The Ragtop Express

[tpb_karl]

Early update this week!

The inner panel fit about as expected, so I'm trying to replace as little as possible.





The rear floor section edge needed replacing, just like on the passenger side.








Then trim the piece to fit, and weld it in place. I struggled with the TIG for some reason, but in the end, it was welded.









Work continues next week. Have a great weekend!

[tpb_karl]

A small mid-week update showing something other than rust repairs..
The BRMs are in rubber. Decided on Michelin all around. XWX 205/70-15 rear and XZX 145-R15 front.




Howerver they were a bit brown and still had grease from mounting so i used some rubber cleaner and "satin" tire dressing. They look alot better now! The wheels needs a coating to protect them from dirt aswell.






(After / Before)

[Steve67]

sheet metal work looks very good as always.  :)The Michelin tires are awesome!!
Will be looking ace on the car...

[tpb_karl]

sheet metal work looks very good as always.  :)The Michelin tires are awesome!!
Will be looking ace on the car...

Thank you Steve! They better considering what they cost 

Early update this week again. I’ve finished the reinforcement plate and the body mount.








Then some holes in the fender mounting area that needed fixing.








I pulled out the dent and welded up the hole where someone had used a drywall screw to hold the fender in place...







Next bit was another section of the fender mount and part of the inner fender.





I masked off the area with tape and marked out where the bends would go. After some beading rolling, stretching and English wheeling, the sheet metal started to take shape.







Trimmed the sheet and cut out the happiest hole I’ve ever seen.






Slow and methodical TIG welding, since I can’t reach the outer welds from the inside to straighten the panel.







If I haven’t missed anything, all that’s left of the rust repair is the rear bumper mount section and the apron! 
I’ll take care of those next week. Take care!

[tpb_karl]

Time for an update, finally!
I’ve taken care of that last corner and fully freed up the rear apron.




A bit of test fitting the piece..



Also folded up the bottom of the panel..




Cut out and cleaned up the area for the seam



A bit of primer on the backside of the panel, then it was just a matter of welding it in and grinding it down. With a bit of work with a hammer and dolly, of course..





With that done, the apron needed some love before I could call rust repair finished.






With the sun out, I got a bit inspired so the fenders and running boards went back on to the body. Also tossed the cardboard that had been covering the windows. Feels good!







Great feeling! Been thinking a bit about what the next step should be, but I think building the beam will be the next job on the list.

[richie]

If only everyone repaired them to this level, real nice work 

cheers Richie

[BossHogg76]

Great work Karl, skills way beyond mine and great reading your progress.

[tpb_karl]

Thanks for the nice comments guys!  


I havent worked on the express this past and i managed to get a man-cold during easter. However that gave me time to finish the editing of the first episode of this project.
Pour a cup of tea or have a beer and sit back and watch six months of rust repairs compressed to 30 minutes  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3sJ5POhKEw&t

[tpb_karl]

Time for another update! I was recently given dropped spindles from a TPB member. Thanks Simon!


In order to run dropped spindles (which widen about 12mm) with my BRMs and 145 full-profile tires, I need to narrow the beam. To keep the shock absorbers and not disturb the geometry too much, I chose to shorten by 2". This way, I can still use a sway bar, and the car won’t look like a wheelbarrow.

First step was to tear down the front brakes and disassemble the entire front suspension.







I added 2" on each side of the adjusters and cut the beam.



Before I start welding the beam, I needed to get rid of as much old grease as possible... I combined heat, degreaser, water, and paper towels to remove most of it.



Incredibly boring and time-consuming... But after removing all the grease and going over the front end with a rotating wire brush, most of the rust was gone. I also cut off the snail eyes for the bump stops.



Then I set up the front end with angle iron and C-clamps to get everything reasonably straight.
VERY annoying that the adjusters doesn't have the same diameter as the tubes...
I set the adjusters so I have 1/3 adjustment for raising and 2/3 adjustment for lowering.
So if i want rally-height, that's still an option! (Maybe visit the Cold Balls event some day)


A cut in the old center section used it as a test piece to make sure I could get proper weld penetration.


