Heater Channel Replacement

This page may take a while to load.

Heater Channel Replacement Article

by dragenwagen

Page 8

*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.

More to be done -

The inside if the heater channels need to be pained. You can try to use POR-15 or try to get some spray paint in the heater channel. It is difficult to get the paint in there. Before I lowered the pan I made some marks on the heater channel and bottom plate with a file so I could line it back up later. I put the saw horses back under the body and lowered it back down as far as I could get it to go. Then I tried to use my paint gun to paint the inside of the channels but there wasn't enough space to get it in there. So I just used a rattle can. I sprayed the inside with primer and then I sprayed it with some flat black. I ran out of paint at the time I am writing this and I will have to get some more. It's not really what I wanted to use but it will have to do. The inside of the channel was hard also to completely cover because the heater tube inside the channel was in the way. So I painted it the best I could and I will leave it at that.

I need to re-spray the fender well, but I have some more work to do here.

This is the area that I fixed... remember the rotten area and the big hole I cut out? There is some body filler here but its not real thick, just a skim coat. I didn't really sand it down all that much and it does look kind of crappy. But I am not too concerned about that as I am going to put some seam sealer here and undercoat all of this area real good and you won't see any of this. I could have spent more time making it all smooth and look like nothing was done here, but what's the point... it's going to be a daily driver and the area is all sealed and undercoated.

Just another shot of the door opening. This is after I started to raise the pan back into place and I forgot to take some pictures so I lowered it back down to take a picture.

Before I get ahead of my self, I need to explain about the next thing I did. Remember the 2 17mm bolts that go in the underside of the bulkhead? Well mine were rusted beyond any hope of reusing them and the nut plate was trashed also. The new heater channel didn't come with any provisions for these bolts. This is a big tie in place for the heater channel and those bolts need to be there. One night I was thinking how to accomplish this with what I had on had. I remember how badly the bolts were rusted in there. Granted, they were in there for 30 years untouched, and I somehow managed to get them out with out snapping them off. So I figured I would replace them with a different method. I used a piece of 1" flat stock and welded the nuts on, then I put a piece of 3/8" all thread rod in and welded them into the nuts. I made them long enough to go through the holes with more than I needed. I can cut off the excess after I am through. I will put some heavy flat washers and some lock washers on the underside. I didn't weld the plate to the bottom plate as I wanted to have it to where I can center it when its all done. I think I am going to go back and weld a strap over the top to keep it in place, but yet still have the side to side movement. This is what I decided to do and you can do something different if you so choose. Dumb idea? Maybe. Maybe not, but something had to be done.

That is all I have for now, as I have run out of MIG wire and paint and a few other supplies that I need.

I have gone through 4 36 grit sanding pads, about 20-30 Dremel tool cutting disks, 2 wire wheels, 8 sheets of sand paper,1 roll of MIG wire, trashed 2 drill bits. Ruined about 3 or 4 more T-shirts. 12 band aids from sheet metal cuts. Got a few burns from sparks, caught a rag on fire, lost about 4 pounds from sweating. One cut up fender for donor metal, which the wife wants to desperately toss. Dual action electric palm sander is almost history (bearing going bad)... one interesting note though... You know those peel and stick-um sanding pads... those are expensive, and what's with that Velcro backed stuff? I was using so much sand paper through out this whole project that I decided to buy a big pack of like 20 sheets at Home Depot. Varying grits. I bought a can of 3M spray adhesive. Yes I cut my own circles out of a sheet of sand paper... trashed a good set of scissors... and I glue them to the sander. What the heck right, the sander is almost history anyway. I would pull the piece of sand paper off before it completely dried, but some times I forgot to. Any way look for more updates on how I finish this monster task... just think I get to do the other side next. Hopefully it will go allot smoother and quicker. I want this done. And just think I was trying no to spend a fortune on having someone do it for me.

Page 9 - Welding on bottom plate

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 need to re-spray the fender well, but I have some more work to do here.
This is the area that I fixed... remember the rotten area and the big hole I cut out? There is some body filler here but its not real thick, just a skim coat. I didn't really sand it down all that much and it does look kind of crappy. But I am not too concerned about that as I am going to put some seam sealer here and undercoat all of this area real good and you won't see any of this. I could have spent more time making it all smooth and look like nothing was done here, but what's the point... it's going to be a daily driver and the area is all sealed and undercoated.
Just another shot of the door opening. This is after I started to raise the pan back into place and I forgot to take some pictures so I lowered it back down to take a picture.
Before I get ahead of my self, I need to explain about the next thing I did. Remember the 2 17mm bolts that go in the underside of the bulkhead? Well mine were rusted beyond any hope of reusing them and the nut plate was trashed also. The new heater channel didn't come with any provisions for these bolts. This is a big tie in place for the heater channel and those bolts need to be there. One night I was thinking how to accomplish this with what I had on had. I remember how badly the bolts were rusted in there. Granted, they were in there for 30 years untouched, and I somehow managed to get them out with out snapping them off. So I figured I would replace them with a different method. I used a piece of 1" flat stock and welded the nuts on, then I put a piece of 3/8" all thread rod in and welded them into the nuts. I made them long enough to go through the holes with more than I needed. I can cut off the excess after I am through. I will put some heavy flat washers and some lock washers on the underside. I didn't weld the plate to the bottom plate as I wanted to have it to where I can center it when its all done. I think I am going to go back and weld a strap over the top to keep it in place, but yet still have the side to side movement. This is what I decided to do and you can do something different if you so choose. Dumb idea? Maybe. Maybe not, but something had to be done.

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