'66 Field Find parts car.. project

[WADVR]

Ordered the defrost tubes and a pair of matching 4.5" wheels for the front from CIP1. Ordered on Monday and as typical they shipped today. Being only a 3 hour drive from Vancouver it should be interesting to see where and how long it takes to receive the parts this go around. Last time they went to the mid west and back but free shipping is free shipping
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- 67 Beetle Full Resto Project
- 66 Beetle “Parts Car” Project

[WADVR]

Well, late last week my work/employer was deemed non essential except for basic function so I get some free time to plug away at this finally.

CIp1 surprised me with a delivery on Thursday which was great and again was surprised. Much better experience then before. Got the defrost tubes and a matching pair of front wheels (black slotted 15x4.5)

This morning I finally got a break in the weather and moved things around to make room outside for the chassis/pan and employed my wife to assist in blocking up the body. I lift it one end at a time and have her position the saw horses and 8’ 4x4s so the chassis can be rolled out from underneath. She was very enthused to help

Let the cutting begin:

The front wheel well had to be trimmed up 1” to get to solid clean metal. I have a quality piece to fit back in its place but otherwise the front was pretty clean.

The rear is a mess which I just cut out the rear crossmember and any inner quarter panel junk out of the way. I will get everything in place back to spec and then rebuild this with donor metal. In case anyone is wondering I use the blue painters tape to mark my measurements with a pen or pencil to get an exact reference point. Yes the sharpie is too fat although I do use them to mark cut lines to cut right on the line.

I test fit the Klassic Fab channel and have some fine tuning to do but it fits great already. Am excited to finally got on this task.

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- 67 Beetle Full Resto Project
- 66 Beetle “Parts Car” Project

[WADVR]

Put a few hours in today. I cut a strip of material from another panel that I will be using on another project. Was the proper 18ga or 1mm size which was important to me to get a decent weld and not fight the two different thicknesses.

Here is the strip cut to fit and punched ready for rosette welding the heater channels in place. I noticed the portion close to the door under the A pillar dips down and not straight with the rest of the edge. I cut and formed it to fit then welded it all up. Found a few thin spots in the original panel but all welded up nice:

Ran out of time and need to order the other defrost tube section and/or read up on installing them after the the lower one is already in place. The hoses fit tight to all the fittings so a little worried about trying to install them later with the lack of room available. Anyone have any good info links handy that might include the best lengths etc? I am going to search but thought I’d ask

All this prep will pay off in the end.
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- 67 Beetle Full Resto Project
- 66 Beetle “Parts Car” Project

[WADVR]

Slowly moving along on this. Been working on fitting everything together and am not satisfied with the sagging drivers door I haven’t been able to fix. The door has always sagged and had to be lifted to close smoothly. Prior to fitting the new heater channel I adjusted the latch to hold to door straight and messed with preloading it and the body while mocking up and welding in the heater channel. All things I could think of and I still have a saggy door and will need to bend the lower hinge to make it shut straight and be in alignment. I fit the channel within 1/64th of an inch Of the previous part and the door jamb dimensions are the same measurement as before. I am not sure where to go from here other than wait until the body is back on the pan and adjust the mounts etc per the procedure linked below:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/looklisten_9/looklisten9_body_leaks_vwsedan.pdf

The picture below shows the leading edge door gap with the door shut and aligned via the latch. The rear gap is consistent top to bottom with the exception of the middle. The quarter panel has been “repaired” previously and is not in the greatest shape and is the reason why the middle is a larger gap.

Any recommendations on this? I have searched many threads and come up with a few procedures to help but to no success. The passenger side for reference is perfect.

I started fitting the lower quarter panel patch and discovered it didn’t fit and wasn’t the proper dimensions to fit properly. So I measured an OG one I have and modified it to be the proper dimension so that it would retain the proper contour of the body. I cut out a section and welded it back together. Also it does not fit around the back of the crossmember as the original, I started adjusting that but the remainder will have to be done when welded in but I got it pretty close. I knew I should have spent the extra few $$ on the green panels but this should work ok. I still have a bit of work to do before welding this in place... inner quarter structure, align the crossmember with the luggage tray and fit everything to the wheel wells.

Surprisingly I didn’t get any pictures of the front of the heater channel all welded in. Was quite impressed how these fit and welded up nice and tight with no gaps and to original measurements (aside from my door issue above
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- 67 Beetle Full Resto Project
- 66 Beetle “Parts Car” Project

[WADVR]

For additional reference. Here are a few pictures of the door alignment prior to disassembly. Leading edge door gap even. Door shut small misalignment, when opened large misalignment requiring pulling up on the door to close smoothly.

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- 67 Beetle Full Resto Project
- 66 Beetle “Parts Car” Project

[Dibaltic]

Nice progress!

