Topic: Project 1966 Bug - Restoration (Read 684 times)

lpshade · « **on:** July 05, 2010, 01:39:57 PM »

I know its not water-cooled but I figured I would post up and little bit of progress Sam and I have been doing to the car. Surely wont be ready for DATR but maybe next year.

We first started by gutting the car and now we are stripping it down. This has been a process for quite sometime, but I have surely had the ambition to move it right along so we will see how long the ambition last. I think the next step will be wiring and then paint.

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lpshade · « **Reply #1 on:** July 05, 2010, 01:42:14 PM »

when we first got the car

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lpshade · « **Reply #2 on:** July 05, 2010, 01:44:36 PM »

dismantling

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lpshade · « **Reply #3 on:** July 05, 2010, 01:47:25 PM »

gutted

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lpshade · « **Reply #4 on:** July 05, 2010, 01:49:17 PM »

sanding

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lpshade · « **Reply #5 on:** July 05, 2010, 01:51:18 PM »

and more sanding

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scurvy_bandit · « **Reply #6 on:** July 05, 2010, 04:51:25 PM »

dang.

Southcross · « **Reply #7 on:** July 05, 2010, 05:10:56 PM »

looks photoshopped

SwiftMKIII · « **Reply #8 on:** July 05, 2010, 08:09:34 PM »

Quote from: Southcross on July 05, 2010, 05:10:56 PM

looks photoshopped

What, Sam with a sander?

Looking Good Ken. I see you found something to do with your time this summer.

Storx · « **Reply #9 on:** July 06, 2010, 07:19:05 AM »

I have a buddy in Florida were i am from that has an old oval back bug.. and he mounted an 2007 Yamaha R1 engine to the stock bug transmission and just uses the bikes stock transmission for shifting..and the bug transmission based on if he is cruising in town or going on the highway... to make the gearing good for either MPG or acceleration.. .. its pretty bad ass.. he even put A/C and Heat in it....I'll email him to send me pics.. pretty sweet setup.. one of the fastest cars i been in.. cause his puts out like 236whp...

lpshade · « **Reply #10 on:** July 06, 2010, 08:48:44 AM »

Quote from: Storx on July 06, 2010, 07:19:05 AM

I have a buddy in Florida were i am from that has an old oval back bug.. and he mounted an 2007 Yamaha R1 engine to the stock bug transmission and just uses the bikes stock transmission for shifting..and the bug transmission based on if he is cruising in town or going on the highway... to make the gearing good for either MPG or acceleration.. .. its pretty bad ass.. he even put A/C and Heat in it....I'll email him to send me pics.. pretty sweet setup.. one of the fastest cars i been in.. cause his puts out like 236whp...

sounds cool, I would like to see it.

scurvy_bandit · « **Reply #11 on:** July 06, 2010, 08:58:39 AM »

I would love to see some pictures of that.

lpshade · « **Reply #12 on:** July 06, 2010, 07:44:53 PM »

Well, I talked to a few shops today and before I take the car anywhere for some light media blasting, I think I going to pull it off the pan and see what else might be going on under there.

It doesn't seem like it's that big of a deal the pull it off the pan but will probably need an extra set of hands or two.

Since I'm sitting in UT now, I may have to enlist some help from the neighbors.

I have some surface rust on the right side that goes up under where the passenger seat used to be so I going to pull out the sound dampeners on the pan and check for more rust. Once I get that done, I'm gonna run the sander over the pan get it pretty clean and then coat it with some POR-15 to further protect the metal and stop the corrosion.

Giggidy · « **Reply #13 on:** July 07, 2010, 04:36:42 AM »

what did he do to the bike engine to get it to put 236 whp through all those transmissions and heavy car axles? Stock that bike may see 160-170 at the wheel through light a light bike driveline.

Smokestack · « **Reply #14 on:** July 07, 2010, 09:09:05 AM »

Looking good Ken. Most of the rusty pans I've seen in the past were rusted under the battery and/or under the seats. Not hard to fix as long as you have good patch panels and a decent MIG.

The body isn't hard to pull, just a lot of bolts. There's a bunch that run along both heater channels that come up through the bottom. The ones that hold the front and back of the body to the pan I believe come in from the top with the back inside the cab and the front under the gas tank. Been awhile since I had to mess with it so my recollection might not be 100% accurate.

