My 61 panel (and a 66 panel digout)

[karl h]

before turning to the rear end i will have to fix some rusted through parts of the deck. water seems to have been puddling on the drivers side for a long time, so i had to cut out a section

i will be using metal from the donor corner again

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

welded in, seen from the engine bay

the passenger side main framerailend had some holes from sandblasting:

repaired with a donor pice i drilled a hole in

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

i now turned to the rear at last, and mounted the rear hatch first:

this one comes from the donor 58 and has actually very nice patina and no rust holes

there is a white pinstripe running under the crease that looks factory, ist that possible?

i am a little reluctant to have it blasted and remove the nice patina, more so because it actually isnt the right one for my early 61, mine should have the halfmoon shaped recess. if somebody (practicably in europe) wants to trade for another one in similar condition, we can maybe make a deal
_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

i next tried to mount the brazilian crossmember under the hatch.

turnes out the recesses for the engine lid hinges are not deep enough. this results in a too wide gap with the engine lid no cutting corners here (again), learned the hard way (again too)
an email to autocraft for a proper panel was next.....
_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

recieved the new autocraft part and i will come to that later
before i took a hard look at the original-to-the-car apron i also had. the sealing wax red one is maybe too nice OG paint to just respray it.
the dove blue part was tweaked a little by trying to raise the back end of the bus in its middle (not by me)

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

after cutting off the severly mangled lower sheetmetal and making a relief-cut in the back i was able to bend it back to shape. its rusty, but no holes

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

seems i will be able to use it if i reconstruct the lower sheetmetal

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

back to the crossmeber:
the autocraft parts is beautiful, with crisp molding, proper recesses, but its too deep . since the side flanges are original to the bus i cant have done anything wrong

sorry for the blurred pic
_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

i nearly sent it back, but finally decided to recess the side flage and weld it in

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

back to the apron. after cutting off the damaged lower parts (see above) i started on fabricating a repair piece. there is one availible, but only up to the bend - i need it further up.
first i traced the straight apron on paper and two wooden boards, then on sheetmetal

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

cut out the wood and sandwiched the sheet between it, leaving more material then necessary to bend

with a hammer i formed the lip

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

the lip trimmed with a sheetmetal shear it looks like this

cut to size and bent at the middle

with a flange at gthe top end

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

welded to the apron

and test fit in the bus

thanx for watching
_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

working on the gaps

i used the vw jack and a pipe to spread the engine acess opening and the pillars apart. the tray left and right of the engine were repaired first to give some kind of stability

its very hard to correctly fit these parts, air in every direction only with the lid as a reference point
_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

first try on the corner

no acceptable gap, it widens at the bottom

better now, but i think i will have to first close the hole for the later taillight because the upper part flexes too much to get an even contour at the rear

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

old hole closed, it is a tight fit

and welded in. i took it off a bazillion times to make it fit. i now know why replacing the whole corner is the way to go

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

moving to the drivers side corner i had to section the repairpanel next to the engine lid, i just coulnd stretch it the missing 5mm, no matter what i did

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

with the lid closed, less than stellar gaps are showing, i still have to work on them

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[karl h]

i really had a hard time mating the autocraft corner to the WW sidepanel. the WW peice is dead flat at the seam, the autocraft corner is not

_________________
61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[StefDS]

Very nice work.. please continue posting updates, i'm learning a thing or 2