is suitable:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114835512176?itmmeta=01...SwIAVjTuwV (looks like mine)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/403350289045?chn=ps&m...Gkiol2wpDI

https://type3headquarter.de/epages/7b2adfc2-5ed3-4...HQ2G51B051

[heimlich]

That one in the UK looks like the best deal. It looks new. It is also the best manufacturer - Leistritz. They always had the thickest metal in the mufflers. It is closest to you as well so the shipping would be easier.

It definitely looks similar to yours. You'll need to match it to your car somehow.
_________________
www.vwnos.com [email protected]
Classic Brands. Classic Quality.
Not all parts are made the same. NOS OE/OEM parts made mainly in West Germany, Early Germany, and Early Brazil are where VW produced the best quality parts and best fitting products.
5% Off your order with coupon code: 5%OFF
Restored Distributors Available (<--Click here)

[splodge]

heimlich, Thank you! Your advice is very important!

[Bobnotch]

[Scotty D]

Just tuning into this thread for the first time and WOW, what amazing work you are doing. Metal fabrication skills are fantastic.

Locked in to see this one through to completion.

[splodge]

Bobnotch, Thank You!
Scotty D, Thanx! I really hope for the final in 2025