1975 Beetle Convertible Resto/Mod Build-Chop,Dash,Suicide,Shave.

[MACJELLY58]

On to the dreaded doors. Like I said, I had a bunch of waves there at the bottom of the doors. With all that cutting and welding and re-welding, it was a mess. I got the Glue gun out and I just got the "Pusher Rods" that push from the back for the smaller hard to reach dings. My handy work was not as good as I had remembered. Really disappointing.

I was able to get the doors looking really pretty decent. Except for the major Oil Canning. I do not have the shrinking Disc(I'm gonna get one). So, going to give the Torch thing a try . Problem is, I heard that Propane is not a hot enough flame to get the the metal cherry red(as recommended). Oh well, gonna give it the Ol' Community College Try(No Degree).

[MACJELLY58]

I was so ready to paint. But, I wanted to clean up and match up the shaved rain gutter pinchweld on the windshield. I measured and cleaned that up with a grinder and metal file. Also, pulled some dings out of the Driver's side front quarter panel. This is now my second day of the weekend and running out of time to spray the Primer. I don't wanna leave it bare metal again!!

I think I'll start doing smaller repairs and painting right afterwards, like every other sane person in the world . I bit the bullet and started prepping to paint, cleaning, sanding, masking. You can go ahead and laugh at the kids bed sheets as drop clothes/masking. While you're at it, that brown masking paper is the packing paper from my Amazon orders. Been saving it for years.

I think I had said it before but, I'm using the Nason Epoxy Primer mixed 1:1 with the activator. It needs to have an induction period of 30 minutes(chemically bond after mixing/before spraying) and has a pot life of 1 hour.
I bought a cheap TCP Global 1.8 gun,$20. It sprays okay. Good enough for Primer.

Put down a dust coat and then two wet coats. Pretending that it's the real thing to get some practice in before the paint goes on, Someday!

Sad to say but, my work still looks horribly shoddy. I guess it's nothing that a crap load of Body Filler can't fix. That's not what I was going for though. Maybe by the end of this built, I can get to where I wanna be for my next project***'64-65 FastBack****

[MACJELLY58]

I went on to the rear quarter panels. These look like they came out really pretty well. But, looks are deceiving. With all the "modifications" I made to make them line up with the doors(I still am not sure why they didn't line up), they both have the Oil Can thing going on. I started on the Driver's side and used the heat and hammer technique again. The high spot moved. I did it again and it moved again.

So, now I got three spots with hammer dings to fill, actually four!

Then, of course I gotta massage the area with the puller and hammer and dolly, for all the damage I just did. All in all, it is nice and stiff now and relatively level.
I'm gonna wait for the Shrinking Disc to arrive and give that try. This torch thing is not the way to go for me.

[Epilog79]

Good to see you back at it!!! I hate when life gets in the way.

[MACJELLY58]

Thanks Brother!
Even with the problems of inexperience, It does feel good to get back to my therapy!

[MACJELLY58]

After seeing the horrible metal work finishing I did on the doors, I decided to try and put some filler on the Dashboard. I thought I'd see if my metal work could be satisfactorily hidden when I get to the Bodywork. I've been waiting to do the finishing Bodywork until after all the metal work is finished. I was worried about all the Filler dust getting everywhere. It's been decades since I used Bondo and I remember all the dust on the floor, car, my hair, up my nose and every crease and crevice. AND THE SMELL!

Of course, there have been better Fillers produced since then. I bought the Evercoat "RAGE GOLD" Light Body Filler. I got it a few years ago, when I thought I would make quick progress on this project.
I went to get it out of the closet, way behind everything else. Dusted it off and opened it up. It look great! Nice and creamy and smooth. I got the blue hardener tube and started to knead it to get it all mixed and the brittle tube just disintegrated. I was able to save it in a little Tupperware cup. Still kinda lumpy though.

I got my 4 inch spreader out mixed up a small batch and went to filling the Dash work. A little clumsy, but it came back to me slowly. A little block sanding and I think it may come out fine. I'll see when I put some primer on it.

I thought, it looks like it was going well, so I'll try the side portions too!
I had made holes in them to have access for the Rust encapsulator spray paint tube. I had to get the welder out from out of the back of the garage. Over the last eight months it kinda got buried back there.

I went and got the Glovebox Door. It did not get any love since I got it.

