'71 Super Beetle Autocross Build

[petew]

Great work. That's a hard repair for sure.

[GS guy]

Yea, welding thin metal is a different beast! 0.025" wire, sharp cut wire after each weld and lots of short welds to keep the metal "cool" enough to not hole-through works best for me. Followed by Lots of grinding of course! Some sanding drums/cartridge rolls (like in a port and polish kit) with a die grinder can help to get into and smooth the tight contours. I agree on using the edge of a cut-off wheel as you mentioned - works great for kissing down weld lumps. Angle grinders are my best (post-welding) friends!
Jeff

[ChadH]

Done - finally. It's not perfect, there's a few issues, but I think it will look OK for a racecar. It's time to move on to other things.



..and a repeat of what I started with.

[ChadH]

So..I drilled out the window vent baffle, since it's nearly impossible to prep in this space. I didn't want to blast, simply because it would make a huge mess. I would just leave the baffle out, but am worried a "helpful person" might give me a push (it's bound to happen) and bend the vent sheet metal . I'm not sure if it would improve cooling airflow, but I'll either open up the baffle vents (a lot) and re-install it, or provide just a few supports to strengthen the area. When the car is done, I'll make a "DO NOT PUSH" sticker here

FWIW, the car will be stored in the garage, and it's unlikely I'll ever drive it in a hurricane.

[FJCamper]

Don't try this at home boys and girls. Chad is a professional on a closed course.

I once read in Heretics Anonymous the removal of this very panel can cause a sudden ground loop at idle in a soft breeze.

FJC

[ChadH]

Wait a minute, I'm not a professional, and I am trying this at home. I'm screwed.

I plan on a floating the entire chassis ground at 20kV, so I should be good even if being struck by lightning. I have rubber pants and gloves for safety.

[Piledriver]

That's OK as long as you never hit a puddle...
...or get out of the car.

[GS guy]

Chop out the louvers, replace with expanded mesh (with front to rear ribs intact), plug weld back in, avoid all the Voodoo Flux Capacitor issues....

[ChadH]

Lots of work for probably marginal benefits, but here's the revised rain baffle:

Removed louvers, and opened up the holes. That 1/2" strip was welded behind/below the window vents to add some more strength for course worker assisted car relocation.



My oldest kid actually did some productive work..I think this was my father's day present here.



After some filling and primer



From the bottom. I think I'll be able to get paint in here much easier.

[Piledriver]

I always found leaves to be more of a menace than water, the leaves want to live in the fan or on top of the cooling fins.

[ChadH]

Another "why I haven't made any progress" post:

R56 Mini - direct inject intake carbon cleaning. Argh - I hate modern cars!

[petew]

Another "why I haven't made any progress" post:

R56 Mini - direct inject intake carbon cleaning. Argh - I hate modern cars!

How did you do that? Steam? Looks very clean now.

[itawolf]

Another "why I haven't made any progress" post:

R56 Mini - direct inject intake carbon cleaning. Argh - I hate modern cars!

How did you do that? Steam? Looks very clean now.

Ditto that looks great

[Piledriver]

IIRC crushed walnut hulls or such, although frozen CO2 blasting might work.

[ChadH]

I made a walnut blaster out of Harbor Freight parts and my shop vac. It's probably not nearly as powerful as the professional blasters, so most of the work involves scraping this crap out with dental picks, while using an inspection probe to see what I'm doing. Very tedious.