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dirthead O.G.
Samba Member
Joined: June 07, 2007
Posts: 230
Location: SLC
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 Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 8:40 am Post subject: |
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[quote="relicstone"]
| LeftSatisfied wrote: |
I made some aluminum knobs for my headlights and hazards tonight. Here is a pic comparing them with the old ones. They work great.
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You made these knobs? You need to make more and sell them! I will be placing my order soon!! |
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markiemark9
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2011
Posts: 237
Location: Omaha, NE
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:47 pm Post subject: |
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| LeftSatisfied wrote: |
My interior came in friday, minus my headliner. Still waiting on the paint anyway so as long as it comes in soon, no worries. I really want to make some headway on my project but there is not much I can do without the bug. I was able to cover the ugly black fiberglass dash cover with matching charcoal tweed. It came out pretty nice. Here is a pic of the dash cover after I scratched it up with some 220 grit to give the glue some bite.
Here it is all finished up.
I may just cover my seats while waiting on the bug to come back to daddy. Just a little worried about them sitting around the shop with new covers until they are ready to install. More to come soon. |
Can you give some quick steps to how you did this (outside of order/build fiberglass dash, scuff with 220 grit, spray glue, and apply tweed fabric)? Specifically, did you make cuts to wrap the fabric without folds or creases? If so, where?
I would like to do something similar with mine. |
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markiemark9
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2011
Posts: 237
Location: Omaha, NE
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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| LeftSatisfied wrote: |
Well, I found some new seats in my area. Set up a time to go pick them up after work today, the seller flaked on me. So, I decided to work with what I have. I re-spot welded all the broken areas in the springs, it came out better than I thought. I cut the head rests off and reassembled the seats. I am very happy that I finally have the low backs that I wanted, even if they are kinda fake.  Time to order my interior from TMI. I have decided on the dark gray tweed seat covers, panels and headliner. I will also do something special with the dash. Here is a picture of the seats cut down.
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I am interested in doing the same thing to my seats. Is there an obvious place to cut the headrests off at? What year seat covers did you purchase, to fit so well? Did you also buy that same years seat foam?
Any insight you can provide on the process to get such good results would be helpful. |
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LeftSatisfied
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2010
Posts: 212
Location: Canyon Lake, Ca.
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:49 am Post subject: |
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[quote="markiemark9"]
| LeftSatisfied wrote: |
Well, I found some new seats in my area. Set up a time to go pick them up after work today, the seller flaked on me. So, I decided to work with what I have. I re-spot welded all the broken areas in the springs, it came out better than I thought. I cut the head rests off and reassembled the seats. I am very happy that I finally have the low backs that I wanted, even if they are kinda fake. Time to order my interior from TMI. I have decided on the dark gray tweed seat covers, panels and headliner. I will also do something special with the dash. Here is a picture of the seats cut down.
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I am interested in doing the same thing to my seats. Is there an obvious place to cut the headrests off at? What year seat covers did you purchase, to fit so well? Did you also buy that same years seat foam?
It has been a long time since I have checked the samba site, life has kept me too busy for my side projects. Sorry for the late reply but maybe you still need these questions answered. As far as the dash goes, the fiberglass dash cover came with my bug, I am not sure where to buy one myself but they can most likely still be found. I cut a piece of material with about 6" of over hang all the way around the dash. I used 3m spray glue on the dash and the back of the tweed and let it sit to become tacky for a few minutes. I started in the middle and worked my way out to the edges, gluing in 1 foot sections at a time. I did not wrap the tweed around the back side of the dash until the entire face was fully dried.
I worked the contours of the dash with my fingers as I went, it was quite easy with the tweed. After the face of the dash was dry, I glued about 1 1/2" around the back of the dash and folded the tweed around. In the corners, I made small cuts in the tweed where needed to get a smooth edge. I trimmed the excess material and then made the cuts to the gauge holes, stereo, knobs and glove box. I folded and cut where needed around the holes as well. Take your time and glue small sections at a time, it's a breeze.
