25) Heater Channel Work

I've got the body rolled over on its side now, peeling off the bottom cover of the heater channels. Since I replaced the front section which didn't come with the bottom cover, I figured this was a good time to replace the entire length. I wanted to expose (hopefully) the last of the rust, and be done with it once and for all!





Another piece that I wanted to improve was the pipe that the hot air travels through up to the front. The originals were all rusted, and were not air tight. My solution was to buy some galvanized steal tubing from McMaster-Carr, and some 90 degree pipe fittings to plumb the hot air up to the front.





After sandblasting I painted the inside of the channels with Magnet Paint Chassis Saver. (Found at my local paint supply store) I really like how this stuff goes on, and drys to a nice smooth finish. I will be using this paint where ever I want to protect against future rust, rock chips, and general dirty shenanigans : )





Here is everything painted up and finished. To get to this point, I drilled a zillion holes in the covers, sprayed weldable zink primer on the spots to be welded, welded all the holes up, ground down the welds, and painted on the rust paint.





Here is the back section, you can see the 90 degree elbow sticking out. I ended up welding up the old hole that the heater channel was sticking out of, and cut a circular hole that the fitting would fit nicely in.

24) Front apron grill

So after thinking (read: worrying) about air flow the other day, I finally bit the bullet and decided to add some venting to the front apron. This was hard for me because I really wanted ALL of the body work on this car to be stock, and this would change the attitude of the car a little. But I want to be functional above all, and I really don't want to be caught 100's of miles away and have this thing over heat :)

I finally came up with the idea of using a grill just like a super beetle. The problem with the super beetle is the grill up front is very rounded, and it just wouldn't work in this virtually flat apron. Then it hit me, I have a spare hood, and it's got the fresh air vents up top! Sure enough, I cut it out and it fits perfectly! I really like how this is going to look, because it will match the one of the hood!





Here are the first few welds. I'm being super careful here about heat and burn through. I don't want to alter these perfect vents. I couldn't only imagine how hard it would be to fix them.





A few more welds, slowly...





The finished product. I'm in love!

23) Radiator bracing

Here is the initial planning for the radiator bracing. The round bars that are crossed are just there for bracing the front end temporarily (to keep it straight). I will leave out the sheet metal that is normally behind and below the spare tire. I'm framing the area with square 3/4" tubing. I will triangulate the corners for strength and keep this whole front end square. My plan is to make this area generic enough that I can use many different radiators (if needed) I will (hopefully) just have to make new radiator mounting brackets that will bolt to these cross bars.





Here is my new radiator (its aluminum made by Mishimoto for a Honda Civic) The copper 90' fitting is there representing the shape of coolant hose I'll have to find. You can see here the cross bar in front and the cross bar below that I will build the brackets onto. I plan to close this top section all in with either aluminum or fiberglass. Air flow will come from the entire open floor, plus vents that I will weld into the front apron. Coming next!





Here is the detail of strengthening the corners. I'm integrating the original gas tank support into the bracing.

22) Planning for the trunk

So the trunk will no doubt be a bit different on this Beetle. First of all since this will be a water cooled car now (I know, the purists are cringing) I will be placing the radiator in the spare tire wheel well. This shot is where I'm thinking about putting the spare tire. I'll make a nice sturdy bracket / brace for it. I'm also on the prowl for a lighter Porsche collapsible spare. This will give me more room to work with. I think I can say that I'm going to give up any trunk space here. Next I'll show you what I'm thinking for my radiator!

21) Further progress on the front end

This section has been sand blasted and primed with weldable primer. Just about ready to weld in the quarter panel.





The final mock up of the two quarter panels and the front clip. Everything is lining up pretty good. I will attempt to keep everything as straight as I can as I start to tack everything in.





The start of the spot welds! I drilled holes into the quarter panel, and welded each one up. It was important to weld each time in a completely different area so the heat would not build up and warp the panel. The edge were the drip rail and panel come together (In front of the door) will be a tricky area to perfect. I have to bend the outside edge around to the front. I will carefully grind the welds down first.





Here I've tacked on the weather strip holding piece. This metal is a bit thinner then the rest of the car, so I had to go quickly to not burn through. My first side I had drilled holes through the strip, and welded them up, but I found that this was too aggressive. The other side I ended up just welding spots directly beside the strip, and moving in on the strip. This gave a much cleaner weld, and actually burned through much less. After welding, I went through and ground down the top and bottom of each weld.





Here is the right side after grinding the welds down, bending the edge over, and hammer / dollying the crap out of it for a while. Turned out pretty good. Any section that was bulging out a bit, I hit with a flat file. Later when I'm doing paint prep, I may revisit this area and make sure this line is very smooth and straight. Maybe a little bondo (and paint, make it what it aint! :)