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emersonbiggins
Samba Member
Joined: February 18, 2003
Posts: 1681
Location: Nebraska
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 Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 9:38 pm Post subject: Rear Apron. Repair options |
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I have searched a couple of times and haven't found a thread that talks about the rear apron repair or replacement with a fiberglass cover.
Do most people just hammer around on them until they are "straight enough"
How are the fiberglass ones? Do they stand up over time. |
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KTPhil 
Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2006
Posts: 33990
Location: Conejo Valley, CA
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| Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 11:23 pm Post subject: Re: Rear Apron. Repair options |
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| As close as the apron is to the muffler, I would not want a fiberglas part there! |
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Erik G
Samba Member
Joined: October 16, 2002
Posts: 13267
Location: Tejas!
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| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 9:22 am Post subject: Re: Rear Apron. Repair options |
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ehhh, fiberglass and heat are ok, look at all those side pipe corvettes. Glass packs are literally fiberglass packed into a muffler, and all the header wraps / fixes are fiberglass
but I have zero experience with the part in question
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bkeith85
Samba Member
Joined: December 21, 2013
Posts: 149
Location: United States
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| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 2:58 pm Post subject: Re: Rear Apron. Repair options |
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Mine was pushed in just below the latch. It was probably an inch deep and went out about 10" on each side. I used a dent puller with those pins that you use with a spot weld gun. It took a good week or so of pulling a little at a time, then starting all over with more pins a pulling. You have to start on the outside edge of the dent and work your way in. Once you have pulled on all of them, cut them off and do it again. Over and over. Once it was pretty close to the right shape, I used a shrinking disc to get the high spots down. I still had to use body filler to get it looking right.
Before:
After:
It's hard to see in the after picture, but I'm happy with the results. It still needs some glazing putty to fill some sanding scratches, but I needed to get some primer on it before the Invasion.
I looked into cutting the apron off and straightening it, but that is a job I didn't want. I also had some access to the back of it when I replaced my cargo floor, but I still couldn't get to it enough to knock the dent out. I tried using a 2x4 through the bellows hole when the engine was out, but that probably did more harm than good. It's just a crappy place to have a dent. It's a shame that so many of our cars have one there.
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Bobnotch
Samba Member
Joined: July 06, 2003
Posts: 22402
Location: Kimball, Mi
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| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 3:05 pm Post subject: Re: Rear Apron. Repair options |
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| emersonbiggins wrote: |
I have searched a couple of times and haven't found a thread that talks about the rear apron repair or replacement with a fiberglass cover.
Do most people just hammer around on them until they are "straight enough"
How are the fiberglass ones? Do they stand up over time. |
I know I normally bash it into submission, and tweek it how I want it to look like. From what I understand those fiberglass covers are just that a cover. It goes over the existing rear apron.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
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