What did you do to your volkswagen today?

did even more sanding on the rear suspension clip for my sand rail.

Also i finally started cutting spacers out of aluminum for a stock 34 pict. i plan to make an adaptor plate also out of aluminum, for the weber two barrel intake, so i can mount the stock carb in place. i got to rise the carb up, hence the reason for making spacers. its simply a few aluminum sheetmetal cut to the shape of intake gaskets. i'll stack alternating spacers and gaskets to get the height i need. I just want to see how a stock 34 pict performs with a turbo. should be interesting.

I worked on the passenger front fender this morning on the '68. Ground down the welds and filled them. I knocked dents in and out. Wiped filller and stick blocked it. Kept on either putting too much filler or sanding too much and having to put more filler. I will get it straight one way or another I kept telling myself. I have one major dent left to block down the other four places are good.

Tonight I worked on the waterbug. I sand blasted one side of the pan, the inside, and painted it with Ace rust proofing in gloss black. (It sure does look and smell just like Rustolem but half the price) I have sand everywhere on and in my body. I'll flip it over and do the other side the bottom after the top side dries.

petervalle wrote:Yes, Northern Tools and Equipment www.northerntool.com The welder is on sale for $249 + shipping (helmet not included). It is the same as a Lincoln, they even tell you that if you need any replacement parts, that you get them for a Lincoln. You can use it with or without gas. I used it this afternoon and it works awesome with CO2

no offense meant to lincoln, actually have one myself, but hey are one of the hardest to get parts for, and service can be a nightmare!
If you have the cash, Miller is the route to go, Second is Hobart and Lincoln following.
The one pictured has the regulator with it which is best, fluxcore is not the greatest to to body work.

If you want to go cheap (or new to welding), check harbor Freight, I bought a mig that size but no gas capabilities. They go on sale for $99 occasionally, and if you register on line can get 10-20% off coupons. The one I bought fried on the first pull of the trigger, took it back and got a replacement and used it for years. Kept it on my service truck to go where my leads would not reach. Just sold it to a GA Dubber before the yard sale and hopefully he will get many years of service from it!

noticed that you were using CO2? Use argon, or an argon mix, straight co2 is for aluminum I believe. Just make sure its argon and not accytalyne, hate to see what would happen with the latter!!!

meinvw wrote:noticed that you were using CO2? Use argon, or an argon mix, straight co2 is for aluminum I believe. Just make sure its argon and not accytalyne, hate to see what would happen with the latter!!!

cutting and welding at the same time, you would never get anything done that way

meinvw wrote: Just sold it to a GA Dubber before the yard sale and hopefully he will get many years of service from it!

I've already welded a lot with it. Still haven't fixed the switch yet (its on my to do list, lol). i already went thru two spools of 2lb wire. works great. welded a bit on my sand rail cage, and did some replacement panels on my 73 mercury comet. haven't had any problems. and my welds are getting better and better the more i use it. I guess the old saying is true "practice makes perfect". and since i started using that welder, i tried my hand at my stick welder again, and i was actually able to make some fairly decent welds with it. still not the best, but much better then before.

in fact, i was gonna go do some more welding on the comet today. so it will some use today. thanks again for the welder.

59suicide wrote:

meinvw wrote:noticed that you were using CO2? Use argon, or an argon mix, straight co2 is for aluminum I believe. Just make sure its argon and not accytalyne, hate to see what would happen with the latter!!!

cutting and welding at the same time, you would never get anything done that way

Now you've made me start thinking.......Always wanted a plasma cutter......Act gas on the weld would probably be a trip to the ER or mourge. Maybe the o2 tank hooked up......if I am not back on in the next few days send a card to the hospital!!

And BM, the difference with the switch is not worth it. Buy a roll of duct tape and your good to go!

I went to finish the other side of my pan and the paint wasn't dry yet...maybe tomorrow. I'm still filling and blocking on the fender for the '68. I put a good coat on today before calling quits so maybe in the morning I can re-prime it.

yeah, i still have the same duct tape on there, but its starting to loose its stickyness, and not work so well. i'll stop by homedepot eventually and buy a new switch, lol.

Today i bought an IRS roller pan, but with no beam. had the whole rear IRS suspensionwith wheels tho. got it for $100. It was the ad on craigslist for the freeway flyer trans, and IRS tunnel. decided not to get the trans. couldn't turn the input shaft, and i don't know much about tranny's, so i didn't chance it. It was probrobly good. it still had the CV axles on it, and they werent loose or anything, and seemed to turn freely. i'll rolly just throw one of my trannys on there.

meinvw wrote:

59suicide wrote:

meinvw wrote:noticed that you were using CO2? Use argon, or an argon mix, straight co2 is for aluminum I believe. Just make sure its argon and not accytalyne, hate to see what would happen with the latter!!!

cutting and welding at the same time, you would never get anything done that way

Now you've made me start thinking.......Always wanted a plasma cutter......Act gas on the weld would probably be a trip to the ER or mourge. Maybe the o2 tank hooked up......if I am not back on in the next few days send a card to the hospital!!

