Amy's 1968 Convertible Beetle Restoration "Grettah"

azamy66 · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2014 2:19 pm Post subject:

Yes, thank you Nick I have heard of the Top Shop. When I am ready I will most likely go to them. Smile

azamy66 · Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 10:10 pm Post subject:

With summer nearly out of the way, I am ready to start working on the car again. As a late update... In May I had the passenger rear floor pan half replaced. It had been replaced once before in 1990 (noted with a white marker on the battery brace). It was not such a great patch and created a situation for water to accumulate and therefore create rust. This is the situation that caused the seat to rust to the rail. I didn't want a chance of that again. Although a few of you suggested that I just drive and enjoy the car, I still wanted to clean things up a bit. So I began to take things off to clean. Well, I love to take things apart, so one thing led to another and this is what happened...

*Removed running boards, which were a bit rusty.
*Removed bumpers and brackets. Brackets were sanded and painted. Chrome on bumpers was shined with steel wool and sanded on the insides and painted with Argent Silver. They cleaned up nice!
*Removed all 4 fenders. These will soon be sanded on the insides to remove old undercoating. The removal has given me easy access to the wheel wells and suspension for easy cleaning.
*Removal of all chrome trim.
*Removal of seats.
*Top frame off to the sandblaster. I had to purchase new side rail pieces to be welded in to replace the rusty old sections. Other than that, the frame looks pretty good.

Turns out that the rear luggage shelf is in rough condition. The car is currently at my welder getting a new one. There is also a small hole of rust through to the front left wheel well just behind the heater vent that he is going to repair as well. There were also several small rust bubbles on the body of the car, but the good news is that nothing has eaten through and can be treated easily. whew!

So much more to do, but at least it's fun. Smile

I definitely get a lot of good advice and info from The Samba and its members Smile

Thank you so much for all of your input. it is much appreciated. I'm not looking to have a show car, but just a nice, clean, solid daily driver. Here are some pics of the progress. If you can call it that. Razz

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Off to the body shop...

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Cusser · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 6:44 am Post subject:

Good progress. Yeah, your VW does have more rust than "our" all-Arizona VWs, that's life.

I would also have to recommend the Top Shop for the top; these tops are not cheap, and are complicated, and they do know what they are doing. They are on the list for mine when that time comes.
_________________
1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

azamy66 · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 6:45 pm Post subject:

Thanks Cusser. The quote I got for the top was 2500. Yikes! At the time I had no idea it would cost that much. But, yes, it will be done right. Smile

The more I delve into this thing, the more I feel as though I will have way more into the car than it is worth by the time it's done. I'm guessing that is the case in many restorations though.

Very cool that you have owned your VW's for so long, by the way. I have had quite a few over the last 30 years and I have many regrets about letting most of mine go. I have been trying to locate the vin # of my first car; a 65 Sedan. My dad bought it for me when I was 16 from the neighbor. Sold it when I had my daughter to buy a safer vehicle. Silly. But what did I know back then. Anyway, not sure if I would even be able to find it if I had the vin as the laws for information dealing with the search are so restricted now.

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Cusser · Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 8:16 pm Post subject:

Henderbug · Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 11:59 am Post subject: $2500 - Ouch!

I say "Ouch" as I will be in the same position as you at some point Smile

I have recently acquired a '69 Yukon Yellow that is not as good as shape as yours (generally), and it too will need a new roof.

I'm really interested in looking at your photos to compare mine to yours. I noticed my speedo looks different. It might have been changed when it was brought into Canada.

I also noticed the vents in the heater channels is different; my vents are further back, and were originally covered in a vent cover that could (at least originally) open and close with a lever.

Here is the speedo i have:

Henderbug · Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 12:06 pm Post subject: LOL

It must be that my eyesight is bad; now that am looking at the closeup of the speedo, i see it has an EGR, ATF, and defrost indicator... never noticed these before.

The car has none of these features.

I guess I should start looking around for a replacement speedo if I want the car to be "period correct" Smile

azamy66 · Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 7:09 pm Post subject:

Hello Henderbug. I don't know a whole lot about Speedo's, but you are right, yours doesn't look correct for the year. My heater channels have sliding covers. Is that what yours are? Would love to see pictures of your 'project'. Do you have a thread started?

Henderbug · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 6:06 am Post subject: Heater channels and vents

Hi Amy,

I don't have a project thread - I won't be doing any work on the car until I finish a number of other "non-car" projects. I suppose I will create a thread once I actually have some progress to report. This may be many months away.

I do have a pic of what the heater channel vents look like though, with the vent cover in place. The cable on the right hand side runs up to the inner of the front reinforcement panel, about 8" down from the face of the dash, about 5" forward from the front pillar.

