Oh Oh!! Time for the A-Pillar repair!

Well here is the part of this build that i was really nervous about. Replacing the A-Pillar!!

First up... brace the shell! The A-Pillar is kind of important for keeping a lot of things lined up, so i bought some 1"x1" box section and welded across the car from heater channel to heater channel. Then from the heater channel up to the roof and lastly from the heater channel up to the dash.

So here is the offending article that is causing all the problems. Me and the friend im building this Karmann Ghia for are of the opinion that its had a smash at some point. If you look closely, you can see where a previous owner has brazed in a section of metal to try and hide the accident damage. The sheer amount of filler i removed from the area was incredible!

Here is some MORE filler removed. Look at the state of the wing! The edge of the wing had even more brazing down the edge. This thing was mangled!

Another thing that you can see is the packing piece that a previous owner made to space the door on its hinges. These measured 5mm thick! something was definitely out of alignment somewhere. I documented as many measurements as i could, comparing one side to the other and then started cutting bent and rotten metal out!

First to come off was the wing. There is a swage line that runs along the top of the wing for its full length. I wanted to stay away from this line with my cut and weld line. The reason for this was that the line was in pretty good condition. Nice and straight and pretty symmetrical the length of the wing. I knew that if i disturbed it then i would need to reform it later. I don't want to make work for myself if i don't have to.

So once the wing was off, this was the mangled mess i was left with. Not good!

Cutting out more and more bent/rotten metal

This picture shows pretty well how i managed to locate the spot welds that attach the A-Pillar to the inner arch. I was really conscious that i wanted to preserve as much original metal as i could. Not because im precious about "original metal" it just makes things easier if i can keep original shapes and profiles to repair to. After that was detached, all that was left to do was cut through the top to detach it from the car! Ok so im scared now!!

The most important thing i did before cutting the A-Pillar out completely was measure both the original one and the donor one (remember the donor Ghia i refered to earlier). I made sure that i cut them both in the same position so hopefully, when it came to positioning the new one, it would glide straight in with no problems whatsoever! Well.... thats the plan!

Here is the donor Ghia's A-Pillar tacked in place. So far so good. The bottom section you can see i had to fabricate from sheet steel. Both the donor Ghia and the original were both too far gone.

Another shot of the donor section tacked in place. Everything lined up pretty well i must say. I did cut it out and re tac it once though.

Here is the bottom section of the donor Ghia pillar. I nearly didn't use this piece. It was in a very bad way. After taking a closer look though, i decided that i probably wouldn't be able to fabricate it from new. So i used what i had and started repairing it.

So here is the complete donor pillar welded in place. All that's left to do now is clean it up a bit.

The finished article! After a good amount of time with a wire wheel, a dose of kurust and some primer later, here it is. Im really pleased with how this came out. It was the one repair that i was dreading the most.

So here is a before and after shot. Definitely better me thinks!

Parcel Shelf Repair

Next up was the parcel shelf. The friend who im building this for wanted to go for a much more stealthy/stock look for his stereo install. So the two 6x9 holes cut in the parcel shelf had to go.

Wondering how i was going to replicate this panel, the shell of another Karmann Ghia came up for sale locally to me. Seeing as we needed a few other cuts that you either cant buy or are hideously expensive, we bought it. Lots of carefull measuring later, i cut the panel out of the donor car and done the same to the project car.

Some welding later and the donor panel was in.

A little bit of cleaning with a grinder and a dash of primer later and its looking like it did when it first came out of the factory. Much better!

First Try At Panel Beating

Ok so i'm getting a little ahead of myself now but i bought myself a new DA and a panel beating kit so i wanted to have a play with it. I new there was parts of the car that had a lot of filler on it but the amount in some places was a little worrying.

I know Karmann Ghia's are a coach built car and will always have a certain amount of filler but this wing was a little excessive. After doing some digging, in places the filler was around 6-7mm thick. Its not a great photo but you can see an area around the center of the wing that has been completely removed of all filler. This area had a dent in it about the size of a small football. With a hammer and dolly and around 20-30mins of beating, i managed to get it to a shape where all it will need now is a very slight skim fill. Well that's saved some weight off the front end!!

Plenty of highs and lows to sort out.

The Nearside Headlight Repair

Ok so ive jumped forward a bit in time now but i wasn't planning on doing a blog back when i took on the headlight surrounds so your just gonna have to bare with me. As you can see from the photo, i attacked the car with a wire wheel and found an amazing amount of filler with a good amount of rust underneath. The most worrying thing was the sheer amount of dimples and dents all over the wing! The headlight surround was looking BAD. The lip all the way around it was pretty much non existent so it had to go. Ive never taken on this repair before so lots of measuring later, i bit the bullet and went for it!

Absolutely chuffed to bits with how this turned out. Everything lined up pretty well and the measurements i took before the cut came in very handy for making sure it was in the right place. My main concern was after the headlight was installed it would angle too far up, down, left or right. The last thing i wanted was to stand back and look at the car when it was all built up and painted, only to find it had wonky eyes! Not good!

Although very "dimply" the wing metal was in pretty good condition and allowed me to get a good weld on it.

So after i was finally happy with the position, i finished off the weld.

A wee bit of cleaning up and a dab of primer and its ready for a skim fill.

The Rear Heater Channel Repair

Like i said, that "little" repair turned into a slightly bigger one (as they do).

After referring to the other side for a pattern, i cut the pieces i needed and tacked them in. When i was happy with it, i finished the weld. I know my welding isnt the prettiest in the world but it holds strong and im getting better so all good.

I made sure that i measured and cut new waxoyl holes for the two sections of the heater channels. I want this car to stand up to the test of time as best it can.

First Up.. A Small Repair.

So... first up was a little repair on the underside of the rear, offside heater channel. The captive nut and its surrounding metal had gone a bit crusty.

So i cut it out, did some measuring and fabricated the piece i needed out of some sheet steel. The most crucial part was to weld in the captive nut in the right place, so when the body is married back up to the pan, the body bolt located in the right place.

As you can see, that "little" repair turned into slightly more than i thought! After stepping back and taking a look, i decided to pretty much rebuild the whole rear corner, including the rear block off plate.

Evidence of a Budget Respray

Hmmm, so here is the first evidence of a new paint job done on the cheap. The underside of the bonnet is a different colour.

A bit of surface rust but nothing too horrible

The engine is a good little runner really... but its not going back in!