My 63 Bug "Darrel" Back on the road after 34 years

[vwlovr73]

[grandpa pete]

Just found your thread again ; it's coming along nicely .......I was getting frustrated that mine has gone on for 2 1/2 years...your going on 4 ; thanks ;I needed a little inspiration ......
thanks for keeping up with the postings
_________________
63 two fold rag
66 sedan delivery Type 6

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569619&highlight=sedan+delivery

[cn63bug]

[vwlovr73]

[vwlovr73]

After a couple of nice weekends it got cold here again and I don't have a heated garage. So the bug's been sitting there without interior, waiting on the next steps.

I got the headlight buckets sanded down and ready to paint. I did manage to spray a coat yesterday, need to sand more though. I did not do as smooth a job sanding as I'd thought.

Broke out the heat gun to scrape the remnants of the tar off the pans. It worked great. Only took an hour or so and I got all of it off except what's near the gas line
BRAKE LINE. Thanks Nancy

Wire brushed the rusty areas, lightly sanded, vacuumed, wiped, vacuumed again, used a tack cloth, put down some rusty metal primer on the areas that needed it. Going to sand a bit more then coat with gloss black. It's not perfect, but it'll do the job, and it's going to be under dynamat, closed cell, and rubber mats anyway. So I am thinking perfection isn't needed for this part of the project.

Also planning to get the stereo in, the front carpet, and the door panels. And re-install the rear fender with new brackets. That and some mechanical maintenance and then back on the road for the summer. Hoping to have it done in 4 weeks actually, because there is a club cruise it'd be fun to attend.

I didn't take any pics except this one of the rusty headlight bucket before I took off the parking light mount and started on it with the steel wool.

_________________
1963 Beetle euro spec "Darrel" (since 2012)
Past - 1973 Beetle "Arthur" (owned 1998-2005)

Red River VW Club- http://www.redrivervwclub.com

[nlorntson]

[vwlovr73]

[vwlovr73]

[jmonheim]

yeah when I first saw the brake line in our bug I thought somebody ran it like this but after looking it up this stock? seems weird to me to be inside the car

[jmonheim]

yeah when I first saw the brake line in our bug I thought somebody ran it like this but after looking it up this stock? seems weird to me to be inside the car

[vwlovr73]

Saturday my daughter was out with grandma, so I got in a full day working on the bug. Heat gun did a great job taking the remainder of the tar off. Easier than I expected. Primed and painted that. It isn't perfect, but it's going to be underneath the dynamat, closed cell foam, and then carpet/mats. So I didn't feel like it needed to be a mirror finish. I just wire brushed, then wire-wheeled it, hand-sanded, vacuumed, tack cloth, vacuumed, and tack cloth again. The surfaces weren't totally smooth, just due to the surface rust and other wear.

Finished working on my headlights. (Or I thought I did.) I'm just cleaning them up, doing a quick respray, and new seals. I think I said a while back that I got a replacement light from a friend last fall. I wanted the adjustment screw locations to match, I had one at 5 and 7 and one at 2 and 7. These new ones are both 2 and 7.

Got them all done with the new seals and all, and... and realized one of these things is not like the other. The one on the left is a bus headlight....

Sometimes all you can do is laugh. Another friend has a headlight for me 5 & 7 I think, so I'll pick that up later this week and start the process again. Learning experience: headlight buckets used to scare me with all their pieces but now i can tear one down in just a couple minutes time.

Then since it was such a nice day (before a cold front and rain came in), I decided to clean and spray my back bumper brackets before I put the bumper back on. I had bought new ones for the back after removing the thrashed ones last fall. Then thought to myself that I ought to do the front ones too while I'm at it. So I took off the front bumper. Then noticed the insides of the blades & guards were looking pitted, better take care of that too.

I sprayed them silver; I am not sure that's correct but I knew they're either supposed to be silver or grey. Sprayed the inside of the bumpers with self etching rust-stop. Then sprayed over that with the same silver. It's damn near sparkly in there, which isn't what I wanted. Hope it doesn't look too dumb reinstalled (but, when was the last time you looked inside a bug's bumper blade anyway?). In the future I plan to have them stripped, repaired, and re-chromed, so this is only temporary.

Up next...
-One more headlight.
-Polish up and re-install the bumpers
-Sound deadener/dampener... and a first for this bug... audio system.
_________________
1963 Beetle euro spec "Darrel" (since 2012)
Past - 1973 Beetle "Arthur" (owned 1998-2005)

Red River VW Club- http://www.redrivervwclub.com

[sportin-wood]

I don't think the insides of the bumpers painted looks bad at all. Might have to steal that idea from you.
_________________
.
Paused 66 project bug
.
"Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman. He's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it." --- Jeff Spicoli

[vwlovr73]

[vwlovr73]

I always tell my kid that if she would pay more attention, she wouldn't make so many mistakes.

