replacing napoleon hat « My Beetle Restoration

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Fitting and Welding the Napoleon Hat

by Garage Weasel on May.22, 2024, under Chassis

At last it is time to fit and weld the Napoleon hat! Again, this is a donor part from a 1965 Beetle and a good match for this car. I put it in the approximate position and laid the floor pans in place as well. The floor pans are Wolfsburg West pans are very close to the OEM pans in both construction and thickness. They will need to be trimmed in both width and length, but just a little mainly in the rear.

I cleaned up the weld areas to remove any primer and rust. I then drilled holes for the spot welds.

There are big gaps where the Napoleon hat fits over the tunnel. This was previously an issue when it was on the donor tunnel and the gap was filled with weld. I made relief cuts in this area on both sides to make it easier to bend it down for a closer fit.

I masked off the weld areas on both the Napoleon hat and tunnel and sprayed them with U-POL Weld #2 Copper Weld Through Primer. I also sprayed the interior of the Napoleon hat with Eastwood Matte Black Rust Encapsulator just to add another protective layer to the primer I sprayed previously.

All the welding I did on the frame head bottom plate caused it to bow upwards a bit, so I used clamps and wood blocks to pull it down level to where it should be.

The welding process took a while as I had to keep cooling it off with compressed air to keep the heat down, especially on the long seam welds. On these seams, I could only do a couple of inches at a time. Also, the Napoleon hat wanted to tilt toward the front from the start. I tacked it at the top of the tunnel on both sides and welded all of the spot welds on the back side first, and it still drifted about 1 millimeter to the front. This was more of an aggravation than an issue. The front firewall that sits on top of it will be replaced, so that can be adjusted to match at that time.

I added a seam weld down both sides of the frame head where it fits over the tunnel. There are a few spot welds in that area, but I wasn't really happy with them being the only welds there and decided that it would be better, structurally, to run seams in those areas. It may be overkill, but I don't want to find out later that the spot welds weren't sufficient. Besides, my welds have improved since I got the new welder and I feel better about that area now.

Passenger side view of seam weld added to where the frame head covers the tunnel.

Driver side view of seam weld added to where the frame head covers the tunnel.

I then ground down the spot and seam welds. The spot welds on the rear side of the Napoleon hat need to be ground down flat in order to properly fit the floor pans. On the front side, I ground them down flat as well just to have them match. The seam welds were fairly tall, and I ground them down a bit, too. All of these welds will be covered at some point by either the floor pans or by seam sealer.

I sprayed the frame head, top and bottom, and the front side of the Napoleon hat with primer to keep it protected until I get ready to paint the chassis. This could be a while and I don't want it rust.