Field find 1954 Canadian custom

[tomsbuggered]

Nice job Don!
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June 1956 VW Oval Beetle

[sunroof]

That went well. A few more tiny welds and then grinding.

Don
_________________
Better and better mistakes!

[grailoc]

WOW congrats !!
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My 59 low light ghia: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=452128
My 56 beetle convertible: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7796259
My 60 SO23 westy: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=341539
My oldspeed 36hp autotechnik express build: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=670827
My garage build: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=199438

[tomsbuggered]

Way to go Don!
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June 1956 VW Oval Beetle

[VW_Jimbo]

That welded up really nice! Have fun with the grinder!
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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!

[sunroof]

Lots of grinding later and a few small holes closed...

Time for a new can of primer.

This will have to be good enough.

Don
_________________
Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

This is coming together better than expected. Truth be told though, it already has several hours into it cutting and reshaping. I had to trim about 1/4" off the bottom to get the hinge mount to the right height and then pie cut the flange so I could get the bottom to the right shape so it would mate up to the inner fender. Still lots to do to get the hinge mounting plate welded in. This will come back apart many times yet.

Don
_________________
Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

Once the A-pillar is done I will finally be finished with the body (I hope). Next are the floor pans. So far the only ones I have seen that are correct for the car are Klassicfab. The parts I have are 9 out of 10 and would like to have the pans. Question is: has anyone from Canada ordered them? What is it going to be like to order panels and have them shipped to Winnipeg? Concept1 in Calgary no longer stocks beetle parts which make me sad because I ordered a bunch of Klassicfab from them and it was free shipping and very quick.

https://www.klassicfab.com/product/kft1-533-right-side-beetle-floor-pan-5357/


Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[Big Bull Shooter]

Maybe give CIP1.ca customer service a call at 1-800-313-3811, and ask for Derek. He may be able to special order it for you. I just placed an order with him for TMI seat covers and pads, and his price and shipping were so much better than TMI's. Also, his customer service has been exceptional, and that is something that you will not hear me say that often!
Keep up the amazing work!
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Where would this hobby be if no one shipped parts.
crukab
Feb. 11, 2021
Smokey says.... only you can prevent Bug fires!
zerotofifty
May 16, 2023

[sunroof]

OK!

Don
_________________
Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

So CIP1.ca was useless. I told them I wanted the correct pans for my '54 and was told a couple of times that they did have the correct pans, '46 to '70. I explained that many changes were made between '46 and 1970 and I wanted the correct pans for my '54 to which their reply was that they had correct pans for my car listed as '46 to '70. UGH. Next! As my cousin used to say.

Anyways, back to our show. I clecoed in the A-pillar bottom and hung the door. Not a very satisfying experience. I had gotten it fitting pretty well before but I guess with cutting and welding things moved around a little and now it don't fit as good. It scrapes slightly at the bottom below the hinges and the bottom alignment block won't go at all. With some 2 x 4 persuation I got things acceptable. I'm telling myself that the door was distorted by years of being opened and closed with seized hinges and the poor fitment has nothing to do with my lack of skills. Ya, that's it, distorted doors, that's the ticket.

Well it looks OK and will work:

Tomorrow I get a new can of primer and start in to welding the last piece in.

Don
_________________
Better and better mistakes!

[Slimwonder]

Great build 👍🏻

[sunroof]

Ever closer! Excelsior!!

Previously I had welded in the inner structure to the A pillar repair piece and then tried to fit it to the car and was very disappointed to find that it wasn't even nearly the right shape. Virtanen really let me down on this one. Sadly I don't have any pictures of this part of the process. I drilled out the welds and removed the hinge mount and then fitted the part up to the car again. Significant reshaping was needed (passive voice) to get it to fit the space on the car for it. I had to pie cut the flange, clecoe the part in place and tack the flange back on. This is the final result of that work. I should have taken pictures of the whole process.

You can see the pie cutting at the bottom of the piece. I then made some significant changes to the shape of the hinge mount to get it to fit into the A pillar and welded the 2 parts back together. I then spent a few hours adjusting the shape of the door to get it to close properly in it's new opening. It is important to note that when I got the car, the hinges were so seized I could not get it closed enough to see how well it fitted into the door opening.

