My Beetle Restoration

Tag: frame head bottom plate

Back to the Chassis: Getting Started

by on Mar.30, 2018, under Chassis



It's been 7 years since I've done anything notable to the chassis. Even then, not much. It is amazing how fast time flies by and how much life can get in the way and steal your time for many years. In the last half year or so, I have been eliminating all of the obstacles in really getting started on this project - lack of the proper tools, lack of working space, deciding just where to get started, and devising a plan on just what to tackle first. After careful consideration of whether to start with the chassis first or the body, I have decided that since I have so little good metal left as reference points, I may as well start with rebuilding the chassis and try to get it as close to the accurate factory specifications as possible and then build the body to match it. Since everything on the chassis that touches the body has to be replaced and everything on the body that touches the chassis has to be replaced, I may as well get started on the chassis. Besides, I have replacements for the floor pans, Napoleon hat, and the frame head bottom plate and don't have to make any major purchases. I have also decided to remove a large section of the tunnel bottom plate so that I can better assess the damage to the tunnel and facilitate replacing the areas of the bottom lip where the insides of the floor pans rest. There is a lot of damage there where water was obviously pooled there for a very long time. Anyway, that is the current plan and I'm moving forward with it.

First, I decided to cut off the outside sections of what is left of the floor pans. These are the areas that bolt to the heater channels. I am tired of hitting my shins on them and they need to be removed anyway.

Before:


After:


Next, I removed the inner areas of the floor pans. Except for a few strips along the tunnel here and there in the middle and front, there was only floor pan left in the rear on both sides. Finding and drilling out the spot welds was challenging in some areas as they were barely visible and it is amazing how just the smallest amount of weld will keep the panel from breaking free. It is so nice to finally have the floor pans removed! After that, I pulled the accelerator cable, the clutch cable, the heater cables, the choke cable, and the emergency brake cables. I cut the emergency cables off just past the shroud since I will need to access the brake mechanisms to detach the cables on that end. I coiled the removed cables up and placed them in a bag to keep them for future reference. This way I can compare them to the replacements once I purchase them.

Before:


After:


With the old floor pans removed, I just had to place the new floor pans on the chassis to see how they look and check the fit. I purchased the Wolfsburg West floor pans and I have to say that these are of very high quality and the fit is amazingly close to the factory originals. They are 18 gauge and currently cost around $195 each side. The pressings also closely match the originals. I can't tell you how gratifying it is to see the pans on a car that had almost no floor on it since I purchased it. It's a small thing, but it feels like a major one and is the first real progress I've made toward getting this car restored. There is so much left to do, but I feel encouraged and am hungry to get more accomplished.


The Wolfsburg West floor pans ship without the rear cross braces and jack points welded on so that they can ship by regular package shippers like UPS. Be forewarned that a package this large and heavy will be thrown around by the shippers and you will likely have some damage to the edges of your pans. I had just minor bends that should be fairly easy to straighten out. Wolfsburg West warns that damage is possible and likely. The box was 68"L x 22"W x 8"H and weighed 63 pounds, including a frame head bottom plate. The rear cross braces and jack points were in a separate box and the frame head bottom plate was placed inside a flattened box. I placed the pans back in the box to store them until I get to the point where I can actually fit and weld them on.

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Removing the Frame Head Bottom Plate

by on Apr.27, 2018, under Chassis

Since I'm replacing the Napoleon hat and there is really no room to drill or cut right next to the top of the frame head, I decided to cut off the arms of the Napoleon hat and trim back the bottom plate. This really made it easier to access. I used a wire brush in my drill to remove the undercoating and rust and reveal the spot welds. Once that was done, I did the same as on the tunnel bottom plate and punch-marked the center of the spot welds and drilled pilots for the spot weld cutter.


