Vera the 1969 VW Beetle
'It'll be nice when it's finished'

 

December 27th 2006

We had a good session on Vera today - I even got to paint something! I coated all of the recent weld seams with brushable primer.

Inner wheel arch ready for a covering of sprayable black underseal.

The big job was to weld the heater channel into place. The new channel really didn't want to fit into place but after a bit of cutting, clamping and pushing we got it in.

The front section was welded into place after we fitted the door to make sure that it was still in the shape it was meant to be.

Rear panel had to be welded back a bit as it had decided not to let the door close properly. The previous repair on this panel was a bit of a mess as it had not been primed so this will require a bit of repair too.

Inside view of heater channel as it is being welded into place. We have decided that we will be filling the channels with waxoil too as the ones that we removed were totally rotten and these ones were actually replacements!

 

December 24th 2006

While I've been playing with my new 'bean to cup' coffee machine and MacBook Tony has been steaming ahead!

As we suspected the off-side of Vera is pretty rotten.

The front chassis mountings are all rotten.

But they have now been repaired!

Preparing the floor plan to take the new heater channels was quite a big job as the old section just pulled off due to rust.

All braced and ready to take the front section.

Complete length now fitted and ready for the recently primed heater channels. Vera has had at least two set of channels now but hopefully after some oxide primer and waxoil these ones will last a bit longer.


December 19th 2006

Well it's nearly the end of the first year for Vera and she is beginning to come together now. Although she may not look it she is in much better condition now with lots of holes welded and problems identified.

Fixing the bottom of the spare tyre holder means that one side of Vera is now ready to be seam sealed and primed.

She has had two new jacking points fitted (VW store in Haxby) and there is a new rear apron ready to weld on - probably on top of a bit of the old one as that looks like the simplest technique.


As Tony said "Oh dear, it's made of plastic." Lots of work is going to be needed when you look a the state of the rust underneath - at least this time the work will be done properly not just cosmetically.

At last some good news - the back of this side is in good condition - we had to rebuild the whole section on the other side.