Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project

[esde]

[esde]

Looking good Jim, must be a relief to be so close to having it blasted. Did your heart sink when you saw the rear louver area was wonky after welding it back in? You know I made the same mistake and I said a few bad words, and was generally in a foul mood for the rest of the day. But, you got it back together and straight, and I know how hard that is.
Did you get the seat parts?
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[VW_Jimbo]

[67rustavenger]

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Man, time flies! I bet we all could say that, everyday! Seats took a backseat, since, well, I am just not into going to get tubing, after working all day and driving so damn far! So, seats are on hold till I get back to working less than 5 miles from home. Best guess is in another few months.

However, I am still finding little items to take care of. I keep thinking this shell can go to the blasters. Then I go take a look and BAM, another spot that needs to be addressed. So, until it actually gets to the blaster, I will not say it is going again!

Over the last few weeks, a number of small shit has gotten better. Started back in on the hood alignment. This thing is so far out of whack! I have tried to accept it, but it just catches my eye, every time!

The doors need attention as well. But let me start with the hood adjustments that have taken place, a little bit at a time, mixed in with everything else.

My starting point as of mid March.

Passenger gap is not bad at all. Little proud through the middle of the arc, but, I can be happy with it! However, the Drivers side is far from what I can allow get by me! So up with the hood. Oh wait, the hood catches on the new seal channel I welded into place.

So, I supported the hood and started to hammer on it. Removed some paint and found a tear in the edge!

Also, the hood has a few tears, which I need to address. It is allowing the hood to change shapes, I believe.

And the hood alignment on the fender to body seam is exposed. Not happy with that either.

On the good side, the passenger side is sitting over that line, so there is that to contend with as well.

So, I hammered on the quarter panel a bit. Managed to remove, what appeared to be a buckle. I think it will be better, since the panel moves upwards. But lets see.

It is a small change, but it is heading in the right direction. That being the drivers side!
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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!

[VW_Jimbo]

To continue the story.....

I dropped the hood back down and marked the bottom line of the hood on the apron. I really want to see how far off, "off" really is. Because it is damn near impossible, looking at it from the outside!

Then back open, to see what we can see, see, see.

Yep, that hood is off a good 3/8 of an inch! That is a shit ton! Will need to rethink my approach. Something is wonky......................

A few weeks later, I returned to the hood, focusing on the wonkyness witnessed at the hood. First up I tried bending the hinge pivot points. Yes, you can move them forwards and backwards, changes how the hood rests on the seal channel shelf. I do not recommend this for the faint of heart, due to the fact that you use a large pry bar and you cannot see the bar during use. Also, the bar presses up against the back side of the dash. This leaves one wondering how much metal reshaping is happening there! You are fore warned.

So, I went ahead and bent the hinge points towards the front. This increased the body line at the cowling, but did reduce the gap at the sides of the hood! The hinges were adjusted next, to offset the shift in plane. I went back and forth, several times, little pushes each time, followed by loosening and retightening the hood hinge bolts, achieving what I felt was justifiable to me. Sorry no pictures, just words! That was a pucker fest right there!

With the hood really looking good on the passenger side, and a little closer on the drivers side, I decided to change the shape of the hood to make the drivers side mimic the passenger side. This is the good part!

In the beginning, I welded a crack (all early bugs with a prop rod have it) in the drivers side hood edge. I did it to keep the hood from tearing more, and was hopeful that it was correct. Well, it was not. Alot has changed concerning the body. So, lets start over.

I remade the crack in the hood! First up a drill bit to cease the further travel of the crack should I twist it too far!

I then cut it through, from the edge to the hole.

The hood is now able to lay as it wants to. Lets see what it wants to do!

Not good. The hood wants to skew to the passenger side. Not going to happen. I inserted a 3 inch putty knife into the fender to body gap and tightened the fender bolts. Then allowed the hood to land where it wants to! That is nice! Now the other side.

Wow! That side looks amazing. Almost perfect! Lets see the drivers side. Not great, but way better. So, I gave it just a tiny push!

BAM!

But that makes the nose segment rise up, almost 3/4 of an inch!

I have to go drink beer. It is Friday night! But I will continue the story tomorrow morning. Have a great Friday!
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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!