[Eric&Barb]

Looks like you will need to massage the door opening with hydraulic.
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[61SNRF]

[bigdog1962]

*I'm not a mechanic and rarely give advice. This may or may not apply to your situation but since I had the same problem, I thought I'd share.*

I had the same problem. I tried adjusting the door and shimming till the cows came home but it didn't work. I wasn't comfortable doing any more so I took it to the person I trust for this problem. He gapped and shimmed it as best as he could but wasn't satisfied. Then, "Both upper and lower hinge pins have a lot of wear and the upper hinge mount is beginning to flex/fail. Cumulatively, these issues prevent the door from closing as nicely as it should. The hinge pins can be reamed and replaced with oversized units and the upper hinge can be welded/reinforced."

So that's what I went with. I haven't seen the finished product yet but thought I'd let you know of another possible solution.

*Again, I don't do body work and my mechanical skills are limited to simple things. This may or may not be good information*
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Oprn wrote: I'm getting to the age that any self propelled woman (no wheel chair or walker) looks HOT!! Oooo! look at that Babe! She made it from the dining room all the way to the TV room without help!! Hubba, hubba!!

[TDCTDI]

This misalignment needs to be adjusted before you finish welding the channels in.


The body has settled either before or after you removed the channels. This can be seen by the fairly consistent door gap between the hinges.


The front of the body needs to be pulled down to bring the rear of the door up. However, the body tends to bend at the top of the A-pillar where it curves just behind the top of the windshield when you do this causing the top of the door to rub the bottom of the drip rail, you then need to jack up at the rear apron area to lean the "Trapezoidal" door opening forward.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[WADVR]

Thank you for the responses.

I am thinking to get any worthwhile and lasting movement I am going to have to set it back on the pan for strength to move things around.

TDCTDI, I 100% agree and that was where I initially started. I preloaded the body to align the channels and the door to get it even this far. It was much worse before I starting working on it. When I move the supports (holding the body from the ground) to under the a pillar I can put pressure on the front apron and get the door to align but it springs right back. This is how I welded the channel in and it still sprung back on me. Initially there was about a 1/4” gap at the front firewall. I closed this up using this method and had hoped it would align the door. Was very disappointed when I opened it and it dropped back down, not as bad but still.

I am thinking I will have to start with bolting the front down to the beam and adjusting(removing rubber thickness) and then if still needed moving the lower hinge to raise the back of the door and if it comes down to it pushing the upper portion of the a pillar( upper door hinge) forward.

I just don’t think I can get any more out of it my adjusting the heater channel without significantly changing the shape of the car. It sits where it should and have already manipulated it or the body to help align this issue.

Am I on the right track or missing the obvious or not picking up what you’re putting down? I appreciate the help and have considered all points brought up and am just trying to determine how far to obsess about this and compromise to correct the issue.

Thanks again.
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- 67 Beetle Full Resto Project
- 66 Beetle “Parts Car” Project

[mukluk]

Unless the A pillar is cracked or crumbling, the fact the door moves up when latched and drops when unlatched indicates either the riveted hinge to door connections are loose or the hinge pins are worn. Bending the A pillar mounts or shimming the hinges won't fix this issue in the long term.
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1960 Ragtop w/Semaphores "Inga"

[WADVR]

[TDCTDI]

I covered this on my latest project, but I kept the pan under the body & bolted the body back down to the pan using spacers so I could use the pan as a jig.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

But there was no slop in the hinges (It took me a few weeks to free them up).
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[WADVR]

[WADVR]

Long time no updates (nor much progress either)

Lack of pictures but drivers side rear quarter is fully welded in with the wheel well, heater channel and crossmember all tied in.

Passenger side heater channel is welded in. The outer skin on the front wheel well was in good shape but the firewall was in bad shape so I had to patch up the lower corner to get solid metal. Turned out pretty good despite using the corner of a cheap reproduction firewall to start with. Would have been easier to just start fresh with flat sheet metal.

The rear crossmembers are both attached to the heater channels and currently floating. I think the best next step is to drop it back on the pan and make sure everything aligns to set the read crossmembers in correctly, then weld up to parcel floor and wheel wells.
The good news though is the front of the car is done, no more rusted out panels, all is solid now.

A picture for proof!

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- 67 Beetle Full Resto Project
- 66 Beetle “Parts Car” Project

[Dibaltic]

Looks great! Big step forward

[9pin]

Very nice work!
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Yet another person with a '66 project: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=526418

[pittbull]

Insane project, love to see this progress!

[WADVR]

Almost 2 and a half years later… finally working on this again.the weekend started with the remainder of the rust repair being: both rear bumper mounts, pass side quarter and wheel well and both sides interior quarter panel reconstruction.

Got the wheel well and quarter done as well as one bumper mount.

Next on the list is the other bumper mount and the daunting task of reconstructing the interior side of the lower quarters. Unfortunately these parts aren’t available as replacements and these always rust especially around here. I have some donor metal for this but at this point I’m considering forming my own vs cutting them out, cleaning up/repairing them to then fit and weld in place.

Any way, happy to be working on this again. My ‘goal’ is to be able to drive it to dry storage for the winter. Then start accumulating parts for the next phase.
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- 67 Beetle Full Resto Project
- 66 Beetle “Parts Car” Project