TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:47 pm

Hey, everyone. I've been lurking for a while now, & figured it was time for an introduction. I bought a 1950 split from a Samba member toward the end of last year, and have been soaking up the Forum archives and classifieds ever since. What I acquired was a restoration that was about 20% complete, with quite a bit of welding and bodywork that needed to be redone. At this point, the body is off to the shop for final bodywork and paint, and the pan & drivetrain are in my garage being restored. Thanks to everyone from whom I've already bought parts. I'll post some pics as I go along. Original color is Bordeaux Red, which is what I'll go with when we're ready for paint. As far as history goes, my first car was a 1965 Beetle that I bought for $75 in high school, after it burned to a crisp from an engine fire. My Dad was not impressed. Anyway, here's the body in the shop....
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and the engine, which I just installed last weekend.....

Nicely rebuilt carburetor by Ed Fall....

And, a nicely rebuilt distributor by Glenn Ring....
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A little rust repair on the bottom driver's door.....

Another nice rebuild job....this time the lever shocks by Apple Hydraulics...

That's it for now. More to come. Again, thanks to all who have provided parts, service, or advice. I don't have a picture of John Henry's K manifold resurrection, but will post a pic once it's been installed.

Max Vander Ploeg

Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:26 pm

Awesome - I hope to see you and your car @ an East Coast show in the near future.

Keep up the good work :D

Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:24 am

Welcome! Nice looking project!

Mon Jan 23, 2012 2:33 pm

Shall it have a nice intake manifold also? :lol:

Thanks for the pics and welcome......

Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:33 pm

Yes, it shall! Will post a pic as soon as John's beautifully restored manifold is installed. I have a little clean up/painting to do on the coil & voltage regulator & then will be installing the manifold/carb. Then, we'll see if I can fire it up. As you can see, the body has a ways to go, so I've been dragging my feet a little on the pan.

Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:21 pm

Nice projec tand cant wait to follow along as you go! :D

Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:06 pm

There were some prior attempts at rust repair and metal replacement, but most will need to be redone. Here are a few examples.
This is the fuel tank opening on the passenger side:

And, the area near the steering column:

The driver's side spare tire well looks decent:

Ditto for the passenger side:

Here's a really bad area below the driver's A pillar:

And, after the repair, looking better, but not quite there yet:

Initial bodywork on the passenger door....looking for the high and low spots:

Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:39 pm

Here's the front suspension after rebuild. Nothing overly exciting here, but stopping and steering are both kind of a nice thing.....

Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:59 pm

Looks like a great car and a quality restoration is underway .
Is the front end original? What month production is your 50?

Mon Jan 23, 2012 8:23 pm

Build date is May 16, 1950, according to the VW museum certificate. Pan, body, & drivetrain numbers seem to match up with that date. As far as I know, the front end is original. If anyone sees something that doesn't add up, let me know.

Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:06 pm

Nice, will be watching this.

Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:36 am

I'm no expert but front 'shelf' looks later. i had same issue due to rallying in S.A. not sure on mounting holes to front beam and holes for brake reservoir.

Fri Jan 27, 2012 6:01 am

I believe the breake reservior shoul be attached directly to mater cylinder. THe shelf has a provision for the later "cup" to be mounted up top.

Fri Jan 27, 2012 6:40 am

Thanks for the comments on the shelf. The previous owner replaced the front clip, as you can tell from all the weld lines up front which we're now redoing. He must've used a later year clip. Good catch!

Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:34 pm

I haven't had a lot of time to work on the chassis lately, but I have managed to get a few more things done on the engine.

As mentioned earlier, that's Ed Fall's handywork on the carb and John Henry's fine job of rebuilding the K-manifold.

Those who are looking beyond the engine probably notice that the hand brake cables enter the rear of the backing plates rather than the front. That's how the prior owner put it together. I'm debating whether to correct that. Can I just swap backing plates, thus putting the entry in the front, or are they different plates?

Also, I'm missing the accelerator cable spring. If anyone happens to have one, please let me know. There are none in the classifieds.

I'll get the latest shots of the body next weekend. No time to get over there for the last couple weeks.

Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:43 pm

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=350635

:wink:

Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:45 pm

You should be able to just swap the backing plates and get the cable coming out toward the front; Here is a page from the '51 owners manual showing the correct orientation:

Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:51 pm

Thanks eurodub, saw that listing but the spring's not available, just the tube through shroud and flex tube.

Sat Feb 11, 2012 3:03 pm

Thanks John, it appeared that the plates would work if swapped, but I wasn't sure. From what I can tell, the hand brake cables installed on the car are too long for a front entry on the backing plates, so I'd need to replace them. Since they're brand new, I'll have to decide whether it's worth replacing them with the shorter cables solely for the sake of originality. It's one of those "if I'm ever going to do it, now's the time" things.

Sat Feb 11, 2012 3:58 pm

I have seen them "reversed" like that often as people can only find the longer cables. My '50 was like that I think....