"OUTBACK" slammed patina 1959 vw beetle

[outback]

ok,on with the welding on the body shell.

this is the first time I had welded in a few yrs so starts of with my worst work then as the thread goes on I get my mojo back again lol


 when the welding work was done by andy parrott back in the 90s it was done to a certain standard which back then was pretty good but not up to the very high standards we are doing now.back then there wasnt the correct panels that are now avaliable so alot of the wrong yr panels needs to be changed.


all looks not bad and most people would leave this but having owned alot of these early cars you get to know what lies beneath!.

this panel does not have the correct ribbed pressing in it or the 2 holes so it must be modified to be correct,again most would leave this as its not really a area you see.








you know whats going to lie beneath so i start picking away











heater tube removed





spot welds drilled out and panel removed








backing panel removed,not pretty!

















i mentioned before in a previous post how important blasting is,here is a shot blasting cabinet i brought new and have been using its a MUST for any serious restoration project! without it your cars not going to last the elements of time i have and will continue to use it on loads of parts through out the project.i am building this car for the long haul i.e i want it to be as good in 15/20 + yrs time as the day it was built no good building a car that looks pretty and 2 yrs down the line rust comes through on the gutters/seams and various parts of the car as once that cars built its a curse word to remove parts to repaint them.do the job once and do it right PERIOD!.





i have various sizes and grades of grit.i try to stick to the glass grit because with sand you can get silicosis there is times when you do need dry kiln sand,i allso have heavy metal shot for anything thick and industrial!.





so i gave the panel a very quick and light blast to see what i am working with,i didnt want to blast it to perfect as i will be handling/cutting then panel and its going to get surface rust on it again so will save the perfect blasting till last.



going to need some serious surgery to get right/correct.







time to start cutting!











starting to make the new panel and weld it in so the welds clean both sides even thought you will not see the backside of the weld.remember its not perfect yet but it will be when i have finished the panel we are just trying to get the panel to the correct shape.







spot weld holes welded up aswell







time to make the inner rib! i made this press and pressed one out.















welded in,not fully cleaned up yet will do that at the end!







check fitment









welds cleaned up some more and then in the cabinet for blasting













time to make the other panel.










need this part so blasted it







decided to make this rib diffrently instead of a press i thought i would try it old school way so made one side of a die

[outback]

time to make the end box section








box section welded in and checking rear panel fitment





sprayed weld through primer on all areas and weld in and clean up time.











tube needs some love









welded where i had to cut it out.





all looks good after blasting but we all know what lies beneath!







both side drilled out,blasted and welded back on





weld the tube in







all finished and cleaned up.when body work time comes a very small bit of filler and all will be good.when vw welded in the heater tubes they could not get to the middle part of the tube to weld it to the back of the crossmember as the tubes were fitted after the crossmember was welded in so i welded the middle of the tube to the centre of the cross member for more strength just in case some monkey pulls on the tube from under the car when its on a ramp now its going nowhere.









inner wheel arch needs repairs,the curve is pitted from rust and i know whats going to lie beneath that body mount bracket and the panel behind even though all looks solid inside and out i know theres rust under it.

















you can see there has been some repairs to the edge.







end piece has been repaired before!

[ben711200]

No idea what timeframe that was over.. but blimey, you don't dick about do you?!

Top work

[outback]

so,a time bomb waiting to go off no good painting the car when this rust will blow through in a couple of yrs time to the untrained eye it all looked solid but from my past experience with these early cars you know whats going to be under those panels after 50yrs and the edges of the panel not being sealed.



time to start making the inner wheel arch.

start of with a very rough shape.



then time to "jump on the english wheel" and knock out the panel.











still way off the shape but starting to make progress



more work on the english wheel,problem is with this panel it curves 3 ways its harder to make than it looks















all welded in and ground back.i then shot blasted the whole inner 1/4 panel then shot some epoxy primer on it to seal the area from damp.











when body work time comes,some filler and it will be all good.



inside panel primed temporary with normal aerosol as it will need blasting this sid .when welding you will always have a good side and a bad side trying to get both sides perfect is impossible due to the welds and heat most people make the mistake of grinding to much and making the panel really thin and with holes in it,when welded it should hold up to a shot blast if not its to thin or your welds are not penetrated enough no easy task and very time consuming.








shot blasted it and cut out the old bit and sprayed with weld through zinc primer i use this on ALL joining panels







made and welded new piece together then trial fitting up to rear 1/4.





built in a little garage not a fully equiped workshop!!



had a small pitted area behind the panel on the left after blasting i drilled it to see how thick the metal was tbh it was good but best to cut it out which i did and welded in a new piece and cleaned it up



welded and cleaned up.



area was cleaned up back to bare metal and weld through primer sprayed on ready for both panels to be joined











fully welded in.




old body mount bracket was rusted.




