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.