The Lost Cause Sports Bug Restoration

[19super73]

[CWAVE]

Nice. Would you happen to know if the powder they used on your last set that were a perfect color match had a specific name?

[CWAVE]

It's been a pretty productive 3 days of work on my beetle.

The first two days were filled with powder coating. First thing I did was built an extension cord for my oven so I could park it on my driveway and close the door to the garage, thereby keeping the stink ALL outside. No complaints from the neighbours. The stink disburses pretty quick when it's free to blow away.

Here are some pictures of some of the items that I did. All tolled, I managed to get through all of the small parts (20+ pieces), and got the doghouse powder coated. Everything turned out great. This week the plan is to try to get some of the larger pieces done (ie: bumpers, sway bar... the longer parts).

Today, having the day off work, I managed to get a good jump on separating the crushed front quarter from the car. Still a lot of work to go, but it's coming along nicely.

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My 1973 Sports Bug Body off Restoration:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=666556

[NewTechnicIan]

WOW, that looks like some serious surgery on the front quarter. I'm psyched to see how you go about it. Not sure I've seen a full quarter replacement yet!

Also, jealous of your powder coater, though it looks like with a spare craigslist oven, this too could be mine
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My 73 Standard build - It's painted! It drives under its own power! Time to get it wired and upholstered!

My 1679 Engine build.

[CWAVE]

Thanks. Couple areas where I'm not 100 percent sure what I'm going to do is at the pinched lip by the door and the base of the windshield metal meets the quarter. Going to look at see what's going to be involved to open up that pinched lip (that would be the proper way). Alternatively, I could trim the quarter back to the metal edge I left and but-weld the panel to that. Once I get closer to that area, I'll make a decision. I'd really like to open up that pinched lip and fit the new quarter into that. That'd be my number 1 choice.

For now, I still have some work separating the old metal from the mounting flanges.

The other challenge I'm facing is that bent up spare tire well. I would really like to coax the existing piece back into shape, but don't know how well that'll turn out. I'm sure that with those bends, the metal has become fatigued. I may end up having to remove the spare tire well too. But again, time will tell as I get into that part.

I have an OG spare tire well in perfect condition and sandblasted, ready to go in if I choose to pull the bent one out of the car.

The powder coating did turn out nice and works well. If you do decide to do this yourself, make sure you run the oven on your driveway with the garage door closed. The stink that comes out when it's baking is terrible when it accumulates in confined spaces. Even running it at the door opening with the garage door open is no good, still stinks up the place. The results however are worth the effort.

[19super73]

[CWAVE]

Thanks for the reply. I plan on doing the same. I have one wheel that was a spare in one of my sports bugs, and is in really nice shape, with the original paint.

[CWAVE]

Only had a couple hours, but got a bit more work done on the weekend pulling out more old metal in preparation for the replacement front quarter. Still have to get the remainder of the big bracket that attaches the quarter to the frame head and firewall. It's a substantial piece of metal that's still well secured. I will convince it to leave the car though (probably during my next session on the car).

I've decided the spare tire well is going to come out as well. Now that I have most of the damaged front quarter out, looking at the damage to the spare tire well, I don't want to waste my time trying to repair it. Just going to remove it and put a new one in place. Hopefully that'll make fitting the replacement quarter a bit easier.
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My 1973 Sports Bug Body off Restoration:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=666556

[Dodgy]

[CWAVE]

Time for another progress report. Managed to get the spare tire well removed from the car, along with more of the driver side quarter bits. The heavy metal support that connected to the bracket welded to the firewall is gone now. I tell you, that was a miserable part to remove. Thankfully all is well in the firewall. No rust holes or damage. Just some surface rust. Probably because the PO had undercoated down there.

I ended up sectioning the spare tire well to get it out. Wasn't planning on keeping it anyways, and getting it out in smaller pieces just made my life a bit easier. None the less, it was still a pretty big effort. As you can see from the next series of pictures, there were a LOT of spot welds to drill out.

I decided to keep the OG spare tire well support, so I was careful not to damage it when I removed the bad parts. Came out in great shape, and totally re-useable.

Here is the replacement spare tire well from CIP1. Ya, I know what you're thinking. Pretty poor quality piece. You'd think they'd take more pride in their parts. I was going to use the OG spare tire well that I took out of the red car, but on closer inspection, my sandblaster had done quite a bit of warping damage. I could probably straighten it out. The thickness is ok on the CIP1 piece, just lots of wrinkles in the steel as you can see. It's a part you don't see so I don't really care.

What do you guys think? Should I put the effort into straightening out the OG spare tire well that I have, or use this CIP1 part. The CIP1 part is the easier piece (as I don't have to remove all the jagged metal off the OG part (I had to hack it out of the car in a hurry, so it's there, but not pretty right now). The only concern I have with the CIP1 piece is that I may have fitment issues. Might be enough that I'm using aftermarket side quarter and front apron. Might be introducing too many poorly made parts into the equation that might make getting everything aligned more of a headache.

Here you can see all the spot welds that I ended up having to drill out under the tank to free the old spare tire well.

After removing the spare tire well, I discovered some rot at the front of the quarter. That's going to have to come out too. I have a replacement part for this as well, so I guess the cutting will continue here.

Well, that's all the work for this past weekend. Still have a few evening's work to clean up the end of the firewall. After that, I'm going to remove the door and start trying to open up the pinch weld. Need to open that up so I can get the new quarter set in there. I'm sure that's going to be a pile of good times...
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My 1973 Sports Bug Body off Restoration:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=666556

[wcfvw69]

Ok.. you asked

With the time you're spending to fix/restore this bug, I invest the time to fix the original spare piece you have and install it. The re-pop looks like a terrible pressing.
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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**

[VWCOOL]

On other forums I have seen several of the repro spare tyre wells fitted with no issues. How does it compare in REAL (not perceived) quality/size/shape to the OG panel?

