The 1978 VW Beetle Cabrio


Disassembly begins
Restoration of the Chassis
Restoration of Suspension Components
Major Rust Repair of the Body - page 1
Major Rust Repair of the Body - page 2
Major Rust Repair of the Body - page 3
Prepping the Body for Paint before mounting to the Chassis
Prepping for Paint
Assembly after Painting
Interior

Major Rust Repair of the Body - page 3

Now I moved the the dash section. There was also more rust than I wanted, plus the holes from an after marked AC, which looked like cut out by a chainsaw.

Here a picture of the bad sections cut out.

Here are the pieces which need to be replaced.

The bottom section welded in.

Re-creating the replacement pieces with holes, etc.

And ready to be welded in.

Done with this one.

Now all the bad stuff is cut out. This is not an easy section, all is 3 dimensional.

Here it is, all welded and cleaned up.

It's time to address a few things that I found.

The little channels around the trunk, which hold the seal in place were rusted.

I cut them out and cleaned up the section.

I punched the new ones and spot welded them in.

I also found a few little holes that need to fixed, like this one.

Also the edge from the gas filler hole was rusted.

So I cut it out around the hole, and welded in a small half moon piece

Found another hole from an AC install. Looks like some metal eating animal was eating on it.

I made a new patch and welded it in.

I applied some self etching primer on the blank metal. These little things don't look like much, but they are time consuming.

Disassembly begins
Restoration of the Chassis
Restoration of Suspension Components
Major Rust Repair of the Body
Major Rust Repair of the Body - page 2
Major Rust Repair of the Body - page 3
Prepping the Body for Paint before mounting to the Chassis
Prepping for Paint
Assembly after Painting
Interior