The Life and Rebuild of Dad’s Iceland Green 1955 Beetle

[Dan22]

I do have ospho and I agree it is a good temporary measure. I have it on other parts of the car body and it is holding up good in my climate. I guess I am anxious to make it to the priming stage of the project.

Lardawage, I do have the large shrinking disk too. Thanks for the offer. It is just hard to get it in the tighter curves of the hood recesses but it will work in the larger upper area. Now that the hood is sitting on the car I can give it a try.

Thank you both for the comments.
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[Dan22]

Haven't had some free time lately but I was able to spend another couple hours on the hood. Mainly I have been eyeing the reflection for shape problems, and by open hand feeling for any wavyness. I did the sharpie trick in some spots and kept working at it. Not much to show picture wise but at least it is progress and it is very hard for me to feel for problems.

Worked on the lower end where I welded in the patches. A couple taps here, a couple there then test.

Then for some variety, I started tearing down my 1958 parts transmission. I need it for the axles as my original tranny has two bent axles. The axle housings came off fairly easy. I did use a 3 jaw puller on one of them.

This case is shot because something came loose in the clutch area and shredded the inside and poked some holes through. I did not have to be careful separating the halves for that reason. When I do my good tranny, I will definitely use an engine stand and not tear it down on the bench.

Pulling apart the differential was not to hard either. The lock pin for the spyder gear shaft punched out easily too. The R&P bolts had the lock wire but they sure did not feel very tight when loosening them. Spider gears look really good.

So, I got the axles out and marked which side was which. Inspection shows some galling on the face of fulcrum area. I need to know what the experts think about the level of galling. The opposite side is very nice. I think I will just reverse the axles side for side and use the good area for the forward direction. I think the part numbers are the same so they much be interchangeable (but I will confirm this).

The bummer about this transaxle is the first gear set is pretty beat up. I was hoping this unit would be good for parts.

The ring and pinion look very good so at least those appear reusable. At least I got the parts out that I know I need. Next thing is to set up a jig to check that these axles are not bent either. The manual does say they can be straightened (cold). I may experiment with that on my original axles when that time comes.

Cheers till next time.
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[Dan22]

A little more prep on the hood today. Welded up a couple of pinholes and did a final sand, and then applied the ospho. I kinda reached a plateau on the metal finishing side of the hood to where my skills topped out, and it needs the next phase of blasting and primer. Staged it on the car for now.

I have been eagerly waiting to work on the deck lid. Years ago, a couple punks at my high school backed into my original deck lid. They were picking on the ugly bug in the school parking lot. I sort of beat it back to shape during the first resto, but this round, I am going to attempt a much better job at planishing the metal back to shape. Fortunately, most of the damage is above the inner panel and is mostly reachable from both sides.

The starting point. The compound curve shape can really hide what lurks underneath.

Stripping the paint and filler on the outside, and the paint on the inside.

A lot of time was spent with the slapper and bullseye pick. The shrinking disk was also used.

After a half day of work, this is the condition. It is not complete but it is sure better than it was. I am pleased so far but it is not finished. It has some wavyness in the overall profile but the micro dents are minimal.

I need to rig up some special dolly stand or something to offer support under the inner panel as I massage the remaining warp from the out side. I will get creative and share the approach.

It was a good day.
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[VW_Jimbo]

Very nice work!
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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]

In the same boat here....awaiting to see what lurks below. Two licence plate holes drilled into the hood have to go!

Enjoy watching your progress!
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Scott

August 1954 Beetle Canadian Deluxe

[Dan22]

[kintail]

Definitely want the blue period to be over !!!
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Scott

August 1954 Beetle Canadian Deluxe

[Dan22]

More plinking on the deck lid. I made a "cobblers anvil" to get under the inner panel of the lid where some low spots remain. Unfortunately I did not have any super hard material but I had some 1/2" flat bar scrap that I bent in the press then ground and sanded an approximated curve of what I though I needed.

Welded a leg to it that I could hold and clamp into a vise.

An action shot of it in place. It is not fully poked under but you get the idea. The vise allowed me to tilt it side to side to align the curve as I worked across.

I was able to raise up a lower area and continue with the sharpie and sanding checks.

It is getting close!

I moved onto other small spots that had some dings. Sanding off the paint and filler and slapping it smooth. I really enjoy fixing these things.

