Another Rust Hole

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted...we've been been busy preparing to celebrate The Savior's birth. It's been a hectic but fun time.

Here's the bad rust hole that is right exactly where the heater channel needs to be welded on in the back. That hole is two layers thick and will need to be repaired and reinforced on the bottom.



Steve starts by making a template out of cardboard.



Then he cuts the sheet metal...



Then shapes it...


(Gotta keep them pant legs out of the way, you know...)

Getting close!



It'll take a bit more work to shape it just right, then he'll weld it into place. That much closer to putting in the heater channel!

So, here's the plan. We can't drive this car or really even tow it till the rusted-out heater channel gets replaced, since it is the main side support. So that's what we hope to get accomplished by the spring. Then, the floor pans and front cross beam can be fixed, also some various other things...like the brake lines and such. We hope to have the body back down onto the chassis by the end of summer, and maybe we'll be able to enter the car in the Tulsa VW show, even if we just tow it there! My ultimate goal for 2007 is to have it "running", certainly not completely restored perhaps, but running by October. I want to drive it in the Boo Ha Ha Parade in Tulsa.

Christmas Came Early!

At least for me it did! My new parts came in, we picked them up on Saturday and it was very exciting!

See, here are the two new floor pans, the front cross member and the new driver's side heater channel...all set up in my living room (along with the Christmas tree and some laundry!)



Sunday, after church, I moved the stuff out to the shop. This is kinda the way it will look in the car.



See this hole in the front driver's side wheel well?



That will have to be repaired before we put the new heater channel on, because the heater channel attaches on right there, on the inside. Here's the repair panel. We don't need all of it, we'll just cut what we need to fit.



Here's the new heater channel.



Remember that patch Steve was working on? He got it finished. He sprayed some rust converter up in between the layers of sheet metal, used our neighbor's air compressor to really blow it up in between, then welded the patches into place. Here's the end result. Very nice! It will just need some seam sealer



Then Steve started getting the area where the front cross member attaches ready. It will need to be smooth and positioned just perfectly before he welds it into place. Matthew sat by and watched.



Here he is, giving it a test fit. See the notes, measurements and illustrations I made before removing the old one?

We've Got Ourselves a Rust Hole!

Actually, we have a lot of rust holes. But since we're eating this elephant one bite at a time, Steve has started to work on this particular hole that should be repaired before we put the new heater channel in.

This rust hole goes through three thicknesses of the car.



Here Steve is cutting out the rusty part...only cutting out that part of the layer that needed to be replaced.



Then he made templates out of cardboard, just like Chad suggested in the Bug Me Video. He made three templates, one for each layer of repair. This is the top template.



Then he cut and trimmed each piece, till it fit snuggly into place. The sheet metal he used is part of what used to be the old floor pan, I believe...some of it was still in pretty good condition. Waste not, want not.





Here's what it looks like...



This is what it looks like from underneath the car...nice, huh??



Now he just wants to treat the area with a rust reformer, then he'll weld it into place and cover it with seam sealer.

Here's what he plans on tackling next!



It's good that we have lots to do indoors...this is what it looks like outside our shop!