Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project

[VW_Jimbo]

[67rustavenger]

I suffer from the "Getting Older syndrome" too!
Make a list and get everything to make a great meal from the store. Only to find that even though I wrote a list. I forgot that one key ingredient that makes it special.

Perhaps you need to shop at a welding supply store for your wire. They carry big spools. I have one walking distance from my house.

Keep it up. You're gonna get to the finish line........... someday.
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[VW_Jimbo]

[sunroof]

I ran out of gas a few weeks ago. In the middle of the lockdown I went to my welder supply store and got a new tank. I knew they would be open because they are a medical gas supplier which means I can buy tips and wire and gas no problem. Better stand back tho...

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Today was another productive day!!!! I really like the productive days, much better than the, shit just don’t go together days!

Went out and started unpacking the Bug, so that I could move it over 6 feet to work more easily on it. In unpacking it, I picked up the repaired trunk floor and decided to trial fit it, because I still need to weld a flange on it, but was unsure if it fit, or if it required some authoritative persuasion.

So, I pulled it out of the stack of panels, pulled the hood off and dropped it down into its place.

Looks like it fits, but there is a tiny bit that needs to be removed. See that black sharpie line. That’s what I need to trim off. Oh, I need to drill a hole for the tank hold down bolt, too!

Pulled it out, cut it down, drilled a hole for the retainer bolt and marked the 19mm hole from the remnant piece I saved.

Much better fit. And here is me utilizing the rusted out piece for hole location.

Don’t want to forget it’s 19mm.

I did not weld it in yet, but I did want to see how the tank fit and be sure the retainer nuts were all exposed.

Perfect! Onto the B Pillar!

I slathered on some Naval Jelly onto the exposed B Pillar metal and rinsed it off. Wanted to kill anything that was there, since it is wide open! Makes me want to remove all of the panels to do this process.

After the area dried, I primed it and then installed the screw plate into it’s spot. Bent the retainer over it, to secure it and clamped it so it could not move.

With it locked into place, I welded the retainer in.

I then installed the inner B Pillar piece I had salvaged from the rear clip. Welded it in at the bottom and middle points. Could not weld to the upper point due to massive rust!

I then secured the pinch weld at the interior by plug welding a few spots. I worked my way down the seam, about 5 inches at a time. Ground it down after each weld and rolled the hem over and pinched it with a set of channel locks.

All welded in. Still needs to be ground down.

Welded in at the window opening as well.

I added some additional steel at the base where I had some blow through from last go around. I also finished wrapping the inner panel over the outer panel and tacked it in a few spots. After that gets ground down, I then will add the headliner teeth strip. But before that I need to fabricate the upper B pillar interior piece. Really badly rusted.

Until next weekend! Hope you all had a great Memorial Day!

Saw a couple of C47s fly over the house, from the D Day Squadron (even though it is not June 6), go figure. Regardless, it is always cool hearing them rumbling along and it’s a bonus to see them as well! www.https://ddaysquadron.org/news/
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Jimbo

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

[VW_Jimbo]

Got out to the Bug today. First up was to fabricate the upper B pillar. I was able to use the quarter window area from the rear clip I purchased!

Started off the day by grinding down last weekends welding venture. Followed by priming.

Onto the upper portion. Starting point.

Drilled out the spot welds on the hem at the B pillar and bent the hem open.

Then drilled out the spot welds at the window seam and cut across the good metal up at the top.

The interior is pretty rusted and full of old spider webs!

And the removed piece!

Now is an excellent time to remove the broken bolt for the semaphore.

But first I removed the coat hook retainer.

Then I welded a nut onto that broken bolt.

The weld did not hold but the remaining weld bead, was just long enough to grab a hold of it with a pair of pliers.

I then Naval Jellied the inner area, rinsed it and allowed it to dry. Followed that up with a coat of weld their primer. I then cleaned up the seams and also primed them.

I then pulled another piece of steel from that rear clip that matched the piece I had just cut out. I had to bend it a small amount to make it work. But work it did.

With it shaped, I cleaned it up, primed the inside area and stuck it into place. Had to stick a screwdriver in the seam to line it all up, during the top seam weld.

Continued onto the lower weld.

Welded in the window area and called it a day! Have togrind it next time.

I then got a hair cut from my youngest daughter. It was her first time cutting someone’s hair. I only have one little spot that is just shy of having no hair, on the side of my head!

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Jimbo

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

[67rustavenger]

Finally a face to the name! I'm sure that you have received a few of the selfies from Xevin of the two of us.

I swear that that car took a trip off the end of the HB pier and soaked there for a year. Damn that's allot of rust.
I'm glad to see the progress on this just the same. You'll get it complete. But I bet there are still some surprises yet to be discovered.

Keep it up.
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[VW_Jimbo]

[tomsbuggered]

Good progress Jimmy, soldier on!

I think the Pacifico is a good idea to get the courage up!
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June 1956 VW Oval Beetle

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Today was a turning point! I have finally succeeded in securing rigidity to the Bug’s shell! My continued efforts to systematically cut out and replace rusted metal is starting to finally pay off! Let’s start with what I did, followed by how the car benefited.

Started off grinding down last weekends welding on the passenger B pillar. Then I welded in a few Ground through or too thin, spots on the B pillar. Ground that all down. Then I removed the broken screws from the grab handle retainer plate, cleaned it up and welded it back into place, at the top of the B pillar. Thankfully the drivers side retainer was still in place and has not rusted away!

