I've been consigned to do some paid work on the restoration of this sweet old notch (for a fellow name Ben [whereisfelicity username on AVD] on the Goldy).

I am going to give up the two days a week work I am doing in brissy and spend it on VW restorations to earn some cashola whilst my own business (Audiology - Pacific Hearing at Helensvale picks up on the other three days a week.

This is the first project I've agreed to take on - like any restoration, the work carried out is dependent on the price agreed....in this case it will not be a bare metal restoration or body off. However it will cover rust repair, and a full respray inside and out.

It has had a resto some time in the past in a lovely mint green hue, here it is partially stripped by the owner to save some money. I have already spent about 12 hours this week stripping it further though, so it is easy to see how the dollars add up in a respray before work even begins!

Stripping continues:


Tank out along with wiring etc:


The drivers side rear quarter has been hit some time in the past - evidence of accident damage under the rear guard - repair was satisfactory though.


Bit of rust in the rear quarter but nothing major fortunately:

Water has been trapped under the rear window creating some nasty surprises:




The stripping continued today after work:

I hope this isn't in my storage space.

So I guess I need to supply a tarp ??

[ Edited on 6-7-07 by Craig Torrens ]

I'm hoping this sort of work will help to subsidise an enclosed garage/carport so I have more space....but for now unfortunatley, yep, it has taken the prime garage position.

Found some more surprises under the brake fluid reservoir - not really a surprise as the signs were there, but it is a little worse than expected. Both the inside and outside skin will need some patch replacements (to be done soon).


After picking out the seam sealer on the drivers side under fuel tank filler neck, no rust was found - whoo-hoo!


After a bit of poking around, the passenger side A-piller crumbled away a little.


I opened it up enough until I reached solid metal to which a patch could be welded to (after rust converting heater channel and painting wherever I could reach with killrust) - plus patched inner panel as well as I could.

What colour is it going to be.

That light green suits those Type 3's

Drivers side A-pillar was not so bad


The majority of the metal was quite solid, so I only had to cut out a few patches and butt weld new metal in (no plating over the top for me - the patches are cut to fit the holes).


Likewise for the drivers side front guard to body join - a small rust hole was cut out


New patch welded in


I didn't want to pi$$ off the neighbours with too much grinding on a sunday so I'll knock the tops off the welds later in the week and finish them off (inc the passenger A-pillar)

Great progress pics Alan.

Thanks and keep em coming. Ben is one lucky lad to have you doing his work for him.

Looks like beautiful Birch Green. Great colour. Staying with it? This'll be good to watch Alan. Luv yer show.
Enjoy it.
Brad

great work man! good to see another person tackling some type 3 rust issues

look forward to seeing what your ideas for the rear windscreen section are

Cheers guys - I am still not sure what the final colour will be but I think it will incorporate a little more modern twist.

PS If anyone is scrapping a notch that could donate a reasonable rear window section (for purchase of course) - let me know!

No work today (busy at my real work)...hopefully some more tomorrow.
Alan

Nice notch! And it'll be even nicer soon! :kiss

What size rim/tyre is he running on the back there? Looks like they fit really nice..

good work , nice early notch..

How bad is the rust in the rear ??? it might be easier to repair than replace a bit section

Looking good

Looking good Alan.

very nice notch to start with.
You should see some of the shiters we have done.
time time it's all TIME !
keep it the same colour cob it will look fresh.

Cheers for the comments guys and gals. From memory the rear tyres are 185 and I think 65 profile but will double check and edit if necessary.

Can't find a decent rear window section so bought some steel today so hopefully over the weekend I can get stuck into the rust repair.

Re. Colour.....its such a personal choice - ultimately ben is the one who has to drive it each day and since the green is not the original colour (it was originally white of some hue), he'll have to choose a colour that suits him. Time will tell!

The hours are stacking up but things are progressing well (just slower than I hoped due to my limited time).

Driver's a-pillar welds ground back:


Along with passenger A-pillar:


Front right fender rust spot patch also ground back (flash shows some weird red reflections in the scratches but the metal is all shiny clean):



[ Edited on 15-7-2007 by Dasdubber ]

Cut out as much of the rust as possible under the brake fluid reservoir:


View from below:


Although welds don't look like they haven't penetrated enough, from the backside there was more than enough penetration (minds out of the gutter):


Ground smooth - very nice (if I do say so myself). It is amazing how long it takes to do these sorts of jobs 'properly' without just plating over and bogging up.


Still looks ugly from the inside as I ran out of time to grind these welds today, however it is all solid again with killrust painted between the double skin. Once it is cleaned up properly and smoothed out it should look the ducks nuts again.


Ben spent the day around again sanding the inside of the rear guards and removing glue and crud from under the bonnet and decklid - it is good for him to see how long this tedious work takes and why it is priced accordingly. I don't cut corners despite only really knowing of a fraction of the rust when I quoted.....doesn't matter though as I do enjoy this and hope therefore that is reflected in the work I do.

Ben, feel free to add anything you want to this thread - don't be shy! You need to figure out that colour soon though!
Alan

Nice work as always Das.

looks good alan!

colour wise (only my opinion) i was thinking keeping it stock and resto the car back to original condition - then lower it on a nice set of rims with thin red wall tyres and then lots and lots of bling!

real classic granny sleeper - now thats cool.

keep up the good work - lucky guy ben!

nick

Bloody nice notch IMHO. Scary lookin rust in the window section tho'. I know where there is a farily decent section for a late model notch in a wrecking yard (u2u if intersted) in Melbourne. Great to see rust repairs fixed with steel as opposed to bog. Keep up the pics of progress etc.
Cheers - Adam

Great stuff Alan...might inspire me to do something with my notch....then again probobly not...

Cheers guys - I may have a lead on a donor section for the rear window (he's going to check it out today)....but if not, Adam I'll U2U if this donor doesn't work out.

I spent about an hour trying to fab one section yesterday on the bottom corner of the window surround and although it looks close it is not good enough in my books - I want to use as minimal filler as possible therefore I wasn't happy to weld it in.

Will keep you all up to date.
Alan

yes i am very lucky to have alan doing the repairs / respray for me . . .

personally the greens not my favourite colour so it will be seeing a new colour - something a little more modern but that will be unveilled once its painted unless someone can guess . . . * hint its not black .

Very nice lads.

Always nice watching your work in motion Alan.

Good to see you pipe up Ben!

Cheers Jim :thumb

Managed to squeeze in a couple of hours after work today - although still ugly, all is now solid and welds have been ground smooth:


Underside of repair is now smooth with a skim coat of filler (1-2mm):


Again only minimal filler required here:


And a super think skim here as well:

Bubbles in the paint work are never a good sign!


Not much of a sign of what lies beneath!


Whoever did the previous 'repair' cut out the old rust hammered in the surrounding metal, plated over it and bogged the $hit out of the whole panel!


Started with flat sheet and slowly but surely bent it into shape. Didn't originally count on so much rust repair but I cannot sleep at night (seriously) if I cut corners.....its been a learning experience for me quoting on a job when unknowns pop up.


[ Edited on 22-7-2007 by Dasdubber ]

Strong southerlies (see palm trees in the background) rendered surf as an unattractive option so the day was devoted to the notch.


Old section cut out leaving a healthy metal perimeter:


Inside view of new section tacked in place:


Outisde view:


Old section shows thickness of the bog used previously: