floor pan/interior resto

[lucille66]

So, I have decided to remove all the crappy paint and bs that is covering the OG White on the inside and outside of my bug. I wanna rock the OG paint. But first, I need to pull my carpet, seats, and the rest of my interior and start from the ground up. So I chose to take a look at my pans (never done this before). At first, it scared the shit out of me. Then, I used some cleaner and a scraper and realized its pretty much just surface rust. But boy, did it look bad as you will see in the first pic. My plan is to wire wheel the pans, and coat them up nice. Here is where I am at now.

The initial unveiling.

After a little bit of scraping.

I also decided to start working on my seats.

This is as far as I got today....I will post more pictures as I progress, and hopefully will have much better pans after doing this. Also, next I will start on bringing out the og paint as well.

[Aynthm]

I feel your pain. I started my 66 with the wheels, really starting from the ground up. Cleaning the interior is a slow process. Wait til you take the old tar boards out of the door and qtr. panels.

[djkeev]

Well, IF your Orange County location is indeed Southern California (and not one of the multiple OTHER Orange Counties in the USA, such as Florida and New York among others) Then it is very interesting to see that you people who dwell in the land of sun also have serious floor pan rust caused by the "tar" boards installed by VW.

This link may be of interest to you going 0n in the Ghia Forums.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=437629

A suggestion, get all of the tar off of the floor pan before you wire brush. IT will gum up the wire wheel and also be smeared and distributed else where on the pan and you'll end up cleaning that area as well.

Use a heat gun or torch and heat it up until it goes glossy, scrape as much as possible off with a putty knife. Heat it again and wipe it away with a rag soaked in solvent, I used lacquer thinner, it works really well.... but ..... and this is a really really big BUT.....DO NOT ALLOW THE RAG TO CONTACT THE TORCH FLAME!!!!!

Believe, I KNOW why !!!!

FYI Here is a photo of my floor pan on my 70 Ghia Convertible..... Count your blessings you don't live in a extreme ROT State!

Dave
_________________
Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[lucille66]

Aynthm - thanks for the heads up. I know its gonna be brutal. I've already replaced everything down low, new beam, spindles, wheel bearings, disc brakes, tie rods, ball joints, steering damper, I still need to install my new steering box, and new urethane steering coupler. All brakes lines have also been replaced.

[lucille66]

Dave - that's the first step I am tackling as you can see in the pics. Thanks for the tip. I will make sure to remove it completely before taking the wire wheel to it. I'm also gonna go check out the link to that thread you posted. Ya, its amazing there is rust considering I'm in California. Although, who knows where this car has been. Maybe east coast?

[runamoc]

lucille66, I use bar clamps to compress the seat springs when putting on the cover. Plywood and two clamps. Makes the work easy.

_________________
Daily driver: '69 Baja owned 44 yrs - Plan B: '81 Rabbit Diesel LS Deluxe - Plan C: '72 Ghia
Yard Art: 2 Sandrails
Outback: '69 Ghia - '68,'69,'70,'72 Beetle - '84 Scirocco, GTI - Pair of '02 Golfs-
VW Wiring = It's just wires

[Aynthm]

Runamoc, great tip for compressing the springs, I will do that!

[lucille66]

Got some wire wheel time and some sanding time in this weekend.

OG white.

Sanding the green off and getting the body smooth.

[Nubby]

Looking good!

[lucille66]

Thanks. It's gettin there. Need another few sessions on the pan. I'm gonna paint the entire car antique white inside and out. But the right way this time. My seats are coming out better too.

[ladybug89]

looking good!

cant wait to see it done!
_________________
1958 bug - 1958 baja - 1962 vert - 2000 Golf

[lucille66]

Also, I am going to be welding on the front clip...and a rear clip if I can find cheap clean one. Picked up a super clean front clip at pomona....$40.

[61SNRF]

IMHO these work 100X better than a wire wheel.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q...CoQ8wIwAw#
They also have ones with 1/4" shank you use with a regular 3/8" drill, link is just to illustrate the disc itself. You can find them at Lowes/Home Depot etc too.

[lucille66]

Thanks for tip. I saw those!! I was wondering if they would work better or not....

[joemac]

Replace that center brake line.
Do it NOW!

[lucille66]

Noted.

[lucille66]

My workspace. And my 85lb pitbull. His name is Batman.

The "new" clip for the front. I will be cleaning it up, sanding it down, and welding it.

[Aynthm]

[mdnick]

i would have killed to have had floor pans that nice! good work man, batman's gorgeous.
_________________
-nick-
purists seem to think everyone should conform to their standards. i seem to remember a certain historical figure that believed the same thing. yet we called him a lunatic? weird.

[61SNRF]