| Author |
Message |
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
 Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2018 2:00 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
 |
|
Taking a break from the metal work on the body, I decided to work on the OG front fenders. The First thing that I started on was removing what was left of the headlight buckets that the PO cut up to accommodate the 6" narrowed beam he had installed.
The front fenders are quite the project, dings, cracks, rot, and bad PO mods.
Keep posted
Thanks
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
flyboy161
Samba Member
Joined: December 26, 2009
Posts: 2091
Location: Perry, GA
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
| Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:18 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
flyboy161, thank you for the kind words and Im glad this thread can be of help.
keep posted
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
| Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 3:28 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
After getting what was left of the buckets removed, I began hammer and dollying and pinpointing areas that needed R&R. Also one of the bucket headlight weldnuts needed replacing.
Thanks for watching and keep posted.
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 5:11 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
I know of 2 dfferent makers of the headlight buckets Wolfsburg West and Klassic Fab. I decided to go with the WW buckets. The quality is really nice. Good crisp pressings.
They do need a slight mod to make 100% correct. OG buckets have 2 impressions. One at the top and bottom of the back of the bucket.
Keep posted, and Thanks for checking in.
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 2:21 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
At this point it was time to layout the factory spot welds on the buckets, apply weld through primer, and burn them in.
Its amazing how much a flimsy old fender will firm up once it is brought back within how it left the factory.
Thanks, and keep posted
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
flyboy161
Samba Member
Joined: December 26, 2009
Posts: 2091
Location: Perry, GA
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 1:09 pm Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
Flyboy161, for the most part I use 20 gauge sheet metal. I will say that the beetle varies in its panel thickness. I really prefer to use 1mm thick sheet metal as it allows more forgiveness when blending welds.
That being said metric sheet metal is hard to source.
Thanks for the question
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
| Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:36 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
Sometimes as a project progresses there are repairs that you find you could do better or a panel becomes available that is better suited for the repair.
One of the first sections I patched was the front luggage tray. The PO had cut two 6" holes for speakers. As a side note, It really bugs me when people cut unnecessary holes in panels. Anyways, I made some patches for these holes and had welded them in. That being said, I was really not happy with the repair. The front luggage tray is a temperamental area to weld.
PREVIOUS REPAIR:
I began to look for a complete front luggage tray locally as the project progressed with little luck. Many people hack this panel up for speakers, drill holes, gauges etc. I put a wanted ad up here on The Samba. Ron Burgundy replied with this clean donor.
NEW DONOR:
Once the panel arrived I was more than happy with its condition. Ron Burgundy was also good to work with.
I first began by stripping the paint and dissecting the surrounding metal spot welds. Ton of spot welds.
Keep posted more to come on this section.
Thanks
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
| Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:49 pm Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
A part of replacing the front luggage tray was also making and replacing the glove box strap.
OLD STRAP:
NEW STRAP:
PANEL CLEAN UP AND PREP:
Keep posted, more to come on this repair.
Thanks GOT RUST?
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
EMPIImp69
Samba Member
Joined: April 17, 2006
Posts: 3374
Location: Dirty Jersey
|
| Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 7:44 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
Nice work, Ron Burgundy is the man for nice original sheetmetal. I should have done what you are doing.
_________________
1963 Ragtop Bug |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
| Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:38 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
EMPIImp69, yea your front luggage panel could use some cleaning up, shame. For whatever reason people hack the hell out of this area on these VW's. What makes it even more unfortunate, is there is no good quality repop being made.
Im happy to being showing this repair as I have not seen anyone else really cover this area in threads or online, I might be wrong? As I said before this area is tough to weld successfully. A factory seam replacement is the way to go.
Thanks, keep posted
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 6:20 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
Before I could install the new panel I cut out the OG panel and removed all the spot welds without disrupting the underlying structure. I then removed any rust and prepared the metal that was to be spot welded with weld thru primer.
Thanks and keep posted.
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
67rustavenger 
Samba Member
Joined: February 24, 2015
Posts: 9756
Location: Oregon
|
| Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:23 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
Just amazing craftsmanship. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and bravery while tackling this project.
When you spot weld in the panel. Can you post a couple of pick using the spot welder? This to me, seems like it will be difficult to get the tips of the welder correctly oriented and it might be helpful for others to see how you overcome the odd positions when spot welding.
Also what is the gauge of the metal that you used for the glove box strap and wiring loom clamp by the speedo?
I need to make a couple of the wire clamps for the fan shroud on my current engine and your wiring loom clamp sparked an idea in my head. 
Keep up the great work!
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!
There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
| Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 6:02 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
67rustavenger, Thank you for the kind words and Im happy you appreciate me sharing my metal work.
I will try and have my wife take some photos of me spot welding in the panel. I have already almost completed the install. I will say, spot welders are extremely heavy and awkward. I have spent a small fortune on a variety of tongs, which helps. In the next post I will share some tooling I have been developing that helps tremendously. At the end of the day I'm not gonna lie it takes some strength to reach some of the spot weld locations.
MILLER SPOT WELDER AND SOME TONGS, 12"/18":
I would say 90% of the gauge sheet metal I use is 20 gauge and 1mm sheet metal. 1mm is hard to source here in the states but if I could choose between 20 gauge and 1mm, I would go with 1mm all day.
keep posted and thank you again.
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
| Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 6:16 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
At this last stage of installing the new front luggage panel I wanted to be able to factory spot weld almost all locations with the spot welder. I have been dreaming up some jig ideas to make my life easier.
I finally went ahead and built the jig. Which made spot welding in this panel and some of the awkward positions in able to do it much better. I was able to reach 95% of the locations with the spot welder.
INSTALL:
Im much happier with the results, with this factory seam replacement vs. the previous patches I had done. The jig makes life so much easier also.
If anyone is interested in a Jig PM me.
Thank you
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
EMPIImp69
Samba Member
Joined: April 17, 2006
Posts: 3374
Location: Dirty Jersey
|
| Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 7:15 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
That body jig you made is genius. Nice work
_________________
1963 Ragtop Bug |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Canadian VW
Samba Member
Joined: August 24, 2007
Posts: 220
Location: Ontario Canada
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
63Ragtop NZ
Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2007
Posts: 895
Location: West Auckland
|
| Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 3:48 pm Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
NICELY DONE!!
_________________
If you can't join them, beat them! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thekera
Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2011
Posts: 399
Location: WA
|
| Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2018 4:09 am Post subject: Re: Hood Fresh 1962 Euro Rag |
|
|
EMPIImp69, thank you. The jig is awesome for panel replacement/body work. It took some time to engineer and develop but I'm very happy with it.
_________________
1961 Type 1
1962 Euro ragtop
1963 Type 1
1966 Type 1
1979 Mk1 early westy 2dr
2013 Mk6 2dr
ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING VW METAL FAB.
NOS PANELS: WANTED
GOT RUST? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
