JPS Coupe pan-ick

What I would do is pull away the "silly-cone" then witha heavy gauge wire wheel, clean all welds to see what you actually have, sometimes when a problem is totally visible it isn't as bad as it looks at first inspection. Maybe you'll luck out by having to remove the carpet and have someone professionally re-weld it.  I've had worse with 2 x 4's wedged under the seat and carriage bolted to a sold portion of the floor pan.

Hey Alan,

The only thing that I have noticed is the tin on the drivers side is about an inch above the edge of the perimeter frame, whereas the drivers side is almost even. I was wondering if this location Is a common place to shorten the pan? Thanks for the  reply.

Brian

When  the pans are shortened they do not align to the original factory stamping, but usually require a bit if hammer and dolly to get a decent fit.

Yah, I was hoping it wasn’t out of whack due to a misaligned rear horn. 

Brian

As Alan stated, proper fitment takes some hammering. The better the fitment, the better the weld. Pretty sure JPS uses a "Z" pattern to cross-cut the chassis. But one side being higher than the other is just an example of Mr. Steele's skill. All the professionals I know use a very rigid welding table and lots of clamping and checking to get things square and aligned. Only then do they spot tack and let cool before proceeding with full welds. I've seen JPS chassis's in progress and they seem to prop up only at four corners using just about anything available. Alignment is pretty crudely done.

The Dr. gave you some good "unearthing" advice. Here's hoping it is better than what it looks.

This pattern followed along the back of the pans and then jogged forward to cross the tunnel. More searching has brought up similar results when pans were shortened for Dune Buggies. Now I am into the front of the chassis where another siliconed-weld cuts all the way across the nose right up against what would normally be the firewall(?) of any other car. I can’t think of a good reason for that to be there other than previous damage. 

Brian

The front "firewall" is a strengthening gusset that looks like Napolean's Hat.  It is welded to the pan at the front of the floor and forms part of the firewall.  In front of that is welded the beam headset which holds the front beam in place (the beam is bolted to the headset).  If the original headset was rusted and replaced with a new one there would be a weld at the forward side of the Naploean Hat.  I did that change on my last build.  The parts (headset and Napolean Hat) are readily available.

Another photo?

It may have been a Super Beetle pan that was retrofitted with a standard Beetle beam headset.  This would explain the welding on the front of the pan and if done correctly should not cause a problem.  

The rear welding across the tunnel may have been done in order to replace rusted/rotted frame horns.  There again, if done correctly, not a problem.  

Alan’s suggestion to clean the area to bare metal will reveal what needs to be done.  You said it has 60k miles on it, so it was probably done well and may just need a little repair.  

Thanks for the reply James. Very true, coulda’ been a Super Beetle. Well my plan is to get the wire wheel on my grinder and clean-up the mess. Afterwards I will try to smooth the welds or at the most, bring in a certified welder to patch any sketchy areas.

Brian

Gordon,

I will take another pic of the front when I get the wheel off. When I bought the car, it sat so low I couldn’t see much under there. Next time I will bring a jack! In my panic search for a new pan, I was surprised to see one could be had for a decent price w/title.

Brian

Brian, yes, you can find a pan if you need to.

Might I suggest a flat flapper wheel disc on your grinder? They eat stuff up quickly, down to the shiny stuff quick. Like this:

http://www.essentracomponents....BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

The flapper does work well, but on rough welds wouldn't a wire wheel be more appropriate?

Changing angles with a course wire wheel will dig into the weld voids and I'm sure that'll be more than a few.

Yah, I have spent many days piloting a wire wheel on former projects.  I will hold off on the abrasives until I can see it all. Just kinda unnerving to see the quality of this work set at such a low level.