The Asshole · « **Reply #15 on:** July 07, 2010, 10:21:46 AM »

Quote from: Giggidy on July 07, 2010, 04:36:42 AM

what did he do to the bike engine to get it to put 236 whp through all those transmissions and heavy car axles? Stock that bike may see 160-170 at the wheel through light a light bike driveline.

one driving the VW tranny and another driving the bike tranny...duh!

lpshade · « **Reply #16 on:** July 10, 2010, 05:35:42 PM »

Well my goal today was to get the body removed - success, Sam and I did it; I broke two bolts off in the body and for the life of me I could not get them out. So I will tackle that project another day. BTW, I highly recommend using an impact wrench to get the body bolts out.

Once we had the body off we removed the sounding stuff with a air chiseler and worked on removing as much rust as we could. I only got one section done but shouldn't be to hard to get the rest of it tomorrow.

sad_rocc · « **Reply #17 on:** July 11, 2010, 08:50:02 AM »

Wow, that pan looks great!

Smokestack · « **Reply #18 on:** July 11, 2010, 01:29:34 PM »

Looks like there might be enough material on the battery tray to salvage that part of the pan. Even if it has to be replaced that's a lot cheaper and easier to do than an entire pan half. Might I recommend getting and installing a new wiring harness while everything is apart? The ones in my 66 and 71 worked, but they were sketchy looking and starting to corrode.

Did you and Sam lift the body off by yourselves?

lpshade · « **Reply #19 on:** July 11, 2010, 03:44:34 PM »

yea Sam and I took the body off - quite heavy I might add. I already sourced a wiring harness. It will run about $300 but I figured the steep cost is well worth the piece of mind of things working correctly with out having to trouble shoot a bunch of stuff that may or may not work.

As for the pan, it is in really good condition except one thin area by the battery area, it shouldn't take to much to repair that section.

sad_rocc · « **Reply #20 on:** July 12, 2010, 11:34:36 AM »

Better than mine! I have a large hole where my battery should be.

lpshade · « **Reply #21 on:** July 29, 2010, 02:11:26 PM »

Well, I haven't completely fallen off on this project. I have been working on it but haven’t posted any pics or progress; so a quick update on what I have done in the last 2 weeks.

Once Sam and I got the body off, we removed all of the sound matting on the pan and started sanding the pan to see what damage was actually there. Fortunately not much except a hole I put in it with an air chisel and it being really thin on the 1/4 pan; battery side. I also discovered the emergency brake cables (one of them) was frayed pretty bad. Other than that all looks well.

I purchased 2 new emergency brake cable lines and a new 1/4 pan. I'm thinking in a few weeks I will trailer the pan portion of the car to a local welder to have the 1/4 pan put in. I'm not really in a rush since I don't need to have the car back together anyways.

So while I was tinkering with the car I decided I would take the front end off. Well after debating for quite some time which bolts needed to be undone for a piece by piece removal, I elected to remove the brake lines and the 4 front beam bolts and just take the whole darn thing off.

Well considering since I have been sanding on the car I would also sand the front beam and associated parts. Well after trying my hand at sanding all the rounded and nook and cranny pieces, I decided to purchase a sand blaster. I will tell you the darn think works good but the amount of time you have to put into pressurizing, depressurizing, loading media, filtering the media, etc... is not worth the 2-6 mins you get to actually media blast. So that went back to the store.

After researching some I found a local guy how will blast the body (inside & out) for $350.00, do the fenders, deck lid, and hood for 20.00 apiece, and do the pan and frame for 100.00 or 150.00 (he said he would have to make a judgment call on that). I'm thinking I will be heading that route here pretty quick.

As for the front end, I took it down to a local VW shop and had them look at it because I discovered one of the beams was pushed in a little bit. It was recommended to replace it, so I now have a new front beam. Since I don't have all the required tools to remove all the parts from the original front beam, the shop is going to disassemble it for me and return the usable parts back to me so I can get them blasted as well. I currently have on order drop spindles and slotted disk brakes to go on the newish front end.

That pretty much bring this up to speed, I will post some pic a little late so you can see what I'm doing. You know a thread is worthless without pics!

