Jimmy V's 54 Oval Project

[VW_Jimbo]

[Rome]

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Spent the morning yesterday meeting with my friend Tim. Tim is going to be spraying the paint onto the car. After having a long discussion with him on painting the car, I learned that Ultramaroon when shot onto a panel does some untypical stuff. Apparently the spots where the paint over laps causes the particles in the paint to reflect light differently than the flat areas. You can actually see that on the underside of the frunk floor I removed from the car. Tim immediately saw and pointed it out when I was showing him the Ultramaroon sample area!

So, we departed with him getting the paint on order and setting up some time at a booth that he has some access to, if possible. As a back up plan, I am going to reach out to my finisher and see if his booth might be available soon.

Meantime, I am going to continue working the body to perfection until all of those other items line up! Hopefully, just after the wedding! So, in about 8 weeks.

After a few hours of talking and him feeling over the car, he took off for home and I laid down a coat of filler on the roof. I then sanded it to almost perfection and sprayed some epoxy primer on it. It looks and feels really good!

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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!

[VW_Jimbo]

Got in another 5 hours. Started on the rear fender holes for the rear bumper supports, on both rear fenders. They had came with the car horribly mangled. Like something happened that ripped the support from the vehicle and the support pieces exploded through the fenders.

I had gone through and welded up the ripped steel, and deposited some steel at the interior sections of these openings to bring them back down to the correct size. Well, today was the day! I started with the passenger side. It was super easy, just requiring a few minutes of grinding with a rasp on the end of my air grinder.

I then looked over at the driver’s side holes and was hesitant to go for it. The holes seemed “off”. So, I started measuring. First up was getting a straight horizontal line to use as a reference point. Turns out the bottom of the horizontal line in the “ H” intersects each of the jig holes and is the horizontal center of the top hole, at each side.

So, I drew a line at those spots. I then set the end of the ruler at the point where the fender changes directions near the middle of the engine bay. Using this point, I measured the horizontal center lines at the right fender and then marked them onto the left fender.

I then ground out the excess material with a rotary rasp.

Not too bad. Each opening will require some more welding, followed by more grinding.

Now, I just need to think before moving forward any further on those. I really need to remove the fenders from the car, to do it properly. So let’s move onto the other front fender.

That poor fender is beat!

Scuffed up the epoxy primer with some 60 grit and then spread some Rage.

Blocked that down and applied another coat. Followed with more sanding. A third regiment and then more sanding. It was absolutely perfect at this point! Taped up the adjacent surfaces and rolled on some primer. Followed with some black primer dots.

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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!

[kintail]

You are moving along!!! Enjoying the information being shared as I start to head down the same path. Sikkens I am going to look into.

Keep going forward!!
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Scott

August 1954 Beetle Canadian Deluxe

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Got in just under 2 hours.That is when I got a call from my buddy Scoty to walk over to the brewery, for a sandwich and a few beers!

But first up. The book I purchased a few years ago finally showed up!

It is a cool picture book, since I do not read German. Google does though, although it is a process for each page. The book is top notch publishing and so cool to hold and read (even if I am reading my iPads screen after taking a picture of the page!)

Back to the day! I returned to the left hand rear fender. I went ahead and pounded on it for a bit, attempting to decrease the gap between the apron and fender. After several attempts, I succumbed to defeat and took a small lunch break. Returned to the garage and the car with a plan. That being, to add a tapered wedge section of sheet metal, approximately 1/8” at the obtuse angle point, going down to zero at the lowest point. But first let’s remove the fender. Fill several small holes. Then weld together a crack that appeared when I was trying to twist the rear portion into a better shape.

Starting point.

Removal from the car.

Filling holes.

Welding the crack.

Welded up the apron too. Apparently I must have got a little bit heavy with the easing of the eased edge when I reattached the bolt flange back onto the apron.

I then set the fender up on one of the rotisserie carts and cut the flange off. I will fabricate a new one and weld it onto the fender.

And that is when Scot wanted to know if a beer or two and a sandwich sounded good? I immediately cleaned up the garage, showered and got into beach casual (read that as shorts, t-shirt, hoodie and flip flops) and we walked over to the brewery!

Next time I will get that fender completed!
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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!

[VW_Jimbo]

Got in 4 more hours on Monday. Went straight back into the fender! Have to fab up the bolt flange for the damaged one. Here is the old one, cut from the fender, laying on a section of a 59 Bug’s rear quarter panel.

See it?

Laid it back down and scribed the cut out line in the old paint.

Then drilled the holes. Started with a 3/8” drill bit, followed up with a tapered rasp to match the hole size, perfectly!

Followed that by unclamping it and cutting out the shape with my electric snips.

Was La!

Then I radiused the lower end.

Perfect! Now let’s bend the panel edge over. But first let us clean it up.

Then took the patch over to the car and bolted it where it was designed to go.

The patch sits proud of the fender and apron by about 3/8”. This is by design. I will take this and give it a rounded bend, to match the apron.

To find the bend, I took my scribe and marked a line following the rear aprons skin.

Here it is, marked and removed from the car. Now I just need to hammer a nice eased edge on this line!

That was followed with hundreds of tiny hammer hits to start the bend along the scribed line.

Not too bad! Some more massaging and it will be perfect!

