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Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:33 pm

How is everyone doing. I am new to the forum and just wanted to introduce myself. I just bought a 1965 bug. When you look at it, it looks perfect but when you search...man this thing needs alot of work. I was just seeing if there is anyone in my area that would be able to hook up and show me the odds and ends on these things. Thanks alot guys.

Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:38 pm

Well, you can always post photos here and ask a lot of questions if you can't find a '65 afficianado close by to lend a hand :wink:

Oh, and welcome to TheSamba :D !

Wed Jul 16, 2008 5:57 pm

Been there, done that (still doing it :roll: ) - Waddya wanna know?

But get yourself some manuals - A Bentley is preferred, A Hayes is OK, the Idiots book is also very helpful (but dated).

Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:10 pm

I bought a Haynes manuel. Im not so worried about the engine work. Thats the easy part. Its the body work. I know money can do anything if you pay the price. When do you know that the body is just not savlvagable. I found alot of rust where the running boards attach to,the rear grill below the rear window, if you are looking in it you can see inside of the vehicle, under the spare tire has rust holes and some of the floor pan. The heater channels look to be in decent shape. I know its gonna take time and money, I just want to know if I should use this shell. The rest of the body is good and fixable. Thanks again

Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:41 am

Welcome to theSamba. I thought I knew a lot about Beetles when I joined, but--as has been said before-- there are people here who have forgotten more about VW's than I know. It will be a great resource during your project.

The best way for us to evaluate your car's shell is pictures. We LOVE pictures around here. Lots of them. All you have to do is go to "Gallery" and then "Add Picture" to upload them...then it's easy as cake to put in a post.

It sounds like your car will need a decent amount of metal work, but it also sounds completely do-able. You need to let us know (or decide for yourself if you haven't) how extensive you plan this project to be. To fix the rot you're talking about the right way, the car should be completely stripped, body taken off the pan, fully media blasted, and THEN evaluated and metalwork begun. There is no way to know how bad rot really is until the car down to bare metal everywhere--and it will be worse than you think! But that's the way to go if you want it done right. If there is rot where the running board attaches, the heater channels might not be as solid as you think. Rot below the rear window sounds scary--I've never dealt with anything like that. But it can be fixed by grafting donor metal in.

I had my the shell on what I thought was a very solid and straight '65 blasted. I was 14 and it was my first VW project. Long story short, I ended up having both pans, both heater channels, front bulkhead, both aprons, and pieces of every inner fender well replaced. It was expensive and took a long time, and got a little frustrating at points. I spent forever paying my dad back. But it was completely possible and worth it to me to keep the original shell with its pan.

Finally, about that Haynes manual. :? That was my first one too. I was in the exact same spot as you. And honestly, if you want to do this project right and this is your first VW, the Haynes manual won't cut it. It's sort of okay for some simple repairs, and offers partially decent maintenance advice. But to really tear down the car to where it needs to go (and to put it back together!), invest in a Bentley manual. It's expensive, 1200 pages, and somewhat difficult to read. But it will tell you EVERYTHING. Cut your teeth on it and you'll be a lot better off in the long run.

Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:35 am

Thanks HerrrKafer you really supplied me with alot of good useful info. Its nice to know that people are still willing to lend advice. I will post pics soon. Thanks

Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:00 am

Pick up the John Muir idiot book too. Very useful to first timers. A little dated, and a little hippie, but still a great reference.

Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:35 am

Which Haynes manual did you get? They used to have one just for the pre-66 1200 models, but many years ago they dropped it and combined it with the later model manuals. I've not looked at the new edition lately so I'm not sure if it's that good of a book. The old printing, that was a pretty decent book though, it was one of the very first things VW related I ever bought in the late 80s. Then in like 1990, when I heard Robert Bentley was going to reprint the huge VW1200 1961-65 Workshop Manual, I ordered it immediately through a local shop and picked it up as soon as it came in.

-Andy

Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:33 pm

General comment on the manuals - The Hayes mimics the Bentley on a fair amount of areas almost to the point of plagerism, but since its so general (covers a lot of years) some detail is missing in certain sections. On the arease that I have consulted it and then bounced to the Bentley, I have not found disscrepancies.

I probably use it about as much as the Bentley anymore since it doesnt always require obscure VW shop tools in various procedures. Its kind of like a midpoint between Muir and Bentley.

Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:20 pm

I always thought the Clymer one was more "plaguristic" than Haynes. Haynes took way more of their own photos than Clymer did. At least in my Haynes 1200 book.

Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:52 pm

Yeah, Haynes does its own teardowns and takes its own photos. They will use some Bentley (VW) photos or diagrams, but most is home-grown. But both Clymer and Chilton are shameless in their lack of in-house stuff.

Fri Jul 18, 2008 4:54 am

I really like the Haynes manual when it says to contact the dealer for information.

Or

Because of the difficulty of this repair, this should be left for the dealer or other professionals.

Fri Jul 18, 2008 5:08 am

Quote: I really like the Haynes manual when it says to contact the dealer for information.
and that's when I think "DANGER...DANGER WILL ROBINSON"