Left Side Lower Front Inner Fender

I did a final fit and got my inner fender piece welded in tonight. This was probably the most difficult panel I have fabbed up to date. There were quite a few wrinkles and the flanged curve at the bottom gave me fits. As you can see the fit was about 95%, but again, the panel was difficult to reach. I would have liked to do this with the body off, but I don't plan to seperate the body for another month or two, so it was this way or come back to it.

I am still under the impression I am two weeks behind schedule. I have the other inner fender, some cleanup of the duct work, the fresh air grills and headlight buckets left to do. With the long weekend ahead, I am planning to get the left air grill complete along with the left headlight bucket. Then I'll hit the right side for the trifecta (inner fender, air vent and bucket) next week.

patch clamped up

Welded in

Right fender stripping

I decided no chemicals today. I hit the crusty fender with a 5" sander with a 24 grit pad. When I had a majority of the paint off I switched to a 6" DA with 80 grit. Everything on the fenders cleaned up well. I also cleaned up most of the cowl as well before the pad on my DA came apart. I couldn't get a few areas, so I'll pull out the blaster and clean up the rain drips (on the windshield posts), the channel where the hood seal sits, the wiper bosses and the gas filler area.

While I was at it today, I removed the filler lid and flap release lever from inside the car. I may work a bit on it later today and fill some holes.

I'm not going to make my August 31 deadline for the metal work on the front of the car to be complete, but I am going to be pretty close.

I also ground down the weld on the right headlight... I think I welded that on 7 years ago!!!

Fender after grinding and sanding the paint off

On top of trying to get the Karmann Ghia restored, I am training for my first marathon. With an 18 mile run on the menu today, I didn't know whether or not I would get back to the car tonight... Well a nagging case of runner's knee cut my run short by about 12.5 miles. Since I still had a few hours of good energy left, I got back onto the car for a couple quick patches. I filled an area by the spare tire that I burned through with my 7" grinder. I cut out a little patch and welded it up. I also had a patch to install where the right side air vent came through the inner fender. Please don't laugh at the welding. That was the most difficult to reach place I've had to patch. It was done left handed and half blind. I should have welded it from inside the wheel well rather than the luggage area.

area I burned through with the grinder

Hole remaining from where I removed the fresh air inlet

I welded a tab to the patch so I could hold it in place while I tacked it. Clamps wouldn't fit.

Patch welded (if that's what you want to call it) in

Stripping The Front Fenders

I decided to try a chemical stripper on the front fenders today. Everything I read said to let the stripper work for you. One guy said put it on and get some lunch, come back and take it off. Another guy said let it sit 4-5 hours or over night. I don't know what brand of stripper they used, but I found out the hard way not to let it sit that long.

I spread on the stripper (Bix) the way I was told: dump it out of the can, brush it LIBERALLY in one direction only. I let it sit for about an hour and a half. I dug up a test bit and saw it was down to the original primer. I let it sit a bit longer and decided I needed to get after it because I had limited time to work before I needed to leave. As I was scraping off the paint, I realized that if the stripper drys up, the paint starts to re-solidify.

I used both a razor in a holder and a putty knife to scrape off the paint. After I got off all I could that was still wet, I hopped in with a razor to clean off the dry stuff. 3 hours later I had a clean fender. I bet I scrapped 9/10 of the paint with the razor... Not the result I was after. I cleaned up the fender with a DA and 80 grit paper. I also started in on the right fender, just scraping off the top crust. WHAT A PAIN!!! I be faster next time.

I got home from dinner and worked for an hour with the razor scrapping paint off the right fender. I will try more stripper tomorrow and see what happens.

Fender before chemicals

Paint bubbling up after about 15 minutes

Scraping off the paint

After a few hours of scraping and 30 minutes with a DA fender is nice and clean

The side that dried. Even with a second coat of stripper, this was all I could scrape off

More shaping on LF grill filler

I have been stuck for a few years trying to figure out how to make the reverse curve for this filler panel. I thought I had it figured out last night, but after an hour and a half, I gave up. The short direction contour is pretty slight, but the long direction is the same curve (close to it anyway) as the nose section. I kept getting the ends to look good, but the middle 1/3 of the patch was either flat in the short direction or the sheet metal was contoured the wrong way... I went to bed frustrated and decided to think about it later.

