'73 Super Salvage Project

[boundstaffpress]

Interesting that your seats have carpet under the pads. I recovered my 1973 seats last weekend and found the same. I also found part number slips for the horse hair pads. I assumed the carpet was added later because at some point someone had added low density foam to each front seat base.
Keep the updates coming.
_________________
Justin

Building a 73 Super Beetle with my kids.

[vamram]

[vamram]

Aside from plowing thru some fender well patches, I've been slowly working the interior. Passenger front seat is complete, picture later, and last night I took apart the rear seat bottom. Although you can see a piece of the backrest laying head down in the background of one of the pics.

For the record....Original cover and horse hair pad were under a later cover w/that nasty green carpeting as a pad glued between the two.

I'm pretty sure this was original factory. I've never seen this cloth section on a cover before.

And the edge of the cover has what I think is 14-16 gauge solid steel wire to tighten it down under the frame. I actually saved this wire and will try to reuse it on the new cover.

Anybody interested in an *original* semi-crumbling horse hair pad?? Free for local pick-up only!

_________________
Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[vamram]

Here's the driver-side front seat. Is this padding original? I think the horeshair under it was as it had mostly turned to dust and crumbles when I touch it. I had to vacuum it out basically before trying to remove this.

_________________
Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[vamram]

Got motivated today w/a break in the weather and decided to try and close the two remaining holes in the passenger-side fender well. Not pretty, but worked. I used slightly over-sized pieces and two self-tapping screws to hold them in place for the first couple of welds. Still need to clean them up but it will do for this section.

_________________
Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[AlmostHeavenWV_VW]

Go Vam! Go!

Progress is progress, my friend!
_________________
1973 Standard Beetle
1600DP AK case
Solex 34PICT3 Carb
Bosch DVDA 205AJ Distributor

[mikewilkinson007]

I like the green. Nice project.
_________________
72 Super - Marina Blue
1641 AH Dual Port
Dual Weber ICT 34's
Bosch 034

Long Gone: 70 Vert, 66, 68, 73SB, 70, 72, 61 Rag and a 64 with a cinder block in the spare tire well.

[vamram]

At last some visible progress. I've gone from this:

[Buggeee]

You have crested the hill. And gained mad skills in the process!
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[Tim Donahoe]

Victor, it looks great. Don’t make the same mistake I made with the bondo, however.

Years ago, I had a number of small dents in my second Karmann Ghia. Back then, there were no YouTube videos to show you how to do this work. You just had to follow the directions on the can. My results showed a definite line around each door-ding repair.

You, however, have access to many how-to’s. It should be far easier for you to get professional results.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[vamram]

Yeah, I'll be looking at you-tube for sure. Eastwood has some videos as well I think.

Here's another piece of rust I'd forgotten about - the bottom edge of the passenger-side door. How far back should I cut out and replace? This seems easy compared to the death foam and moon vents...but I'm not about to predict that!

_________________
Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[vamram]

I went ahead and attempted a repair. Came out ok, will need bondo to smooth it out.

The guy I paid to install the death foam repair panels a few months back warped the joint on the passenger side and then tried to build it up. That's what the globs are here. Should I cut out say an inch on either side and try to replace the warped area? Or just build it up w/more molten globs then smooth w/bondo?

_________________
Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[Buggeee]

[VW_Jimbo]

How out of shape is the current patch. Can you lay a flat edge horizontially across it to see if it proud or sunken? You would only need to grind if it was proud.
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[VW_Jimbo]

Door patch is tits! Great work!
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[vamram]

Haha, "Tits!" Thanks for the kind words on the door repair, I really did pull it out of my ass. I had to look up what "proud" meant in this context. If I'm understanding it, the patch is concave where the welds are piled up. He was trying to build it, but I had him stop because it was a waste of time, I thought.

I actually still have donor metal from the area which may have the curve I need. I'll check the piece tomorrow and hit the spot w/the flap disk too.

I misplaced the replacement captive bolts I'd bought from aircooled. Too many parts in too many places. So I ordered these from CIP1. Looks to me as if they might be easier to weld into place w/minimal cutting.
https://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C21-0898-10
_________________
Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[vamram]

Not a great picture but you can see the dip in the middle. The molding didn't sit flush when I took the picture, but there's a dip in the middle where the molding piece bridges the gap. I have the opposite side piece for this section from the donor panel and am half tempted to have a go at it...talk me out of it please!

_________________
Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[67rustavenger]

[VW_Jimbo]

Agree with Rusty! You can do a better job!

Just cut out the weld plus an inch on each side of it. Then tack in a new piece of metal. About three inches between tacks. Cooling between each one, forming the panel as you proceed. Take your time and keep the panel cool! You can shape it as you tack it in. When all tacked in and you are happy with the alignment. Go back and stitch weld it in to position. Again, keeping that panel cool. No heat! When complete, check it, then get a hammer and dolly out and work some magic.

You may be able to hammer and dolly the current panel if you wanted to try it. It is essentially “stretching” the metal by beating it a tiny amount thinner. The excess metal pushes the dent out, in this case, towards the exterior. If you do this, grind those globs down smooth, first.

However, regardless of method used to get it more in line, you will need to skim a layer of Bondo across it to make it perfect.

Good luck, you got this! I have faith in you! Did you see that door corner? This is super easy when compared to that!
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[vamram]

Ah Jimbo, had I seen your post before I began, I may have had better results. I went forward with it but I think I kept my cut area too small. So it's better now, but I now have two shallow dips in the panel now as opposed to one deep one...I *guess* that's better...less bondo...! I'm pretty much out of donor metal at this point that I can use to cover an area this size. Sooo....may have to try my hand at hammer and dolly...or live w/it and bondo/filler.

The Cut.

The Patch.

The Tack.

The Finish.

The welds were pretty good w/this one, very little burn-thru and not nearly as much grinding as previous welds. I also found the displaced captive nuts for the fender from Aircooled.net and welded two of three in before I ran out of time. That was a pain as I kept getting burn thru at some of the edges and had to build up w/globs and then grind-grind-grind.
_________________
Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!