I then cut out the spot welds and cut out the inside part of the bottom plate, leaving just the strips where the plate was welded to the frame head. I am so glad that I went to the trouble to take the bottom plate off as there is some serious rust inside the frame head that just would not have been seen otherwise. The side of the tunnel underneath the Napoleon hat has deteriorated on both sides and will need patching with solid metal. Also, the tunnel section that extends through the frame head will need patching on both sides as well. Additionally, the frame head will need patching on the bottom portion where it is welded to the bottom plate on both sides. I have to admit, I was initially discouraged and contemplated replacing the entire frame head with a new after-market reproduction. But as I researched doing so, I determined that the effort and expense of removing the current one, patching the tunnel (which I have to do anyway), purchasing a new frame head (that will not match the current one and is constructed of thinner metal), and properly aligning the new frame head just was not the best course of action. With the tunnel bottom plate removed, the tunnel is just too flexible to be able to do any accurate alignment and I would rather take my chances with replacing the areas that absolutely need it and hopefully maintaining the current positioning as far as the angle of the frame head on the front end and where it is positioned on the tunnel. If I can maintain those two things, I will just need to make sure it is level when it is all welded and reassembled. Also, once it is taken off, I lose all of the current reference points and I really need it where it is now to get the new Napoleon hat properly positioned.


One of the things I found amazing and educational was how much the rusted areas have expanded over the years as they progressed, especially where the panels where overlapped. Where two panels, that were each originally around 2 millimeters thick, were overlapped and then rusted severely, their combined thickness grew to around 12 millimeters. In several areas where this happened, the surrounding areas of the panels were raised and bulged, distorting everything attached to it. On panels with nothing around them, they appear to just disintegrate and fall away. In areas where the panels are welded together and very close to other panels, they have expanded greatly.


Getting the remaining strips of the bottom plate off was a real pain. The spot welds are easy enough to cut out, but on the side edges of the frame head where it is welded to the plate it is seam-welded in the middle section for a couple of inches and towards the front for a couple of inches as well. I just had to cut around the seam-welded areas and grind them down. Where the plate meets the front edge of the frame head, it is seam welded all the way across. I was able to use a cutting disc to trim it back fairly close, but the rest had to be ground down. This is a lot of trouble for the side flanges that are going to be replaced, but I want to get it back to its original position to test fit the new bottom plate and to have good references for the areas that are going to be replaced. Once everything was cut and ground away, I just had to place the new bottom plate in position to see what it looks like. Even though its just sitting there, it feels like progress and is encouraging.


Next, I cut way the majority of the bottom plate that was welded to the frame head and ground it down. There are some areas that still need to be ground down, but I will save that until I am preparing and fitting the bottom plate. The next steps are to cut out the rusted areas and weld in patches.


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New Donor Frame Head

by on May.14, 2018, under Chassis

I found a great deal on a 1965 donor frame head assembly in the classified ads at www.thesamba.com and just had to buy it. It included the frame head and Napoleon hat and was $75 + $50 shipping. It was shipped by placing two boxes over it, taping them together, and then wrapping it with stretch wrap. Nothing was placed inside to protect it, so it was of course a little banged up when it arrived. Nothing too serious, but I just don't understand the poor packaging job. I guess I should be accustomed to it by now as everything I have ever bought like this from California has just been thrown in a box and shipped with absolutely no protection. I've requested proper packaging, offered to pay more for it, and been told that it would be, but have yet to have something arrive that way. Overall, I am pleased with the condition of the donor part and am considering using the Napoleon hat and possibly the bottom plate. The bottom plate is quite a bit different than the original, but appears to be in good condition and is constructed of the thick, original German metal. I can't purchase one that would be a closer match that is going to be in the same condition and as heavy-duty. It will be a lot of work getting the Napoleon hat and bottom plate off, but it will hopefully be worth the effort.


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Disassembling The Donor Frame Head

by on May.22, 2018, under Chassis

Well, to start, nothing about disassembling this frame head was easy. Especially if you are trying to preserve the parts to reuse them. It was constructed for structural strength and was not meant to be easy to take apart. Removing the spot welds isn't difficult, but just take a lot of work. The seam welds are another story. Separating the parts that are seam-welded almost always requires sacrificing one of the panels to cut them apart. I started out trying to preserve all the pieces, but finally decided to choose the pieces I wanted the most and do whatever I needed to do to make that as easy as possible. In this case, I really wanted the two lower sections on the sides of the frame head body where the bottom plate is mounted, the Napoleon hat, and as much of the tunnel as I could preserve. I really wanted to save the bottom plate as well, but it was just too difficult to separate it from everything else with all of the seam welds. And although it looked in really good condition from the outside, the bottom plate had deep pits in it where it was covered by the Napoleon hat, the tunnel, and frame head body. I think that the aftermarket bottom plate I purchased will be just as strong as this one considering all of the rust damage. Anyway, I didn't really have a choice in the end and made the sacrifice. Overall, I am really happy with the condition of the parts that were saved. The Napoleon hat is in better shape than the other donor one I purchased and I plan to use some parts of the tunnel section and the lower frame head body sections as well.