As for the seats. On my particular seats, the head rests tubing was a smaller diameter tubing and was stuffed inside of down tubes and tack welded in. I made my cuts right at the seam line where those tubes were joined. Late models had a few different types of seats and there are some postings here on the samba that will show you how to do other types. The seat bottoms all use the same foam and covers. You will want 1967 seat back covers and foam pad. That is what I used and it fit perfectly. Hope some of this might help you out, good luck! |
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markiemark9
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2011
Posts: 237
Location: Omaha, NE
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:42 am Post subject: |
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Great answers and just what i was hoping to hear for both the dash and the seats!  I look forward to doing mine soon!
Thanks & nice work so far! |
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LeftSatisfied
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2010
Posts: 212
Location: Canyon Lake, Ca.
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:13 pm Post subject: |
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| I have had everything that I need to finish this bug for months now. I see it every day out back of my shop. I just cant seem to find the motivation to finish it and it is so close. I hope the ambition kicks back in soon, it is depressing when I think about how much time I have into it and how little is left to do. |
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19-VW-74
Samba Member
Joined: June 28, 2009
Posts: 757
Location: Utah
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:40 pm Post subject: |
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| LeftSatisfied wrote: |
| I have had everything that I need to finish this bug for months now. I see it every day out back of my shop. I just cant seem to find the motivation to finish it and it is so close. I hope the ambition kicks back in soon, it is depressing when I think about how much time I have into it and how little is left to do. |
I know the feeling, man.
I got the analysis paralysis about a two years ago, then last summer I spent several hours a day for a week looking at build threads on thesamba and I was suddenly hooked again!
_________________
-Austin
My 1974 Standard Beetle Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=492617 |
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dirthead O.G.
Samba Member
Joined: June 07, 2007
Posts: 230
Location: SLC
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| Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 6:21 am Post subject: |
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Start reading post of other builds! That is what got me motivated to do mine. 5 years of sitting, and I have done more in one week than the previous 5 years!
Don't hold back! Even if it's only an hour here or there, get it done!! You will be so happy when it's done, and you are cruising around!!! |
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LeftSatisfied
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2010
Posts: 212
Location: Canyon Lake, Ca.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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I havent posted in almost a year. I bought a new house last year and have been landscaping and painting to keep my wife happy. My to do list is still a mile long but I promised myself that I would complete the bug after painting the master. Well the master is done and now I am in my garage working on the bug. I trailered the bug from my shop to my house a few months back. I no longer have to stay at the shop after work to work on the bug. Its nice to be able to come home, kiss the family, eat dinner and then step into the garage.
Anyway, back to this update. I am currently installing the 7 piece front carpet kit and the 5 piece rear carpet kit. I installed the front speaker kickers this weekend and have all the carpet done except the floor area. I had an issue with the kicker carpet pieces coming up short to the floor. I noticed when attemting to install the front floor piece. What a nightmare. The carpet pieces are flush with the top of the speaker kickers so I could not unglue and lower them without exposing the kickers. Not sure where I went wrong there but I am improvising now. I decided to mesh some trimmed pieces up to the kicker pieces, not my prefered method of solving this problem but it works for now. I am going to keep working on the interior today and will post some pics tonight. Feels good to be making some progress again. |
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slagathor
Samba Member
Joined: December 08, 2012
Posts: 253
Location: Oakland, CA
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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first off your vw so far is beautiful.
i just caught this thread and now im going to have to figure out a new plan for how i want mine to look
i was planning on red (or similar red) with a grey tweed interior and to cut down my seats to low backs. now i have to change my plan because i see you live in orange county also and there would be your 72 standard and my 73 standard around oc that are almost identical. but of course mine is a long way off in terms of work
i wish i was still in machine shop, id make a couple dash knobs like you have. i am doing the bare metal dash and the knobs stick out a bit more than i would like |
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LeftSatisfied
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2010
Posts: 212
Location: Canyon Lake, Ca.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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| slagathor wrote: |
first off your vw so far is beautiful.