Gave it a good sanding. I took a look at the inside panel and there was rust in there. I guess it was open and sat in the weather for a while. It's a 1961 Door, so it's a bit old. Also there was these little rubber nipples inside the panel(not the Nickle). Anybody know what these are? I'm thinking, Stoppers for the door? But, I can't seem to find where they go. Sorry, It just came to me!! They are the Capture Grommets for the chrome molding on the outside of the door. HAH!!

Anyway, RUST on the inside panel of the door! I hate rust. I couldn't get anything in there to grind. So, into the Acid bath it goes.

After about eight minutes, a good rinse and a look back inside.

A lot better. But still kinda rusty. Back in the bath for another eight minutes and a little scraping with a wire clothes hanger.

That's good enough. Got out the Eastwood's Channel spray and the plastic spray tube. The tube is curly due to shipping, so I use a wire wrapped around to get it straight for better control. However, the tube with the wire will not fit into the panel. So, I taped the end to the wall and heated the tube lightly with a lighter(too lazy to go digging for the Heat Gun). Then kept it taught and shot it with water to cool it down in the straight position. It worked!!

Gave it a good dousing. That stuff gets everywhere! Really messy, but that's what I want, I guess. I'm pretty sure it got into all those nooks and crannies.

I still have to prep and primer the inside of the doors. I started with the Driver's side, as that 's the side that got cut in half. Lots of "Scars". I tried to get them looking as best I could from all the Butchering

Well, ran out of time. Hopefully I can get some Primer on tomorrow. Actually, later today for me!

[MACJELLY58]

After scratching up the Glove box door with 80 Grit. I set it aside to get Primed!

Finished up the smoothing of the doors. I've really got to be more careful when doing the repairs. It looked pretty good when I was welding up all those patches and stuff. Now when I'm REALLY looking at them, they look terrible! I'm hoping to get them decent with as little Body Filler as possible. Anyway, putting the disappointment out of my mind, I masked them up to get Primed.

Then I went back to the Dash. I still had to spread some Body Filler into the fabricated side panels. Like I said, It's been decades since I had played with this stuff. I mixed up a batch and went in with the 4" spreader. It didn't fit in there very well!
I really made a mess of it, trying to get that spreader in there. Filler falling, spilling, and flopping everywhere. Kinda wasted that batch. Mixed up another batch and cut out spoon shaped spreader out of a cereal box about the size of the valley of the panel. That went a lot better. I think I'll make more "custom" spreaders for other areas. Just food for thought.

I really like this "RAGE" filler. I was really dreading working with "BONDO" again. The dust everywhere. But, this stuff is great!! The dust just falls to the floor. It doesn't really get airborne. Even when I'm using the DA sander. This stuff is so much cleaner.

So, as you can see everything's all masked up and ready. Gave everything a good last wipe with some lacquer thinner, I don't have any of that final wash stuff. I gotta get some later. Shot it all with the Epoxy Primer.

Funny story, I guess... As I was mixing up the paint and readying the gun and stuff, I was thinking to myself...this painting thing is really coming back to me. I was feeling a lot more comfortable spraying and getting in the groove. So I filled the cup and donned my respirator mask, checked my spray pattern and started to put down some paint. I noticed that the paint was "Bubbling" in the cup when I sprayed. Like, back flushing it's self. So without thinking, I unscrewed the Air Cap to check for an obstruction. DON'T DO THAT WHEN YOU HAVE A FULL CUP OF PAINT !!

I didn't have much experience, back in the day, I only used a Suction type gun. I don't even know if they had Gravity feed guns back then. As everyone knows, with a Gravity feed gun, the Air Cap is where the paint tip seats, keeping the paint in the gun. It must have slipped my mind(Or... just did not occur to me at all)
That is, until I had the, "Oh Shit!", moment as the paint poured out onto the garage floor at my feet. I then hurriedly tried to put the Cap back on, getting even more paint on my hands, the gun, my shoes, etc...
Anyway, there was some junk in the internal paint filter and I cleaned it out. But, just don't do that. Okay?

Driver's side door.

Glove box Door, hanging from a PVC pipe.

Various angles of the Dash. There are still some high spots and imperfections. But, I think that I can make it finish out fine when the time comes. It makes me feel better... I think it just might all come out alright someday!

Passenger door.

Then, I slipped on the Glove box cover just to take a look. They haven't seen each other in a long time.

Next thing is to put some paint on the fenders. I hope that they aren't as bad as the rest of my work and I can just clean 'um up and spray. Oh well, thanks for looking.

[MACJELLY58]

Work Is still kinda overwhelming, so I only got one day off again. Just enough time for me get the front fenders done. Put 'um up in the saw horses and took a look. They didn't appear to be that bad, until I started marking spots to apply Filler.