i was going to make my own but i knew hookeys had made them before so i asked him how much for a pair they were £25 each so a no brainer for me and got him to knock 2 up for me.i wanted to fettle them a bit before fitting them i.e the overlap of the panels and the spot welds and pressing marks.









weld through zinc primer sprayed on where theres contact from the two panels



welded in






epoxy primed






something i forgot to show was this hole in the body mount section



the factory pressed hole was untidy so i cleaned up and reshaped the hole.





this area has been welded before so I am dealing with someone elses welding and repairs this means the areas have been warped badly from to much heat,its a VERY difficult area to repair especially on the edge of the stud line it is VERY easy to curse word this area/quarter panel up if you do not have the skills or do not know what you are doing and you will have to cut the lot out and replace the whole quarter!!! LOL.I had to slice the quarter in the middle to release the stress and creases and do a lot of panel beating/shrinking/stretching to get this right once welded and warped its so very much harder to repair,those that can do this kind of work know the work/skill involved.



















notice the seal strip edge out of shape? looks like someone removed the tar board tabs and took some of the metal with it! most would leave this or grind it back to level but that's not were are trying to achieve here,we are trying to do the job "RIGHT"

[outback]

Jan 8, 2012 11:27:10 GMT @automatik said:

Thanks for keeping the patina

I always keep the patina!!.another car I built back a few yrs ago with patina the same year and colour car but a UK car I built "the curse word"

[ben711200]

Jan 8, 2012 11:37:26 GMT outback said:

I always keep the patina!!.another car I built back a few yrs ago with patina the same year and colour car but a UK car I built "the curse word"

Does that make you a bloke called Andy then?

I remember at least one mag feature for that and looked around it at a show after you'd sold it on. It was lovely

[outback]

yes

[speedy88]

I rather like that, thanks for sharing

[Seth]

Fabulous work and attention to detail

[Deleted]

When people say 'rat look' this is the sort of thing I think of, and I mean that in a good way. Age has been kept where appropriate and removed where not to make a car that performs mechanically well without compromising a finish only time can give properly. I have the greatest respect for anyone that can restrain themselves with this sort of build, I'd always be itching to clean just one more bit, or add a little bit of rust to balance things out, which is why I'll never successfully build something like this.

[gt]

that is really nice, you can't beat natural patina

[outback]

Jan 8, 2012 15:38:38 GMT @volksangyl said:

When people say 'rat look' this is the sort of thing I think of, and I mean that in a good way. Age has been kept where appropriate and removed where not to make a car that performs mechanically well without compromising a finish only time can give properly. I have the greatest respect for anyone that can restrain themselves with this sort of build, I'd always be itching to clean just one more bit, or add a little bit of rust to balance things out, which is why I'll never successfully build something like this.

i agree totally,back in 2005 i built "the curse word" (pictured above) and my intention was to build a rat look car but which was mechanicaly safe and sound so it looked like a shitter but wasnt one that car changed the vw rat look sceen ever since then people have been doing body off restos where as before they didnt!

[al67]

Hi mate,

Great to see you on here.

Get threads started on some of your other stuff too!!

Cheers, al.

[sparkyt]

So the shocks sit inside the body on the front? . Would you have any photos mate . I'm loving the slam

[al67]

Jan 8, 2012 17:08:31 GMT al67 said:

Hi mate,

Great to see you on here.

Get threads started on some of your other stuff too!!

Cheers, al.

Oh you have!!

[itsdashy]

How do you get the patina back on things like the rear arches? Amazing stuff!

Shame my cars plastic and patina means melting.

[outback]

Jan 8, 2012 17:11:04 GMT sparkyt said:

So the shocks sit inside the body on the front? . Would you have any photos mate . I'm loving the slam

yes they fit inside the body,you have to use a pre 55 fuel tank as it has cut outs already for the shocks to clear and you have to make your own pitman arm to clear the air shocks and trim a small bit of the lower inner wings.if you are using normal shocks then you don't have to make your own pitman arm you just add a quick steer to the original pitman arm and no trimming of the inner wings then needed

[outback]

Jan 8, 2012 17:11:33 GMT al67 said:

Jan 8, 2012 17:08:31 GMT al67 said:

Hi mate,

Great to see you on here.

Get threads started on some of your other stuff too!!

Cheers, al.

Oh you have!!

Al,what have you started getting me on here ;D

[outback]

Jan 8, 2012 17:57:26 GMT itsdashy said:

How do you get the patina back on things like the rear arches? Amazing stuff!

Shame my cars plastic and patina means melting.

i use a few tricks,i painted the skirts in a light faded coat of paint andf while it was wet i grinded metal next to it so the metal particals set into the paint,then i slashed the paint with a stndley knife blade to get the rust to run down the panel.then i added salt and water daily and 2 weeks later hey presto!.

[al67]

Jan 8, 2012 18:17:07 GMT outback said:

Jan 8, 2012 17:11:33 GMT al67 said:

Oh you have!!

Al,what have you started getting me on here ;D

It'll be our little secret.