Joined at the Joints

Oh.....this is big.  We had a breakthrough on the beetle.  There have only been a handful of hurdles on this project that put me in mental prison.  The one that has been holding me up is the heater channel holes not lining up to the holes in the floor pan.  You see, when heater channels are replaced, they are often not a match to the original pan.  They have to match up or you can't put the bolts through to secure it.  I don't know why but this one kicked me in the groin.

I finally fought back.  I pulled Nick (now 13...ugh) out to help me lift the front so I could shine light and see where the holes need some cutting.  I marked the the floor pan with some chalk and decided it would be best to pull off the body and get to work.  So we have some new neighbors and I was able to rope the Mom, Dad, and kids into coming over and lifting up the beetle to get it off the chassis.  Apparently, it's not the first car body they've lifted???

We get the body off and I proceeded to drill-baby-drill.  I used a step drill bit to round out the holes to allow for some forgiveness.  Once I knocked those out, I pulled out the body-pan gasket seal.  I used applied the seal across the pan with painter's tape so I could mark where the holes are.  I then took the seal and used a center hole punch to knock out some of the rubber where the bolts will go through.  Was't too bad....just tap with the hammer twice and repeat about 25 more times.  I then used some seam sealer and applied it all along the pan and around the holes.  I applied the seal and held it down with painters tape again to keep it in place over night.  

While that sets, I decided to go ahead and start adding some gaskets.  I added the engine deck lid and engine compartment gasket.  Ok....glad I did this but I just realized that I'm missing tins to the engine!!!  The front breast plate and engine firewall.  Add to the darned "must buy" list.  ugh.  If I don't find some, the engine will likely overheat.

Next morning arrives and I remove all the painters tape.  All is good with the seal!  Except....I'm called to do some chores so vacuum, mop, bathroom cleaning, and grocery shop.  Keep momma happy ;)

After supper, I call on the neighbors (Race Team Peterson) to come back over and lower the body.  We all circled the the car....scratched our chins....grunted a few times and pointed at a few things.  Lift!!  I scooched the rubbernecked pads under all the critical joints and then we lowered it back down.  We adjusted the body a little forward and backward to align up the holes and bazinga...ready to put the bolts on!

[Tip to those lifting the body up and down.  It's wise to loosen the shock nuts and back out the bolt so that the body will clear past the bolt without scraping.  just tighten back when you get the body on for good]

So I proceeded to get the rear wheelhouse bolts on (although realized I needed square plates to put on.  Still have them, but didn't show up in the picture).  Front two beam bolts, and eight bolts across the back seat.  It got late so I haven't done the 9 bolts along each heater channel and two at each front corner.  I expect there will be some shifting, cursing, and sweating to get those done.  I'm not 100% confident that I got the rubber holes perfectly lined up so there could be some persuasion. 

I'm really surprised how well this all came together.  If the Resto is like this to the finish, I think I could really move fast.

                                          She is now ONE car.   

Breaking the Seal

I'm back.....very slowly.  We found a new home about two years ago moving back to the Raleigh area.  We live in Wake Forecast, NC and also brought the Oval of course with us.  We had some trouble with the move and had to pack up all this garage stuff around the car and ended up scratching the paint.  Not sure how to fix that one but will have to worry about it on the back side.

I finally pulled the car out....dusted off the paint and pulled out everything that I moved here. I decided it was best to break the seal and add a few parts just to motivate.  I added the license plate holder, license plate, hood hinge, and glove box door.  All minor stuff but it's progress!  Figured it was good to log something here to keep this thing going.

Next step is to pull the off the body and snip the body to pan bolt holes.  Lock that baby down with the gasket and sealant and start adding parts!  Wofsburg West is getting ready to get an order for a bunch of stuff.

Glorreiche Farbe and Plan B

So it's been a couple of years since I've updated this nonsense.  So here's the skinny since the last post 2-1/2 years ago.....don't judge!

I really struggled with the H-Apron.  My buddy Steve Burns let me borrow some dolly's and I was able to man handle and beat it into submission......good therapy by the way.  I finally got the right shape and just had to use some filler to get the finished look.  I worked on that damn thing for hours here and there but I finally got it looking half ugly.  I pressed on to the other needy items.