Should maybe take my own advice. Thanks to nlorntson for pointing it out in a graceful way....

Behold my sideways headlights and upside down bumper bracket seals.

In the above pic i hadn't done the bumper brackets yet.

At least this stuff is easy to fix. After the mixup with the bus headlight, I got another headlight from a friend -- but it ended up being just too rusted out to work with. Since I want to actually start driving the car again ASAP, I just cleaned up my non-matching light so I'd have a working set.

Does anyone know if the correct light is the one with the adjustment screws at 2 and 7, or at 5 and 7? I have one of each. I thought I read that it was 2 and 7, but then I read elsewhere that they changed to 5 and 7 in 12/62. I don't care a lot, but it would be nice to know (at this point I just want them to match!).

We also measured and put down the fatmat. I don't have a roller & didn't buy the kit, so I need to find something that'll work and do that before the next step. A beer bottle didn't work very well - FYI. Still have more of it to do (door panels), but it's slow going when your helper is 2 years old.

Next steps:
--Fatmat on the side panels/doors

--Closed cell foam

--Fix the headlights and bumper bracket seals

--Reinstall the bumpers

--Install speakers and receiver

--Partial interior install (not installing anything that overlaps with the headliner, since I'm not going to do the headliner this year)

After all that and some other details I'll need to get an alignment and then be able to drive it this season. I wish I was driving it today. Weather's perfect.
_________________
1963 Beetle euro spec "Darrel" (since 2012)
Past - 1973 Beetle "Arthur" (owned 1998-2005)

Red River VW Club- http://www.redrivervwclub.com

[vwlovr73]

It's been a while because the last time I tried to post, I had a lot of trouble with pics and gave up. Plus, summer!!

But we did get old Darrel put together enough to drive. Cut and installed yoga mats over the top of the sound deadener.

Then installed 4 speakers and a Bluetooth receiver. It operates via a switch in the glovebox.

I had planned to then start carpeting, but hit a couple of hitches and decided to wait until Fall. First off, I can't install some of the carpeting until I do the headliner, and that's not on the list this year. Second, the weather was either too cold or too hot to do the work, and I ran out of time before wanting to hit cruises and shows.

Installed my new rubber mats. Was pretty nervous to cut the holes for the e-brake and shifter, but I'm pleased with the result.

I think I told you I took the door cards to the same upholstery shop where my seats were done.... back in February. Well, they STILL are not done. He does great work but boy, does he have a backlog. Every show I attended this year, I had my pink and teal yoga mats on display... annoying. I hope he gets them back to me before next year's shows...
_________________
1963 Beetle euro spec "Darrel" (since 2012)
Past - 1973 Beetle "Arthur" (owned 1998-2005)

Red River VW Club- http://www.redrivervwclub.com

[vwlovr73]

We attended a couple of shows this year. I try to attend the Red River VW Club's VWs in the Valley Show in Fargo ND every year, the last weekend of July. They put on a great show with activities all weekend, wonderful hospitality. It's worth the trip if you're anywhere in the region.

_________________
1963 Beetle euro spec "Darrel" (since 2012)
Past - 1973 Beetle "Arthur" (owned 1998-2005)

Red River VW Club- http://www.redrivervwclub.com

[vwlovr73]

The other show we attended this year was Dubs at the Lake in Killarney, MB. Amazing show and camping extravaganza. Killarney is west of Winnipeg, MB so if you're up in Canada or the northwestern US, get there if you can. It's worth the trip.

We attended the 1st annual in 2014 also. It was Aug 19-21.

All of us at the US / CA Customs. There are 9 VWs (some in trailers) in this shot...

Great trip. Drove Darrel the 190 miles each way without any issues. Except, we felt like we lost our hearing by the time we got home. Darrel has his original window seals (or lack thereof) and rattles unbelievably at highway speed.

While at the show, I got opportunity to drive a friend's very clean '62 a short distance and it reminded me that you don't have to go deaf driving a bug (or, stuff the windwings with napkins, which we also did).

I've dealt with it long enough. Time to order new window seals. Next up: watch me struggle with installing them.
_________________
1963 Beetle euro spec "Darrel" (since 2012)
Past - 1973 Beetle "Arthur" (owned 1998-2005)

Red River VW Club- http://www.redrivervwclub.com

[vwlovr73]

Last weekend, we took Darrel to VWs in the Valley in Fargo, North Dakota. One of the biggest shows in the region, put on by our car club.

In the past year or so Darrel has had some front end and steering work as well as a bit of fuss about the engine. A good friend helped me really buff him out too, he's quite shiny as you'll see! Wanted to share some pics of Darrel from the show.

_________________
1963 Beetle euro spec "Darrel" (since 2012)
Past - 1973 Beetle "Arthur" (owned 1998-2005)

Red River VW Club- http://www.redrivervwclub.com

[nlorntson]

Jeeze, he looks good enough to win a prize.

[Airstream65]

Looks great!