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zuggbug
Samba Member
Joined: June 17, 2008
Posts: 3479
Location: Anderson SC
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 Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 7:18 am Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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WOW you are a machine - nice work -
I just picked up a 54 in South Carolina - it was listed here on the Samba 18 miles from my house - lucky for me he purchased the car from CA in 1993 and put it up. if you need any measurements or pics - feel free to hit me up - I will be glad to help
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VW_Jimbo 
Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016
Posts: 9971
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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| Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:41 am Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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| nshaddox wrote: |
hey I just wrapped up this same conduit replacement job on my 52 zwitter. might want to check out the details in my thread in the split section. I had some slightly different length measurements, but i measured from the OD after I got the old conduits out. Your pan bottom looks good enough to reuse. mine was f'ed for the first 3' or so. If you can't find metric tubing locally I have a source in toledo OH where i can get what you need in 20' sticks. don't know how you'd get them all the way to CA though.
could you actually measure how long the clutch tube pokes out from the collar at the back for me? thought I had notes on that but probably faster for you to double check me while i scramble to find where I put them. |
Your thread helped me out tremendously! Thank you for sharing!
Here is what I got! Looks like it is 29mm. Enjoy!
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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!
| TDCTDI wrote: |
| Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!  |
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MACJELLY58
Samba Member
Joined: September 26, 2014
Posts: 400
Location: HONOLULU, HAWAII
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| Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 4:21 am Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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Jimbo,
REALLY feeling your pain with the sloppy bends in the Quarter replacement Panel.
I would sooOO pay a few more bucks for quality made parts. It shouldn't be so hard for us to locate the good stuff!
Bug on brother!! |
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67ctbug
Samba Member
Joined: January 24, 2016
Posts: 3624
Location: CT
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| Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 11:49 am Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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| MACJELLY58 wrote: |
Jimbo,
REALLY feeling your pain with the sloppy bends in the Quarter replacement Panel.
I would sooOO pay a few more bucks for quality made parts. It shouldn't be so hard for us to locate the good stuff!
Bug on brother!! |
Klokkerholm did just get new presses for heater channels so maybe they're renewing all of their parts now. Good work so far Jimbo!
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'67 Beetle L41
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World Series Champions 2016
| KentPS wrote: |
...or the PO envied the terrorists' bus in "Back to the Future".  |
| mukluk wrote: |
| He's fine, just waiting for the dragon in winklepickers to move out of his lane. |
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VW_Jimbo
Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016
Posts: 9971
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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| Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:20 pm Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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| MACJELLY58 wrote: |
Jimbo,
REALLY feeling your pain with the sloppy bends in the Quarter replacement Panel.
I would sooOO pay a few more bucks for quality made parts. It shouldn't be so hard for us to locate the good stuff!
Bug on brother!! |
Thanks bro! Having been building Bugs for a long time. You get used to crappy parts from the aftermarket segment of the marketplace. I can remember back to when an enthusiast could just pick up a part and install it. Now a days, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! But the plus side is my metal working skills have improved drastically, in direct proportion.
Hang loose, brother!
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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!
| TDCTDI wrote: |
| Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
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VW_Jimbo
Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016
Posts: 9971
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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| Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:37 pm Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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| 67ctbug wrote: |
| Klokkerholm did just get new presses for heater channels so maybe they're renewing all of their parts now. Good work so far Jimbo! |
They still need to increase the gauge of their sheet metal before I try them out.
Having purchased and test fitted the Classic Fab channels on the 54, I will never buy channels from anywhere else. Well, unless they do not have them.
Thanks for the enthusiasm!
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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!
| TDCTDI wrote: |
| Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
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VW_Jimbo
Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016
Posts: 9971
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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| Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 9:41 pm Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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| zuggbug wrote: |
WOW you are a machine - nice work -
I just picked up a 54 in South Carolina - it was listed here on the Samba 18 miles from my house - lucky for me he purchased the car from CA in 1993 and put it up. if you need any measurements or pics - feel free to hit me up - I will be glad to help |
Thanks zugbug! If I need something, I will hit you up. Thanks man!
_________________
Jimbo
There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!
| TDCTDI wrote: |
| Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
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VW_Jimbo
Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016
Posts: 9971
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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| Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 10:34 pm Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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So, got off of work early yesterday. Rested for a few hours and decided to work on the Bug. I started a few weeks ago, adjusting the door opening. The opening changed when I allowed myself to not weld in braces, which allowed the car to sag. Stupid I know, but hey, water under the bridge. I had to come up with a way to adjust the door opening, with the door installed.
