Building / Bagging a 1966 Beetle Sedan

[deathpixel]

Whats up, greetings to you all on this amazing and invaluable website/forum.

Been lurking a few years now, only have posted up my (former) '67 project, which has since been sold due to life's circumstances. I will be posting in this thread on behalf of my co-worker and friend. We hope to further the information available to other interested parties on installing an air ride suspension system on a vintage VW with this thread.

This project entails rebuilding a 1966 Type 1 Sedan from the ground up with an air ride suspension and have it (hopefully) do 3-wheel motion when all is said and done. We have been waiting semi-patiently for two and a half years now with this car tucked into the corner of the shop, having to look at it every day when we come in the door. Its turn as a priority has finally come, and we are super stoked.

First, pictures of the starting point. Matching #s 1966 Type 1 Sedan for a steal of a deal from somewhere (I was riding, not driving) outside of Dallas, Texas. No interior, title or motor.

[Cjm005]

Looks like a nice solid project

[mykidsbug]

look like ur off to a great start.. Nice, good luck.

[deathpixel]

Cjm005 and mykidsbug, thanks for the kind words.

I looked and couldn't find the pics of when we initially brought it home - nothing put together other than the rear suspension and transaxle attached to the pan. All else was in a pile.

After a two year search I found a rebuilt pan with a title so we took a ride over to the west side of Fort Worth to check it out at the end of this past May. We met a very kind man named Jim that had an impressive personal shop with a few things laying around he wished to part ways with. This included a 1967 pan that had new pan halves installed and had been painted with POR-15, a freshly rebuilt transaxle (from a '67 I believe), a powder coated Airkewld-style 4" narrowed ball joint beam, a pair of '66 doors with hardware and some miscellaneous air ride parts.

[deathpixel]

This Bug was originally white or off-white in color, but has since been painted black by a PO. This is probably the color it will stay. Any new parts are likely to be painted to match as far as the chassis is concerned, with a few pieces here and there in red. Bare metal interior with just front seats. The body has a newer headliner that will most likely stay. Picked up a '64 motor a year and a half or so back, which will be rebuilt from the ground up, no pic of that currently.

These photos bring it up to its current state as of last Thursday, 8-08-13.

[deathpixel]

We began to strip what was left off of the shell and then the pan.

Had a little trouble with the 36mm wheel nut. Below is a pic of a 36mm socket on a 1/2" breaker bar with a metal fence post cheater pipe.

That resulted in a bent breaker bar.

We ran around the corner to Foreign Car Parts. They didn't have a Torque Buddy / Miester, but they did have a 36mm wheel nut removal tool. Not ideal but it did the trick. Right after it tried to peel my friend's ring fingernail off backwards (think cuticle first) and nearly succeeded. He'll live.

Put the shell outside for the time being to work on stripping the pan.

All wrapped up and chained to the building. If someone wants it that badly, then they can have it.

[deathpixel]

The Airkewld kit came in on Thursday as well. Since my friend already had a beam and a few other parts, he ordered a full weld-in swing axle kit minus those parts.

Progress on Friday 8-09-13, not much left at this point.

Put the old pan up on jackstands for the last time on this build. Need to pirate a few parts for the new ride.

Working on disassembling the rear drum brakes.

[deathpixel]

More progress 8/10 and 8/11. Still tearing down the old pan. Rear brake assemblies removed, taking off the spring plates.

[deathpixel]

More from 8/11. Transaxle is out.

This transaxle was worked on by Sleepy before I was born.

Axle Tube removal.

Pile 'o parts stacking up.

[deathpixel]

Bare old pan.

Out with the old...

In with the new '67 pan with new pan halves welded in and coated in POR-15. Its an uphill climb from here.

[deathpixel]

Bolted up the beam to get it out of the way and laid out the Airkewld rear airbag brackets to be fitted and tack welded. End of progress for 8/11.

[ffuuzz]

I am excited to see how this all goes. Especially interested on how you get the airbags to fit!

Keep the photos coming. Love it!

[bagged59]

You have made some quick progress! Looks like the start of a great project. I used the same kit for my rear bags and its great. Keep up the good work.
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My 61 project- shaved, bagged, all original because it doesn't look like yours:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=460969

[deathpixel]

ffuuzz, thank you for the support and welcome.

bagged59, thanks. Peeped your thread and was showing it to my homie just a couple of days ago. Sick ride.

8/12 - Purchased parts from Foreign Car Parts (from which I will now on refer to as "FCP"), cleaned up the work table and laid out some of the Airkewld air ride kit parts.

8/13 - Got some heavy downpour, still made progress. Painted and cleaned some parts, including the rear axle tubes and rear drum brake backing plates. Laid out some others for the transaxle reassembly. Please note that the differential side gear and pair of fulcrum plates are supposed to come out on each side after removing the axle tube and shaft with retaining ring and c-clip, however these did not. The axle shaft came out, then we fished the fulcrum plates out. Ended up removing the differential side gears by reaching through the obverse side via the hole in their center and very gently tapping them out with a long socket extension and mallet. Probably not the correct way, but it worked without any apparent damage done.

[deathpixel]

8/14 - Good forward momentum still. Dry parts from yesterday.

Rebuilt the rear drum brakes.

Rebuilt the 67 transaxle with the axle tubes and axle shafts from the donor 66.

And installed it as well.

Got the notched spring plates on. Please note that my friend bought his already notched by the seller, and did NOT follow the Airkewld instructions, which proved to be a mistake as you will later see.

[deathpixel]

8/15 - Starting to fit and tack weld in the Airkewld swing axle weld in air ride kit. I had some difficulty finding some nice close ups of this kit being installed. The instructions are online and a bit vague, no paper ones provided, and there is only one lonesome picture of the rear brackets. For those of you out there scratching your head, these pictures are for you. And yes, the shocks are upside down.

Marking where a bracket goes, note the partial removal of the factory bracket off the pan horn for the brakes on our 67 pan, this was later removed completely for clearance issues.

[deathpixel]

8/15 - More closeups of fitting the Airkewld rear air ride brackets.

Note the aforementioned clearance issue by the factory brake line bracket with the air ride bracket, we trimmed these off both sides completely.

[volkspower5150]

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In progress 1960 rhd ragtop

[GtiKyle]

I also went with the AirKewled rear air suspension. i will say i was less than impressed. The bracketry fits very poorly. I saw from the pictures that you trimmed the top bracket to fit, but the side brackets that engage the frame horn don't even come close to contacting.

I had to build some support tabs which i welded in to fill that gap. My assumption was the kit would save me time from fabbing up my own system, but I think it could be MUCH better designed.

Looking forward to your progress...Keep it up!
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The wife approved build: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6152419

[deathpixel]