Heater Channel Replacement

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Heater Channel Replacement Article

by dragenwagen

Page 5

*Disclaimer* This really isn't a how to. This is merely a collection of my thoughts and pictures. If you decide to undertake replacing the heater channels in your Beetle, then it is up to you to decide if you are capable of this task. You accept all risks involved in this endeavor. I am in no way responsible for your actions or your results. I am not responsible if you get killed, hurt, injured, squashed, burned, maimed, disfigured, burn your house down, accidental amputation of body parts, snoring, bed wetting, nightmares, drunk and disorderly conduct, profuse swearing or any other unforeseen natural or unnatural act for which I have no control over. Basically you take what I say or any of my pictures as merely reference material or entertainment material. Please do not use my pictures or my articles as I have written this and I am the owner of this article and all that which is contained in it. All pictures are mine. If you would like to link to them or use them in any way please email me and ask first.

Installing New Heater Channels -

Did you figure out what I was thinking yet? No. Well read on. If you noticed in the previous page, I had the body about 6 inches off the pan, with some clamps holding in the heater channel. I wanted to make sure that everything lined up first before I welded it in. I couldn't figure out where the bottom plate went... the exact place, I mean. I had the bottom plate bolted into place on the pan and the clamps were in the way. So I took off the clamps and jacked the pan up to meet the heater channel. It was was a little tricky at first but I finally got the heater channel in place and sandwiched in between the pan and body. NOW everything was in place. I didn't want to weld on the bottom plate just yet as I wanted to paint the inside of the heater channel after I welded it into the body because the heat from the welds will burn off the paint/primer... well, if you weld it right!

Here is a picture of the pan jacked up to the body. I have placed every clamp and vise grip I have to hold the bottom plate to the heater channel. The heater channel is in place and I want to check my measurements that I made and I want to see if the door opening is correct. The jack supporting the door post is important, for more than one reason. First it raises the floor pan to meet the channel. Second, the door needs open and close smoothly and jacking the door post until the door closes properly is important. You can adjust the door striker plate if you have to. Don't weld anything until you have the door adjusted properly.

I had to put a clamp on the rear body mount to keep the body down against the pan. Put the body bolts back in and tighten them down. I did put the ones in under the gas tank and one under the back seat back in, but in this picture was before I put the bolt in. This is to make sure the body is in the right place and is held down tightly against the pan.

With the body bolts back in and the door post supported you can now check the door alignment. The body does have more support and you can open the door with the post supported, Notice I am stressing the support under the door post.

Notice that there is a gap in between the rear plate and the heater channel. This is ok because the old heater channel had the overlapping sheetmetal. I ended up cutting a small piece of metal to overlap the gap here. The bottom plate also will need a piece over lapping the underside, but I am going to wait until the bottom plate is welded onto the upper piece. This will probably be the last weld I make on the heater channel to close it up.

Page 6 - Welding in heater channels

Home Heater channel page 1 Heater channel page 2

email me Heater channel page 3 Heater channel page 4

Heater channel page 5 Heater channel page 6

Heater channel page 7 Heater channel page 8

Heater channel page 9 Heater channel page 10

Heater channel page 11 Heater channel page 12 - Not done Yet

Here is a picture of the pan jacked up to the body. I have placed every clamp and vise grip I have to hold the bottom plate to the heater channel. The heater channel is in place and I want to check my measurements that I made and I want to see if the door opening is correct. The jack supporting the door post is important, for more than one reason. First it raises the floor pan to meet the channel. Second, the door needs open and close smoothly and jacking the door post until the door closes properly is important. You can adjust the door striker plate if you have to. Don't weld anything until you have the door adjusted properly.
I had to put a clamp on the rear body mount to keep the body down against the pan. Put the body bolts back in and tighten them down. I did put the ones in under the gas tank and one under the back seat back in, but in this picture was before I put the bolt in. This is to make sure the body is in the right place and is held down tightly against the pan.
With the body bolts back in and the door post supported you can now check the door alignment. The body does have more support and you can open the door with the post supported, Notice I am stressing the support under the door post.
Notice that there is a gap in between the rear plate and the heater channel. This is ok because the old heater channel had the overlapping sheetmetal. I ended up cutting a small piece of metal to overlap the gap here. The bottom plate also will need a piece over lapping the underside, but I am going to wait until the bottom plate is welded onto the upper piece. This will probably be the last weld I make on the heater channel to close it up.

Home	Heater channel page 1	Heater channel page 2
email me	Heater channel page 3	Heater channel page 4
	Heater channel page 5	Heater channel page 6
	Heater channel page 7	Heater channel page 8
	Heater channel page 9	Heater channel page 10
	Heater channel page 11	Heater channel page 12 - Not done Yet