1967 beetle woody bodywork

[Mikhail_lewis]

It was made into a woody in early 1990s. Nothing was wrong with bondo or the finish of car when i got it two years ago. I just wanted to see what i was dealing with construction wise on the car.

The front end has been attached to where the stock beedle hood would line up, except it has been attached doing lead welding. The metalwork portion doesnt line up perfectly. But with bondo it looks great.

The top of the trunk hood is a 1943 dodge 3/4 ton truck hood welded and pop riveted onto a beetle hood. There was a chrome metal beetle hood trim on the hood middle portion, which i decided to remove and will fill in with bondo, leaving a smooth hood with no hood ornament.

Rood cap corners are also lead welded on. Again i only sanded on corner down to see what i was working with underneath. Nothing was wrong. No cracks or anything. The beetle roofline was cut and the original metal portion towards the middle front was peeled up into the roof shape aligning with the wood and metal flashing cap corners. These cap corner portions at the front of the woody will be covered by the vinyl or canvas roof that i am making a convertible roll up ragtop. I will have the sides and rear with snap buttons, and some sort of edging design to seal against elements. The front will be attached permanently so as to easily seal against air and water, when rolled up, some buckles will snap together and keep the roof rolled up towards the front. Much like a citroen 2cv design to get the picture in your head.

I am fairly mechanically inclined. However my bodywork/bondo experience is limited. I have all the bondo bodyfiller stuff.

Anyone have any tips for doing bodyfiller?

[theKbStockpiler]

The welds look like gas welds.

Tip on the filler is if the filler is partially hardened you can shape it by carving it with the end of a putty knife. Basically if you put too much on you can shave it down if it's not completely hard yet.
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My beetle is not competing with your beetle. I have the yellow beetle in my town. There is a red one, a green one ......
Use all safety devices including a mask.

[Mikhail_lewis]

I was taking a heavy metal grinder with a metal grinding wheel to the bondo and the metal underneath. The weld areas do not spark at all. There are other parts of the front end work that are definitely not the greatest.... but not corroded at least.

[Mike Fisher]

Use a spot sand blaster on any rust & phosphoric acid rust killer on all bare metal before putting your new filler on the body.
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https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
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