My first bodywork attempt, 71 beetle
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:24 am
Thought I'd take some time and actually contribute to this forum, instead of just lurking. Here are some pics of the progress I've made on my 71 so far...
...as it looked when I bought it. Not bad from afar, but there were lots of imperfections in the paint. Solvent pop, pinholes, swirls, overspray, you name it. There was also some cracking filler on the hood, which drove me nuts.
...cutting out the floors. I replaced the drivers side front and rear, and passenger side front sections, leaving the seat track sections in place. In retrospect I didn't need to cut this much metal out, but I just got a little crazy with the air tools.
...both front wheelhouses were previously repaired, here's what I ended up cutting out on both sides:
...and here's what the repaired sections looked like. I had to create "L" shaped patch panels to rejoin the heater channel to the new patch panels, as a portion of the original channel was cut away. Not a factory correct approach, but strong.
...the hood had been hit previously, and needed to be hammer and dollied back into shape.
...I got a little ahead of myself and had to go back and fix some rusted out fender nuts
...with these:
...moving to the rear quarters, I found some nasty rot on the passenger side. The drivers side was not bad, just needed a couple fender nuts.
...you can see a few of the "repairs" done previously in that pic, this is what I found all over the car. Old rust treated with some chemical, then bashed in, and patches welded(poorly) over the rust. Here's a pic of the repaired wheel arch and quarter:
...and another side shot. In this you can see the a bit of the interior... the floor pans and tunnel are painted with 2 coats of POR15 silver.
...at this point I stopped taking pictures. The windows were removed, and the body was taken down to bare metal and given 2 coats of Dupont Nason Ful-Poxy epoxy primer/sealer. After bodywork, here are some pic of the car in high build primer (Dupont Nason Ful-Thane):
...as of last night, I've got the roof, front and rear quarters block sanded to 400 grit, this weekend I hope to get the hood, decklid, and front and rear aprons done, and move to wet sanding with 800.
...One day she'll roll again!
Mike
...as it looked when I bought it. Not bad from afar, but there were lots of imperfections in the paint. Solvent pop, pinholes, swirls, overspray, you name it. There was also some cracking filler on the hood, which drove me nuts.
...cutting out the floors. I replaced the drivers side front and rear, and passenger side front sections, leaving the seat track sections in place. In retrospect I didn't need to cut this much metal out, but I just got a little crazy with the air tools.
...both front wheelhouses were previously repaired, here's what I ended up cutting out on both sides:
...and here's what the repaired sections looked like. I had to create "L" shaped patch panels to rejoin the heater channel to the new patch panels, as a portion of the original channel was cut away. Not a factory correct approach, but strong.
...the hood had been hit previously, and needed to be hammer and dollied back into shape.
...I got a little ahead of myself and had to go back and fix some rusted out fender nuts
...with these:
...moving to the rear quarters, I found some nasty rot on the passenger side. The drivers side was not bad, just needed a couple fender nuts.
...you can see a few of the "repairs" done previously in that pic, this is what I found all over the car. Old rust treated with some chemical, then bashed in, and patches welded(poorly) over the rust. Here's a pic of the repaired wheel arch and quarter:
...and another side shot. In this you can see the a bit of the interior... the floor pans and tunnel are painted with 2 coats of POR15 silver.
...at this point I stopped taking pictures. The windows were removed, and the body was taken down to bare metal and given 2 coats of Dupont Nason Ful-Poxy epoxy primer/sealer. After bodywork, here are some pic of the car in high build primer (Dupont Nason Ful-Thane):
...as of last night, I've got the roof, front and rear quarters block sanded to 400 grit, this weekend I hope to get the hood, decklid, and front and rear aprons done, and move to wet sanding with 800.
...One day she'll roll again!
Mike
