1967 VW Variant.

Once i had the template for the secondary outer cill I needed to check that it fitted around the heater tube, and also fitted inside the outer cill. Once that was done, it was onwards and upwards.

Job done. Next thing is to make 2 panels one for each side.

That outer cill panel you see in the last picture is the only panel available to buy for this car. Its a pressed panel from a modern factory that makes only cill panels and nothing else, in europe. You cannot buy wings, doors, bulkhead panels , front clips , inner clips at all. Unless you are lucky enough to buy either NOS that comes up now and again, or a second hand stock of parts. Its a complete hit and miss affair..

When i was doing the white fastback I had to make all my panel requirements, big and small . From the largest wing sections, to the front bottom clips as well. On this squareback I was lucky enough to source the 2 front clip panesl which saved me a lot of work. But then having to make the two front bulkhead panels set me back. And now having to make the complete heater channel sections, except the outer rocker cover, was something I didn't bargain for, but I'm working through it now. Any of the remaining panels towards the rear I have already made for the other car, so there wont be any more surprises for me. So I cant take any credit for making the outer pressed panel for this one, although I made them for the other because they were unavailable at the time.

Heater channel I made for the last fastback that I drive.

Finally got the inner cill cover made. And after a few checks to make sure there was sufficient clearance between all the components, I checked and double checked again.

Trial fitting the piece onto the heater channel for clearence

Then it was fitted into the external cill to make sure that it was ok.

Then it had to be checked to make sure that the pan fitting bolts did not stop the heater ducting from fitting the channel.

And i had to make sure that the components would have enough freedom from the heater ducting.

And now we are nearly ready to weld in the heater tabs on the tube, the end socket on the tube. And then weld it in .All went well so thats a good day. I might have enough gas to weld on the tabs but then will have to get a re fill.

Nearly all the pics are on my imgur account, over 1000 of them. And some on a photobucket account too.

I assume you want me to clarify that for you, thats no problem. If you look down below the tube along the bottom of the square section, you will see a horizontal threaded pointed bolt. This bolt actually comes up from the bottom of the floor pan, and towards the heater duct pipe. That view is just to assure me that I have clearance to clear the pipe if i install it in the square section at that point. And I do thankfully.

If I install the tube too close to the square section, then I risk hitting the pipe with the floor pan bolt up through the bottom

Toooooo true. I always choose the softly softly approach now. I have all the time in the world, and doing a task once slowly and carefully is time well spent.😉

I am pretty sure its needed for a couple of reasons. First one being that it seals the heater duct going into the upper duct of the windscreen defroster. If it wasn't there, then any blowby out out the heater duct could by pass out of the end of the tube, and back down along the inside of the outer cill panel. So I would prefer all the heater force only having the option of the foot well or the doorpost defrost duct, and no where else.

Its a small panel, so it wont be that difficult. And I am waiting on advice on the correct half mask to use when welding galvanized due to the toxicity of the fumes. But I am into the second day now, and no word back. I am sometimes amazed when you get connected to a tech guy or gal online with a simple question, and they have to go off and ask someone else..........and get back to you by e mail, maybe.

I am a bit too long in the tooth to be fekking about with toxic galvanize fumes. Although there are loads of guys out there welding it with no mask.So if ye know, let me know, thanks.

So I drilled and prepped the parts for installation. I secured in the rubber seal below the channel, and placed that in temporarily to put pressure on the seal until it cures in 48 hours. I used Tek 7 for that.

Then i copper greased the floor pan bolts and plates to facilitate the removal of the body, if thats ever required in the future....but not by me😁. Then i marked and drilled the outer inside cill panel for plug welds that will secure it to the inner heater channel.

Thats me done for today. Next Monday its getting the correct mask, and welding in this channel. After that its move on down the drivers side to the rear bumper mounts, and replacing any rusty metal on the way there. Progress might pick up a bit now, as the panels are less trickier,.....I hope.

Here you can see the bolts copper greased to preserve them. Once all the plug welding is done ,, I will be able to deal with the preservation of the inside of the heater channel.

Problem with the rotation again, but I cant seem to fix it.😁

The pictures that are rotated wrongly only happens when I post them here, for some pictures that I rotate the camera for. When i load them to my pc...perfect. When I select them from my pc to post here, they rotate.

Agh...to hell with it, I have enough dealing with rust, so you have to lay down on the floor to view them. Quit belly aching😂🤣🤣

😂🤣🤣🤣

I managed to weld in the inner heat channel section, as well as the heater duct and location tabs for the duct as well

Door post B fixing point after welding in , just needs to be ground down. Spatter was not too bad considering it was galvanised metal. And the x on the tube shows the location of the tab to be welded in to hold the tube in position.

The tube end that goes into the door post A shows a better view of the tab indent so that it does not build up to too many thicknesses over all.

Here are the spot welds towards the rear of the car heater channel end. On inspection inside the car they appear to have good penetration into the inner metal panel.

Here is the inner panel behind the drivers seat on the floor. You can see the heater duct tube, and above the box formed heater channel you can see the top section of the old heater channel that will be welded to the top of the new one.

Here you can see the 3 tabs spotted onto the top of the heater duct tube and welded into the indents on the inner channel section, to minimize the build up of thicknesses.

And here you can see the plug welds at the rear end of the heater channel which will also be welded on the top face of the top of the box section behind the drivers seat.

Plan tomorrow is to finish welding in the inner channel section, plug weld on the inner/out cill section as well as the 90 degree piece, and then finally the outer cill.But I suspect that the gas will run out before then.

I did indeed. I finally got a tip from a bus restorer who told me what he uses. I checked out his advice along with a few other tips, and I actually got the correct specced mask from screwfix. So it was in and collect one, and on with the welding.

Its vw related so not off my topic😁 Not too bad if you get the good quality helicoils as there is some crap going around out there. I remember putting case savers into an engine I rebuilt a few years ago, that were impressive quality.

They were so tough I used them to repair the threads in an iveco brake caliper, and I put tremendous pressure on them going in.

hey JM have you still got any of the special vw tools that were used on their repairs for mechanical repairs like the suspension re alignment tool. Rare as hens teeth now