1973 Std. Beetle heater channel bottom plate Repair

[BIGMIKEY]

I recently bought a 1973 Beetle and am addressing a few rusty areas. I have the body separated from the pan and in the process of replacing the Frame head bottom plate and the Drivers side heater channel bottom plate. The Frame head plate is nice thick (.079") metal but the Heater Channel bottom plate is a flimsy .032" thick.

Both panels are Klokkerholm

I cut a sample out of the factory Heater channel bottom plate and measured it at .047".

Is there no thicker HC Bottom plate offered by anyone? I searched and read a lot of great threads but have found no sure answer.

I see a dozen vendors sell the HC Bottom plate but none state Manufacturer or thickness of metal.

Anyone have a vendor name for me?

Thanks;

Mike T
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BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[BIGMIKEY]

At the risk of talking to myself here is what I did. There is a company, Auto Craft, sells a nice thick bottom plate for the heater channel. it's in the UK though. But wait! There is a place in the US called The Aircooled Treasury sells the Auto Craft bottom plate for Just $85.00 plus shipping but it's a special order. unknown wait time and shipping charge.

I figure I would be better off buying Dansk at $139.00 with free shipping and dissect the .050" bottom plate off that and use it. Money ahead.

I didn't do that.

What I did was just use the 20GA Klokkerholm and call it a day. The rest of the heater channel wasn't as nice as I hoped. Rusted away nut cage for the 10mmx 1.5 big bolts, rusted out running board surface I would have been money and time ahead to just do the heater channels.

Work continues.

Way rustier than it looked like from the outside.

There was rust at the front lower corner of the front bulkhead so I cut it out gaining access to the cavity that has the nut cage. I built a new one welded it in, bent the flap back and welded it up. Patched the rust hole good as new.

Mike T
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BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[theKbStockpiler]

Sorry you had to answer your own thread.

Two suggestions I did not feel were worth posting,

A-contact KlassicFab and see how much they would part with them for , and

B- make your own. They're perfectly flat with nuts welded to them.

Unless they state it in a ad I would not trust what the sales person says the gauge is."You want 18 gauge, sure,we have em! How will you be paying today?"
_________________
My beetle is not competing with your beetle. I have the yellow beetle in my town. There is a red one, a green one ......
Use all safety devices including a mask.

[Mike Fisher]

I'd suggest buying some www.MasterSeriesCT.com silver & black to brush on your pans & chassis to prevent future damage.
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69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
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two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[BIGMIKEY]

Thanks stockpiler and Mike Fisher. I appreciate the suggestions. I did consider making my own bottom plate from 18GA or even thicker but as I dug deeper into the car the more bad things I found. I bought this as a project car and intended for a quick assembly and be a summer driver. But with the rust I found it would not pass PA inspection and I would be embarrassed to take it in for that matter. The rust was hiding under ancient undercoating. Everything rusted from the inside out.

Good news is I am just about done patching rust. I think....

Next is the frame head bottom plate.

Maybe I will drive it for a while then decide to just do both heater channels and the front bulkhead. Maybe someone will want to buy it after I get it driving. After digging into this one a nice dry southwestern US car sounds pretty good.


Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[BIGMIKEY]

I have been working steadily on the Beetle Project. I decided to use the Klokkerholm Heater channel bottom even though it was thinner gage than I wanted. It's solid enough with all the rosette welds. I moved to the other side of the car and found more rust in the front of the heater channel. The captive nut cage and the whole bottom of the cavity/box was gone from rust. I fabbed a new cage and bottom for the box. I made a new channel bottom piece from 20gage steel and will close the repair up with that.
Work continues.

I am sort of embarrassed to show my crappy welds. I know they are poor. I have done better but I am suddenly fighting issues with either my machine or myself...

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[BIGMIKEY]

Working along. Both heater channels repaired. Front bulkhead rust cut out and repaired.

The frame head bottom plate was riddled with rust. When I removed it I found this typical rust.

Working to repair that too.

Next is the Frame head bottom plate replacement. It's a Klokkerholm and while thick enough it just doesn't quite fit right. I have hammers.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[beetlenut]

I feel your pain! I ended up making bottom plates for the front replacement channels for my Super, because I couldn't find thick enough bottom panels. I also had to replace the bottom metal on my framehead, and make those nut plates. Eventually you'll run out of car to replace! That's how you'll know you're done!

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scrapyards are for quitters
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[BIGMIKEY]

Thanks for weighing in beetlenut. I have read your threads. Nice neat work and work area.

