"dressing" welds on a 1961 Bug.....

[chip bering]

I have a 1961 Bug that I will be running this season at a few events. The paing is fair on it, so I want to repait/powder coat it. I plan to strip the chassis and check the welds before refinishing it.

My question is: should the welds be "dressed" ie smoothed out. ? I understand that the orginial weld were not the best looking due to the mass production of these early karts to meet the demand. Would dressing/smoothing the welds be considered "over restoring"?

Opinions appreciated. cb

[Dean Seavers]

Chip-

Just make sure that it doesn't compromise the structural integrity- those early Bug kart frames have a reputation for cracking. Every early WASP frame I've ever seen has some cracks on it somewhere...

But the short answer to your question (IMHO) is that it's your kart, restore it to the degree of perfection that you care to.

Dean

[Rob Voska]

Don't use powder coat. A frame that has a reputation to crack making future repair difficult.
I don't care for the look of ground down welds. It's hard to get into a lot of spots and do a good job. Also it will decrease the resale value.

[Darvin Jahnke]

Just my personal preference but I like to leave the frame as produced so I can display it as the factory built it and not how I think they should have built it.