The Life and Rebuild of Dad’s Iceland Green 1955 Beetle

[Dan22]

Finishing up the engine compartment area. I had a nice enough day to get the car outside for some sand blasting. Got the crud off the seal channel groove and treated it with metal prep.

Since the body part had the rust, I decided to use the weld through primer between the J channel fitup. I coated both sides and let it get nice and dry before spot welding. It went well.

Next focus will be on the front apron and spare tire well. I have new parts but need to add the spare tire brace. Someone shared a drawing of this part so I used it to make the new metal. The stretcher worked well to shape the curve.

Since it will be impossible to blast and paint under the support, I went ahead and etched, primed and rattle canned the hidden areas before spot welding it in.

The entire car will get blasted at some point so all the exposed surfaces will get epoxy primered.

Next was old panel removal mode. I will have some rust to repair on the side nose points in this area under the bumper mounts. I got the old parts out easy enough.

I cleaned up the old braze welds I used to mount these before. I was impressed how strong the brazed joints were. There was no way I could chisel through it without tearing up the steel. All the new panels will get spot welded or plug welded from here on out. It was good progress this weekend.
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1-0900722 die langsame grüne Schildkröte
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[kintail]

Have my front to do as well. Bumper holes for towel racks need to be filled in as the car going to European bumpers. However, has the raised portion in the spare tire well. Rear fenders are configured for European and figure the front holes are non-factory.....not sure what went on there.

Your metal work making it look easy after the rear apron calculations!!
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Scott

August 1954 Beetle Canadian Deluxe

[Dan22]

Thanks Kintail. I am getting a lot of practice!

I need to do the opposite to my new front apron. I need to bore the holes for my over rider bars. I have the positions worked out. I just need to get a good step drill bit to do the job. The hole is supposed to be 26mm so I will use a 1" and file or sand it to final size.
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[Dan22]

Sharing my repair situation on the front spare tire area. The lower edge flanges on the inner fender panel were in pretty bad shape. Thankfully I have some donor metal that is original and decent to use.

The donor parts and an approximate line where I will cut it off.

These will not be too difficult to graft on to my good metal.

Test fitting the apron. I have the over rider holes marked and ready to drill.

A side note for the VW speed demons in the audience. I had a wonderful chance to visit the Schley Brothers museum in Riverside CA last week. I had no idea what to expect. A friend of my sister conducted a VW related Podcast and we were in the audience for that too.

Anyway, these brothers were pioneers with all the heros in the sixties and seventies racing in CA. They were good pals with Gene Berg and the EMPI founder (can't remember his name). They had many race cars in the mix but I can highlight the prominent beetles Lightning Bugs 1 and 2.

An original part to the famous Inch Pincher. They did not own that car.

The museum had countless magazine covers and other racing memorabilia. Such a unique and wonderful opportunity and the hosts were fantastic telling us about each car and history.

Enjoy the side note!
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[Dan22]

Another bit of recent progress. I made the repairs to my original ski rack that needed a few crossbars replaced, and de-slagged to spiff up the look. I also deburred my original trailer hitch for better final finish. Took them to the local powder coater.

Before.

After. I went with a shiny silver as that seemed to be what the hitch was painted originally.

This is pretty much the only bling I plan on adding to the car when it is finished. Ah who knows. Maybe a bud vase?
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[Dan22]

Working on the nose job a bit. Got the right side lower metal repaired.

Prep of the donor pieces. Drilled holes welded up.

Trimmed out donor metal is ready. Making a cardboard template to transfer the cut line to the part I am removing.

Fitted and tacked and welded. The remaining holes will be used for plug welding to the new tire well flange.

Ground.

Inside view.

I cleaned up the front and back of where the wheel well welds onto the front structure. I was able to grind off the spot welds from behind. I need to treat the surface rust still.

My spot welder will not be able to reach this weld joint so I will probably have to plug weld here.

More later!
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[Dan22]

Some minor progress to share. Rust repair in a few places in the spare tire area.

I forgot to take a finished picture.

Fixing some rust at the bumper mount.

Every little bit helps. The weekend was just too busy with other chores.

The next step will be the drivers side lower wheel well up front. I figure I can side load the spare tire well panel when this bottom is cut out. We shall see... It does not just slip right in from the top or below without bending something.

Happy St Patties Day!
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[Dan22]

Continued progress on the nose job and now the chin lift (spare tire well)!

My strategy this time was to get the left side lower rust repair panel fitted but not welded in. Then I did the final prep on the tire well for fit, and primed the weld joint areas. The well panel did fit in easily from the side. There was some minor shaping required to get the well flanges mating properly to the sides. Basically had to squeeze the sides closer.

Then I tacked in the side repair.

And squeezed the rest into position. I could not perfectly align that cutout with the hole or the sides would not fit. The final result was better though. My original was slightly offset like this as well.

The spot welder could get to about half of the joint at the back side. The remainder got plug welded. The spot welder could reach the sides and bottom of this panel.

One of the alignment points are these holes on both sides. The apron width was also one of the fit control points, which was good.

Ground off the bumps.

