Ko 702

Hello All, it,s finally time for me to step up and get on with Ko 702 restoration, I first mentioned about this 7 years ago and well this will be the third attempt, and this time I,m going to have a crack and do it myself, sadly previous attempts where side lined due to unfortunate circumstances. So instead of trying to farm work out because I felt I could not do it, I,m going to have a go. Having read and seen some of the amazing work done by folk on this forum I feel it,s do able, not easy but do able...So here goes..I thank Graham from Mick,s for convincing me to commit to Valla, nothing like a dead line to motivate. so will learn how to post pics etc on threads and let you know how I go. won,t be done by Valla but will do my best, Cheers Paul

You go for it Paul
I wish you well.
Keep the questions coming. Not many in the CB club so ask away but shoot us a photo or two.
Steveo

You've got this Paul, nothing like a deadline to motivate you! 😁

Thanks for that Stevo, Yes very keen to put pics up and share journey, had a look into how to post pics and was a bit confused but a chance meeting yesterday put me in contact with MISSVDUB so now have great instructions. so once figured out how will get started. So just to fill in where I'm at, I met Graham from Micks Motors by chance when inquirying about parts, didn't relize who he was as haven't been on forum for ages as work in isolated places for last 10 or so years no mobile or internet, so hit the jackpot for CB info. Graham then told me about valla, never been before but sounds like fun so now got alot to do in no time. So to speed project up am going to us a donor pan and drive, the body needs so much work. First issue never tig welded before so brought one in December, didn't want to learn on body so donor floor pan had heaps of pea size rust holes, figured if I can fix them then ready for body....well lets just say those pea size holes turned into marble size holes at first, who needs a plazma or oxy....anyway long story short I finished pan last week took lots of pics so will share when figured out. so will start body next time home .cheers for now Paul

Test for pics

Paul
When you're trying to fill holes, put a piece of copper on the other side of the sheet metal, jam it there with something. Industrial HV electrical installations use some great stuff, 50mm wide by 6mm thick, call it Bus Bar. Stops the hole collapsing away. It won't melt or anything, just supports the metal.
Tig tips :-
Don't try to go just a second longer, stop, cool, go again.
Pay the extra money for a HF tig (no contact start)
When you do a small bit, cool it immediately with air to shrink it back before you go on, while it's still red hot, saves all that distortion. Bit slower but you'll be glad you did it.
Have fun
Tony

Hi Tony , Thanks for the tips, the Tig I brought is a ac dc unimig type with button start, was a challenge setting up at first, blew a bottle of argon in 3 days....one question I have is when I get home I wish to purchase a sheet of steel to fabricate panels as poor old CB is well rusted and pranged front left corner. I have asked a few folk about what thickness and type I should get, some talk in mm others in gauge so if you or anyone could help with the description to use would be great. have tryed searching site but can't find any reference. I will post pics of CB next week when home, only have pics of floor pan with me at present, feel it's not the CB so holding off. Actually enjoying the learning curve, wish I'd tryed earlier. Cheers Paul

Hi Paul
I'm away at the moment so I can't check, but I think I used 1.2mm galvanised steel. If they had galvo steel back then you wouldn't be repairing any rust now. Talk to your sheet metal shop about it, take him a sample. It was a little thicker than the imperial sized stuff the factory used I think.
By all means buy a sheet but lots of pieces you'll need the sheetie to make up for you, unless you have all the gear. I made rough drawings and templates and had them bent up. They can do the louvers, stamp in the ribs, like in the bonnet and guards, and punch the correct holes etc. I also just got some pieced folded 10mm on one edge and cut them up to repair pieces of edging. Buy the best fire wall and heater channels you can get, it's worth the extra money. Have a look at "weld through primer" and "rust converter" too.
Make sure you properly protect it when you finish so it doesn't rust again.
As you say, the learning is enjoyable.
Cheers
Tony

Hi Tony, Thanks for advice, will take onboard, was hoping to put pics up this week, but sidetracked by rusted out drawbar on boat trailer so hope to retrieve CB down from carport roof next Wednesday, just another delay, but keen as ever. Cheers Paul

Righto finally got body down and dropped on to temporarily pan, checking for fit and easier to move to work area where building rotisserie.The journey begins...cheers Paul.

pics didn't attach try again

A few more

So couple of months Maxville here we come...yer well maybe not finished but give it best shot

That looks to be in pretty good nick. Have fun with the adventure and make sure you take lots of photos to share with us.