[lardawge]

I don't think I have ever seen a VW hood fit well even on a car that has never been damaged. My 55 had no hood crease and no damage to the hood and I married that hood to a car that had no damage and it still didn't fit. They usually have a gap in the middle by the headlight bucket on one side. I have struggled with even visualizing a solution to fix it other than horizontal relief cuts across the middle of the hood. That would relax the edges allowing them to lay flat against the seal edge. I also don't know if I would ever chase that given it would be costly to get it finished in a way I would be happy.

I have a sad story about the above-mentioned hood. At some point, after I settle the issue with the place that did the metalwork, I will post about it in my build thread as a cautionary tale.

All that to say, you will need to give up on perfection at some point and move the project forward. You can still do metalwork after you blast the car. In fact, most shops that do metalwork will blast the car before starting so that they can get a clear picture of what is needed. You got this!
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11/2/54 L227 Strato Silver Ragtop - Soon to be L41 Black - Build Thread
1/7/55 L275 Light Beige

[VW_Jimbo]

[VW_Jimbo]

Last night was great! Good friends, good beer and good times! Never a bad experience!

Let’s get the rest of this documented so I can go melt more steel together!

So, 3/4” gap at the nose……
I then pushed the center of the hood and the nose at the same time. Damn, that seems to be better, but it is REALLY HARD TO SEE, when you are the one who is holding it all. What can Icome up with?

Oh, there’s a tire over there. There’s a bolt over there. Let me get the bolt through the back of the apron, then align the bolt with the handle hole and tighten that down.

Now, if I can get the hood to lay down……where is that tire? Ah ha! Grabbed and threw it on the hood. Had to get a screwdriver into the fender joint to keep the hood from flattening out and drooping over the fender line, like a fat chick with a tight belt!

Look at that body line? Perfect, or pretty funking close! And the passenger side.

Perfect! Stuck some copper sheets in place and welded the seam up. I had to cut a sliver, from 14” at the bottom to nothing at the top, about 2” long.

And that brings you all up to the present on the hood. A victory! Super happy with the outcome!
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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!

[VW_Jimbo]

The hood now sits perfect! It could be better, if I was a perfectionist, but I am not.

Onto the vent wing seal channel. I purchased a few from an EBay seller back a year or so ago. They would work, but have a more rounded shape, not squarish like the OG ones, which were rotted in the doors.

So, I went searching the internet. Stumbled on a Bug thread in Germany, where they purchased the channels from a vendor in Brazil. The plus side is, the author included a link to the channels! Like this……
https://supercenterautomotiveparts.com/en-us/produ...&_ss=r

So, helpful. They were not intended for my 54, as the division bar sits slightly different, but with some modifications, it was a seamless fit!

Here is my current assortment of vent wing seal channel frames.

The one on the right is the passenger door one from the 54. And here is the door without it.

And test fitting the new frame, plus checking hole alignment. Awesome!

Still need to remove the entombed screw!

Pivot hole lines up!

And it looks like it fits the curves, perfectly!

Onto the drivers side, for reference. See how the channels lays out of sight. That’s how I need to weld it into the door!

Back to the passenger door. Wire brushed the surface rust off and then brushed in some Naval Jelly.

An hour later, I took the door out into the yard and shot the Jelly off with a hose. Looks that!

I then hit it with a wire brush and shot some weld through primer on it.

Pulled a vent frame out of the stash and checked the fit once again. Wire wheeled it.

Then marked the cut lines, plug weld holes, and pivot backer holes.

Drilled all of the spots out with a 3/16” drill bit.

Then transferred the screw backer location from the old one.

Drilled the two screw holes and the plug weld hole into the frame, and clamped it to the dolly to weld. See the copper backing.

Welded!

Cleaned it all up. And marked holes that would not be welded.

Then welded it into place.

Had to flip it, to be able to weld flat.

Ground the welds down.

Primed it.

Onto the drivers door!
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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!

[VW_Jimbo]

Drivers door vent wing seal channel was next!

Oh, I forgot to post the rotted passenger channel! YUCK!

Ok. Drivers door channel. Drilled out the spot welds.

And then chiseled the rotted channel out.

Ta Duh!

It was then onto repairing previous owner add one. Like the old mirror. Sat the door onto the saw horses.

Taped up the new mirror threaded hinge pin.

Then welded up the holes. Also, 2 cracks at the hinge.

Then it was onto some rust pin holes, inside the channel area. See them?

Here you go!

Welded the door back together, as the drilling out of the vent seal frame removed some of this material.

And welded the pin holes.

And the famous door crack!

