Where have I been?

So, I'm a bit behind on the project. The good news is you haven't missed anything! I've been so busy at work and such that my project has been sitting right where I left it. Also, I hate Texas heat. I hate it so much, I pretty much stayed inside. My grass is even an eyesore.
However, it cooled off the last few days, so I got out there tonight and got busy.

I wanted to finish the underside of the pan, but couldn't easily flip it with tranny and all still attached. So, with wrench a swingin, I took out the tranny. Removing a tranny would be so much easier if the dang e-brake cable wasn't such a pain in the butt to remove!

Anyway, tranny out, pan's flipped to start restoring the underside of the chassis! I'll send pics when I start on it!!

-Volkswatson

Still here!

I know it may seem that I fell off the earth. Not so, we've just been vacationing, holidayin', and work has been night n day lately.

Keep watching, I'm planning on starting the chassis bottom soon...

Volkswatson



- Posted from my iPhone

Crazy day of progress...

What a weird day. I & my whole family have this mucus sinus thing going on, & I noticed the only time I feel better, is when I am workin(doin something physical). Forgive me if this post is short and boring, for my head is pounding & my medicine is makin me foggy...

So, I got busy tacking down the passenger pan with the old welder, then made a trip to Wally world to get a few 3m rust removal discs...
After I ground down the welds with the grinder, I took after the tunnel with the 3m wheels. They worked great! I also removed the front end, so I could grind it down as well. Once I had it all shining like a penny, it was almost painting time!
This time, a trip to ABC auto to get some seam sealer. Got that on, and painted up all the shiny parts with masterseries. This completed my first complete coat, so I grabbed some cocoa and started on coat #2 of masterseries. By this time, it's getting dark, so I finish up this coat, & call it a day.
Great progress, sickness & all!


Closeup of paint & seam sealer:


DOH! Stupid moth!


- Posted from my iPhone

Next side - with Help!

I cut the passenger side out last week and got started on the new pan tonight with some help!

I was just planning to fit the pan in an put some clecos in, as it was getting late. The girls found some of my brush attachments for my grinder and started scraping off the shipping paint!
Well, being that we are in East Texas, and the humidity is ALWAYS high, I wasn't going to leave bare metal out on my new pan! So I showed the girls how to use the attachments the proper way (on the grinder), and we got it all nice and shiny for paint.

Little did I know, Avery, who is turning 6 as I type this, was wearing a brand new shirt that she got for her birthday. Well, I told them that they could not get any of the Masterseries Paint on them, or it would not come off. Sure enough, they did, and I got quite the tongue lashing when the wifey got home!

Anyway, we got the pan 90% covered, and I only left where I need to tack down unpainted. I plan on doing it VERY SOON.

FIRST POST!

I'm not going to pretend to be a wordy kinda guy, but I do want to document the restoration of my 1965 vw beetle. So, if you are looking for something witty, this may not be your cup o' tea. However, I do try to be a least readable, so thanks for stopping by...

I started resto a few weeks back (bout the time the first cool front came through). I think the cool weather inspires me to work outside a lot more (I'd rather shiver than sweat).


Here is a few of my initial pics:

Here is the pan after I scrapped off what was left of the tarboard on the tunnel (hence the charcoal-looking stuff). I really seriously thought about leaving these pans in, because they only have a little bit of rust in the rear. I removed the pedal cluster, master cylinder and brake lines. The lines all looked good, so I just sanded them down and painted them with some cheapo primer to keep them from rusting.

In case you are wondering, I am only replacing parts that are completely unusable. If it can be restored cheaply, I'm going to keep it. The german stuff is ALWAYS better.







A few weeks later (!@*&$^% Jeep needed some TLC that required my attention), I brought out big daddy sawzall (I love that tool) and hacked the drivers pan out. This is the best tool for the job, but you hafta control it, or it will eat up too much of your tunnel lip if you're not careful. Thankfully, I have done a pan replace before on an old ghia, so I knew what to watch out for... Oh, I also went back and peeled off all the old pan pieces still tacked on to the tunnel (if you have never done this, it is tedious but necessary). This leaves little tack-weld bit on the lip of the tunnel that will need to be ground down with a grinder.

And finally, today, 10/31/09, I ground down all the old spot welds along the old tunnel lip, tacked in the new driver pan, stripped every last bit of the shipping paint off of the new pan (yeah grinder and wire wheel!) and gave it a coat of Masterseries Rust Sealer (AWESOME STUFF!). I plan to pick up a new pan for the passenger side this week. (cross your fingers for me!) Once I get the passenger pan in, I will strip all the rust and gunk off the rest of the top of the chassis and slap on some more Masterseries. BTW, I used clecos to hold the pan in place as I hammered it down to the lip. This helps hold it in place, and helps the weld to be nice and tight between the pan and tunnel lip.

Until next time!

Volkswatson