Body work continues as I work to finish the front fenders. I built a stand to block out the front VW bug fenders and apron. There is a lot more to do before primer, I must tackle the hood and complete the rear fenders.

I have finished the driver fender reshaping and have realigned the rear bumper. With this finished I can focus on the rear tail light housings. I will have to redesign the tail light to use 3 bulbs. As for now I need to put them in the best place.

I finally got the rear bumper to fit. I had to create a few brackets to solidify the entire rear sheet-metal. After getting everything in place, I noticed the driver side rear fender needed to be reshaped. Everything now lines up nice.

With most of the sheet-metal figured out, I can start to position the rear bumper. I have removed the rear fenders and installed the rear bumper. I created small templates to determine where the bumper brackets will penetrate the fenders. I reinstalled the fenders after removing the bumper and cut out the holes. I also need to stretch the rear bumper to match the curve of the rear end.

With the steel work done on the VW bug hood, I can start building up the edges with epoxy filler. I used foil and cardboard to make sure that the hood could still separate from the body. Once the filler set up I ground it down to match the curve of the body and fender. I am also working on the front bumper and light pods.

Now the VW bug fenders widened, I can focus on the hood. This is the original hood from the car and I am trying to keep it. It has been tricky to get new metal to bond to old metal, but I kept working on it till I got it. It’s now ready for refit and filler.

After a lot more work, I have finally completed the widening of the VW bug steel fenders. I now must get the hood (big job) and the rear deck lid to fit and get them ready for body filler. The sheet metal is close to be finished.

I was having trouble with my fuel pump it couldn’t keep up with the turbo. I am replacing the pump with an in-tank Aeromotive 90 PSI unit. Summit Racing returned one pump for the other. I have created a stainless steel fuel pump hanger to get the pump to the bottom of the tank. It all seems to work fine, so back to the fenders.

With both of the widened VW bug’s front and rear fenders as well as the running board positioned, I can now concentrate on paneling in the openings. I am using 22 gauge steel plates that I am cutting to fit in each void. First I develop the paper template and then cut and fit each plate. I am using a spot welder which can only fit inside the fender on every other plate. Once I have as many plates on that I can get with the fender mounted, I will remove the fender and finish up all the plates and welding from the other side. Using a hammer I can refine the shape before applying the filler. I painted the fender with some guide coat spray paint to get an idea how It’s going to look.

I have a lot of work to do to get the running boards to mate up with the VW bug fenders. The replacement running boards are cheaply made and require quite a bit of steel reinforcement to make everything solid. But I basically have the passenger side of the VW bug fenders widened as well as the running board. With the passenger side mocked up I can now repeat the process on the driver’s side. Once all the fenders are positioned I can panel in all the openings.