Heater Channel Replacement

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Heater Channel Replacement Article

by dragenwagen

Page 6

*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.

Welding in new heater channels -

Safety equipment required:

Fire extinguisher

Heavy welding gloves.

Proper welding goggles or helmet

Preferably a long sleeve shirt, heavy shoes and long pants

Use common sense when welding. Don't weld near flammable materials, have adequate ventilation. Keep the fire extinguisher handy. After welding and you are cleaning up your work area, stay around and chill out and admire you work for about a half hour. Why? I like to call it the cool down period, because there was alot of sparks flying around and a lot of things getting red hot. This is to ensure that everything has had enough time to cool down and that something is not smoldering and catch the garage on fire.

Now that everything is in place and the door aligned, the heater channel is ready to be welded. You will have to take a wire wheel or sand paper to remove the primer off of the heater channel in order for the welder to operate properly. I used my Lincoln 135 welder. You can use an arc welder or an oxy/acetylene torch. Use what ever you have or are experienced with, or what ever you feel most comfortable with. If you don't have a welder you may be able to rent one from a tool rental place. Home Depot rents MIG welders, well at least one near where I live does. If you have a friend, or are going to pay someone to weld for you, make sure that they know what they are doing. I have practiced with my new welder on several things, including an old fender, some angle iron, welding in the patch on the A-pillar. I am not a professional welder, nor do I have much experience with welding. You will have to adjust the settings on you welder depending on how its working. Try spot welding the panels into place first then when it is secure and satisfied with the fit of the panels, you can go back and stitch the welds together in a bead around the A and B pillars.

Get some small sheet metal screws that are used for those metal studs in construction. They are great for holding panels tightly together when welding. They are available at Home Depot. Drill a small pilot hole and screw the panels together. The ones I used were self starting, but I drilled a pilot hole anyway. Then drill a hole just through the top panel on either side of the screw and use those holes to tack weld the panels together. Or you can put the screws in between the holes that are there when you drilled out the spot welds. After you get the panel tack welded into place then you can take out the screw and fill in the hole with the welder.

I started with the rear quarter panel. I had previously straightened all the sheet metal with a hammer and dolly and used a wire wheel to clean up the existing sheet metal. I used the small sheet metal screws to hold the quarter panel and the heater channel tightly together. The two panels were then welded together, the screws removed and the remaining holes filled in .

Next I tack welded the B pillar into place in a few places. I welded the tack welds about an inch apart to control the heat, then went back and stitched them all together. I have some rust in the lower B Pillar. I cut a piece of sheet metal and repaired this area. It has to be strong because the lower seat belt attaches here. Also the lowest "finger" that hold the windlace, the part of the headliner material, is gone and will have to be replaced.

You can see here how the B pillar is welded in. I had some rust in the lower B pillar and the lowest windlace retainer is missing. I will have to put another retainer in later. After it is welded in, you can hit it with a grinder to finish off the welds. I didn't grind too much as this will be covered up and you wont see it

I used the screw method here again to hold the panels together. Then I welded the two together and also put a few weld on the outer lip of the inner quarter panel. I didn't grind these welds down as they are under the seat and won't be seen. This picture was before I finished welding the rear part of the heater channel to the rear package tray. Go ahead and use the screw method to weld these together also. I had to put in a small patch in the rear package tray lip as it was rusted way. I cut a piece of sheet metal out of the old fender and welded it into place.

Now you can finish off the weld that that goes in the door sill. This will be seen so you will have to grind it down a little. Now the B Pillar should be finished welded in

With the B Pillar welded in you should check the door alignment once again and check the measurement for the door opening. I welded the B pillar first because I could tell that the B Pillar fit the best and I could tell that it was in place. With that in place I knew I could make adjustment for the door if I had to. Now with the door operating smoothly and all lined up I closed the door and welded the front wheel well into place. Use the screws to hold the fender well into place then weld, remove screws and fill in the remaining holes.

Now you can weld the very front of the heater channel where it meets the front bulkhead. I didn't weld the A pillar into place just yet as I am going to finish fixing a previously installed patch. This area was really eaten up with rust and needed a lot of reconstruction. But if yours is in good shape then you can go ahead and finish welding the A pillar.

Next I cut out the rusty area in the lower quarter panel and welded new sheetmetal. I finished it off with just a skim coat of body filler. This is not to be confused with just slapping some bondo in the rust hole. The repair I made was all metal. The rust was cut out and new sheet metal was welded in. The body filler is just to smooth out the area where I ground down the welds, but then again you knew that right?!

