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CWAVE
Samba Member
Joined: September 18, 2008
Posts: 510
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 Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 7:34 pm Post subject: The Lost Cause Sports Bug Restoration |
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I started a restoration thread a while back, but it got muddied with what turned out to be two sports bugs in need of restoration. I got one complete car that was in pretty good shape, and another one in REALLY BAD shape. The original reason for getting the one in bad shape was to use parts from it to help restore the first.
In the end, I didn't have the heart to dispose of a Sports Bug (even one that was as far gone as this one). Another interesting thing about this car was that it was only 6 numbers apart on the serial numbers from the complete sports bug that I bought first. They are practically family. How could I possibly end one (even though the previous owner did his best to do so).
So, the decision was made to restore this car. So, that's where this story begins.
The damage assessment of this car, to be honest, was pretty grim. The car at some point in it's life had a pretty substantial impact on the front driver side, and the bodywork that ensued was amateur hour at best. More bondo than metal. The spare tire well was distorted, and front apron smashed in from a later impact.
The bad news continues on as the firewall is rotted out, floors are of course gone and the heater channels were missing. In fact, the body of the car was on the guys front lawn, and the pan was frozen to the ground beside the guys house.
When he removed the doors, he couldn't undo the screws holding then hinge so he simply took a sawsal to the bottom of the a-pillar, AND cut off one of the hinges with a grinding wheel.
Towards the back, the rear brackets and supports are rotted, rear wheel wells are either rotted or badly patched, and the rear apron is done.
Like the title says... "Lost Cause".
But I'm a sucker for lost causes, and as I mentioned, I couldn't bear to let the car die, so on to the start of the restoration.
A few weeks have gone by since I obtained this "car", and this past Friday I received my first shipment of replacement metal for this car. I ordered almost every replacement panel available from CIP1 save for the package shelf that is remarkably in very good shape.
The first step moving forward now is going to be to restore the pan, and add the heater channels. Once that's done, I'll build a rig just in front of the windshield to help me position the tops of the strut towers when the new quarters are added. Then I'll remove the nose of the body, clean up and remove all the rusted areas forward of the rear wheel wells, and mount what's left onto the pan. I'll then move forward on the car, mounting the new parts to the pan and body, using light tacs working on the alignment and fit as I go.
Freed up my garage space this weekend, so as I find time on evenings, I'll slowly start plugging away.
The first thing I'm going to do immediately is build a pair of adjustable braces that I can tune to get the door opening right (and prevent any damage to the windshield pillar).
Here we go! Can't wait to dig in.
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My 1973 Sports Bug Body off Restoration:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=666556
Last edited by CWAVE on Sat Feb 01, 2014 7:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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toddb_67
Samba Member
Joined: November 28, 2003
Posts: 1313
Location: Hansville, WA
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BugMan114
Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2007
Posts: 3744
Location: Ellenwood, GA
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| Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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| toddb_67 wrote: |
You are a brave soul! That car looks bad but we've seen worse come back to be beautiful cars. Good luck on this project. Consider me subscribed.  |
haha, X2. You damn near ordered half the car, XD. should be a fun welding project. cant wait to see this one completed 
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1974 Super Beetle: Custom resto in progress
1972 Super Beetle: Daily Driver
1971 Std. Beetle w/ 1929 Mercedes Benz Gazelle kit
1960 Baja Bug
1969 Baja Bug
Sand Rail- Homemade
Sand Rail- FUBAR
Aircooled Airheads
Why the hell do they call it a gland nut. its obviously a big fat bolt!!! |
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75smith
Samba Member
Joined: July 09, 2011
Posts: 2275
Location: NH
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| Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 8:02 pm Post subject: |
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Damn, must have been expensive. But good luck, will be nice to see the car brought back to life
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My 1975 Beetle Build Updated 8-21-12
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Sportbugger
Samba Member
Joined: December 15, 2008
Posts: 216
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| Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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 This is going too be good! |
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Hamsterben
Samba Member
Joined: December 05, 2011
Posts: 238
Location: Kooskia Idaho
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| Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks, my bugs just saw this and now they are mad at me. |
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a.wilson
Samba Member
Joined: January 11, 2007
Posts: 2033
Location: Georgia
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| Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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| New front quarters... Don't see anyone tackling those much often. Will keep on viewing for progress. |
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AirDirect
Samba Member
Joined: November 03, 2010
Posts: 431
Location: Powderly TX
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christopher.a.stjohn
Samba Member
Joined: February 01, 2014
Posts: 5
Location: Colorado Springs
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| Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:10 pm Post subject: Nice! |
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| Good Luck! |
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wcfvw69 
Samba Purist
Joined: June 10, 2004
Posts: 13389
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 7:01 am Post subject: |
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Wow.. you're going to have you hands busy. Having replaced a lot of the same panel on my vert, let me offer you this. TAKE your time and measure, measure, measure!
