dubjeep's 1970 fixer-upper

[Rome]

Glad to see you still have interest, and are actively working on it again as your time allows.

[dubjeep]

I was able to get the floorpan welded in, ground and primed. I will next start wire brushing the other pan. I will brush on some naval jelly to neutralize any rust on it and then rinse it off.

I will prep both pans and brush on some chassis saver.

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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804

[beetlenut]

[dubjeep]

Thanks Bill! Yep - 9 years since I got the car. I am trying to spend an hour on it every night or every other night working on it.

I have been degreasing and wire wheeling the drivers side floor pan so I can treat it with naval jelly, self etch prime it, and then filler prime it.

I might set up my (2) engine stands like a rotisserie so I can rotate the whole chassis.

I don't want to top coat it yet because I will be putting it back under the car to do the rear package tray under the window and the heater channels.

I appreciate you checking in; I am really trying to hold myself accountable.
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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804

[beetlenut]

[dubjeep]

Back at it... again.

I did not properly weld in the floorplan originally as it was not hot enough. The welds popped free.

This was very discouraging and I walked away for a good long while.

I was watching an older woman on YouTube kick butt on her Beetle restoration and my motivation came roaring back. I pushed through and drilled out all the floorpan welds.

I bought some 18 gauge and 12 gauge sheet metal and practiced welding as I dialed in the settings. When I was satisfied, I welded in the floorpan, properly. That sure felt good!

I flipped over the pan on the saw horses, wire wheeled the underside of the whole assembly, wiped it down with acetone and sprayed it with self-etching primer. In retrospect this was a mistake as I am reading that the acid in it will react poorly with epoxy primer. Oh well, I will probably try to sandblast it myself in my driveway this summer and then spray it with epoxy primer.

I then welded on the jack point for the new pan. I tried using some weld-through primer but if anything I found that it repelled welds so I had to remove it where welding.

After that I welded in the battery post and mounts. Having gone through the painful learning experience of redoing the floorpan welds, I do think I have come out of it as a better welder so this wasn't bad to do.

I bought some 4x4s and hardware to build a new body cart. I want to get that built this coming week so I can start on the body. There are a couple of rust holes in the rear quarters, the heater channels need replacing and the horizontal portion of the luggage shelf is all but gone.
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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804

[dubjeep]

New body dolly/cart completed. It is tight in the garage but I got it done.

I will reach out to some friends to get the dolly flipped right-side up and put the body on it

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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804

[dubjeep]

More progress!

I have friends coming over next Saturday to help me lift Harvey onto the body cart. In preparation, I pulled the window glass and also the headliner.

I am relieved that there is no rust repair needed for any of the windows. I *wish* I could say the same about the luggage shelf.

I have a new VW of Mexico shelf and am leaning towards replacing the entire piece. I don't love that the firewall portion is a little different but it will get covered up anyway.

I also ordered an abrasive spot blaster and hood from the Eastwood company for some small cleanup. I will wear goggles and a respirator underneath the hood.
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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804

[Blue Baron]

I just read this thread from beginning to end, and it should be a cautionary tale. You started out saying you wanted to fix it up and drive it because you had never driven a Beetle. (The title of the thread is fixer-upper!)

I saw a car that needed some fenders, a hood, the apron straightened, some strategic metal replacement and some paint blending to become a safe driver, but instead saw it gradually being disassembled. I wanted to reach into the monitor and yell stop! (At the point I saw the dash pad removed, I knew the project was in peril.)

It's good to see progress now being made. I like Yukon yellow '70s. (Don't lose those '70-only bumper reflectors! That's my favorite '70ism!) It looks like this will be a serious build thread. I am a Harvey fan!

And to other new VW fans, be careful not to get too carried away unless you have planned and budgeted for a major project!
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We are striving for perfection, to make our cars run forever, if possible.

Heinz Nordhoff

[dubjeep]

[dubjeep]

The body is on the cart

The trash cans are normally outside of the garage but we are expecting a snow storm tonight into tomorrow.
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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804

[Buggeee]

[Buggeee]

[dubjeep]

I tend to believe you are correct. I have been reading and re-reading several builds and it seems to be common practice to use self-etch first.
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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804

[dubjeep]

I have been going back and forth between the idea of repairing or replacing my heater channels.

