My Beetle Restoration

On the frame head end of the tunnel bottom plate, there was severe rust damage and it was actually rusted through. The only way to repair this is to cut out the damaged area and weld a new piece in. As far as I know, there are no repair panels readily available. In fact, I only know of one source in Finland and I don't want to wait that long or spend that much for a complete panel as I really only need a few inches of it replaced. So I decided to just cut out as much of the flat areas out as necessary and retain the raised portions of it, which would be difficult to reproduce. I started with piece of 2mm plate that I had left over after making the piece for the tunnel rails. I used the jig that I made for the tunnel rails to hammer the straight crease on the sides where it is flat and bent the domed area basically by hand. I managed to get it to match closely to the tunnel bottom plate. It took quite a while and was very difficult to match the shape. Once I was satisfied with the shape, I cut the needed flat areas out of the tunnel plate and then cut the new repair piece to match it. It's a bit off in the pictures below, but I did adjust the fit to be more uniform throughout the joint. I welded it on both sides, ground down and dressed the welds on the outside of it. I will trim the excess width off of it later when fitting and welding the tunnel bottom plate back on the tunnel.

I decided to weld the straight section of the tunnel bottom plate to the additional bottom plate section that I removed and make them one piece. The reason is that I can get an overall better welded joint as I can weld on both sides. I did that and also added a connecting plate on the wide end. This helps to hold this end in place and also gives me an additional layer to weld to and strengthen that joint. I sprayed the connecting plate and the area under it on the bottom plate with U-POL Weld #2 Copper Weld Through Primer.

Next, I ground down the welds on the outside and then sprayed the inside areas that will not be welded on with Eastwood Matte Black Rust Encapsulator to seal and protect them.

After the rust encapsulator cured, I place the bottom plate back on the tunnel and then checked the fit of the frame head bottom plate with it. At least in this area, the frame head bottom plate fits well. In other areas, not so much. That's a problem for later.

Time to remove the frame head and prepare the tunnel for the new donor frame head section. The original frame head is just too rusted on the bottom inch or so and is super thin and pitted. From the top, it doesn't look that bad. But an examination of the bottom sections shows severe rust damage. For a long time I considered just cutting out the bottom areas and welding in sections from a solid frame head, but finally realized that if I had a solid one or the relavant part of one, I should replace the bulk of it and have a stronger frame head overall. Here are examples of the rust damage:

I started removing the old frame head piece by grinding down the spot welds where it wraps around the tunnel. Once the spot welds were ground down, I cut through the frame head so that I could peel the metal back and then off. I did this on both sides and then cut through the area on top of the tunnel where it was seam welded. Next, I cut through the top toward the front plate and then down through the front plate to remove the areas on the sides to expose the tunnel. Big chunks were removed this way and this just leaves the piece on the top and the middle of the front plate. I then ground through the front plate where it is welded and removed it. Lastly, I ground through the oval-shaped seam weld on the top piece and then used a spot weld cutter to remove the 5 spot welds as well. These spot welds are in an X pattern. I also included a picture of all the items removed below.

I cleaned up the areas where the frame head was welded to the tunnel, but still need to complete the seam welds on the outside of the tunnel where I couldn't access them due to the frame head covering them up. I just feel better having it welded on both sides. I will ground them down where the new frame head will contact the tunnel. On the passenger side of the tunnel there is one area that is a little pitted and instead of cutting it out and patching it, I will remove the rust and build the area up with weld. It's not quite bad enough to cut out and replace.

I finished the welds on the outside of the tunnel and ground them down where the frame head contacts the tunnel. And then I wire-wheeled the ouside of the tunnel to remove any paint and rust, wiped it down with a degreaser, and then sprayed the areas that are not going to be welded with Eastwood Matte Black Rust Encapsulator. These areas are going to be hard to get to and protect once the frame head is welded on and I want to make sure that they are protected and sealed. The areas that are going to be welded were sprayed with U-POL Weld #2 Copper Weld Through Primer. It's now ready for the new frame head!

Over time, I realized that the first donor frame head was just too different to use on my chassis. It is from a 1965 and is a slightly different design than mine. It's close, but I would have to alter the pieces of it I intended to use too much and would make the replacement more complicated than it needed to be. I found a really solid 1963 one for sale in thesamba.com classified ads and purchased it. It was an exact match. It arrived in great condition and was very well packaged for protection from shipping damage. In fact, it was by far the best packing job I've ever seen. These are the pictures that I received from the seller before I purchased it:

After much consideration, I decided to use the outer portion and front plate of this frame head and removed the tunnel and bottom plate portions. I removed large areas of both to make it easier to remove the areas that were spot and seam welded. I included a picture below that shows all the pieces that had to be removed.

Here's what it looked like after everything was removed:

I then cleaned it in the parts cleaner, briefly soaked it in rust remover to loosen up the rust, and then lightly sandblasted half of it just to see what it would look like. I was very pleased! It is very solid metal with only a slight bit of pitting. Overall, it is a much better thickness of metal than an aftermarket part and almost identical to my original.

I placed the new part on the tunnel to check the fit and was surprised how well it fit. On the top, it fit very well and was sprung outward on the bottom sides a little, but was easily clamped down for a very snug fit all around.

Next, I sandblasted the entire part, sprayed primer on the outside of it, masked off and sprayed U-POL Weld #2 Copper Weld Through Primer on the inside areas that are going to be welded, and sprayed Eastwood Matte Black Rust Encapsulator on all other areas on the inside that are not going to be welded.

One final check of the fit before welding on.

Welding time! I welded the donor frame head part on and dressed the welds. Most of them will be covered by seam sealer, so appearance isn't all that critical. After many years just thinking about how I has going to accomplish this, this part is finally done. If I can give one piece of advice to anyone out there doing a restoration - just get started and don't be afraid to make mistakes. You will likely make mistakes, but at least you are making progress. Half of the challenge is undoing what you've messed up. Progress beats procrastination every time.

I sprayed some primer over the bare areas that were just welded to protect it until I start to prep for paint. Now it's time to flip it back over to install the new fuel line and to weld the bottom plates on the new frame head and the tunnel.

I have had a dilemma for a while now. I have been doing work on the car, but have not been updating the site with the progress. Well today, I decided to start updating the site with the current work I am doing and then work backwards to add the previous work until I fill in the gaps. I will backdate the posts so that they will show in chronological order as they are added. It's a start!

Before I flip the chassis over to weld on the bottom plates and replace the fuel line, I decided to treat some of the rust on the forked rear area. I used steel brushes in my drill to remove the loose rust, wiped the areas down with a degreaser, and then sprayed the areas with Eastwood Rust Converter. It's actually still curing and wet in the below pictures. This product seals in rust and will protect it until I get to prepping for paint. I didn't do the shock arms just yet as I need to purchase different steel brushes that will get into the recesses better than what I currently have. I also didn't do much with the cross member/floor pan supports as they will be replaced with the floor pans. I just sprayed the rust converter on it without removing loose rust.

Once the rust encapsulator cured, I flipped the chassis over and treated the same areas on the bottom side as well as the tunnel bottom plate. I masked off the areas where I will be welding. It is very pleasing to see the bulk of the chassis cleaned up and uniform in finish. I had a little feeling of accomplishment with this done. I did go back after taking the pictures and spray rust encapsulator on the cross member/floor pan supports.

I also remembered that I needed to drill a hole in the frame head for the fuel line to exit through. The 1963 frame head replacement didn't have the hole on top in the same location as the 1960 models. It had a hole inside the oval area on top. From here, it connects to the fuel tank. For reference, it is a 15mm hole.