TheSamba.com :: View topic - advice on my almost completed project, lots of pics

Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:36 pm

Hi everyone, i started working on a 74 vw beetle i got for free about 2 years ago. Im out of highschool now and able to devote all my time to this amazing car. It's so close to completion i can smell it, i just have a few questions and would love some advice on what to do with a few pieces of it. thanks in advance for all your help, im including pictures to show you what im talking about.

first of all i have my headlight buckets, they seemed great at first, i broke one of the tabs that held the headlight to the bucket but that was fixed with a pop rivet and some jb weld. the biggest problem i have is that my baja hood actually came in 4 cut up pieces i had to fiberglass together, and because the kit was so old (obviously used a few seasons) the headlight buckets don't fit in the headlight holes in the hood.
Or they do fit... with some coaxing....

my current plan is to use my left over fiberglass material to mount the plastic bucket to the front of the fiberglass eye hole, then cover up the fiberglass(ing) with a chrome ring that was included with my headlight brackets. does anyone have any better ideas than this? its quite a pain and im worried my headlights wont adjust properly to be street legal.

im also wondering if anyone has any advice on dealing with rust on the pan without a body off modification, my current plan is to weld over the areas that have been rusted through and coat the whole thing with primer and truck bed liner.

oh and in order to remove my engine to do major work on it i have to use a skateboard and cinderblocks and alot of luck. does anyone have a better system of doing this that is also cheap or free?

so i plan on renting a wire fed mig welder to cut and turn my front end, i completely understand how to do it and have read quite a few guides on it, im a pretty experienced welder (one of the few things public school taught me) and i have a pipe cutter with 1 circular blade as well as a sawzall. The one thing i havent been able to find is a rough estimate of how long cut and turning a front end will take (my spark plugs ((the last piece of the project)) come in 7 days and id rather like to have it done either by then or not at all). Keep in mind that things that seem like they should take 10 minutes for me end up taking several hours and tend to cause more problems than were there in the first place. I'm told this is common with these cars though.

the last few are just to show how close i am! im so excited.

thank you thank you thank you thank you so much for your time, any comments suggestions advice complaints, anything would be helpful. I'm gonna go back to working on her right now, sorry about there being so many pics i wanted to show what i was talking about (except for the last 2, those were just to show my interpretation of the baja)[/b]

Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:15 pm

well first off that fiber glass is not made for mounting of lights! you mount lights behind the fiber glass on a cage like the below.

http://www.mooreparts.com/store/product/5347/AC941320/

on your rust you need to cut the rust affected area out and weld new pan halves in or the problem will just continue to get worse!

the cut and turn should take about 2-3 hours.... that is if you get it right the first time! it took me two tries on my first beam!

i can lift and mount my motor by myself but its usually easer with a friend or a floor jack.

good luck your getting close just take your time and things will go faster!

Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:34 pm

thanks, but i really dont have 110 dollars to spend on new lights, im at like 60 dollars left total.

awww i have to cut it out :( sad, my pan is pretty bad

only 2-3 hours? sweet so i can actually have it done in a day, ive gotta rent a welder so i hope i can do it all in one day.

yeah i dont have a moving jack but i used the skateboard method and it worked pretty good. just not great. my main problem is that i can lift alot more than the engine but its just bulky

Fri Nov 06, 2009 1:58 pm

as far as headlights, i agree. get some brackets and weld to your front bumper and buy headlights to mount to those. look on line ebay, craigslist, the samba, ect. try to find some.
your front beam, i would have it removed, dissasembled, marked, and one of the tubes already cut and ready to go the night before you rent your welder. that way when you do get it you just have to weld in one adjuster, cut out and weld in the other. this should save on overall time that you are renting the welder. You could even contact your high school metal shop teacher and see if you could bring in your beam and use theirs? save some $$
your engine if moving it around on the skateboard works for you, just grab a buddy when you need to install it or pull it out. two people should easily be able to lift it.

Sat Nov 07, 2009 10:33 am

Harbor freight has some head lights for cheap. I have some on brackets in the head light holes like chubby and 90xjunlimited suggested. I think they where like $50 for two. But there not street legal and they dont have high beam/low beam. That never bothered me though.