Tacked in place and ready to fully weld. (Yes, I ground down the welds.)



Now, with the shortened beam, the shock-towers were too close together to fit under the body.
Instead of making new shock towers of my own design, I trimmed the inside of the towers and replaced it with 3mm steel plate.





The mounts was clamped into place on the car, measured to make sure it was centered from the fram head and tacked them on.
I had cleaned them up with a rotating wire brush and dipped them in Evaporust before.
I sprayed the inside of them with a rattle-can while I still had access...



Then fully welded everything. Even the steering damper mount was welded back on —
of course the same distance from the center as the original.
It’s not likely to break loose any time soon...




Now with the narrower towers, I also needed to shorten the bolts for the shock.
Quick work with the angle grinder.


Here it is — masked off for painting.



A little metal paint and a brush and it's good enough.
Not a super-finish on this beam since it was so pitted from rust...



I also bought 10 liters of Evaporust to treat all the bolts and even try dipping the entire brake drums.
I tested by soaking the control arms and steering arm overnight.





The steering arm was incredibly grimy...
But turned out really nice! Especially after a little black paint.





Feels like money well spent.
I'll be soaking the spindles and other components in it too.
That's all for now! Take care!

[tpb_karl]

If the beam is going to be narrower, then the leaf spring pack should be too.



First up, I cleaned all the leafs.




Marked where the new recesses should go to fit the narrowed beam and filed a groove with a round file.



Drilled a hole about 4 mm in size.



Then I made the 90-degree countersink and cut off the end of the leaf spring pack. Definitely worth investing in a high-quality countersink—it cut like butter!




Then it was just a matter of repeating... Here's a little before/after:



The control arms got a splash of paint too. "Mmm... shiny"



Next up were the spindles... These were pretty grimy and badly in need of a rebuild.




I pressed out the old bushings and fully disassembled the spindles...





Soaked the parts in Evapo-Rust for about 1–2 hours. Would've liked to leave them in longer, but due to time constraints, this will have to do...




Then the new bushings were pressed into place and fine-tuned with a file.





These have now been sent off to be reamed with the proper tool.
To be continued...

[JezWest]

That is a messy job! Looks so much better now and I bet it will all work perfectly. Nice work.

[BossHogg76]

Cracking work Karl

[Steve67]

Great work as usual. The results with Evaporust look good, I need to try that out.

[nicolas]

I see what I see, but this is magic. 

[tpb_karl]

Thanks lads!

Carriers are reamed!
Big thanks to @von_komet on instagram, who helped me with this.




I bought some grease fittings and a corresponding thread tap in M8x1. I tapped the holes in the beam and installed new fresh fittings with small rubber caps. Neat..




Then I greased the leaf spring packs and bundled them together. Threaded them through the frame and cut off the zip ties.




Washed the rubber bushings and mounted the frame in the body. With caster shims to compensate for a bit of rake and lost angle from the adjusters.




With some new seals and new shock absorbers, the control arms are also in place on the car.



I cleaned up and threw some paint on the drop spindles.





Cleaned up some bolts and nuts and mounted the steering box, steering damper, and tie rods.





Then a package arrived! I threaded these carriers as well and gave them a bit of paint.






After some messy work with grease hydraulic press and the twatting stick, I assembled one spindle.



Unfortunately, that’s all I managed this week.
This weekend, The Volkswagen club Twin Peak Boxers is exhibiting at a local indoor car show, so I’ll be busy there.
But next week the work continues!

[tpb_karl]

Work continues! I assembled the second spindle and mounted them on the car.








Here you can clearly see how much drop you get from drop spindles.




With that, the front end is pretty much done! Except for a rough wheel alignment… But I’ll handle that later when the car is back on the ground.
Next step is to start working on the rear suspension.
And it was muddy as hell back there!




Drained the gearbox and started tearing down the brakes on both sides.






I cut the brake lines since all of them are going to be replaced.






And to remove the gearbox, it's easiest to remove the engine first.
The oil in it was insanely thick! There was half a centimeter of sludge in the oil strainer and the sump plate...






