[DK Bug]

Put up a temporary tarp.
They have promised rain, but it newer came.

Thirty six parts has been painted.

All the paint got some mattering paste to make a slight satin look.
On the pictures all seems glossy. It is because it is still wet.

some black and some with my own tone out of yellow and black.

The body were not ready for sanding jet. It is starting to get a problem with the colder weather..

Maybe tomorrow.

 

[DK Bug]

What to do on a rainy day?.... Maybe

Or.

Not perfect, but I am satisfied.

The initial plan were to paint it, wet sand and spray it over again with just one thin layer.
Maybe or maybe not...

Or I could just buff it down and take care of the few runners.

All in all . This is a huge milestone on the way to the final goal.

 

[maplesyrup]

You must be happy 😁👍

 

[DK Bug]

You must be happy 😁👍

YES....



Started to strip the paint from the pan.

Turned out it was a good decision. It has been sandblasted before painting... BUT the lacy fellow who did it didn’t blast into the difficult places where it is difficult to clean out rust by hand, as a result of that, there were rust under the paint in many places.

I will clean most of the pan with the anglegrinder and sandblast the rest. Thereafter epoxy primer and 2K polyurethane paint.



Hope it is done in the coming week so that I can start reassemble the suspension.

 

[DK Bug]

Got the underside sandblasted and gave it a few layers of epoxy.

 

[santacruzxxx]

Looking good

 

[DK Bug]

Gave it one more coat of epoxy and waited until I had flashed off.
.
Then four coats of semi gloss black later.

Had to dig out my heater.
With only eleven degrees and nearly on hundred procent of humidity, there were no chance the paint would flash of between coats.

With it running it were no problem to get 35 degrees inside my temporary tent. 🥵


Now I am waiting for all the layers to set properly, so I can flip it around and do the top also.
I will leave the part of the floor inside the car as it is not subjected to the elements.

 

[maplesyrup]

You’re good.

 

[DK Bug]

Paint on the pan is still soft. No flipping over today.

I have over the past year collected nearly everything for the steering and suspension.
Dug out the part for the front legs.
The springs are 50 mm lowering ones.

The top plates were severely corroded.
They are made up of two layers and the rust had made them swollen.
Before sandblasting, I have beaten them on an anvil to get as must rust as possibly out between the two layers.

To make them last I have submerged them in a very thin anti rust product.
After that I put the can on our gas Stowe – wife not at home – and heated the lot up until it started to smoke.

When it is heated up, it not only gets thinner and penetrated better, but the small air pockets between the layers expand and most of the air bubbles out. I left the parts in the solution until it got cold again, this in turn contracts the air pockets and sucks the solution in between the layers.


Maybe I am overthinking it, but it is peace of mind to know one have done the best that can be done.

The new nut for the struts got also a dip.

I hate it when a newly assembled car has been out in the rain a few times and rust starts to creep out of every joint, nut and bolt, therefore everything I assemble is going to get grease of rust preventing oil in between the joints an on all treads.

Nice to put something back together again for a change.

And here is where I left it for today.

 

[maplesyrup]

🙌

 

[DK Bug]

Both front struts now ready.

Got hold of some NOS rear wheel bearing sets.
Not F.A.G as uses by VW, but German made SKF and with the correct 3 lip seals.

Everything were thoroughly cleaned, including the new bearings and tools. First with thinner and last with brake cleaner. Thinking cleanliness as in brain surgery....

No grease until last minute.

No point in fitting new bearings if all the grit from the old grease, the workbench and tools contaminates the new bearings.

Got the old bearings out of the brake disks.

Cleaned and sanded the disks and the new brake drums.

Then a thin layer of epoxy and some red paint.

The front brake calipers are nearly new, but have to check them before they are ready for fitting.

Everything else for the suspension, steering and brakes, is now ready to go on the pan.

Pan was flipped over today ready for doing the top side.

 

[DK Bug]

Topside of pan done.

Cleaned and sandblasted the edge where the body sits along with the framehead and rear parts.

Inside pan parts lightly sandblasted to scuff it up, so that the new paint could stick, and to get away with the non sticking paint used by the PO.

