Lazy Welds and Odd Repairs

Sunday was a good day, at least for tearing out bad bits of the Ghia.  I made some good progress.

First, I cut out the last bit of the passenger side seat, which had been tack-welded (fortunately by someone too lazy to do more than that) to the rail.  It was pretty quick and easy to cut the four welds and finally bang that seat out of there, but this kind of work is surely a sign of more serious problems to come.

Indeed.  Next, I went into the back, removing the rivets, tin and wood that had served as kick panels for the rear seat, then taking out wooden cover where the back seat panel is supposed to be.  There is a lot of rust down there, but actually, these pieces are easily replaced.  The structural elements of the body seem to be intact, but I have yet to tear out all the foam and insulation between the back seat and the rear firewall.  I suspect there is a lot of rust under that.

There is one more long tin panel riveted along the back rail that is there for a reason.  It's pretty clear that whoever 'repaired' this car last, didn't really care about how it might look, just that the rust was covered up.  A bit of tin and some carpet and hey presto, a 'new' car!

Next I removed the convertible top.  This was pretty easy, which after I removed some brittle old plastic covers for the mechanism, required only that I remove six bolts.  It lifted right out.  Then I removed the back window, which fortunately is intact, because I am sure it's one of the more expensive pieces on this car to replace.

Loki has been patient enough to come out and sit with me. He's the only one besides me that can put up with the mosquitos!

The Seat Must Go

Well, it's been raining every afternoon this week, so I simply haven't been able to take the cover off to do any work since last Sunday.  last week, I was struggling to remove the passenger side seat and couldn't get it to budge despite bringing in the bigger hammer.

Then, after a failed attempt to loosen the seat on the rail with chemicals, I discovered why those efforts had failed: the seat is actually welded to the rail.  Not only that, but it's actually welded in crooked!  Oh well, it's an opportunity to try out my cutoff wheel, something I will be using a lot when it comes time to do the body work.

So, with a couple hours before work and a cool cloudy sky overhead, I am off to pull that seat out.  That and the dashboard are on the agenda, so we'll see how far I get!

Day One

The goal for the day was to take the body off.  One of the nice things about goals is that they give you a good way to measure achievement.  Or, in this case, the lack thereof.

Now, what I did manage to do, in the two hours and two beers after 5pm when I finally rolled the cover back, was to pull out the seat on the driver's side and strip off the seat cushion.  I couldn't get the seat on the passenger side out (even when I got the bigger hammer), so I had to settle for simply stripping it of all the rotten foam, sisal and rotten vinyl.  The result, while not pretty, is informative.

Hoo boy, these seats are shot.  One almost inveitable consequence of old seats in a convertible is the rust that can't help but form in the springs.  A couple of good rains with the top down is all it takes, and this car saw far than a few of those mishaps, I do believe.  I could repair these seats, but honestly I might as well just get a new, or 'new-to-me' set. After all, it is just the standard VW seat, so I should have plenty to choose from.  As likely or not I'll get some used seats and refurbish them myself.

What will be harder to fix will be the rust hole I found under the driver's side seat.  When I gave the car the initial 'once-over', I thought the floor pans were in pretty food shape, rust-wise.  I could see that the pan on the passenger side was dented (up, from something underneath) but I had the impression that both were relatively rust free.  Not.  As soon as the seat came out all it took was a little touch to open this hole.  Ok, I think this is not necessarily a big deal, but it will have to be fixed.  It may be easier--but not cheaper--to replace one or both of the pans, but hopefully I can patch the one and bang out the other.

There'll be no banging on the wooden deck lid I discovered in the back, however.  Although it's not rotten, it is anything but standard, of course, and will not be any easy fix, no matter what.  While someone definitely took some time to make this repair, it's so far from what I have in mind that it can only be pulled out and replaced. Oh, what fun that will be!

The cross piece that is currently being held together with tin and rivets may be more than a minor problem, as it no doubt has something to do with the structural integrity of the body itself.  Ugh.

1 day.  1.5 seats.