I am running down to the last of my fix list. I got the Klokkerholm frame head bottom plate on successfully today. Only took minor bashing and I got it to fit pretty well. I am happy with the result. Final bits of welding tomorrow to replace the 10" section of tunnel bottom plate then it's painting the pan and onward to assembly and reuniting the body with the pan.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[beetlenut]

[BIGMIKEY]

After a lot clamping and some judicious hammering I got the frame head bottom plate to fit much better than I expected it to. A few hours later I had it welded in. Still need to add a few more rosette welds than flip it and do the top welds. I had it up on 4 jackstands with bubble levels at both ends to make sure I didn't induce any twist. I also fabricated a new tunnel section and welded that in. Pretty happy with the results of this project so far.


Mike T

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BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[BIGMIKEY]

I am posting some updates on my Project beetle build.

The chassis repairs are finished and it's ready to be rejoined with the body. I finished that work last fall but it got cccold here and I lost momentum.
I am back at it now.
The transaxle is installed with new mounts. CV joints cleaned and greased and installed. New clutch and throttle cable, Bowden tube. More.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[BIGMIKEY]

The last 2 days have been warmer, low 40sF, so I got back in the shop. Yesterday and today I put the body back on to the chassis. Major milestone, I'm not repairing anything now. Just reassembling. Good news is that the bolt holes in the heater channel bottom plate that I replaced match up with the pan. I have heard that sometimes they don't. I have a new pan lip gasket and the body mount pads are new as well. I forgot to order the front beam lower pads so I am waiting for those. Once those are in position I can get to installing the bolts.

One question. Is there some recommended order that I should install and tighten the bolts? Last time I put a VW body on a chassis was 1978. The memory is a bit foggy on that.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[BIGMIKEY]

Continuing this build I got back in the shop today. Temperature was mid 40's but a vast improvement over the single digits we have been suffering through the last few months.

Today I finished the final body installation to the chassis. One thing that I did was make some alignment dowels out of the old 10mm body bolts. This helped me get the chassis and body lined up. I am working by myself here and I'm trying to make the process as simple and accurate as I can.

Here is the front alignment pin. I took one of the old bolts, cut the head off and tapered the end a bit, cut a screw driver slot in it. Then I screwed it into the heater channel nut plate. This helps guide the body down on to the chassis but also makes it easier to screw the 10mm bolts into that nutplate. It's free to flop around in the cage that holds it and is sometimnes tough to get a thread started. But with the guide pin it stabilizes it and makes it easier to start the hold down bolt. Once one hold down bolt is in place and snugged down I can remove the guide pin(using the screwdiver slot if needed) and put in the 2nd bolt. Works good.

I took one of the old rear bolts, cut the head off of that and did the end the same way. Then I screwed it into the body mount hole in the rear shock mount. Then I put the steel sleeve in place with the pad and continued with the body install.

Once during the install I discovered that the doors were jammed. Wouldn't open and close without hitting. Something was hitting but I couldn't tell what.
I continued with the tightening sequence. (I found that with a SAMBA search.) after everything was torqued (14ft lbs) down the doors were back to normal and opened and shut fine. I guess the stresses put into the body during the tightening sequence caused some binding.

For information sake here is the tightening sequence that I used.

front heater channel 10mm bolts to 14 ft lbs
front beam 10mm bolts to 14 ft lbs
rear shock mount 10mm bolt to 14 ft lbs
inside 8mm bolts at back bulkhead of floopan 14ft lb
outer perimeter 8mm bolts to 14 ft lbs. started at rear and went side to side. working my way to the front.

There was a lot of getting up, getting down crawling around involved.
Last time I did this body off, body on it was 1978.
I am beat.

Now I can get to work doing the rest of the assembly.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[theKbStockpiler]

Where did you get the deep throat C clamps?
_________________
My beetle is not competing with your beetle. I have the yellow beetle in my town. There is a red one, a green one ......
Use all safety devices including a mask.

[BIGMIKEY]

[theKbStockpiler]

Thanks! I'll have to check them out next time I'm there.
_________________
My beetle is not competing with your beetle. I have the yellow beetle in my town. There is a red one, a green one ......
Use all safety devices including a mask.

[[email protected]]

Mike
Ca-Look had a thread n the pan tightening seqience:
http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27657.0.html

hope this gets you there
-Sean

[BIGMIKEY]

Thanks n20neenee, your link confirmed that I used the factory sequence. there are a bunch of good links on that site.

Once I drive it around a while I will retorque all of them.

Mike T
_________________
BIGMIKEY

Deserter Series 1 project.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=787047&highlight=

1973 Beetle Driver, Marina Blue.

[theKbStockpiler]

I got over to HF and picked up a pair. For holding panel seems together they're a great buy. There were a few malformed ones in the bin so you have to look at them carefully before heading to the register.
_________________
My beetle is not competing with your beetle. I have the yellow beetle in my town. There is a red one, a green one ......
Use all safety devices including a mask.