Smokestack · « **Reply #22 on:** July 29, 2010, 03:12:47 PM »

There shouldn't be any special tools to take apart the front end. The front torsion springs aren't under any tension when the vehicle's weight is removed. Once you take the locking bolts off the arms just slide off of the beam. For the ball joints you loosen the nut and beat on the part where the tapered stud goes through with a BFH (I use a hand sledge) as hard as you can (If you break anything doing this it needed to be replaced anyways. The forces of driving are harder on the parts than you are). The shock and vibration breaks the "wedge fit" and allows the joint to pop out of the knuckle with little to no effort.

Did you get a narrowed beam? One of the best things I did to my old 66 was narrow the beam 3" and put in adjusters. Since I like to run low that kept me from peeling my fenders off on turns.

Progress looks great and you're making me regret selling my 66.

lpshade · « **Reply #23 on:** July 29, 2010, 05:57:33 PM »

I didn't think about a narrowed front beam but since I have the other one just sitting in the garage; I could probably just return it or swap it out.

lpshade · « **Reply #24 on:** August 01, 2010, 10:01:18 AM »

pics as promised

lpshade · « **Reply #25 on:** August 06, 2010, 06:14:20 PM »

Well, I decided to purchase some parts today. Since I was working with the front end and after I realize what direction I decided to go after the going through the front end and determining what was damaged or needed replacing, I pretty much had to purchase a front end. Some of it had to do with the look I want as well so that was another factor.

Here is the laundry list of things put on order:

1 Axle Beam Narrow
2 Torsion Leaves Narrow
1 Sway Bar Narrow
1 Tie Rods Pair Narrow
1 Disk Brake Kit
1 Tie Rod (left and right)
1 Steering Box Cover Billet Aluminum
1 Steering Box Mount Billet Aluminum
1 Camber Adjusters
2 Ball Joint (Lower) Lowered/Raised
2 Ball Joint (Upper) Lowered/Raised
1 Steering Box
1 Caster Shim Pair
1 Steering Dampner
2 Shock Front Gas (GR2)

Other Purchases

4 914 Porsche Alloy 4/130 5.5 x 15

2 Emergency Brake Cables
1 1/4 Replacement Pan (Battery Side)

Other things that happened today

All the fenders, hood, deck lid, some mounting brackets, and trailing arms went to the sand blaster.

Also spoke with a paint a body shop who is going to to the body work and priming. Looks like they will be able to do everything fairly cheap.

Ok, not much to look at but here are a few pictures

greggearhead · « **Reply #26 on:** August 07, 2010, 12:54:01 PM »

Nice progress!

lpshade · « **Reply #27 on:** August 21, 2010, 04:29:40 PM »

Well guys I had a few things in the works so that is why I haven't posted anything in a few weeks.

I took all the fenders, deck lid, hood, a few brackets, and a few other misc items to the sandblaster. I picked them up and then dropped them off at the paint and body shop yesterday. Since I'm not ready for paint I'm just gonna get the body work done and get them premiered for now.

What I elected to do myself was to prime and paint the trailing arms, pitman arm, and the front beam. The front beam is still in the works since I have to sand it down. It would have went to the blaster but it just came in so I'll do it myself.

I put on two coats of primer and also two coats of satin black paint from U-POL

mjohnson · « **Reply #28 on:** August 22, 2010, 07:36:58 PM »

lookin good ken!

lpshade · « **Reply #29 on:** August 23, 2010, 04:46:14 PM »

I went to Harbor Freight today and picked up 4 smaller size furniture dolly's - the best spent $45.00 dollars ever. I can now move the body around with the push of a finger.

Blakester · « **Reply #30 on:** August 23, 2010, 09:04:36 PM »

Looking good, I have always liked Porsche 2l's. Did you use to live off markshefel (sp?) and powers the car looks familiar?

lpshade · « **Reply #31 on:** August 24, 2010, 05:52:49 AM »

Quote from: Blakester on August 23, 2010, 09:04:36 PM

Looking good, I have always liked Porsche 2l's. Did you use to live off markshefel (sp?) and powers the car looks familiar?

