China Clipper's Official 1971 Super Beetle Project page!

[jeremy.g]

That's what I did on mine: bought a new Napoleon hat, and cut the ends I needed from it. The fit was pretty good. I don't think the panel you linked will work though- it's for standard beetles. The Super Beetle version is over twice the cost, $120 - $135 (plus shipping)

Even at that price, it was worth it to me. Those ends are pretty heavy steel, and wacky shapes.

-JG

[Chinaclipper]

Thanks guys for the ideas. I have thought about replacing the damaged area by buying the part, and cannabalizing what I need. I still may....just hate to pay $150 for a part and only use maybe 1/4th of it!

I’ve also wished I could find a VW junkyard, and get parts there. That’s what I did when I worked on VW’s 30+ years ago; unfortunately, those junkyards are no longer available, at least in my AO.

So, I am trying to clean up the edges, cut away the junky metal, and try to patch it....hey, it could work. Today I cleaned up the edges, and got some Ospho, and pretty soon I’m gonna try some patching....

BTW, I took my own advice and went to a metal fabricator here in town. Pretty cool, good folks, and I paid $6 for a 12x18” sheet of 12ga sheet. Not bad!

Sigh. If it doesn’t look good, well, plan B is getting that part....
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China Clippers Official 1971 Super Beetle Project!
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[AircooledBackcorner]

Hi all!

First of all, thanks for the great read. I've encountered many of the same problems disassembling my '71 1302 convertible. I've just got my chassis media-blasted and I'm now trial fitting the new floorpans. They seem to fit pretty good, there is however one problem at the back of these floorpans and I'm hoping that you can help me with this.

While disassembling, I removed the complete floorpan, including the support brackets at the rear of the chassis tunnel because I ordered pans with these already installed. But now, the pans are 'supported' by the edges of the pan resting on the chassis (both sides).

However, on a picture of your 1302, I can see clearly that there is a piece of metal between the bottom of your pan and the chassis.

Could you confirm that the 'gap' as seen on my picture isn't there on your 1302? Thanks a lot and keep up the good work!

[VW_Jimbo]

I think you may be missing the outriggers. They are welded to the side of the tunnel and run under the pan, supporting the rear side of the pan. They hide out between the torsion tube support and the pan.

This is a standard pan but I believe the Supers had the same support arm. In the picture the air chisel is resting on top of the drivers support arm. The new support arm is laying on the passenger pan.
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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!

[AircooledBackcorner]

Thanks for the quick reply! So I was assuming that these floorpans had the support bracket already installed, but apparently these pans are welded over an additional bracket. Thanks for the info, I'll get in contact with my parts supplier.

[Chinaclipper]

So you remember what the tunnel looked like ?
Here's a reminder..

Well, I put on my first patch. I took JeremyG's advice, and went with the stouter material, the 12 ga. They didn't have 13 ga in stock. Can you say S-T-O-U-T? This stuff is THICK.

It isn't pretty, it probably won't be seen as the best welded patch, but it's DONE. You can see I need to patch the left hand side of the picture too, that's the bottom middle of the Nap Hat. too the shading and the picture kind of fools you, but it is pretty solid I hope.

It's been too long for my welding, I've lost a bit of skill. I figured this place would be good place to start, being how THICK it is....I didn't even attempt to try to recreate the nice raised areas, and whatnot. I have a cutoff wheel, some hammers, a vise and that's about the total sum of my metal fabrication tools. I did see some cool home made brake/benders that look like a good project.

This one tho, was "a cut, fit, and weld"

Well, OK, I spent about an hour cutting/fitting, 30 minutes welding and about 90 minutes grinding and chasing pinholes...I threw on some Ospho, and will hit it with primer.

I'm gonna have to get better-but I won't have another chance for awhile. Life is catching up to me pretty fast so I will take a brief sabbatical. In the meantime I will be on Samba tho, you can count on that. Watching and learning, watching and learning, then hopefully DOING..
CC
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China Clippers Official 1971 Super Beetle Project!
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[Chinaclipper]

[AircooledBackcorner]

It sure does! Thank you for the picture. I'll keep you posted about my progess. Please keep us posted as well!

[Chinaclipper]

Yesterday I got a chance (after a long hiatus!) to do some work on the bug. Temps here in the mid-west are in the low digits , like 9 and 10's, so the garage was pretty chilly, in spite of me firing up the ol' kerosene heater.

Anyway, I needed to cut and weld in the other area that was rusted out. Like so many others doing rust repair, what seems like a few holes usually turns out to be much MUCH more, so I had to cut an area out much bigger than planned.

I got a new machine for cutting/fabricating

and I see immediately that I need to somehow anchor the darn thing. It seems you just CAN'T cut 12 ga metal with this not anchored, and I mean BOLTED to something. It doesn't work, at least not for me.

I am going to see if I can rig up something where I use a garage floor "anchor-set-in-concrete" thing so I can anchor the thing and just screw/unscrew and pick it up when I'm done. Never enough space.

