Now that I'm off those stupid crutches (see last post), I can finally get some work done!

Last night I worked on that driver's side patch panel some more. It's getting close to the welding stage, just a few more tweaks...

Here's a picture of those welding clamps I'm using now. I bought a bag of them at Harbor Freight for less than $10. They are more than worth it! Using these makes it quite a bit easier to get these panels on straight.



Here's one holding the patch on...


There's still a little bit of trimming to do, and that tab at the bottom has to have a 90 degree bend put into it. It folds back to meet the rocker panel. That's the last thing I'll do before welding.

I bought these really great welding clips to use on the patch panels about two weeks ago. I haven't taken a picture of them, but they really help get the patch panels on straight for welding. I'm currently using two of them to hold the current patch on. They work a lot better than using clamps or magnets.

Anyway, there's a few reasons I haven't updated recently. The electronic distributor died on the BelAir last week. It looks like a resistor or something burned out on the PCB board inside the distributor...that's what I get for using modern technology on a 50 year-old car, I guess.

Anyway, I finally got the distributor taken apart and diagnosed Sunday night...then last night I fell and sprained my ankle pretty badly. The doctors don't think it's broken, but it's pretty bad for a sprain. Needless to say, I won't be able to do a lot of panel fitting on the Bug until I'm healed up a little bit.

It's pretty bad timing, actually. I'll be on crutches for several weeks, and our son is due in less than 7 weeks. My main goal was to get the patch for the driver's side fender fully welded in before he's born...we'll see if I can do it!

I haven't been able to do anything with the bug recently. I got drafted into chauffeuring some friends from their wedding to their reception, so I had to do some work on the BelAir's air conditioning and cooling system in preparation for their big day.

The problem is that with a V8, small radiator, A/C running, and the hot temps we have been experiencing, the car has tended to overheat a bit, forcing me to cut the A/C on the hottest of days. I couldn't let that happen to Allyson and Jim, so I had to focus on getting that system in shape. I made some adjustments to the fan shroud, replaced a faulty fan switch, used a little duct tape to direct the airflow correctly over the radiator, and gave the cooling system a thorough check to try and keep things cool.

All went well, thankfully. I kept the A/C on full blast, and it worked just fine. Luckily, it was a bit overcast, so that helped the car run a little cooler.

Anyway, work on the bug should resume shortly. The door jamb patch panel needs final shaping so that welding can commence. I can't wait for sparks to start flying!

I only had a little bit of time to work on the patch panel tonight, but I did get the panel to about 85% done.

Here's a bad shot of the area that's been cut out:



It's hard to tell from this photo, but there is a whole lot of shaping that has to be done on this area. It's turning out to be a lot trickier than I thought it would, but it will get there.

Here's what the patch looks like at the moment:


There are several gentle curves in the metal, and several creases as well. You can see how wavy the panel ended up being, but it fits! The area this is going into is shaped so oddly that I have to keep working the panel with a hammer and dolly (seen behind the panel above) on each little section to get it to line up.

Here's a side view, you can start to tell how oddly this thing is shaped:


More views:


I was going to take a shot of how it all fits together, but the batteries in the camera died. That will have to wait until next time.

Mr. Bennage is having me do a few upgrades to the Bug while it's in my care. You know, new brakes, new seats, etc... I think Jeremy has some robotics experience, so I'll have to see if he can help me make a few "extra" upgrades...if you know what I mean.

After far too long, work has begun anew on the Bug. When last I worked on it, I had hand-formed a patch panel (details here) that now has to be cut out and re-formed from scratch. The metal I had used was unsuitable, so tonight, it got cut out and a new one put in its place.

So much time has passed for a few reasons. I had to rebuild a 700R4 transmission for my '55, which I broke when installing it. So, the old TH350 transmission went back in while I repaired the 700R4. Then, the engine finally died, so a new crate engine was hastily ordered and installed with the freshly repaired 700R4...which had a problem with the front pump. The 700R4 was removed and the old TH350 swapped back in again. All of this occured while I simultaneously purchased a '66 Chevy truck from a friend's grandmother and installed all new brakes to make it driveable. Now that the truck is road-worthy, and the BelAir is driving well (albeit with the old crappy transmission), it was time to put all of that aside and get my original task accomplished - restoring this Volkswagen!

Anyway, here's the steps I went through tonight:

1. Remove driver's seat. This proved a bit tricky, as I couldn't remember how I pulled the passenger seat out. Nevertheless, after a few minutes of head-scratching, it was out of the way.

2. Remove the driver's front fender. Easy...only three bolts were holding it on.

3. Cut out the old patch panel. I used a cut-off wheel and an air body saw for this.

4. I used some ancient body hammers and a cool dolly that were given to me by Michelle's uncle to flatten out the old patch panel. He was an auto body man all his life, and he gave me two buckets FULL of cool old tools. He would have given me much more, but I just didn't have room. (Below, you can see one of the hammers, the old patch panel in white, and the sheet of steel I cut the new patch panel out of.) I needed the old panel flat for the next step.


5. I used the old patch panel as a pattern, and traced the outline onto the new steel panel, then cut it out using some sheet metal snips.

6. After a lot of cleaning up of the new panel and the area on the car where the old one was removed, I started the fitting process. This means measuring carefully, then trimming the new panel to match the hole. This is very time-consuming, but it needs to be right before welding. I got about halfway through this process tonight. You can see below the current status:



And that's as far as I got tonight. It still has to be fully fitted and trimmed, then I can start the process of welding.

Posting updates to this site has become such a hassle, that I've decided to use a Blog format to make it simple.














Here's the story: Steve Bennage tasked me with restoring his 1974 VW Beetle. It's been in and out of my garage on and off for some time, and now it's time to start really attacking it. I was sidelined several times with other major projects, but I'm now going to try and focus on getting it done so that he can finally have his car back!

Anyway, I'll be posting updates as I work on the car, so stay tuned.