i just caught this thread and now im going to have to figure out a new plan for how i want mine to look
i was planning on red (or similar red) with a grey tweed interior and to cut down my seats to low backs. now i have to change my plan because i see you live in orange county also and there would be your 72 standard and my 73 standard around oc that are almost identical. but of course mine is a long way off in terms of work
i wish i was still in machine shop, id make a couple dash knobs like you have. i am doing the bare metal dash and the knobs stick out a bit more than i would like |
Thanks for the compliment! You are in luck though, I bought a house in Canyon Hills. I no longer live in the OC although it will always be my home and I will be there with my bug from time to time. Do you have a build thread started? If so, I would like to see your progress. |
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slagathor
Samba Member
Joined: December 08, 2012
Posts: 253
Location: Oakland, CA
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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i just started my build about 2 months ago and have only spent a couple saturdays working on it. sadly it is not at my house, but at the house of the lady i bought it from. shes cool with letting me do all the work there since i only have a carport at my house. down side the bug has been sitting for 19 years, im not in a hurry to get the motor running since is need to strip all the tin to repaint and do a couple other engine mods like switching from a a generator to an alternator, clean or rebuild the dual kadrons...
here are the pictures of the first day i really started the tear down.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6394245#6394245
it hasnt been updated in a while but so far i have stripped all the interior with the exception of the front seats. there is no carpet, tarboard, back seats, part of the head liner. dash pad has been pulled and switches moved to where i want them to be. most of the electrical has been reworked or rewired to be cleaner than it wasi just my por15 for the floor pan today so that will go on next weekend.
exterior: all the moulding has been pulled, all the fenders are off, front tires are off so i can do the brake work. in a couple weeks im going to pound out the dent in the rear passenger side quarter panel. fill in the holes for where the turn signals used to be....
im on a limited budget right now so its kind of hard to buy parts. the upside is when i have everything apart i know exactly what i will need an in what order i will need them |
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LeftSatisfied
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2010
Posts: 212
Location: Canyon Lake, Ca.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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| slagathor wrote: |
first off your vw so far is beautiful.
i just caught this thread and now im going to have to figure out a new plan for how i want mine to look
i was planning on red (or similar red) with a grey tweed interior and to cut down my seats to low backs. now i have to change my plan because i see you live in orange county also and there would be your 72 standard and my 73 standard around oc that are almost identical. but of course mine is a long way off in terms of work
i wish i was still in machine shop, id make a couple dash knobs like you have. i am doing the bare metal dash and the knobs stick out a bit more than i would like |
I just found your build thread. Crazy how similar our bugs are. Same color, steering wheel, carbs and air cleaners. I will be following your thread to see how yours evolves. Good luck! |
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slagathor
Samba Member
Joined: December 08, 2012
Posts: 253
Location: Oakland, CA
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| Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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kind of crazy that what i wanted to do to my bug is what you already did to yours. now i need to slightly alter mine
i should post some of the photos i already have but ill be working on it this weekend so i will post more photos later
you never showed a shot of your dash after you put the tweed cover on it. how did it turn out? |
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webberjames95
Snorkelstang Finder
Joined: January 18, 2011
Posts: 1091
Location: Pullman, Washington
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LeftSatisfied
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2010
Posts: 212
Location: Canyon Lake, Ca.
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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| webberjames95 wrote: |
cool bug  |
Thank You! |
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LeftSatisfied
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2010
Posts: 212
Location: Canyon Lake, Ca.
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 6:12 pm Post subject: |
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I finished the carpet (except for the back seat carpet). The TMI carpet did not fit as good as I hoped it would. I had to make a lot of adjustments and trimming to get it installed. I wanted a cleaner look but this will have to do for now. I also installed the driver side door panel and hardware. Here are a few pics including the covered dash pad installed.
[/img] |
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webberjames95
Snorkelstang Finder
Joined: January 18, 2011
Posts: 1091
Location: Pullman, Washington
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LeftSatisfied
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2010
Posts: 212
Location: Canyon Lake, Ca.
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| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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I finished installing all of the panels. I reinstalled the shifter and installed a new ebrake boot. Next come the rear kick panels, rear seat and then I will tackle the new ignition switch before installing the front seats.
That leaves;
Front bumper and brackets
Running boards
Compressor, tank, solenoids, switches
Wiring of lights
Engine clean up and paint
Head unit and speakers
Tune up
Other minor finishing touches
The list that never ends!
I will post some new pics soon. |
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LeftSatisfied
Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2010
Posts: 212
Location: Canyon Lake, Ca.
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| Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Finally changed out my ignition switch because of my starting issues. It did the trick! So nice that the bug turns over EVERY time that I try now. Easy swap, took around 10 mins. |
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