The Life and Rebuild of Dad’s Iceland Green 1955 Beetle

[Stetoppingphoto]

[VW_Jimbo]

Very clean! Nice job!

I am remembering that top bolt hole, on later Bugs, used a long section of steel bar down the inside of the B Pillar. If I have time today, I will look up the body repairs on a B Pillar in my copy of VW bodywork and see if they have a clear picture of one. It seems like it was around 1/2” wide x 1/8”deep x 48”long.

I will try and find it. The nut might hold, but really depends on the force and angle of impact(s).
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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!

[Dan22]

I am pretty sure the nut will hold. It is welded on both sides to the plate.

The b-pillar on the other hand is the weaker point. Without crash testing another car, I am just going to have to never find out for sure. I keep in mind, these cars never had seat belts so anything is better than nothing, and this should afford some restraint to against slamming the windshield or out the door.
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1-0900722 die langsame grüne Schildkröte
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[VW_Jimbo]

[Dan22]

Switching to passenger door rust repair. The weatherstrip channel was rusted pretty bad. Pinholes all along the length and pretty thin. I bought a lower door repair panel from Vertanen just to cut out the weatherstrip section.

My door corner was rusted and cracked from the hinge damage. I had to close out and shape the corner part of the patch panel. Vertanen does this on his official door repairs, but mine is some kind of prototype or early version and unfinished there.

I was worried about warpage ocurring to the overall shape of the bottom curve of the door. I tacked on a wide channel piece gauranteed to hold shape, then I cut out the crust.

Scribed a reference line so I can reproduce the position of everything.

The window brace was welded to the channel.

The spot welds on the skin took some time to grind and peel at the remnants. I got them all cleaned up.

The crud that was removed.

The next step is sandblasting, phosphating, then fitting the new metal.
More later...
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[Dan22]

Finished blasting out the rust, and killing it with phosphoric acid treatment.

Inside view.

Tipped the door down for the chemicals to sit in the corner.

Trimmed the replacement metal down and fitted it into the cavity. I took my time and attempted to get a tight fit, but ended up cutting a mm or two wider gap once it was clamped in place. Thankfully, the MIG welder did good at bridging and filling the gap.

MIG'n!

More grinding is necessary in the corner but I have to use a die grinder. A little oops groove from the grind wheel there.

She is straight!

Prep for plug welding the bottom flange.

My only concern on this repair is for warpage of the door. I have to check that next by mounting it in the car.

Stay tuned for more fun.
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[mkhanshaw]

Really impressed with the metal work. Not to worry about warpage. Metal is metal and can be bent to conform. Just takes patience and you'll have it.
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54 Oval

[Dan22]

Thanks mkhanshaw.

I am still a student of metal working but more practice and experience sure helps. I sure enjoy taking a bashed or damaged piece of metal and making it look presentable again.
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[Dan22]

Today's update, inner quarter panel rust repair.

I had to remove these lower parts from both sides to get the necessary access to the outer skin, and to fix the rust that came from the old mouse nests. Since I had to patchwork quilt the pieces back together from the hack, it is always a challenge to get things to fit again.

The pre-patched piece, with the target rusty area.

Making the pattern.

The new metal.

The cut line.

Shaping the piece seemed to work out OK. I compared it to the fragments left from the old part, and an example modified 1960 piece for the drivers side.

Tacked on, and persuading the shape of the assembly in the vise.

Testing the fit.

Progress. Welded the seat support from the back side.

The finished part back side.

Here is my modified 1960 piece that needed the seat support finally added. 105mm from the front edge of the door opening side is the location.

I am really looking forward to the day I can take the car to the blasters and get rid of that ugly old paint and rust, and get some primer on it. I am not planning on welding these inner panels in place until after blasting and priming behind what they cover. Much to hard to clean and prime and expect any coverage if the panels were in place. I just do not have a dunk tank of primer, you know....
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[VW_Jimbo]

R O T I S S E R I E !

Then you can paint anywhere. Drop the paint into the cavity and spin the Bug! Works with Ospho, too!
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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!

[Dan22]

[Dan22]

Progress on the left side inner rear panel. Reversing the hack away job and grafting in the "new" modified 1960 lower portion. The seat mounts are differenet so I worked on that part today.

I was able to use the hole for the clip that the inner upholstery cards use as an alignment point. When test fitted before cutting, it matched up nicely with what remains in the car.

Graft joint inside and out. I think it turned out good. Matches the original shape well.

Next is the front part of this piece to get matched up to the original. It will be a similar approach.
Stay tuned!
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[Dan22]

Got the front side matched up today. Just a sliver was needed. One less thing that needed to be done on a huge list.

Progress.

Finished weld. I am not worried about the few weld marks. I didn't want to grind any more off. I can bondo it if I feel like it but this is hidden.

And the test fit.
It will line up nicely when it comes time to weld it in.

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[Dan22]

A side report. I found in my local area on Marketplace a guy selling a couple 36hp engine cores. I checked the serial number and did some math. This motor is within 1-2 days of manufacture of my original June motor to my car! I had to buy it if it was in any way rebuildable.

It is nothing special other than the history of it. Stripping it down. Distributor date code is Sept 1954.

It got water in the intake on the 3-4 side. I was able to get all the cylinders off.

There was no water in the oil so I think the crankcase is at least not dissolved from within. I plan on tearing it all the way down and surveying the condition completely. No plan on rebuilding it yet as I have a sweet Sept 55 motor completed. It will adorn my shelves for now, but hey, I HAD to have it.

The casting number looks like June 8, 3rd shift 1955.

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[L’ATELIER RENARD]

Very good job ...

[VW_Jimbo]

Nice score on the motor! Be sure to pull the sump plate. That will clearly show you if the case is worth the time to save it. And after you get it all stripped, send it off to Chris Childs for Chromating!

Keep those updates coming!
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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!

[Dan22]

Thanks Jimbo. I am glad you are enjoying the progress. Slow as it is....

I will consider the the chromating guy you found for this motor and my tranny case, when the time comes.
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[sunroof]

It all looks so familiar!

Keep it coming, I am enjoying watching it progress

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[Dan22]

I am glad you are liking it Don. I think there are a lot of parallel efforts on rebuilds like this. Weather and vermin take their toll. The good news is that most if not all of it is repairable.

For comparison, here is my finished motor for this car. I keep it covered up but every once in a while I need to take another look at it and think about how fine it will be to see it installed in the car.

I am still not sure how far I will go on the spare motor restoration. The good news is the sump plate area of the case is intact. I have not split it fully apart yet though.
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[sunroof]

Wow. Uhhh, I went in a little different direction with mine...

Don
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Better and better mistakes!