front clip

[ray]

anyone got any pointers in replacing the whole front
whats the best way to join the A post how much will the roof sag will i need to brace it ?

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

Don't do it!

Seriously though buy a front clip with good A pillars all the way up.Find out where the rot stops on your original A pillars and leave as much original as you can.Then a few inches above this take off the front panel skin from the a-pillar like this

As you can see it is spot welded on the inner windscreen lip and also it curves round the back and spot welds on,then cut a slice top and bottom and gently pick it off,you'll want to reuse this so work out where to cut carefully.

You'll then notice that the A pillar is actually two half box sections spot welded together.So ideally you want to cut each section of the a-pillar at different heights to give a staggered joint for more strength like this

Once you've joined the a pillars back together treat them with an anti rust weld through paint.The you'll need to cut your outer front panel section to size and join it back on.

Brace the a-pilar to the b-pillar by tacking on some metal tubes.When removing the clip cut the bottom of the a-pillar first to stop the roof sagging.Support the bottom of the clip with whatever you have,blocks of wood or jacks etc.Get cutting.Hardest bit will probably be cutting the chassis legs away,so come in from the lower front valance and cut windows in all 3 layers around the chassis and tidy it up afterwards.Obvioulsy measure everything before cutting.I don't know what you front arches are like but mine where shot so I just hacked them off.Drill out floor pan spots welds from the front(remove front panel skin)
When you do go to refit,make sure that you have got the point where the chassis rails join the front clip trimmed enough so as to not make it stick to far out.Tack everything on to start with and then fit a door on properly and make sure all the lines around the door are good.This will tell you it's in the right place,if not re adjust before welding it right on.

 

[ray]

thanks for that its a big help
my arches and steps are going to be replaced as is the floor been badly plated by the p/o A posts are good all the way down

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

If the A posts are good I would consider repairing the front panel,as it would be a lot easier and may look better in the end and will also be cheaper.Also even dry climate front clips will want some sort of repair.I've seen a few and they all had corrosion around the windscreen lip that wnanted repairing,mine did.Also mine had a bit of rust on the lower valence that needed repairing.How bad is yours to start with?

 

[ray]

If the A posts are good I would consider repairing the front panel,as it would be a lot easier and may look better in the end and will also be cheaper.Also even dry climate front clips will want some sort of repair.I've seen a few and they all had corrosion around the windscreen lip that wanted repairing,mine did.Also mine had a bit of rust on the lower valence that needed repairing.How bad is yours to start with?

my whole front is more filler than metal brought a front rust free for £150

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

Is the filler covering dents or major rust issues?

 

[mcvw]

My front panel needs the following replacing:
a) sections of the windscreen channel
b) corners of each headlight bowl
c) bottom lower panel (inside & out)

Is a replacement front panel (repro) with all the mod's required (patching over indicators, removing front badge bump, converting lower panel to early indicators etc) a better option than patching up the original?

 

[sparkywig]

Cough, cough.....

lower inner and outer valance next

:mrgreen:

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

Nice work there Sparkywig 8)