I started wire wheeling the passenger side channel and wheelwells to assess the rust.

The front wheelwell looks really good, only needing some small holes filled.

The rear showed some patching is needed behind the charcoal cannister.

Then came the horror.

This channel just doesn't seem worth saving to me. I also exposed some holes on the bottom of the rear quarter but the door and b-pillar seem OK.

Then I started on the driver side but the wire wheel wore out soon after. I will need to grab some more from Harbor Freight.

The drivers side channel seems to be rotted the opposite way than the passenger side is; it is OK down the side but rotted out in the front.

Both heater channels have bondo on them so I think it makes sense to buy some OG channels, remove the bottom plates, rust proof them, and weld the plates back on them.
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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804

[dubjeep]

I got a couple more hours in with Harvey this morning. I continued wire wheeling away the undercoating, paint and bondo to expose areas needing repair.

I continued in the front driver's wheelwell where I had last left off. I almost immediately found a bunch of bondo.

However, once I got down to metal in the surrounding area it didn't look quite as terrible.

There are some holes and a decent amount of ripples.

I cleared the front to check out the accident damage that caused the PO to park it in the first place.

I want to get a porta power to try and ease it back into shape. I also have a front clip and fenders I had shipped from California over a decade ago.

I then moved on to the driver's rear. It is not good but somehow I am less worried now that I can see the metal.

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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804

[dubjeep]

I finished wire wheeling the drivers side wheel wells.

It is somehow not as bad as I was expecting but also worse.

The front must have gotten smacked at some point resulting in these wrinkles around the fender arch. I may buy a rear arch patch and see if I can make it work in the front.

In the rear a lot of it can be fixed with a quarter panel patch and I want to try hand forming a patch for the hole above the bumper bracket.

I did see a hole behind the bumper bracket so I guess I will be taking that off to patch behind it.

My wife and I are driving to Connecticut tomorrow to celebrate my in laws' 50th wedding anniversary. Seems like a detour to Bug City in Berlin, CT is in order
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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804

[dubjeep]

Had a good trip to Bug City. Picked up a set of Dansk heater channels (at a good price) for later.

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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804

[dubjeep]

Last day off before going back to work tomorrow.

I wanted to start with a small patch to start building my skills. The hole in the drivers side rear seemed straight forward.

I marked the cut lines and cut it out.

Then I started the nose-to-butt transplant.

The metal was fairly easy to shape by hand. I slowly trimmed it with hand shears and a bit of dremeling. I thought I had it fitted pretty good but knew I would need to do some hammering as I stitched it in to match the angles. This led to the patch being undersized on the bottom.

I am posting the tacked in patch photo despite how embarrassing it is. My welds are terrible and I need to figure out how to dial in the settings. I did grind the welds down because I wanted to see the pin holes in the booger welds.

This is 22-gauge sheet metal. I am running .023 solid wire in a 110v Hobart Handler 125 mig welder with 75/25 gas.
With the voltage set at 1 and the wire speed set at 50 it didn't penetrate at all and balled up.

1. The wire was popping so perhaps if I turn the wire speed up to like 70 it will penetrate without burning through.

2. With the voltage set at 2 and the wire speed at 65 it did not pop but it did burn through. Reducing the wire speed is necessary to reduce the amperage/heat but it would pop interrupting the Arc.

I want to try voltage at 1 and wire speed at 70. I should also get a piece of copper for backing.

I keep hearing VW_Jimbo's words in my head today... It's only metal.

Still a good day working on Harvey. Thanks for reading.
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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804

[dubjeep]

I had a little more success today with the voltage set to 1 and the wire speed set to 60. More than that would burn through and less would pop.

Did a bit of stitch welding and ground it down. Still looks terrible but posting for the record.

I know it is still terrible but I am going to keep trying until I get it right.
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"Harvey"--My 1970--http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=495804