Jimmy V's 54 Oval Project

[VW_Jimbo]

Man! Time is running really thin around here! I even took Friday off and it managed to fill itself up!

However, I did squeak in a few hours! I set the rear fender onto the body dolly and welded in some new steel along the rear bottom edge. Did not get to grinding it, but soon.

And on one other fleeting moment I hammered out a few of the hood’s imperfect areas! Well several of them and a big crumpled up portion. It allowed the hood to more appropriately follow the curvature of the seal line!

What do you all think?
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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!

[Dan22]

The hood seal line looks very respectable!
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1-0900722 die langsame grüne Schildkröte
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=765074

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Had an opportunity to work on the Bug this afternoon! I have been training a new subcontractor on “how I like shit done”, during the work days. I added to it, “This way pays money, the other ways, DO NOT!”. Let’s see how it goes.

Anyways, got done earlier than expected. So…….

Out to the garage I went…..

Going to try making the hood look better. I tapped on the steel for several hours over the course of the last few weeks. Most of the dents and dings have been hammered flat, except for a few. Nothing needing filler over 1/16 to 1/8”, I would guess. My goal today is to knock out one side of the hood. Only got a few hours!

Grabbed the 36 grit block and gave the area I will be filling, a good scraping. I immediately vacuumed the dust off. Then mixed up some Rage filler and laid down a layer.

I then sanded the filler down to a close finish with 36 grit.

Vacuumed all the dust off! You got to vacuum it all up or else it goes everywhere! Plus, it keeps you from breathing it.

Then, I knocked a few high spots down with the new Milton hammer! Man, I love GOOD tools! Better than those Chinese hammers by a long shot!

After hammering, I smeared another thin coat of filler over the area and sanded all back down. There were 3 spots that ended up lower than I wanted. So, that extra layer worked its magic! I then sanded it all down with 36 grit till it was really close. I then switched to 80 grit to finalize the shape.

It is so pretty! Grabbed the primer and reducer. Mixed it up and rolled 2 coats over the area!

That came out super sweet!
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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!

[scrivyscriv]

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Yippee! Got in another 6 hours over the last few days! Knocked out the hood! It is SO GOOD! Check it out! Spread Rage on the driver’s side and then laid some down the sides. They had a few ripples.

I also spent some more time stretching out the middle to lengthen the hood, so it would lay better. It helped tremendously! The drivers side is the worst. But I managed to get it from 1/2 inch gap at the widest point to 1/4 inch!

Sanded and primed!

Onto the passenger door to repair the dings and dents from the kid!
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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!

[scrivyscriv]

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Got in about 4 hours today. I had to revisit the passenger side door and rear quarter panel. There were some dents found. I really think it was my youngest daughter opening her door into the Bug. But she semi proved this hypothesis to be false (in her mind). I did not see it that way. I am positive it is her door, that when opened by her, magically encounters extreme resistance. I added that the extreme resistance was the STEEL of the Bug’s door being DENTED! Not sure if I won, probably not. But it does not even matter because I am fully aware of the person who gets to make it right. Me!

Here it is on its first layer of Rage (it took 4)!

I then sanded and sanded and applied another layer about 1/16” thick. Then sanded down till I could find a new low spot . Then again, 1/16 inch thick layer, followed by sanding. And I got to here.

I then wipe it down and rolled some epoxy primer over it with a speckling of black primer.

Hope you all enjoyed that! Maybe I will get a tiny bit more 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!

[sportin-wood]

Looking good, Jimbo! Do you mind showing a pic of the Rage body filler in use? I saw a couple of different kinds on Amazon, about $75 per quart. Sound about right? Or do you have a source for better value?
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1966 Bug project
1973 Thing project
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"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

[VW_Jimbo]

Thanks!

This is what I am using!
https://a.co/d/9wGxvZ4

This is the hardener.
https://a.co/d/gUgtPa7

I started with the Extreme version, but it was too soupy for my liking. This stuff is great. Not soupy, stays in place and sands super nice! I start with 36 grit and finish with 80 grit. You cannot wait to sand. I start in a minute after smearing it on.

When you order it, get an extra tube of hardener. Any of the blue hardeners work well. I buy the double pack when I order. I hate running out of product!

Good luck! And these sanding blocks and paper are the bomb diggitty!

Sanding blocks.
https://a.co/d/dLduhvt

Adhesive backed paper for the blocks!
https://a.co/d/2iRjniB

I will never sand a car panel any other way!
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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]

Update time! Been a hot minute. The house is in wedding mode, as we slide into 13 days away! It does not leave much room for any extra thinking or doing, but this weekend was left wide open for me. So Saturday, I got the Bug pulled out, the garage set up to tackle the rear fender and that is when it happened. A great customer calls and states that their 10 year old water heater is not making hot water anymore. Well, I tell him that I can be over in an hour. Long to short, 4 hours to remove and install a new water heater. Not a record but not bad. But that left no Bug time.

Sunday morning rolls around and BAM! I am out in the garage by 9:30! I even did waffles, an egg and bacon! Stuff moves really quick when there is only one person to make food for and clean up afterwards.

After cleaning up, it was out to the Bug!

Set up the rear fender. It needs some thin metal replaced at the rolled over edge towards the bottom. Pulled out a section of old front clip steel that already had a soft 90 radiused edge.

Spent some time between the stretcher, shrinker and hammer, working the piece until I got the compound curve just right.