I used to live in the Claremont Ranch area off of Markshuffle and Constitution

Blakester · « **Reply #32 on:** August 24, 2010, 06:31:31 AM »

I thought so, I stoped in a talked with you once. I dont think you even had all 4 fenders off at that time.

lpshade · « **Reply #33 on:** August 24, 2010, 11:04:40 AM »

Quote from: Blakester on August 24, 2010, 06:31:31 AM

I thought so, I stoped in a talked with you once. I dont think you even had all 4 fenders off at that time.

I think I had just brought it home, like the night before.

lpshade · « **Reply #34 on:** August 29, 2010, 04:58:23 PM »

Well, I haven't been up to a whole lot on the bug since I posted last and that I have things at the body shop and the front end is still in the works for final assembly (well sort of, it will start this week).

As you have seen, I had the trailing arms and the pitman arm sand blasted. I primed and painted those. Well when the front beam came in, I didn't like the final look of it as it was heavily coated with black paint and had run marks in it, so I brought it home and elected to strip it down and re-primer and paint it.

I used U-POL beige primer (they were out of grey) and U-POL satin black for the color.

So, this what I have been up too the last few days.

lpshade · « **Reply #35 on:** March 07, 2011, 06:31:51 PM »

Well guys / gals it has been quite a while since I have updated anything do to family stuff (family comes first right). Anyways I finally got the front beam done and everything assembled. It's sitting right now as the chassis (blasting, some body work, por 15 the pan, etc...) is the next step before any assembly will take place.

In addition, I took the hood, fenders, deck lid, and a few misc parts to the body shop. The shop did a good job working out the dents, minor hail damage, some bent edges and whatnot.

Here are some pictures of what has been done.

rockinveedubs · « **Reply #36 on:** March 07, 2011, 08:31:24 PM »

You're doing four lug on a 66? Is that just cause they are atill balljoint instead of link pin?

Barry · « **Reply #37 on:** March 08, 2011, 06:06:38 AM »

wow Ken!

Get er done!

lpshade · « **Reply #38 on:** March 08, 2011, 07:45:24 AM »

Quote from: rockinveedubs on March 07, 2011, 08:31:24 PM

You're doing four lug on a 66? Is that just cause they are atill balljoint instead of link pin?

If I remember correctly when I was looking around, I knew I wanted a disk brake setup for both front and rear and the setup only came in a 4 bolt patteren (I could be wrong) so that is the way I went. As for the balljoint instead of link pin, I have no damn clue. I'm somewhat mechanically ignorant. Most things I do is trail by fire

rockinveedubs · « **Reply #39 on:** March 08, 2011, 08:24:45 AM »

Any ACVW guy will give you shit for that!! Haha. Link pin suspension was used from the time of the KDF wagen till 65 when in 66 it was upgraded to ball joint. Alot of baja and offroad AC guys use the link pin beam because its more durable. But your question on the brakes. They do make wide 5 discs front and rear. They just cost and arm and a leg! I currently have a 68 and have discs on the front. But its over kill for bugs. Mine lock up every time i hit the brakes. Now front and rearbthat may be another story. Probably works great! But i also have 145s in the front with 195s in the rear.

lpshade · « **Reply #40 on:** May 10, 2011, 02:21:45 PM »

The project has been quite slow. I did pick up some POR 15 and a top coat. I'm going to POR 15 the underside of the hood, deck lid and fenders while I'm waiting for some funds to build up to start the next stage.

I'll post up a few pictures later of what I'm doing.

Well it's the later and.....

Well, I tried my hand at protecting the metal with POR 15 and BlackCote topcoat from POR 15 and though it turned out ok, I was not overly impressed with my work and that I do not have a "clean" environment; so the coating picked up debris while drying - so back to the body shop for the fenders, hood, and deck lid (yeah, love these learning experiences).

I spoke to body man and he said it wouldn't take to much to fix the things that didn't turn out well. So while the pieces are there he is going to spray the underneath of all those items with the POR 15 and then spray them with the BlackCote topcoat. So once I get those back I will post some pictures of what has been done.

The good thing about doing it this way, I can still elect to paint those parts while still maintaining the underneath if it happens get chipped/cracked etc...

This was my handy work - well a few pictures anyways before the above

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Author Topic: Project 1966 Bug - Restoration (Read 684 times)