Yogie

Hi Yogie , CB is in reasonable shape, but has major issues underneath, will have to replace heater channels, so will get rotisserie done next few days then get sand blasted again but will organise for epoxy primer straight away, then I'll know what in for, here's a close up front left corner. Cheers Paul

Hi folks, a quick update, rotisserie completed CB installed, have to wait till Monday to get in at sand blasters providing no rain.... So fingers crossed. Just spent some time looking through the posts for ideas etc and got to say some amazing work done by so many, nothing is impossible!! and when people say mines not too bad, now I know why. Anyway here,s some pics of underside, cheers Paul.

The rotisserie will make it much easier for you to get to everything. I will cross my fingers for you to not rain but down here in Brissie it all looks pretty dry for a while so I expect you would be the same up there.

We have restored 2 beetles now with MUCH more rust than you have so, yes, it is a good base to start with 😉

Yogie

Cheers Yogie, rotisserie does make the project more accessible and has already shown up so much. Out of interest I have been looking through the forum and notice I can't look at a lot of pics as have a photo bucket logo over them, is there an issue or am I missing a link, I searched a bit and feel am not sure what's the go, as I feel there are a lot of great pics that would help me with my project. Cheers Paul

It is a photo bucket issue as they stopped hosting photos for free on sites like ours or something similar to that anyway. A lot of people are really pissed off with them for it.

The only way you will see those photos again is for the original poster to go through and load them all again through a different site to photo bucket. That involves a lot of work so you will probably never see them again 🙁

Yogie

Hi Yogie, sorry slow to get back but been away camping for a couple of days down near Kenilworth, phone went flat. That's a shame about pics on photo bucket, but still lots of great pics and info available, will dig out boot bonnet and windscreen ready for Monday sand blasting, picked up epoxy primer in readiness, just got delicate job of removing glass from windscreen frame, would like to keep it whole as is original with VW logo in corner, also got original fuel cap, motor and bash bars so quite lucky. Cheers Paul will post pics later today of rest of parts.

So found the rest of CB ready for Monday, couple of pics off various bits, cheers Paul.

And a few more...

Well hi folks sorry disappeared for a few days, on annual leave so trying to balance fun with commitments, so last Monday it didn't rain halaluya!! So took CB in and the exspected time was pick up around 1pm so hung around as we intended set sail with trailer sailer 3ish for week of adventure up top of Fraser Is, but alas plan went south, basically blasters rang and exsplained more difficult than exspected so said would be ready Tuesday so fair enough we would rather have good job than quick job. So arranged for mate to pick up, we took off. Well Wendesday job finished and have to say Bay sandblasting and powder coating services, constant feed back was first class and the bill was very reasonable considering time and issues, so thankyou to them, a top job. finally today I got to see the truth..... Well I feel CB has lost weight, there is a lot of history showing, I feel a few owners have touched up here and there and there and there......so here are some pics, I feel I'm still going backwards, still undoing, not repairing, VallaMack is not far away....

The Truth......

More truths......

Even more truth......So now the question is where do I start.......I now realise that I don't want to do a quick bodge fix.... So will bring down to VallaMaks on car trailer just brought, in what ever shape at, at time. We,ll use the 67 beetle to fun around in at Spectacular, cheers for now Paul

Looking good Paul

HI Graham, yes progress happing, had a good look at shell and now can see extent of damage and time to repair, so going with plan B for now as VallaMax so close am going to build roof rack for car trailer and bring body only down with rottiserey so mobile and 67 beetle as well, 2 VW,s with one trailer....this way it will give me a chance to meet and talk to folk who will hopefully give me some heads ups on how to best approach some of the more intercut repairs, also give me chance to look at other CB,s for correct shape parts etc. But for now if you or anyone out there can confirm or send pic of inside front left hand wheel arch panel, is there meant to be a strengthing bar in there? as neither of mine have, but studying CBJohns project see what looks like a strut across guard. Hoping to start fabricating panel today, cheers Paul

Hi all, got a little excited at thought of making first panel, but it has raised questions??? Was hoping to cut out and make front drivers side wheel arch panel, but note sure how the front corner joins, looked at a few pics on forum but can't be sure if folded tab is on inside or out side or from panel wing, mine are both diffrent. CBJohn on flat4 looks like tab inside and then welded up seam or is it spot welded only, can't see end of wing panel not sure of finish. If someone could show with close up pic or exsplained what is the go so I can cut out panel with tabs on right side. Here are pics of mine as you will see both different. Will do pics next post forgot to shrink. Cheers Paul

