This particular VW Beetle came into my life back in 1996 when my mechanic decided we needed a promotional car to take to the local VW shows and cruise nights. The Bug was not 100% when we fixed it up back then and a lot of corners were cut to insure we had it on the road by the summer on 1997. Fast forward 24 years later and those trouble areas that were "Patched Up" back then were only getting worse, but until I flipped the chassis upside down to remove those "Repairs" I wasn't sure what I was going to have to work with.

This is a pretty short entry. I figured it was a good time to fill in the hole in the front wheel well where the exhaust from the factory gas heater would vent. We had removed the original gas heater back in 1996 and since I didn't know how to weld back then I simply riveted some metal over the hole and covered it with filler. I have to admit that was a hack... but it did the job.

The strut brace was already removed earlier. We had to drill out all the old spot welds and that process left us with a bit of a mess. Before we can weld it back in place we had to do two things. One was already completed in my last blog post and the second was to clean and repair the actual brace itself. We used a wire wheel to remove any old paint and rust, then we used a hammer to correct the miss-shaped metal. After that we were ready to fill in the holes that were created during the removal process.

It's been a while since I have posted any new content, so I thought I would bring everyone up to date with the front left wheel well. The last time I posted we had just cleaned up the inside metal that makes up the internal support structure for this section of the Bug. It was now ready to be covered with a new metal skin. Most of this repair would be covered with a nice replacement panel I picked up from California Import Parts (CIP) that would have to be cut to fit the area in question.

I was able to get back into the garage and start working on the driver's side front wheel well and firewall area on the Super Beetle. This side of the car was pretty much the same and the passenger's side. Thankfully I now have the required experience and templates required to get this job done. I used the same templates and just reversed the folds in the metal after they were cut out of my sheet metal. I used an air chisel to hack out the old rusty metal what was wedged under the bracket for the steering box. After making some small adjustments I was able to properly fit the replacement metal in place.

I had a feeling this was going to be a problem area. You could see a strange buckling from the inside of the car behind the rear seats. This area was covered by seam sealer so the rust was not visible until removed. On the outside the metal was full of holes along the reinforced area of the wheel-well. I thought that maybe I could salvage the area without a large repair but I cam to my senses and ordered a new replacement panel from CIP.

Once I had the front wheel well in looking good and the rear quarter panel welded up to the heater channel I knew that the right side of the bug was now pretty solid. I could then remove the door on the right side and get to work on the lower post. This section of the car was pretty rough and it was poorly repaired in 1996 (I know since I did it wen I was pretty much a kid). I had a replacement panel to weld in place but it didn't have the inner section that the door actually bolts to. Thankfully that section was is pretty good except one of the bolt holes for the door hinge. I had to make some repairs that included tapping the heavy gage steel so the hinge bolt had something to screw in to. For years this door only used two bolts.

Now that the front right section of this wheel well is nicely welded together and solid as can be, it's time to cover up all our hard work. It's really not that sad however. It's kind of exciting. I always like getting to a finishing point on any section of the Beetle. This bizarre area of the Super Beetle has eaten up a lot of time. It will be nice to cover things up and move on to a new section.

As I was ripping this rusty part of the Super Beetle apart I couldn't help think about how strange it was. I spent many hours just thinking about it and looking at pictures to try and make sense of what this area of the bug looked like before It all rusted away. I searched online and had trouble finding solid examples of the inside workings of the inner section of the front wheel well area. I had no worries that I could fix it, but I wanted to copy what ever VW was doing back in 1971. After a few weeks I realized that VW really didn't have an idea what they were doing here either.

Not every spot on the Beetle can be easily repaired. Unless you completely disassemble your Bug you may not be able to replace metal that is less than favorable. In some cases it's simply not in the budget or time table. This was the case with Project #Super71 and the metal that is under the gas tank and sandwiched between the front firewall and the back of the spare tire well. In my case the metal was not completely lost, but could use some help.

This weekend I was able to spend most of the day in the garage. The weather is starting to warm up slowly and that helps inspire me to tackle some larger projects. For the last few weeks I have been working away at chasing out the rust from the body or the Beetle and preparing all the mounting points for the heater channel / firewall assembly that was pre-assembled a couple months ago.

Before we can install the front firewall we need to repair and prep the firewall braces for this 1971 Super Beetle. The braces on Project #Super71 were still pretty solid for the most part, but some patch work would be required. These firewall braces are important since they will help support the firewall and all the additional metal that all come together in this spot to support the front of the car.

As we mentioned in our previous post, we had a lot of rust to chase out of the body of this Super Beetle. The front firewall was a mess and after we removed it we had several trouble spots that would need to be repaired before we could move forward with installing the replacement firewall.

As many of you are aware, when you start removing rust from your Beetle it can easily feel like a losing battle. Thankfully there are a wide assortment of replacement panels available for almost every trouble spot and year. On project #Super71 we are chasing the rust out of the front firewall, heater channels, and rear cross member areas. These areas are tricky spots since it seems like everything connects in these locations.

This 1973 1303 was in-need of some serious TLC, and in exchange for his help Peter would become the owner of the 1971 (without a motor). Getting the 1973 road worth once again sounded easy and fun! Little did he know, it would become a much larger and longer project than anyone initially expected. Another thing that slowed this restoration down was an extension on his own house that included a new garage. That sounds great… but before that can happen, you have to tear the old garage down. All of Peter’s tools and toys had to be packed up and put into storage. By the time the home extension and new garage were completed and ready to function as a shop again, it was almost 3 years later.