1303s bare metal respray - home garage

[1303s]

Thought I'd start a bit of a blog about taking my 1973 1303s back to bare metal, doing the body work and respraying it.

As luck would have it, I had a chance to take some time off work (restructure + redundancy package in my contract = ), so finally a chance to get started on this project.

I've had the car for about 12 years, and rebuilt the engine, added rear disc brakes and general maintenance. But it's pretty much stock.

I have no experience in body/paint, so it's all new. I was inspired by the Kevin Tetz (Eastwood - here's one of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_9WQmicyJU&in...mp;t=1236s) videos, and also a few others like The Gunman on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppU8g-n9jMY- just get in there and do it!

My plan is to document what I'm doing, what tools/products I'm using and where I'm getting my things from - I found it really hard to figure out what I needed and where to get it (where it was better quality and where it was cheaper!). I'm based in New Zealand, so Kiwis might find it really helpful, internationals maybe not as much

[1303s]

First things first: Air Compressor.

Just listen to everyone when they say it - get the biggest you can afford.

My advice: Don't buy that one - save up for a bit longer and get the next size up. I didn't do that, instead I got what I thought was a great deal and plenty of CFM. But the tank is way too small, so the compressor is running A LOT. That means loads of condensation in the tank and in the lines. Which will come through your hose into your sander or paint gun. You HAVE to get good filters - more about that later!

The compressor I got is this (220V 50HZ single phase was my main restriction):
https://www.thetoolshed.co.nz/product/552-toolshed-belt-drive-compressor-3hp-50l-12-5cfm

It's OK, wish I had a MUCH bigger tank though!

I upgraded it from the 1/4" ARO fittings (low flow) for 3/8" Nitto and I've got 3/8" hose (from here https://www.topmaq.co.nz/shop/air-equipment/10m-air-hose-with-nitto-fittings/.

FYI I bought a Nitto fitting set from Supercheap - seemed like a good deal for males/female. You'll find it on their website

I bought an extra filter/water trap with the compressor, but soon found out it can't keep up (I researched and found it's rated for way lower CFM, it's a tiny 1/4" size). So then I bought these bits:

3/8" Filter:
https://mytools.co.nz/products/ampro-38-air-filter-regulator-38

3/8" Desiccant drier:
https://mytools.co.nz/products/airline-dessicant-dryer

To join it all together I went to BrassFit - they seemed the cheapest in NZ.
https://www.brassfit.co.nz/shop/Search+by+Product/...00374.html

I also learned that you need to put teflon tape or teflon-loaded pipe adhesive on the fittings otherwise the WILL leak. I tried both, and found the tape works just as well as the adhesive and it's a LOT cheaper too - just basic roll from your hardware store

I still have a leaky drain valve that was on the compressor when I bought it, need to replace that because the tank de-pressurises over time (overnight) - not a biggy, but it annoys me

I made up a mounting plate on the compressor and bolted it all on so it's a single unit I can move around.

[1303s]

Some feedback to my earlier posts , 57Blitz suggested locating the filter and dryer a distance away from the compressor, to give the moisture time to condense. Thanks!

Also, advice at an air store today was to use a second tank to help with getting the vapour to condense. Food for thought!

[1303s]

I like the statement "Painting is the reward after the prep work is finished", so onto prep!

I've got dents, rust, cracks in the metal and holes - I needed a welder, sanding materials, filler, primer ...

Welder I got from my father (bedankt!) - it's a 150A Mig (WeldMaster Panther 152, in case you care!). Most of the panel steel is 0.8-1.0mm thick, so I've got it set up with 0.6mm and a Ar/CO2 mix.

The wire I got from ... can't remember, but you can find that anywhere!

The gas is a small non-refillable disposable bottle (90% Argon, 10% CO2), I paid $70 and bought the regulator that's needed as well.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/business-farming-industr...748948.htm
The reason I chose a disposable cylinder is because I don't know how quickly I'll use it, so no point spending on cylinder rental etc.

I'm new to welding (I did a bit during my studies 20 years ago), so am approaching it from scratch. Again Youtube and Google are great sources, Eastwood is good for info.
https://youtu.be/vD6ps-VHu_U?list=PLYBzPJpHZ37m3ZDHQNqO0aLaHb5RhxBfz&t=10
https://youtu.be/W4-eYXsUr3g?list=PLYBzPJpHZ37m3ZDHQNqO0aLaHb5RhxBfz

I decided to visit lots of welding supply stores to find out how they compare, the best I found so far is Welder Supplies Ltd in Christchurch - just gave me the best service.