Body not sitting on the floor pan - I decided to not replicate the asinine behavior I had done before on some of the other problems.  I pulled up a chair and stared at this floor pan for a good 30 minutes.  (Eyes bugging out)  It came to me like a smack in the face.  There's a gasket and rubber spacers that go on the mounts.  I realized that it raises the pan up just enough above the jack stands.  DONE!  No cutting or welding needed.  That could have been a total #$#$ show!  On to the next dilemma....

The doors.....those damn doors.  These sharts were worse than I remembered.  The drivers side door skin had come apart from the inside door frame because it was totally rusted out.  So I found some sheet metal and used some metal snips to cut out a 35" by 4" rectangle.  I then used my vice, ball peen hammer, and sheet metal pliers to create a U-Channel that I could weld into the bottom of the door to secure the door skin.  I had to snip and grind out the rusty crap to find good metal to weld to.  Once I got it secured it worked perfectly.  

The bottom of both corners were rusted out so the only two options I had were to fabricate with metal and weld in or use fiberglass and filler.  So before I hear backtalk from any Judgy McJudgersons, let me tell you.....after SEVEN years, you start asking yourself, WHISKY TANGO FOXTROT did I get myself into.  I went with the fiberglass and filler.  It came out damn good.  That's all I'm going to say.

So then life gets in the way.  Oh hell....I got lazy!  I let that car sit for way too long.  THEN.....we move!  We have always wanted to live on a small farm.  The prospect of land, old restored home, NO HOA...I could sucker punch HOA in the throat....just saying.  We looked seriously for property for everything we wanted for about 3 years and just couldn't find anything affordable.  Then one day I looked outside of Raleigh.  We found the place we always wanted just outside Clover, SC and York, SC.  It was right before school was starting so Whitney and I teamed up and made it happen!  So Green Acres here we are.  Three horses, five pigs, four dogs, four cats, a fish, thirty five chickens, and three baby goats on the way (eyes rolling).  My wife LOVES animals.  NO MONKEYS.  That's where I draw the line.  

So we didn't sell the old house before we moved into the new house.  Serious problem.  The new house has a garage but no big garage door!  It was converted into a workshop with a normal "man door".  So the house sells and I have bring the Oval to the new house and park it OUTSIDE....with a car cover!  So every time it rains, I can hear the faint cries of tortuous rust easing its way back through the surface.  Imagine yourself with $1000.  Then every day taking $1.00 and wiping your ass with it.  That's pretty much how I feel.

So.....out of the blue my good friend Jon emails me and asks if I have made any progress.  I'm sheepishly honest and tell him I haven't done a damn thing.  This guy......this guy tells me he'll come down for a three day weekend and pain the car!  I'm speechless.  I'm stunned.  I'm overjoyed.  I can't describe to you the relief!!!  So we make plans for the last week of April.  I've got some last minute work to do with filler.  Finish up the ugly bag of hammers H-Apron, touch up some random parts for paint, fix the corners of the doors, and of course.....all the BLEEPING surface rust that has come through here and there.  I've got to seriously hustle but work and life is just relentless.  There's no way I'm going to get this all done before Jon gets here. So I bury my man card and I ask a buddy if he'd like to make some cash on the side and do some bondo work.  He spends about eight hours and gets it all done!  I sanded all the surface rust and coated some other tough spots with POR-15.  It's all ready.

Bad news.....rain crashes the party like tequila showing up after 15 beers.  We reschedule two weeks later and by God the weather is perfect!  May 14-16 is set for the painting party.

I got all the paint materials, build a 2x4 frame with a tarp to keep shade over the Oval, and I'm all ready.  So Saturday comes around and well....we didn't account for the temperature even through the sun would be shining. The paint chemicals I bought were for warmer  weather.....CRAP.  The paint shop was closed on Saturday so we had to wait until Monday to exchange the paint.  Looking at the forecast, it's going to rain that Monday around midnight and HARD.  So basically, I'll have freshly painted oval that need to cure overnight and rain will ruin it.  

