The passenger side gutter…
…is getting close to completion (this was 100% gone before). Christina cleaned up the rear bumper.
Grinding of the nose finished
This is far from flat, but close enough to make a good repair during the bodywork phase.
Inner and outer valances now attached
Joining of the nose repair panel to the nose begins.
Inner valance removed
(this took forever) and a test-fit of the new inner valance.
Passenger side “dog leg” before and after
There’s a bit more grinding left but this went very well considering how much was rotted away. Also, the rest of the passenger lower seat pedestal is in, just needs to be ground down. But best of all, Christina got us the ’63-’67 VW Transporter Workshop Manual by Bentley.
Great weather today!
Half of the replacement metal at the base of the passenger seat pedestal is in. Like the rest of the patches made so far the goal is to get a solid foundation that requires a minimal amount of filler to smooth. Creating a perfect surface at the sheet metal level is nearly impossible and of limited value except for museum vehicles. See below for the repair sequence: Cut-fit-weld-grind.
A bit of project management:
The Gantt chart below lists all of the metal-work tasks left with approximate start/end times for each. Once metalwork is complete the bodywork phase will begin: prime, sand, prime, sand… ad nauseum.
The cargo rocker panel, jack point, and the rear floor are welded on.
Also the loooong weld on the cargo floor repair section is completed and mostly ground down. This weld turned out very well, it should look seamless once the primer is on. Some patching of the passenger side ‘B’ and ‘C’ pillars remains, but after that I should be able to move on to the front.