When I got up, I looked on YouTubes for a reverse curve video and found a couple that used a special die and a planishing hammer. John Kelly had a method for using a shrinking disk. Well, I don't have all the pieces for either of those setups, but I do have a HF e-wheel. The video with the dies and hammer told me what I needed to know: You have to stretch the edges of the panel in the long direction to get the long curve to appear. John Kelly does just the opposite, he shrinks the center of the panel. Either way, I was stretching the center of the panel and there was no way that would ever work!!!

I set out tonight and curved the patch to meet my template in the short direction. Then I wheeled the bajesus out of the long edges of the panel (see pic below) and started to see the long curve form. After 10 minutes of wheeling, the patch met both curves from my template, so it was time to stop and trim the panel to fit the opening.

patch with reverse curve (as slight as it is.) Notice the panel is curved down on the leading edge, through the center and at the back. This is critical to check all locations.

Patch held in place. It's difficult to see, but it's spot on where it meets the body and the other patch (I feel like I know what I am doing again!)

A few of my post dollies and tubes I use for bending and beating. I get all the metal out of the scrap bin at a place called Metal By The Foot here in KC. Works out perfect, the scrap is cheap and sized just right.

Hard to see, but the short direction curve is pointed down like a frown. The long curve is up like a smile. This was AFTER I trimmed the patch, but this is how I wheeled the edges. I used fairly heavy pressure.

RF Inner Fender Air Vent Patch

I had an hour to work tonight so I fit up the patch to seal up the inner fender where it used to house the fresh air box. Nothing special, just some trimming and welding. I will move to the bottom section of the inner fender next, then fill in the hole in the outer skin. I believe I can get the seal in one long piece rather than the stock lengths. I suspect I'll have to put it on after everything is buttoned up so I don't set it a-flame.

view from inside the luggage compartment

View from the exterior

Filling in the Air Vents - Part I

I started work on fabbing the filler pieces for the fresh air vents. I first made a template of the curve of the Karmann Ghia nose on thick cardstock. Then I cut a 7"x16" blank out of my sheet stock. I worked it on the english wheel until the contour of the panel matched the contour of the template. In hind sight I should have cut my blank longer and made both left and right sides at the same time. I then transferred the lines from the hole in the nose to the metal and trimmed it out.

I also fabbed up a patch to fill in the section of the inner fender where it meets the fresh air intake. Hopefully I will have some time tomorrow night to start welding these pieces into the car.

Nose curve template on the Ghia

Template on the sheet metal patch

Patch clamped into place for fitting

Inner fender patch

Patching Nose and Removing Fresh Air Duct

I spent a few hours today patching up the area on the driver's side where the inner fender meets the nose. Again the PO "fixed" this area by slathering on the bondo. A few minutes at the E-Wheel to get the patch shaped and it was on to cutting, welding and grinding.

When I had that area cleaned up I went under the passenger side fender to remove the fresh air duct like I did on the other side. I was able to cut it all out and I have ground off the bottom flange. I'll need to go back and grind off the top flange tomorrow or sometime next week. It's really hard work to hold an 8" grinder over your head to cut and grind up inside this area. I should really mount this car up to the rotisseree that I built. Oh well... I am almost done with this part.

I have given myself a deadline of the end of summer to complete the metalwork for the car. I figure I will need to have the front end complete by the end of August to be on schedule. As I look forward the list for the front end is getting short. I have the following parts to address:
-finish removing the PS air duct
-fab the PS lower inner fender
-weld on both lower inner fenders
-patch the hole where the fresh air diverter sat
-fab up Rt and Lt bumper mounts
-install the headlight buckets
-fill the fresh air grills
-fill a few pin holes and grind down all the welds.

Rust holes outlined
Patch welded in

fresh air duct before

Rear section of duct removed

Front section of duct removed