Scarlet's Metal: Rear - Engine Bay, Valence, Bumper Mounts, Etc

The continuing story of Scarlet, The 1963 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet

Here, on this page, the metalwork for Scarlet's rear-end repair is described, illustrated in 7 images.

This is a sub-topic to Scarlet's Metalwork, which can be found here.

AT RIGHT: Scarlet's engine bay, metalwork completed.

Scarlet's main page is here.
Find her "initial rebirth" page here.
The previous step, disassembly, is here.
The next step, paint preparation, is here.

Repair Strategy

Damage to be Repaired

The worst was corrosion from both battery acid below where the battery goes - the so-called "battery tray" (the technical name given by Karmann is "engine cover plate, right) - and rodent urine from their large nest that was formerly spralled all over the right hand side of the engine bay. (Good images of this damage are found in the "Initial rebirth" section.) There was also the typical damage at the bottom of both right and left "rear fender wells", to the immediate right and left of the engine. These areas are what amounts to the inside of the rear fender where it opens to the engine bay.

There was also very modest impact damage to the rear valence.

And there was a huge dent at the top outbord side of the right rear fender, but there's not much to show for it here. Simply look to the early photos and then the later ones and it simply disappears; at some point inbetween, a bit of hammer and dolley work returned the metal to its original location - in fact, it was an impressively large, deep dent and the repair is pretty fantastic, given the damage! But there are no images of it here.

Available Materials

Unfortunately, no correct repair panels were available, though there are several make-do panels available which are intended for younger Ghias. Of these, five were used: the bumper mount points, right and left, the "cups" (left and right) that are intended to repair the outer fender skin below the rear bumper blade, and a part that's intended to repair the inboard edge of the right rear fender where it comes to meet the rear valence.

Unfortunately also, there was no exactly correct donor metal available for these regions from salvage sources, however, a piece was sourced to repair the rodent urine region which was taken from a younger Karmann Ghia. This piece is functionally the same but is visually slightly different. If you look carefuly, compair the right and left sides in the completed work.

Other than this, some heavy-gauge galvanized steel was used for the "battery tray", and some random thinner pieces used to complete the repair of the urine rusted region that wasn't provided by the donor material cited above.

Performing the Repairs

The damaged metal was simply cut out, though care had to be taken to not damage the supporting bracketry below the damged sheet metal. This is clearly visible in the images below. Especially note the bright, shiny spot in the middle the curved area that has been cut away: this is the rear-most end of the bracket that runs below the battery, and it's a vital piece.

The galvanized steel used for the battery tray was simple enough to cut, slide into place, and weld, though the fore and aft edges had precious little to weld to as this metal was thinned from corrosion and not thick enough to weld conventionally - it would "blow through." It's welded on the right directly to the panel that drops down to support the bumper mount, and on the left it's slid under the "hook" that's where the batter retaining strap attaches, where it is fully welded. In addition, it's welded from underneath along the bracketry that's discussed above - the weld penetrates fully through the metal so you can see from above the lines where it's welded, even though these areas are only welded from below.

The actual mounting points for the bumpers were in good condition, it was merely the closing panels below them that were a problem, so only replacing those sections meant that there was no risk of misaligning the bumpers. The new panels were cut appropriately, painted, clamped in place and welded. The lower edge of these was welded to the outer skin panels.

The hardest part was repairing the urin-damaged area because it had to be pieced together as a mosaic of smaller pieces, and none of them are thick enough for standard welding techniques. And, two pieces had to be fabricated - one too easy to even mention, on top. The other was a piece to bridge the gap in the decklid seal groove from left to right, from the surviving metal to the donor metal. After it was thought to be completed, and the body filler was being applied, an additional step was needed: A steel rod was put behind, on the engine side, to help provide better structure where the rear valence meets the deck lid seal groove. In these images, it can be seen to still be open. The original plan to simply fill it with body filler didn't pan out, so this extra bit of steel closes it up. There's still filler applied to smooth things, but now there's steel at that joint, making the whole thing stronger.

Images

Unfortunately photos were not always taken, so some images we'd like to have are regretably unavailable.

Note in these first two images not only the battery tray repair, but also the original condition of the surrounding metal. It's dark. It had a coating of some kind of oil-like film, which probably served to protect it from the rodent urine, so one shouldn't be too upset, but it's not a good surface for either welding or for adhesion of either filler or paints and primers. So note how in subsequent images the metal was cleaned - this was done by wire brush mounted to an angle grinder.

In this next pair, on the left, we have the pieces to repair the rodent-urine damaged area laying on top of the repair area before the puzzle is put together. And on the right, we're looking down into the right rear fender, and the weld where the new outer fender skin - the "cup" - meets the original fender can be seen running left to right, with a slight "J" shape ending below the tail light.

Then we have the jigsaw puzzle completed. Note the hole at the upper right corner of the rear valence that's discussed in the text above...

This "completed" repair may not impress you yet, however, the holes actually serve an important purpose as the area was later covered by an epoxy and varous fillers (as shown later on) and the holes serve as a means by which they "bite" and achieve strong adhesion. ... It has been tested (after refinishing through to the primer phase), and it's strong enough for a 6'2" man to sit on and hold various objects and not crack! And, it looks good!

BACK: Click here to return to Scarlet's Metalwork page.

Scarlet's "before" condition can be found here.

Scarlet's restoration is found here.