And for those, like myself, that like pictures.

And for anyone who may need this in the future.

Ground down and primed.

_________________
Jimbo

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

[Volksvr6gti]

It’s coming together and looking fresh ...like that new haircut lol.
Good work and always enjoy seeing your progress

[tehillah1]

Great progress. That B pillar was a tricky piece of putting things back together. Nice work.

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Got some more time in on the Bug. Roughly another 3 hours! I have learned that it all counts!

Rear apron repairs started today.
Starting point. It needs new attachment flanges, as that metal is mostly MIA.

With it sitting on a couple saw horses, I measured the sheet metal thickness.

Seems like 22 is too loose and 23 is snug. I have some 22, and no 23, so 22 it is! Got everything up on a platform to make working more comfy.

I then sat the side of the apron on top of a piece of sheet metal and traced the curve.

Traced!

I also need to measure the width of the flange. So up in the air the apron goes, along with a tape measure. Looks like 1-1/4” to me.

So, I took that measurement and set my scribe up, so I can transfer that measurement to the paper template (Trader Joe’s bag), easily.

Double check my setting. You know the saying, “Measure twice, cut once.”

With the scribe set, I transferred the measurement to the template.

I then cut the paper template out and check it against the car.

With it up in place, I poked two holes for the bolts, so I could mark the template for the bolt cut outs.

With the bolt holes positioned on the template, I needed to get the angle to cut the relief for the bolt hole area. First the distance from the edge. Back to the scribe.

And then marked above the bolt hole while the template was still on the car.

Then I needed to find something to give me a radius edge which would match the apron I have. Tried measuring it, but that was not great. So, I decided that a socket would be perfect. Over to the tool box for a socket. Seems that a Craftsman deep 1/4” drive, 6 point, 3/8” socket works perfect. Now, over to the template so we can get it traced.

Ok, now I need the angle for the holes. Back over to the tool box to get the angle finder. Place it up against the apron.

Looks to be 76 degrees.

Let’s get the template marked.

But wait. I need to also measure the angled end of the flange. It is 50 degrees.

Back over to the template. Marked it, then cut it out. Transferred the template shape onto some sheet metal.

Then cut the pieces out.

Then tin sniped out the bolt reliefs.

That bent them slightly, so I took them over to my big steel block and flattened the pieces.

Look at that fit!

Decided to only reflange one side at a time, just in case the panel would buckle or change its shape. With that, I cut one flange off.

I then cleaned up both pieces with a quick run over with a sanding disc and tacked it into place, freehand.

With it tacked into place. The crack in the shield caught my eye! Squirrel! So, I cleaned that up, squeezed it together and welded it, ground it down and primered it. That changed the shape of the apron. In a good way! More like it should be! And Then I finished up welding the flange to the apron. Ground it down. Sanded it. Then primed it. It is a little bit of an optical illusion due to the wet primer and dry primer in the picture. Sorry, it did not occur to me in the moment.

Any job worth doing, is worth doing twice! Onto the other side!

And on the car for a quick check. Bolt holes line up. I need to move it up 1/8” on the left side. Easy!

_________________
Jimbo

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

[tehillah1]

Jimbo you get more done in 3 hours then I get done in 3 weeks.
I went through your whole thread yesterday just to catch up on whatever I've been missing. I spend most of my time trying to figure out how to approach some of these repairs. Then comes the education of diving in and making things happen.

3 hours? What about the time you spend staging, photographing and posting up your work? That's some time and investment that us noobs need... the experience and knowledge to point us in the right direction and keep us going. Thank you for the dedication Sensei!

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Got another 6 hours in today! Wanted to get the rear of the car assembled to check on some potential alignment issues. Plus, all the movement that has taken place has been in the back of my mind, the whole time. Past experience has proven, stuff just does not go back together exactly, no matter how good you are. I think it is do in part to sub level parts. But we can only do the best we can. So, onto the double check!

Started off the day removing broken bolts. Both at the fender and at the hinge brackets. They snapped off while removing the decklid. I pulled the steel retainer from the hinge attachment point. Took them over to the bench, drilled out the snapped off bolts and ran a tap through to clean it up.

Got the 4 broken bolts out, 2 of which were still in the car, not like the easy ones in the retainers.

Had to weld nuts onto them, UPSIDE DOWN! Put then on first.

Then welded them onto the stud.

Then went through the same regiment on the broken fender bolts. With everything able to bolted together. I had to secure the rear apron. Got a few clamps and clamped it in place.

Now we can get to bolting stuff together! Fenders on. All is good there. I found I have some panel beating to do to the rear passenger quarter panel. Not to bad. Those fenders need a lot of work!

Then the decklid got installed. Took me a little while to get it all adjusted. Looks like I have some metal working to do to the passenger rear decklid area, where it meets the decklid. The gap goes from 8mm to 13mm in a 10 inch stretch. I pounded on the panels, massaging them into new shapes, to better their fit and the gaps in between them. Got everything really close. Maybe a small amount more manipulating, then I will be happy!

That felt good! Not too happy looking at those fenders and knowing the amount of work coming up with those, but......par for the course.

On another good note. I got the boss to release the funding for Project Ragtop! Looks like it’s a go!

Now, got to get a hold of one! Wish me luck!
_________________
Jimbo

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

[tehillah1]

That apron looks like it cleaned up nice. Hope mine looks as good when I'm done beating on it.