Today, I began repairs on the floor-pan. The area by the 12V battery is a very common area for rust in Beetles and mine was pretty bad. There were small holes all over the area. I have some replacement sheet metal that I can drop in.

The first step in the repair is to clear the area. This involved removing the seats and kick panels, and also a heating duct on the side with rust damage. I won’t be using the heating ducts, so I was a little more reckless than I should have been.

It’s pretty cold outside, so I didn’t want to work in the garage all day. I brought some cardboard into the house and made some scale battery mock-ups. I will have 10 batteries in the car, but I can get away with only 5 battery mock-ups.

The mock-ups fit so well, I’m worried about them being off by just a few fractions of an inch. If those batteries are any bigger than expected, I certainly won’t be fitting 5 in this spot as planned.

The other five batteries are more tricky. Many people put three or four up front where the gas tank used to live. I will keep playing with the mock-ups to find the best way to store the batteries. The biggest consideration other than just making them fit is how their weight will affect the suspension and handling.