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virtanen
Samba Member
Joined: January 08, 2006
Posts: 1478
Location: Finland
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 Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 3:40 am Post subject: How to renew rear body brackets |
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Here's one example story how to renew split rear body brackets
Typical condition of the rear brackets
Mark backing plate placement
Measure the height to chassis
Open the spot welds, there is also an extra weld on the rear edge
Saw bracket off
Open spot welds to rear luggage tray
Remove old bracket
Open spot welds on backing plate
Backing plate remains removed
Place new backing plate according the marking made earlier
Drill positioning hole on corner when good metal there left. Here 2 mm drill.
Positioning hole.
Saw to good material
Rust
New repair panel with holes to luggage tray
Fitting the panel, some welds applied on sides. Before welding lift the body rear up, sorry no picture here.
Fit in the panel
Weld
Plug welds to luggage tray
Backing plate with plug weld holes
Spot weld paint on area where spots are coming
Place backing plate according the positiong hole made earlier. Here seen spot welds and plug welds
Spot welds on lower edge
Grinding
New bracket drilled for plug welds. This can also spot weld but this is critical welding and plug weld by MIG is more secure
Welded
Grind
On luggage area
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Mika
Split beetle restoration panels
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johnshenry
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Joined: September 21, 2001
Posts: 9401
Location: Northwood, NH USA
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| Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 8:00 am Post subject: |
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Wow, very nice write up and pics! My only question/comment might be that prior to welding on the bracket, would it be a good idea to:
1) Bolt it down to the chassis with the rubber pad in place
2) Check the clearance (3.7mm?), this would be the compressed pad thickness
3) Clamp the bracket firmly to the backing plate
4) Plug weld.
??? This would (further) insure that the position/angle of the bracket is correct. This may not be an option if someone is doing a full body-off resto.
Thanks again, posts like this make this forum far more valuable.
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John Henry
'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab |
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bwaz
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Joined: August 24, 2004
Posts: 1806
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| Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:24 am Post subject: |
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| johnshenry wrote: |
1) Bolt it down to the chassis with the rubber pad in place
2) Check the clearance (3.7mm?), this would be the compressed pad thickness |
For that rubber spacer, (body pad?) I somehow remember from my previous zwitter that it was thicker than the later style ones... the one on my car now looks thinner than what I thought it should be. The ones I see offered by WW for the, "lower, body to front axle front beam" look more the thickness I'd expect. Are the older ones thicker or the same later model ones?
thanks
Brian Waz |
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splitjunkie
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Joined: April 04, 2006
Posts: 4162
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 7:07 am Post subject: |
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| johnshenry wrote: |
Wow, very nice write up and pics! My only question/comment might be that prior to welding on the bracket, would it be a good idea to:
1) Bolt it down to the chassis with the rubber pad in place
2) Check the clearance (3.7mm?), this would be the compressed pad thickness
3) Clamp the bracket firmly to the backing plate
4) Plug weld.
??? This would (further) insure that the position/angle of the bracket is correct. This may not be an option if someone is doing a full body-off resto.
Thanks again, posts like this make this forum far more valuable. |
I always enjoy seeing your work Mika.
He measured the spacing before and it was 3.7mm so I would assume he made sure the new one was at that measurement.
The problem with bolting it on at it's final position is that there has to be a certain amount of crush of the rubber mount so the final position is less than 3.7mm. This will put the body under a slight amount of tension at that point. If you bolt it to it's final position before welding, the body will not have this tension so the mount will actually not be in the correct position.
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Chris
You know, a lot of these scratches will buff right out... Jerry Seinfeld |
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virtanen
Samba Member
Joined: January 08, 2006
Posts: 1478
Location: Finland
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 7:29 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for your comments, here you can see the original rubbers of this October 1951 made split. The bracket rubber thickness seems to be 8 mm (the inner end was not between chassis and body), and crushed down to 4 mm.
The other pad rubber under back seat is maybe also 8 mm?
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Mika
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johnshenry
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Joined: September 21, 2001
Posts: 9401
Location: Northwood, NH USA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 7:48 am Post subject: |
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| splitjunkie wrote: |
The problem with bolting it on at it's final position is that there has to be a certain amount of crush of the rubber mount so the final position is less than 3.7mm. This will put the body under a slight amount of tension at that point. If you bolt it to it's final position before welding, the body will not have this tension so the mount will actually not be in the correct position. |
I see your point. Along the same vein though however, the "no rubber pad" measurement is probably not realistic as it will depend on the situation of the rest of the body, are the other points on pads or not, etc. The fact that Mika marked/scribed the location of the old backing plate is probably sufficient, but I would still apply a bolt to the chassis before final welding and perhaps just re-inert the original crushed pad if I were doing this with the body on the chassis.
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John Henry
'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab |
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Dennis74
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Joined: May 03, 2009
Posts: 17
Location: Südküste Luftwaffe, Finland
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| Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:06 pm Post subject: |
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Nice work Mika 
Dennis
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