A little more rust repair on the fender boltup area under the apron flanges, and then I can proceed with apron installation.
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[VW_Jimbo]

That came out SWEEEEETTT!!!!! You make it look easy!
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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!

[Dan22]

Thank you Jimbo! And happy birthday!
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[VW_Jimbo]

[Dan22]

I took a day off work to spend time in the shop. The weather is improving so weekends often get absorbed into social activities.

Final preps done before installing the front apron. Started with rust repair on the front part of the drivers nose panel. I used the same donor source part so still original VW!

Then I sandblasted both sides, etched, and used the copper weld through primer this time. I ran out of the zinc type.

Then the final prep on the apron. Drilled out the overrider bracket holes. I used the template found on this site. The step drill got me to 25.6mm and then I just sanded to the final size of 26mm. I am happy with the result.

Lastly, I spot welded the J-channel in place. Again, I chose to not use weld through primer here, but I will flood the seam with zinc primer afterwards.

Sanded the backside smooth. Some sparks come through and make it rough.

This is a nice quality panel.

Enjoy! Of course more to come.
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[VW_Jimbo]

Looking really well done! That always makes a day off so much more worth 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!

[Dan22]

Facelift progress: Getting the apron fitted and welded. Clamped it in place and brought the fenders down from the attic to test the fitup. The green fender is original to the car. I am sure it is happy to be mounted up again!

Installed the hood as well.

I have a gap on the left lower side that I will need to deal with.

Right side is better but still too wide. Not sure if it is the hood or the apron that needs adjustment yet. The new apron may be a bit pooched out since the hood fit the old apron fine.

She's fully welded.

Then I stripped off the old weatherstrip J channels from both sides. Of course lots of rust under there but no rust through. It will get sand blasted and new strips attached.

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[VW_Jimbo]

WOW! I have the same issue with the front hood on the left side. I have tried beating it, bending it, shrinking it, cutting and welding in new metal, cutting out the new metal and a little bit more, then tried just welding it again, followed by pulling and stretching with cargo straps. I have had no luck. The theory of relativity is present. If you bend it on this side, it pops on the exact opposite spot, but not the opposite you think it will be, but a different opposite!

Man, I sound crazy! Ok, maybe. I do like old VWs! But, if you find a way to make that gap minimize, even a mm or 2, I would love to see what you did and the exact procedure you took!

I wish you the best of luck!
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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!

[esde]

Great work and attention to the little details! Really, I don't think you could pay to have such nice work done..
For the hood fit... man what a tough thing to wrap your head around. I tangled with the hood on my zwitter for a while and managed to get it to the 80-90% line. But that last 10% was not for me, I left it for the body shop.
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[Dan22]

Thanks guys!

I had done some crack repair to the hood at the bottom in the past so some influence to the fit may be from that. I have a new hood nose piece from Virtanen to replace the entire tip. I never had the hood prop crack problem on this hood.

If it is the apron, I may use my frame rack to do some precise pushing to the panel to try and flatten it as a whole. Something is telling me this is going to be necessary. I will document the process of course.
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[kintail]

Looking at mine......wire wheeled a bit of the front hood sealing area. So far just surface rust and remnants of the old ultra maroon paint.

With the trunk rubber seals removed the gap is not too bad until you get to the bottom of the hood. Passenger side slightly better than drivers. Soaking in this discussion!

The underside of the my hood will need attention as some rust issues at hinge points and triangular plate.
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Scott

August 1954 Beetle Canadian Deluxe

[Dan22]

Just keep plugging a way Kintail. Keep us updated with progress photos. I think I am about 3/4 done with the metal work but it has taken several years at my work rate.

I did the final prep on the front hood seal channel replacements. Stripped the upper piece off which did not have as much rust and crud under it. It still needed to come off though.

Sand blasted until all the dark rust specs were gone.

Soaked it in phosphoric acid to kill any remaining rust. I let it sit for 20 minutes and tooth brushed it to keep it wetted. The tape was to keep the runoff from the apron seam.

Wiped, rinsed, and ospho'd. I can zinc prime it after a day or so.

Next I will sand the underneath surface so the spot welder can make contact. By the way, the J-channels from WW seem to have the right curled shape, and fit well to the WCM rubber that I bought. A nice snug fit in the groove, unlike the previous cheap stuff I had.
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[Dan22]

Tackled the front hood weather-strip channels last weekend. The weld through primer did not cause issues so I am thankful for that. I had coated both surfaces before spot welding and let it dry for a couple of days. I did learn that the tips on the spot welder must be perfectly clean and shaped for good contact, or you get sparks and hot spots that blow out. Of course the steel needs to be perfectly clean too.

This was the paint/rust stripping setup I used. It could get under the edges and lips around the perimeter. Had challenge at the wiper motor bracket but I used the finger sander here to clean the surface.

I started installation with the back side. It needed to have some bends formed to align well with the curve. Plenty of clamps to verify and hold the position.

The sides went real easy. I started welding at the upper most end, matching where the original were placed. Worked down to the apron. The gap is <3mm between channels on the apron.

I was happy with this progress. Enjoy!
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