Jeremy.G's 1973 Super Beetle restoration

[VW_Jimbo]

[jeremy.g]

Ha! Now I want to do a bad Austin Powers impression and yell, "Who does Number Two work for!"

I would laugh, but I'm sure my daughter wouldn't appreciate it.

I should probably stick to Minion the Elder and Younger.

Dibaltic- The spotweld cutter I've been using is the "BL11098 5/16" Premium Spotweld Cutter Kit w/ Pilot Pin" made by Blair. It comes as a kit with the shaft, 2 pins, and 3 cutters. It's a little pricey at $40, but I really like it so far. 5/16" seems like a nice size for plug welding after drilling.

-JG

[VW_Jimbo]

I have a hate love relationship with those spot weld cutters. But most of the time I just use my 3/16 inch drill bit(s). Followed up with an air chisel. Plus the hole is perfect for plug welding!

I buy the bits in multi packs from Amazon.
3/16-Inch Cobalt Steel M35 Jobber Length Twist Drill Bits for Hard Metal, Stainless Steel, Pack of 12 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FXRSPHW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_9LRKDbNR61XJY
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Jimbo

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

[jeremy.g]

Hey, Jim- Do you typically try to just drill through the TOP layer of metal? Same concept as the spotweld cutter, but just using a normal twist-bit? Seems a fine idea. And cheaper.

[VW_Jimbo]

[jeremy.g]

I agree on the 'love-hate' relationship with these cutters. When they are sharp they work GREAT. But most of them leave a 3/8" hole which is huge. Mine is 5/16" which is an improvement, but I'd prefer even smaller.

I just today realized that Blair makes a 1/4" cutter that fits this mandrel. I ordered a few to try them out.

-JG

[jeremy.g]

We made a bit of progress on the front suspension today.

But first, a step backward. I realized I never put in these rubber strut dampener thingies. My old ones were crusty. So I ordered new ones, and we disassembled the strut to put 'em in.

I roped my daughter in to help install the driver's side ball joint, spindle, and strut. It was fun teaching her what a ball joint does, and the magic of the Torque Wrench. The new strut bottoms are fatter than stock, so the old lock plates don't fit. I ground them down till they did:

Then in went the ball joint, knuckle, and strut.

The struts 'swing in the breeze' until mounted to the body, so I'll need to tie them together with something if I want the mount the brakes, wheels, etc. while the body is still separate. Using the body's strut towers as a guide I notched a piece of angle iron on both ends and bent it to match:

I welded the joint. Then I traced the mounting holes and drilled 'em. This should do the job:

(off camera) I disassembled the passenger strut and sandblasted the parts I need to keep. Once the paint dries on those parts I can assemble that side and tie everything together with my new strut-bar.

Coming along. . .

-JG

[jeremy.g]

Today the passenger side ball joint, spindle, and strut were assembled.
Then I fabricated some parts to temporarily tie all the floppy parts to the pan so I can have a 'rolling chassis' once slap on the wheels.

Next up: Front wheel bearings, discs, calipers, and wheels. . .

-JG

[VW_Jimbo]

Nice!

It may be the angle but that looks like some serious toe out! Things going to track all over the place and feel really squirrelly when you get we up to 40mph!

Nice job! You are going to have a roller!
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Jimbo

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

[jeremy.g]

Haha! Yeah, I think the camera is inducing some distortion on the edges. The axles aren't quite that wall-eyed in reality. But after your comment I pictured myself riding the rolling chassis down a steep hill to see how it handled! (helmet recommended)

I forgot to buy grease seals for the front wheels. (Curses!) So wheel assembly will have to wait for that delivery. In the meantime, I'll tinker with some body work.

My original front apron is very straight, so I was planning to re-use it when I rebuild the front end. But upon closer inspection the rust is very bad. The apron on my donor clip is very banged-up, but rust free. So let's see if we can get that panel into shape.

Here's what I'm starting with. Yeah, pretty nasty.

A few bad creases like this:

Working from both sides with rounded hammers and anvil/tools (many small hits!) I can get those spots looking like this:

I worked a rounded chisel around the entire louvered section. (again, many light taps)

After an hour or so of Zen hammering, here's where I am. The big creases are gone, but the panel needs a LOT more work to get it straight.

One major problem is the bottom lip. See how straight it is?

That's not right. There should be a gentle curve across the whole panel. I'm thinking about buying one of those shrinking tools to work that curve back in. Sounds like a fun thing to try...

-JG

[VW_Jimbo]

Nice hammering! Over the last 10 plus years I have worked on my dolly and hammering. I have gotten decent at it. It is a skill that I am glad to have taught myself. The really beauty is in the end results. So nice when it all pounds out into shape. Well, with a little heat shrinking! That’s a whole other skill! That may be what is required on the lower edge of that apron. It may be from the hammering that the bottom area has stretch and is now straight. I wonder what would happen it you tried shrinking it. But all those opening in the steel would make it really difficult.

Heat shrinking is applying heat to an area and then quenching it rapidly.

I am no help! I am just waffling back and forth. Sorry man. I will let you get back to work. Looking good!

Just in case....a quick video on heat shrinking.


Link

_________________
Jimbo

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

[jeremy.g]

Thanks for the feedback Jim! You seem to have picked up a lot of different tricks over the years, so I always appreciate whatever ideas you throw my way. Awesome heat shrinking video. I'm still dreaming of owning and restoring a Willys MB one day. . .

