Temo's first SB & Convertible frame off resto

[Temo]

Today I manage to replace the whole front frame, I was going to leave the lower part but end up replacing the whole thing.

Here's a picture ready to cut.

After cut.

Part replaced, it has a bit of surface rust but overall is solid.

Next:

The right side floor pan.
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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction

[Temo]

Making progress; I made an adjuster for the spring plate and it worked, also I assemble the control arm.

The home made adjuster with parts from the home improvement store, I spend 20 bucks.

It works.

And the control arm in the chassis.

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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction

[Temo]

Milestone reached.

The chassis is done, I put a coat of Chassis Saver and in the joints I used Henry Seal.

Plan is to finish the front suspension before starting in the body.

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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction

[Epilog79]

Progress, Progress!!! Well done to get to this milestone. You have not shown what the body looks like. I hope it is better than the pans.
Keep at it, you said from the very first post that this was going to be a very slow restoration. Its your project. Patience is a virtue.

[Temo]

I couldn't complete the suspension, I'm missing a couple of bushings that I'll get soon.

I started to look into the body, oh boy, I confess that my very first thought was "what did I got myself into?", however, as the days have passed and doing research here I'm up for the challenge... a difficult one since I'm not a professional welder but I think that I can make it one part at a time.

Here some pictures.

First, the previous owner made some rust repairs with drywall mud, no joke.

The luggage is shot, will replace the whole thing.

Right side heater channel is almost gone.

The corner where the front panel meets the heater channel, completely gone, the left side is not that bad but I'll replace it too.

Also the front apron is really bad.

In the mean time I'm welding some braces on the body.

Big work ahead and challenging weeks of measuring, cutting and welding.
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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction

[Dodgy]

Temo, you are a brave man!

The front bulkhead (firewall) has a lot of layers and all the structure is important on Supers to reinstate the correct strength. Yours is rotted out in all the typical areas... There are good replacement panels available for the inner structural parts, but the panels available for the bulkhead itself are not true 'Super' parts, just modified Standard panels. So they need a lot of rework to fit correctly.

There are a few recent threads where people have repaired this area that you can check out to let you know what is ahead of you. Lots of pictures and explanation in my build thread too (link in sig) I'll be happy to leave it a long time before tackling another repair in this area!

Good luck
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'75 1303 (current project) owned since 1989!
'72 Squareback - full resto completed 2008 - now sold
356 Speedster kit, completed 2005 - now sold

[Temo]

[Temo]

Well I have started to cut and weld the front damage, right away I've learned (the hard way) about the fine details regarding cutting and welding.

Explanation and pictures to follow.

This is the front damage, the car was hit on the front passenger side and the repair was done with some kind of tar.

First lesson learned: do not cut more that you need.

Second lesson learned: keep the weld to the minimum or you will spend a lot of time grinding away.

More to follow.
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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction

[Temo]

Well on the front driver side the rust was bad in the bumper bracket, decide to cut the minimum and the welding now was also to the minimum.

There's a small mismatch at the front edge, learning curve, regarding the grinding now it took me a lot less to remove the excess.

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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction

[Temo]

Next challenge is to remove the front panel, after seeing some threads here and videos on youtube I already made up my mind that it will take me at least a week (working evenings only) to complete the task.

I started by removing the spot welds at the top.

Then I removed some of the joint sealer (red arrow) and found a couple of tabs that I didn't saw in the videos (marked in red) that I'm yet to figure how am I going to remove that tab since I don't have space for the drill or the angle grinder. I'll figure something for sure.

Made some cuts of a previous weld job and removed the spot welds in the pillar support.

Finally whatever was left of the right side pillar support is gone.

Finally, I found another tab with a spot weld under the support.

Plan is to remove the left side support just to get to the tab and remove the panel.

Working slowly but making progress.
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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction

[Temo]

Today I got back at it, I finally found out that the extra support for the convertible is called the A-Pillar and B-Pillar.

So I removed a section of the A-pillar to expose the tabs holding the front panel and where the heater channel meets the front panel is pretty solid; surprisingly solid. Also as I was looking for a way to remove some spots welds I found some more rust; I was not expecting this but is good that I found it now.

This is the section of the A-pillar that I removed.