When friends saw my vert in the shell and saw the rust, they said I should junk it. I loved proving them wrong.
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Contact me at [email protected]
Follow me on instagram @sparxwerksllc
Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.
**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored German Pierburg fuel pumps for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours** |
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thechief86
Samba Member
Joined: January 18, 2012
Posts: 860
Location: middle tn
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| Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 10:52 am Post subject: |
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I'm impressed at your balls, lol.
My first super was in about the same shape, and I made several panels myself out of scrap sheetmetal, got it all going, and drove the car for a few months before selling it to fund a not-so-rusty standard that I'm still workin on fixing correctly after 2 1/2 years.
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"A poor workman always blames his parts... Ya gotta have skillz to hang junk." -johnnypan |
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djkeev
Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32586
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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Dwayne1m
Samba Member
Joined: December 31, 2011
Posts: 3538
Location: Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 11:11 am Post subject: |
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What welding wire do you use? I want to buy stock in that company. 
Good luck and have fun. Something to be proud of once it is done. |
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mountainkowboy
Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2008
Posts: 951
Location: Socal
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| Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:08 pm Post subject: |
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Soooo, all you saved was the fenders and lids....hahaha! That a lot of work there, wish I had the facility to do the same.
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Chuck in Socal
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71 Super Convertible...DD
78 Honda CB750K
06 Honda CR-V (wifes)
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Hyperspace
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Joined: January 03, 2013
Posts: 1166
Location: South Africa
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19super73
Hardcore Stock Nazi
Joined: October 18, 2007
Posts: 4351
Location: Cité Soleil
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SBD
Samba Member
Joined: October 24, 2012
Posts: 3269
Location: SOUTH DAKOTA
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| Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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Walking Contradiction
Samba Member
Joined: August 14, 2013
Posts: 453
Location: Oregon, OH
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| Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 4:11 pm Post subject: |
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Can't wait to see this project unfold!
-Sam
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Samuel Hartford
 1974 Super Beetle
Board Member of the Greater Toledo Volkswagen Club
Member of Northwest Ohio Region SCCA |
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Todd19
Samba Member
Joined: June 24, 2011
Posts: 310
Location: Minneapolis
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| Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 4:22 pm Post subject: |
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It looks like you've bought enough parts to build a brand new bug.
I'm excited to see this build though. Good luck!
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1969 Standard Beetle - Kuzco
1975 Standard Beetle - Karl - Sold
1975 Super Beetle - Felix - Sold
1974 Standard Beetle - Pacha - sold
http://classicveedubs.blogspot.com/ |
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VWCOOL
Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2006
Posts: 1821
Location: Down under
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| Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 4:38 pm Post subject: |
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That's like a 1/18-scale Revell model kit. but real size!
Good luck with it all, looking forward to seeing (and learning from) this as it goes together
Last edited by VWCOOL on Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:28 am; edited 1 time in total |
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