Anyhow, this is the kind of shrinking tool I was thinking about. I stopped by Harbor Freight and picked it up:

It should probably be called a 'lip shrinker', because really a lip is about all you can fit into the tool. The upper and lower jaws are 'split' and pull into each other when you close them, essentially pinching/squishing the metal together.

I've heard that paint can gum up the grippy jaws of the tool so I stripped the paint from the lip. Then I made sure the lip was bent to about the same angle as original (pulling template from my car)

I traced a cardboard template from my un-smashed apron so I could see what the target was. Comparing the two, I need to come in over an inch on each side.

I should have tried this tool on a test-piece first. But after watching a few videos of this tool in action I was burdened with overconfidence and decided to just dive in on the apron. I made a tick mark every inch and pressed the tool pretty lightly every inch. I could feel it biting, but wasn't sure how much it was working. But when I compared it to the template it was actually getting quite close!

So.... that's fun! A new successful tool to play with. It came with an identical 'stretcher' too, which spreads the lip instead of shrinking it.

From that last pic you can see that the curvature further up on the left side of the panel (above the louvers) is still pretty wonky. I'll probably work that section a bit more before finalizing this lip curve.

-JG

[jeremy.g]

I put a lot more time into this apron.

- stripped the paint (chemically)
- sandblasted
- welded extra holes and cracks, ground/sanded the welds
- cheap gray primer guide-coat
- sanded w/ random orbit sander (showed me high/low spots)
- hunted down and worked out bunches of dents

It's coming along! It no longer looks like a piece of scrap metal. It's actually starting to resemble something I'd proudly weld onto the nose of my ride. Another round (or two) of prime-sand-dent work and I can hopefully declare victory.

Hey look! I'm doing body work!

-JG

[VW_Jimbo]

It looks damn good!!!

You can spray a guide coat on there to find any other imperfections if you so desire. I like using black primer over the gray and I spray a splattering of the guide coat. Looks like the can shot out a sputter of the paint instead of a fine pattern.

Then you can take a block sander, with 400 grit wet and dry and sand lightly with small (1" to 2") strokes. Go one direction then back a different direction then change it again. As you sand you will see the guide coat sand off and what is left are the low areas with the splattered paint. I then take 3M body putty. It comes in a red tube and with a 4 inch rubber squeegee, apply a coat across the low areas. Sand that out, prime it, guide coat, block sand and see how it turns out.

On my old 55 Bug, back in 1987, I continued this process over the entire car for three months. The paint came out like glass! Up to you how perfect you want it! Me, after that one Bug, I no longer need perfect. That Bug was perfect!
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Jimbo

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

[Joe Jewett]

Nice work!! Thanks for taking the time to document your progress.

I recently found the '74 Super that I owned 30 years ago. It was in a junkyard and is in ROUGH shape but I hope to get it roadworthy again. Threads like this will be a huge help!

[TK-CS]

[catbox]

Damn fine work as usual sir!
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"...these cars were preferred by the racers because the strut front suspension results in far superior handling than the regular torsion bar front end..." - Keith Seume.

[jeremy.g]

Thanks all!

Jim- great advice as usual. I'm not sure how 'perfect' I'm gonna shoot for yet on the body/paint. We'll see how it goes.

Joe- Welcome to the forum! Really looking forward to seeing pics/progress of your '74. We all love a good Beetle Resurrection story.

TK- Yep! That's the original gasket lip. No rust at all. Sing it with me! "I wish they all could be California cars. . ."

My grease seals arrived so we know what that means: time to get those front wheels on! Let's start with the wheel bearings:

I didn't have any press tools (or sockets) the right size to press in the outer races, so I had the bright idea to use the OLD races to press them in. But I quickly realized I'd end up with both races stuck in the rotor.

So I poked around the shop to find something suitable and found this old iron pipe fitting that was about the right size:

This won't be the last time I install wheel bearings so I took some time today making a tool I could re-use (if I don't lose it....) I chucked the fitting in the lathe, removed the threads and wrench flats, and turned it down to a few thousands under the bearing race diameter:

I planned to use this for the big inner races. But as luck would have it the thread-side of the fitting was about the right size as the OUTER wheel bearing. So with a bit of work I have a reversible press-tool that fits both inner and outer bearing races. Score!

Man, I love tools. It's a shame that by the time you're old enough to afford them you are, well, old. . .

Now back to assembly. . .

-JG

[H2OSB]

I love your tool making ability. You should make a rod the screws into those inside threads to hammer on.

H2OSB
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(o\_i_/o) I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.

[jeremy.g]

Good idea H20SB!

Progeny-1 helped me assemble the front wheels today:

Shortly after, we had a rolling chassis! Pretty exciting. The front end sagged very close to the ground since there was no body to tie the chassis to the top of the strut towers, so we slapped a ratchet strap on to help hold it together. Then we played a bit of tetris sliding things around the cocoon to make room for the body to take center-stage:

My current plan is to jack up the body a bit higher and then slide it onto sawhorses, bearing on the heater channels. I'm hoping the channels are solid enough to take the weight (there's a lot of rust).

Then I'll do all the rust repair on the FRONT and BACK. That will give me solid attachment points on both ends for a rotisserie. (which I will build)

Then I'll tackle the heater channels.

Then I'll tackle the death-foam areas.

That's how it happens in my mind at least. We'll see how things actually play out.

-JG