[CWAVE]

[wcfvw69]

I restored my 69 vert back in the late 90's. I replaced the lower 12" of most of the bug. So, I fill qualified to tell you that all the re-pop metal I bought was crap and sadly, the quality hasn't improved since then. I spent SSOO many hours bending/straightening and massaging the re-pop metal to fit. I would of saved ton's of hours just buying used metal, drilling spot welds and fitting it.

I think i mentioned this before. If I had to do it over again, I'd of sourced used German parts off a donor.. Nothing fits (and is as thick) like the original metal that came off the German presses.
_________________
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**

[CWAVE]

Thank-you for your insight and comments! Guess my head was going in the right direction when I saved the spare tire well from my last rot-box. That's one thing out of that car that was actually in good shape. Also saved the bracket that held the brake fluid reservoir from this car. The one on the reproduction driver side quarter appears to be made of something not thicker than tin foil. Figured I'd pull that off and weld in the nice beefy OG piece. Then I don't have to worry about it falling off the first bump I hit.

I just wish I would have spent a bit more time reading the forums before I bought all of these reproduction panels that I did. Water under the bridge now.

Lesson to be learned here is to keep as much OG as you can, replace only what has to be replaced, and replace it if you can with other OG pieces from donor cars...

[CWAVE]

So I've been working on cleaning off the OG spare tire well and it's coming along alright. Was planning on finishing that part off this past weekend, but my hunt for more parts completely changed the direction my weekend was to take.

I had been running an ad in kijiji looking for some of the remaining parts I need for my build. Specifically, I wanted to find a hood and possibly a front driverside fender. Was hoping to find something in better shape than I had and possibly OG.

Saturday evening, I get an e-mail that says he has a 73 that he's looking to get rid of for 300 bucks. Sunday morning I arranged to go and look at it. Thinking that I might end up with ANOTHER car, I thought it might be a good idea to pursue getting a tow bar set up. If I had a working towbar setup, that could save me a trip to pick up the trailer. The car I'm working on came with a tow bar mount. Found a really nice "Demco Excali-bar Tow Bar" for a 100 bucks on kijiji. I couldn't believe my luck, as I've never seen these things listed for less than 400.

Went and had a look at the car (about an hour out of town), and it was awesome. The hood and fender that I want are OG and in perfect shape. The car is complete, save for a smashed up front apron and passenger front fender. He tells me that the car originally belonged to his brother, and 9000 kms before he drove the car into a tree, he had had the engine rebuilt. He was given the car from his brother (towed it from BC) for the purpose of doing a father-son resto that never happened. The car has been sitting in his yard for a few years and he is offering it to me for 300 bucks.

Naturally I snapped it up. If any of you are keeping track, this is the FIFTH Super I've bought this year. Geeze! And my wife hasn't kicked me out yet either! Heh.

So, the weekend turned out great. Found an awesome deal on a tow bar that happens to fit the mount that came with my last 73 Super purchase, got an awesome deal on another parts car.

Here are some pictures. The one with the Super attached to the back of my truck is my favorite. Look how small the beetle is compared to my truck. The roof of the beetle reaches the height of the top of the box of the truck. Crazy.... Looking at that , I never want to be hit by a truck when I finish my Sports Bug.

Trial fitting the tow bar on the mount before unhooking it and taking it with me to pick up the purple people eater.

How small it is!

So, while I'm talkin to the guy about VW's and stuff as I'm hooking up the car to the truck, he throws me this bumper, says... you want it? I say, sure, throw it in the back of the truck. I say... "Where'd you get THAT from?" He tells me that he knew an old farmer who passed away a few years ago in the area who has a bunch of old VW's sitting around. Now his son owns the land and couldn't care less about anything. Says there's an old wagon (Volkswagen Type-III Squareback Wagon) out there, and some old VW's. I quized him a bit about what they look like, and suspect from his descriptions that they're 50's - 60's vintage.

Told him that when he gets to talk to the guy, to see if he wants to get rid of them. Will see if something comes of that. Given the age of the bumper (not sure exactly what year range it's from, pre-67 I think), it could be a find to be had.

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My 1973 Sports Bug Body off Restoration:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=666556

[CWAVE]

Here are a few better pictures of the weekends find (shot this time with a real camera, not my phone).

Wiped the hood down a bit and it really is perfect. So pleased. The front quarters look pretty good too. Pans and heater channels are beyond repair, and the rear quarters are pretty far gone too. Found a charcoal cannister under the rear passenger fender (where it should be). This is the first car I've bought this year that actually had one there.

_________________
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My 1973 Sports Bug Body off Restoration:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=666556

[NewTechnicIan]

That super's got buck teeth Looks like a good find! I'm always jealous when people can pick up extra bugs for spare parts, seems like the way to go, I just don't have the space
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My 73 Standard build - It's painted! It drives under its own power! Time to get it wired and upholstered!

My 1679 Engine build.

[CWAVE]

Kinda looks like Mater from "Cars" eh! Heh.

[CWAVE]

Well it's been a long winter, and I'm starting to look at dusting off the cobwebs and get back to work on the car.

Just picked up the ET26's, bumpers and sway bar from the powder coater. I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

_________________
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My 1973 Sports Bug Body off Restoration:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=666556