Body Off - Pleasant Surprise

[donny1973]

I finished the engine for my '68 vert a couple of months ago and it's been sitting on my bench as I wrestled with the idea of pulling the body the do the pans. Well yesterday I took the plunge and the following are some pics of the job thus far.

This was a one owner car that I brought back to Palm Beach from the dry Texas climate. It's been parked in the original owner's garage for the past 19 years and I knew it was clean, but I fully expected to find some rust issues when I lifted the body. Well to my amazement, there was absolutely no rust to speak of. All the typical problem areas are perfect - the heater channels, convertible suppor rails, package tray, etc. And this is an OG paint car, so there's no hidden atrocities on the outside either. I knew it was a good sign when all the body bolts came out easily.

This is my first VW and pulling the body was surprisingly easy (at least compared to the American muscle cars I've done), about three hours total, by myself. And for those who may be wondering, I didn't use any additional bracing and my doors opened and closed perfectly while I had the body supported on 4x4's and cinder blocks by the front and rear bumper brackets. I had no other supports under the body, so if it was going to fold up like a taco, it would have done it then. This proves that if the support rails in a vert are good, extra bracing isn't necessary. I have since put the body on a dolly I built on a 4x8 utility trailer so I can move it around easily when it comes time for cleaning and paint.

Today I removed the right side pan and tomorrow I'll do the left and clean up the lips on the tunnel and front and rear cross members. I'll be ordering my pans from Wolfsburg West on Monday. Will post additional pics of the progress if anyone is interested.

Donny

[74soupsoup]

Wow- theres no rust at all :2gunfire: :2gunfire: :2gunfire: :2gunfire:

[jhicken]

Nice base, congrats on the fine. It should turn out to be a nice car when you got it all finished.

Click on http://www.cjvws.com/garagespace.html and scroll down to nelson Rogers '67 vert. His resto turned out real nice.

-jeffrey
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Der Kleiner Kampfwagens

[crx81]

Sweet! Maybe next time I buy I should consider going out west to find one...
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My site:
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[norcalmike]

CLEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!

thats gonna be a nice resto

[DrDarby]

outstanding!!! please tell me this will be a stock restoration? this car deserves it!
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Midwest Autosavers, Inc. Crystal Lake, IL

[runamoc]

On the East Coast, what you have could be called a finished resto.

[Kirk]

[vintageorbust]

Great engine too
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Meredith Phillips

Silly riceboys... useless wings are for penguins!

Chicks that can work on their own cars?! Yeah I know we're hot =)

[donny1973]

[donny1973]

Back at it after a few weeks. Last night I cleaned up the passenger side floor pan lip on the tunnel and front and rear supports. No surprises, everything cleaned up nicely and the surfaces are ready for plug welding the pan in. I found it much easier to stand the chassis on its side and work standing up rather than leaning over with it on the ground. I'll flip it around and do the other side one night this week.

I've had my fresh motor sitting on the workbench for months. I finally got tired of looking at the unpainted heater boxes so I pulled them off and sprayed them the same grey color as the intake. Not sure if it's "factory correct", but it definitely looks better. More to come.

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[ach60]

It looks nice, and I'm sure you'll do a nice job on the resto.
But these cars are only original once, and to be honest from the photos
I think the car was too nice to come apart.
Sorry for being a dick, enjoy it, and do what you want because it is your car.
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Good Luck
Al

[donny1973]

I hear you and agree to an extent. I'm a fan of survivor cars and have owned several. I would have left this car together but just knowing there was rust in the rear sections of the pans would have bothered me every time I drove it.Rather than patching them I opted to replace them with the heavier guage WW pans and duplicate the original welds as closely as possible. In my opinion, doing the job as close to the way VW did required pulling the body. Although it's a low milage car, when I tore the motor down, three of the pistons had broken rings. In addition, fuel has solidified through the entire original fuel line. Removing the old line and running a new one through the tunnel was much easier with the body off. The upshot is if I could have enjoyed the car in the condition it was in, I would have left it alone.

[rlutterb]

My 73 super was in similar shape, with zero rust except the rear pans and the passenger front pan section. I left it together and did a very good weld in of the patch panels. To each his own I guess......drawback to leaving it on the pan is it's a bear to get to ALL of the little area's that one would like to paint

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1973 Super Beetle project
1978 VW convertable
1987 El Camino
1995 Miata M
2015 Chevy Silverado

[donny1973]

Santa came early this year and left a a large box from Wolfsburg West. The project can now resume after a bit of a hiatus. After removing the original pans and cleaning up the tunnel lip, I stripped the paint from the beam, tunnel and trans and repainted them. I also removed the original fuel line from the tunnel and ran a new one via the same route. What a PIA even with the body off.

I'm quite impressed with the WW pans. Very heavy gauge metal and nice crisp stampings. I laid them in place and had to do a bit of trimming and shaping to get them to sit in perfectly and to get the measurements just right. I'm really glad I took measurements of the original pans before I cut them out. It's reassuring to know that everything will line up nicely when I drop the body back on.

With the pans in place, I got underneath and marked them around the outer edge of the lip with a sharpie. This gave me a reference point to use for punching the plug weld holes. I popped a hole about every 1.25" which is about the spacing of the original spot welds. Next I'll clean the paint off edge of the pans for good penetration, weld them in place and seam seal everything to prevent rust.

When the pans are done, I'll bolt in the fresh motor and take it over to Paul at JB Bugs to install the drop spindles, ball joints, tie rod ends and trailing arm seals. I hope to have the project wrapped up in time for Winter Jam.

[whobba]

[whobba]

[DrDarby]

Looks great and to your earlier post yes the heater boxes should match the intake.
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Midwest Autosavers, Inc. Crystal Lake, IL

[Fitz.]

Beautiful! I think I'd have done the same thing. If all it needed to be a rust-free car was new pans, I'd go for it. My '68 has a little surface rust in the rear package tray--which I've treated--and my pans are fine, with exception of the battery area, which has also been treated, and repaired with aluminum and pop-rivets. Cheesey, but it's a daily-driver so the rust it has will have to wait until I buy another car, and pull the body off this one... It's not too far off the condition of yours, and a body-off resto is definitely in my plans.

Again, nice car!
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Settle down, it's a car.

[vwbud1973]

You people and your rust free cars... I hate you all!
Seriously I'm jealous. I've got to replace/rebuild everything on my 73... pans, framehead, popes hat, and about 18 inches of the tunnel... I'll have the pics up here someday soon.

I think what you are doing is great. looks like you know what you are doing and you are doing it the right way. more people should! (the P.O. of my car especially!)
Good luck with the project!

What kind of bike is that in the background? Not a MotoGuzzi is it?