I think these vents were installed "over" the carpet; you may be able to see threads of carpet stick behind this plastic piece. I presume the cable would run under the carpet.

This is the driver's side... The cable operates a flap which divert warm air to either through the vent holes, or forward to the tube up the pillar serving the dash vents.

My car has no vents along the floor forward of this point. I have seen replacement heater channels with vent holes forward of this position. The sites selling them say they are for models up to '68. Presuming your heater channels are original to the car, perhaps VW/Karmann changed the heater channels they used somewhere between the production of our two cars.

azamy66 · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2014 10:49 am Post subject:

Perhaps. I am very unfamiliar with late model VW's as I have only previously owned earlies (65 and older) until now. I am learning about what is different on mine compared to those. Not sure of the changes that were made from year to year from 68 and on though. Smile

KAmes · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 6:50 am Post subject:

My brother was in the upholstery business, still does some on the side and $2500 is pretty comparable to what he would charge for that. I was lucky in that regard, paid wholesale price for parts and we did it ourselves. It's often almost impossible to not spend more than the car is worth, I never worry about that, I figure I'm buying entertainment too. Very Happy

azamy66 · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 3:04 pm Post subject:

Nice connection there. I do like your attitude KAmes. My sister sent me a quote from a classic car book she has. It goes like this...

"The desire to own a classic car is fueled by passion, nostalgia and perhaps eccentricity, rather than necessity. With ownership comes responsibility, as it falls upon you to keep the car roadworthy-you are to some extent the temporary custodian of a piece of history, something that will be passed down through the family or on to someone new for them to cherish"

So yes, this makes me feel as though we need to do what we need to do to keep the old cars alive, cost being a minor concern Smile

57BLITZ · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 3:44 pm Post subject:

sb001 · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 8:11 pm Post subject: Re: Heater channels and vents

azamy66 · Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2014 8:54 pm Post subject:

A few updates since my last post. The old luggage area has been removed and the new is being fit this week. Took some time to get the old out as the factory used many spot welds to put it in place.

The worrisome rust spots turned out to be 'not so bad after all. Yay! The scary bubbling rust hadn't eaten thru the metal. Some sanding and smoothing should do the trick.

Only one area will need to be cut out and replaced with new metal. That would be the area inside the left front wheel well just behind the heater vent.

The engine was also pulled. A friend is working his magic on it as we speak. Although the engine only had 2500 miles on it, it has been 8 years since the rebuild. And a bit neglected over that time. Can't wait to see the transformation.

Trying hard to be patient with this little car... Smile

VEGDRABBITS · Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 10:46 am Post subject: Top rebuild sticky

Cool Amy! Your car is very similar to mine, and in about the same condition as mine when I rebuilt it. When you get to the top, make sure to read this write-up I did a couple years ago. I imagine the 68 and 70 tops are pretty similar. Hope it helps.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=508902
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70 Convertible
73 RD350

azamy66 · Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 1:47 pm Post subject:

Thanks Vegdrabbits~ Interestingly, I have seen your thread on your top before and actually bookmarked it for reference. Smile

I remember reading it in admiration thinking that I wouldn't be as brave as you in replacing my own top. Razz

You did a stellar job and the car looks really nice.

Would love to see pictures of the rest of your restoration. Maybe I can get some tips from that too. Mine is turning out to be more involved than I had initially planned. But fun just the same. Smile

VEGDRABBITS · Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 2:35 pm Post subject:

I would recommend doing the top yourself if you plan to keep the car for a while, since you will likely do it more than once in it's lifetime. Also any quotes from an upholstery shop probably won't account for all the things they might discover when they get into it. I was really glad to get the frame blasted clean of rust, and repair the hinge and broken weld. At a shop those would probably be extra charges. As long as you have time and space it's doable.
_________________
70 Convertible
73 RD350

Henderbug · Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2014 7:22 pm Post subject: Looks great

Your progress is excellent.

I was very interested to see your progress with the rear luggage tray. Mine is in worse shape and will also need to be replaced. In my case the rear crossmembers are also toast. It looks like there is a sway bar on your car. I dont think there is one on mine, i am going to look into that.

azamy66 · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2014 7:36 pm Post subject:

New luggage area is in and getting a few tweaks. Smile

Next I will get to start cleaning the undercarriage and wheel wells and then body and paint. This is getting exciting! Engine is also ready for pick up. When I get it back, I will post pics. It will get reinstalled a after paint. My goal is to get it roadworthy and painted by mid March. Perfect convertible weather. Smile

Hopefully my goals are not too lofty. Razz


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Amy's 1968 Convertible Beetle Restoration "Grettah"
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