Rusty 65 SC restoration

[Kb65single]

[Kb65single]

Because there are so many areas to address I just decided to start on the passenger side treasure chest hinge carrier . The driver side was completely wiped out so doing the less damaged pass side would educate me on how things go together.

Initial pictures of the area. The rectangular piece of rusted metal bent at 90 deg. and outlined in black measures 37mm long and 17mm on each side. This piece holds the top of the hinge carrier to the b-pillar.

The upper rear corner of the treasure chest opening. Hinge carrier slides behind the wheel well quarter panel.

Top view of that area

Upper front corner of the treasure chest opening. That area would move when I leaned on it. Probably not a good sign.

Cut the top off to get a better view.

Cleaned it up a bit.

Found the reason for the movement . VW used the same 90deg. piece of metal to weld the outside piece of the hinge carrier to the b-pillar. That piece had cracked and completely separated.

In removing the paint I found the factory lead that covered the 90 deg. piece

Found rust between the inner and outer section of the hinge carrier

Had to grind off the J-channel that helps hold the treasure chest door seal because of rust.

Hinge carrier without J-channel. Approx. 46inches long.

Cut that section out so I could repair the rust between inner and outer hinge carrier panel

That piece cut out

Repair rust on inner hinge carrier

Repair outer hinge carrier with sandblasting, all the capture nuts were good

Welding the repair section

Now I'm ready to put it back together.

[bobrk]

[Kb65single]

Sandblasted the area that the hinge carrier repair section will be welded to. That exposed a crack on the triangular shaped plate that's spot welded to the inner section of the hinge carrier and a rust hole on the b-pillar

So I rewelded the crack and repaired the hole

Welding hinge carrier back on the bus

The short 90deg. piece replaced. Welded to the outside of the outer hinge carrier section and to the b-pillar on the inside. The tip of the repair section needs to have a recess put in so that the 90deg. piece blends smooth or slightly lower than the outer surface of the hinge carrier. Remember the lead applied to that section.

Applying some rust prevention

Fabricating the top to put a lid on this job

Welding it shut

grinding smooth

Same small 90deg. piece that helps hold the hinge carrier to the b-pillar , old and new

The only thing left to do is replace the J-channel that helps hold the treasure chest rubber seal on.

[chrisflstf]

Alot of work. Keep after it, little by little . Looks great and thx for the pics

[Kb65single]

Now on to the J-channel that helps hold the treasure chest seal

I was looking at the J-channel that I took off and thought , I should be able to make that myself. After all its just a long piece of sheet metal with a hook bent on one side. Using the old one as a template I started to bend some small pieces to get the correct shape and length of hook. I took me 3 prototypes to get the correct J. I started bending the metal at a 90deg. angle ( on my bench vice ) then clamped it to a piece of angle iron that I had in the garage and bent it over with a mallet. Making small ( 2" long prototype ) pieces was easy, making it 46" long was a little more difficult. Luckily I had the angle iron long enough but did not have a 4 ft. metal brake for the sheet metal but I knew a metal shop that had one. So the strip of flat sheet metal ended up being 22mm wide and you had to scribe a mark at 7mm lengthwise . Then you put the metal in the brake ( the 15mm part) and bend the 7mm part up 90deg. You clamp it in the angle iron and bend the 7mm part over gradually until you have a proper J-channel. (see pictures)

Old one for template. Thickness of the metal 20 gauge

Screwed the angle iron to a 2x4

Thickness of the angle iron : Less than 1/8" ; 2 1/2mm approx. ; held a drill bit up to it 7/64 felt right and has to have a rounded edge

Clamped the piece

Gradually bending with a mallet. My wife didn't like this part , a lot of hammer blows.

Final product

applying some rust preventative on the back side of the J-channel

Drilling holes so I can plug weld through the hinge carrier from the back side

Lots of welds and a really difficult area to get the mig gun and myself into. Turned out to be a great abdominal workout.

Weld penetration from the back side

Average measurement from the hinge carrier to the bottom of the J is 17 to 18 mm. That is the space needed for the rubber seal.

Finally done with that area. Decided to move on to the battery tray/passenger rear corner because my first Gerson order came in the mail.

[Culito]

Wow.
Your write-up and pics are going to be valuable info to many people, so thanks for that!
_________________
Copyright CJ Industries, Inc.
'64 standard w/2.0L type 4
'62 bug

[Kb65single]

[Kb65single]

Now that my Gerson battery tray showed up I can start that area. The PO patched the battery tray with a piece of galvanized metal but did not include a way to strap the battery to the bus. They also patched the wheel well area that faces the battery. I'll start with the before pictures.

