Neil's 52 Zwitter

[ddutch]

[VW_Jimbo]

YES! IT WILL!

I say go for it!
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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!

[nshaddox]

Little update. Not really much to report on the Zwitter, but I’m getting close to wrapping up the replacement engine for the Crown Vic wagon and got the garages rearranged to enable more work over the cold season. Going to be rebuilding a transmission for the wagon before I get back into the bug, but I expect that to go a little faster than the engine. Takes twice as long to do all the little detail work on the heads and intake of a V8 as it does on a VW. Go figure.

Will it fit though? Ha.

To answer questions in last post, I did have a prior owner of the car send some pictures of the birth certificate. Paint is so far away I’m just not going to think about that yet. There is a lot of body work left to do. I do have an attack plan for finishing up my doors though, which has been a major hurdle keeping me from finishing up the lower rust repair/squaring the body. Got the idea from seeing how they do frame rivets on E-series trucks at work. Just have to build a purpose built tool. I’m worried that there wouldn’t be much of a body left if I dipped the body. Met a guy that I think I can talk to about blasting media options but saving that conversation for a future date too. Anyways, hoping to get back into this before spring next year.

[ddutch]

I follow this thread since you started working on this car. Did you ever managed to identify your car and get a birth certificate?
I remember that you wondered somewhere in the thread about what to do with paint. I like original factory paint and patina but your car and all of it's parts is a kind of patchwork of surface-rust, residues of different colours paint and dirt. Your idea and plan of acid dipping and an E-coat seems very appropriate for a project like this. After all the energy, your great talent and time you've put into this early and rare model over the years, I guess it deserves a very good (rust) protection and a quality paintjob in it's orginal colour (medium?) blue when all work is done, like this one;

It will look awesome, especially with the center of the wheels in white and body coloured hubcaps. Keep going with the impressive work you are doing, I like it.

[VW_Jimbo]

Nice update Neil! I was wondering when you might return to the Bug. I totally get the demands of juggling an involved hobby with a family life. You do not want to sacrifice anything but want to get something done on everything!

Good luck man!
_________________
Jimbo

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

[nshaddox]

Still prioritizing daily driver engine build and associated side projects like designing some gauge clusters. I did run compressed air lines in the garage over winter break which has helped with some port matching work on that project and will be nice for all kinds of other applications going forward.

Took a break from CrownVicwagon work this week and did a little more fender work. Some of this stuff was done months ago. Tricky to maintain a build thread when I might only spend an hour a week on the project these days. So many things going on all the time.

Started tacking lower corner together to see if it could be saved or to help with general shape for repair piece. Quickly determined fabricating a patch was the better way to go.

Patch fabricated with vise, hammers, chisels, and shrinker. If I had to do it again I’d only half form the inner rib because my alignment was off quite a bit.

Welded in with TIG.

Some cleanup work with file, shrinking disc. More to do obviously but definitely getting somewhere with it.

[nshaddox]

Back to back to back family/work/family trips kept me out of the garage for nearly a month. Sort of a lie cuz I was definitely out there still, but I've been jumping between metal work on the rear fenders for the 52 and modifying a '96 Ford Explorer intake for my '89 crown vic engine build. Its best to have as many projects going at one time as possible.

Anyways, enough progress has been made to photo dump the progress here. Only about a million more hours of welding left on this project.

Whispered some sweet nothings to the fenders and got them naked on a nice weather day a few weeks back. Uncovered a lot of old school body work on the driver's fender. Also discovered some on passenger fender, which made me feel better about stripping the paint since I thought it might have been OG, but was not.

Started filling all the bonus holes on the passenger fender. 9 in the general vacinity of the taillight. started working on some of the bigger dents too.

Then started addressing some tears. Got all crafty with a turnbuckle and some clamps to help hold the shape correctly prior to welding. Maybe that will help someone else doing the same work?

started on some mounting flange repairs too. Lots more effort required here, but I plan to keep plugging away at it over the next few weeks.

Its nice having a heated garage.

[VW_Jimbo]

Nice update! I was starting to think that you were not returning till after the kid grew up (like me)!

That patch worked out nicely! When I welded in the lower section on my rear fender, I may have left the trigger on a few seconds too long. It took some of the radius out of the fender, in both directions. Took a lot of thumping to get it to return to a fender again!

Looking forward to the next installment!
_________________
Jimbo

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

[nshaddox]

Got a little work done on the driver side rear fender. Apologies for lack of activity here. Finally got garage workable and then took on a side project for my friends Datsun 620 that took about 60hrs of my time.

From top to bottom, a beat up 60 fender, the 56-59ish fender I’ll be using, and a donor early 60s crusty fender for patch material.

