"Eloise" - 1978 Super Beetle Cabriolet Restoration Project

[lmar]

07 OCT 2024 - Pan seat pedestal/rail welding day.

Been working on my turbo Miata the last couple of weeks. Had to machine exhaust manifold due to pitting from loose metal turbo gasket.

Decided to Ceracoat the turbocharger and reworked exhaust manifold. Using the Miata parts to test paint that I want to use on the VW.

Just sprayed

Air drying

Out of curing oven.

Fitted up the seat pedestal and respective rails.

Welding up outboard side rails. Took advantage of top flange to add some more welds.

[lmar]

09 OCT 2024 - Pan is 95% Done

Seat pedestals/rails, battery tie down, and rear heater cable tools are done.

Welded up seat mounts

Battery & Heater Tube Guide Mockup

Rear Battery Mount hole lines up.

Front Battery Mount Welded in.

Primed and ready for seam sealer.

Admiring my handiwork. Nice to see this completed.

Close Up of Battery Area Completed. Only welded heater tube in one spot to allow me to tweak the geometry (if required) once heater flap fitted.

Productive day

[Root_Werks]

Really clean welds and work! - Dan
_________________
When I set my timing, why do I flush, then take a pee?

[lmar]

[lmar]

12 OCT 2024 - SEAM SEALING TOP HALF OF PAN

I hate this part of the builds.
No matter what you do it is a mess.
Looked into more modern 2 part 3M products - too expensive for product and mixing gun for a one-off. Especially, after I found an almost full can of brush application sealer.

The pictures that follow show the taping, application of sealer, and final sealer after tape is pulled.

I tend to take a razor and curve the corners so when you pull the tape, you don't get strings of sealer coming off.

Top Pan Taping Done

I run tape near tunnel tube outlets and then using a sharp blade, cut circular profile.

Seat Rails get the same treatment.

Brushing on the sealer around heater tube/tunnel interface.

Head area has multiple overlapping welds - so on it goes thick.

Seat rail sealer application.

Pulled tape on pan.

Passenger Footwell Detail

Driver Footwell Detail

Driver Seat Detail

Passenger Rear Pan Detail

Battery Mount and Heater Tube Detail

Good Day's work.

[lmar]

21/22 OCT 2024 - SEAM SEALING BOTTOM OF PAN

Had my son come over on Sunday and help me flip the pan and re-position it under the body.

Pain in the butt as there is minimal room to maneuver. However, after some persistence, and a whole lot of cussing. Pan was flipped over successfully.

Spend the next day masking and seam sealing the bottom of the pan.

Scuffing up bottom of pan and preparing to sand/prime where welds burnt through.

Tape pulled on set seam sealer.

There were a couple of tight areas that I either couldn't get in with a brush or the viscous nature of the sealer was pulled out of the brushed areas.

Bought this to take care of these areas. Was like reliving my childhood with its play-do like properties. Made short work of difficult to seal areas.

Also, found a local supply of tintable Raptor Liner by UPOL to paint the bottom of the pan.

[lmar]

06 NOV 2024 - PARKERIZING EXPERIMENT

So I had a diluted solution of Manganese Parkerizing solution I used on a firearm restoration project I did 15-20 years ago.

Figured I'd try it out on the sandblasted hardware to see if it was still any good.

Used an old hotplate to see if I could dissolve the sludge that had accumulated at the bottom of the juice jug.

Probably should have filtered the sludge out, but I am the eternal optimist.

Here is my test setup with cleaning fluid, etch, and Parkerizing solution.
Used a thermometer in the pot to ensure solution wasn't too hot. Never was able to have sludge recombine.

Left the cleaned and etched hardware in the solution for 10 minutes.

Parts turned out ok.

Wiped them down with grease to prevent corrosion.

Need more solution to dip door latches (need greater solution depth to cover parts) so I will order from Caswell Canada.

Will probably Cerakote Parkerized hardware instead of dipping them in a sealer. Worked very well when I painted Duracoat over entire firearm.

Cerakote is more work, but it should ensure better corrosion resistance over the long term.

[lmar]

04_05 JAN 2025 Pan Gets Raptor Lined

Was waiting for the paint booth to become available since I last seam sealed the pan.

Had to wait until the WW2 Radio Truck was completed before I could borrow the hanger paint booth.

Being prepped.