My lessons so far:
1. Get some clean metal (I got some 1.0mm), cut some and practice your welding.
2. Don't be scared - you can always grind and try again. Just take your time.
3. If you've got the settings right, there's not many sparks but cover bare skin anyway
4. Know your metal gauge of your project - don't learn your settings are wrong on the job - I thought I was welding 1.0mm, but it was 0.8mm on the bonnet, blew a hole. No problem, adjust and try again.
5. Get some copper backers - I got this one from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Durston-Manufacturing-MPWT-Magnetic-Plug/dp/B000VHZHBO and made my own from some copper pipe that I beat down and folded over.
6. Auto darkening helmet. Get one.

[c21darrel]

I would try to find a more efficient gas set up, that throw away bottle will be empty during your practice and before you get to the car. In other words you will blow thru that little bottle quickly. I think the advert said good for 40 minutes of welding. I just swap out cylinders at local weld supply shop. For copper backers I just flatten a piece of copper pipe.
Best of luck.
_________________
GhiaBuild
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=481184
1967 DC build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=693583&highlight=67+dc
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[theKbStockpiler]

[swharris]

[swharris]

[quote="theKbStockpiler"]

[swharris]

[57BLITZ]

[1303s]

Great feedback and advice.

For the compressor:
I agree that bigger is better, but remember I'm doing this in a home garage in NZ on 240v single phase mains. I don't have space for a 150L-200L tank (40gal), and I can't get more CFM because I would need a larger motor which I can't drive.

The max I found was 3HP, and they almost never come with a large tank - that's in the 3 phase space.

FYI ...
1. You CAN paint with the compressor I've got (I've done it, pics to come).
2. You CAN sandblast with a small compressor - just requires patience and not going nuts for an hour at a time. Again, pics to come.

But it would work WAY better with a bigger compressor!!

For the welding gas:
I've practiced and I've welded up the cracks in the hood, and it's still flowing gas, so the setup seems to be working for me. I'll keep track of when it runs out, and be able to give a real-life example of how long it lasts.

Remember this though - I'm just starting out on welding, and if you're in the same boat, you probably don't want to shell out another $300 on a large cylinder. My disposable gas cylinder has ~240L in it, costing $70. I can buy a refillable cylinder with 1000L of gas (full) for ~$300 - so it's only economical if I use up that whole big cylinder and go to refill (which is about $75).

[theKbStockpiler]

In some areas tanks are not expensive. I think I paid $165 U.S dollars for a 120CF last month.
_________________
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.

[theKbStockpiler]

20CF=566L

40CF =1133L

60CF=1700L

40CF gets you about an hour of welding.
_________________
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.

[1303s]

Stripping back to metal ...

I'm going back to bare metal all over, so my choices are: blast it, sand it or chemical strip.

I'm doing all 3. Why, you ask? Because just to make it a bit more of a challenge I'm doing one piece at a time, just in case I need to drive the car. The project will take at least 6 months, so who knows what happens in that time!

I'm starting with the bonnet - it's rusting through the paint and it has cracks in the bodywork from lots of flexing. It also looks like the most complex shape on the car, so why not dive into the deep end!

I'm using a strip disc on a grinder to remove most of the paint, I've tried a few different brands and find these work the best and last the longest (they are the cheapest from these guys!):
https://smitsgroup.co.nz/product/61542/norton-stripeaze-dc-clean-discs-100-x-16mm

That exposed a LOT of bodyfiller, THICK over previous damage. It had been beaten into rough shape and sculpted with bondo. So after I dug through that (wear masks and eye protection!!) I found a lot of deep pitting, grooves and previous damage. I used a sandblaster to get into the deep recesses to make sure they were clean. I got a siphon type from Toolshed - it's OK for the price, I had to repair the breather tube which broke pretty quickly:
https://www.thetoolshed.co.nz/product/550-toolshed-pickup-hose-sand-blasting-kit
I'm using their garnet as well (finest stuff) - best price I could find (on special just recently under $20 per bag):
https://www.thetoolshed.co.nz/product/760-toolshed-blasting-garnet-20kg-extra-fine-250-100-micron-

Lastly, under some of the double skins (stiffening member on the inside) I'm planning to use some paint stripper because I can't get in there with anything else (and I don't want to go as far as drilling out the spot welds ...)