Patch in after more thinking than working.

Thought I might have to put cut the fender to wheel opening to get it to line up. Was off by ~4mm but looking at some of the paint stress lines on the original fender I decided the radius had been rolled out of position and was able to stretch it back into alignment. I’m 95% happy with it as is. Can always revisit later.

Still needs a little more finishing work here to match the 52-55 passenger side trim line. Will address lack of ribbed pressing and rust under first bolt hole at same time.

[VW_Jimbo]

Cool! Looks like more work.

Nice to see an update.
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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!

[nshaddox]

Slowly clearing work benches as garage gets more organized.

In more exciting news, my rear fenders finally made it to the workshop. Spent a little time today doing some preliminary panel beating. Overall pretty pleased with the purchase. Definitely lots more work ahead.

Drivers side fender needs forward 6” patched since someone trimmed that in the past. Also needs converted to early style tail light. Passenger side has more dents, tears, holes, and rust but has factory heart tail light mounts so that’ll be incredibly helpful.

[Two Glove Boxes]

Nice work keep it up!!
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1950 Deluxe Sedan Build

1951 Split Standard Hoffman Build

1960 Dove Blue Double Cab Patina Build

Two Glove Boxes IG

[TRS63]

I am sure this patch will help you a lot, great to have it!

Antoine
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Antoine
My 62 ragtop daily driver:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728873
My 914 restoration&lightweight project :
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9698432#9698432
Resurrecting a 60 ghia : https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=713906
My 52 Standard Zwitter :
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10086685#10086685

[nshaddox]

Slowly slowly getting more tools and parts brought over to the new place from my personal junkyard of vw stuff over at the rental property. Slow because new shop organization is still a work in progress. I think I have one more load I want to do before digging into truck engine.

Got my parts washer moved over, cleaned out, refilled with solvent so that’s a bit of progress that will hopefully enable the v8 and i6 ford rebuilds to go relatively quickly. That should also free up more shelf space to continue the shop organizing.

Moved donor roof from a 60 the city forced me to cut up a decade or so ago also. Figured it would be easier to store in two pieces so spent last couple days getting it apart.

Flange unfolding tool I made back in college. Very handy.

45min later both sides done.

Lots of spot weld drilling and negotiation later:

Hat:

Yea, I’m aware that front and rear window shapes are different, but my roof rot is in the gutters and I think this clip will save a lot of time for what I need to do.

[VW_Jimbo]

Nice update! Glad the family and you are creating happiness, in a home worthy of watching your little humans grow! Best wishes your direction! Don’t let the Bug get in the way of your family life. It took me a few Bugs to figure that one out. You can always return to the hobby. It will still be there. Just do not sell everything off!
_________________
Jimbo

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

[nshaddox]

Finished house projects and then wife found home listing that we ended up getting somehow. Double the mortgage, but also double the covered parking spaces. Back garage has heat so long term double the time to work too. Short term obviously no time at all between moving house, moving shop, moving cars, moving kids around. Double the kids…had 2nd daughter couple months ago too.

Haven’t quite got the new shop set up to my liking yet but it is getting there.

Sort of started on an engine building project for my 89 crown Vic wagon right before the move. Between that and possibly having to pull the 77 F100 truck motor again, might end up being another summer of fords. Tried swapping a new lifter in the truck because it sounds like I have some tick from #3 exhaust, but new lifter didn’t fix the issue. I’m lucky enough that it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the cam I just put in last summer was going bad. Will see I guess. The move is done so it at least served it’s purpose for the year.

[VW_Jimbo]

Wondering if the house projects are done? You need Bug time too!
_________________
Jimbo

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

[Clatter]

What a great thread!

Just got to read the whole thing.

Nice work.

Wish i could do something similar with mine.
Mine has 100s of pounds of bondo under a nice cut/buffed paint job.
The result of getting China fenders, frunk etc. perfectly flat/ round/gapped, etc.
(And a PO )
It looks great,
But needs a bunch of the same work yours got here.

Good metalwork is one of the top performance items.
Weighs so much less without filler!
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Bus Motor Build

I have excellent news for the world...
There is no such thing as patina.
It does not exist!

[nshaddox]

I think the left side has issues. its kinda hard to get pictures to show whats going on with it, too many curves, crap lighting in my garage, limited daylight hours here in Michigan, and too much junk in the background creating illusions, lol. issue more obvious from the side but i didn't take pictures yet. could be multiple things going on of course.

[VW_Jimbo]

It will be good to see all 3 pieces attached to the shell!

Nice job on the lid. Is it the right hand side that is wonky. If so, may be a pie cut?
_________________
Jimbo

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