Finished - Note the PBY in the background undergoing propeller recertification.
On the left side of the picture is a turret for a Canadian version of the M4 Sherman Tank.

Due to inclement weather on Friday night, I elected to borrow my friend and his trailer to get the pan to the shop late Thursday night.

Coming up to temperature.

This would give the pan a day to warm up as it was stored outside under my carport.


My plan was to paint the top of the pan on Friday night, wait 24 hours, and then flip the pan over to do the other side.

I masked off the top half cables, shifter openings, and brake/heater openings.
At the rear, I masked off the trailing arms as they would be removed later for refurbishment. The rear tires were left on to have the pan act as a giant wheelbarrow.

The bed liner.
4 quarts cost me about $240.00 CDN

Used 2 full quartz on the top and 2 on the bottom with some extra.

Fancy adjustable Stutz Gun.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0B4Y4PV33?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title


Originally, I wanted to have a finer texture on the pan. I had read that you could use an HVLP spray gun to achieve this if cut-down with fast reducer (15-20%). I also discovered that the standard non-adjustable Stutz gun (pressure changes only) had a more expensive version with an adjustable nozzle (Material + Pressure) to adjust the "size" of the texture.

I did one coat with HVLP and the second with adjustable Stutz gun. If I was to do it again, I would just use the adjustable Stutz gun as it gave me the texture I wanted.

Here is a view of the masked and painted top half. I used an HVLP gun for the first coat and discovered the adjustable Stutz gun gave me the end results I wanted. HVLP would be a better bet for entire car body as it has a wider pattern to lay down product without tiger stripes. I suspect you would use less material. On that note, I used 2 quarts on the top and 2 on the bottom. I went thicker on the bottom for better protection.

Don't forget to paint the serial number first and then mask a window to ensure serial number doesn't get obliterated by textured finish.

Another view of the finished pan.

Close up of seat pedestal and coverage of seam sealer. If I was to do it again,
I'd pull the tape on the seam sealer sooner so it didn't pull up. I would also use less as my original plan was to just paint top/bottom. The Raptor liner acts as seam sealer so I would have gotten better finish.

Pretty happy with end results.

[lmar]

05 MAR 2025 - TRANSAXLE BACK FROM THE SHOP - PURDIED UP.

My transaxle was picked up from the shop after it got repaired.

Reverse gear that use to be in it.

Somebody wasn't treating the transaxle very nice.
Was told by the shop that this isn't that unusual.

Pictures of the etch primer on the Transaxle.

Final Black Paint

[lmar]

28 JUN 2025 - DISSASEMBLING PARTS CAR FOR CONVERTIBLE TOP FRAME.

Was finally able to get back to the beetle.

Parts car being disassembled.

I will be using the top half of this car and the bottom pan of the original project car.

First order of business was to inventory how bad the body rust was.

Areas marked with green tape indicate deep pitting of sheet metal that will have to be cut out. Most of it is around the windshield frame with some body areas.

Convertible top frame has some rust issues along front of the frame.

As well as a snapped weld that was causing the grunking noise when trying to fold the top down.

The wooden bow is beyond salvage due to rot and delamination.

Started to cut out front edge sheet metal so I can sandblast underneath the area prior to closing it up again with new sheet metal.

Going to have to replace both front corner pieces with new sheet metal prior to re-skinning.

Could be worse.

[lmar]

09 JUL 2025 - CONVERTIBLE REPAIR SCHEMA

Sandblasted front edge to determine true state of sheet metal.

Corners will need rebuilding as well as creating a new front edge along the entire length.

Sandblasted and primed the areas that will be inaccessible once the top skin has been welded back on.

Right front rust pitting was exposed and is worse than first thought. Replacement metal will just go further up than expected.

Right Side - Top

Right Side - Side

Left front is worse for wear and will require additional sheet metal fabrication.


Left Side - Side

Left Side - Top

Right front rust pitting was exposed and is worse than first thought. Replacement metal will just go further up than expected.

Left side needs to be cut back further to the rear to

[lmar]

13 JUL 2025 - DASH AND WIRING REMOVAL - WHAT A PAIN

Decided to pull dash as I needed to strip the body for sandblasting.

Pictures of back of dash prior to removing defrost.

Dash wiring was a mess - someone had the dash out to install a CD player at some time and gave up trying to get harness up and behind dash.

Starting to look a little thread bare.