1969 restoration :)

[alex857]

Looks good! Should be really solid but, because there is quite some force pressing in the lower mounting point. You don´t want your regulator to move. Did you check whether the upper mounting points are all the same? Looks like I went too far!

[kosti]

From waht I can tell, all the mounting points are the same, except for the obvious - the bottom mount needs to be MacGyvered and I need a suitable window guide rail. Worst case scenario is that I get a new regulator.

[kosti]

I can already see my breath in the garage so who knows low long the weather will let me continue, but I am still on it.

Another major piece to replace is the front bulkhead. You may remember I wanted to save the original part and just repair the lower part but that would have been an eye sore, so I got an original, full bulkhead. Getting the remains of the old one out and keep the surrounding in tact was not easy.

The sides are 5mm holes, with a saw cut here and there to get to the tricky bits of the original part.

The top holes are 8,5mm, and plugging them I am not enjoying at all.

Most of the welds I need to follow up on to get a nice result.

But the result is definitely incomparable to whatever would have been had I just patched the remains of the original

Its not fully welded in yet so some more pictures to come.

I also got the right hand side door a couple of days ago, bought on ebay, supposedly old warehouse stock. The price was pretty much the same as for the left door, which is a brand new one, but this one fits better, just from looking at the A pillar profile.

But there are two pain points I need to address somehow - the bottom left corner and the area above the door card.

The rest is fine.

Also, is that gap in the bottom left between the door and the heater channel normal? I have been looking at that area for quite some time today to see whether I did something wrong that could have caused this but could not find anything.

So this where I am right now

[joey1320]

Great work.
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**1971 Super Project
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[wcfvw69]

I've replaced that front firewall like you did. What a major pain in the ass that was. I still have nightmares about it.
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[kosti]

Bulkhead done, next step would be to patch the front wheel wells at the heater channels.

[VW_Jimbo]

Awesome work on the car and that bulkhead! That is, I think, the hardest piece to replace on the car, next to the engine louvers under the exterior louvers. Your work is flawless from here!
Keep up the nice job!
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[kosti]

With winter having arrived, I moved indoors to have a look at the TMI interior bits, starting with the rear bench. I also ordered new coconut padding, some sisal and started to see how it will all go together.

as you can see, the padding seems to be a little too bid for the seat cover OR the cover a tad too small for the padding, whichever you prefer to blame. Or perhaps it is just me not applying enough brute force?

[joey1320]

Is hard to tell from the pictures , but I don't see anything wrong with that seat/cover/padding.
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**1971 Super Project
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[kosti]

You can quite clearly see that on the sides, the cover doesn't quite stretch far enough and the padding is bulging the vinyl well below the seam line.

[wcfvw69]

[kosti]

Rear seat bottom part done, I also went ahead and started on the back rest, which was a bit tricky, the cover seems to be even more of a fight fit than the bottom.

you can see that near and around the mounting points, the cover did not pull down as far as I would have wished. Also, the finish at the ends of the cloth potions could have been sewn over, i dont understand why TMI decided not to bother with that and keep the ends looking unfinished.

[kosti]

Some more seat pictures. The TMI covers are still tighter than Id like them to be, pulled over the brand new coconut padding. But the result is not too bad. I little hairdryer heat to get the wrinkles out and this one is done.

[TX-73]

Kosti, I believe that your rear seat cover bunched a bit from the different felt panels on the top. That top surface should be smooth wth no seams. Also after new padding the cover should be pretty tight at installation as the new padding will eventually relax - this will avoid getting some creases or slack on the cover side panels.

Some of this may help although you may not want to go back on the seats, starts here and continues for a couple pages. I spent a lot of time on the seats.

Starts about halfway down the page.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...;start=400
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My 1973 Standard Beetle Build SOLD
Click to view image

[kosti]

I have to say I am not quite sure what exactly you are referring to. I checked the fit several times, put the covers on and off again to see how everything fits or doenst fit and I am almost sure nothing bunched up anywhere. The coconut padding is, I can only assume, slightly larger than the original or the TMI covers, especially the cloth parts, are slightly too small to get a perfect fit, but I did all in my power to fit them as good as possible.

I experienced this again on the front seat back rest, which I just was not able to pull down as far as it should go, to nicely flip over and cover the bottom of the coconut padding. I kept pulling the cover over the spikes with pliers to close the bottom up.

So if I messed up somewhere, I dont know where.

[TX-73]

Sorry, I was referring to your Dec 10 post where you showed the rear seat base and commented on the final fit of the cover. I was thinking that the 3 separate sections of the felt may have been a factor.
But that's a minor item, don't get me wrong, your seats look great, especially impressive is that bodywork.
_________________
My 1973 Standard Beetle Build SOLD
Click to view image

[kosti]

a small update as things start to progress again.

the seats are done, I also managed to source the notoriously unavailable side cover plates for the front seats as well as the rear seat tie down strap. the latter is quite dirty and I am still considering to use the buckles on a new strap, but vintage is vintage.

with that done, I continue to patch the body, there are still a few things to do:
- front bottom quarter panels, both left and right
- swap the entire front clip
- rear valance with bumper bracket mounts
- the odd rust hole here and there
- bonnet and engine lid rubber seal channels

once all that is done, its off to the paint shop

here is the progress on the first point - the front bottom quarter panels. The replacement panel is anything but an exact fit, i had to trim off quite a bit here and there. It is obviously designed to be just pasted over rot, which many people seem to actually be doing, but to get a somewhat original fit, it requires tweaking. It is still just tacked and I need to finish the bead but in the end, it turned out quite well. the last bit still missing is the piece to cover the hole at the A pillar bottom.

[kosti]

And so the story continues. I really want to have all the major body work done by the end of April, so it took two weeks off from work to get things moving.

This week, i wanted to finish the front. Still had to complete the right side quarter panel, which went reasonably well.

With this out of the way, the clip had to go. Of course it has been smashed in the past and just like the rest of the car, put together in 5 minutes in someones backyard. You can tell by the new fenders how much damage there was.

..and off it goes.

I did this first cut leaving a lot of overlapping material to fine-tune the fit. And as the fuel tank support rails were also warped, they had to go, too.

Now this is where I messed up a little. Sure, the black patch panels and replacement parts are hardly a good fit and so was the clip. However, I did not spit it soon enough. I just aligned the fuel tank support rails and went for another little trim.

All was fine until I put the fenders back on and realised that the clip was way too high in the air. The reason for that was the angle of the fuel tank supports and the only way to adjust this was unfortunately surgery - drilling out a couple of the spot welds and putting a small cut into both rails with a panel saw to be able to adjust the angle. This has almost no effect on the geometry of the area but it helped to get the clip into the right position.

The consequence was however, that I was left with a gap between the clip and the quarter panels.

This resulted in two days of welding to fill everything in as neatly as my skills allow for.

In the end, the result is not that bad, the fenders fit well and the body ship will have to tackle the aesthetic details. I also welded on the hood seal channel on one side.

The replacement clip is shite, but getting an original cut off of some healthy beetle was just not possible, so I will have to make do with this, especially, the square steering box access hatch. On Monday, I will finish the other two seal channels and move on to the back.

you might remember this sight

but I got some panels to work with so lets see..

[joey1320]

Great work 😉
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**1971 Super Project
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[kosti]

as of today, the front is officially done, just a few minor tweaks to take care of once the body is off the chassis again.

I also started on the rear valance, taking off the old one and trying on the BBT original, which fits like a glove. Those guys really did a great job.