:Laughing: you will be alright as long as you wear eye protection

Didn't get anything done on the bug this weekend. Spend 24 of the last 48 hours in a truck driving to IL to get my '39 Chevy and driving back.
Going to be hard spliting what little time I have between the bug and the 39 now.

On the way home


In her new garage, finally after all these years. I've had this car for 20 years.

Well today I finished filling and priming the right front fender on my '68. Now All I have left to do is the hood, both doors, the left front fender, both rear fenders, the roof and gut the interior. Oh yea! Build the motor.

It's not what I did to my VW but more what I did to my wife.

71_georgia_beetle wrote:It's not what I did to my VW but more what I did to my wife.

Congrats!!

I guess the Bus was rockin' at some point!

rpm750 wrote:I guess the Bus was rockin' at some point!

When we reversed the weeks back from the due date it appears that she got an extra gift for Christmas.

I filled and blocked the left front fender today as well as welding in patches in the light bucket. I hit the bare spots with acid etch primer.

My 48 led third brake lite showed up today for the waterbug. I will mount it on the wing or the engine cover. I coated the inside of my floor pans with bed liner after the gloss black paint finally dried.

I shaped the down-turn on my wing today on the waterbug. Next time I'll shape it before it goes together. It was a PITA. to do after it's mounted and all riveted together.

yesterday: cleaned the 74 super out. tore out the carpet and did a bit of rust removal on the pans. also did some painting on the rear clip for the sand rail.

Today: did some more paint stripping, and painting on the body. looks Sweeeeet. Also did more sanding and painting on the rear clip for the sand rail.

took the '74 for a spin, then shortened the jetta's shifter 1-1/2"

Drove to work today. Sitting at the stop light - it turns green - give it some gas and release the clutch - now I'm laying down in the back seat. That was real fun. I guess I'll be attempting some welding tonight to try and re-attach the seat track to the pan.

drove some neihborhood kids around in it yesterday, they loved it... future vw'ers

fluxcap wrote:Also got my lower door skin repair panels in today. The bottom outer piece is a complete joke. It's nothing more than a flimsy piece of sheetmetal that looks hand bent. Looks like a five year old formed the bottom lip by placing it on a 2x4 and bending it. The bend isn't a sharp 90 degree angle, it's more of a rounded bend, and it's not even straight. The bottom inner section looks much nicer. Haven't tested the fit, but it looks like it was actually pressed and all the bends and curves are nice and crisp.

Boy was I wrong. I tested the fit today. The inner repair panel is an even bigger piece of turd than the outer panel. These repair sections were not expensive at all, so I shouldn't have expected much out of them, but jeez. What did they use for a template when they started making these, cause it sure as heck wasn't an original door. Some of the bends and creases were off by over half an inch. And the bottom lip that holds the seal in place was twice as large as the original lip. The first time you shut your door, that lip is going to hit the heater channel and crush upwards and prevent your door from shutting. Spent most of my free time today cutting and welding trying to make a good replacement part out of what was left of my original door and the junky replacment panel.

Installed 2.5 inch drop spindles on the 66. Strangely, the original inner bearing and grease seal wouldn't fit on the new spindle. I had to go get new inner bearings, grease seals and 69-later tie rod ends. Everything else fit fine although it's time for some narrower front tires! The 195's aren't going to work. It also looks like the front brake lines will need to be longer for turning fully either way. Might be time for a 2-inch narrowed front beam. More weirdness, the right tire is in about 3/8 inch from the lip of the fender and the left tire is out about the same. I don't know what to make of that. Maybe the upper ball joint eccentric is out on one and in on the other. I'll need to play around with the alignment and find out. Time to re-index the rear spring plates and correct that left hand lean!

Today the waterbug body was separated from it's old rusted out pan. Thanks to Ben (AKA Discosquirrel) Alex and Billie. Found the heater channels rotted out really bad. Billie and I decided to replace the heater channels with 2x4 or 2x3 steel since I can get heat from the 2.0 motor with a simple heater core in a box and a fan. The car should be a lot more rigid than before and it's actually cheaper than stock heater channels. Initially I was really bummed out but after thinking about it for awhile I think it's a better idea than stock heater channels. Good things do come from bad appearing situations.