1962 Deluxe restoration

[Zwitterkafer]

Those "nasty back corners" are scary enough to be Count Floyd approved!
Excellent work, I'll be watching the heater channel repairs closely!
( donning 3-D glasses now )
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"Criticism comes easier than Craftsmanship"
- Zeuxius, 400 BC

[sunroof]

I made a bit of a mistake when I was working on the outside A-pillar base and accidentally cut away my reference for the mounting flange to the heater channel. This necessitated dropping the body onto the heater channel to restore that reference.

At first I couldn't get the body to sit down on the pan...

Then I remembered a problem I ran into when I did my '54:

The carpet clamping strip is an inch too long at the back. I did this with heater channels for a different year car so it is something Klassicfab has not addressed for some reason.

February 16 2020, almost 3 years ago and here I am trimming an inch off the clamping strip.

A bit of a dammed nuisance to rectify...

But once done:

It still needs to come down a bit but that will come as things get trimmed away.

Now I have a few parts to weld in place

And to start thinking about the rear quarter

After looking at what is available for rear quarters and remembering how much work it was to get the Virtanen parts to fit I think I will cut this out and rebuild it and weld it back in. At least I know it will fit.

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

I forgot to take pictures of this but I finished building this corner up and tacked it in place. Very Tricky!

I clamped things in place and shot some more sparks.

This is not going to be an easy weld but slows the word and it'll get done.

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

A Christmas tradition at my house: Handel and grinding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp5hfzfGk3o

Meh, it will have to do.

There are a few small areas of rust that will have to be taken care of

This bit of nonsense here

On both sides of the bulkhead there are small bits that are going to have to be cut out and repaired. Nothing looks too challenging.

As well the base of the A-pillar will have to be sorted.

Don
_________________
Better and better mistakes!

[toxicavenger70]

Dang! Excellent work. Keep the pics coming.

[sunroof]

I haven't forgotten about you guys.

I was waiting until I got the corner done to report.

Building up the piece to go into the front corner

Test fitting, it *seems* OK

Fitting the little patch for the bit that was rusted away

Again and again test fitting and shaving and adjusting till I'm satisfied it will work

When I see how nicely this fits up I am starting to think I finally am kinda starting to know what I am doing a little bit

Welded in place and ground smooth

Just a little adjustment and trimming and the heater channel slips right in.

Make up this little bit and the front corner is done.

Which is going to involve piecing these back together

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

This should work

OK, this will have to do

Next up is the inner A pillar base and the rust that hides there

I think I will take the opportunity to use this piece I bought for my '54 and didn't end up using because it was the wrong year for my car but is just right for Tim's.

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

'nuff said

Don
_________________
Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

Into the final stretch for the left front

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

What a joy it is to use NOS parts, I just wish I could get my hands on more.

New and old:

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

That finishes the front left corner.

On the the much more complex rear corner

Don
_________________
Better and better mistakes!

[Kafer_Mike]

Good progress. Nice work! Keep it up.
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Kafer_Mike
Build 'em fast...or let 'em sit.

[toxicavenger70]

Excellent! I can't wait to see what you do for the rear corners. Keep up the great work!

[sunroof]

Because I am guessing about the best way to approach this I decided to just start making panels and hope it all works out.

The owner of the car lent me his shrinker/stretcher set so I built a mount for them and today I made my first repair section using it.

I started the usual way with a masking tape form

This is already later in the process but the mount for the shrinker made a nice anvil for bending over the flange

and then over to the stretcher to make the curve.

Many times back and forth and in about 15 minutes I had a nicely fitting part.

Same drill with the corner piece got me this far in about an hour and a half.

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

Next up, this bit of business:

I decided to do it in two pieces, top and bottom:

This was not as easy as the previous bit but it will work OK

Sheet steel is a little like cooked lasagna just requiring a little more force to get it into the shape you want.

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

In order to get access to the corner I cut this little piece away

From behind it gives us some good news, not a speck of rust to deal with

Then I really flew at her and just started chopping and chopping.

Gee, I sure hope this works

Meanwhile this all has to be cut and shaped to go into the big hole I've made.

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

Cutting and cutting. Everytime I cut something away the remaining sheet metal would shift in some way. I decided I had better drop the body on the pan to make sure everything is where it ought to be before I throw any sparks

I think I may be able to start welding soon. This piece will be a little tricky, it is curved so not easy to clamp in place. I will have to think of something.

This will require some thinking before I start cutting to get the outlines to match.

Some head scratching here too

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[Dan22]

You are getting really skilled at metal work there! Keep it up!
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1-0900722 die langsame grüne Schildkröte
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=765074

[sunroof]

I'm hoping to keep my mistakes small and manageable so I was just going to tack this piece in but got carried away and did the whole thing. It took a little try and error to dial in the welder since I had changed the setting to weld some box section.

Maybe I should talk about the box section for a moment...

You can see in this picture that the cross brace for the body brace is close to the back blocking access to the whole section I need to work on.

Someone at the door, I'll be right back...

Don
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Better and better mistakes!

[sunroof]

Woops! I forgot all about you guys. Hopefully you found something to do while I was away.

OK where were we? Oh yeah:

I moved the cross brace up so I could work on the back

As well cut the heater pipe out.

It fits into the new sheet metal very nicely,

The new part does not have this doubler so I will separate it from the old part and weld it in where it needs to be.

Still work to do on this piece, I don't know what that raised area is on the top, it certainly is not there on the original part. I will have to figure out how to get rid of it.

Mañana

Don
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Better and better mistakes!