Have you ever said something as a joke and suddenly realize that it's a damn good idea?  The garage I have was converted to a workshop and a "man door" was put in place of the one car garage door.  As Jon and I are scratching our heads both avoiding the decision to put off painting I say, "well we could always cut a hole in the garage door....ha ha".  Jon looks at me and I can see the wheels spinning.  We decide to go to Plan B.  We spend half of Sunday converting the garage back to a one car garage door.  Header, studs, etc.   Problem solved!  Now the Oval has a great place to rest while the pain cures.

So for anyone who doesn't know how a car is repainted prepare yourself.  It's not something to take lightly.  We had to fill pivots, last minute dents, low spots, sand, wipe down, prime, sand again, wipe down again, clean with a degreaser, wipe down again with tack cloths.....it's ridiculous.  EVERY INCH.  Oh...we had to attach the spring to the engine deck lid because you don't want to mess with that after paint.  

Let's talk about this deck lid.  I've never seen anything so confusing in my life!  There are four brackets it's attached to with eight points of pivot/adjustment....i think?  You have to adjust this thing back and forth so that it doesn't rub against the body when it opens and closes. And when that doesn't work, you have to bend and push on it to make it work.  What's funny is that is what the Germans did in the factory!  I'd rather poke myself in the eye with a flathead screwdriver than do that all day.  Well, we got that adjusted and moved on.

So Monday comes along and I exchange all the paint and we finish up the last minute prep/wipe downs.  After scouring this car, somehow I missed two holes in the drivers side interior door that some ass hat decided to put a cup holder or something on.  I race to the auto parts store and pick up a 5 minute epoxy that cures in an hour.  We get that filed down and fixed and FINALLY we are ready to paint.  

We (Jon) get painting right about 5:00 PM.  I notice Jon's mood changes.  This guy is getting the jitters thinking about painting the car!  This guys is all class.  He wants this car to come out top notch and he's worried about how he is going to perform.  Moment of silence for Mr. Turner...........Thank you.

Before my eyes, I see the transformation.  I see the color go down and slowly swallow up the grey and pink filler spots.  It's like a fountain of youth for old cars.  The clear coat goes on but this is tough.  We're outside, in and out of sunlight, I got a neighbor who decides to cut the grass who hasn't mowed in 3 months...literally, I got wind picking up, and I got the twilight bugs all coming out.  But Jon nails it.  I'm overwhelmed with excitement, relief, gratitude, and wonder.  This car looks amazing!  It's like a brand news vehicle off the factory assembly line in Wolfsburg.  

So we finish up right about 7:30.  We stand back and sigh in relief.  We decide to let it cure until about 11:00.  We need to set it back down onto the floor pan so we can roll it into the garage (yay).  Jon gets in the car and turtle lifts it so we can pull out the 4x4's and lower it.  The rope holding the hood rips apart and the hood slams shut!  The damn thing is tacky and is STUCK!  We are struggling.....tired.....no idea on how to open this thing back up.  If it stays closed, the paint will seal together and rip off when opened after it's dried.  Suddenly, a small voice in the background quietly says, "I know how you can open it.  Use a wall anchor through the latch hole and then pull it up."  Jon's TEN year old boy saves the day!  We look at each other in silence then in concert both say that's a great idea.  Open it does :)

So now I have this beautiful car.  Resting quietly in the garage.  This is the moment I have waited for.  No more adjusting.  No more fixing.  No more excuses!  I get the instant gratification of putting all new parts on.  AND I have place to do it that's inside and no threat of rain and rust.  Ahhhhhhh.  Yes, I'm in a good place.

Credits:  If everyone had a friend like mine this world we be a better place.  Jon Turner, I thank you, your kids (especially Brandon for his genius 10 year old mind), Angela for putting up with my needy and crazy hours.  I will never be able to thank you enough.  You are indeed a fart smeller....I mean a smart feller.

Peanut Bondo and Door Jam

Getting much closer.  I'm motivated and getting closer to painting. I was blessed today to share some time with Jon (okay...I begged him to come over and save me). Today was focused on getting some tough bondo jobs done and focusing on those damn doors that have been keeping me up at night.  I've been sweating it not sure if I'd have to cut out the heater channels and refit the doors.  I think that when Chris Bolin put the new heater channels in the body shifted slightly or the channels were slightly different cause the doors sagged a bit when I put them on.  They were hanging low and jamming when you shut them.  It was more like they would scrape against the back plate, striker plate, the door jam and side of door.