You should now be pretty much done with the repairs on the heater channel. I have more to add on what I am doing. So stay with me and you will see more. I know the pages might take some time to load, but I feel that if you are following this far then you are interested in how all this is going to turn out.

I have put some seam sealer on all the welds that I made. Why, well if you remember right the factory had put some seam sealer on the welds when they built the car originally! I also put some seam sealer on the lowest part of the quarter panel where the running board attaches. The seam sealer I used was some stuff made by DAP and it is used for sealing metal gutters and roof flashing. Will this stuff be good enough? I hope so. It didn't seem to dry completely, so I let it sit for a few days and it is still just a bit mushy. That might be good in a way then it won't become brittle and break apart exposing the seam. I did, however, thought about this and I went ahead and primered the areas first so that the primer could get into all the little crevices then applied liberal amounts of sealer. I went back after a few days and sprayed primer over the whole thing. Hopefully that takes care of the seams... Time will tell.

Page 7 - Finishing the A Pillar

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

I started with the rear quarter panel. I had previously straightened all the sheet metal with a hammer and dolly and used a wire wheel to clean up the existing sheet metal. I used the small sheet metal screws to hold the quarter panel and the heater channel tightly together. The two panels were then welded together, the screws removed and the remaining holes filled in .
Next I tack welded the B pillar into place in a few places. I welded the tack welds about an inch apart to control the heat, then went back and stitched them all together. I have some rust in the lower B Pillar. I cut a piece of sheet metal and repaired this area. It has to be strong because the lower seat belt attaches here. Also the lowest "finger" that hold the windlace, the part of the headliner material, is gone and will have to be replaced.
You can see here how the B pillar is welded in. I had some rust in the lower B pillar and the lowest windlace retainer is missing. I will have to put another retainer in later. After it is welded in, you can hit it with a grinder to finish off the welds. I didn't grind too much as this will be covered up and you wont see it
I used the screw method here again to hold the panels together. Then I welded the two together and also put a few weld on the outer lip of the inner quarter panel. I didn't grind these welds down as they are under the seat and won't be seen. This picture was before I finished welding the rear part of the heater channel to the rear package tray. Go ahead and use the screw method to weld these together also. I had to put in a small patch in the rear package tray lip as it was rusted way. I cut a piece of sheet metal out of the old fender and welded it into place.
Now you can finish off the weld that that goes in the door sill. This will be seen so you will have to grind it down a little. Now the B Pillar should be finished welded in
With the B Pillar welded in you should check the door alignment once again and check the measurement for the door opening. I welded the B pillar first because I could tell that the B Pillar fit the best and I could tell that it was in place. With that in place I knew I could make adjustment for the door if I had to. Now with the door operating smoothly and all lined up I closed the door and welded the front wheel well into place. Use the screws to hold the fender well into place then weld, remove screws and fill in the remaining holes.
Now you can weld the very front of the heater channel where it meets the front bulkhead. I didn't weld the A pillar into place just yet as I am going to finish fixing a previously installed patch. This area was really eaten up with rust and needed a lot of reconstruction. But if yours is in good shape then you can go ahead and finish welding the A pillar.
Next I cut out the rusty area in the lower quarter panel and welded new sheetmetal. I finished it off with just a skim coat of body filler. This is not to be confused with just slapping some bondo in the rust hole. The repair I made was all metal. The rust was cut out and new sheet metal was welded in. The body filler is just to smooth out the area where I ground down the welds, but then again you knew that right?!
You should now be pretty much done with the repairs on the heater channel. I have more to add on what I am doing. So stay with me and you will see more. I know the pages might take some time to load, but I feel that if you are following this far then you are interested in how all this is going to turn out.
I have put some seam sealer on all the welds that I made. Why, well if you remember right the factory had put some seam sealer on the welds when they built the car originally! I also put some seam sealer on the lowest part of the quarter panel where the running board attaches. The seam sealer I used was some stuff made by DAP and it is used for sealing metal gutters and roof flashing. Will this stuff be good enough? I hope so. It didn't seem to dry completely, so I let it sit for a few days and it is still just a bit mushy. That might be good in a way then it won't become brittle and break apart exposing the seam. I did, however, thought about this and I went ahead and primered the areas first so that the primer could get into all the little crevices then applied liberal amounts of sealer. I went back after a few days and sprayed primer over the whole thing. Hopefully that takes care of the seams... Time will tell.

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