Numerous welds later, when everything was held firmly in place I test fitted the door and, wonder of wonders, it fit even better than before! Phew, I was genuinely scared it was going to be worse and I would have to cut it all apart again. This has happened before so I knew it could happen again.

Smoothing out these spot welds so I can fold the pinch seam over is going to be a damned nuisance for sure.

Don
_________________
Better and better mistakes!

[VW_Jimbo]

It looks great!!!

Take it slowly, little bit at a time and it will be fine.
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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!

[Riff Raff]

Most excellent progress!
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The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge
- Daniel Boorstin

[Teehoovee]

Nice job!

[sunroof]

Thanks everyone. As per usual the quality of the work is not to my standard but it is the best I can do and it will have to suffice. If some future individual wants to criticize my workmanship let him show me how to do it better.

So. Today I put a couple of cut-off wheels on the Dremel tool and ground all the welds flat. It worked a treat I must say. I have said this before but Dremel really makes a nice tool. It has taken all the shit and abuse I've thrown at it and keeps on ticking.

I ground the spot welds on the pinch seam no problem and then tackled the rest and got everything just right. This is a trick I will have to remember for the future, it is quick and accurate. You just need a good supply of the cut-off wheels. I went through 2 1/2 sets, so 6 wheels. Well worth it.

Done

Done

Done

Done

I have to weld the conduit for the hood release back in and I think that is it for the rust repair. I had set a goal of finishing by April 1st and I did it. Amazing. I rarely set goals due to being extremely lazy but this time it worked.

The next project is the pan halves. Once I have the old ones cut away I will strip the chassis and attend to the mechanical bits over the summer. I need to get the drums off and clean everything. Fun stuff...NOT! But I prefer wrenching to welding any day.

BTW I was thinking of you VW_Jimbo on Sunday night. I went out to the garage at 10:30 at night to do a little welding, that's all, just a little welding. So after I finished the welding I got the idea of doubling up on the cut-off wheels on the Dremel so I just had to try it out. Sure enough it did a real nice job on the spot welds behind the pinch seam. So then I thought why don't I just fold that over and see how it looks. So I'm pounding away folding it a little at a time when it occurs to me to look at the clock, oh crap! 11:30 on a Sunday night. Well I stopped that right away and went back in the house. Lucky it is still cold here so everyone's windows were closed cause I was pounding the shit out of that thing!

Don
_________________
Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

To recap:

I bought this car with a friend in 2008. He was freaked out by being the half owner of a car so I let him buy me out. I regretted that almost immediately. Fast forward to 2019 and I have just sold my '59 Canadian custom sunroof and am without a beetle for the first time in 13 years. John asks me if I want to buy the '54 YES! I drag it home and discover it has suffered terribly over the last 11 years sitting outside. It will need everything.

First up, Decklid repair. Broken hinges and spring perch.

Next: bumper bracket mount repair.

Then the rear apron:

After that my first experience with mistake after mistake but I persisted and in the end I got it.

After weeks of fighting with a terrible repair piece from Autocraft

Although some things did go very nicely

Now the big stuff starts and I am down the rabbit hole

This was another area that went really well:

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Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

Virtanen's repair panels look really good when you get them but once you start trying to fit them you discover they need lots of rework to get them to fit. Once again I find myself making mistake after mistake but I got this one too.

Once the heater channel is in place I can start in on the fire wall. The Klassic fab stuff is very close, not exact but no rework necessary. A relief after Autocraft and Virtanen.

One of the things missing from the Klassic Fab heater channels is this little tab that ties it to the arch.

The original heater channel was so rusted in this area that I didn't even know this existed. Happily it was pointed out to me so I was able to add it.

Very satisfying, I feel like I am getting somewhere.

And the door even fits!

This was all very challenging but I was delighted with it in the end. Still another mistake though, I welded the seat support in the wrong place. Oh well, better luck next time.

Lather, rinse, repeat:

A little distraction from bodywork.

Oops, wrong heater channel.

This again.

The door hinges were a horror show.

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Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

This was easy:

This was not:

I can see the finish line. Wolfparts are a delight to work with.

Many many hours to get to this point with Virtanen's A-pillar repair piece. You can see at the bottom the weld flange is totally the wrong shape. I cut it partially away from the rest of the part and ended up pie cutting it to get it to the right contour.

Suddenly I'm done!

Don
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Better and better mistakes!