So, here I go down the rabbit hole!
Got the doors screws on Friday afternoon.
So, Saturday I hung the door and welded in some braces.
Problem was the opening shifted, so to the drawing board I went. Decided to weld in some angle channel pieces that I drilled a hole through. I then cut the center portion of the brace out and installed a bolt.
Tried pulling and pushing the opening with the braces. It just did not work as good as I wanted it to. So, I walked away from it.
Well, today, I got back into it.
Started manipulating the braces and actually broke the welds on the bar I was wrenching on. So, I had to weld a small connection from the top rear diagonal brace to the quarter panel window frame. In order to do that I had to remove the grab handle and headliner remnants. Had to drill out the screws. I know - SHOCKER! Damn rusted screws!
Here are the braces. Don’t judge my welds. I ran out of shield gas and had to switch to flux core on several of them. Got the bottle filled yesterday. So today’s welds were decent!
Here it is all braced.
I then tightened up the braces and the dome light started to buckle from tightening the braces. Had to weld in an additional brace from the top connection point to the quarter window.
That was the winner! That made it possible to pull the opening enough to get the door working correctly. Now, the door hinges still have issues, but the measurements are nuts on the money! Plus, even with screwed up hinge rivets, the door operates very nice.
When I do install a new hinge this body line will be perfect. Right now, at rest it is off about 1/16th.
So, NOW I can tack in the heater channel. Bolt the body down onto the pan, to double check everything. Then lift it back up and weld it in for good. Then onto the other side!
Oh and the bigger plus is.....
It was definitely painted “Unspecified” Ultra Maroon! Soooo cool!!!
_________________
Jimbo
There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!
| TDCTDI wrote: |
| Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
Last edited by VW_Jimbo on Sat Oct 19, 2019 8:19 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Fifty-Eight Rag
Samba Member
Joined: September 07, 2011
Posts: 936
Location: St. Louis, MO
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AlteWagen
Troll
Joined: February 23, 2007
Posts: 8503
Location: PNW
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| Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:01 am Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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Not sure if you had these measurements, they would have been helpful to a friend back in the day who had the same issue. He had a 56 euro sunroof that needed channels, we told him to brace the body before he cut them out but no. With the sunroof and no bracing EVERYTHING was out of whack. Nothing fit, the hood, decklid, doors and even the windshild had to be trimmed down or it would crack after installed. Ended up selling it as nothing he did would bring it back into shape.
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VW_Jimbo
Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016
Posts: 9971
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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| Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2019 4:01 pm Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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| Fifty-Eight Rag wrote: |
It's satisfying when a plan actually works isn't it  |
Yep! Especially when you screw up and have to wing the plan! Thankfully, this is a road I have meandered down a few times before this one!
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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!
| TDCTDI wrote: |
| Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
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VW_Jimbo
Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016
Posts: 9971
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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| Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2019 4:04 pm Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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| AlteWagen wrote: |
Not sure if you had these measurements, they would have been helpful to a friend back in the day who had the same issue. He had a 56 euro sunroof that needed channels, we told him to brace the body before he cut them out but no. With the sunroof and no bracing EVERYTHING was out of whack. Nothing fit, the hood, decklid, doors and even the windshild had to be trimmed down or it would crack after installed. Ended up selling it as nothing he did would bring it back into shape.
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I do have that drawing, but totally had forgotten about it! I will double check the dimensions before tacking anything into place! Thanks for posting that up. I was solely going off of the door and what it was showing me. But that diagonal dimensions is going to make it so much easier!
Thanks for sparking that!
_________________
Jimbo
There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!
| TDCTDI wrote: |
| Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
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jeremy.g
Samba Member
Joined: May 29, 2019
Posts: 400
Location: VA
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| Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2019 4:29 pm Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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Great progress, Jim! I'm looking forward to seeing those heater channels in place.
I wish Klassic Fab made panels for later models. Oh well. . .
-JG |
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VW_Jimbo
Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016
Posts: 9971
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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| Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2019 8:47 am Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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| jeremy.g wrote: |
Great progress, Jim! I'm looking forward to seeing those heater channels in place.
I wish Klassic Fab made panels for later models. Oh well. . .
-JG |
Thanks Jeremy! I am looking forward to it as well.
I quickly measured the opening last night. Looks like I need to stretch it open just a few 2mm. I was thinking the gap was too tight at the B pillar. Might need to get another adjustable bar welded in between the top hinge point and the B pillar. The weekend is coming up.