The weld connecting the heater channel to the front panel is solid.

I was looking for a way to remove the spots weld of this tab.

I figure a way to find them in the wheel house after finding the rust damage.

Definitely getting closer to removing the front panel... and making more patches!
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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction

[Temo]

Today I manage to removed the front panel and most of the heater channel, I found a surprise along the way.

After removing the spots welds at top and sides there's 5 spots welds holding a bracket to the front panel and to the inside of the wheel house, I couldn't find the proper name for this bracket, but it was a pain to remove these 5 spots since I don't have and angle drill. What I end up doing was cutting the front panel on the inside to get access and drill them out.

I couldn't remove the front panel in one piece, this is how far I was able to move it.

I end up cutting it at the half to be able to remove it.

The heater channel and reinforcement were close to fall on their own, I cut most of the heater channel out.

The amount of rust inside the reinforcement channel was insane.

Another drywall mud and newspaper repair.

Finally, somebody did a strange repair in the right side wheel house, there's a double piece of sheet metal, I figure that I'll cut this side to fit the new front panel.

Cutting and welding one part a time.
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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction

[Buggeee]

I'm just catching up here so will say I am amazed at the floor found for this project. Chopping of the font half of the tunnel would have never crossed my mind. Basically this whole adventure proves that one could start with the torsion housing rescued from a rail buggy and recreate an entire VW Beetle from there.

Obviously you are relaxed and flowing through this process, enjoy the meditation.
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Big Time 1988 Vanagon Westy
Release the Krankenwagen! 1966 Sportsmobile Camper
Dr. Kompressor 72 Super Duper
61 Turkis Pile (adopted out)

[Temo]

I hit a roadblock but first the front panel is in place, I had to do a bit of modifications that I hope are normal. Here's an example of the modifications that I did.

I had to cut some part of the curve in the panel at the area of the nap hat, not much, maybe 1/4"

Then I had to cut a lip in the center top.

I also had to cut 1/4" of the bottom at the corners.

Finally the quality of the panel is not the best, I hat to cut the top part to make it 10" tall across, and then make small lips that I weld into the panel. Here's a sample.

Panel is in, the road block is with the heater channel.

More pics to follow.
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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction

[Temo]

A welder told me once that we machinists can't be welders, ever, because we will be so anal about gaps and angles, that we will never be profitable doing any job; he was right.

What I'm having a lot of problems with and debating on what to do is the heater channel, I placed the channel on top of the floor pan and the holes of the pan don't match with the tap holes of the channel. The really bad part is at the angle. I made a template and measured the angles and distance between holes and yes, the heater channel that I bought is poor regarding the measurements; maybe I'm over doing this but then again, I'm a machinist, can't help it.

Here's how bad the holes are out of place in the angle area, not even close, I don't have room to move the tap holes and that's why I don't see another solution but to cut the channel.

I made this template from the floor pan, I tried to be as close as possible when tracing the template.

Here's a picture of the template and the channel, as you can see the holes are not even close to match.

I still need to place the template in the body to see how it looks.

These will be interesting days.
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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction

[SBD]

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"Just $99 down and $64 a month for 36 months buys you a brand new Volkswagen Beetle!"

[VW_Jimbo]

Klokkerholm - right?!?!

What I do is cut out the nut and place it correctly. Then weld the steel back together. Easy while they are unattached to the car!
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Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[Temo]

I'm back at it after some interesting "life got in the way" years.

I started to cut the driver side heater channel; I was a bit skeptical about using a Sawzall but I was surprise how well it works (with the correct blade, of course).

Started to work on the pillar side cutting the support.

No need to remove spot welds, rust took care of them.

Partial victory.

Next will be removing he other half.
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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction

[AircooledBackcorner]

Nice, a ‘72!

Great progress, gonna follow this topic for sure.
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My 71 super convertible project: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=765788

[Temo]

Removal of the other half of the heater channel, it was a bit more of a challenge, but I got it.

Drilling of the spot welds.

Areas in the rear quarter panel a rusted a bit more than what I anticipated.

On to relocating a couple of thread inserts in the heater channel.
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Temo.

2021 Tiguan R
2017 Tiguan
2015 Passat TDI

'72 Convertible Under Construction