Here it is. I then flipped the fender skin on top of the patch and scrubbed the Final Cut line to match the skin of the cut seam of the fender.

It was then set up (notice the sparky shield) and tacked into position.

Each progression was followed up with hammering, dollying, bending twisting, tacking, stitching, grinding, compressed air and time. Lots and lots of time!

With the seam all welded in, the bend in the bolt flange needed to be welded up, so off came the fender.

I then welded up the bottom edge radius.

And the section that was cut out. It is so thin feeling!

It will get all cleaned up and installed next weekend!
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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!

[67rustavenger]

I find it miraculous the amount of work you are able to accomplish in just 4 short hours.
At three hours, I'd still be scratching my head trying to figure out a good approach to tackle the repair problem.

The fender patch welds would drive me nuts. For some reason when I attempt such welds, I tend to burn through the metal I'm trying to fit together.

I imagine your free time to work on your car is gonna run a little short as your family approaches your daughters wedding day.

Then there's the first grandchild. That'll eat up more of your free time. Lol!

Keep up the fantastic work. I read every update you post.
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I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Well, business is a little slow, so more free time for me! After spending the morning getting advertising up and running again (been a few years since I have had a slow down), I got out to the Bug.

Goal is to get the driver’s side rear fender welded, ground down, pounded out and ready for filler. The bottom lowest edge has (you are not going to believe it) RUST! I know, I know.

So, I set it up on the body dolly cart and a ladder to get the working area at a better height, as opposed to the floor. My knees just do not need that abuse on my days not working.

Looks like it already has the new piece of metal in it. But let’s catch up. So, I cut out a rust hole and the immediate area around it, and then ground down the numerous welds from patching holes that has happened often.

Here is the fender ready for the new steel patch, at a comfy height!

I did a decent job of creating this compound curved piece.

I then welded it in, ground it down, primed it and reinstalled the fender. It was then worked over again with a hammer and dolly, well 4 different Dollie’s!

Hoping for some more progress today. Let’s see what happens!
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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!

[VW_Jimbo]

Got in another 4 hours yesterday before going to the brewery. First up, I pulled the rear of the Bug, from the driver’s side rear quarter window frame, to move it sideways in the garage so that I can work on it. I hear a loud “SNAP” and the Bug drops 2 inches on the passenger side. My mouth drops wide open. I am like WTF just happened? I come back to my senses and walk around to that side and here is what I see.

The brand new car dolly set I purchased lost a wheel! How in the heck? Whatever. So disappointed in the continuous wave of crappy Chinese products. Wish some good dollies, made in the USA, were available. Maybe they are but just cost 4 times as much. Oh well.

Jacked the car up and slipped a small furniture dolly under the tire. Okay, back to having fun! So, I then pulled the car over a bit more and pulled out the rotisserie cart. I went over to the car and pulled the fender again. Seems that welding up the crack at that lower rolled edge is not the correct strategy. It just keeps cracking next to the weld when I bolt it onto the body. Plus, the steel at this point is thin from rusting. So, up on the cart it goes.

I came up with a game plan by “ringing” out the compromised steel. It has a totally different ring to it. I then went through the area, outlining the bad stuff, which needs to be cut out, and indicating where the drain holes are drilled at.

Can you see the cracks?

How about now?

Yep! You are correct. There are 2 of them!

But before we go cutting that portion of the fender out, we ought to make a repair panel. It would be much easier now, to mimic the bends, than to try after removing this section. Right? So, let me go grab a piece out of the scrap steel bucket!

I take that piece and cut it down to a more manageable size and bend it over the edge of the fender.

That extra bending of the piece has made it very ridgid, with no ease in the bend at all. I think we need to shrink the inside a tiny bit more.

That looks amazing! Let us trace the patch, cut out as needed, sand away the primer, check the fit, clamp it up good and weld it up!

I then ground the welds down and gave them a shot of primer. Then installed the fender back onto the car. Found a roll of blue tape and applied the tape to the car to protect it from the next step - filler!

Spread some Rage on there and sanded it to perfection with 36 grit.

Then gave it a thin coat of cheap primer, because it was time to go be a husband and father!

Until next time! Oh, and HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the Mommas out there!
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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!

[VW_Jimbo]

Got in 2 hours today after work. Got me some progress in. Baby steps!

Ran my hand all over the fender and could feel a few low spots. So, I mixed up some Rage filler, applied it over the low areas, around 1/16th of an inch. It cured and I sanded the excess away, leaving behind a perfect feeling fender at the end. I rolled some epoxy primer on it and set it in the side yard to gas off.

I then turned the car 180 degrees, so I could get to the other rear fender. I felt it all up and down, getting a game plan together. During the caressing of the fender, I found a small crack at the edge. So, off the fender came. I will need to weld that crack up before starting to make it look perfect!

With no more time, I went and grabbed the epoxied fender from the side yard. Figured it had to be mostly gassed off. Then I took it to the garage and set it carefully down into the cabin of the Bug, through the rag top hole! So cool!

Cleaned up. Until next time!
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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!

[esde]

That fender owes you
I'd have definitely cannibalized a later fender for the donor sections..
SO CLOSE!
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[VW_Jimbo]

[sunroof]

Ultramaroon is such an odd colour

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[VW_Jimbo]

[Buggeee]

I love that Rage body filler. So creamy smooth.


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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)

[VW_Jimbo]