Onto the seal channel! Let’s get that pivot screw block moved over.

And mark the new channel cut off points and plug holes.

Ground down the door welds and prepped it for welding in of the channel.

Pivot cleaned up and readied for removal.

Then onto its new home.

Ground that down, cleaned it all up and primed it. Then into the door and tack welded.

Placed the thread protectors and welded in the bottom of the channel.

Out with the protectors.

Flipped the door over and finished welding in the frame.

Then inverted the door for a better weld angle.

Had to weld nuts onto a few entombed screws.

This one did not work.

This one did not either.

Then welded in the seal channel, ground the welds down and primed it.

Onto the window guide retainer broken bolt.

Installed a steel nut and welded it onto it.

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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!

[VW_Jimbo]

Got another hour in, late afternoon yesterday! Mananged to align the hood a bit more.

First thing was removing the flexing of the hood, itself. Found 2 cracks that were allowing a great amount of movement. The hood prop related crack and the big culprit, the one at the bottom front nose area.

Had the hood on the car and played around with a hammer for several minutes. Things were made better, and more importantly, I found the true offenders of all the movement! So, I removed the hood, and laid it on some saw horses. Note, covered up the fuel tank so no splatter gets on it!

Here is the crack at the hood prop crack. Note, this area has some metal fatigue, so I may need to replace the steel here before the car goes out for blasting, but let’s see what we can do!

And after I popped a weld blob over the cracked lip. The rest of the welds are from previous repairs by me.

I then filled a few pin holes Ifound and added some extra steel.

Ground all that down.

Then it was onto a crack that I found a few weeks ago. Just down a few inches from the crack.

Filled that up. Ground it all down, nice and pretty. Then shot some primer. It then was reattached to the car and reshaped a bit! Can you say BFH! Check out the gaps now! I do not think that I will readdress them.

There is still a slight low spot at the drivers headlight bucket area, that Ithink can get adjusted by pulling in the quarter panel. So, I fabbed up an attachment for a slide hammer, connecting it to a fender bolt.

Then, onto one of the fender bolts.

Screw in the slide hammer.

And that is when the wifey said that magical word. Let’s go get a BEER! I cleaned up and went in had a few pints and a Chili Relleno Burrito for dinner!

Happy Easter all!
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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!

[markendee]

Have to happy with that Jimbo!

Good job.
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Member # 145244

[VW_Jimbo]

[matthew henricks]

Nice work. Always wondered how the wing window inner channel repair was done. Soo many one piece windows in the 90's so how do you reverse that. Now i know.

The one question i have to ask is how you get your doors to balance like that on the saw horse.
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1964 Original Owner build Thread. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=702135&highlight=

Ambulance Fan's. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627707&highlight=

Parts i am looking for:
64 bug nice used front/rear Black LHD floor mat.

[Clatter]

Time spent fixing the frunklid fit is time well spent.

If your wife is anything like mine,
She does NOT APPRECIATE having cold air blow thru the dash speaker grille etc.
With no way to shut this air off,
The ride becomes unpleasant for both of us very quickly.
Her from the cold air and me from the noise.

This is all about having a tight gap and fit to the front apron.

You’d be way ahead to install/mock up and adjust your frunk handle/latch at this point.
Get the latch adjusted in as best you can now and adjust metal some more.
You’ll be very surprised how latch adjustment changes fit.

Often, they say you fit the front apron to the frunklid.
Not vice-versa.

Once the paint is dry it’s too late.
Now we don’t take the Oval on cold mornings, especially on the highway.
It’s just too noisy!
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Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[Clatter]

FWIW,
Any of these complete paint jobs,
Where the metal was just wheeled or sanded,
And it wasn’t blasted,
They all bubble up later.

You might be able to wheel down spot repairs and have them last,
But something complete with all these welded cracks/crevices,
A complete blasting you can consider mandatory.

At least if you want it to last..
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Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[Clatter]

You should figure out a way to get thru Santa Cruz.

Got some extra from a 5-gallon pail of concentrated industrial phosphoric for you.

Get your shell back from blasting and farking HOSE that thing down with it.
Capillary action will carry it into every tiny pit and cranny,
Stabilizing it for posterity,
And giving you time to finish up metal work before the epoxy comes out.

If you’re anything like me,
You’ll end up chasing all kinds of pinholes once the metal is all clean/white.
Blasted metal welds niiiiiice compared to dirty/rusty.
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Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[VW_Jimbo]