Body On!

Well, we had a pretty busy weekend!!

On Friday evening, after Steve got in from work, we went out to start prepping the floor pans. Steve wanted to take the back brace off of them, since the ones we had were in good shape. We did it just like Mr. Higgins in the Bug Me video said.






Then we set the pans into place. I got such a thrill out of how it looked!



That was it for that evening...we pushed the chassis back into the shop and went in and watched the "Body Off" Bug Me video again to refresh our memory on how to get the car back onto the chassis.

On Saturday, we participated with our VW club in a car show at a local library. Afterward, while we were eating, Steve and I mentioned that we were only a little ways from our house and if anyone wanted to come over they could come see our car. (I sometimes worry that the club might not think I even "own" a VW, since unless they've checked out the blog, no one has ever actually seen it!)

So pretty soon a whole bunch of folks from the club came over and checked out the Beetle and visited. The VWs parked out in my side lawn caused quite a stir in my neighborhood, people were driving by really slowly!



The rest of the weekend was filled with getting ready to attach the chassis back on to the body. Steve drilled holes on in the edge of the floor pan to make it easier to weld them into place.



He also removed the paint from the front cross support.



Matthew worked on removing some tacks that had formally held the pan seal in place.



Finally everything was ready. Just as we were getting ready to push the chassis into the shop and begin the process of reconnecting the two, company came! Our friends from church showed up.



They have experience working with Beetles and they just pitched right in and started helping!

In no time at all, we had lifted the chassis up and bolted it back on. Here I am, bolting in one of the 17mm bolts in the rear tire well.



The car remains supported by jacks and up on the sawhorses at this time...Steve needs to grind a couple of spots down where he repaired it and it doesn't fit just right. Shouldn't be too difficult. After that, we'll lower it completely down and commence welding everything back together!

Getting Closer!

Opening up the shop!



We're a lot closer to getting the body put back down onto the chassis. Steve finished welding repairs into place in two key locations. These were two locations that had rusted away that actually sit down on the support on the chassis. These spots had to be repaired, before we could set it down.

So Steve set to work, using some of the steel from the old floor pans. Although most of the floor pan was completely shot, some parts of it were in good shape...namely the part that bolted on to the car, where it was protected by rubber and the body of the car!

Here's the old floor pan.



Steve cutting a section off.



Looks pretty good for almost 40 year old steel, huh?



Then he shaped it and got it ready to weld into place.



Here he is grinding the welded area smooth.



He went around and did another spot the exact same way on the front. That was it for the actual body work that needed to be done. We still have to put the heater channel on, but the next big item of business is the front chassis support...the Napoleon's Cap as I've heard it called. We want to get that in the right place before we progress on to the heater channel.

The Tulsa VW Car Show is coming up on September 22nd! My friend Pete from the VW Club is going to bring his car hauler and haul my car there...so we have to get it where it can move!!

Contemplating the front cross member...