While I was cleaning, I was reacquainted with one of the mounting holes that I was gonna fix "LATER". It is a little thin on the bottom and with the weight
of the Headlight Bucket, it fatigued and cracked. I thought I would make a Reinforcement Tab and weld it on the inside to sturdy it up a little.

Then I found another one buckling on the other fender. It's not the some hole as the other side. The first one was the third from the running board, in the middle. This one was the second from the running board. Weird, I would think it would be the same one on both sides.

I'm waking up those long hibernating brains cells that were responsible for Bondo spreading. Of course that was 32 years ago, so they are waking slowly. I think I'm getting better?

All sanded up with 60/80 grit and metal treated. I work horribly slow and before I knew it, I was running out of time. I had to keep reminding myself that, this is not the time for me to be working for finished, ready to paint body work. I really need to get all this bare metal covered and protected, so I can move on with the larger issues.

The painting went well and I am getting more comfortable with it. No "Accidents" this time. Same dusting coat and two wet coats of Epoxy.

My deletion of the Turn Signal mounting holes looks really good! Finally, a successful repair the way I had envisioned it!!

BUT, I really dropped the ball on this area. Rushing a little too much. I guess I'll save that for Later

[MACJELLY58]

Nothing new to add just more of the same. I worked on the rear fenders, much like the front fenders. The only thing different was the major section that I had grafted in, on the left rear fender. I was a little worried about it. I thought maybe it would be a mess. But, I think It came out better than I had thought it would. I missed a bunch of little dings again. The shiny bare metal makes it hard for me to see them. It is at a rough stage anyway and I'll do the finishing Body work and make it all pretty before paint. Enjoy the pics, if you have nothing else better to do.

Filler.

Left.

Filler.

Ready for Primer.

Spayed.

[DesignBuild]

Very nice work. You are well on your way to finishing the car.

Regarding the heater; you may want to rethink getting rid of the heater. Even in a pleasant climate there will be days where excessive moisture and cool temperatures will require defroster heat to clear the windshield. You may also want heat after an especially heavy rain when the interior of the car feels damp.

[MACJELLY58]

Thanks DB!
I'm relieved that it looks like, eventually I won't be too embarrassed by the end product. But, there is a lot more I have to do. One of those, is the design and install of Air Conditioning. That should solve the dampness and defrost. I plan on driving on pleasant days only(Convertible). But, I will really miss the Heater. Not just the ingenious engineering, but the surprise of non-initiated passengers that never knew about that feature. The concern I have... RUST. My observation is that the moist air through the Heater Channels seems to make these cars rust from the bottom up. That's one negative for the engineering of that feature. The problem I believe, is that they were designed as a cheap practical transportation vehicle. Not intended for enthusiasts to keep loving them for 40, 50, 60, 70 years!! If only they had envisioned the love and put some good protective coatings in the Heater Channels. Even now, the new Heater Channels I purchased are even worse. When I removed the inner Heater Pipe that runs in the Heater Channel, It was already rusting!! Worst case scenario, I gotta get me a good Winter coat.

[MACJELLY58]

My "Shrinking Disk" came in last week. If you recall, that's the Disk that helps with the Oil Can stretched metal. I got the small one, about 4-1/2". It's just a Stainless steel plate disk. I bet most of you could just make your own.

It worked really well on the left Quarter Panel. I just found the high spot, used the grinder and rubbed the disk on it. Then sprayed it with water and a wet rag. I may have got it too hot because the spot moved and I had to follow it around.
All in all, very happy with this method. Less damage! I'll have to practice more with it to get good at it.

It was really looking good, as this was the better of the two sides. I scuffed it up and ran the sanding block on it to find the lows to know where to apply the filler. I put on a minimal layer of filler, trying to get away with as little as possible. Then another and another and another. Before I knew I had a crap load of filler on there! Well actually, it was not that thick but a large area.
In the first interior picture, you can see one of my improvised Filler spreaders (the Popsicle stick) . It worked really well for all those tight spots on the interior panel. It was a lot of work for an area that no one will see! I know...I know, I got a problem.

Then the back door jam and the interior Quarter panel Hinge area.

I had said how wonderful this "Rage" body filler was. The dust was minimal and the easy sandability. It is really easy to sand but if you used it before, you must have thought I had a "Magic" batch that did not create much dust. I had spoken too soon. I was working on the small area of the Dash and there was not that much dust. With this larger area, there is dust everywhere!! It didn't help much that I wasted a lot of material trying to put it on thin and sanding off the excess and reapplying. I'm learning to conserve. THAT STUFF IS EXPENSIVE!!

