Winston Wehabilitated: Of Human Bondo-age...

[msinabottle]

I went to visit a friend of mine in the hospital today... Actually, he'd been sent off to a specialist. This is Larry, the cooperative Frame Guy, hired by Les at Wheels of Time to see what could be done about that driver's side rear quarter damage:

He was working on Winston in his nice little shop and was very agreeable about letting me talk to him about where we stand right now in the repairs, and in taking these photographs.

When I called Les today, I told him that I had been working on the assumption that no news was good news, and that after somewhat... frenzied... communications in the past, I had been leaving him alone to do what he does in relative peace. When I said, 'No news IS good news, right?' Les responded, 'Not really.'



The news is MOSTLY good! There was much less rust than any of us thought there would be, the passenger's side is even partly in pre-primer, ecce:

The problem is here, right where the T-bone damage that the orginal bodycreatures had done with lots and lots and lots and lots of Bondo:

The Bondo is gone. It is all gone. Les does not like Bondo. He doesn't want to use Bondo. Maybe a little metal glaze, but... No Bondo. Not if it can be avoided. I hear Vanagon purists cheering for Les. Let's all cheer!

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

You will soon be 'boo-ing' me.



The problem is, as Les explained over the phone, and in person when I went to see him in person after Larry explained it to me at his shop. is that Winston was hit... quite hard. He took it. He survived it! Part of that is because the hit came right on a supporting stanchion. And... that's the problem.

As you can see, they've already had to cut into him to push out where the earlier, sloppier repairmen slathered in the Bondo. They haven't had any luck pulling out that last near-inch or so where Winston's structural stanchion was pushed in by that long-ago, unknown impact. You can see a wide declivity right at the seam, and Larry and Les were getting rather grim on how to push that last bit out to flush.

Les suggested various options. Rather than the failed studs, which had worked... REALLY WELL... on so many dents I shall not regret never seeing again... They were considering welding a substantial plate onto the area and REALLY PULLING. Larry discussed dismantling Winston's interior with all my lighting nods...



And pushing from the inside OUT. I stood there for quite a while looking at the small declevity and said...

[luVWagn]

[Summers420us]

If'n you don't mind me asking... what was the quote? My 88 is in similar shape to the old Winston.

[JPrato]

You really need a new quarter panel from classic VW to fix that right. Probably pretty pricy for the panel and a lot of work to take the old out and put the new in. Just a wild guess, $1,500 to $2,000 just to get and replace the quarter panel? So, a little bondo is OK in this instance. Not much else you can do........
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Joe

87 Syncro Tin Top project
84 Westy, 2.5L Subaru power
06 Subaru 2.5 turbo in waiting
46 Cessna 140

[nemobuscaptain]

I don't know why you are hesitant to remove the interior. You will have to do it anyway when he welds or risk burning the thing.

Just remove the interior and do the job correctly. It's so much easier to work a panel when you have access to it from behind.

I'm not clear on what needs straightening from your description but taking the thing to a shop (or votech center??? sometimes free) with a frame straightener could probably pull that back out. They won't charge you much for pulling on it for 10-15 mins and your body guy can finish the job after it's straightened. (Even if it's not the frame that needs straightened, they can pull on almost any part you need moved.)
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Ohio Valley Tribe, Full Moon Bus Club https://www.facebook.com/groups/294422277314227/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FullMoonBusClub

RIP Bob Hoover https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=427791
Hoover Sermons: https://www.vwsage.com/images/vwsage/Bob%20Hoovers%20Sermons.pdf

[Bntbrl]

Looks good. I wouldn't worry about a little filler. I'd try to minimize it if at all possible like your metal man did.
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1984 Vanagon Westfalia 1.9 wbx

www.DIYSeattle.com

[PDXWesty]

Why do we have three seperate threads following this restoration? Combine them into one so we have the whole story!
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89 Westy 2.1 Auto

[luVWagn]

[msinabottle]

I ask the Administrators--would it be better to have one HUGE thread, or the ongoing episodic ones? My thoughts were that it was better to have shorter threads that one could get to the end of quickly, rather than those long monster threads that take a long time to get to the 'new news' about a single project I'll cheerfully follow Administrators' thoughts.

The clever tag lines are to amuse and interest you. I enjoy them, and sharing my photos and stories with you, in repayment to those past and current posters who wrote stories and shared experiences that amused and interested me.

I prefer to minimize, if possible, cutting and welding in of new body panels. They are VERY hard to get right. I don't do all this reading on the Samba for nothing. If, say, Ben were close at hand, we might well do it his way, whatever that was, because of Ben's deep acquaintance with all things Vanagon.

Instead, we are doing it Les's way because of Les's deep acquaintance with vehicle repair and restoration. The man's rebuilt my Dart, a Cord, and a Chrysler Airflow among other automotive poetry. I pay him for his expertise, and find his judgement trustworthy, and his concerns honest.

Much welding has already been done on Winston without carbonization. Winston's interior has been heavily modified, for details, see the bulk of my approximately 3,000 posts. Removing it all and re-installing it all would not be straightforward, even for me. He's been heavily checked for rust, inside and out. Shop fees are $80 an hour. I prefer to leave his interior and aging interior fittings as unmolested as possible when, so far, there hasn't been a lot of need to remove things.

Larry's IS the frame pulling shop. Much pulling has been pulled. Winston is true in his lower frame. It's the site of the impact that has the declivity. The declivity is in such a place and in such a position that I'm thinking a bit of introduced metal, as opposed to filler, will cover it.

When all this is said and done, I shall post pretty much a FULL price breakdown. I've been saving receipts as I spend... and spend... and spend. Les's orginal estimate for his work was around $7K. It will be more. From the Bead Blasting and the new Body Rubber, I've got close to another $2K in it.

He's worth it to me. We're at the 'Have faith' stage.

Best!
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'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[?Waldo?]

I prefer one thread. It is much easier to review the last episode and equally easy to click to the last page.

[Glenn]

Please use your existing topic: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=547860