What we finally ended on is grinding down the back plates on both sides and shimming the striker plate so that it was recessed.  This was allowed the doors to clear easily and the back plate guide the doors into place.  Perfect!!  Now the doors shut well and line up just right (wiping forehead).  Close call but it's done.

Then I spent the rest of the time with Jon's help hammering down some high spots on the hood and fenders.  Added some light bondo and sanded for awhile.  It was wet outside today so it took forever for it to dry before sanding but it got done. There isn't much left but maybe a couple more days of work.  Almost there..........

 Here's what I have left:
1. Finish up the driver side rear fender bondo
2. Finish up the hood bondo
3. spot check the rest of the car for minor blemishes/touchups
4. Take the body off on saw horses
5. Hammer out the H-Apron and bondo
6. The body isn't sitting down on the pan on the driver side (1/2" blocked by the jack stand).  cut out the metal on the top of the jack stand and reweld so body can sit flush on the pan
7. Weld in door skin on the bottom of door rusted out and fiberglass the hold at the corner of door
8.  Paint this bitch.....

Get that done and I can paint.  Looks like I might not get that done before the weather goes cold for good.  If that happens, I think I'll work on the upholstery for the front seats and rear seats.  Must.....see.....paint.......I'm obsessed. 

Prep for Paint....FINALLY

I am now actually seeing the the light at the end of the tunnel. A few times, I actually begun to doubt I'd ever be this close to having a final paint job complete. I was ready to farm the next step of prepping for paint out because I just don't have the patience and I'm ready for the project to be done.  I know I'm well past the halfway mark but it's time to get on the road.
Jon talked me out of (just like the welding) and I'm going to do it myself. He was a big help once again to show me the ropes. It's not that difficult but requires the time and patience to get it right. 
 Again, I would rather staple my head to the floor than do this but I want to get it done right and I only trust myself and Jon to get it right. Even if there are imperfections, frankly, I don't really care because I would only have myself to blame.

Here I am working on the gas tank while Jon works on the Holy Grail of aircooled vehicles....the "W" decklid.  I think he's particularly pleased to say that he has done some body work on this piece. It's bragging rights for certain. Kind of like when you can brag about the girl that everyone wanted to date but could never get close enough to talk to. 
 The gas tank is in great condition but it has some typical pitting from the fuel that's spilled over the years.

Here is the right quarter panel that Jon and I worked on.  He did most of (ok.....all of it) the Bondo work.  There was a quarter sized hole that needed to be filled.  We covered it in fiberglass and then Bondo to top it.  He did a fantastic job.

 The front nose has so many pitting spots.  They're not hard to fill and take care of, but they are in tricky spots and there are just so damned many.  It took me hours to get this done and have it look right.  I'm still working on some of the areas still.  You can see the pink spots all along where the hood seal will go.  The trunk has some trouble spots too so I want those to look good since I'll be painting this area as well.

 I worked on this area and it came out pretty well.  The front corners of the nose needed to be smoothed out.  There were some gaps when the new front apron was welded in.  The fiberglass and Bondo is getting it to look "sealed". 

    Last, the fenders have pitting and holes in some typical trouble spots.  I had to spot weld in the holes where I could, grind them down and then Bondo over it to make it look right.  I've had to push this part off for a couple of months because I could never find a time when Katie wasn't taking a nap or having to watch her.  Grinding is so loud and usually wakes up everyone around you.  You can see how long it has been because of the rust around the edges.  That will come off when I grind it down....no worries.

Home Sweet Home

Well......IT'S BACK.  It was a extremely rainy morning but a short ride in a U-Haul and a little help from Jon and my neighbor, Steve, the Oval is back in my garage.  Katie is so darned cute.....she came rushing over to see what was inside.  I don't think she really even remembered that this was in the garage really.  But BOY she was excited.  With the help of Steve and Jon, we just just unloaded it right into the garage onto the 4x4's.  At this point, it seemed logical to just set it right on top of the chassis to see how well it fit.  No time like the present.  It fit fantastically great.  I was a bit nervous because when it went to Chris Bolin's we didn't intend to replace the heater channels.  When they come off, it's a bit scary because you just don't know 100% for certain that it will all fit exactly as it should. 