Front wings

Hi Folks, decided to have a go at first panel....bit of a learning curve but fun. Looked at layout and reckon right side is correct for tabs in panel. So next challenge how to weld...spot welding is the answer for panel reatchment, so checked out welded I brought and it has a spot weld function but no instructions in manual or on line , it's as if they don't want to acknowledge this, so fiddled around and getting it figured, so there is hope. But would still appreciate if anyone could tell me the way the front corner is attached, is it welded or bogged up the front angle?

The panel, not perfect but I'm happy with it, room for improvement still needed a strengthing strut, will have a crack at removing old panel tomorrow. cheers Paul

Install begins......spot welded panel in ,in a few places, went ok, then tryed tiging in gaps....well I was warned about warping and shrinkage, I now have whole new appreciation for these issues, not ready to share progress pics at this point in time, some learning required...cheers

Hi Paul
Sorry, I haven't been on here for a while. Your front guard looks normal for a first go, you can always come back to it later. The panels always fold one under the other, not always in a logical way. They spot welded them and then ground them with the period equivalent of a flap disc to smooth them out. Often the "top" panel and the bent edge got very thin near the edge and that makes them hard to re-weld when they split open, like the front guards often do. the front corners get bent in, then get hammered out again and split. You may have to cut out a strip near the edge and put a new full thickness piece in.
The spot welding function on mig welders can be problematic. You can buy a crimper / puncher for spot welding (super cheap auto) An air operated thing that crimps (steps) the edge of the sheet so one can step under the other for spot welding. The other side of the head has a punch that punches out 5mm holes to "weld through". You can also try pop riveting the panels together, spot weld them, then remove the rivets and weld up the holes. There's also a professional equivalent of the pop rivet but I don't know much about them? When you weld through a hole, do a tiny touch on one side with the TIG, cool with an air gun, then hammer out the warp, before you try and fill the hole. When filling other holes, and pretty much always, use the piece of copper behind the hole, it makes all the difference. Also, add a piece of metal, no matter how small it is. Don't forget the rust converter and "weld through" primer. By the way, the metal they used has plenty of impurities and can often be hard to weld, particularly the chassis metal. The new stuff you practice on will almost always be better.
Next trick, read up on how to "shrink" panels to get dents out, you'll need it if you want the stretched panels back to flat.
Keep at it.
Cheers
Tony

Hi Tony, thanks for the tips again, yes I'm feeling a little bushed at present. knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but was hoping for a smoother start, anyway am started and have tryed some heat and got panel back to 70% right so there is hope...I'm back to work for 2 weeks so will use this time to study up, will post pics tomorrow when at camp in transit today. your right about CB steel being inpure I wondered what was happening, just blew through, where as tests on new stuff went well. Thanks again cheers Paul

Hi Tony again, some pics of panel and spot weld trials, the panel has straightened up some but a bit more to go plus fill in gaps,so slow and steady, in hindsight I now realise that part of my spot weld fails are due to me working on panel at near vertical angle, top of spot would melt down to bottem and cause blow through, so will get CB into horizontal position in future, same with my tig welding till I'm better at vertical welding. Anyway for now I'm really enjoying the challenge and learning, looking forward to VallaMax to see and meet other VW folk and there drives particularly the CB,s, cheers Paul

Spot weld learning, don't laugh too hard at home made shield, couldn't get real one so cut my own, it didn't go to plan, but it does work...🤪

Well it,s been a while Macksville and many more fun VW events have come and gone and it,s time to get on and do what I want to do, not what have to do, sadly CB has been sidelined for a while. So finally back on board here are some progress pics, not a lot achieved, but welding has improved a little, and having taken on some of the advice offered it,s starting to work, though some bog may cover some of my short comings. Cheers to all.

One more

Hi Paul
I wish I could see the pics, some attachments I can see and some I can't. Nothing to indicate there's a picture there at all, when I'm logged in. Admin can't find the problem, might be from my end. Some appear after a year or so, it's very strange.
Anyway, I'm sure there great, stick with it.
Cheers
Tony

It must be something at your end Tony as I can see all the pictures on my computer.

Yogie