Bolt on front end, scuttle pan and lost bolts

Bit the bullet and took the next step in my project, replace the front end.

Got a whole new front end from heritage and whilst tinkering in the garage with a friend thought about the possibility of a bolt on, bolt off front end. Has anybody done this or have experience with bolt on bolt off front ends?

 I know that welding it on isnt particularly difficult but with alot of work still to go into the engine bay and the possibility that I'll get bored of the 20vt and want to do a swap further down the line, the advantages of a Bolt on front end are attractive. Are there any major downsides anyone can see? (Resale isnt a worry as I dont plan on ever parting with the car)

The next thing is re. Scuttle tray (rain tray?) Its a bit rotten and I've seen plenty of people delete this and smooth at the top of the bay and add pressed lettering to the surface.

Done a bit of reading and major concerns are re. Fumes into cab and loss of rigidity (although it flexes alot and cant see this being an issue) Anybody on here cut out their scuttle? Whst problems have people ran into and how they overcome them?

Last but not least, where do people turn for their bolt/fixing needs? Previous owner of my project didnt do well in keeping hold of bolts so need a full run of most bolts/fixings. Just a case of finding individual bolts or anywhere that stocks packs of wing bolts for example?

Thank you, appreciate any help

Well knowing the ETKA is a good place to start with getting the right spec'ed bolt/nut combo, proper torque on the thing is another good thing to do.

ETKA
https://volkswagen.7zap.com/en/rdw/

Over here on this side of the pond I have a Great little Hardware Store that was usually any Metric bolt/nut that I have ever needed grade 8 and 10 usually…He has sourced me the 8mm Triple Square ones for my Axles…

You have plenty of vendors VW Heritage, and Werk34.de over there, but I alas can't give you a local to you site as I have no experience with that, but can tell you that a good little hardware store is a good thing.

If you are going to shave the Scuttle, I would add a Strut tower bar to limin flexing, as well as possibly a K bar for the same reasons.  I would also Highly recommend that all grommets and feed-throughs be Sealed with RTV or the like.  I have seen some well thought out ones done, and "Extra" care given to the Feed-throughs prevent co2/no2 from entering the cabin….
 
If you have a blower motor then you can't escape that unless you remove it and block off that really big hole.

Bolting it on would require using some countersunk bolts and Rivnuts (Think Pop Rivets) The bolts/ Screws in certain areas would probably need to be countersunk….definitely using loctite…

Then were the Frame Horn meets, it would still need stick or wire welding….as that is part of the Engine Core / Radiator Support.



Lots of welds I had to cut… I think about 40 per side….



I had thought about going back with bolts as well but was worried that I would have to trim the heads where the wings attached for the valance, but never got a chance to do it.

But I too had thought there was an easier way, Probably if it was a new Valance  I would give it a go, but I would really use beefy bolts at the frame horn to cross member. Not on the one I drilled out using a spot weld cutter.

Briano, been browsing through the etka link you sent and I have to say that providing that is a godsend! Just being able to see the assembly for various parts and corresponding part numbers is going to help with my build, so thank you for that!

Front end wise, have done some brainstorming over some beers and have came up with a few different options/ideas that i'm going to explore. I like the idea of countersinking bolts along various points to ensure alignment is always correct.

Thinking of exploring the option of a kind of subframe which will affix to the chassis and the front panel

Either way, going to have a ponder this weekend and see what we can cook up

fourfishfingers said

Front end wise, have done some brainstorming over some beers and have came up with a few different options/ideas that i'm going to explore. I like the idea of countersinking bolts along various points to ensure alignment is always correct.

Thinking of exploring the option of a kind of subframe which will affix to the chassis and the front panel

Either way, going to have a ponder this weekend and see what we can cook up

Pondering over Beer, never a really good thing? . Over on this side of the pond, we usually refer those Beer Stoked Ideas as the same as a Rednecks Last word's which usually are; "Hey Y'all Watch me do this!" .

Counter Sunk or regular bolts I would be using self-locking nuts and loctite.

Shoot why not use Stainless Steel POP-Rivets and a Hydraulic Pop-Rivet tool…Used to use that to attach fittings to Sail Boats.
 

Briano1234 said

Pondering over Beer, never a really good thing? . Over on this side of the pond, we usually refer those Beer Stoked Ideas as the same as a Rednecks Last word's which usually are; "Hey Y'all Watch me do this!" .

Counter Sunk or regular bolts I would be using self-locking nuts and loctite.

Shoot why not use Stainless Steel POP-Rivets and a Hydraulic Pop-Rivet tool…Used to use that to attach fittings to Sail Boats.
 

I have to say that I agree that beer usually results in terrible ideas haha, it was after a few beers that I decided to undertake my project!

You seem like a very knowledgeable bloke, so whilst I have you on here, in the process of preparing for paint i'm bare metalling everything prior to sorting the much required welding, itll be a few weeks till its off to the painter so I do want to get something onto the metal to prevent surface rust forming, is epoxy priming as I go along ideal or would you use any other rust prevention layers prior the primer?

Anything I clean to bare metal gets primered…
And I don't use epoxy primer out of a rattle can as it is usually in name only…

I use a better primer if I am spraying the car a color….
before I apply paint.