Nick was ready to go for a ride.  He jumped in the back and found his spot.
 

 

It was very cool to look at the rear of the car and see that classic "W" deck lid.....one of a kind for sure. And take a look at that engine.  Nothing is finer than a clean engine that has been rebuilt.  Especially sitting below that oval window.  Not a common site.  Check out Jon.  What a great sport!  I think he's enjoying this moment too! 

It was a short day for certain but it was so important.  I've been a bit of a wreck not knowing how or when I would get this back.  Chris did some great work on this car.  I love seeing the body in it's expoxy primer.  What a joy and I got so caught up in the moment, that we put the seats on their track and took some pictures with the kids!  What is amazing is that it's actually starting to look like a car! I think I went back into the garage six times that night just to take a peek. A went to bed with a warm grin that evening :) The next step is to get ready and prep for paint.

Yin without the Yang

It's been 9 months since the body has left the building.  Like most things with this car, it has taken longer than we all anticipated.  We surely thought it would be done by now.  Not so lucky.  I've been patiently waiting to get the body back and the first estimate of July came and went......the second in September came and went......the third before Christmas came and went.......but I was assured that definitely in March I'll get the body back.  NOPE.  Not going to happen and I'm not happy at all.  It's been 9 months and there has been some great progress.  But then again, after 9 months you'd expect some great progress, right?  Chris works his tail off during the week and I think this project is just more than he can handle.  So it's time that I go bring the lady home and call it a day.  Stay tuned for the next blog post to see how that turns out.  In the mean time, here's what has happened during that time where yin has been missing its yang.

The chassis is done and looks awesome! She is ready to receive her other half and boy I can't wait for that day. I'm seriously having a hard time being patient but what the heck can you do? The wheels were sandblasted and painted by Chris. I took them to Hick's VW to have them mounted and man.....they look awesome. It looks like a car now....or a really cool go cart, I suppose. I had to put one moon hubcap on just to get a glimpse of the future. These are the little things that keep you going. I had to clean out the carburetor, attach the accelerator linkage, put new clamps on the axle boots to stop the leaking, reattach the air cleaner, and weld in the j-tubes so they don't leak exhaust.  It's all done now except for the heater boxes.  I realized much later after I had finished the engine that I didn't have those.  Found some good ones used that I can restore later.  I might have said that in an earlier post.....too much time passing on this thing!

Here's what Christ has been able to do so far. He has the body on a rotisserie so that he can work on it easier. Everyone needs this in their garage. You can see where he replaced the heater channels. It wasn't what we planned on doing but after pulling off the bottom plate, we found the tube was Swiss cheese along the right side.  Then, the right side was fine but the bottom plate didn't match.  So it was easier and would match better if we just replaced the heater channel.  I was nervous that when we brought the car back it wouldn't fit right on the chassis pan.  This way we have a much better chance.  The cross bars are tacked on to prevent a twist in the car.  Think of it like insurance.

You can see here where the radio slot has been filled in.  It was fit with sheet metal and topped with filler. (not too sure what to think about that surface rust.....mmmmmm)

You can see here where Chris repaired areas that were not problematic but had little perforations.  I had intended to fill them with Bondo-Glass but Chris wanted to patch them with sheet metal.  Long term, I'm thrilled with his plan.  He also rebuilt the front passenger side door bottom corner.  It was mangled and rusted out.  he reshaped and fabricated new metal to fix it.  It looks great and matches the other side quite well.  Nice work indeed.  He also blasted and painted the gas tank, and seats.

Alas......I want to give Chris the time to finish this.  But he's expecting a baby any day the first week of March.  He won't surface for another 6 months and I just don't want to wait that long.  I'm going to have to finish this myself or take it to someone like Transporter Werks.  What frustrates me a bit is that there seems to be a lot of surface rust that I had removed before.  In some respects, I feel like I'm a bit further behind than I was before.  Although they say you shouldn't cry over spilled surface rust......or something like that.  Time to buck up and get this thing back and done.  Summer will be here soon and we will all need to go for a ride!