Anyway, what with disc changes, measuring, and screw-ups, it was all I could do to get the hole cut. I (too quickly) tried making a piece, and THEN cutting the hole, but I somehow managed to cut out the hole about 1/2" too long, so, I'm gonna have to make another patch. At least I didn't cut the fuel line though.
BTW, as you can tell, I'm gonna need to slight shape this patch-it's not just a straight, flat piece of steel. No, that would be waay to easy right? Oh well.

Oh well, live an' learn.... That and getting everything set up and in place took the large part of 2 hours, oh, that and trying to fill and start the kerosene heater. I went from a 32° temp inside to a 37° temp, so I got a few degrees from the heater. Even so, when I quit, I was kind of numb.

Well I did what I could, next up, making another patch, maybe rigging up some kind of anchor or retainer for the shearer, and try my hand at welding again. I'm not gonna worry about grinding it as much though, I'll just tack it, fill it in, and seal it with seam sealer when I'm done and call it good.
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[jeremy.g]

Hey 'Clipper,

I mounted my shear to a "Bench Grinder Stand" from Harbor Freight. Here's a link, if you want to find something similar:

https://www.harborfreight.com/universal-bench-grin...gIUWvD_BwE

About 30 bucks, and makes your shear a bit more solid but still 'portable'.
This is for my Beverly B1 (clone) shear. It stays put pretty well when I cut 16G.

Good luck! Keep it up!

-JG

[Chinaclipper]

[jeremy.g]

I didn't bolt my stand to anything- It's just sitting in the dirt in my 'blacksmith shop' (which is just an open-sided frame with a metal roof) in the backyard.

It stays put pretty well, but I really 'nibble' at what I'm cutting, and I don't usually go heavier than 16 gauge.

Good luck!

-Jeremy

[Chinaclipper]

I took Jeremy G's good advice and got the HF stand. It was a bit too small for the shear (yeah, it's a BIG shear) so I improvised.

I mounted it on 16 gauge steel plate and 1" poplar base.
First I thought I'd make a pattern on the steel plate for fun, then I coated the steel with multiple coatings of clear acrylic.

Then I pasted a "hole pattern sheet" using school stick glue

Then drew the outline for the shear holes and the holes to hold the whole shebang to the HF grinder base

Then drilled the steel and wood plate; then drilled the pattern into the HF stand.

And fastened with washers, lock washers, and 3/8" bolts.

It's perfect for what I need;I thought even it MAY be a bit "top heavy", but it's fine for 16 gauge and up. I did try it with my 13 gauge and for that I really need to anchor the stand in the concrete. How often will I be using it for thicker than 16 gauge? Probably never. I bought the anchors and stuff, but that will be another project another day. I fits my needs right now perfectly, and it's still relatively portable.

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[Chinaclipper]

After I got my shear, I started right away fabricating the patch for the next hole in the pan.

After MUCH cutting, filing, and more of the same, I got it pretty close

A little more filing and trimming ( I'll bet it took me 2 hours) Then I cleaned it up and tacked it in.

A few more tack welds, and its done. Welding took about 15 minutes.

I had a great time, actually practiced about an hour before hand. I need lots of help with my welds. Anyone?
So do I just seal this and call it a day, or do I get the old grinder and try to smooth it out. Opinions?
It's underneath so no one will see it.
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China Clippers Official 1971 Super Beetle Project!
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[VW_Jimbo]

Your welds look just a little cool. The metal is not blued enough. And, the welds are standing taller than I like. That thicker steel needs a little bit more heat. Check your practice pieces for penetration. Flip your pieces over and see if it has good penetration. That is how you tell a good weld!

You can just epoxy primer over the welds after a wiping of acetone, but I like making it all look pretty, so for me grinding is not a question but a necessity. I would grind those level with the surrounding surface. Then take a 60 grit flap disc and polish it off, along with some of the surrounding areas. Then epoxy primer.
_________________
Jimbo

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

[jeremy.g]

Hey, Clipper!

Before you do any grinding. . . do all of your welds overlap? It looks like you have some spots in between welds where the open seam still shows.

I'd take Jim's recommendation to crank your welder up a few amps and zap those open spots between welds. Don't be afraid to overlap your existing welds by a good margin.

Coming together! Nice fitting patch.

-JG

[Chinaclipper]

Thanks guys, good tips, all. I will see if I can redo some of the areas on the right where I have missed a bit.

This is definitely a learning experience, but I am still in it. Next step is to see if it is worth trying to repair the Nap hat or just cut off the old and replace with new stock.
Either way, I'm gonna have to replace the underside of that pan under the left side of Nap's hat; I can't dodge that bullet.

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[MACJELLY58]

Here's a couple of Pics of the Outrigger without the Pans attached. Were they inadvertently cut off?

[Chinaclipper]

[Chinaclipper]

I was looking at my youTube video, and right after mine was another 1971 restoration video. Well, I came across this picture, and I looked at it real close, and I see no steel or anything spanning the gap between the forward portion of the heater channel and the edge of the front side wall. Is this normal????
I snapped a screen shot to show what I mean... If this is normal, what goes in between that BIIIGG gap? carpet?!?!!?

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