The Bug Shop FAQ pt2

www.geocities.com/MotorCity/4000/bsfqbyng.htm

The second part of Bug Shop's guide to buying a Beetle (many of its parts apply to any aircooled, or indeed any car), is reproduced by kind permission of the author, written by John S. Henry of the Bugshop USA.

What is "Solid" (important truths about heater channels)

This text will be biased by my appreciation for vintage "correctness", but much of this stuff is generally applicable to any Beetle purchase.

First appearances are important. And I may mean the opposite of what you're thinking. I don't mean that you should only buy it if it looks good. You need to be able to look beyond that first appearance. See, if I go look at a filthy, tires low on air, good dent on one of the fenders, headlight out, headliner falling down 1962 Beetle, my first thought is "opportunity". Which requires further looking. If that car is correct, complete and "inner" mechanically sound, it is worth far more than that same car with an Earl Shieb $250 dollar "monthly special" paint job, some remnant house carpet covering the holes in the floor, missing bumper, huge holes in the dash for "previously removed" stereo equipment and a Type 3 engine shoe-horned into the back. Now again, I'm straying into my bias that "correct" is the only way. There is nothing wrong with a new "after-market" engine correctly installed into an earlier car.

The "Solid" Beetle- Assessing the Body

First and foremost, I look for rust in the "doomsday" places.

1. The heater channels

2. The front bulkhead area

3. The lower A-Pillar area.

[Begin Lecture on Heater Channels...]

I come back and revise these articles often, and before I wrote this "lecture", I had this fear that waaay too many people were innocently buying Beetles with rotted heater channels either not knowing they were rotted, or were grossly underestimating the scope of replacing them. So I have added this section, and even broke one of my BugShop covenants not to duplicate text in articles. But this is very important folks.

The text below appears in the "Dealing with rust" article. I will make it a different color so you will know what is excerpted.

Let talk some more about heater channels

I get asked all of the time about replacing heater channels. Is it worth it? How hard is it? Where can I go to have it done? While I have never personally done it myself, I feel confident in presenting the following list of:

8 Reasons Why Heater Channel Replacement May Not be as Easy as You Might Think:

1. It takes a very long time. To do it properly, it requires you to drill out literally hundreds of spot welds which connect the channel to the other panels of the car.

2. You run the risk of messing up the door opening dimensions and having doors that never close right again, especially if you try to replace the channels while the body is off the pan.

3. If the channels are badly rotted, chances are good that some of the panels that attach to the channels are rotted in those locations too (most notably, the lower A pillars)

4. The generally available replacement heater channels are not correct for many of the older model VWs. While the vendor may say they "fit" (and they do) the heater outlet is in the wrong place.

5. Eventually, new heater channels will rust out again, especially if the car is driven in harsh conditions. The inside of the replacement channel is usually not coated with anything more than primer and welding them in will make them even more prone to rusting (hot metal burns paint off)

6. With every day that passes, there are fewer shops/mechanics/bodymen who can do this and do it right.

7. The heater channel is not a simply body "panel", it is an important structural component that provides longitudinal rigidity to the body and floor pans.

8. It is not trivial, in fact is in not even just "difficult". (see below)

Boy, I bet you feel better now, huh? Don't misunderstand me. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from doing this. I am just trying to let you know that this is not trivial. Many people ask if they should do it like it is like replacing a floor pan. It is not, I assure you. To do it right requires skill, patience and time. Any one of those things may make up for some short comings in the other. What I mean by this is if you are a novice bodyman and have all of the time, patience and ambition in the world, go for it.

But very quickly, what is the heater channel? <> Well, it is a hollow, multi-walled "tube" that runs from just in front of the rear torsion tube ends all the way along the lower edge of the sides of the car to the bulkhead where the master cylinder is bolted. It is a key structural component of the car. It houses a hollow tube that carries heat (yeah, right) up to the front floor vents. It is the front floor vents, it is the door "sill", it is the thing that the running boards bolt to. It is all of these things.

And all too often people ask "Should I have it done?" before they ask "Can I have it done?". Heater channel replacement is not like having your house painted by someone. You won't find anyone listed in the yellow pages under "Heater Channel Replacement". They guy who you would want to have replace your heater channels would be an old VW bodyman who cared about your car, quoted you flat rate for the job and took as long as he wanted to do it. Yes, many of the skills needed are common "body shop" skills, but some are not. Someone with a basic "chisel, patch and weld" technique, who is most interested in getting your car out so he can get the next one in, might get the job done but will look like crap, diminish the value of your car and you may have structural and/or rust problems down the road.

If you seriously want to assess this job, first go find out what a replacement channel looks like. You usually can see them at the larger shows and many good catalogues, even Hot VWs ads, have pretty good photos/drawings. They usually run $130-$150 a piece. Once you see what one looks like, you will have a better idea about how it fits into your car, and what is involved in putting it in. Pull up the front footwell and rocker panel carpet, remove the rear quarter panel(s) and rear seat bottom. Remove your running boards (if they are still attached). You will now be able to see just about as much of your existing channels as possible. Examine them front to back and you will see how many different places that they are welded to other panels in the car. They are welded to the back upper floor where it rolls down toward the seat back, the lower edge of the rear quarters, the bottom of the B-pillar, the bottom of the A-pillar (hinge facing edge and inside the footwell area), the front quarter behind the front wheels and to the bulkhead cross member.