I went on to the primer and I had saw a hack for not getting paint in the lid rim. I hate that, the clean up and the waste. Not wanting the lid to be permanently glued to the can. They sell spouts for the cans but this idea looked better. And it works!!

Anyways, enough stalling. The money shots-(literally cost me a lot of money, but a learning experience). I'm really enjoying the satisfaction of seeing the repairs look more finished. So, I think I'm gonna take a break and do more of this "covering up" before moving on with more metal work and Mods. Sorry, looks like a couple more weeks of this before I get to cutting up the Convertible Top Frame.

[calvinater]

Nice work and perseverance , what is the finished colour?
_________________
"Albatross"!

[MACJELLY58]

Hey Calvin,
Because the car will sooo not be even close to stock, I feel more free to select something outside the box. I wanted to go dark but not too dark and lose the light effect off of all the Bug's great curves. Something tasteful, yet eye catching. So, I'm leaning toward a Ford color, "Burgandy Velvet". Still kinda dark, so I gotta get the body as straight as possible. Wish me luck!

[calvinater]

Check out VW bordouex ( Sp) red.
One of my favourites.
_________________
"Albatross"!

[MACJELLY58]

Wow!! is that a stock OEM color? Mighty deep red. Liking it.

[calvinater]

Stock colour, not sure of years used, guess you could look up top in technical or archives for more info.

A hot vws magazine did a story on the resto of one a few years back.
_________________
"Albatross"!

[calvinater]

Stock colour, not sure of years used, guess you could look up top in technical or archives for more info.

A hot vws magazine did a story on the resto of one a few years back.
_________________
"Albatross"!

[MACJELLY58]

Worked on the last of the exposed metal, the left rear Quarter panel. Again, more Filler than I had imagined I would be using. I guess I gotta pay more attention to my metal work as I go on. Speaking of metal work, I missed welding in a plate to the rear of the Hinge box. Here's some pics of the progress.

All sanded down with 80 grit. I know that's a little rough, leaving quite a bit of sanding marks, but I really want the filler and Primer to stick well. It would kill me if stuff started to peel off while I'm polishing my pride and joy! Pretty close but I still gotta Block sand with some Glazing Putty to get it finished.

Then, last time I forgot to get some filler into the mess I made welding the body braces to the quarter panel on the Passenger side.

Then got the primer on. Really feeling better about spraying. Although, I got a little lazy and tried spraying in the bad light on the inside of the car and got a few runs. I sanded those down and re-shot a light coat to cover.

Okay, lots of words coming up. Sorry, but it helps me keep it all straight in my head if I write it down somewhere.
So, I completed building the doors(NIGHTMARE). Notice I didn't say finished the doors. Cause, you may have noticed there are no guts or mechanisms for anything in them. Before I place and configure the Door Poppers/Latch and interior door pull, I gotta figure out the windows and window regulators. Before I do that I gotta figure out the "New" window size and thus, have to have the Convertible Top in it's final position to get the "New" window size.

So, that's where I'm at now. I gotta reconfigure the Convertible Top. Because I cut the windshield frame down 4-1/2 inches, the Frame moved not only down, but away at the same time. So the "Old" Top will not reach the new position of the Frame. I have a beaten up Frame from the Donor car(Pretty bad shape). I should be able to harvest pieces from it to remake this one.
Here's what it looks like now.

The angle of the header is pointing downward and will have to be adjusted. I don't like the "Raked" look from back to front. So, it looks like I gotta cut down the back of the frame as well. That's gonna take a lot Geometry and engineering. Which I know nothing about!! Ahh, what the Hell, I'll do my best and I'm sure it will be entertaining.
The Headliner is a heavy vinyl. It's pretty dirty and a little old, but I think I may try to reuse it. I'll have to lengthen it but that's problem for another day!

[MACJELLY58]

In preparation for getting some type of clue as to how cut this frame, I put on the doors and reattached the rear of the top to get some measurements. I want the top to look somewhat level but, still have the Beetle shape. I'll give it my best shot to make it look a little decent and not too Cartoony.

