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My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever.
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scotty timmerman
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 7:36 am    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

yes bhartwell59 thats it.
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KidKarmann
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 5:42 am    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Made a little progress this weekend. Got the transaxle out after some fiddling and we got the axles pulled, which are bound for the scrap pile.

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Also found this dubious repair to the right rear lower shock mount. This is probably an ominous warning for what I'm going to encounter when we start knocking the paint off the right rear quarter of the body. This phenomenal weld coupled with the crunched jack point on the right side of the pan tell me I'm in for a surprise. I think I may air on the side of caution and just replace this arm since I don't know if the "repair" compromised it.

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KidKarmann
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 2:34 pm    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Our next major undertaking is removing the rear suspension. I find threads for it, but nothing terribly comprehensive on removal/installation and I would like to have some kind of game plan before I rip in to it. I did see that the trailing arms are held on with what looks to be a giant internal hex. The rest of it seems to be pretty standard nut/bolt stuff. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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KidKarmann
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 6:15 am    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

As I'm in a holding pattern on the floor/suspension while waiting for tools, I decided to tackle some body prep. This past week I just kept telling myself "If projects were easy everyone would do it."

I started knocking the paint off the passenger door, and lo and behold...filler.
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And filler hath begat slide hammer holes...
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Fortunately, the passenger door had minimal filler and only some minor panel work and plug welding to be done to remedy it. (Will update when I actually do the aforementioned metal work.) I had 7 hours in to teardown and paint/filler removal on the passenger door. But then....

The driver's door....
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And it got worse...
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The filler was applied incorrectly and after an untold number of years was actually still soft. Remember kids, Edd says "A tennis ball of filler to a pea of hardener."

I continued knocking the old gunk off with a flapdisk and sander (thus making a rather large mess in the garage). The extent of the subpar body repair was end to end on this door.
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And I found my first body rust. Hopefully this is not an omen.
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NOVA Airhead
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 6:27 am    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

It may be easier to find replacement doors in good shape than trying to fix that mess.

Does the filler extend into the body panels?

Dealing with the mess a PO has made is more work than starting with a project. After two Ghias i decided to do a project with the third (my current car). There was plenty of rust but there also were no surprises. In the end I think it was easier and ended up with a car I know is repaired right.
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KidKarmann
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 7:46 am    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

The passenger door is very much salvageable. It has a few little knocks and some holes to weld up, but nothing overly daunting. I do have an extra driver's door that came with the car, but I'm going to take a swing at this one to try to retain the original sheet metal. The passenger side has some work to be done on it. The fender is a bit lumpy, but nothing that can't be dollied out. The rear quarter has some filler, but I haven't stripped back enough paint to see the extent of the repair yet. I can't afford blasting so I'm working it off in sections so as not to leave too much bare metal exposed for too long.
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Rome
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 5:54 pm    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Yikes! Reminds me of the Great Plains ending abruptly at the Badlands, seen from 30,000 feet...
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SoCalJes
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 7:12 pm    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

I remember I thought it was bad when I found bondo until I found what the bondo was hiding. Shocked

On mine I found most of the bondo was covering sheet metal that had been welded on top of rotting metal. 0% repair 100% cover up. Rolling Eyes

The easiest way to fix those slide hammer holes is to fill the hole with a brass rod and flux. I like brass because it doesn't over heat the metal and is easy to hammer and dolly the surrounding metal smooth. Grinding filled in holes with a welder often warps the metal from over heating which only means "BONDO", My $0.02 on that...

I used a wire wheel to cut through all the bondo, just make sure you use a good mask! Stripped it all down to bare metal. I used a clear non oily spray from Eastwood and kept it in bear metal for over 2 months until it was ready for primer and it is super humid here but never seen a spec of rust developing on the surface. I don't remember the name but call Eastwood and they will know what it is.
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motorhead364
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 7:15 pm    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Mother of gawd that's a lotta bondo!!

Probably best to find a door. They are tough to patch and get straight afterwards.
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motorhead364
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 7:16 pm    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Also you can use a torch to soften the bondo and scrape it off. Keeps the dust down.
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KidKarmann
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 5:20 am    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

SoCalJes wrote:

The easiest way to fix those slide hammer holes is to fill the hole with a brass rod and flux. I like brass because it doesn't over heat the metal and is easy to hammer and dolly the surrounding metal smooth. Grinding filled in holes with a welder often warps the metal from over heating which only means "BONDO", My $0.02 on that...


I have a 110V mig welder. I'm going to play around with the ugly door. The heat isn't as extreme with the low voltage so I'll see what I can do with it. I don't have a torch rig so hopefully I can get away with the baby mig without having to shell out the cash for a torch.
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motorhead364
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 12:39 pm    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Use .23 wire if you can. Puts out less heat. That door skin will start warping quick. And keep a wet rag close. Tack/blot etc.