Hole after the patch was removed

Underside of the same area

Vent area

Patch of the wheel well

Patch removed

Rusted area where the rubber bumper (for the side gates) bolts to the rear quarter panel in front of the vent louvers

Rust through from the battery tray to the rear corner

That area cleaned up. Going through some of the restoration threads verified that the wheel well section gets welded over the battery tray flange and the splash panel gets welded behind the same battery tray flange.

Now I can tear the area apart.

[Kb65single]

First panel that I removed was the wheel well section. That section is spot welded to the rear quarter panel on the outside and the wheel well section that is part of the engine compartment, on the inside. The spot weld removal tool that I used on the load tray couldn't be used because the welds are to close to the edge. I just used a combination of angle grinder , dremel tool with a 3" cut off wheel ( 1/16" thick) to grind the area around the "spots" thin enough that I preserve the panel behind it.

Panel removed and the quarter panel preserved. Flange that points toward you is 15mm (5/8") wide. I used a broken hack saw blade to cut the flange. There is rust damage to the quarter panel (the lower hole). The hole further up is the hole that the rubber bumper for the side gate bolts through. That hole is on the opposite side of that panel Battery side).

Same flange dimension on the opposite side. There was some rust damage to the panel behind it that I will address later.

Splash panel removed. Rust does help remove some panels. I tried to save as much of that panel as I could because I intended to make a new one.

One side of the battery tray free from welds

[Kb65single]

Getting the battery tray out was easier than I thought. Rust has a way of speeding up the process. I teased a thin putty knife between the battery tray and the rear corner panel on the vent side and all the welds had failed. The back side where the rear light is located had a few nonfailing welds which I was able to free up. The most difficult area was where the d-pillar and the battery tray join. That area is just about impossible to gain access to, so I had to cut the flange in that area and grind that free after the tray was removed. There are a number of spot welds next to the panel that has the vehicle ID # that have to be separated.
Battery tray removed

Opposite side. The flange on the vent and light side was still intact after removal. Almost thought about fixing it but the Gerson tray was the easier option.

View from the wheel well

[Kb65single]

Now that the splash panel ,wheel well section and battery tray are removed I had to get the small rusty triangular section of the rear quarter removed. This would allow me to clean up the flange that all these panels are attached to.

Getting to the solid metal and planning my cut

Section removed and sandblasted

I had to repair that section and eventually reweld it back in position. I was lucky that the rust damage didn't destroy the entire "lip" of the wheel well. That area would have been very difficult to reproduce. Bent a flange (90deg) and figured out what stays and what goes.

Cutting and trimming is getting me closer. The area that has a sharp point curves toward the inside of the bus. I needed relief cuts to allow the metal to bend and match the contour of the rear corner close to the louvers. I will weld those cuts shut before welding this piece back on the bus.

Finally ready to weld in

[Kb65single]

Just an important note. The small triangular piece that I just made gets done AFTER the flange ( that its welded to ) is repaired.

Now on to the flange repair. Spent a lot of time cleaning the inside and outside of the rear corner. Used the fiber wheel a lot and I will eventually sandblast that area. Sandblasting is not my favorite way of spending time so I get the area as clean as I can. It also tells me what is good solid metal and what needs to be cut out.
Cleaning the outside

I have cut a vertical part of the flange away

Cleaning the inside

Working my way down

Area away from the flange that is cracked needs repair

repaired

Flange repaired. Now I can fit the triangular section from the previous post.

[ddutch]

Love the way you work. Step by step, precise and logical.

[Kb65single]

More holes to fix

After finding rust through at the d-pillar near the rear gate hinge , I decided to find out what the inside looked like.

The screws for the engine door hinges had to be drilled out so I knew I had to gain access to that area.

Went around the corner to clean up the rust

While I was in the area made hoops and a canvas top a possibility someone tried to drill them out. Not a stock application but I can live with it.

[Kb65single]

[Kb65single]

The d-pillar was kind of wrinkly and it was staring at me. Since I had the corner tore apart, it would just keep on bugging me if I didn't fix it. The bus must have gotten tapped slightly in the ass end.

Had to get a d-pillar support removed before I could get to the pillar

Found the easiest way to reweld the d-pillar and cut it away those points

Now that it is out of the bus it was a lot easier to straighten it out

Straightened and sandblasted

Looks better and it won't bug me anymore

A rust area had to be fixed

Needed to tear apart one more area and then it gets sandblasted

More lead

Cut out now sandblasting

[Kb65single]

Sandblasted the inside and outside of the rear corner. Painted most of the inside with an Eastwood product leaving the areas that I have to weld on. Put Ospho on those areas to slow the flash rusting. I usually go over the Ospho areas with a fiber wheel or regrind the areas that I have to weld on ( Mig welding likes clean metal). So now on to the rest of the areas that need attention.

[chrisflstf]

Progress, lookin better already

[Kb65single]