I have the week off so I expect some more fun in the shop.
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[sportin-wood]

Very cool cobbler's anvil! I love seeing auto enthusiasts coming up with ways to do hat needs to be done to get a job done. Probably saved $$ in the process! Love your progress and documentation. Thanks for taking the time.
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Dave

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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

[Dan22]

Thanks Dave!

I am having fun.
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[Dan22]

Preparing to repair the upper hinge and spring mount brace to my deck lid. During this car's neglect phase, the spring perch had broken off from rust and broken spot welds, and the hinges had seized further wrenching the bracket. My repair from before was to fish plate the broken/cracked area as is seen in this before (today) photo.

Well, I am going for the original look with the oval hole, so I am stripping the old repair out. It was definitely strong enough, but - you know...not right, and visible with the deck lid open.

Cutting away.

Sanded off the brazing.

A request to my fellow fanatics: I need a section of this brace for a compatible deck lid. I think I could make this but it is just simpler to graft in an original. If someone has a junk deck lid that could cut the upper inner piece out, I would be interested. Technically, it should not have the wire clearance jog in it for a 1955. This pic shows the later one. I suppose I could utilize the other smooth side as my patch. This picture from the decklid thread showing a 1956-7. Send me a picture of what you might have.

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[Dan22]

Got a bit more done today.

Fixed a stripped out thread on the deck lid hinge. Welded a nut in the place.

Then I set up a jig to measure axle runout. Spec is <0.002" at the bearing. This axle was just at that level.

Then I attempted to straighten it just a bit to learn what it will take. I set up my press with a dial gage and did several iterations to see what deflection gets a response. This axle is not usable but I want to see if I can straighten my bent axles in my good tranny. I pushed it up to 0.050" with about a 11" span of the supports. Ran out of time but I did get it down to 0.001" runout.

One more free day tomorrow to see what can be done.
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[Dan22]

Well I got to thinking about the patch panel I need for my deck lid. I thought I would give a try to making my own with a wooden form and some creative hammering. I have seen videos on how to do it so what the heck.

I found a piece of original VW metal that happened to have some gentle curve to it. Being VW metal means it is the right alloy and proper bloodline. I cut a piece of hardwood with the assumed shape of the oval hole and clamped the pieces in the vice. I used an air hammer to do the forming. The initial metal got an oval hole with 5mm of offset to form the bent lip down.

It did take some hammer work on a flat and round bar to get the perfect final shape.

The upper lip has a 3mm jog and this presented a challenge for me since I do not have a bead roller. I got the first bend easily on the brake bender. The 2nd bend I rigged up on the vice and with pliers and a backer bar, I got the 2nd bend in.

Started fitting it up and cutting away the damaged oval. Not shown but I weld through primered the back and mating surfaces for rust protection.
Cleaned it up and sized it up.

Tacking and welded.

The last step will be to spot weld the upper flange which I did not get to today. I expect the grinding will be easy enough and that this part will fit the need! A good day's progress for sure.
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[VW_Jimbo]

Jaw dropping work! I love reading about your methods! It is so cool to walk out to your project and create the needed patch panel - right? Makes one’s chest swell with pride!

Nice job!
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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]

Thanks Jimbo. I was really happy to get it on the first try. Definitely gives me confidence when I need to make hand made patch panels for the trunk floor. Both side valleys, and the center flat area need attention next.
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[Dan22]

Progress on the deck lid. Got it fully welded and the flange spot welded to the skin. A couple of the spot welds blew out so I had to MIG them up.

Had a leftover dent on the outside at this area. I popped it out before the patch went in but I wanted to check it is still nice. I can metal finish anything that remains here.

Then I fitted it up to the body. I found that I will need to adjust the curvature a bit. This was very hard to predict with the support spring pressure and the shrink/warp from welding such a patch in. The good news is the hood seems nicely ridgid in the up position, and when you compress the spring in lowering the lid.

More to come....
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[djfordmanjack]

Great looking repair !
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Hotrods, Fords, Veedubs and Triumph Twins !
52 Barndoor DLX Coachbuild project
54 Oval project
55 Wolfsburg panel project, og paint Taubenblau L31
62 Dickholmer, Seeblau L360
63 1500 Notch, og paint Rubin Rot L456
67 1500 Käfer, og paint Lotus weiß L282 w/red interior

[Dan22]

Thank you dj. Or Jack.
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[VW_Jimbo]

[Dan22]