For the bondo go to Home Depot or the like and get a hand held torch with a screw on bottle. Plenty hot for removing the bondo.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 7:55 am    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Latest update. Given the amount of bodywork on this thing that will need to be done and the apparent rough life it had in the past (as I have now found body filler on 3 of the 4 corners and both doors), restoring to original would be financially nonsensical. We (being my son and I) have decided to go mild outlaw with it. Since it is a later model with a smaller collective value on the other end, we may as well have some fun with it and save the surgical nut/bolt resto for something more lucrative. We picked up a Dellorto dual carb and intake setup for it at a swap meet the other day. I have a machine shop connection to do the bits that will be needed to make it run right. Now to get a set of hammers and some paint stripper and get to work with the ironing out of the wrinkles.
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 1:58 pm    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Hey again all. Been awhile. I've been tinkering a bit when time allows and my newfound sciatica isn't wrecking my motor skills. Of late I have stripped most of the driver's side of the two coats of paint and copious amounts of filler that to this point have had no real explanation for its existence. The driver's side fender had 3-4mm of filler across the entirety of the wheel arch to about 6" up the fender and underneath it, aside from a few dimples, I can't find any damage to explain it. Same with the driver's quarter. I'll get pics as soon as I can get things cleaned up a bit.

Next question. In the next week or so I'm taking the motor to a better workspace to start in on freshening it, and before I get too far, are the threads on the flywheel gland nut standard or reverse? I'm going to spin that nut off before I relocate the motor since my neighbor has a big, bad 24v impact. Thanks!
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c21darrel
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 3:53 pm    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

standard right hand thread...lefty loosy. Lock the flywheel.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 6:27 am    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Awesome. Thanks!
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:17 am    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Me and the kid got back at it this weekend tackling a part of this that will make progress exponentially easier (and cleaner) going forward. We banged this out in about 4 hours on Saturday afternoon and it was an opportunity to get this off the to-do list and teach the kiddo some carpentry. He built 90% of it with some guidance and a helping hand where needed.

The basic framework:

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The near complete setup:

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Fortunately, my neighbor and my girlfriend were around so we could get this thing up here:

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It's on 1000 lb furniture dollies at the moment, but those are going to be replaced by the casters I picked up yesterday. The 2" dolly wheels get hung up in the seam between the garage and the driveway so the 4" caster wheels should take care of that issue. The best part is, when we're done with it I can flip it over, deck it and have a mondo work table.
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 1:00 pm    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Good choice on the 4" casters. I went with 2" and run into the same garage/driveway transition issue. I end up pulling up on the dolly to get over the expansion joint. One side effect you will not have to experience is the uneasy feeling that the dolly will flex and colapse sideways every time you want to change direction because the 2" casters don't want to rotate easily. Mine does not flex much but I still don't like the images that my nervous mind conjures up. I am planning an upgrade to 6" solid or 8" pneumatic casters in the near future.

Although there are pros and cons to both approaches, you may want to make one set of casters fixed so the dolly doesn't wander sideways when you are trying to go in a straight line (ask me how I know Rolling Eyes . ) However, the 4 free wheeling casters lets you position it much easier. As I typed this reply it occurred to me you could go fixed/free and then use the (modified) furniture dolly under the fixed casters if you need full lateral movement.

Great to hear your son is in there with you. Keep the progress coming, we're all in this together.
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KidKarmann
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 6:49 am    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Wheeled the beast out of the garage again this weekend. Between me and my son and my Dad we managed to get some more of the doomed interior trim bits removed (drip rail moldings, dash plastic, knee pad from under the dash, bits of ratty headliner, etc.) as well as removing another 26 pounds of body filler from the DS rear quarter. Whoever got ahold of that car must have had a vested interest in the continuing success of 3M because they used about seven times more than necessary on every ding and dent. I'm sure the neighbors were tickled at the cloud of filler dust that I spat forth into the jet stream from my flap disk.

That, more or less concluded the major removal of the filler from the body. Now to get rid of the two coats of paint. My aircraft remover makes short work of the top coat and primer, but once that is penetrated and the original paint is exposed it laughs a hearty, German laugh at the chemicals as it sits unfazed. Has anyone had any success with chemical paint removers on factory paint? If so, what did you use?

I also managed to get my neighbor's obscenely powerful 1/2" Snap-On rechargeable impact, and with the assistance of a 40" prybar, got the gland nut removed from the flywheel and pulled the flywheel off. The case has about 3/4" of what was once a clutch caked on it. One upside is that it looks like the main seal is fairly new, which means hopefully that some maintenance was done on it.

As for the casters on the stand, those have been put on hold until funds allow me to buy hardware to properly mount them.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 8:33 am    Post subject: Re: My '73 Coupe. First VW build ever. Reply with quote

Cool father and son project, looking forward to doing the same when my little man gets a bit older.

Does your lad already have ideas on getting hold of the keys when he's old enough Wink
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