1967 VW Variant.

I am sanding the two front wings to bare metal, and going to roll on a coat of epoxy primer and see how that goes. It will save me spraying it which is environmentally potentially more harm to me than a roller. If it works well, then all wings, front boot and roof will get a coat of epoxy before the winter. Mainly due to the fact that epoxy is the only primer thats waterproof.

I have dealt with mecatechnic and found them to be a great parts supplier for vw.. I must check in again to see the new lines of vw stuff. Thanks for the headsup

https://youtu.be/ACK6gh5RBOY?si=4hx8C6CN_YgXd4GN

Looks good, and i cant wait to try it. Of course if I dont like it, then I can go back to spraying no problem. I remember the shultz, and would not have it in the workshop, as there are too many superior products to chose from. Which is half the problem, as its hard to chose one. I remember many years ago back in the day, which you probably remember , a product called brushing belco.

It was a cellulose based product that was brushed on , and needed a lot of wet and dry sanding, but gave a great finish. And because it was brushed on, you had no fear of sanding through the finish. I imagine you have used it. I want to get an epoxy coat on it to protect it going into winter.

I will post a smooth pic tomorrow.🤣

Spray finish was obviously better than a roller. So weather permitting I would opt for spraying outside. failing that its a roller inside until the wings doors and front boot are in primer.

I pre heat the panels and wings for about 20 minutes with a panel heater before i spray them , and keep the heat on them for 20 minutes after, so they are touch dry . At the moment I have another door to do, and the front bonnet. Then all the metal will either have original paint or new primer on it. And hopefully rust will be banished from all the pieces that i am currently working on.

I received my new hing pin set from Air Cooled Technology in Galway this morning. Superfast turn around of 3 days from order to door. Perfect result. The existing pins were well rusted and worn, so needed renewing. I had to drill them out, clean the existing barrel part of the hinge, and shim it up with 0.01 shimstock. You know the stuff Jim, it was in every decent garage back in the day, when mechanics actually worked on and repaired items in a car, instead of replacing with new parts.

Re assembled and put back on the door, they work beautifully, fimr and even opening, not too tight, and no stiff points. Its all the little stuff that takes time. But a nice closing door is a true feel of a nice car... How many times do we remark on a classic car how well a door shuts.

I would say its a fair bet that anyone who has owned a beetle sometime in their life will remember , slamming the fek out of the drivers door to close it, and keep it closed. You would be surprised at the weight of a fully loaded classic vw door. Fully loaded then its a two man job to lift, hold, and fix the door. Unless of course you have the manufactured door holding jig, which I imagine exists. Jim might fill us in there.

Door only without anything else is still tricky to refit, but just manageable by one person. And then the correct German seals make the door. Spurious seals are sponge like rubbish, and have a very short lifespan, months as opposed to years. And the other end of the scale for seals are ones that are more like plastic than rubber. very hard and unforgiving, and you would want the muscles of Arnie to close the door against it.

Now that I had the hinges rebuilt with new pins, I took the opportunity to hang the door to check the shut lines around the door, so as to confirm the positioning of all the components in the body shell, heater channels, and external cills that I welded in.Gap at the door head is nicely lining up, as is the lockstile gap. Door gap at the windsceen slope is perfect for another tweak to increase the gap slightly. I have fitted a .5mm shim on the bottom hinge to give me what I have now, which is great. Normally VW KD assembly had a habit of not getting great door shut lines. But this one is very good considering the work done around the ope. I am well chuffed with it.

Looking at it now its going to be very easy to get a nice door shut when I get that far. The original door had some serious rust all along the bottom of the door, and the skin had seperated due to the rust damage. Best result going forward is to replace the 67 door with a NOS 67 door manufactured in the same year. Win Win.

No full pic at the moment as both front and rear wings are still off, so not lining up with any other panels. Yeah the plug welds worked out ok, just need to grind them off.

And here is the rusty bonnet that i sanded today and

treated with rust treatment for later epoxy primer coat.

The last picture shows a close up of the rusted pitted spots turning black from the convertox.

Very same procedure is going to take place on this bonnet, the only difference being a more modern filler material being used. You cant improve on time tested methods. Old school all the way for me. Name is still the same , stopper, just either resin based which is 100% waterproof, or epoxy, or polyester. Spoiled for choice. I find the old fibre glass resin is great as well in these circumstances. Current priority is to get a coat of epoxy on it to protect it against rust. Then I can "stopper" on top of the primer.

The great thing about new types of materials is either you can fill before or after priming.

This morning the plan is to look at the passenger door which I know is in good order, just to take a long horizontal full length crease out of it with a long panel beaters slapper. A nice therapeutic job.

The NOS door was stored somewhere by the previous owners way back that allowed water to cover part of it. So I started off having to remove the surface rust, and convert any of the rust marks with the appropriate rust convertor or sealer. Doors are no longer made, and becoming more and more sought after. I will keep the original doors and repair them some time in the future.

After a brief period of sanding with a variable speed disc sander and 60 grit discs especially for metal, i then finished of with emery discs of 10 grit, and half the door is done now, the left hand side of the bottom half has been sanded with both discs, and the right hand of the bottom half only with the 60 grit, and the second half tomorrow.

Just spraying the front bonnet this morning with a coat of epoxy to keep it in good order for finishing later on. Never realized the lamp was a s close to me when i moved around to the front, and collided with it going backwards, while I was spraying. This left me with 2 bad runs, but it doesnt worry me as I will be sanding any way for more coats, so i can pick that up on the way.