Finally this weekend I was able to spend some quality time with our Beetle. My goal in this session was to to at least have the rear fender removed. I was able to reach this goal I’m happy to say, but not without some trouble. Although it may be routine to those who have removed a fender from a VW Beetle it was new to me. In case you don’t know my goal is to replace the heater channels in my 71 Super Beetle. I first have to remove the fenders and bumpers to access all areas to do this.
Here is the rear bumper finally removed. Many of the bolts were so rusted that they broke. One I had to grind off. I’m still debating whether to try and save these bumpers or try and save them. Bothe the front and rear bumpers are beat up and would need straightening out. May just be easier and save time to buy new ones, or good used ones, we’ll see how it goes.
Someone in the history of this bug welded both rear bumper brackets to the body. I wasn’t to happy with these people at the time as I had to grind off the welds in a tight spot. You can also note the original red paint. After some effort and cursing I was able to cut them off.
Next up was the taillight assembly. It was relatively straight forward. I found it interesting that the wires for light were numbered individually to aid in reassembly. How considerate of those German engineers.
Last but not least I was able to finally get the rear fender off. The bolts were a combination of 12-13 mm for some reason. This was both good and bad. With the fender off I notice more areas that need attention unfortunately.
Both of these areas are going to need attention as far as rust repair. Well I that’s it for now in my next installment I’ll be going over removing the front bumper and fender. Thanks for coming by.
