I'm about to remove the foam in the rear pillars of my 1971 super beetle to repair the rust, just wondering what the purpose of the foam was, and if I need to replace it with something.

I would like to leave it out (for obvious reasons) if i can.

Can someone offer some advice.

Thanks

Hi
at the time it the best stuff VW had to stop the noise from the engine bay getting into the cabin...
I poked all mine out with a long screwdriver and bits of wire etc...

I then coated the metal there with 3 or 4 coats of fish oil to stop any further rust..

many months later I filled the gap with expanding foam after reading that Audis and Lexus etc cars are filled with expanding foam to stop noise...
it doesn't suck in moisture now like the oid stuff..
its water proof etc...

but make sure You rustproof where the old stuff was...

hope that helps

cheers

LEE

Before you even start the engine after you have poked any foam out make sure you get very last tiny piece of foam out of the engine bay, if you leave any loose stuff in there the engine fan will suck it in and get blocked up! I reckon it could even suck any loose stuff left up in the pillars!!! Use a vacuum cleaner and when you think you have it all get a mirror on a stick and make sure there is none behind the fan housing. I put a photo of mine after doing it, thread is called lesson learned

Thanks for the advice guys, yes Dubbydo I did see your pic!!! Big lesson learned hey.

Just wondering, should I spend the time and get it all out? It obviously easy to get out where I have cut out the rust, but as you know the foam goes right down into the quarter panel.... Ie quite hard to dislodge! Any tips if I need to remove it all? I will refill after the body repairs with new foam filler... Is the space filler foam you buy in a can from the hardware the stuff I need? Or is there sound deadening foam?

Another question regarding the repair work to be done.. Where I have removed the rusted section on rear pillar, I noticed there were 2 internal channels.. More on the horizontal plane rather than vertical . Both were badly rusted and now partially removed. What purpose did they serve other than outer panel support? If that's all they did, the remains will be fine for that purpose. If they served another purpose then I may need to consider rebuilding them .

Cheers

Dont refill it

It was meant as a sound deadener but it gets water from the "cresent" and sits there and rots away

A coathanger wire bent into a small "hook" in a sped reduced electric drill and slowwly "bore" it all out

The water is from the condensation that forms inside the roof and runs down the pillars. The vent is actually not a problem, it self drains, they eventually look rusty when the pillar rust has been left way too long.
x2 on don't put more foam in, but definately rust proof behind the repairs whatever you decide.

the purpose of it was to create RUST and kill most of the VWs in Aussie

yep get it out of there and put up with the noise

I don't reckon you will notice much if any difference in noise levels anyway