Picking up the Pace!

We're getting ready for the Tulsa VW Car Show...only a month away! We work on the car almost every evening now.

After we got the body back down onto the chassis, Steve fine-tuned the areas that had been repaired so that they fit perfectly. Finally, when everything fit back together just right, he held it all securely in place using self-tapping screws. This is just a temporary step, till he can get everything welded into place.

Then we rolled the car out into the driveway for the first time in months!

Steve took the driveway blower and blew out all the dust and debris that had accumulated over time inside.

I took a couple of jugs of water and very carefully washed the car and then waxed it.



Steve got a sliver of metal in his thumb.



Once we got the car spiffed up, we lifted the body back up onto the sawhorses and rolled the chassis back out.



It will be easier for Steve to weld the chassis support beam into place and the floor pans as well, with the body off.

Ok, Steve got the chassis support beam welded into place. If you recall, the beam was only spot welded to the bottom but was solidly welded across the top of the tunnel. Remember how much trouble we had getting it apart? Well, Steve just has it spot welded at this time. He's going to lower the body back down, re-check the alignment, put the floor pans back into proper position, then lift the body back up and weld the chassis support solidly in across the tunnel.



Here is the lip where the floor pans will be welded. The steady march of time had begun to show where we had removed the other pans...it had a fine sheen of rust forming on the metal. Tom Imes from the VW Club told us about a zinc product that you can spray on and weld through that will keep this from occuring, so Steve cleaned up the area again with the brush on his drill, then I sprayed the zinc spray on. It's all ready now for the floor pans to be welded into place.



We also worked on cleaning up the seat tracks. The ones that came with the new pans are just awful. A real hassle to deal with, so Steve is going to remove them and weld the old ones into place. Here he is, cleaning up those old rusty seat tracks. See how a little wire brush can work wonders??!!



I sprayed them with the zinc spray on the surfaces that will be welded and then rust converter into the crevices and then with just plain Rustoleum on the rest. They look great now. Like new.