very important especially for the longs, an inexperianced shop or hack can easily fuch-up your door gaps, permently.

It seems the previously welded area is still solid, but it rotted out in a new area. Was it improperly repaired because they didn't replace enough to begin with? Or do you see something specific in the repair that is bad?

I'm not disagreeing with your comment, I am just trying to learn.

Well, I now own a welder, and have practiced a bit, so I figured it's time to attack the long.

For those of you who know what you are doing, please avert your eyes.

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I really don't know what to do next, so recommendations are welcome. I do have the jackpost bit from restoration design, but it won't cover the hole I made.

You need to get a cut out off another car or fab that piece yourself. Look in the classifieds. Someone was selling parts off of 75.
EDIT: Before you start welding on that long, read up. It is very easy to shrink the length of your car by 3/8" when welding if your not careful. A few guys here have not been able to close their doors after welding the "long" area.

As the car came cheap you need to thoroughly go thru the car looking for cancer before you throw a tall stack of money at it. These cars can eat thousands with thousands still needing to be spent. If you're married, in all likely hood your wife will not understand it and hate the car in short order.

Unless your wife is like mine and has concluded that this type of mid life crisis is actually less costly than the "other kind."

I agree with 76-914. Do a little homework before attacking the long, particularly with regard to avoiding any post-welding fitment issues. The other thing I've learned through trial & error: take your time with the fabrication and/or fitment of the replacement metal. If you're fabricating it yourself then cut and shape several times if necessary. Great welding normally cannot overcome poorly-fitted replacement metal.

Found a deal on new tires that I couldn't turn down. Here they are mounted on the rims that I got last spring.

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Here's the fixed jackpost area. The long as a whole still needs a lot of fixing up, but this is good enough for now to get on the road.

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I know you have all been desperately wanting to know how my mid-life crisis is going...

Well, I'm doing ok, but my engine is having its own crisis.

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To make a long story short, I got the car out to my first ever autocross (check that off the bucket list). Got 2 1/2 runs done, and lost a bunch of power and started hearing a fairly loud ticking noise. Rod bearing shot.

So, now I'm doing the world's worst ever rebuild, trying to get it back on the road so I can make the remaining autocrosses.

Oh, and wait until you see the clutch tube...

Congratulations
Rust can cost more than you paid for the car in multiples.
Do
Drain the gas
Replace ALL the rubber fuel lines and filter. The type shown is no good for furl injection but id stick with factory type.
Replace plugs points, cap wires and rotor.
You already have the carbs on the list.


Sounds like you gave it pretty much infer control.
Should fire right up if compression is good. Just dry motor with coil wire off untill you have good oil pressure before starting under power.


These cars are known for spontaneous bonfires so do carry a fire extinguisher also.

Here goes nothin'


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The eight spoke Empi style wheels have a VW offset can cause rubbing with 195/60 or wider tires. What size tires?

I put on 205/50/15. They did rub, barely on the passenger side, and quite a lot on the driver side. I had to stretch the fenders.

Getting there. Learning more than I ever wanted to know.

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Would that be John Nizman of Last Chance Auto Restore in Yarker? I was thinking of taking my '68 VDub to him.

Yes, I've talked to him a couple of times, seems like a good guy. Apparently he's built a new big shop and is quite busy these days. I haven't actually had any work done through him yet though.

I guess I haven't updated this recently.

So... got my engine back together finally, and made it out for the last autoX of the season. Fist lap, there was a lot of smoke, but turned out the valve cover gasket had slipped. Got a few good runs in the afternoon. If somebody would tell me how to post a video, I'd put one up.

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I didn't even come last, I beat the Chrysler Intrepid!