Hulda Speaks!
11.17.2008
Rippin' the Rust
11.18.2008
One of our chief concerns is ripping out the rusted areas of the body. This seems especially important in a convertible where you need all the structural support you can get since your roofless. Also, if we don't sand, grind and or convert the rust, it will come back like a cancer, no matter how good of a job we do in the body work and paint stage.
A Spark of Mystery
11.18.2008
Hulda is beginning to share her secrets. As we were removing her paint to get down to bare metal for our patch work, David noticed an interesting pattern. The patch work done on the front half of the car revealed layers of red, then blue, then yellow at the bottom. You can see it here under where the spare tire sits in front...
Yet on he back half of the car, the paint was layered just red on top and blue underneath - there was no yellow layer to be found. What's going on here?
Then we found a weld seam, running across the edge of the front seat tray, going across the width of the car.
As best we can determine, at some point in the history of this bug it was involved in a significant crash to the front end, and a yellow donor car was clipped to the blue back half, and then the whole car was painted red. I just hope Hulda doesn't have mutliple personality disorders to deal with along with the rest of the repairs!
Getting Some Momentum
11.20.2008
Jumping into this project, we're trying to keep the momentum going while its still new and we're still motivated. Getting this new rear section in really seemed to make a big difference; maybe it won't always look like a rust bucket! Here's the before and after:
Where There's Smoke...
11.22.2008
I (Matt) was changing the oil in the bug (there's no oil plug on this thing!), when all of the sudden I noticed a bunch of smoke filling the garage. Earlier when we were trying to hot wire the car and had fresh gasoline vapors floating around, David had told me where the fire extinguisher was located. As I smelled the smoke I looked to the extinguisher, then at David, who did not seem fazed in the least. It was then I realized that he was welding on one of our last patch panels to the front passenger wheel well, and the undercoating on the inside was smoldering when the torch hit it (still, I kept my eye on the extinguisher!).
She has been silent for eleven years, but today we finally heard from Hulda. We checked to make sure there was some oil in the engine, shot some WD40 into the carb, then bypassed the gas tank fearing contaminants and hooked the electric fuel pump straight to a gas can. Finally, David hot-wired the ignition system, and amazingly, after sitting in a barn for more than a decade, she started right up!
Rippin' the Rust
11.18.2008
One of our chief concerns is ripping out the rusted areas of the body. This seems especially important in a convertible where you need all the structural support you can get since your roofless. Also, if we don't sand, grind and or convert the rust, it will come back like a cancer, no matter how good of a job we do in the body work and paint stage.
Here's David attacking the parcel tray behind where the back seat goes:
Here's Matt preparing the front apron to be replaced:
David welding up some rust holes in the rear fender well:
And a completed patch panel on the front driver's side:
A Spark of Mystery
11.18.2008
Hulda is beginning to share her secrets. As we were removing her paint to get down to bare metal for our patch work, David noticed an interesting pattern. The patch work done on the front half of the car revealed layers of red, then blue, then yellow at the bottom. You can see it here under where the spare tire sits in front...
Yet on he back half of the car, the paint was layered just red on top and blue underneath - there was no yellow layer to be found. What's going on here?
Then we found a weld seam, running across the edge of the front seat tray, going across the width of the car.
As best we can determine, at some point in the history of this bug it was involved in a significant crash to the front end, and a yellow donor car was clipped to the blue back half, and then the whole car was painted red. I just hope Hulda doesn't have mutliple personality disorders to deal with along with the rest of the repairs!
Getting Some Momentum
11.20.2008
Jumping into this project, we're trying to keep the momentum going while its still new and we're still motivated. Getting this new rear section in really seemed to make a big difference; maybe it won't always look like a rust bucket! Here's the before and after:
Other steps forward included these patch jobs, over old speaker cutouts in the doors, by David:
David's twin, Daniel came by to make sure we were doing quality work. Most people who hear about the project either think its pretty cool, or we sure have a lot of work ahead of us (I'm afraid that they're both right!).
The guys at Oval's in Federal Way came through with the rest of the patch panels we needed:
Where There's Smoke...
11.22.2008
I (Matt) was changing the oil in the bug (there's no oil plug on this thing!), when all of the sudden I noticed a bunch of smoke filling the garage. Earlier when we were trying to hot wire the car and had fresh gasoline vapors floating around, David had told me where the fire extinguisher was located. As I smelled the smoke I looked to the extinguisher, then at David, who did not seem fazed in the least. It was then I realized that he was welding on one of our last patch panels to the front passenger wheel well, and the undercoating on the inside was smoldering when the torch hit it (still, I kept my eye on the extinguisher!).
Here's the rear patch, before and after. David did well on this one.
Now that most of the welding is done, we are looking forward to getting Hulda roadworthy so she can make it to Matt's house for the body and paint work. To do that, we need bumpers and fenders; most everything else seems to be in the big box of parts that came with the car. We ran down to a junkyard near Olympia that advertised several bugs in the yard in search for some, but all we came away with was this goofy picture.
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!
11.22.2008
We took a few steps closer to getting Hulda roadworthy. She still needs a new fuel line, filter, a carb rebuild, and we also want to change out the brake fluid. But her brakes, clutch, and ignition all seem to be in working order. Perhaps next week we can do a driveway test. Until then, at least she can be started with the ignition key (at least we don't have to hot wire it anymore!).
No comments:
Post a Comment