Back to life - my 66 build begins.....

[Rhysos]

Such an incredibly neat job on closing the drip rail - even viewing the photo 'full screen' you would never know that it has been opened up and closed again. I am eager to hear more about your technique here; is it just a case of gently coxing the metal back over with lots of little hammer taps? Did you get any cracking along the folded edge at all? Were you ever tempted to crimp it closed with some big pliers

So, so good!
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www.vwbeetlerestoration.blogspot.com

[wcfvw69]

Loving this thread and the amazing attention to detail.
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Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

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[dodgerodder]

[dodgerodder]

[Rhysos]

[dodgerodder]

[dodgerodder]

Well now that the cowl replacement is done, it’s finally time to move on .

My last really troubled area on the body is the front drivers side quarter. It was apparently left in bare metal for a long time before I got it, because the entire top section is deeply pitted!

Super weird, because the lower half that’s normally rusty is super solid.

Here’s what that is like on my car

The pics look better than it is.... even with a knotted wire wheel on a grinder, the dark rusty area won’t come to clean bare metal..

Yeah, I could media blast it, epoxy prime, and fill over the pits. But to be it just wouldn’t be the best way....it would come back to haunt me

So I’ll replace the quarter..... more to come!
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My 66’ build thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=699235

[TheDon]

my cowel needs a lot of attention. Can I bring you my car?

the attention to detail is top notch. I can't even weld two plates together and I've got a rust bucket of a project
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[dodgerodder]

[dodgerodder]

Well my biggest dilemma with the quarter panel was zero availability of any repops for the early quarters, nobody makes one

And if they did, fit would suck. Finding a good early donor is about impossible too... not to mention finding somebody willing to ship it.

And I didn’t wanna do a late model repop, with wrong bumper brackets, gas filler door, wrong style of fender mounting nuts, etc

But I’ve been watching the Samba for months looking. Well sure enough, the Samba comes thru again!!

Found a complete NOS front quarter, right year, right everything! Literally EXACTLY what I needed!!

The seller, John, (ratherb-buggin) was just awesome to deal with. He packed this thing amazingly! Foam on all the edges, well packed!

Can’t thank you enough John!

Here it is when I got it, GIANT box!

Once out of the box

And the panel is just PERFECT! Amazing condition, and everything is 100% the same as the original. Square recessed fender mounting nuts, everything

I feel SO lucky to have this, it’s exactly what I needed!! I’ve honestly never seen another one.

Here’s a couple pics

So I’m super excited to get started on it. Hopefully will get time this weekend!
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My 66’ build thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=699235

[dodgerodder]

I got a ton done on my car this weekend, super excited.

To start on the front quarter panel replacement, I got the car up on 4 jack stands so I could take a ton of measurements. I took measurements & pics of everything humanly possible, to make replacement easier.

After this, I got the front apron removed 1st.

Then built a brace to support the front section of the car, after the quarter panel is removed. Once the quarter is cut out, everything gets wonky. I don’t want an alignment nightmare from things moving out of place.

I just made a support to bolt in place where the gas take bolts on, from scrap steel. Worked great, got it bolted in place:

I could probably hang the car from this brace haha!

I’m not going to drill the spot welds, because I don’t want holes everywhere. So I’m going to grind each off with a cut off wheel.

It will take longer upfront, but the grinding of welds & finished job will be way cleaner for me.

So first I removed all the seam sealer from the inside under the dash

Then drilled some holes in the quarter to make air saw cuts between. Look in the corners

A little cutting & grinding, instant window

Now sliced under the hood, above all the flange spot welds to get rid of most of the quarter.

I cut like this around the entire under hood area, and in front of the seam in front of the door.

Now I could get most of the panel off. I ground the remaining sharp edges of the remaining quarter smooth, so I don’t slice myself up working on it.

Well I think I’m committed now, the car now sits like this

Probably no turning back now....haha.

As a side note, the brace worked perfectly, the front section (in front of the gas tank on the passenger side) doesn’t move at all with the quarter removed.

So next chance I get, I’ll start grinding away the 1,929 spotwelds to remove all of the flanges.

Then I’ll open the seam in front of the door, to remove that part of the original quarter.

Thanks again for looking!

Dan

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My 66’ build thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=699235

[dodgerodder]

Made lots of progress tonight after work. Started removing all the remaining spot welded pieces of the front quarter.

I used a cut off wheel on the die grinder, to grind each spot weld away

The key to this is grinding only the top panel (that is being removed) and not grinding at all into the flange on the car that will remain.

You just need to go slow, and watch what you’re doing

I started by marking each spot weld with a sharpie. I also make an X on each, so I know exactly where the center of each weld is. This helps a ton, since it's easy to lose the center once you start grinding.

Looks like this

Then use the edge of the cut off wheel, until each weld just separates.

Here’s the piece, almost ready to remove

And removed. You’ll see each spot weld still has a small nub, that just sticks up from the flange.

This is what you want, this way the flange has not been thinned or gouged at all.

Then I LIGHTLY hit each nub with an air belt sander, until the nub is just above the flange. Finish by hand sanding until it’s flush. Looks like this when done

So the front is done!




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My 66’ build thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=699235

[dodgerodder]

So now moved to the window left in the wheel house. Marked all spotwelds, except the firewall

Same process again. Here’s the rear area ready to remove

And removed, only small weld nubs left to remove

After light belt sanding, and finished by hand sanding, the flange looks pretty good. A little hammer & dolly work will get it fit nice to the new quarter

Sorry to be long winded, hope it may help somebody in the future.
So next time I’ll keep at the same thing, removing the rest.

Thank again, Dan


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My 66’ build thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=699235

[a.wilson]

Bookmarked!!

As others have mentioned.. outstanding photos and detail. The next time someone asks about front quarter replacement in the Paint/body forum -- they should be directed to this thread.


Like the work on the front windshield cowl! My '75 will need a little work in that area on the right-side.. and this will be motivation on how to approach it.
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Be kind to all critters. America's "H8TERZ" can drink sludgy used Motor Oil!


oemwolf

[dodgerodder]

[joey1320]

WOW
Absolutely stunning work.
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**1971 Super Project
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[dodgerodder]

[dodgerodder]

Well I’ve been able to get more done over the past 2 days. Worked on getting the rest of the front quarter spot welds removed.

Ground all welds at the top edge (under hood area), and got worked down the firewall.

The firewall is interesting, because it is literally spot welded every 1/4”

Worked towards the bottom, got to to the point where the last spot welds are at bottom, where the front quarter spot welds to the heater channel

More to come....





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My 66’ build thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=699235

[dodgerodder]

So I started grinding the last 99 spot welds haha

Same routine, grind thru center of each spot weld until it just separates.
Started at front, worked towards back

I bought a Steck right angle panel separator, was super handy for these bottom welds, well worth the $25

So I got the entire bottom removed, was far crustier than all the other areas, hmmmmm

Well, I’ll get all spot welds sanded down, wire wheel it and see what happens



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My 66’ build thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=699235

[dodgerodder]

Well, the flanges all cleaned up good! I’m not 100% done, but good enough for now

Wire wheeled the heater channel, where the lower quarter over laps. Was pretty pitted....

Couldn’t get it shiny with wire wheel, pits were deep. Some holes showed up, where the deep pits were.

So I started doing exploratory surgery with a sharp scratch awl, to see it I can poke thru.

Not shockingly, I could.......

Knowing where there is smoke, there is fire, it was time for more exploratory surgery.

Time to cut a window on the outside of the heater channel, to see what was on the inside...

Found a typical VW hot mess... once the crusty shit was vacuumed out, is was all this...

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My 66’ build thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=699235