First, I carefully removed the undercoating on the bottom plate. Like I said, it appeared to be in really good condition from this side of the plate. I was really hopeful at that point that it would be the same on the other side, even though I could see some pitting through the tunnel opening. I uncovered what I think is a date printed on it of 1.21.76. I'm not sure that is the case here as the frame head was reported to be from a 1965 model.


Next, I used a wire wheel to remove the paint and expose the spot welds. I also marked the ones that I wanted to drill out with a marker. Just like on the tunnel, there are two different types of spot welds on the area where the floor pans were attached. The smooth, even welds are the ones that actually penetrated and bonded the Napoleon hat to the bottom plate and the raised, uneven welds were done at a lower voltage and only bond the floor pans to the upper side of the Napoleon hat. Again, I learned that the hard way.


I then drilled out the spot welds that attach the Napoleon hat to the bottom plate. The hardest areas to separate were where it was seam-welded together. On one side of the Napoleon hat, almost none of the spot welds penetrated because there was too much space between it and the bottom plate. They apparently seam-welded it in that area to compensate. Because of that space, I was able to get a thin cut-off wheel between them and cut through the welds. With the Napoleon hat heavily seam-welded to the tunnel, I just cut through the tunnel so that I could remove it. With the Napoleon hat off, I was both pleased with the condition of the inside of it and not so pleased with the heavy pitting in the matching area of the bottom plate. Apparently, a lot of water was able to get inside the frame head over the years.


By the way, I found that my jack stands worked great for supporting the frame head while I was working on it. The rubber pads grip it and keep it from moving around.


With the Napoleon hat removed, my next task was to remove the lower sides of the frame head body where it is attached to the bottom plate. To do this, I first cut off the areas just above them on both sides and then cut through beam mounting plate on the front to free them there.


It was at this point that I realized just how difficult it was going to be to remove the lower body sections from the bottom plate. The two were seam-welded together and there were was just no easy way to separate them without damaging them both. I really just needed the body sections, so I just cut through the bottom plate in the areas where they were attached. I was a complete bonehead and didn't realize that I was cutting through both layers at one point on the first one. In fact, I didn't notice until I turned it over. I can weld the cut, but really felt sick when seeing it. When cutting the other side, I was very careful not to repeat the same mistake. Once it was cut out, the tunnel was free and I just needed to separate it from the tunnel.


Lastly, I just had to remove the beam mounting plate from the tunnel. They were attached by seam welds, of course, and I just cut out the area of the beam plate where they were attached. Disassembled, finally. The pictures may make it look simple and quick, but I spent several hours on several evenings to get this accomplished. And I still need to clean up the parts I'm going to reuse by removing the leftover panel remnants that were cut out during the removal process and the spot welds.


Mission accomplished and I now have a new donor Napoleon hat, two lower frame head body sections, and a tunnel section to use on my chassis. Can't wait to get to the repair and assembly part of this project!



Follow-up Note (6/9/21): I determined that the parts from this frame head were just too different than my original frame head and purchased a more correct model that matches much better. More details to follow.

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Removing Brake Hose Bracket On Replacement Frame Head Bottom Plate

by on Jul.05, 2021, under Chassis

The aftermarket frame head bottom plates come with a flimsy, thin brake hose bracket that has to be bent up into position. This makes it a little short and does not match the original brackets in appearance, the point where it is welded on, nor in strength. I decided to remove these and also remove the ones on the donor frame head to use instead. I sandblasted the donor brackets, sprayed them with primer, and also sprayed the areas to be welded with weld-through primer. I will install them later once the welding for the bottom plates, the Napoleon hat, and the floor pans are done.


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