Found out it is the original floor pans and they have only some minor patching.



Some coats of epoxy and four coats of paint.
Yesterday and today it were nice weather for painting. Fairly warm, sunny and dry.

Now ready for rust treatment of all the internals.

 

[Leigh d]

Looking good

 

[santacruzxxx]

Great attention to detail

 

[DK Bug]

Thanks.

Anti rust treated the internals of the pan.

First I cleaned as much as I could of the 49 years old grit and dirt out, using a steel brush on a stick, my vacuumcleaner and compressed air.

Then I taped all holes. Next I poured rust treatment inside and placed the pan in all 4 directions, to get it out in all corners.
.

Filled the framehead an leaved it to suck in for a couple of hours, on both sides

Last I sprayed all the inside, including the framehorns and the torsion tube, with my cavity spraygun.


Pan now done ready for reassembly.


Have to decide if I am going to rust treat the body inside or outside in the driveway.
Inside is a mess. Outside I need some help to get it out and in again.

Pan has to stay out until then as there is no room for flipping the body around, if the pan is inside.

 

[DK Bug]

Preparation for anti rust treatment.

I have modified my setup so it is possibly to flip it all the way around, in my tight space.

Now it is more in center resulting in it is bottom heavy. Before it were top heavy.

I had initially made a drawing for a full center mounting, but it were way to bottom heavy, therefore this is a compromise, enabling me to do it by myself, and still in control.

Night support.
To take the strain of the bumper mountings and to prevent the body from twisting.

 

[DK Bug]

The product I want to us for rust treatment is out of stock at the moment.
It should be available again in the end of this week.

The product I want to use is a light brown / yellow product based on an oil wax mix. The product I used for the pan is that, but it is nearly black.
Now I have painted the body yellow on the underside, I don’t want to spray it black over that, so will wait for the other product to come back in stock.


In the meantime I have dug out the wiper assembly. Took it all apart. Sandblasted and painted the frame. Cleaned all the old stiff grease out of the gear and other moving parts. Lubed it up again with new grease.. Assembled it again. Tested the two speeds, and lined up the parking position.

Under assembly the arms has to be in line in park. Otherwise the wipers starts to move down before they goes up.

Took me a little to figure out how to make it stop at parking position, without the stalk.
Scratching my head. Looking into the wiring diagram and the contact plate inside the worm gear.

I figured out the stalk shorts the green wire and the low speed wire when it is in turned in off position, thereby activating the brake of the motor in the right position every time.

Parking position wire shorts low speed and the green wire. Simulating the wiper stalk is in off position. The green wire is grounded in the gearbox, when it comes into park.position.

Have also cleaned the Bakelite tubes and the Y pieces for the heating so they can go onto the body before it goes on the pan. One of the hoses connecting the Bakelite tubes with the heater boxes is faulty so I think I will make up two new hoses from some insulated dual layer metal ventilation tube. Problem for later. Maybe another solution turns up.

 

[maplesyrup]

Keep up the good work!

 

[DK Bug]

The rust proofing product arrived yesterday and I started on the messy task.

Originally my plan were to leave the body in 4 different positions using 4 days, but with my new setup I cant close the garage door when the body is flipped over so instead I had to do it over 2 days.

To compensate and to ensure the product came out in every joint and into every corner, I sprayed A LOT of it into the cavities in the different positions, resulting in most of it pissed out everywhere.

All the different jars I have put aside over time came now in handy.

I sprayed 10 L into the body and collected the 5 again for later use!


To prevent my garage floor of being soaked in, I have spread some sawdust on and spread out some painter protection sheets. It is some sort of felt with a plastic backside.



My collection of spray guns and hoses for the task.

Upside down most of it ran into the roof, where it was easy to collect.

In a thin layer it is nearly invisible. This is how it should end up looking underneath.

I will level out the more visible portions underneath, with a paintbrush and some WD40.

Now comes the mammoth task of cleaning of the cavity oil from everywhere where it should not be.
Not a problem, but a little tedious.

After that the fun starts.
Putting something back together again.

 

[maplesyrup]

You’re winning!! That bugs going to live a long and happy life