The old channel must be carefully cut away in all these places and there must be good metal present to weld the new one in. "Filled hole" MIG spot welds are best and closest to the original assembly. MIG butt and stitch welds may also be used but will definitely not look "factory". In any case, extensive welding is required. The job can be done with the body on the car. It is a bit more difficult working around the pan (unless it (they) is being replaced too) but it does help keep the door opening square.

As I said in the "buying" article, I wouldn't "walk" on a '51 for $1000 because the rear running board area was rusted through, but don't just lump wholly rotted channels into the same aggravation factor as a hole in the pan or a dented fender. Heater channel repair is major commitment.

That might be little more technical/detail oriented then you would expect to have seen in a "What to look for when buying" article, but I hope it makes a very strong point. As the years go by, and the available "pool" of good restorable Beetles shrinks, this is all the more important. Find a Beetle with solid heater channels if at all possible! The guy selling the car might say "It just needs a couple of floorpans". But be informed and look closely for rotted heater channels, both front and back.

I'm not saying don't do it, just be aware of what is involved. If you are comfortable and confident in body work, have a nice shop, MIG welder and LOTS of time, give it a shot. But if you are young, have a "spot" in the yard or apartment complex that you can park your car, only a handful of tools and want something to drive by the end of the summer, don't be fooled!

..End lecture on Heater Channels.

We now resume your regularly scheduled article. Already in progress.

Look at the pans closely, first from under the car, then from above. Lift up all of the carpet. Lift up the bottom of the back seat. Look under the carpet under the "storage" space under the rear window. Repairing floor pans really is not that bad if it is truly JUST the pans that are rusted. To the novice though, it might not be apparent where the pans stop and the heater channels start (Read my article "Fixing the holes in the floor" too). Lift up the carpet covering the inside of the heater channels. This is the door "sill" area that rolls downward to meet the floor. Rust and rot at the bottom, vertical edge of this metal is NOT floor pan rust, it is heater channel rust- MUCH harder to repair.

Go all the way around the car and look for rust at that "heater channel" level. Where the running boards bolt up to. And the inner front quarter. Turn the front wheels about halfway to the right, now go look inside the front right fender. See the area that the back of the wheel is "pointing" at? This panel has a tendency to rust out about 1"-4" up from its lower edge. This is actually the back of the "frontmost" part of the heater channel. If it has a little rust perforation, well, it's not catastrophic, but it must be dealt with (see my article "Dealing with rust"). Look for rust at that same level in the front bulkhead area (this will require you to crawl up underneath the front and contort you neck). In a nutshell, rust (rust through, rot) anywhere at that "heater channel" level is not easily repairable.

Look for sagging doors, close them slowly and watch to see if they "hop up" when they latch up. Conversely, with them closed, very slowly release the handles and watch while squatting down. Do they drop down when the latch releases? Close them almost all the way and look at the line that the moulding makes from the door to the rear quarter. Lift up on the handle hard with them almost closed, is there play? Unfortunately, there is no one cause of sagging doors, but they are almost always difficult to remedy. They can sag from accident damage, A-pillar rot, worn hinge pins or just general old age. This is especially important for convertibles. Hinge pins are replaceable but it is not an easy job. Unless you have a special tool, it requires that you take the door off of the car, which my require other tools that you don't have. See "The Doors" article.

And speaking of accident damage, go look for that. First, open up the hood, remove the spare (if there is one) and look at the inner sides of the spare tire well where the bumper brackets bolt to [may not be applicable to McPherson strut, "spare lays flat" Super Beetles]. Look for wrinkled metal. Now I have to tell you that in 17 years and all of the junkyards and cars in between, aside from show cars (and not always those either), I could probably count on one hand the number of pristine "well sides" that I have seen. The design of the front end of the Beetle is such that it cannot hide even a 6 mph collision with a solid object. There is a complex stamping in those side panels though, among which is a rounded large "wrinkle" to match the circumference of the spare tire, don't mistake that for collision damage. Collision damage is non-uniform and pretty easy to spot. There will usually be surface rusting and paint flaking in the wrinkles. Look also at this area from under the fender, in front of the wheel. Now damage here is not necessarily a reason not to buy the car, but it is a reason to tell the seller on discovery, "Oh geeez, this car has been hit" and start talking him down.

Now go down back, get on the ground and look under the fenders, behind the rear wheels. Look at the area surrounding where the rear bumper brackets bolt up to. Same story, look for wrinkled metal. This area does survive a hit much better than the front though. Also, while you are on the ground, look for rust-out along the lower edge of the inner rear quarter. If this area is severely rotted (outer edge gone) I'd pass it up.

Now as for the fenders, don't worry about them, really. New ones are around $60 and good used ones can be had for $20 or less in the right places. But you don't have to tell the seller that. If one or two is dinged really good, or even missing, just say "Oh, geeez. THIS will have to be replaced" and talk them down some more.

Bumpers, especially on the "old" ('67 and earlier) models are important, the older the car, the more important. See the "About Chrome" section in this article. A good set of original, heavy steel, nice chrome bumpers are worth a lot. If the bumpers are destroyed, rusty or missing, again, doesn't mean don't get the car, but finding a "good" set will likely be tough. As for the new bugs ('68 and up), it is a little easier to find them.

Worth noting: if you are looking at a 1967, make sure that the rear decklid (thing that covers the engine) and the rear apron (the panel below the decklid that the tailpipes come out from under) are in good shape and that both door handles are to your satisfaction. These are one-year only parts on these cars, and while they are not impossible to find, they are getting scarce and prices are going up. Even harder to find is the deck lid for the '67 convertible, door handles are the same as the '67 sedan.

Next Month - mechanicals and more