Hey for you train nuts. The Union Pacific locomotive Big Boy is coming to Bloomington CA on Thursday and Friday. I am taking my father out to it on Friday. Super cool piece of machinery!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/abc7.com/amp/communit...-/5606799/
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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!
| TDCTDI wrote: |
| Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
Last edited by VW_Jimbo on Thu Oct 10, 2019 9:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Ovally
Samba Member
Joined: June 14, 2014
Posts: 476
Location: Belgium
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| Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2019 11:39 am Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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| VW_Jimbo wrote: |
| I was thinking the gap was too tight at the B pillar |
Gap should be 4 mm (0.16")
More information about the correct door fitment / alignment.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/looklisten_9.php
Regards.
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VW_Jimbo
Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016
Posts: 9971
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 8:59 pm Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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Thank you! Very much appreciated.
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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!
| TDCTDI wrote: |
| Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
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VW_Jimbo
Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016
Posts: 9971
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 9:41 pm Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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Spent the later portion of the day messing with the door. Damn, this is not fun, but it is rewarding. Plus I like challenges!
AlteWagen- thank you for those dimensions! Made the task so much more efficient. Had I tried without a baseline, I would have spent a few weeks getting the gaps correct. Just knowing that lower opening dimension was enough to get it perfect! Thank you!
Here it is after 4 hours of cranking on nuts and pounding on metal. In the end, I removed the door and found a giant crack that was allowing the door to flex when closing, in a not good way.
Here it is, in alignment, and with the heater channel clamped in place.
Ended up having to cut the bottom door stretcher and adding a segment of L channel to bump up the ridgidity of it. It was flexing enough to allow 2mm of length to be consumed by the deflection.
After figuring out the deflection issue, I was still having problems keeping everything in alignment. I then found the top door hinge tearing itself apart.
What, you don’t see them. Here let me expose them!
You can barely see the metal fatigue taking place. So, off came the door. I then ground out the cracks and welded them up. WHAT A GIANT DIFFERENCE!
Door went back on. Decent alignment was obtained, in just a few minutes, as opposed to two weeks.
And look! Channel fits perfectly. Door gaps are perfect. And the door shuts great!
I know that I will need to invest some more time on this door hinge area, BUT THE DOOR OPENING IS AWESOME!
_________________
Jimbo
There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!
| TDCTDI wrote: |
| Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
Last edited by VW_Jimbo on Sat Oct 19, 2019 8:21 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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jeremy.g
Samba Member
Joined: May 29, 2019
Posts: 400
Location: VA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 10:57 am Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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Wow. One hidden crack caused all that trouble.
Victory! That had to feel good after all that tweakin'. Very nice.
-JG |
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VW_Jimbo
Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016
Posts: 9971
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:33 pm Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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| jeremy.g wrote: |
Wow. One hidden crack caused all that trouble.
Victory! That had to feel good after all that tweakin'. Very nice.
-JG |
That was the largest contributing variable that was an unknown to me, until that moment. I should have picked up on it more quickly, but the amount of rust damage has been overwhelming. I found that by taking a small break and saying to myself, ” Think outside the box!” Wish I had done that sooner! Next time!
Thanks for checking in on me. I am picking up a rear clip and a 54 front seat this weekend at the OCTO show this coming Saturday!!!! Then I can rip the cross member out. Replace them with the cross member from that clip. Then I will have something I can weld the heater channel to! Also hoping that the lower inner quarter panel to heater channel section is in good shape, because it would make it sooooo easy to fix! If not, I am prepared to fabricate some small pieces. After those get in. The heater channel can get fully welded in place. After that, onto the passenger side channel, followed by the luggage shelf, then the trunk floor, and the spare tire floor and lower apron replacement. Then clean up the butchered rear apron. Check all parts for fit and off to the sand blaster for paint removal and epoxy primer. Should have it wrapped up by the end of next week!!! Haaaa!!!!
Wish me luck this coming few weeks!
_________________
Jimbo
There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!
| TDCTDI wrote: |
| Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
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nshaddox
Samba Member
Joined: January 18, 2005
Posts: 612
Location: Hammatramma, MI
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| Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 7:34 am Post subject: Re: Jimmy V’s 54 Oval Project |
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| hey, wondering if you could help me out with a couple more dimensions. my 52 is a standard, but I want to run hydraulic brakes. I need to fab some tabs to weld to the tunnel to hold the main line in place. how many are there on your 54, what size are they roughly, and what distance are they from nap hat? what about bracket for the T at the rear? |
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