Aircooled VW South Africa

I have cut out the passenger side floor still need to chisel the remains off the tunnel lip. The passenger side heater channel is in a very bad way, the sides of it have rusted completely away from the 2mm bottom plates I welded in 16yrs ago, you could stand on the floor and the whole floor just pulled away from the bottom of the heater channel. I'm going to try repair it using the heater channel bits I got from Donovan D and the steel plates I got from my steel supplier. I need to get a small mig welder gonna phone around and see where I can get a decent one for a good price gonna try preweld as per Tony's suggestion. Also need to find another floor for the passenger side they are available but at R2300 a bit steep maybe I can use a sheet of 1.6mm mild steel and save some dough. I will persevere with this project until it's done even if I have to buy another body or complete bug to help repair it

There was a complete late model chassis in good shape for R1500 on fb last week if this could help?

I saw that Blitz but it had no VIN on the tunnel as the late model ones have a VIN Tag on the body but it was a good buy nontheless

I rebuilt the indicator switch this past weekend was a bit fiddly with the small springs and other bits but got it sorted even the indicator self cancelling unit works again, also fitted a new ignition switch barrel that I've had in my parts box for about 8yrs. Now just to sort out a welder I'm going to pop around at adendorff this weekend if they are open and check their mig ones out.

Spent this morning fixing the broken mid mount on the clutch cable tube, made a L shaped bracket with a hook from 2mm mild steel to go around the tube, bolted this to the side of the inside of the tunnel with some M6 screws and nylock nuts, this should never be a problem again.

Also stripped the door window mechanisms out the doors to check why the windows never used to work, spiral drive wire on the drivers side one was rusted and dry so oiled and greased it up, now it works like a charm, the passenger one wasn't so lucky the little gear wheel inside the mechanism has a few stripped teeth so only works about 3/4 of a revolution so need to get a good s/h one. The window lifter channels on both doors were vrot especially the drivers side gone, it literally broke apart in two when i removed it so need 2 x good s/h ones.

I need to get the 1.6mm plate for the floor along with some 2mm plate for the heater channel closing panel and some 40 x 20mm Rectangular Tube to try and recreate the raised lip section of the pan where it bolts on the heater channel and to give the floor strength.

Keep it up Edmond

Edmond, did you manage to get sorted out with the MIG welder?

No I didn't. A friend at work said I could loan his mig but has now hired it out to another friend who runs a metal work business so this might not bear fruit. I just don't have the R3500 plus for a mig I never will

Went to brackenfell steel this morning and got some 1.6mm plate and 50 x 25mm rectangular tube to make my own floor pan. I'm going to cut the 1.6mm sheet down to the correct size then arc weld the rectangular tube on the perimeter to recreate the raised lip where it bolts on the underside of the heater channel, this should work and I will only be R350 in for the steel cost compared to R2080 for a floor pan half which is poor quality. If the 1.6mm sheet is to flimsy I will weld some 6 x 20mm flat bar strips across it to give it strength. I also picked up some 2mm plate to make new heater channel closing panels. Now I just need to fabricate and prepare all the steel parts for welding and see when I can loan my work colleagues mig welder.

Edmond.
If you want to take your chances at arc welding, you are welcome to come to my place when I am home on a Saturday morning and use my arc welder. Mock it up at home, mark it all out and then weld at my place.
I'll be back in Dec.
I'll only ask you to replace the rods you use.

Hey Tony nice of you.

Tony Z wrote: ↑Sat Oct 14, 2017 3:37 pm Edmond.
If you want to take your chances at arc welding, you are welcome to come to my place when I am home on a Saturday morning and use my arc welder. Mock it up at home, mark it all out and then weld at my place.
I'll be back in Dec.
I'll only ask you to replace the rods you use.

Thanks for the offer Tony but im going to take a shot using my grandfathers small ac arc welder on its lowest 55amp setting, if i don't come right i will take up your offer, just really want to get this car up on the road again but also try and do it right on a shoestring budget.

Get your self some 2mm weld rods, get the best quality you can get, and set your welder down low.

Get a chunk of copper or brass and hold it at the back, or use a wet rag at the back, to stop it burning through.

Weld in short bursts like tack welding spaced out about 25mm, and then go back and fill in 5mm at a time, keep coming back till you have it filled.

Get a nice 80 grid sanding disk for your small grinder, and grind flat without heating up the steel.

I did my fastback years back without a Mig or Tic welder.

Also get your self a "Self Darkening" helmet, makes tacking very easy. Use a bright light behind you to make seeing what you do easy.

Good luck

Herman

retrovan wrote: ↑Sat Oct 14, 2017 9:16 pm Get your self some 2mm weld rods, get the best quality you can get, and set your welder down low.

Get a chunk of copper or brass and hold it at the back, or use a wet rag at the back, to stop it burning through.

Weld in short bursts like tack welding spaced out about 25mm, and then go back and fill in 5mm at a time, keep coming back till you have it filled.

Get a nice 80 grid sanding disk for your small grinder, and grind flat without heating up the steel.

I did my fastback years back without a Mig or Tic welder.

Also get your self a "Self Darkening" helmet, makes tacking very easy. Use a bright light behind you to make seeing what you do easy.

Good luck

Herman

Thanks Herman, I'm aware of the heat sink trick but this is still some solid advice.

I already have some E6013 2mm welding rods that are meant for thin plate, just need to get a chunk of copper as a heat sink and the self darkening helmet, the flip type helmet is a pain have almost got arc eyes numerous times. I cant use the copper heat sink trick for the heater channels though as I cannot get inside them and the metal is only 0.8 to 1mm thick plus my arc welder just blows holes in this thin metal, will need a proper mig welder for these.

I heard somewhere but cant say if its true or not...
if welding thin metal, it helps to switch your cables around - i.e. plug your welding stick cables into the ground plug and the ground into the sticks plug.
Maybe someone else can comment?