Sorry if this has been covered before but I had a look and couldn't find anything specific. We need to replace the rear apron on our 73 L Beetle due to rust and would like to make it removable. I had a look at some of the very informative posts and videos about it but have one quick question. Can the panel be removed with the engine in place?

yes

Great, that will save us a bit of work. Thanks for your quick reply. I read that someone in Australia is making fibreglass replacement aprons does anyone have any info on these (or if they are still available)?

you can buy new metal replacement ones.

Sounds like all my crap you have been looking at.

You will drive yourself nuts trying to remove it with the engine still in, cutting through the welds below the seal channel in the engine bay will be almost impossible to get good access to then drilling out the welds under the lip you probbaly wont enough room with the drill.

All the info pics in the vid are still in my Subi conversion thread on page 1

The fibreglass one comes from John Sherman at Volksconversions on the Gold Coast but they only come in the bulged fuel injection style and dont have the seal channel so if you have a VW engine you need to come up with a way to seal the tinware to the apron.

Remove all your pulley side tinware & seal and the muffler. Then sabre saw 1" from the joining seams on both sides. this will give you access to most of the spot welds them cold chisel off the rest. slow & steady and you will be ok. My2c

Yep I have tried spot weld drill and chisel - both work and horses for courses.

+1 to remove pulley tin and you can do it with engine in - just fiddly. I found an air cut off tool (takes about a 40mm disc) worked well.

I got a rear apron from Mick's. Not the greatest fit, but it was always going to need some mods to make it removable.

Only tip with he spot weld drills is go gently, let the drill do the work and keep things cool..... Or they go blunt