I'm thinking it's just a little too raked downward in the front for my liking. I took a bunch of measurements. Most of which, will be of no use because I'm basically gonna mess up all the Geometry of the German engineers. But what the hell, at least I'll know where I started. With all the measurement pics and all the pics of the disassembly, I took a crap-load of pictures...260 to be exact. Don't panic I'm not gonna post them all. I did a pictorial step by step removal of everything so I can try and remember what came from where when it comes time to put it together. I had even considered starting a new thread about the top, because there is so precious little out there about the Late Model Tops. Alas, as soon as I got in there I found that the Top was replaced by a "Do-It-Your-Way", previous owner. I must say, it was very creative from what I learned about the set up. Hell, it worked and looked pretty decent. But, this tear down will help no one who would like to do it right.

I apologize in advance to the Hard-Top guys, this is going to get even more boring for you. You may want to just check back in with me in about a Month when I get past this adventure.
First, I again removed the rear hold down cable and popped the rear window. I just used my fingers to lift the interior lip of the rubber and pushed. It came right out. Kinda scary actually, that it was that easy.

Then to remove the window ring. I tried to go slow and to save everything I could. First I tried prying the staples out. They are really long. Are they supposed to be that long? Then I tried cutting them. I finally gently tore the cover off. Trying not to make a mess of it.

Next I removed the weather stripping on the rear quarter window frames. Behind them the Top was glued to the frame. Just peeled it away.

Yup, that's a rust hole. Over all, the Frame is in pretty good shape. The "Foot" of the left side quarter, where it meets the body is kinda eaten away, but that appears to be the worst of it.

After that, I got access to the Tensioning Cable for the Top. It loops around a tab on the back of the Quarter Frame and then out a hole to the outside of the frame. This cable runs through both sides of the Top in a channel through the material.

Then I could peel back the Top toward the front. This is where is starts to get "Hinkey". The top pad is a dingy yellow piece of old school Woolworth's open cell foam. Not even a Pad Cover for it. Then there is supposed to be two quarter pads on the sides of the rear window. There are covers for those pads, but no pads in them. I thought that it looked a little "Sucked" in there ...not very full looking. I guess they got wet and started to get "Funky" back there and they were removed, along with any mushrooms that may have been growing.

I should have noticed earlier. Two straps run over the frame from the front to the rear. Those are supposed to attach the rear bow to the body. Mine were attached to the rear bow, but were dangling into thin air.

So peeling the Top back toward the front, It folds over the frame and under the front window weather stripping.

Removed the weather stripping and the material underneath was glued to the frame. Peeled that back. There's two centering tabs in each corner of the Front Bow. Two screws releases them.

Next, there's a long Header Trim that screws into the front of the Front Bow. Under this the Top and the Headliner were glued to the Frame.

At this point, I was able to peel back the corner of the Top of the Front Bow. This revealed the Top Tension Cable that ran from the back through the Top sides and attaches to a spring in a channel up at the Front Bow. The spring hooks onto a tab on the Frame. I pried the spring off and the Top is FREE!

This exposed a green tarp kinda material that was used as a cover? Or maybe you could call it, a bottom Pad Cover? Anyway it looked bad. I worked on the Front Bow to get the green tarp off. In the Front Bow there is a channel with a retaining rod that is supposed to hold down the straps and the Pad Cover. It has metal tabs that hold the rod in. I pried those up and removed the rod, releasing the green tarp.

I then removed the two straps that are screwed/stapled to the bows. That only leaves the Headliner and rear window ring. The Headliner is mostly just glued to the bows. There is a Tensioning String that runs through the sides, like the Cable did for the Top. This String, however, was simply tied to the rear wooded Bow. Not sure if that is Kosher or not.

I went to remove the rear window ring to see if I could save it. Nope, it is a synthetic type ring and it was extremely brittle. It broke into several pieces trying to get the Headliner off. The metal rear window frame is pretty rusty, but salvageable, I guess. I was thinking of reusing the headliner earlier, because it is a really thick vinyl material. But, it has seen better days and had done it's job well and deserved a quiet retirement in the islands finest landfill or incinerator.

So there lies my convertible top. The pile seems a little small, but that's all of it, except the hardware. I'm gonna use it for "patterns" to sew the new top. Well basic pattern, as the new top will be longer, shorter and a little wider. This leaves the Frame. The center Bow had a stress break on the right side. It seems common, as I've seen it on other threads on convertibles. There's some rust but, not too bad. The rear wooden Bow is kinda beaten/eaten up. I'm gonna see if I can save it with a little repair. So, next up is cleaning, repairing, protecting, then cutting and fitting. If you need a good laugh, or need to feel better about your own project, come back and taste the adventure.
Full disclosure: My knowledge of Geometry is....I know the word and I think it means-shapes. See ya!!