I clamped the piece to the fender repeatedly, checking it, but also shaping it too.

It was a bear to get it to match.

Just a bit more to go. So close!

More hammering. More clamps. Better!

Then finally, it is perfect! Now let’s mark the fender for the cut and remove the rusted steel!

I had to cut the folded edge to get the piece to relax enough to fit the shape. You can see the segmented cuts here.

Those will get formed 100% and welded up later. However, I did take the time to shape the edge a tiny bit. I bent the first tab around to fit then the next. Marking each segment overlap, so that I could cut out the portion under the top segment.

The piece was then unclamped and cut. Look at those tiny slivers!

And the resulting piece. A double compound curve with a rolled over edge!

Let’s cut the fender! Dropped the disc in after cutting the 2 short sides.

Cut it till it dropped out! Left the marker line, as that was the outline of the patch!

I then picked up the fall off piece and slipped it into the patch. Then I clamped the shit out of it. The hammer was then used to finish rolling the edge over, matching the old piece 100%!

And there it is….PERFECT!

I removed it and removed the paint from both pieces. A flap disc on the fender and the blast cabinet for the patch.

It was then clamped well and welded into its place!

Then my good friend rang the beer bell! Time for a few pints and a late lunch! Primed the exposed steel, then pushed the Bug over to its spot and checked out it’s rear section!

Not too shabby, right? Hopefully I can get a few more hours in before the wedding!
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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!

[matthew henricks]

Very nice Jim. Love the updates and the details.
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1964 Original Owner build Thread. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=702135&highlight=

Ambulance Fan's. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627707&highlight=

Parts i am looking for:
64 bug nice used front/rear Black LHD floor mat.

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Got me in several more great hours over the last week! I managed to map out the needed adjustments to the passenger rear fender, to make it passable to my eye. You can see the huge gap between the body and the fender here. If you look really close, you can map out where the fender bolts are and how they have deformed the attachment flange to positively connect with the body! Large areas of the flange are misshaped!

It measures at just under a 1/4 inch at that 60 degree turn where the rear apron and quarter panel meet! 1/4 inch! How? And more importantly, how do I fix it? Let me explain what I did to make it better. Maybe not the best approach, but I think it will suffice. This is a cheap aftermarket fender, installed by the last custodian who repaired the rear scrunch the car received. I am certain the cheapest bidder got the job, or the most expensive one did, but used the cheapest parts they could find! It don't matter none, now. I gets to fix it, utilizing the cheap part they purchased, because, well, I still have a large chunk to spend to get this old Bug on the road. So, lets get this one more step in to the right direction!

I first laid down that black Sharpie line for a reference point. No sense and swinging a hammer, if there is no way to measure what happens after swinging it, right? Part of the issue is that this stamping is poorly stamped. No crisp edge, just rounded over edges. See here?

So, I bolted the fender to the body, as tight as the bolts would go. Then with my long prybar, I slipped it over the tire and up against the inside corner and hit the opposite end with my 32 ounce hammer, HARD! Leaving this wreckage in it's wake!

Not too much damage, but not enough movement. So, let us get a bigger hammer!

That is going to work so nice and my tennis elbow will not flare up! I ground down the chisel point to try and keep the steel from tearing too badly.

Then I slipped that in past the tire. A little bit tricky but tottally doable!

And look at the results, in just under a minute!

I then went through another round of hammering to get everything nice and lined up. That 60 degree corner, tore and slipped out of plane, from both hemispheres. So, I had to do some tweaking on it, read that as hammer and dolly, to line it back up and in line with the rest of the fender!

Now that everything is where it should be in relation to everything else, I removed the fender from the body to repair the roughed in shape.

I drew a new line onto the fender. It signifies the correct bend for the fender. I need to make sure this bend looks the part!

And so I did! A few hours with a hammer and dolly and I have it! Lets get it back on the body to check it.

OKAY! That looks great! Lets weld it all up, the tears, the 60 degree corner, the end, the missing steel from the flange, the rusted out steel, the worn out steel! Oh, wait, that would just mean a new fender. Lets just weld where it needs to be welded.

Slipped in the copper spoon, behind a hole that split wide open. Had to loosen the fender to get it in there, then tighten it back down. The tear was across the entire flange and up on the visible portion of the fender.

Cleaned up the are4a preparing it to be welded.

Welded that together while on the car so that the fender would retain its shape after removal. I then removed the fender for the remaining areas.

All welded up and ground down.

And back on the car to check out everything! I had to stick the tail light housings on to just remember what I was working so hard for! Looks great to me! Anything look off to anyone?

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!

[matthew henricks]

[Juju32]

Good job

[67rustavenger]

Amazing craftmanship on display in every 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!

[lardawge]

Great work.

Is there a reason you are rehabbing a really beat up fender that is not correct for the car? Seems like purchasing a set of replacements that are at least built correctly would be a better use of your hard-earned time in the shop. You would have a much better set of fenders and be able to spend time on other parts of the car. WW sells a good set that are pretty well made... pricey but worth the time saving.

Other than that, carry on! It's nice to see it coming together. I struggle with my obsession with perfection and get pretty discouraged some days when things don't fit correctly (fighting the hood at the moment).

Cheers!
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11/2/54 L227 Strato Silver Ragtop - Soon to be L41 Black - Build Thread
1/7/55 L275 Light Beige