[1303s]

So the bonnet - a bit of rust streaking on the outside, a lot of surface rust on the inside, what's hiding underneath ...

[1303s]

Previously I would have been worried about how to fix this, but now that I've got some time on my hands ... let's start stripping! (the car, people, THE CAR!)

I was worried about all the "don't use mechanical stripping, it heats the panels and warps them" stories that I'd read online. Utter bollocks. Using the strip disc and moving around, and similarly using the sandblaster and moving around, sure the panels got warm, but not hot. No warping.

I was a bit careful at the start (you know, the whole warping thing), but got stuck in later on - again, just give it a go!

The results were after strip disc:

and after blasting areas that were pitted or looked like they had rusted previously:

[1303s]

Oh yeah, those pen marks - I was finding lots of places to work on (rust, pitting, dents, high spots) that I decided to mark them all in pen, so I could get to each one and not lose one.

I forgot to mention, as well as having time off, I'm now also full-time dad and chief cook/bottlewasher - so I was in and out and sometimes days in between. Hard to keep track exactly where you've been

Anyway, the marker (Sharpie) did the trick.

Lots of creases, dents and lumps to shape - first time I'm doing this for real. I was being a cheapskate, and bought a cheap hammer dolly set online - about $35. Useless, utter garbage. No proper shape or finish, one dolly even had casting defect in it that had been filled ... with bondo!! LOL

Went out and bought a good set from RAJ (Christchurch) - it's a Toledo set, you can get them at a few places:
http://www.raj.co.nz/product-group/659-7hds/category/103-hammer-dolly-sets

Nice set, good finish and shapes on the tools, happy chappy.
Note they come with a clear resin on them, which reduces dome of the striking power (it's absorbed/dulled) by the flexing resin, so if you need to work it on to a dolly you'll probably want to remove that. I did after a while (once I figured out what was going on!! )

Learn about metal work here:
https://youtu.be/GDZxecZzc8o?list=PLYBzPJpHZ37m3ZDHQNqO0aLaHb5RhxBfz&t=11
https://youtu.be/B7TkHcSKCfo?list=PLYBzPJpHZ37m3ZDHQNqO0aLaHb5RhxBfz&t=10
https://youtu.be/ijgwCwnKZUM

and here if you want to love your hammers and dollies :
https://youtu.be/wAaMZLt-YJk?list=PLYBzPJpHZ37m3ZDHQNqO0aLaHb5RhxBfz&t=45

[1303s]

Welding up one of the cracks (4 in total I found in the bonnet):

Before:

Part-way through:

Home-made copper backer - pipe hammered flat and bent back on itself - the radius tucks nicely in behind the metal curve of the metal lip on the bonnet that I was welding.

Tack welds are your friend!

[1303s]

And to stop it all going rusty in the freezing cold garage in middle of winter during the wettest June on record I applied some rust remover, hit it with 180 grit, and sprayed Epoxy primer before I tackled the inside of the bonnet.

Rust remover was a bit of a faff - paper towels to stop it running off, keeping the garage warm enough so it kept working (dropping to 0C outside, trying to keep it 20C inside ...). We got there, but not sure I'll do it that way again!

I'll do another post about sanding equipment.

For the first coat - I chose Proform Epoxy - the reason for that is another post as well!

The gun I used was based on the fact I've got quite low CFM, and I wanted something in the $150 range - when I embarked on this I actually wasn't sure how well I would do

It's an Eastwood Concours LT - pretty good, but all the learning and research I've done since then would lead me to a Devilbiss GTI Pro. I'm at primer stage, so maybe I'll upgrade when I do some top/clear coats.

The Eastwood gun from here:
http://restosupplies.co.nz/index.php?route=product/product&path=144&product_id=419
https://www.eastwood.com/concours-lt-hvlp-paint-gun-1-3mm-51275.html

I think my pressure was too high when I was spraying (lots of overspray) so I'll sort that out next time, but the results:

Note the little booth I built - plastic mask-off film attached around the garage door rails - made a good booth to keep dust out and spray in!

[theKbStockpiler]