Cleaned the strainer and cover as best I could and put them back on once the engine was relatively empty..




The engine came out without major issues. Super handy with a removable center plate for this procedure!






The starter motor has definitely seen better days...
I haven’t tested if it works yet though!




The gearbox also came out without issues.




It was so incredibly filthy that I took it out and scraped off nearly a centimeter thick layer of gunk with a screwdriver, brushed it with a wire brush, then degreased and rinsed it off...






Opened the drain plug afterward to let out any water that might have gotten in. But all that came out was a splash of black oil.

I’ve also been working on the license plate bracket. The rear 3D-printed bushings that sit under the spare wheel well have been beefed up and printed in TPU, which is a soft rubber-like material that allows for some flex.





I printed my own license plate brackets that eliminate the need for the bends in the sheet metal, so I pressed itflat in the vice. (It is after all just a test version)




The new brackets are very slim and held the plate surprisingly well for a first version.






And yep. The frunk can open without hitting the license plate 
Though I still need to work on the front mounting point.
Alternatively, I might just use a thumb screw from inside the spare wheel well.

Other than that, I’ve gotten the driver seat’s backrest back from the upholsterer.
The seam had come apart as they all do, but now it’s repaired.





As the car sits now, it doesn’t seem likely that it’ll be on the road for Swedish Aircooled Weekend at the beginning of July.
Instead, I’m aiming to have it ready for the Airmighty show in September.
The car is supposed to take me all the way to and from Holland.
That’ll be exciting!

That’s all for now..

[Steve67]

great progress again!
What are your plans regarding paint?
Are you going to add  some patina to the new fenders and repaired sections to match the rest of the car?
Looking forward to see the car at the Airmighty show...

[tpb_karl]

great progress again!
What are your plans regarding paint?
Are you going to add  some patina to the new fenders and repaired sections to match the rest of the car?
Looking forward to see the car at the Airmighty show...

I'll try to clean up and polish the original paint as best i can. The fenders and repairs will be painted with no patina.
I'm going to make some spray-out cards to see how the color matches soon.
See ya there! 

[tpb_karl]

Small continuation!
Brushed off the worst of the rust and dirt from the forks with a wire brush.



Then I replaced the bushings for the spring plates. I cheated a bit here and didn’t paint either the cover or the spring plates... Time-saving or something..




Lots of grease, so hopefully I’ll avoid squeaks from the rear..



Of course, the other side was done in the same manner..



I’m dreaming of SAW spring plates and torsion covers with bronze bushings.. One day.
I’ve soaked a few parts to de-rust and make them nice for when it’s time to reassemble the brakes.


Then I tackled the gearbox. First up was replacing the boots.



Previously I’ve installed these dry, but this time I added a bit of Aviation Sealant at the outer end since the axle tube was so rusty and pitted.




Took the opportunity to replace the starter motor bushing now so I won’t have to do it when the car is in use..



The return spring for the clutch arm recently broke on my bus so I bought an extra one and replaced it on this gearbox as a precaution.



New mounts (STD) and a freshly painted gearbox support bar. (It got painted since it wasn’t terribly dirty, and it fit in the bucket with Evapo-Rust)


Removed the pedal cluster to replace the clutch cable. Soaked the coiled cable generously in chain oil so it will slide nicely in the tube.



With a new Bowden tube, now it’s just a matter of waiting for the gearbox.


However, I accidentally bought the wrong front gearbox mount.. So I need to order the right one...
In the meantime, I needed something else to keep myself entertained. So I pulled out the shift rod and replaced the bushing with a POM version from Washburn’s Metal in the States.



Had to modify it a bit to make it fit properly.


Went over the entire rod with red scuff pad and applied a thin layer of grease before it went back into the tunnel.




At the other end of the linkage, a bushing from Empi was installed, which is a bit stiffer than the original.
I think I’ll have to get the "Heavy Duty" version of the front gearbox mount 


That was all! I'm just about to finish my thesis for my studies so I probably won’t be working on the Express until after the Bug Run event in early June.

Until then!