Sat Nov 07, 2009 10:04 pm

fifty dollars for both i might be able to do, id just really like to use my plastic headlight retaining units because they were fairly expensive and ive drilled into them in spots so i dont believe ill be able to return them, was hoping someone had advice on how to make them fit.

yeah im gonna dissasemble my front beam before i get the welder, and have all my tabs ready to go, i also have a rectangular alluminum fuel tank i bought a while ago for it i wanted to put in but wasnt sure how to hook it up to the car, i still have alot of the front sheet metal and it doesnt quite fit where the old gas tank goes.

thanks for the help.

Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:38 am

take the old headlight parts you have and sell them here and then buy the other lights! or go to a vw junk yard and get some cheep! thats where i got mine for 10 a pop!

Sun Nov 08, 2009 8:36 am

Cool car. Where in SD you from?

As far as removing the motor, Ive always used my Harbor Freight 3 ton jack to support it and pull it from the trans. Then lower it onto a stand I made out of 4x4's in a "U" shape that fit the case. That way the jack can slide in and out from underneath. Just dont let the motor fall off the jack when you pull it!

As long as you have the welder, I fabbed up some quick headlight mounts out of angle iron from Home Depot. "L" shaped bracket thats welded to the bumper mounts. Not pretty or race car, but it gets the job done.

Sun Nov 08, 2009 9:53 pm

clairemont, with all the bro's :0

yeah i think im gonna stick with my big skateboard but just tighten the trucks so i dont have to hold it while i try to reach for cinderblocks to prop the sides of the engine on.

i think my current plan is to weld light tabs onto my bumper and buy some off road lights that will just screw into the tabs, i saw some lights at pepboys for 50 dollars for 2 and they look like they would fit, i could even change the price tag with the 20 dollar lights :)

also thats a nice bug, like the front tires were did you get them? i need new fronts.

guess ill just sell the old headlights (and this aluminum fan shroud and aluminum pulley i got) on craigslist and use that money to buy off road lights thatll just weld in. thanks so much for the advice i would have spent hours "modifying" (read: runining) my hood to make them fit.

ill post the pics when im done :) getting my running lights and blinkers and such what 2morrow

Sun Nov 08, 2009 9:59 pm

also
god that wiring is clean, absolutely gorgeous looking.

Sun Nov 08, 2009 10:50 pm

i found some forklift light housings. they are a rubber housing with a pivot nut/bolt for adjustment. i just bought some 5"(i think) headlights and the fit in no prob. plus with the rubber housing it helped with vibration

Mon Nov 09, 2009 12:10 pm

get the hella driving lights over at pep boys they are 67 bucks

Mon Nov 09, 2009 1:10 pm

yeah im just gonna find the cheapest lights i can bolt onto my bumper and go from there.

that just got bumped down to the bottom of my list though since i think the thing the spark plugs attach into got stripped.
and i was gonna start the engine today too :(

Mon Nov 09, 2009 1:27 pm

are you talking about the wire? or the head? Cause if they are stock wires they just push on.

Mon Nov 09, 2009 8:12 pm

ahh dude no big deal if its the head.. (if it is the head) you have a baja! you can just leave the engine in the car and pull the head off get a tap and just put a new thred coil into it! that will hold you over for a wile! just go to a vw shop and tel them you have a stripped spark plug hole and they will hook you up with what you need! its an easy fix on a baja

Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:49 pm

yeah, at the end of the day i just have to remember how much i love that car.

someone said something about buying a spark plug guide thing for 5 dollars, it was some tool that would help.

my friend says all it takes is a new insert, im gonna try to put it in again tomorrow see if i can whisk up some of my irish luck.

once i have it running all i have to do is finish cut and turning the front end, weld in light tabs, mount my hood
and then by thanksgiving weekend i have to go to the desert with my friend, it would suck to have to play around in the desert with my honda accord. i dunno if anyones ever tried to off road in one of those things.... its sketchy.

Mon Nov 09, 2009 10:09 pm

Can you tell me how you raise the rear? What shock did you use, etc? I have a 74' also. thx..

Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:46 am

pop the spring plates one notch on your tortion bars! easyer said than done huh? haha jus look it up there are tons of threds on it here!

Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:54 am

the fun part is putting it back together

Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:01 am

can't wait to put it back together.

and as far as the rear, when i got the car and put the big tires on it the PO was at my house and did the adjustment for me, haven't touched it because it looks just fine.

spark plug thread chaser and some new ball joints, man my list keeps growing.